‘The New Matter’ is a mindset shift that asks you to redefine what you consider a “resource.” In a traditional mindset, matter is solid, fixed, and limited. In the “New Matter” mindset, physical objects are viewed as encoded information, waste is seen as a raw material, and resources are considered infinitely transformable.
The Fluidity of Resources
When you see a plastic bottle, you see a container. When you see “The New Matter,” you see a specific polymer, a shape, a volume, and a potential component for a 3D printer. This technique helps you break free from “Functional Fixedness”—the tendency to see an object only for its primary purpose.
Audit Your 'Matter'
List the physical and digital resources you currently use, and identify what you consider “waste.”
Example: “We use high-grade aluminum for our frames. We throw away 20% of it as scrap. We also have 10 years of ‘useless’ customer support logs.”
Redefine 'Waste' as 'Wealth'
Imagine that your waste is actually your most valuable resource. What could it become?
- The Aluminum Scrap: Could be melted down to create custom, limited-edition accessories.
- The Support Logs: Could be fed into an AI to create a self-evolving “Help Bot” that predicts user issues before they happen.
View Matter as Information
Imagine your products aren’t physical items, but “software” that has been temporarily manifest as “hardware.” If you could “download” a physical update, what would it change?
“Instead of shipping a new physical part to fix a structural issue, we design the product with modular components that can be reconfigured by the user following a digital blueprint.”
Design a Circular Solution
Create a practical action that aligns with this fluid view of matter.
“We will launch an ‘Urban Mining’ program where customers send back their old frames in exchange for credit. We will then use that ‘waste’ as the primary raw material for our next product line.”
Practice
Problem: “Rising cost of paper in our publishing house.” New Matter Perspective: “Paper is just a carrier for stories.” What is a solution that doesn’t rely on paper?