For generations, many of us have started our morning with caffeine and ended it with alcohol. These were the permissible drugs, both federally legal and delivered to us in a socially accepted way (from free diner coffee refills to Starbucks shots, from shaking a cocktail to popping the cork on a bottle of wine).
But now, with the rise of easy vaping technology, the state legalization of cannabis, and a new wave of positive research on psychedelics, society is starting to reassess its relationship with drug use. Drinking a craft beer isn’t any more morally righteous than puffing a joint. And nowhere are the possibilities of this new era more clear than in Human Nature, a conceptual product developed by the London-based design firm NewTerritory.
Human Nature is, in essence, a smart vape that destigmatizes microdosing by transforming it into a ritual, while easing new users into psychotropics through beautiful iconography and assistive controls. Human Nature is designed to feel inviting rather than illicit, and something to be savored rather than hidden away.The vape comes with four cartridges that New Territory renders as tiny sculptures, shaped from glass or possibly 3D-printed algae. Each contains a specific drug, advertised by its form. And, yes, some are still illegal today. LSD is a blob that resolves into a sharp point, promoting mental focus. Melatonin is a cloud representing lucid dreams. Psilocybin—the hallucinogen found in magic mushrooms—forks to resemble a brain split into right and left hemisphere thinking (an idea that has been debunked, but is a powerful metaphor all the same). And CBD resembles a figure slumping, relaxed, to its side. Even though the cartridges are shaped differently, they share a universal connector to the vape.
No doubt, Ravenhall has presented an optimistic vision of our drug-fueled future, in which the largest companies in the space are more concerned about our well-being than pushing as much product on us as possible. Is it overly optimistic? Possibly. But feel free to pass me the CBD while we talk it over.
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