Near Future Laboratory Podcast · 2025-08-03 · 53 min
Please support the podcast over on Patreon. We don’t suffer from a lack of imagination about the future. We suffer from too much of the same imagination. Every deck, every keynote, every speculative prototype - still echoing the same tropes: chrome cities, self-driving pods, dystopian biotech. A future flattened by repetition. Familiar. Market-tested. Boring. In episode 100 of the podcast, I caught up (again) with the gang at N O R M A L S. We found ourselves circling this question: Why do so many futures feel interchangeable? And what would it take to build ones that aren’t? Their proposal: Near future archetypes - modular, remixable worlds that aren’t just provocations but tools. Not just imagined futures, but working assets for innovation, policy, and design. Think less “trend report,” more “playable terrain.” It’s a shift from one-off spectacle to living systems. Instead of discarding scenarios each year, why not iterate them? Build them out like open-source lore. Let them gain rules, friction, culture. Let them become strange enough to surprise us. Because here’s the quiet truth: people don’t just adopt futures because they’re rationally compelling.
N°104 - Marina Zurkow & Sarah Rothberg54 / 100
N°062 - Structure vs. Imagination with Andy Polaine
N°103 - Tom Guarriello The Meaning of Branded Objects
N°102 - The Art of Possible with Dave Gray
N°101 - Kirby Ferguson Infinite Remix