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№ 103 | ‘At What Cost?’, The Tarot Cards of Tech, Two Visuals to Improve Your Next Talk, The Mind’s Pendulum, Habits of a Systems Thinker Cards, Afrofuturism and the “future past”, and Four Ways Humans Relate to Technology

Stephen P. Anderson

Stephen P. Anderson

— 4 min read
№ 103 | ‘At What Cost?’, The Tarot Cards of Tech, Two Visuals to Improve Your Next Talk, The Mind’s Pendulum, Habits of a Systems Thinker Cards, Afrofuturism and the “future past”, and Four Ways Humans Relate to Technology

Another dose of playful things to think with. Perhaps a little less playful… And a wee bit more somber and cerebral… But, all good things to think about!

‘At What Cost?’

Here’s your perennial reminder to think about the unintended consequences of the things we design, build, and use. “From ‘how might we’ to ‘at what cost’” asks us to think, as the title suggests, about the costs of the things we create, especially when these things may bring harm to people, communities, and the planet. To support this message, here’s a nice little framework to balance our "How might we…" musings.

I list of questions to consider. There are three columns: To the left are "How might we?" questions, to the right are "At what cost?" questions, and running down then center column are the question labels. Reading these from left to right (but leading with the label), here's are the specific questions: OUTCOME What's the intended benefit? What might go wrong? What risks or harms might emerge? What's the intended benefit? What might go wrong? What risks or harms might emerge? CONSEQUENCES What are the expected short-or medium-term benefits? What are potential short- or medium-term risks or downsides? RIPPLE EFFECTS What are long-term or wider impacts (e.g. social, environmental, ethical)?Who might be harmed in the long run? What systems might be stressed? THE PRICE Who gains from it? Who pays for it (people, ecosystems, cultures, futures)? REFRAME How might we amplify the good? How might we reduce the harm or rebalance the trade-off?

I especially like that this post holds the tension between possibility and responsibility:

“Good design is a dance between curiosity AND criticality…”

Throughout the years of trying to innovate in a responsible way, I’ve also come to realize something critical and that is as often as we ask “how might we” we also have to ask “at what cost.” Design can heal but it can also harm. These complementary questions create a necessary tension that leads to more responsible outcomes.

While we’re on this topic, I’d regret it if I didn’t mention The Tarot Cards Of Tech. Published by Artefact Group back in… 2017(?), this is a small (only 12 cards) but mighty deck of provocations, each asking us to consider different types of unintended consequences.

Screen shot of the Tarot Cards of Tech Cards. The featured card asks questions like "Who of what disappears if your product is successful?" "Who loses their job?" and "What other products or services are replaced?"

Two visuals to improve your next talk

I collect lots of posts on public speaking and ways to organize talks, but these rarely make it to this newsletter. Why not? Most of these fall in the category of “laundry list” information. Good fodder for a card deck, but they need more organization. Which leads me to… Not one, but two visual representations of what might constitute a good talk.

This first of these, a simple Bulls-eye representation of the “4 Layers of Public Speaking,” feels like solid information, with a top and bottom half to contrast good speaking with bad speaking.

A bulls-eye diagram. Going from the center out, the labels are (1) Your Mindset, (2) Core Ideas of your talk, (3) Content, and (4) Delivery. Various content tips fill in these labeled rings and center. The entire bulls-eye is split horizontally, with bad tips on the bottom (in grayscale) and good tips in the upper half (in color).

The second one… just look at this animation! 🤩 While “How to write a Conference Talk” feels a wee bit more like a formula than a framework, there are some good tips in here.

An animated gif. It's all boxes and arrows, but animated to resemble a pinball machine or factory with things moving along different lines. The "process" depicted here is for writing your conference talk.

The Mind’s Pendulum

Psst. Can I confess something? What intrigues me MOST about this LinkedIn post on The Mind’s Pendulum isn’t the content, it’s the visual representation; using the metaphor of pendulum—to represent living in the present, past, or future—is something I might try out with other content.

Abstract illustration of a pendulum, with the center from which things hand and swing labeled "Present" and the out bounds of the pendulum swing being "Past" and "Future".

That confession aside, the content did give me pause, as I thought about where I spend most of my time… And whether I agree with some of the assertions made in the post. Yes to living more in the present (the main point). And yes to learning from the past. But, what about those who dwell on the past, consumed by regret or anger? And where is the hope of imagined futures, futures that keep us going? For this content, I might have something more like an x or 2x2 rotated 45 degrees—where “the present” is in the center, and then you have both healthy and unhealthy ways to view the past and the future.

Habits of a Systems Thinker cards

Systems Thinking! Cards! All online!

I had to check my copy of the book The Habit-Forming Guide to Becoming a Systems Thinker, as I thought these Habits of a Systems Thinker cards looked familiar, like the 14 cards that come bundled in the back of that book (and yes, they are the same cards—only with slightly different illustrations). I like how these cards focus on things systems thinkers can do or practice.

Screenshot from the linked Habits of a Systems Thinker site. We see various cards, with a textbook illustration style. Prompts on cards include things like "Seek to understand the big picture" and "Changes perspective to increase understanding".

Why Afrofuturism isn’t just about the future

I’ve not read enough Afrofuturism (or africanfuturism — thank you Nnedi Okorafor for this distinction!) to comment on the genre. But, this short “carousel” post on Why Afrofuturism Isn’t Just About the Future [LI] definitely flipped a switch for me, helping me to see how much of this “sci-fi” is rooted in history and how “every resistance movement contains blueprints for alternative futures.” 😍

Future past means seeing classic Black stories as speculative:

• Solomon Northup's kidnapping becomes an alien abduction narrative.

• Harriet Jacobs's seven years hidden in an attic becomes a pocket dimension story.

• Frederick Douglass, through literacy, becomes a cyborg figure who transforms his body through technology.
Cover image with a collage of various photos and illustrations, all related to Afrofuturism. Title reads: "FUTURE-PAST Why Afrofuturism Isn't Just About the Future"

Four ways humans relate to technology

Here’s a chance to level up our language! This short post on “Beyond the Extended Mind” presents “four ways humans relate to technology, each increasing in relational complexity.” Spoiler/teaser: The four ways are: (1) Prosthesis, (2) Symbiosis, (3) Distributed Cognition, and (4) Cognitive Assemblages. Time for me to work these into a visual, for better understanding.

Random Stuff!

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№ 101 | The CX FUNdamentals Toolkit, The Dabbawala Algorithm, High Agency In 30 Minutes, Webb’s Depth of Knowledge (DOK), and Nick Sousanis Illustrates the Joy of Learning

№ 101 | The CX FUNdamentals Toolkit, The Dabbawala Algorithm, High Agency In 30 Minutes, Webb’s Depth of Knowledge (DOK), and Nick Sousanis Illustrates the Joy of Learning

And… I’m back again, with a regular-sized dose of 5 playful things to think with. [And just in case you missed it, the previous mega-sized special 100th issue of Thinking Things featured dozens of things grouped into 11 themes. You should definitely check it out!] The CX FUNdamentals Toolkit

By Stephen P. Anderson