From Sterling’s  Shaping Things :

Q1:

Throughout the text, Sterling talks about the expansion of ‘object networks’ (An Internet of Things), and their ‘advantages’ (almost in a satirical manner). To what degree will these new “things” and networks replace our own agency? What are we giving up amidst the ‘advantages’ they provide? Is this the realization/question Sterling is approaching at the end of the text?

Q2:

What exactly is the difference between the ‘End-User’ and ‘Wrangler’? Sterling seems to allude to the wrangler as a being that is more integrated into, and moves with the system, whereas the End User still remains outside of the system, as a traditional ‘consumer’, as we know it. Is he saying that the former will eventually be overtaken by the latter, and everyone will become ‘Wranglers’?

Q3:

Although the ‘phases’ of products that Sterling lists (pg. 82) are not completely exclusive to each other at present, will the ‘SPIME’ begin to make certain ‘previous’ steps (like the ‘handmade artifact’) obsolete? He later references Borges’ parable when inferring that there are limits to how far the ‘SPIME’ can go. Would it be problematic to reach this limit, after allowing the ‘SPIME’ to overtake some other methods of production completely?