Brian David Johnson

Designing The Future…And Building It…With Science Fiction

2015

About this talk

The future is not an accident. The future doesn’t just happen. The future is built everyday by the actions of people. But before you can build the future you have to imagine it. Join internationally renowned futurist Brian David Johnson to explore how we can design our futures and then go about building them. Johnson will share his framework and process as well as a recent example: Open source 3D printable Robots! Born in science fiction a decade ago and now walking, talking and joking their way into the hearts, minds and imagination of kids and grownups all over the world.

About Brian David Johnson

The future is Brian David Johnson’s business. As a futurist he develops an actionable 10-15 year vision for the future of technology and what it will feel like to live in the future. His work is called “futurecasting”—using ethnographic field studies, technology research, trend data, and even science fiction to provide a pragmatic vision of consumers and computing. Johnson works with governments, militaries, trade organizations, start-ups and multinational corporations to help them envision their future. He was appointed first futurist ever at the Intel Corporation in 2009. Johnson speaks and writes extensively about future technologies in articles (The Wall Street Journal, Slate, IEEE Computer, Successful Farming) and both science fiction and fact books (21st Century Robot, Vintage Tomorrows, Science Fiction Prototyping, and Fake Plastic Love). Johnson lectures around the world and teaches as a professor at The University of Washington and The California College of the Arts MBA program. He appears regularly on Bloomberg TV, PBS, FOX News, and the Discovery Channel and has been featured in Scientific American, The Technology Review, Forbes, INC, and Popular Science. He has directed two feature films and is an illustrator and commissioned painter.

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