Title: The Future Agency
Context: Any prediction about the future is pure fiction. Until it isn’t.
Synopsis: If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans. If you want to have him (or her!) ROTFL, tell him (or her!!!) what you think the future holds. As designers, we are expected to know about such things. We humanize technology, making it useful and improving the world with our vision. We don’t so much predict the future as conjure it. But like a good magician we also don’t share our secrets. Our methods of prognostication remain our own, lest these powers of perception fall into the wrong hands. Also like a good magician, most of what we show the world about their alternatively dystopian or utopian future depending on our mood at the time, is — and let us all redouble our efforts to never let this truth leak outside our professional coven — utter nonsense. Our guess is generally as good as the next person’s. We just know how to present it in a much more believable way. You know, like a good magician does.
Best Bit: “While creating a high fidelity image of the future may broaden people’s imagination for what’s possible, it can also really narrow their perception of what’s possible or what their options are.”
via theverge.com
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