An idea, shamelessly stolen from a Cory Doctorow novel: end-user-assembled housing. In the novel, prefabricated components are delivered to a site. Each has sensors and a speech output built in. To start, the components that go first say “pick me up!” When someone picks up a piece, it tells them where it should be put, whether it’s positioned just right, … a group of people can work on this together with the coordination done by the components themselves.

We could do this now. We could prototype it with IKEA-like furniture and fittings, and reap the same benefits: easy shipping, economies of scale. The important element is the feedback from the components themselves, telling you when you’re doing it right.