Tomorrow’s Technocultures: A Study in Experiential Futures

<div>With the nearing Intelligence Revolution, AI will be a</div><div>transformative technology and a potential existential</div><div>threat. As the AI community is attempting to thoughtfully</div><div>approach development, the public needs more positive</div><div>and informed cultural narratives to meaningfully engage</div><div>with AI. Those that currently dominate the story landscape</div><div>depict mythical futures that play into humanity’s greatest fears. These dominant negative images are significant as they may affect the public's ability to shape the future of a technology that may only increase in influence. </div><div><br></div><div>Using the Ethnographic Experiential Futures methodology,</div><div>this thesis seeks to contribute to pluralizing the narrow</div><div>AI narrative landscape by bringing more positive, hopeful</div><div>images to life. This study seeks to surface alternative</div><div>images of the future from AI and ML experts. Inspired by a</div><div>collective imagination, this project ends with the creation</div><div>of CTRL+Z(ine), an artifact from the future that hints at a</div><div>possible, more hopeful future world. Engagement with this</div><div>artifact is meant to encourage insights that might foster</div><div>more positive, informed relationships with a potentially</div><div>transformative technology.</div>