Near Future Laboratory Blog
Near Future Laboratory Blog
Thoughts, Reflections, Updates & Week Notes
Mar 19, 2025 – May 4, 2025
w12/w14/w15/w16/w17/w18/w19/
Cover Art for Episode 097 of the Near Future Laboratory Podcast
May 04, 2025
We often think of strategy as something cold, analytical, spreadsheet-driven. But more and more, I’m convinced that strategy is fundamentally a form of fiction—a way of telling a story about the future, then organizing people and resources to make that story real.

It’s not just about goals or roadmaps or five-year plans. It’s about imagination.

Strategy asks: What kind of world are we trying to bring into being? And perhaps more importantly: How do we evoke a sense of that place such that we can obtain alignment from our stakeholders, our community, our audience? How do we tell a rich, evocative story that our people can feel into a possible near future?
fictionstrategydesign fictionpodcastImagine Harderimagination
Near Future Laboratory Podcast Episode 096 Cover Art
Apr 28, 2025
Tobias and I wrote an essay for Michael Shamiyeh's edited compilation of essays and stories for the book 'Practices of Future Casting'. We got together on the horn to discuss the book, the event surrounding the book's creation, speculative writing/thinking/creating as a form of strategic foresight, and how important it is to have the book close to hand before you go on talking about the book, and the essays therein.
speculative futuresstorytellingdesign fictionspeculative designspeculative fictionpodcast
A data center hosting 10MM+ Digital Twins
Apr 21, 2025
What if your career had a shadow version of you — always learning, always optimizing, always on?
Welcome to a world where Digital Twins aren’t just for jet engines and hospitals.
They’re becoming the proxy professionals of the AI era — a second self trained on your CV, your habits, your values.
They attend interviews. They negotiate gigs. They monitor your skills gaps and suggest micro-credentials. Maybe they even decide what you should be doing — and for whom.
digital twinsAIGeneral Seminarfutures of work
A series of valves and tubes representing the "Infrastructure of Imagination" in a science fiction context
Apr 20, 2025
There is an evolving shift in strategic thinking. Things are moving away from rigid, top-down approaches and moving towards embracing what we might call “vivid institutional imaginaries” as the new foundation of business and innovation strategy. This shift is well-supported by research that suggests that strategy isn’t simply about predicting the future but actively constructing it through discourse and storytelling, cf Stackelberg & McDowell (2015) Hardy and Thomas (2012).
The use of tools like Design Fiction and speculative scenarios – as demonstrated by companies utilizing “future visions” internally (Michaud, 2023) – allows organizations to explore potential outcomes, test assumptions, and even shape public perception cf Gonzatto et al., 2013.
As Glaser (1994) argued, strategic imagination is crucial for navigating uncertainty. Furthermore, the concept of “strategy as discourse” emphasizes that narratives play a key role in establishing power dynamics and influencing organizational behavior cf...
imaginationscience fictioninstitutional science fiction
A long shot of a man discontented back facing the camera smoking a cigarette in contemplation
Apr 18, 2025
Thinking about AI as a tool to increase efficiencies and productivity is a losing strategy for any organization that wants to thrive in the long term. Imagining into a near future beyond the next 6-18 months requires thinking about AI as a non-human intelligence that is not a tool, but something as of yet little understood. Using speculative design and design fiction techniques it is possible to explore the unexpected and unanticipated opportunities that will transform what value creation even is.
AILearning & DevelopmentGeneral SeminarSpeculative DesignDesign Fiction
Near Future Laboratory Global HQ
Apr 13, 2025
A salon-style discussion about the role of science fiction in shaping our future. Entrepreneurs are using science fiction as a strategy for decision-making and strategic thinking. What if we could use science fiction to create habitable worlds rather than agonizing over the other guys' futures?
science-fictiondesign fictionstrategygeneral seminarentrepreneurship
Signage for a talk on Innovation and Imagination in the Era of AI showing Wile E. Coyote in a predicament where he is about to fall off a cliff while innovating on a flying machine to get him across the chasm of the canyon.
Apr 09, 2025
Next week I'll be giving a talk to students and faculty at Princeton University's Keller Center for Innovation in Engineering Education. The talk is titled “Imagination in the era of AI” in which I will be talking about the relationship of Imagination and Innovation, and how the two are always productively entangled in the work I do at Near Future Laboratory.
My hypothesis in this context is that the intersection of Imagination and Innovation is not only essential for navigating the complexities of a rapidly evolving technological landscape but also serves as a catalyst for transformative solutions that address pressing global challenges.
talkimaginationcreativitypedagogyinnovationdesigneducation
Cover image description
Mar 31, 2025
A talk at USC's Iovine and Young Academy for their Master of Science in Integrated Design, Business and Technology program at a Future of Work workshop hosted by Yihyun Lim.
I shared how I used design fiction and speculative design to find a more expansive canvas to describe my company OMATA to prospective investors.
workshopfuture of worktalkuscbusiness futuresinnovation futures
Scratching the Surface Podcast Cover Image
Mar 19, 2025
This discussion explores the concept of Design Fiction as a methodology for creating tangible and evocative prototypes of possible near futures to understand the consequences of decision-making. Julian Bleecker, who coined the term with Bruce Sterling, elaborates on his interdisciplinary approach combining engineering, design, and speculative storytelling. The conversation delves into the origins and practices of Design Fiction, its application in corporate settings, and its importance in nurturing imaginative thinking. Highlighting the value of imagination as a crucial skill, Bleecker emphasizes the need to encourage students and professionals alike to envision and create innovative futures through material culture, thereby making abstract futures concrete.
podcastdesign fictionimaginationfuturescreative practicepedagodgy