Synopsis

How do we manage our depleting natural resources as we continue to struggle with overpopulation? How do we build happier lives when we continue to fail to educate future generations? How do we stay both physically and socially connected to one another as we continue to isolate ourselves further with technology?

We all yearn for a world that works better, serves better, feels better. We want a world that works for us, not against us. However, few visionaries know how to execute ideas that radically enhance standards of living worldwide. By merging two worlds in creative ways - design and technology - designer and futurist Phnam Bagley exposes wonderful opportunities to build that better future for all.

Today, the process of merging technology and design can be lengthy and frustrating. Egos, top-heavy corporate bureaucracy, bad habits, lack of vision, and aversion to calculated risk-taking stand in the way of greatness.

By defining a future in contrast with today’s status quo, design and technology can find common grounds to support human flourishing and sustainable practices. This is also an occasion to think far and wide about opportunities and set up a solid foundation for the next generation of thought leaders and thought doers to build on. In choosing between soft evolution and radical revolution, history tells us that the greatest innovations happen by necessity, after surviving a period of desperation. The question is: do humans feel they are desperate enough to revolutionize the world they have built? If so, do they know where to start the transformation?

One example of subjects covered by the book is "The Future is Hackable". By merging performance, science and technology, we give humans the opportunity to hack their body’s capabilities and reach greater heights. Stimulating the motor cortex to reach our state of flow can help us learn movement faster. Shining near infrared light on specific areas of the brain has shown life-changing improvements to Alzheimer’s disease patients. Sleep quality can be hacked to ensure better energy and focus during the day. Children will have the opportunity to hack their school environment to suit their intellectual and emotional needs. Childhood Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) can be alleviated playing video games that feature closed feedback loops.

What if we could do more to hack, ease, expand and push the limits of homo sapiens and prepare ourselves for the next stage of our evolution, whether on Earth or off?

Other subjects include:

--The Future of Travel: how transportation technology, service robotics, low-touch economy, energy efficiency, pleasure, privacy and safety will evolve the way we move.
--The Future of Education: how aligning education with the future of work, supporting a child’s emotional wellbeing, welcoming neurodiversity, encouraging autonomy and acting sustainably will prepare our children for the world we are leaving them.
--The Future of Food: how technology can tackle the overpopulation problem, sustenance v. pleasure, cruelty v. responsibility, food design, hospitality and our relationship to the senses.
--The Future of Exploration: how humans are going to settle on the Moon and Mars, physical and mental health, the place of nature, living v. surviving.
--The Future of Sports: how pushing the limits of cognitive neuroscience, hyper-customizing protective equipment with generative design and 3D printing, and developing new biosensors will enhance performance and secure gold medals.

Phnam Bagley is a French industrial designer and aerospace architect. She has spent 20 years designing the future of many industries, including consumer electronics, biotech, education, wearables, luxury goods, safety and aerospace. She is the co-founder of Nonfiction, a design firm based in San Francisco that turns science fiction into reality for a better future. Her clients range from Fortune 500 companies to startups, covering four continents. She is a rare breed of creatives that can solve highly technical problems and bring more humanity to the smallest detail of her designs. Her work includes designing a revolutionary educational system for Singapore and Japan, eco-friendly audio devices for The House of Marley, a neuro-primer that enhance Olympians’ performance for Halo Neuroscience, wearables that use electricity as medicine for Cala Health, paradigm-shifting Human Headphones, pressurized rovers for astronauts to explore the surface of Mars and more.

Workbook included for practical applications.

Sales arguments

• Spent 4 years designing spacecraft, habitats and rovers for Mars. Holds a Master’s degree in aerospace architecture. Worked with NASA, ESA, SICSA and Mars Academy USA. Currently designing forward-thinking educational systems for Singapore and Japan to align with the future of work, autonomy and societal flourishing.
• Speaks internationally on the subject of "Design for a Better Future" at universities (Northwestern, CCA, Shanghai, Changsha, Wuhan, Chengdu), design and technology conferences (TransTech, AIAS, AIGA), podcasts (Lens/Advanced Design, New Minds, Hive Masterclass), incubators (Founder Institute Silicon Valley, London, Singapore, Indonesia) and leadership organizations (Hive USA, France, Nigeria).
• Amazing record of turning science fiction into commercially viable products. Examples include Halo Sport, the first consumer-grade neurostimulating wearable that helps learns movement faster, currently used by Olympians and professional sports teams like the SF Giants; Human Headphones, the first on-ear headphones without a band; Cala Trio, the first FDA-approved wearable that uses electricity as medicine to help tremor patients control their hands.
• Adjunct professor of Industrial Design at California College of the Arts for 4 years. And Co-host of Future Future, a YouTube video series about design and the future of everything. 1,400 followers on Instagram, 200 followers on Facebook, 1200 followers on LinkedIn and growing.
• Board advisor at Smart Kaya (African tech for Africans), Lovable Curves (volumewear for cisgender and transgender women), Elevate Structure (portable architecture) and ArchiCampground (micro-workspaces in nature).

Similar titles

• On the Future: Prospects for Humanity Kindle Edition by Martin Rees. Princeton University Press (October 16, 2018). Says The future of humanity is bound to the future of science and hinges on how successfully we harness technological advances to address our challenges.
• Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life Hardcover – September 20, 2016 by Bill Burnett (Author), Dave Evans. Knopf; 1 edition (September 20, 2016). A book that shows you how to build—design—a life you can thrive in, at any age or stage
• The Design of Future Things Kindle Edition by Don Norman. Basic Books (May 12, 2009). A powerful primer on how--and why--some products satisfy customers while others only frustrate them.

Audience

People who are out to change the world: founders and VCs. People looking for hope in the future. People on the edge of speculative technologies. Students, designers, founders, corporate people.