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This episode is motivated by the recent release of Deepseek AI's new model, which is a game-changer in the world of AI. Deepseek AI is a company that has been making waves in the AI community with its innovative approach to machine learning and artificial intelligence. But over here? At Near Future Laboratory's Learning & Development Division? We are not just interested in the technology itself, but in the implications of this technology for our everyday lives. That's why we're excited to announce our next General Seminar S06E01 - A Design Fiction Sprint Into Everyday AI Futures.
How will commodity AI that's just comes out of the tap change the way we live, work, and interact with each other?
(Remember when not everyone had 'Internet' and it came in a box and you had to have a dial-up modem and it was a big deal? And then it just became something that was ubiquitous and you didn't even know you had it? Yeah, that. But AI.)
(Some of you might not know what this 'dial-up modem' thing of which I speak is. Ask your uncle Ned. He'll talk your ear off about 'BBS's' PPP, and Fetch.)
Ask yourself this: If AI becomes commodity and as about as ubiquitous as luggage with wheels and teenage acne, what does that even mean to inhabit that world? What's sitting on our kitchen counters? How will you be deciding what to eat for breakfast? How will you make breakfast?
Etcetera. You get the idea.
Ready to join me in the Near Future Laboratory's janky time machine? Want to join a group of forward-thinking creatives like you as we deploy Design Fiction to imagine and sense into the implications of AI in everyday life? Let's go.
We'll be dividing into small groups and working on ideating and prototyping an actual Design Fiction artifact that has come from a possible commodity AI future. Using Design Fiction methodologies, we'll create a prototype of an artifact that could exist in the future, and then present it back to the group.
A prototype might be a short news article from the near future in which AI is amongst us just as routinely as wheels on luggage. Perhaps you find an advertisement for a new kind of psychic intelligence parlor. Or you might find a bedside alarm clock or a companion intelligence that works with you on We won't be overly precious about the fidelity of our prototypes. We will be limited only by our imagination and our conversations with each other.
What do I get?
🤔 Imagine and sense into the implications of AI in everyday life🥩 Imagine into possible speculative AI-infused products, services, and gewgaws
🧰 Learn hands-on how Design Fiction works
🧠 Bulk up your ability to imagine the unimagined
🧂 Learn to accept the inexplicable & unexpected as the new normal.
👷🏽♀️ Use Design Fiction to co-create a speculative 'Design Fiction prototype' of an artifact that's come from a possible AI future
🤼 Meet, discuss, connect with other forward-thinking creatives
🎟️ Expand your network of human and non-human collaborators
🔍 Discover new ideas and project opportunities (it totally happens!)
How Does It Work?
General Seminar offers an alternative to conventional one-way learning experiences like podcasts, TED Talks, or Masterclasses. This is a hands-on seminar where we are all actively engaged in collaborative sense-making by imagining into and creatively conjuring artifacts that represent the futures indicated by the topic. This is followed by sharing and discussions where you will be able to consider how today's emergent themes and cultural idioms may become tomorrow's normal-ordinary-everyday. The goal of General Seminar is to collectively imagine potential futures and derive actionable insights. This is a unique forum for creative stimulation and lateral thinking. General Seminar will invigorates your imagination, leveraging the remarkable efficacy of the imagination to turn ideas into tangible artifacts.
Key Outcomes Include
Creative Stimulation: Provocative discussions that inspire new perspectives and ideas.
Tangible Artifacts: Design Fiction outputs that serve as “souvenirs” of imagined futures, including fictional advertisements, products, or practices.
Format
General Seminar is a 90-minute webinar-structured event designed to maximize engagement and insight. Conducted online (and live, in-person on special occasions!)
Participants receive a worksheet and access to the online edition of the Near Future Laboratory's Work Kit of Design Fiction
❥ Reception (5 minutes): Participants are welcomed and introduced to the topic.
❥ Design Fiction Breakout (25 minutes): Using the provided Worksheet, groups of 2-3 participants jump in the Near Future Laboratory's time machine and travel to the near future to engage in creative exploration, world building by 'finding' and imagining the kinds of artifacts one might stumble across in a possible near future world.
❥ Seminar (40 minutes): Facilitated group discussion to delve deeply into the topic.
❥ Wrap-Up (10 minutes): Summary and conclusions.
This immersive, collaborative format distinguishes General Seminar as a space for actionable creativity and innovative thought.