Design for cultural change, that is a noble goal. In the end, it is people who change mindsets, values and as a result, cultures. Technology and media have always been more powerful agents of change than the carriers, the devices and their design. But it does have an influence. In popular culture, Alien had an influence wiping away the entire hunky-dory household model of men and women, we were suddenly capable of becoming heroic individuals. And H.R. Giger’s sense for design was indispensable for that movie.
Then in the 80’s design helped people becoming more independent and expressive. My First Sony, graffiti, Madonna. Nike established itself as one of the most powerful brands and made people have a strong individuality and active mindset. When we all wore our first Nike Air Max sneakers, that definitely changed us and the way we lived, our culture. It felt like being on top of the foodchain in a new world, in a way. Apple continued that and gives everyone a sense of being part of a high-fashion type culture and now brands are also playing into people’s creative powers more and more.
As far as the machines vs. humans debate goes I am mostly curious and see that it is about the combination of man+machine, each being good at their own thing. This is the time where AI is going to influence design the most of any emerging technology, we see it now with sex dolls (a rather strange sign of our times though…) but we are only entering a new space for new concepts driving our culture forward.