I just wanted to see what you all think of this idea. This is a quote from "Personal Space: The Behavioral Basis of Design" by Robert Sommer. Special to me personally, because he is my grandfather.

"[Man] will adapt to hydrocarbons in the air, detergents in the water, crime in the streets, and crowded recreational areas. Good design becomes a meaningless tautology if we consider that man will be reshaped to fit whatever environment he creates. The long-range question is not so much what sort of environment we want, but what sort of man we want." -Robert Sommer

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Sommer

A little background, Sommer is a [retired] professor of environmental psychology at UC Davis, and this is from his most well known book, which talks about how our surroundings affect us and our minds. Very interesting stuff imo.

This idea that we should build our surroundings to shape man, instead of shaping it to fit man I find to be very fascinating. For example, Sommer argues that classrooms should not be designed the way they are, fitting as many people in rows, with a teacher at the front, but instead a more "informally arranged" fashion. He believes this makes students more attentive, increasing how much knowledge said students take in. At times I start to feel like some ideas get criss-crossed. The theory seems to bend towards being utilitarian, not designing our environment to be pretty or comfortable but instead useful, yet he states we should make classrooms less "rigid". He has also commented about the positive effects of street art (and he himself is an artist). Does art and a more relaxing form of building design oppose his original idea of designing our surroundings to better ourselves?

I of course am not an expert on the subject, or even psychology and sociology in general, but I would like to see what other people think of this. I haven't done enough research myself, but I leave that boring stuff to you plebs  Since I was very young my grandfather's works have puzzled and amazed me. When my mother was born, they were living on the grounds of a mental institution where my grandpa was testing the effects of guided LSD trips on schizophrenic patients. He's also a known expert on mushrooms, especially psychedelic mushrooms, and has interviewed multiple psychologically "unique" people in prison, including everyone's favorite cultist Charles Manson. So if you have any interest in the author of this quote, ask anything, I've got some crazy stories! 

Okay maybe just one... What's up sobbers, I'm Knee that Bends, You can call me Knee... I guess? I'm new here. I've been sneaking around the forum for a while, but I think it's time I actually contribute to this beautiful community! A bit about me, I'm a Californian musician and a scifi/fantasy addict. I've only been a TSA fan for about a year, but I just can't get enough. I'm not actually finished with the series though, only halfway through WLW, so I'm going to be trying to avoid spoilers as much as possible. From what I've seen though, it seems spoilers are very well marked as spoilers so I don't think it's gonna be an issue. I'm here because I love TSA, I have constant questions about what the f*** is going on, and I want to talk to other people who share my love! So please, introduce yourself, I'd love to meet as many other profiles as I can. Alright, that's all I'm going to say  *thinks of cool TSA reference to end introduction*