A Griefbot-app :: Future :: Technology Impact Cycle Tool

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Depending on the technology you are assessing, some categories are more important than others. Here you can indicate how important you think this category is for this technology.

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If this category is not applicable for this technology, please select 'Yes.'

What could possibly happen with this technology in the future?

The Griefbot can be an important support for people and a normal part of grieving, on the other hand, there is a lot of potential for future abuse. A better Griefbot does not automatically mean that there will be a better world.

(Only the gray shaded text is printed on the Quick Scan canvas)

Discuss this quickly and note your first thoughts here. Think about what happens when 100 million people use your product. How could communities, habits and norms change?

(This question is part of the Quick Scan)

Sketch a or some future scenario (s) (20-50 years up front) regarding the technology with the help of storytelling. Start with at least one utopian scenario.

When my mother died I was only four years old. Now that I am twenty eight years old I only heard the stories from family members and people who worked with her, about the wonderful person she must have been. 

Four years ago our daughter was born. She is four years old now and I keep on struggling with this missing part in my life. What kind of things would my mother have said to a four year old from her role as a grandma? 

I thought I would never know, until this new technology came up. They call it a grief bot, but my daughter just calls it grandma. She talks to her all the time and I hear them giggling when I walk out the room. Sometimes she whispers that my daughter is exactly like I was at that age. What a nice thing that my daughter can grow up with the (grand)mother I never had, although they will never meet in person. 

But, what does 'meeting in person' actually means now that everything has gone digital? Is it really necessary to make a distinction between what is fake and what is real? For my daughter grandma is real and that is the only thing that counts...

Storytelling and futuring helps you to identify the possible impact of your technology in years to come. It also can help you to rethink your technology now, and re-enter the answers on questions in different categories. In this case you write down a very utopian scenario.

Sketch a or some future scenario (s) (20-50 years up front) regarding the technology with the help of storytelling. Start with at least one dystopian scenario.

When Carl died we all wanted to stay connected, like everyone does when the grief bot asks you if you want to remember a person's life and connect again.

But when we connected I got a whole different Carl than I expected. In my mind he has always been the most caring husband, the best I could wish for. But now that I have asked him some questions, he gave me some unexpected answers. And when my friends asked him questions he answered very rude. Was this always the case and did I just didn't see it? 

I don't know what to do with it anymore: should I keep my own memories alive or should I replace them with new ones? Do I end up with a totally different person in the end? What is real and what is fake? I don't know it anymore.

The strangest thing is that my friends say I should get myself into a new relationship again and forget about Carl. But how can I do that when he keeps on talking to me like he is still with us? It feels like betrayal if I leave him now. Or do I betray myself be not letting him go? How did people do this in the old days? Did people just disappear in time? Could they be forgotten?

I feel trapped in this situation but it's like a circle I can't get out of.

Would you like to live in one of this scenario's? Why? Why not?

Keeping dead people alive might seem logical and nice, but has the pitfall that people can no longer be forgotten in a natural way. In my western culture nature intended us to slightly disappear from each others minds, bit this is not possible anymore. What does that do to our human values and to our mental and physical state of mind? Is this a healthy or unhealthy part that we choose to walk on? Could we foresee this when things seemed less complicated?

Try to discuss this groupwise to learn from each others viewpoints.

What happens if the technology (which you have thought of as ethically well-considered) is bought or taken over by another party?

No, we haven't thought about that at all. Like most technology developers we decided to launch the tool first and see what happens. I don't know what other people will do with it, but if an investor wants to pay me a million I think I will sell my idea's anyhow. 

What do you think? Could an external part be a 'bad actor'? What could possibly go wrong? I still have my million dollars though...

- What would you do if someone offers you a million dollars for your ethically well-considered tool? - Did you make scenarios for a buy-out? - Did you take measures to prevent a different party from handling the technology differently in the future than you originally intended?

Impact Improvement: Now that you have thought hard about the future impact of the technology, what improvements would you like to make? List them below.

Maybe we should decide on not making or implementing things if the future scenario's turn out to be too radical. But things will change and society changes as well. And what will happen if somebody else decides differently? 

Do we really have an opt-out if the standard is to opt-in or is this just an illusion? Do we really have a choice?

(Only the gray shaded text is printed on the Improvement Scan canvas)

If you think about an utopian and a dystopian scenario. If you think about the way this technology can change the world. If you think about the consequences of a different party buying your technology. If you think about all that, what would you (want to) improve? In the technology? In context? In use? The answers on questions 1-5 help you to gain insight into the potential impact of this technology in the future. The goal of these answers is not to provide you with a 'go' or ' no go' - decision. The goal is to make you think HOW you can improve the use of the technology. This can be by making changes to the technology or making changes to the context in which the technology is used, or making changes in the way the technology is used.

(This question is part of the Improvement Scan)

How do you rate the quality of your answers? Not good Can be better Good enough Very good

Are you satisfied with the quality of your answers? The depth? The level of insight? Did you have enough knowledge to give good answers? Give an honest assessment of the quality of your answers.

LTFE

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Articles / Websites

What Is Futures Literacy and Why Is It Important
(https://medium.com/copenhagen-institute-for-futures-studies/what-is-futures-literacy-and-why-is-it-important-a27f24b983d8)

Speculative design
(https://www.invisionapp.com/inside-design/speculative-design/)

Social media future
(https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/11/30/opinion/social-media-future.html)

Over scenarioplanning: hoe verhalen kunnen helpen je voor te bereiden op de toekomst (in Dutch)
(https://decorrespondent.nl/11439/de-toekomst-is-onzeker-en-dat-is-maar-goed-ook/1333243189575-4e7cd728)

The Future We Want, seen from a student perspective
(https://www.oecd.org/education/2030-project/)

This is how design fiction could shape a sustainable (real) future | World Economic Forum
(https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/11/what-is-design-fiction-and-how-can-it-shape-the-real-future/)

Books / Papers

Dark_scenarios_in_ambient_intelligence
(https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237020451_Dark_scenarios_in_ambient_intelligence_Highlighting_risks_and_vulnerabilities)

Resolving Digital Dilemmas Atos Journey 2022 Future Vision
(https://atos.net/en/2018/news_2018_11_05/atos-predicts-digital-dilemmas-organizations-will-face-2022)

Futuring: The Exploration of the Future Door Edward Cornish
(https://books.google.nl/books?id=phGB2Hc3XZ8C&printsec=copyright&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false)

MOOC's

Minor programme in speculative design (in Dutch)
(https://studiohyperspace.net/interventiondesign/course/)

An example: Griefbot

Future

Articles / Websites

Books / Papers

MOOC's