FUTURITY SYSTEMS

For millennia, humans have dominated the earth, and dominated species, “domesticating” plants and animals, and claimed ownership to nature and its resources. Our project Plantiverse is an exploration of rights for plants, by giving them autonomy, building on the Rights of Nature movement's gains of independent legal standing for forests and species. We wanted to see if we could get operational, financial, and even civil rights for non-human living beings. We gave Herbie (a herb houseplant) a form of their own autonomy, letting them make certain decisions on their own. Sensors measure Herbie's state; which are linked to decisions about mobility; so that Herbie, when in need of water or light, will go to the water source / light source. These sensors, in turn, give readings that are then paired with a particular output of an image, leave colors, for example, indicate water level and so on. The rendering, then, becomes a visualization of physiological status of the plant itself, essentially a digital twin, or avatar, of the plant in real life. These visualizations, then were minted in the carbon neutral blockchain and sold as NFTs or NFTrees. The funds raised via the sales will be directed to sustainable causes. http://www.plantiver.se

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Our new magazine inTENSE is a publication that explores the intersection of design and deeptech, and how they will shape the world around us in 2030 – written from the perspective of 2030. It features in-depth research by creative minds driving the future, speculative product roundups and trend reports, in various fields such as fashion, food, entertainment and more. InTENSE is more than just a magazine – it's a community of individuals excited about the future and the possibilities it holds. In this starter issue, we explore the Culturian lifestyle. Culturian is our new word to describe consumers who eat, drink, and wear only things (meat, coffee, leather etc) grown from microbes - not killing any animals or even plants in the process. Join us in imagining a post-vegan world where synthetic biology, microbial fermentation, and other technologies just entering the market today, have become trendy expressions.

Protesters around the world - from Pussy Riot in Moscow, the yellow Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong, Black Lives Matter in the United States, and pro-independence marchers in Catalonia - all have re-made clothing, cell phones, and computers to protect their bodies and identities. Increasingly, even non-protesting people worry about a surveillance capitalism state, where stores recognize your face as you walk in, or track your phone to see what you're browsing for. At the same time, amateur celebrities, influences, and others want to record and share more aspects of their everyday lives, without letting their followers into their innermost private lives. All three of these situations, and more, are driving interest and needs for protecting cyber-physical privacy. The Blur Hoodie provides a system that includes textiles, protective plastics, and electronic features for these situations, in a design that is as timelessly stylish as it is functional and convenient. In addition to the hoodie itself, we developed a catalog page outlining the benefits and features: "Pro athletes, first responders, and astronauts have long had access to the most advanced apparel and accessories. Now the Blur Hoodie brings the same types of materials, electronics, sensors, and algorithms to skateboarding, parkour, athleisure, and street wear. Whether you're practicing steezy kickflips over broken glass, concerned about protecting your personal privacy while shopping in the stores that still exist, or gearing up for a protest that could take a wrong turn, Blur has you covered in every sense." Users say Blur is... “The Patagonia for protests” – A.D., social hacktivist, Karachi “A traceur’s go-to gear” – Z.S., parkour TikTok celebrity, Atlanta “My family’s bubble between surveillance capitalism and the surveillance state.” - K.W., father of three, Stockholm 

What if our food ingredient choices were suddenly restricted - by climate change, health concerns, or the limitations of living inside a base on Mars? How will we cope and compensate? What will we miss the most? You can explore these scenarios, and how you would choose to balance taste, nutrition, and health, by making your own personal food cubes in our PixelAte workshop. It's a practical as well as emotional exercise meant to incite action now. 

We facilitate workshops with your team on-site or remotely. Hundreds of people have used our process for everything from new product development, to scenario planning and personal career development.

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Artificial Intelligence seems to be everywhere, solving problems ranging from healthcare to home cleaning. But to solve the biggest challenges facing humanity or a nation, governments need to know how to best allocate scarce resources such as finance, expertise, and regulatory attention. To help the Spanish government tackle the country's largest challenges, and find opportunities for its innovators beyond its borders, we set up a moonshot program under the auspices of ISDEFE (Ingeniería de Sistemas para la Defensa de España, Engineering Systems for the Defence of Spain). Initially defining 40 moonshot-scale challenges in terms of financial, human, economic, and other impacts, we then went on to document the domestic and international initiatives that the government could tap into in order to solve them. In this ongoing project, using Futurity Science Tools (FST), we are cataloging and categorizing thousands of scientific papers, university startups, patents, and other markers of innovation in AI, to help create a platform that will endure for years to come.

Concept:

We started this project thinking about incels and how to engage them in society. Incels are an internet group of “involuntarily celibate” people, who claim that they are unable to receive sexual or romantic attention despite their desires to. They are often alone and segregated from society, and these feelings can snowball into a larger mental health problem.

Futurity: Visible Friend

We thought about how to solve for this isolation and loneliness, and came up with a two-way mirror that has inside of it a bot that represents yourself. In essence, you can talk to yourself. So you say something to yourself in the morning like “I feel worthless, and I don’t have a place in the world.” The bot inside records it, reviews it, and then sends back a prescribed conversation. The mirror can act as a mental health professional and talk you through your worries.

Looking Forward:

This idea focuses on an asynchronous and scalable future for the mental health realm. With technology like this, we can unburden our existing mental health professionals, and expand AI’s use in this field to work on a large scale. With the help of AI, we can impact millions more people in a more efficient way.

Concept: Asynchronous muscle recording

Through our “synthesizing future” process we unearthed the concept of “asynchronous muscle recording,” and began thinking about real-life examples of electric muscle stimulation, and what other applications this technology could have. We came to TENS, an ab machine that stimulates the muscles in your core. With this in mind, we theorized: What if we could record this muscle stimulation and play it back in someone else’s body?

Futurity: Remote Body Control

Remote body control is an apparatus that connects the muscles of two different bodies through a panel of wires. When two people are connected through the panel with wires and pads, one person’s movements will be mimicked involuntarily by the other.

Looking Forward

From this, we asked how we could push this idea even further. Can we record the muscles in a plant, and translate it into a human? How about if we could track the complicated nuances of a human’s movements and transfer it into someone else, like if an experienced piano player’s muscular activity could be recorded and reinstated into a novice? Even more impactful, can we use this technology to stimulate the muscles of someone who doesn’t have direct control over their muscles, like someone with paraplegia? What we know for sure: technology like this could change lives.

Concept:

The concept we discussed was surrounding this new technology of optogenetics. Optogenetics is a technique that requires a light to control neurons or other types of cells.

Futurity: Biome Brush

The biome brush could send a cocktail of microbiome (mouthwash) on a daily basis to activate or deactivate the microbiome in your mouth.

Looking Forward:

Oral health is connected to your gut, which is connected to your brain. Although this is more of a speculative exercise, we see a future in health here.

Like our other senses, it’s possible to create digital experiences for the tongue, by providing carefully controlled electrical impulses. We set out to explore and refine this new neural interface. This project illustrates our iterative prototyping process. 

1. Functional prototype Initially, we wanted to test whether electronic taste was even possible, regardless of the aesthetics of the device. We created a plastic pad for the tongue, with jumper wires connected straight to a breadboard and simple circuit. We tested various voltages and waveforms to see whether we could stimulate tastes like salty, sweet, bitter, and umami. 

2. Basic design With a few tastes enabled, we turned to the design of form factors that would resemble a real product. For example, we developed easy-to-swap tongue pads with permanent electrodes, so different users and tastes can use the same base unit with batteries and buttons. 

3. Exploring aesthetics We built several mockups with “shelf appeal” - designed to look like an actual product that might be sold in stores. Like actual popsicles, bright colors and unique shapes are meant to enhance the taste experience via other senses.

Concept: Decoupling

Decoupling is the idea that we can divide and isolate our senses for a different experience. After playing with decoupling with Vapeohol, we got curious about what other senses we could separate. Specifically, we were interested in a way to taste without sustenance.

Futurity: Electronic Popsicle

The electronic popsicle uses controlled electrical currents to activate specific taste receptors on the tongue, creating the sensation of tasting without the need for ingestion. By modulating the intensity, duration, and frequency of the electrical signals, the device can replicate a wide range of taste sensations.

Looking Forward

Now that we have successfully decoupled taste and food, we wonder about connecting another senses to taste, like hearing. Can you taste sounds? What if you could connect a speaker to your tongue and taste your favorite song? Could musicians create a culinary experience, or chefs make music? Once you can decouple senses, you can recouple them in fascinating ways.

Vaping has transformed how people intake nicotine, offering an alternative to tobacco smoking and an explosion of innovation in flavors, delivery devices, and business models. What if we could do the same with alcohol? We created a device for experiencing fragrant spirits in a new way - even adding fluorescence, holograms, and music - that users describe in equally glowing terms.  

Concept: Decoupling

The concept of decoupling taste from food offers a way to explore the pleasure of flavors without any of the physiological effects. With this idea, we wanted to know how we could induce and replicate the sense of smell without a beverage itself. Could we replicate the pleasure of drinking without actually ingesting anything?

Futurity: Vapeohol:

As an attempt to achieve this decoupling, we divided the smell of alcohol from the other senses associated with drinking alcohol like taste or inebriation. From this, we invented Vapeohol, which converts alcoholic beverages into vapor form, allowing people to experience the sensory aspects and flavors without actually absorbing any alcohol into their bloodstream. In essence, drinking not to get drunk, just to enjoy the aromas and the experience of lifting a glass to your mouth, true to traditional drinking methodology.

Looking Forward

Where else could this take us? Beyond the immediate sensory appeal, alcohol vaporization technology holds potential for addressing health concerns related to alcohol consumption. We could reduce liver issues, alcoholism, and drunken accidents. Additionally, in a world where auditory and visual technologies are flourishing, a concept like Vapeohol could add a unique layer to the virtual space by incorporating a more sensory, and immersive experience.

Concept: Structural Coloration

There are certain types of plastic that has what’s called “nanogrooves” that when the light hits them in a certian way, the light is reflected and creates a color. We wondered about how we could incorporate this light reflection into something else.

Futurity: Chocodescent

We made chocodescent as a fun experiment with food. You take a piece of the material with nanogrooves, pour the chocolate on top, and it will take on the nanogrooves, and reflect light too.

Looking Forward:

Nanogrooves work with lots of different things, so who knows what’s next!