Removing design can be an act of invention.

Evidence

In his book, Fukuoka writes that “[b]ecause the world is moving with such furious energy in the opposite direction, it may appear that I have fallen behind the times.” Indeed, just as we associate innovation with the production of something new, we also associate an inventor with creating some new kind of design. But Fukuoka’s “design” was more or less to remove the design altogether. This leads to the uncanny quality of manifest dismantling. As he writes: “That which was viewed as primitive and backward is now unexpectedly seen to be far ahead of modern science. This may seem strange at first, but I do not find it strange at all.” — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing, 647

Categorization

• SEED: The claim that ‘inventor = designer of new form’ is contested by an inventor whose product is removal of design offers a contrarian essay angle on what counts as creation.
• XREF: Echoes the reader’s established theme from Heidegger-influenced texts and the Frankfurt work that progress-concepts are reversible.