Inventing the Future 

Winter 2024

Lisa Kay Solomon

Futurist and Designer in Residence

Stanford d.school 

lisa@dschool.stanford.edu

OH: Tuesday 12-1pm, by appointment 

Course Description

The famous computer scientist, Alan Kay, once said, "The best way to predict the future is to invent it." As such, we are all responsible for inventing the future we hope we and our descendants will experience. In this highly interactive course, we will be exploring how to predict and invent the future and why this is important by focusing on a wide range of frontier technologies, such as robotics, AI, genomics, autonomous vehicles, blockchain, 3D Printing, VR/AR, synthetic meat, etc. The class will feature debates in which students present utopian and dystopian scenarios, and determine what has to be done to inoculate ourselves against the negative consequences.

Drew Endy, PhD

Bioengineer and Martin Family University Fellow in Undergraduate Education

endy@stanford.edu

OH: Wednesday 2-3pm, by appointment


Colin Grant (TA)

BS BioE and Currently MS MS&E, cagrant@stanford.edu

OH:  Monday 12-2pm, d.school room _____ or by Zoom