It may not strike everyone as the loftiest ambition: creating machines that are smarter than people. Not setting the bar terribly high, is it? So the more cynical might say. All the same, an array of scientists and futurists are convinced that the advent of devices with superhuman intelligence looms in the not-distant future. The prospect fills some of our planet’s brainiest specimens with dread.
Universal Design (UD) is an approach to design that increases the potential for developing a better quality of life for a wide range of individuals. It is a design process that enables and empowers a diverse population by improving human performance, health and wellness, and social participation (Steinfeld and Maisel, 2012). It creates products, systems, and environments to be as usable as possible by as many people as possible regardless of age, ability or situation.
