FUTURE OF XYZ Future of Thinking About the Future | Nick Foster | S7 E19 (Rerelease)
Dec 23, 2025
Nick Foster, acclaimed industrial and futures designer and author, reflects on how we imagine futures and why that matters. He outlines four ways of thinking about the future and why rigor and public critique are needed. Conversation touches on everyday design implications, algorithmic accountability, youth mental health, sustainability, and the goal of widespread futures literacy.
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Teach Audiences To Push Back
- Empower audiences to challenge futurists by asking clarifying questions and demanding evidence.
- Foster wrote a layperson book so consumers can push back and force higher-quality futures work.
Volatile Present Increases Need For Better Foresight
- Rapid present-day volatility makes forming detailed futures harder, but that increases the need for better foresight.
- Foster invokes William Gibson: we have 'insufficient now to stand on' so we must model uncertainty and externalities.
Design For The Future Mundane
- Foster champions the 'future mundane' — focus on how everyday lives change rather than only extremes.
- He tests futures by imagining ordinary people (e.g., Derek on a bus) to reveal tangible implications.
