Self-Paced Work - Envisioning the Future

Choose an option below to continue exploring the topics covered in the lecture, and get creative!

Options

There are two main options.

Option 1 - World-Building and Narrative

For this option, you will create a future world, and tell a story that takes place in that world.

Option 2 - Business Plan and Marketing

For this option, you will create a product to sell, and write some ad copy for the product.

Getting Started

To being with either option, you will want to follow a few steps:

1. Choose a technology (or technologies) to use in your project
   • Keep in mind, the technology should be either emerging or hypothetical
   • You can also come up with a totally new hypothetical technology idea!
2. Research that technology to see how it has been used
   • For an emerging technology, try to figure out some of its real-world applications
   • For a hypothetical technology, find some places where it has been used in science fiction
3. Keep track of your notes in a new text file, word document, Google doc, or on paper!

Technology Ideas

There are a ton of technologies out there that could make for some great stories. Here is a small sampling of options:

• Self-driving cars
• Artificial general intelligence
• Virtual reality worlds
• Advanced smart devices
• Robots
• Brain-computer interfaces
• Quantum computers
• Mind uploading
• Thought recording
• Self-replicating spacecrafts

For more, check out these Wikipedia lists:

• List of emerging technologies
• List of hypothetical technologies

Putting the Project Together

After doing some preliminary research, it's time to start putting it to use! The questions on the form are outlined below.

Use this form to walk through each part: https://forms.gle/xyQTcqkaDmsg5v448

Option 1 - Template

For the world-building/narrative, there will be a few things you'll want to come up with:

The World

• What year does your world exist?
• Have governments been impacted by the new technology?
• Have arts & culture been impacted by the new technology?
• Have business & labor been impacted by the new technology?
• Is the world a utopia? A dystopia? Something in between?

The Main Character

• What is the main character's name?
• What is their job?
• Do they have any other important characteristics?
• How does the new technology impact them in their daily life?

The Story

The story can take many different forms, but it may be beneficial to follow a traditional storytelling structure. One good one is the story spine.

The important thing is that the reader should get to see your main character experience your world and interact with the futuristic technology.

Option 2 - Template

For the business plan, you'll want to come up with a few different things:

Basic Product / Company Info

• What problem does your product solve?
• How does your product solve that problem?
• How is your product different from other products on the market now?
• What is the mission statement of the company?

Sales

• Will you sell your product to businesses or consumers?
• Who is your target audience?
  • Age range, interests, occupations, other demographics
• How much will your product cost? What will your pricing models look like?
• How will you market your product? Will you have advertisements on TV, social media, podcasts, etc?

The Pitch / Ad Copy

This can take many different forms, but the main idea is this: write a paragraph or two selling your product. Talk about the problem being solved, the benefits of your solution, the potential applications of the technology, and why someone should purchase it.