An expert panel discussion on the evolving relationship between human agency and technology, exploring the implications of AI systems on society and the role of ethics, imagination, and policy in shaping viable futures. Held at The British Academy, London in collaboration with Google DeepMind, the Science, Technology, and Social Values Lab at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, and the AI Policy and Governance Working Group.
Moderated by Prof. Alonda Nelson, this expert panel will wander into the questions, hopes, fears, dreads, dreams, and desires of our evolving relationships amongst our own human agency and that of the technologies being deployed right now. We will consider how we might careful balance the ways by which AI systems...

Design has long ceased to be seen as a discipline of aesthetics and functionality. It looks for possibilities, using imagination as its inspiration to find opportunities to create more habitable worlds of tomorow. This exhibition is devoted to themes of the distant and near future possibilities.
An exhibition of Near Future Laboratory's Work Kit of Design Fiction at the GRASSI Museum of Applied Arts in Leipzig, Germany. The Work Kit of Design Fiction is exhibited, providing a hands-on experience for attendees and a grounded approach to imagining futures. The exhibition is divided into three chapters and is devoted to themes of the distant and near future. Included in these themes are proposals from the fields of art and design, which...

Episode N°093 of the Near Future Laboratory Podcast with filmmaker, director Gary Hustwit, the creative punk mind behind documentaries Rams, Helvetica and Objectified. We dive into his journey in independent filmmaking, his DIY ethos, and his bold ideas about storytelling in a digital world. Gary shares his approach to creating generative cinema—films that evolve and change with each viewing. We explore what it means to push against the boundaries of trad filmmaking, trad distribution, and the creative process. A deep and inspiring conversation about art, risk, and ways of imagining harder.

New Essay in a sweet new book titled ‘Practices of Future Casting: Ways of Sharing Imagined Tomorrows’, a massive and meaningful collection that brings together essays, interviews, and design projects from leading futurists, designers, and thinkers, including the aforementioned essay by Tobias Revell and myself. Edited by Michael Shamiyeh, with contributions from Cory Doctorow, Elliot P. Montgomery, Alex McDowell and others — the volume gets right into the power of storytelling, Design Fiction, and speculative thinking to challenge assumptions and imagine transformative futures. It's got contributions and contributors spanning sustainability, technology, and cultural foresight. Definitely a must-read for anyone seeking to explore the creative edges of what’s possible. Perfect for researchers, designers, and future-thinkers alike.

This image of a PC build — its smoke-glass clear-case window ajar to revel in all of its RGB glory — with a very cyberpunk glowing massive CPU cooler has this exquisite and wonderfully bewildering contrast with a kind of cottage core setting in some guy's, what? Dining room or something? You've got this sort of cottagecore furniture or something I imagine seeing at a flea market or yard sale. And then the cat tree thing there (and cat tail dangling from a window) and all the porcelain miniatures in the shelving unit there — and what seems to be a shelving unit like you used to hold CDs and DVDs in? The ones with the glass door front, I think? ANd...

The Design Fiction project ‘Geneva Map for an Autonomous Vehicle Future’ is a canonical example of how Design Fiction can be used to create a tangible future that can be discussed and debated. A kind of 'applied imagination' that is a way to make the future more real and to help people understand the implications of new technologies.
The approach of Design Fiction involves producing a prospective scenario and materializing it as an everyday object, comprehensible and accessible to everyone, to spark situated discussions on societal issues such as technological change.
The objective of this mandate will be to create a plausible map of the City of Geneva designed for autonomous vehicles, which will facilitate discussion on the urban implications of such...

The torment nexus is a critique of the relationship between Silicon Valley and Science Fiction, where tech entrepreneurs often turn speculative fiction into blueprints for real-world innovation. Design Fiction emerges as an alternative, offering a structured way to imagine potential futures without locking into one path.

A Plenary Address at the IEEE MetroCon 2024 for the nations' largest IEEE regional conference covering nine parallel technical tracks covering emerging developments in engineering disciplines including: Autonomous and Vehicle Systems, Internet of Things, Computational Intelligence, Photonics and more.

In this new podcast series from Deem Journal, Radha Mistry, a designer with a background that spans architecture, narrative environments, and strategic foresight, unpacks the purpose and practice of futuring, and introduces us to six venerable practitioners who approach this work in myriad ways.

Ian Chalmers and I did a kind of fireside chat at the RGD's 2024 annual conference in Toronto.

An exploration of the why of Design Fiction, arguing that Design Fiction can be a powerful tool for sense-making in an increasingly complex and uncertain world. By creating fictional artifacts, such as brand books for imaginary products or services, Design Fiction allows us to explore the implications and possibilities of emerging technologies and societal trends in a tangible, engaging way.

An issue of IDSA Innovation on the ‘Supernatural’ as in...Super Nature. What is our relationship with nature? Is it humanity versus nature, nature teaching humanity, or nature and humanity existing as separate entities? Let's explore humanity's relationship with nature through the lens of design.

A talk to Radha Mistry's students at SCI-Arc that traverses the intricate relationship between engineering, imagination, and the speculative visions I've been inspired by through science fiction. The talk and discussion rambled into and through my somewhat transformative journey which, after college, I went straight into a traditional engineering role, which wasn't super engaging but a learning experience, and then wandered around the country and wound up in the virtual reality racket and this was the beginning of my dip into speculative engineering and fictional futures. I was also trying out some material highlighting how prolific science fiction authors influence societal norms and technological advancements, maybe more so than 'certified futurists and foresight' types. I also got into the contrasts...

What's the Coolest Tool? Imagination! I was on Kevin Kelly's ‘Cool Tools Show and Tell’! A fun chat even as I had to limit myself to just four or five 'cool tools' — but the coolests is 'Imagination'. So now I can check this off the list. Kevin and I first met a zillion years ago at FOO Camp, for those who remember that and have been in touch over the years. This was a fun chat even as I had to limit myself to just four or five 'cool tools' — but I found some curious things that I've been making great use of over the last couple of years. Super fun chat!

A 3 hour Design Fiction 101 talk and hands-on workshop utilizing the 2023 Work Kit of Design Fiction as an ideation aid.

What happens when futures work intersects the grounded circuits of meaning and material culture and not just other futures workers or foresight ‘experts’? Gary, his generative documentary ‘Eno’, and Brian (Eno) are a kind of futurist of the best sort — they make the worlds they imagine and do so materially — and shape culture far more than the futurists who think getting a certificate in Foresight is good enough to call yourself one.

SuperSeminar S03/E01 features two leading figures in the fields of innovation and futures design: Kevin Bethune and Dr. Jake Dunagan. These two are seasoned practitioners with decades of experience to share with you. Each will bring to Seminar their unique, forward-thinking perspectives with presentations with plenty of time for engaging discussion.

A collaboration screening Hustwit's groundbreaking generative documentary and industry summit on possible futures of visual storytelling, generative content, and generative art at Brain Dead Studios, Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles.

Episode 092 of the Near Future Laboratory Podcast anticipates our 2024 Imagine Harder Summit & Workshop on The Future of Work.

The Distant Early Warning deck allows players to embark on a "cool trip into exotic regions," blending conventional games with media elements that are both verbal and pictorial. It's a conversational card game where the importance lies not just in the identity of the cards, but in the varied relationships and juxtapositions between them.

Another productive collab with Tech Concept Lab — A Two-Day Workshop & Summit. These times are kinetic, chaotic, and full of dynamics that indicate change, if nothing more precise. It’s more than important — indeed it is existentially vital — that we constantly prototype and investigate possible futures as a matter of course. Think of these kinds of ‘workshops’ or ‘summits’ as training exercises, preparing ourselves for tomorrow, with no hard-and-fast expectation about tomorrow. This isn’t training for war, although some may prefer the metaphor.

91 Podcasts in 24 Hours! Hyper Island Vision Week is when students chart their future paths while envisioning societal impact. Jörg Teichgraeber invited me to contribute to Vision Week 2024 by facilitating a Design Fiction workshop for students. A 'podcast from the future' was the brief. A Design Fiction conceit in which students imagine into a future world and represent the contours of that world through a humble podcast that has come back from the future.

The Cybertruck and the camper together are like a visual narrative in which the present is constantly overshadowed by the futures we were promised but that can never arrive. ‘Utopia’ and ‘Dystopia’ are tropes, not action plans.

What's Tom Sachs' worldbuilding got to do with Design Fiction? What can be learned as regards the intersection of speculation, art, design to create playful non-confrontational spaces for entering into alternative, other, adjacent possible worlds?

Imagination is a crucial tool in shaping our future, especially in the context of climate change and sustainability. While dystopian narratives dominate the media, there's a growing need for positive, actionable visions of the future—something that Design Fiction uniquely offers. Unlike science fiction, which often explores far-off possibilities, Design Fiction brings those possibilities into the present through tangible artifacts. These artifacts allow us to experience and critique potential futures, making them a powerful tool for innovation. By materializing utopian visions, Design Fiction can shift the narrative from despair to hope, inspiring collective action towards sustainability. In a world inundated with regulations and frameworks, Imagination provides the vision we need to create a future worth striving for. Learn how Design Fiction bridges...

What can we learn about the ways that science-fiction and science fact circulate within the worlds of entertainment? Are there ways that the value creation mechanisms of entertainment can be deliberately intergrated into the value creation mechanisms of capitalism whereby 'innovation' actively engages the storytelling approaches, methodologies and techniques of the entertainment industry, purposely and above the line?

Design Fiction is an approach and methodology that helps reveal and playfully represent possibilities in the form of pragmatic material artifacts. It does this so as to exercise the imagination, which is the existential capability we have to see/create/conjure the unexpected, unanticipated newness that we call 'inspiration' and 'innovation.' Design Fiction operates in the dynamic space between barely possible and pragmatic reality, playfully messing with the tension between the not true *yet and what could be(come). This approach ignites and inspires the kind of thinking that leads to farm-fresh ideas, while fostering the kind of engaged and thoughtful discussion that just makes one want to build something — to take action. The artifacts created through Design Fiction aren't just imagined scenarios;...

In Episode 091 of the Near Future Laboratory Podcast, I talk with Tobias Revell and we explore the fascinating intersection of speculative fiction and technological innovation, looking into the imaginative worlds of Philip K. Dick and the film Minority Report. Our dialogue reveals not only the creative visions of PKD, but also the broader implications for how we perceive and shape our future through imaginative storytelling and intelligent design.

Imagine giving a consumer electronics company executive a copy of VALIS or Ubik and saying, “Your design brief is between pages 16-48, but I recommend reading this cover to cover..I’d like to manufacture the artifact on page 24, eventually at scale..I’ll need 1,000 units in 9 months to do some test marketing and consumer studies..how much?” Man, I’d love to live in that world where you could write a story as a design brief.

In October of 2012, a multidisciplinary group of artists, engineers, designers, and speculators spent three days in Detroit to “do” science fiction: tangle up in fact and fiction and engage in curious crosstalk about the things that could be. The goal, then, was to Design Fiction and turn talk into deliberate actions and artifacts; to swerve the present by telling the story of a near future we imagine can be possible.

An Inside Look at Creativity and Innovation with Julian Bleecker and Kyle Ng

Design Fiction mingles amongst science fiction, imagination, real-world technology, cultural practices, and audaciously influences popular culture and future technologies. This essay by Emmet Byrne and Susannah Schouweiler highlights the symbiotic relationship between design, science fiction, and the creative process, making the future more tangible and shaping it through rigorous design practices.

Communicating future scenarios is often very difficult, but Design Fiction offers an effective tool for meeting that challenge. In this episode of Gartner Futures Lab, we discuss how IT leaders should use design to create tangible and evocative prototypes that inspire conversations about plausible futures.

Beautiful visual notations inscribed by Shaun Au in The Manual of Design Fiction

This conversation goes into the evolving nature of work with the rise of artificial intelligence, exploring predictions of job obsolescence and the need for systemic analysis beyond technological advancements. It features insights from Julian Bleecker of Near Future Laboratory, the discussion highlights the role of 'design fiction' in driving true innovation through human creativity.

Grounded Wisdom is a unique tarot card deck that bridges design, ecology, and mysticism. Inspired by 20th-century modernist farming posters, these cards serve as a creative toolkit for designers and eco-conscious individuals, exploring the symbiotic relationship between soil and life. Each card offers questions that spark holistic, regenerative design thinking and offers us a way to consider how ourselves and our designs connect back to the earth.

Episode 089 of the Near Future Laboratory Podcast is an in-depth conversation with guest Silvio Lorusso, a designer, artist, and writer based in Lisbon. Our discussion centers around the complex relationship between design, disillusionment, and the evolving role of design in society, as Silvio has articulated in his recent book 'What Design Can't Do', a critique of the rhetorical expectations placed upon design.

Why is it a struggle for creatives to self-promote their hard work? I should say 'some' creatives. Perhaps I should say 'most'? Tyler the Creator's bewilderment at why creators shy away from promoting their work, was a poignant consideration of this challenge, and was shared in a post by Yancey Strickler from Metalabel. I share some experiences I've had in this context, including the tragic difficulty co-authors I've worked with had, to the point where the collaboration broke down as they could not do the work. It wasn't a refusal so much as a basic inability to do the mechanics necessary to promote The Manual of Design Fiction. Promoting one's work is part of doing the work, despite the discomfort...

the work kit of design fiction

ANDI Innovation Land Summit 2024

A 24 hour Design Fiction Sprint to Imagine Possible AI Futures Artifacts

..There's no question in my mind that you could create a whole community just around collecting rocks that look like shoes. If you start putting your passion onto the Internet, you're going to attract other people who have similar interests. It's a wonderful machine for that. Or it's a ecology for collecting affinities or attracting affinities. I think once you put a stake in the ground and you kind of start creating a locus of energy around a particular thing, you're attracting other people who have that same interest, and you're also creating that interest in other people.

Design Meets is a Toronto-based and online event about people getting together and sharing their ideas. This presentation by Julian Bleecker will present Design Fiction, a design-led approach to augmenting analytic research by grounding the implications of research into tangible, relatable artifacts.

A short essay on the complexity of the relationship between creativity and commercialism in design, highlighting the need for a collaborative approach between creativity (design, as a catch-all) and structure ('the business') as a strategy for earthly survival.

Discussing the futures of creative arts practices, innovation, policy, and the creative economy

Causal Islands is about bringing together experts and enthusiasts from many different backgrounds and sharing and learning together. We are creative technologists, researchers, and builders, exploring what the future of computing can be. The LA community edition on Saturday, March 23rd, 2024 has themes of building and running networks together, exploring the future through creativity and poetics of computing, tools for thought and other interfaces for human knowledge, emerging and rethinking social networks, generative AI as a humane tool for people, and the journey of building a more distributed web.

analyze synthesize imagine create

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North of Patient aims to paint an inspired landscape of healthcare's future through dialogues with creative and unconventional thinkers globally.

Signs of change workshop at SxSW South by Southwest 2024 where we use Design Fiction to imagine the implications of change using the typical street sign as the grounding artifact, or as an archetype that helps with the hard work of imagining change.

sxsw 2024 imagine harder panel

Let's use Design Fiction to wonder what might be for breakfast in a future in which AI is as normal, ordinary, and everyday as 10 minute pizza delivery and wheels on luggage and the other benefits brought by technology innovation? Join us for General Seminar where we will be discussing artifacts that might appear in a magazine from an AI future.

Julian Bleecker combines OpenAI and ElevenLabs to generate an AI created daily poem, blending technology with creativity and design fiction sensibilities with a hint of psychogeography.

Julian Bleecker, BSEE, MSEng, Ph.D. visited Chapman University on February 28, 2024, to deliver the annual Bensussen Lecture in the Arts Series, invited by Professor Justin St. P. Walsh. The visit included engaging with students and faculty who have integrated Design Fiction into their curriculum, demonstrating the impact of Near Future Laboratory's work.

Week 7 of 2024 at the Near Future Laboratory from the Discord. Highlights include advancements in artificial intelligence in healthcare, ethical AI licensing, speculative design fiction, innovative product design narratives, and the latest on critical and emerging technologies. It was a week filled with thought-provoking content on AI, design fiction, speculative futures, and more, shared by a creative community passionate about shaping the future.

Chris Butler talking about the future of decision-making in an era of AI.

ARUP's Abundance Film

Near Future Laboratory Podcast Episode 084 Thrilling Wonder Stories is a podcast that delves into the intersection of science, technology, and the arts. It features discussions on a wide range of topics including consciousness, film special effects, artificial intelligence, and science fiction. The podcast aims to explore futuristic ideas and the potential of human creativity through insightful dialogue. It's a resource for listeners interested in speculative concepts and the exploration of how technology influences society and culture.

Read about the creation of an iPhone app that points users towards the center of the galaxy, highlighting the ease of technology use and development with AI tools. The post also discusses the impact of AI on traditional programming skills, including perspectives on the future of coding craftsmanship and the debate over technology's role in democratizing innovation versus diminishing expert skill sets. Features reflections on personal achievements in technology and the philosophical implications of AI in programming.

The continuing journey to foster a community-driven creative renaissance through collaboration, coordination, and amplification. The new Token Ring Web Ring initiative leverages structured communication to promote cooperative work and envision more habitable future worlds.

Imagination is often dismissed as childish, or a frill. But it also lets us picture alternative futures, and technologies that haven't been invented yet. So how do we harness our imagination? And in an age where Big Tech promises to solve our problems for us, how do we use our imaginations to build the futures we want?

A design fiction magazine from a possible AI future and podcasting with Radha Mistry and Nora Young

What is Design Fiction? Design Fiction uses sci-fi and design to create prototypes, envisioning future possibilities and their impacts. It helps organizations think beyond current trends, fostering a deeper understanding of potential technological and societal changes through tangible artifacts.

“Future Mundane” is a term coined to describe a Design Fiction approach that focuses on the normal, ordinary, everyday aspects of future scenarios. It involves exploring how emerging rituals, practices, artifacts, devices, technologies might integrate seamlessly into daily life, becoming mundane and almost invisible in their functionality; they become as normal as wheels on luggage, or televisions we talk to. Future Mundane is related to Design Fiction in the sense that both concepts involve speculative thinking about the future, but Future Mundane specifically emphasizes the subtle and unobtrusive integration of technology into everyday routines. It offers a unique perspective on how future innovations could blend seamlessly into our lives, contrasting with more dramatic or disruptive visions of the future often...

Design Fiction translates signals into tangible, meaningful artifacts. Artifacts. Not storyboards.

Julian Bleecker explains the development of Design Fiction, a method he pioneered for imagining future scenarios through the creation of tangible artifacts. Julian discusses some of the ways the practice can help guide decision-making and its uses in strategy and communication. Julian invites listeners to explore this interdisciplinary approach through publications and the , a community applying Design Fiction principles to a broad range of projects.

Julian Bleecker explains the development of Design Fiction, a method he pioneered for imagining future scenarios through the creation of tangible artifacts. Julian discusses some of the ways the practice can help guide decision-making and its uses in strategy and communication. Julian invites listeners to explore this interdisciplinary approach through publications and the community applying Design Fiction principles to a broad range of projects.

episode 080 soil futures and tarot decks with gabby morris

Dad Band Futures Fest: Broadcast from Later 46

This podcast episode with Julian Bleecker discusses design fiction, emphasizing speculative design's role in projecting future possibilities and its influence on current design practices, highlighting the relevance of visual creativity and the intersection with technology.

Normal, ordinary, everyday futures — a futures sensibility and approach to futuring that emphasizes realistic and grounded visions of the future, focusing on ordinary, everyday experiences rather than fantastical, science fiction-inspired depictions. It highlights how future societies will be shaped by the accumulation of past and present elements, showcasing a world that is accretive, filled with familiar objects, routines, and imperfections. By embracing this notion of Future Mundane, designers and futurists aim to create relatable, achievable futures that acknowledge the complexity and flaws inherent in real life.

The Future Mundane concept is a valuable transformation as to how we think about possiblity and possible futures by emphasizing the normal, ordinary, everyday aspects of life that are often overlooked in traditional grand-scale future visions. Unlike these glossy utopian projections, the Future Mundane has us imagine into a future that is relatable and rooted in the familiar rhythms of daily life. By doing so, it creates a bridge between where we are now and where we could be, making future scenarios more attainable and actionable.

the design fiction archetype

The relationship between Imagination in Structure can be antagonistic. How do we bring Imagination and Structure into collaboration rather than confrontation?

In this episode of 'The Futurists,' co-hosts Brett King and Rob Tercik discuss with Julian Bleecker, co-founder of Near Future Laboratory, his unique approach called 'Design Fiction.' They explore the imaginative process of depicting future scenarios through objects, advertisements, and everyday experiences, akin to archeological finds from the future. The conversation delves into the intriguing aspects of AI, social impacts, and the transformative potential of technologies like psychotropics and blockchain. Julian also shares insights into his past work with Nokia and the relevance of iconic brands like IKEA in envisioning future products.

Design Fiction entangles design and fiction to create evocative artifacts that express the contexts and outcomes of change. It integrates design with the principles of narrative, speculation, and fiction.

Let's look at three questions about Design Fiction that often show up in my inbox.

I describe the essence of design fiction through an exploration of material culture as a lens for envisioning future possibilities. This short essay delves into how everyday objects, from breakfast cereal to speculative artifacts, serve as powerful tools for understanding potential future scenarios without resorting to grandiose predictions. Learn how design fiction creates a bridge between tangible objects and speculative futures, inviting deeper reflection on the implications of emerging technologies and societal trends. Much of this forms the basis for my book It's time to Imagine Harder

Design Fiction

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In 2011, the Walker Art Center's Interdisciplinary Work Group (IWG) developed a cross-departmental collaboration and interdisciplinary experimentation through research, discussions, and innovative programming. They developed some actionable insights aimed at shaping the future of interdisciplinary projects in the arts that included working with interdisciplinary practioners, including Julian Bleecker, Ph.D.

While we're in the present, dribbling over our shiny new iWhatevers and being amazed that an espresso maker can shit out coffee just from seeing a picture of a bean, Julian Bleecker and his fellow technologists are busy fucking around in the near future. He’s co-founder of the Near Future Laboratory. What’s that? Well, it’s a place where provocative concepts and ideas are materialized into non-profit conversation pieces.