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.

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.

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...

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.

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?

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.

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.

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 gets into 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.

”Twenty years ago, here at South By Southwest, I was on a panel where the term “design fiction” was made public. Before Julian Bleecker invented and deployed that term, there were many things going on that resembled “design fiction.” But nobody knew “how to do design fiction.” The ideas and approaches were diffuse, they weren’t crystallised.” — Bruce Sterling