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Abstract

Today we have the luxury of hindsight; this allows for the truth of past actions to reveal itself to us. We can look back on our shared human history and recognize the repercussions of certain actions, and it is with this lens humanity must view the past; without it, true progress is not possible. The past is, in fact, the key component in inspiring the future. As the famous George Santayana quote goes, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” While this quote has been twisted thousands of times over to defend a vast array of arguments, as designers we still have much to learn from it. We must take it upon ourselves to dissect the past—to break it down into its individual components. It is only once these unique parts are broken down into their fundamentals that their true purpose, their true essence, is revealed to us. Once this essence is discovered it is then possible to re-contextualize the fragments of old into a design of new. It is this transformation of technology from the past into the new context of the present that allows for a re-imagining of the world on a natural and cultural level.