A FICTIONAL REALITY: Oxymoron
Illustration by Brett Ryder
Article, design fiction & imaginary futures written by Jennifer Gasser, mentions that author William Gibson, in a 2012 interview, dismissed the idea that his writing should be predictive:
“You’re not creating enough imaginary futures. Because if you create enough of them, you’d better get it wrong — a lot.“
( Dayal, 2012)
Traveling from a far of future of 2038, setting afoot with a defined goal to enable people to think, imagine, change actioning in their everyday life, to create a tangent towards one of the many imaginary futures. Now, I say “one of the many” because there are many possible futures with some being plausible, others being probable, rest being proposterous and a far greater number being preferrable. Every human being is a vessel of opinions, thoughts, ideologies framed from past experiences, acting as a virtual time machine. Relive the past, imagine a future. Foresight, ability to anticipate events and act accordingly, such a superpower (Suddendorf et al., 2022). Exactly how it should be described, because we hold abundant power to create a future, where for example, animals and humans co-exist peacefully solely through our imagination.
Now, imagine creating a future solely through our actions for our preferrable future? The image above isn’t quite incomprehensible, however, the beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. This proves how differently every beholder interprets the informative world.
Design Research is only a method evoking change in behavior, to materialise based on present hopes and fears. Foresight, brought to light through storytelling provides narrative in real and imaginary abstracts. Research through design creates a fictional element through speculative scenarios to educate not only people but oraganizations towards achieving that future (A Leap Into the Unknown: How ‘Design Fiction’ Is Shaping Our Future, 2020).
Organizations habitually formulate future trends, highlighting growth over a period of time. A trend, a prediction becoming a growing future to build upon, towards achieving that future. Like the phrase “walking towards the light at the end of the tunnel”.
A STORY
Imagination is merely adapting in a new environment but thriving by shaping it (Reeves, 2021). To dwelve, Imagine and embody the following think-out-loud, written by you when 10 years old.
12 years back in time…approximately
“On a sunny Sunday morning, I woke being burdened by a heavy question, which I couldn’t possibly know the answers to… However, without putting much thought, I dressed to jog downstairs for breakfast. I think to myself, maybe mum or dad might know..? in a questioning tone
So I asked, they seemed quite shocked at the question, but I didn’t comprehend their reactions. The question was.. what if I died, and my future self replaced me? Ofcourse, this means I would be older so I would know more. Since, I didn’t get any answer, I decided to explore it by myself. So I sat there, and imagined “this futuristic universe”, to draw it out. A world where we are taken over by ” _______” (Insert your current fear), but not to worry we always get rescued by the superhero, whose power is to “_______” (Insert what makes you feel safe currently). However, there is an evil villian, who tries to stop the hero because he is scared of change, mostly the unknown. But, deep down he wishes for the same change which is “_______” (Insert what change you wish to see right now). Since, the world has been so unkind to him, he doesn’t trust anything. So he helps in taking over the world. But the superhero wants to be his friend so he reaches out, he thinks to himself If i were him what would I like to have “_______” (Insert what action could you take to fight this fear). Just like this, he imagined a future”
TEACHING ONESELF
Imagining your younger self have such fears slowly stripping them off their innocence, how can we help them thrive by shaping their experiences. Rather than striving to build a future for your future children, what if you built “the” future for yourselves? How would you communicate to your parents 12 years ago, to design for a change? Now, what is stopping you to implement these actions right now? We aim for change through awarenenss, but what is the right amount of awareness needed to create a change?
We strive to teach ourselves through a series of visual imageries with the help of a children’s book, sent by your/ mine/ all our children. A reality, maybe different from what you imagined when you were a kid, or maybe similar, utopian or dystopian, a way to pass down this knowledge. The knowledge from your past, the information learned in your present, creating a knowedgable information vessel of a future. Eventhough challenges change with time, our actions remain to deliver a feasible future for ourselves communicated through relatable elements of life. Relationships give a sense of a projected future because they can be a continuation of the past and present (Voros, 2017). Picture books are not only helpful for children but also for adults, to help understand complexity in a safe way. Hence, we want to translate this to our audience to educate them that their actions do have consequences (MaryAlice, 2017).
References
A leap into the unknown: how ‘design fiction’ is shaping our future. (2020, February 21). Journey to Zero. https://journeytozerostories.neste.com/sustainability/leap-unknown-how-design-fiction-shaping-our-future
MaryAlice. (2017, November 6). Why Picture Books are so Important to Readers of all Ages. Aurora Public Library District. https://eapld.org/2017/11/06/why-picture-books-are-so-important-to-readers-of-all-ages/
Reeves, M. (2021, February 1). We Need Imagination Now More Than Ever. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2020/04/we-need-imagination-now-more-than-ever
Suddendorf, T., Redshaw, J., & Bulley, A. (2022, October 14). Why the ability to imagine the future is at the heart of human nature – even if we often get it terribly wrong. The Globe and Mail. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-why-the-ability-to-imagine-the-future-is-at-the-heart-of-human-nature/
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