What does being a design futurist mean to me?
One of my favorite things to look at are those retro predictions of what technology would be like in the future. There is something delightful about them trying their darnedest, but still limiting themselves with wires, bulky hardware, and the status quo. Don’t go buy a newspaper, read it on your TV! Need your smart watch to do something, there’s a physical button for that! And so many remotes.
I also like techno-future movies and books, where you get to see characters interacting in a future world, presumably addressing all of our modern inconveniences. Remember Minority Report? I wonder if Tom Cruise needed a stunt double for all of those tiring hand gestures. There’s something beautiful about the blindspots we still have when we’re unencumbered by realistic limitations. We still hold back, not fully optimizing the experience, and we don’t even know we’re doing it.
On a more personal note, I remember being on vacation when my daughter called for us to pause the tv while she ran to the restroom. I watched her little face scrunch up in confusion as I explained that the cartoon was live and we couldn’t pause it. When I finally gave her a starter phone, it was a refurbished Nokia 1209. Poor thing would spend huge chunks of time tapping away at the keyboard and moments later I would get a text message to the effect of, “Hi mom, I love you.” Otherwise known as 44 444 66666 4444 55566688833 999966688.
We’re always stuck in the middle of those worlds. Looking back to laugh while feigning confidence about the future. Knowing this is empowering. Today, when I see an invention or future prediction that wows me, I think about it’s potential to be laughable in the future. I try to think hard: “What am I missing? What are the biases and limitations we don’t see yet?”
So what do I do? I dig around in the Google Patent Database like it’s my secret treasure trove and crystal ball all at once.
