NEMO
Exploring Ethical Dilemmas Through Speculative Design
NEMO is a speculative design narrative that delves into the ethical tensions behind the business decisions of the Orange Corporation, a research start-up originally dedicated to coral reef conservation. What begins as a noble mission to protect marine ecosystems gradually unravels into a complex web of moral ambiguity, where preservation, profit, and power collide.
Project Background:
This project was developed over three days during the Designing Ethical Futures course at CIID, with David Álvarez (Costa Rica), Maria Jose Tamayo (Peru) and Mohit Choudhary (India). Our team was assigned the colour orange, a hue often associated with vitality, warmth, and caution. We were challenged to explore futures through the lens of ethics.
Design Opportunity
To construct a plausible yet provocative future, we examined weak signals and emerging trends:
Costa Rica’s shifting geopolitical relationships with the United States and China, including growing foreign investment and influence.
Reports of overfishing by Chinese fleets, including incidents in Costa Rican waters.
The rise of marine-based biomaterials in health and wellness industries, particularly in post-pandemic contexts.
Increasing privatisation of scientific research and the commodification of natural resources.
These signals helped shape the world of NEMO, a future that feels disturbingly familiar.
Designing Ethical Speculation
In the present day, Orange Corporation launches Project NEMO on Cocos Island, Costa Rica. Its mission: to preserve coral reefs using advanced marine sensors and data extraction. Named after its robotic centrepiece, NEMO becomes a symbol of hope for ocean conservation.
Fast forward to 2035. The world is recovering from the BV-30 global pandemic. Private healthcare companies begin acquiring scientific research organisations. A breakthrough reveals that a compound found in coral reefs is essential for immunological treatment. Orange Corporation receives a mysterious capital injection. What was once a conservation effort now teeters on the edge of exploitation.
Three Ethical Dilemmas Unfold
We explored how different actors might respond to the unfolding crisis through the lens of utilitarianism, care ethics, and deontology:
The Organisation: Should Orange prioritise its duty to investors or remain true to its founding mission of reef preservation?
The Employee: Torn between personal values and corporate loyalty, how does one navigate ethical dissonance?
The Consumer: Faced with life-saving treatment derived from coral reefs, do short-term benefits justify long-term ecological consequences?
How Did We Get There?
Our process combined speculative storytelling with ethical inquiry. We mapped weak signals, constructed future scenarios, and created artefacts to provoke reflection. The narrative was presented through a speculative video, revealing how ethical decisions ripple outward across time.
NEMO is not a dystopia but a cautionary tale grounded in real-world patterns. It challenges viewers to consider their own moral compass and the unintended futures that design can shape.