Near Future Laboratory Blog
Thoughts, Reflections, Updates & Week Notes
Sep 24, 2024 – Oct 22, 2024
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Near Future Laboratory Global HQ
<div class='font-[Calibre] mt-3 sm:mt-[0.3em] sm:mb-8 text-center text-balance leading-[0.8] text-[1.8em] sm:text-[3em]'>Quarterly of the Industrial Designers Society of America</div>
Oct 22, 2024
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.
more than human designdesign fictionjournaladvertisement
Students in a seminar room at SCI-Arc
A Talk at Radha Mistry's Seminar
Oct 21, 2024
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 between structured, rational disciplines with creative expressions like art and storytelling.
design fictionforesightlectureacademic
Cover image description
<div class='mb-[2em] font-[Haffer] text-center text-balance sm:text-[2em] text-[1.4em]'>Imagination is the Coolest Tool</div>
Oct 12, 2024
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!
podcasttools
A Design Fiction Workshop
<p class="font-[InputMono] text-center text-balance text-[1.5em] sm:text-[2.5em]">At Chapman University</p>
Oct 06, 2024 (ref Oct 01, 2024)
A 3 hour Design Fiction 101 talk and hands-on workshop utilizing the 2023 Work Kit of Design Fiction as an ideation aid.
design fictioncreative practicescreative consciousnessfutures designacademia
Animated gif flipping through images taken by Carlos Gonzalez aka @the1point8 at the Eno screening event at Brain Dead Studios Fairfax
<p class="font-[WarblerDeck] bold text-center text-balance text-[1.5em] sm:text-[2em] leading-none">What happens when futures work intersects the grounded circuits of meaning-making and material culture and not just other futures workers or foresight ‘experts’?</p>
Oct 04, 2024
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.
filmart+technologyeventscreeningcollaborationfuturesvisual storytelling
SuperSeminar Season 03 Episode 01 Presenters Jake Dunagan and Kevin Bethune
Oct 02, 2024 (ref Oct 08, 2024)
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.
eventsuperseminardesigninnovation
Poster for Brain Dead x Near Future Laboratory x Gary Hustwit Collaboration
<p class='font-[InputMonoNarrow] font-medium sm:font-normal text-[1.25em] text-balance text-center mx-8 sm:mx-0'>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.</p>
Oct 02, 2024 (ref Sep 26, 2024)
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.
filmgenerativegenerative artart+technology
Near Future Laboratory Global HQ
Sep 25, 2024
Episode 092 of the Near Future Laboratory Podcast anticipates our 2024 Imagine Harder Summit & Workshop on The Future of Work.
future of workpodcastdesign fictionAI
Cover image of distant early warning signs
<p class='font-[Haffer] text-[2em] text-center mx-auto !mt-[-1.2em]'>A Conversational Card Game</p>"
Sep 24, 2024
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.
cardscreative consciousness