#08 Psycho-Technologies, Infinite Conversations and the Future of P-Leisure
Welcome to the eighth drop of Futures Friends. We’ve curated the newsletter from our members-only Discord to feature an array of links, resources, happenings, and people to follow.
We’re wrapping up a busy few weeks with 333 events in both London and Melbourne. These meetups have become tentpole moments for regional chapters, creating a space for those in the research, insights, and foresight space to share emerging trends, unbaked thoughts, and mini theories. It’s so invigorating to see the breadth and depth of speakers and topics come to light IRL. While we’re all so digitally connected and in touch mostly over screens, having these offline moments is really bringing industry peeps together in a meaningful way. Thank you to dear Amy Daroukakis and Helen Job for hosting the London event, and to Laura Mulcahy and Tully Walter for bringing the Melbourne chapter together.
Our last event for the year is taking place at the Dubai Future Forum hosted Joanna Lepore and is currently at capacity. We’ve got big plans for 2024 so stay tuned for more events popping up in cities such as New York, Copenhagen, and Paris.
Futures News
Weak signals: Uber for chores, here come CarePods, the normie-renaissance, goodbye self-service, personalized AI agents, smart aid kits, neuromorphic computing, The Infinite Conversation, climate change-focused museum, and a collectible design shop.
Job opps: Consultant at ReD Associates in Copenhagen, Insight Manager at Landsec in London, Policy Analyst at the EU Policy Lab: Foresight, Design and Behavioural Insights in Brussels, Internship in the Strategic Foresight Office at the European Space Agency in Paris, Consultant at NEW STANDARD.STUDIO in Berlin, Social Insights and Analytics Manager at Disney in Los Angeles, and multiple foresight roles for the UK’s Department of Science, Innovation, and Technology in London.
Events + gatherings: Future Days in March 2024 taking place in Lisbon, Heart, Head, and Hand: An Evolutionary, Organic, and Natural Approach to Foresight by Think Beyond and TFSX (online and free), DSC Europe 23 (an international AI & Data Conference) in Belgrade, Unveiling 2024: The Nextatlas Trend Report Premiere Webinar (online and free), Without Words: Sensing the Future workshop hosted by Speculative Futures Berlin, and the Global Retail Briefing AW/23 by The Future Collective.
Always be learning: Former Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, Sophie Howe, shares her “Manifesto for the Future” in an interview with Frank Spencer, Sense-making Futures by Policy Horizons, Consciousness and Cognition course by the University of Pisa (online or IRL option), Professional Certificate in Foresight by University of Houston (online or IRL options), new ways of working, and the Underground Garden Club.
Interactive futures: check out Futures Canvas, a futures generator focused on dualities, and Earth 2050.
Long reads and think pieces: Psycho-Technologies for the Age of Collapse, Why so much is going wrong at the same time, More-Than-Human: Design After Human-Centricity, looking at the disconnect between futures work and strategic action.
Far futures: AI in 2063, Education in 2050, the future of the internet, and data storage of the future.
Reports to read: Our Centaur Future by the Radar community, The Future of P-Leisure by Bompas & Parr. PROJECTIONS: Things are not normal (a BBC Research & Development foresight report), Think Forward 2024: The Social Reckoning by We Are Social, Mintel’s 2024 Global Consumer Trends, and Accenture Life Trends 2024.
Worth subscribing: ADJACENT, an online journal of emerging media published by the Interactive Telecommunications Program of New York University.
Meet a FF member: André McQueen
With a unique blend of trend forecasting, design prowess, engineering acumen, and storytelling finesse, Andre thrives amidst complexity - transforming creative briefs into extraordinary realities using experimental design methodologies as his primary toolset. With clientele including Google, Samsung, Nike, and more, Andre's expertise traverses innovation, futures, and user-centric design thinking.
Three tabs or bookmarks you're eager to read:
A conference or event you're most excited about for 2023:
Conferences, no - but a couple of upcoming events at the Royal Institution that hold my interest. An immediate one to close the year:
Future stories: Evolution, AI and interstellar travel (Mon 20 Nov 2023)
To be delivered by David Christian, notable for his work on Big History. I'm curious to learn of his take within the space of Futures thinking.
And to start the year:
Discourse: How the brain shapes reality (Fri 26 Jan 2024)
With philosopher and cognitive scientist, Andy Clark who's set to unveil a 'groundbreaking' new theory of 'controlled hallucination.' Really excited to kick the year off with this one as it could interplay with an area I've been investigating for some time which I call 'Etheralism'.
Recent research hack or tip you've recently adopted:
Now, now - that one is top secret. But one that I’m sure most of us are integrating into our workflows in some shape or form is of course ChatGPT.
I like to use it as a surrogate modeling tool - a temporary extension of my mind to assist in my crazy and document discussions with myself - a shortcut if you will. Naturally, this is only a launchpad to broaden as a divergent tool, offering me the ability to quickly sketch out or adopt alternate mind states or temporarily shift my state of mind - a bit like a thesaurus. It still requires me to bring the convergence to the process - taking those tangential cues in developing a more considered and homogenized thought piece. Ultimately, I use it as a quick-fire exploration/experiment widget.
A Futures Friend you admire but haven't met:
Long respected Alex McDowell and the work he's been doing at the World Building Institute. Been following Alex’s work since discovering his production design role on the film, Minority Report.
Paradigm shift you’ve spotted:
There are always shifts - but I think the one that I would mention was not captured by me - but a former colleague Thomas Klaffke (ex-Head of Research at TrendWatching). I really like his articulation and capture of what he describes as the 'Fetish of Agreement'. The social and political polarization that we are witnessing within environmental and social activism - noting how activists are only likely to be inclined to join forces when a full agreement is in place.
This sparked Q’s and thoughts in my mind - examining this at the basic human connectedness level. The importance of children in schools learning the art of debate and disagreement. What if we fast forward to a compliant society under one unified doctrine - where would this lead us in the innovation space? Would collaboration and coming from differing viewpoints still play a role? Would we still consider ourselves capable of innovation? or would we be deferring this responsibility to some other entity such as a GAN (Generative Adversarial Network) AI? Thomas shares weekly perspective shifting thoughts. Well worth subscribing!