WHY FUTURIST SHOULD LEARN FROM VIRUSES: HOW MIGHT WE INFECT PEOPLE WITH “FUTURES THINKING”?

Day02. Thursday, July 08 17:45 EDT

COVID-19 gave a new meaning to what the word ‘viral’ means. At its core, a virus is information that wants to spread itself, packaged in protein. Futures are alternative narratives that want to spread themselves packaged in communications. Given this similarity, how might we infect people with Futures Thinking? This talk will explore the idea of Social-Media-Centered Design, a mutated variant of storytelling that is highly infectious and how it can be useful when designing futures for all.

Futurist needs to learn to become more like viruses. I recently graduated from Design School, got conscripted by the Royal Thai Navy during a pandemic, and I'm here to tell you why we need to learn from viruses. Because if we don't, this field won't survive last long.

When I was conscripted, I spent a lot of time thinking about what I learned in Design School. And one of the class that stood out is called "Futures". The class was taught by this loud-talking, four-syllable word loving, Australian professor name Stuart Candy. That class changed the way I thought about how Design can make an impact. That was a year ago, and I still remembered the class, but now I'm starting to see its problems.

Futures is a very exclusive field. We're not reaching a lot of people. And we're also not reaching those who need us most. Try talking about decolonized futures, plurality, and strategic foresight with a smoking solider that's watching TikTok and they'll think you're crazy. And I know a lot of work is being done to make this field become more accessible, but compared to internet memes and viral videos; we don't stand a chance.

COVID-19 have really gave a new meaning to what the word "viral" means. And I think now, is the best time to do some bio-mimicry, innovate from nature, and learn from this virus. So, as IDEO might phrase it: How might we infect people with Futures Thinking?

A virus is basically information that wants to spread itself packaged in protein. Futures is basically alternative narratives that want to spread itself packaged in communications. A virus tricks other cells into letting it in to make viral copies of itself. So how can Futures go viral? How can we reach more people and not just those traditionally in power? To answer that question, I turned to content creators like NasDaily and enrolled at the NasAcademy to learn to make impactful 1-minute videos. For everyday, for 1000 days NasDaily made a 1-minute video. On 1,000th day he had 11.8m followers on Facebook, and to date he has reached 3.2% of the world's population.Imagine a world, where 3.2% of the world's population knows what a futures cone is. We could achieve world peace.

If Design Futures is serious about being "Futures For All" and being a "global community", then we need to learn from Youtubers, Facebookers, and yes even TikTokers.And after 30-days of learning from NasAcademy, I made a video that's been viewed by almost 400,000 people. Virality can be engineered. And guess what I learned: it's storytelling. But wait, isn't that what Design School should have taught you? Hell no, we were taught mostly how to tell UX stories to professors, organizations, and companies just not everyday people. So here's what I learned from this mutated variant of storytelling that is highly infectious. I'll call it: Social-Media-Centered Design, and this is how it can be useful for Design Futures For All.

Supawat recently graduated from Carnegie Mellon School of Design (2020) and got conscripted by the Thai Navy during a pandemic (2021). He is a Product and Content Designer who has previously worked as a UX-Designer with iRobot, Fiat Chrysler, and the US General Service Administration. In addition to a Bachelors of Design in Product Design, he also holds a NasAcademy Creator certificate. Supawat is also obsessed with natural systems. When he was conscripted, he spent a lot of time thinking about a class called "Futures". He is interested in how participatory design and storytelling on social media can be used to localize "Futures Thinking" beyond academia in the South-East Asia Region.