Throughout this book we have encountered many philosophical and theoretical threads: from discussions of Heidegger and hammers, to the nature of space and time, and the changing role of money. We have seen how fundamental physics involves information, and how computation is intensely physical with attendant environmental implications. There are too many such points to summarise fully, but this chapter draws together a few. The chapter begins with the way digital technology acts as a mirror to the nature of the material world, and by its similarities and differences reveals fresh insights about physicality. It then moves on to consider what it means to be human, embodied in a physical and now a digital environment. Finally we look forward to the potential design future and the way all of society is being changed, and could be transformed, by a rich understanding of the interplay between our physical and digital existence.
Keywords: theory, philosophy, physicality, design futures, physical-digital