Dear Mitch (and all),
Thanks for the article by William Nordhaus (1998 [1997]). This is both an example of avant-garde design research — research using a designerly approach — and a beautiful demonstration of rigorous thinking using multiple methods.
While I know Nordhaus’s work from other articles, this was new to me. Thanks for posting it. Because Nordhaus points to another article in the volume where he originally published this, I tracked down the volume (Bresnahan and Gordon 1997). Interesting work!
What is important in relation to avant-garde design research is that Nordhaus brings together a lively theoretical hypothesis, careful empirical observation in recent times, careful empirical observation using historical evidence, and careful experimentation of his own. Much of the historical evidence also involves reports on the results of experimentation, though not all. Some simply reports historical information while showing how it is useful in today’s world.
Harold Morowitz once discussed the importance of three approaches to research in the sciences to explain why modern science made more progress than Greek science was able to do. Of the “three great conceptual approaches to science” he wrote, “– observation experimentation and theory – experimentation was unknown to the classical Greek savants. They worked back and forth between observation and theory and therefore lacked the powerful weapon of falsification to prune wrong theories” (Morowitz 1993: 161-2).
Plato’s science stood on the single leg of theory. Aristotle’s science had two legs — theory and observation. Science — and research in general — made significant gains in the great age of physics when Galileo, Newton, and Bacon developed the concept of robust experiment. This made scientific progress possible by stabilizing scientific method with its third leg. Experiment allows us to choose among alternative theories moving in increasingly better directions.
The challenge of avant-garde design research involves a willingness to try new ideas — along with a willingness to test them to find out whether our new ideas hold up.
Nordhaus offers a terrific example. In 2018, Nordhaus shared the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences with Paul Romer. Nordhaus won the prize "for integrating climate change into long-run macroeconomic analysis.” His work often brings together the findings of different disciplines and fields in startling and entertaining ways.
It would be a real joy to read design articles that address challenging concepts with this kind of careful interdisciplinary rigor.
Yours,
Ken
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References
Bresnahan, Timothy F., and Robert J. Gordon, eds. 1997. National Bureau of Economic Research Studies in Income and Wealth, Vol. 58, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Morowitz, Harold J. 1993. Entropy and the Magic Flute. New York: Oxford University Press.
Nobel Prize Organization. 2018. William D. Nordhaus Facts. URL: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2018/nordhaus/facts/ <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2018/nordhaus/facts/> Date Accessed 2020 October 14.
Nordhaus, William D. 1998. Do Real-Output and Real-Wage Measures Capture Reality? The History of Lighting Suggests Not. Cowles Foundation Paper No. 957. New Haven, Connecticut: Cowles Foundation for Economic Research at Yale University. Originally published in: The Economics of New Goods, edited by Timothy F. Bresnahan and Robert J. Gordon. 1997. National Bureau of Economic Research Studies in Income and Wealth, Vol. 58, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 29-70.
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Mitch Sipus wrote:
“When I was doing my PhD I found this paper by the economist WilliamNordhaus in which he wanted to understand how/why some technologies drivemore social change than others. To understand how the power of light shapedsociety he personally conducted lots of tests on the material processes ofusing and creating light. He made candles from fat. He burned oil made fromwhale blubber. He found old lightbulbs and measured their brightness. Hecarefully studied the length of time required for every light source to becreated and to consume itself. From this he made estimates about how somedifferent kinds of technologies have bigger effects - notably written inthe mid-90s he downplayed the internet as 'important.’
“Here is a 20 minute interview with Nordhaus talking about the research -the smells the emotions the tangible processes.
https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2014/04/25/306862378/episode-534-the-history-of-light <https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2014/04/25/306862378/episode-534-the-history-of-light>
“I consider this paper an incredibly 'designerly' approach to economicsresearch given the experiential focus of material factors. It alsodemonstrates the value of quantification and taxonomies when makinginferences from the process of research by design. I hope one day to write something both as poetic and insightful.
“The paper is short and attached here for convenience.”
[I’ve attached it again to preserve the content of Mitch’s original post. — KF]
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Ken Friedman, Ph.D., D.Sc. (hc), FDRS | Editor-in-Chief | 设计 She Ji. The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation | Published by Tongji University in Cooperation with Elsevier | URL: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/she-ji-the-journal-of-design-economics-and-innovation/ <http://www.journals.elsevier.com/she-ji-the-journal-of-design-economics-and-innovation/>
Chair Professor of Design Innovation Studies | College of Design and Innovation | Tongji University | Shanghai, China ||| Visiting Professor | Faculty of Engineering | Lund University ||| Email [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> | Academia https://tongji.academia.edu/KenFriedman <https://tongji.academia.edu/KenFriedman> | D&I http://tjdi.tongji.edu.cn <http://tjdi.tongji.edu.cn/>
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