OryCon 44

A Cold War Science Fiction Case Study in Comprehensive Design “Zylerium Blindness” is a short story written during the Cold War about how nuclear explosions created an element, Zylerium, causing global congenital blindness. Authored by Thomas B. Sheridan and John E. Arnold, pioneers in “design thinking” and “human engineering,” this case study for students demonstrates the methods and challenges of “comprehensive design.” Humanity must deal with groupthink and social conformity, which inhibit personal integrity, responsibility, and imagination and thus impair creative problem solving.