Digital Stupefaction

Digital design techniques have saturated architectural discourse in the past forty-plus years from modelling to simulation and fabrication. Digital or Computational Design now forms part of the standard architectural curriculum, promising efficiency in modelling, design, advancing site analysis and ease of fabrication. Alongside these promises, we as educators begin to witness a new level of complacency governed by the use of the digital tools; we call this Digital Stupefaction. With the increasing 'smartness' of digital tools, what is the risk of shifting away from the focus of what students should/could know, and what information they embody? Is it still relevant to be able to draw on intrinsic background knowledge, or tacit knowledge in action, when everything can be analysed and verified on the fly (or even pre-selected via AI)? How can educators respond to these challenges by adjusting the way they deliver subjects associated with digital design?.