Last Week from the Near Future N°007 - Week 49/2023

Here it is. Another episode of 'Last Week from the Near Future'. This is Episode 007, for Week 49 of 2023. Please support the Near Future Laboratory Podcast and get access to our awesomely vibrant Near Future Laboratory Discord community over on Patreon. Here's what I covered. PDPal: A 20-Year Anniversary I'm taking you on a trip down memory lane as I reminisce about the PDPal project, an emotional GPS I worked on 20 years ago. Discover how it made its way to the Times Square Jumbotron and how this early exploration of technology was an art-led prototyping of the kinds of location-based experiences we now take for granted from mobile devices. What most resonates for me about this project, on reflection, is the critical role of imagination and imaginative art projects in driving innovation. And it occurred to me that this was as good a time as any to reflect on the two major mobile projects I've done in my career, that being PDPal and the OMATA App. Both were done on a bit of a shoestring and with fairly high personal stakes, and both are, I would say and have been told, beautiful and evocative instances of design and engineering. Archigram and Speculative Architecture Archigram! The renowned collective of architects known for their imaginative designs in the 1960s. Consider their speculative architectural practice in contrast to today's world of Generative AI + Architecture, a topic I invite you to join me to discuss in Super Seminar 005 (https://superseminar.school) Patreon and Near Future Laboratory I'm excited to announce our new Patreon, where you can join me and many others in the Near Future Laboratory Discord, along with our weekly office hours. We've had an incredible 190 sessions so far – that's 190 Friday's in a row, as of last week! (https://patreon.com/nearfuturelaboratory) Chris's Employee Handbook Project Chris Butler is the showrunner for this project in the Discord: creating an employee handbook as a Design Fiction archetype in order to explore possible futures of organizations. Book Haul Check out 'The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America' by Julian Montague. This book cleverly treats shopping carts as natural phenomena within our world of stuff – it's a fascinating read. Very kinda Design Fiction-y. Magazine from the Future of AI Project I'm introducing a draft proposal for the 'AI Future Magazine' project. Our goal is to make the AI future more tangible and relatable. If you want to get involved and help create a magazine set in a future where AI is an everyday part of life, join us through Patreon!