Could, Should, Might, Don't

This is the book on the future we’d been waiting for - an impassioned argument for replacing lazy certainties and fearful fantasies with a rigorous, rationally optimistic and ultimately empowering stance toward what might be coming next – OLIVER BURKEMANI couldn’t put down this brilliant, eye-opening work - it’s just the kind we need at the moment. Foster has spent a lifetime exploring tomorrows, and his message is clear: serious thinking about the future is essential if we hope to shape it rather than be blindsided by it – DAVID EAGLEMANIt’s a rare and wondrous thing to read someone who can bring potential futures to life without being stuck in retreads of yet more takes on AI and robotics. Nick Foster’s Could, Should Might, Don’t blows a draught of fresh and thrilling air through a genre that has lately become stale, repetitive and unproductive. It’s the kind of book you keep dropping down to your lap as you look up and wonder – STEPHEN FRYA deeply-considered - and funny - treatise on complacency. A kick in the arse for all (of us) who are complacent enough to believe they’re qualified to tell anyone what’s coming, regardless of its surface, dark or shiny, magnetic or beastly. It’s a clear-eyed, uncomplacent and intelligent book about the dangers of complacency as we take on our ever more complicated futures … A reminder that it is the things that go wrong and the mistakes we make that drive us into the future. Not dystopia nor utopia, just everyday reality – ALEX McDOWELLThoughtful … Ultimately, the book strikes a hopeful note . . Sage advice and a much-needed perspective on how to build a future that benefits our species’ survival * * Kirkus * *Where are we going? Who will we be when we get there? These are the big questions, and we need to know that we don’t know enough to answer them. Nick Foster’s book is a lightbulb over your head that never goes off, a song about the future that strikes not just technological but conceptual notes. This book is innervisionary, a travel guide for our mind’s eye – QUESTLOVERather than more forecasts and projections, Nick brings us the importance of thinking about the future today, in the most accessible and engaging way possible – ANAB JAINIt’s rare to find a book about futures work written so thoughtfully, by someone who’s practiced it as such a high level, and is prepared to share insights into what can be an opaque world, and yet can ground it beautifully in stories of everyday life and the possible futures they hold. This is both Nick Foster’s method, and his particular skill, and this warm and insightful book balances critique, care, love and hope for this kind of work … Generous and generative – DAN HILLNick Foster is a genius who helps companies like Dyson, Apple, and Google envision the future. I listen to Nick tell me how to imagine and create what’s next for ourselves. Remember, you don’t have to outrun somebody if you can outsmart them – BOBBY HUNDREDSPraise for Nick Foster: Nick Foster is one of the world’s foremost leaders in speculative design * * Fortune Magazine * *

Nick Foster is a designer and writer based in Oakland, California. He has spent his career exploring the future for globally renowned technology companies including Apple, Google, Nokia, Sony and Dyson. Despite the ambitious nature of much of Nick’s work, he’s known for his down-to-earth, everyday and occasionally irreverent approach to the future, and in 2021 he was awarded the title ‘Royal Designer for Industry’ in recognition of his significant contributions to the discipline, the highest professional accolade for a British designer. Nick was born in Derby - the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, and a city once synonymous with innovation, manufacturing and technology. He earned his Masters degree from the Royal College of Art, and in 2018 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.