Reimagining Relationships with Jenny Grettve and "The Incu-Dater"

Case Study Analysis of The Incu-Dater and Interview with Jenny GrettveIn my search for deeper information on future foresighting processes from a designer's perspective, I engaged in various field observations and participated foresighting workshops and talks, most of which were organized by Media Evolution in Malmö. During a lecture in March 2024 on “Designing our Futures” by Indy Johar, I connected with Jenny Grettve, whose professional and academic career spans music, design, architecture, fashion, philosophy and economics. I invited her for an interview because of her diverse and very thoughtful portfolio of works, which also uniquely makes her an esteemed contributor to this thesis on the discourse of experiential futures. As a multifaceted professional she’s engaged in exploring innovative and systemic approaches to global challenges through many institutions, with a particular focus on future economies and sustainable development. As the founder of the Economic Institute for Feminine Futures (EIFFF), she seeks to redefine economic narratives by integrating feminine perspectives. In her role as Director and Innovation Lead at When!When!, she drives strategic design and systemic change initiatives. Additionally, through ANON, an explorative public art space, she facilitates dialogues between experts and citizens about sustainable economic futures, making global knowledge accessible to local communities through creativity. In our interview we discussed the futures industry and the potentials that art and design bring in it, from the perspective of a practitioner such as Grettve. This chapter then expands with a critical analysis of The Incu-Dater, a speculative design project in the form of an interactive installation by Tigris Li, illustrating potential futures that reshape human relationships. The Incu-Dater critically examines a hypothetical scenario where technology assumes a central role in assessing emotional dynamics and proposing solutions for intricate romantic relationships. The reason why this interview and case study analysis are paired together, is because Grettve’s and Li’s works share close similarities and their concepts compliment each other. They both use speculative design to critically reflect on the future of human relationships and of systems of give and take, both economic and emotional.

Industry Insights into Economies of Care with Jenny GrettveGrettve works as a strategic and philosophical designer focusing on shared spaces, economic systems, behavioural patterns, chaos theories, and societal change in the region of Scandinavia. As the founder of "When!When!," a design agency in Malmö, Sweden, that tests and actively implements ideas and projects on feminist systemic transformation, she aims to slow down the accelerating multitude of systems included in the environmental and social crisis, or otherwise referred to as “meta-crisis”, using simplicity as a tool for innovation and fostering a “beautiful and regenerative life for all”.

Jenny’s original research and artistic exploration of what she terms “Economies of Care” emphasizes the importance of deceleration to cultivate more nurturing human relationships. Her work places emotional connections and environmental ethics at the forefront of alternative governance and economic models for the future. She explores the deeper meanings and implications of speculation as a tool to bridge art, design, philosophy, and alternatives of future economies. This bridging between many disciplines to design better systems, is a school of thought that started from “integrated design”, a movement that started in the early 20th century, as a response to the growing complexity of building projects and the need for more sustainable and efficient design practices. This approach became especially significant with the advent of sustainable architecture, where the integration of multiple disciplines – including architecture, engineering, and environmental science – was essential to achieve holistic and efficient solutions (McDonough & Braungart, 2002; Van Der Ryn & Cowan, 1996). This approach is also evident in media arts' interdisciplinary nature with the overlap and intersection of sciences, artistic expressions, and technologies. One noteworthy figure associated with the initial establishment of integrated design principles is architect Buckminster Fuller, who advocated for a comprehensive, whole-system approach to design. Furthermore, the Bauhaus movement, which emerged in the early 20th century, emphasised the integration of art, craft, and technology, thereby laying the foundation for subsequent developments in integrated design. These values are also applied within the futures industry, where global organizations like Dark Matter Labs and Maynone, and especially Scandinavian ones like Media Evolution, and the Copenhagen Institute for Future Studies (CIFS) produce their research projects with team members coming from a diverse range of fields.

Grettve elaborates that for the collective reshaping of the future, the diversity of backgrounds are essential in teams within the futures industry in order to consider varied perspectives and acknowledge that many versions of the future exist. In my field observations too, this fact was quite prominent when I had the chance to visit all of the aforementioned institutions working on futures in Denmark and Sweden. For instance, at CIFS I was presented with the team consisting of: lawyers, public policy makers, chemists, bilogists, designers, writers, educators, and data analysts, among many other professions. It makes one wonder, is there one thing that unites them all? And while that was hard to define by myself, together with Grettve we came up with a few points of unity, also based on her long experience in the field:(1) curiosity for the alternative futures, (2) the willingness to make it better, and (3) the love of fiction as a genre in all its forms. 

Time and Slowing DownSo how does Grettve see an alternative future and how do we work towards it? As of the most recent years, Grettve’s work has been related to her own theory of “Mothering Economies” (which is also the title of her new book released in August 2024) with core principles of fostering more care and equality in the society. When asked about practical steps to begin building these “economies of care”, Grettve emphasizes the importance of slowing down in a fast-paced society, botht for the good of the environment, and for the good of our society. This slowing down, she argues, allows for a better perspective, for understanding different viewpoints, and for contemplating systemic changes. She advocates for reevaluating the perception of slowness as a positive attribute, highlighting its impact on productivity and mental well-being.

The idea of slowing down, has been promoted and present since the 80s after the initial signals of climate change and environmental disasters started to present themselves after a rapid acceleration of industrialisation. Going back to Victor Papanek’s school of thought, where he too states that “The alternative to doing things faster is always to slow down.” (Papanek, pg 145). Though a paradox on its own, in the context of sustainability, saving the planet faster, is by logic, slowing down all the industries that are causing irreversible damage. Slowing down the levels of production and consumption, also means taking a few steps back and reevaluating the current systems of damage ingrained in a globalized capitalistic society. “Our collective mechanisms of trying to stay sane in a world that is mad, are too powerful!” is one of her statements in her speech at “The Conference” organised by Media Evolution in 2023, which calls for education and awareness raising about the degradation of the environement (The Conference / Media Evolution, 2023, 4:06).

Design for Behavioural ChangeThough the concept of “slowing down” might sound easy on theory, in practice it means reconfiguring our production systems and urban infrastructures to work differently. It also means to shift the behaviours of people concerning their purchasing, selling, travelling, and consuming habits. So can design really change all this? Calling out the minority who is actually responsible and who can influence this change - Grettve asks in many of her public talks: “Can we put our 2640 billionaires in therapy?” (The Conference / Media Evolution, 2023, 7:50). Her question, thus, inspired mine towards her, about the challenges designers and futurists face in trying to change entrenched behaviors, attitudes, and ideals of the public, from the highest economic classes, to the lower ones. Grettve’s answer highlights that in Scandinavia, the greatest obstacles to adopting future alternatives are twofold:(1) the lack of perceived urgency regarding the effects of climate change and(2) the reluctance to disrupt the existing economic system.

With that in mind, Grettve poses significant questions about the future of work, the meaning of a good life, and the growing presence of emotional apathy: “Does living well mean working hard? Does increasing our economies equate to a better sense of joy, safety, and meaning? Why are we not more angry as a collective? And if anger leads to action, should we let it? Are we too privileged? Are we too apathetic?” Jenny asks in one of her talks.

Grettve stresses the need for a shift in societal values and economic structures, advocating for the currency of profit to change from monetary to one of care. According to her, for Earth to heal, or at least to avoid extreme biosphere fatalities, the emphasis should shift to nurturing human relationships first, starting internally with the self, and moving up to broader systems of power. The interview leads to the proposed concept of "care profit," suggesting that care itself could be accumulated as a form of personal profit. She explores the idea of reimagining profit beyond traditional economic measures and considers the potential benefits of prioritizing care in society.

Her theory is better understood through her Future Profit Chronogram figure below, where she envisions an economic system shaped by hope, benevolence, biosphere currency, care profit, multitude of systems, and some unknowns by 2050 and beyond. This imaginative framework raises questions such as, if the world’s monetary currencies were replaced by a currency of care, could we ask for ‘care loans’ too? So how would those look like?. These kinds of questions stretch our ways of thinking and make our minds more elastic into thinking about completely different set of rules that could have existed in society.

Figure 5.2 Profit Chronogram, taken by Jenny Grettve’s official website. Source: https://www.jennygrettve.com/

Though this part of the interview reveals abstract ways of thinking, it also points out that there are many possible futures, and we are living in one imagined by a group of people decades or centuries ago, just like how Grettve is graphing a potential future for 25 years ahead. Even the CIFS report Futures Shaping Art / Art Shaping Futures highlights the significance of imagination and science fiction in understanding that our present reality has been shaped by fiction writers, filmmakers, scientists, and designers who envisioned various versions of the future (2021, p.23). The report inclused a quote by Adrienne Marie Brown from her book Emergent Strategy:

“The world we live in right now is someone else's imagination. An imagination that told us white is superior, men are superior, being straight is superior. We are in imagination-battles when we choose to live our own truths which go against those contracts. When we deconstruct these concepts in our lives, in how we love, in how we interact with other people, we are already imagining other futures into existence with every choice we make that is about being our whole unbridled, unfettered, and post-oppressed selves.” (Brown, 2017).

Therefore, in designing alternatives, it’s crucial to be open-minded and free to imagine multiple versions of what could be, by momentarily forgetting everything we used to know. I argue that one of the ways to make people’s mind more elastic and their visions of the future more malleable, is by putting them through a truly immersive experience that allows them to “live” an alternative future for a few moments. The immersiveness aspect of it, is of course, subject to each participant. However, there are mediums, both traditional and innovative, that have proven records of putting people through intellectually, emotionally, and embodied immersive experiences.  

Mediums of Experiential Futures: Text, Sculpture, Dialogue

For Grettve, producing experiential futures lies on the power of writing in expanding imaginations and crafting immersive storytelling. For her, writing as a medium, invites readers to participate in shaping the narrative, fostering deeper engagement and diverse interpretations. Grettve finds creative ways to do this, in the form of love letters to Earth, theoretical books such as her newest - Mothering Economies, or blog posts on her website. These stories are often published in the internet directly by Grettve, but also read aloud in many of the conferences and talks that she attends, often sparking conversations and inspiration from the audience that is captivated. In addition to the medium of writing, she also relies on design, art installations, and sculptures to stirr reactions and vivid mental images of alternative futures.

 Grettve’s creative design process is playful and open-ended, in contrast to her more structured work in architecture and municipal projects. The goal is often to take theories and philosophies and make them tangible, something people can touch or even be inside. For example, her art installation The Dinner exhibited during the Southern Sweden Design Days Festival in May 2022 in collaboration with Dark Matter Labs, invited people to sit around a table and discuss the future of the economy. On the table, white boxes resembling McDonald’s Happy Meal packages were placed, however, instead of “Happy Meal”, they were imprinted with thought-provoking questions such as “What is a future Happy Meal?”, “What is the true cost of an apple?”, “What’s the value of eye contact?”, and “What is economy really?”. The participants were naturally drawn to the table, intrigued by its familiar shape of a McDonald's Happy Meal box—a symbol recognized worldwide, considering McDonald's boasts the largest global presence of any fast-food chain, with approximately 42,000 restaurants (Inman, 2024). Grettve once again demonstrates the power of inviting people to unlearn the norms and standards they've accepted as reality, breaking down the initial barriers of resistance and making way for more flexible and imaginative thinking about the future. Her question about the value of eye contact directly ties into her theory of economies of care, prompting reflection on whether gestures essential to our social and mental well-being should be promoted as much as a Happy Meal, for example. In her essay about this artwork, published on Medium, Grettve insists that we should place higher importance to the non-monetary value of things, and this through a feminist lens. Through her work she critiques how in the middle of the massive clusters within the capitalistic system, we have forgotten to measure how things feel to women, children, and other persons with higher vulnerabilities, and why feelings are just as important because they come from our vital source of intelligence that stirs our purpose and direction. Jenny expands further on this theory on a feminist perspective during one of her interviews:

“Economic systems are looked upon as a serious product, created in a patriarchal, logical, and hierarchical structure, where status and intelligence shape its strict framework. Intangible and soft ideas, emotions, and a feminist approach to what economy could be has not been welcome into serious rooms and decision making tables.”(Grettve, 2022).

So in this table that people are invited to sit - an ideal setting for fostering collective critical thinking and imagination if formed among strangers. The setting encourages participation, or even performance, as intimate conversations between a few strangers become public when new participants join the table or observe from the periphery. This kind of open dialogue, surrounded by speculative products that critique our current economic system, embodies a democratic approach to exploring what truly matters to everyday people, and to what ethical norms have we all agreed upon. While installations like these might not spur immediate action, they undoubtedly serve to inform, educate, and challenge our current reality.

Figure 5.3, 5.4, and 5.5 Documentation of exhibitions taken at Jenny Grettve’s official website. Source: https://www.jennygrettve.com/

Another significant work is her sculpture of An Economic Model created for the joint exhibition “In:Tangible” at the Form Design Center in Malmö during April 2022. The sculpture features a constellation of shiny metallic spheres, reminiscent of planetarium models, representing various aspects of the economic system and how they interact. In our interview, Grettve reveals that during her work process these spheres symbolized elements of the economy, including billionaires, innocence, and looming threats. The tactile nature of the piece invites people to physically interact with and contemplate the economic system. This exhibition, which featured 27 designers, showcased objects and texts written by the creators, highlighting their individual perspectives and the potential for designers to influence the shared future. The curatorial text asserts: “Designers and artists are thinkers, researchers, and creative practitioners who have the ability to make the intangible tangible.”, thus reflecting on Grettve’s practice, where she asks if when dialogues and thought processes are too complex, could they be made more accessible through tactile and sensory experiences? Grettve advocates for the power of art to evoke instant emotional triggers, rather than merely conveying information. Further in our interview, Grettve refers to sculpture as an art form to create naive, concrete models of complex systems. By translating theories into visual, physical forms, she states that it allows people to see systems from a new perspective—much like how people once believed the earth was flat before realizing its true shape.

Placing these economic sculptures in an art context, such as a museum, creates an interesting juxtaposition. People may initially perceive them as beautiful works of art before realizing they represent dysfunctional systems. This blend of aesthetics and meaning is intentional. Jenny’s ability to merge aesthetic beauty with critical realities - subverting expectations with forms that are pleasing yet represent harsh truths - offers a sense of irony and humor to the experience. In her words: “People think: Oh! This is a beautiful model. And I am just thinking like, you don't know what you're looking at! Colonialism! You're looking at racism! But yes it's a beautiful model.”. Papanek also argues that humor and satire can be effective tools for artists and designers to critique and cope with the changes brought about by technological advancements, or degradation. For the purpose of communicating more effectively and attempting to alter ways of thinking, it’s important to create designs that resonate on both emotional and intellectual levels, addressing serious issues in a manner that is both impactful and accessible for the majority (Papanek, 1984). Grettve emphasizes the power of aesthetics as a tool to attract attention, drawing in the audience before exposing darker truths. 

Grettve’s artworks, talks, and writings often foster conversations, whether internal within the individual or in structured settings like exhibitions. Aligned with her values, her work encourages people to engage with strangers, share concerns and values, and reflect on preconceived notions. From this interview with Jenny, the main takeaway is that through experiential futures designers and artists can provide intellectual engagement with elements of participation, foster empathy and a renewed sense of community. While her work may initially shock audiences with the sobering realities of environmental degradation and human impact, it ultimately aims to transform these emotions into a renewed sense of agency and a will to enact positive change. Jenny’s storytelling abilities, which tap into the deeper emotions of the audience, are akin to the experience of reading a poem, a book, or a letter.

Case Study Analysis of The Incu-Dater In my exploration of human connection, feminist perspectives on the economic value of emotions, and the abstract concepts of exchange, I selected the speculative art and design project The Incu-Dater by artist and creative technologist Tigris Li as a prime and final example of an experiential futures project. 

Figure 5.6 The Incu-Dater installation taken from Tigris Li-s official website. Source: https://tigris.li/Incu-dater

This project delves into the complexities of romantic relationships. The Incu-Dater is a speculative, multi-sensory installation designed by artist and creative technologist Tigris Li. It delves into the complexities of human connections and examines the potential role of hormones, specifically oxytocin, in facilitating emotional bonds with the assistance of technology. To fully understand this work, it is crucial to consider Li's broader artistic practice and the conceptual framework that underpins the project.Tigris Li’s work consistently reimagines the relationship between technology and meaningful human interactions. Through her installations, electronic hardware, and interactive experiences, she aims to stimulate curiosity, co-creation, and play. Her work also critically examines how technology might coexist with humans in a way that enhances, rather than diminishes, our emotional intelligence. By using technology as a bridge to create new, imaginative worlds for self-expression, Li’s projects transcend the limitations of technological tools, exploring their potential to amplify, rather than replace, our innate human capacities.

The Incu-Dater, showcased at the experimental dating lab and exhibition "Data Romantics" in London on Valentine's Day 2022, critiques the reliance on both hard and soft technologies to resolve emotional imbalances in relationships. The exhibition featured Arduino workshops, speed dating events, panel discussions, and collective writing sessions, all aimed at questioning the norms of contemporary dating. The Incu-Dater’s playful and humorous approach sparks critical discussions about the future of love, human connection, conflict resolution, emotional balance, and the ethical limits of technological interventions in human interactions.

At the core of The Incu-Dater is a concept that calculates an individual's emotional data in relation to their partner, assesses the relationship's emotional state, and prescribes a suggested dose of oxytocin to potentially mend the relationship. The interactive installation, housed within a cubic space designed for two people, features a control panel with five potentiometers representing the five main emotions—anger, love, happiness, sadness, and disappointment—as identified by Paul Ekman’s research. After submitting the data, a specific algorithm calculates the emotional imbalance and prints out a receipt with the recommended dose of oxytocin. The participants must then decide whether to accept the recommendation, which is visually represented by smoke emitted from a hidden machine, enhancing the installation’s immersive effect (without real oxytocin being released). The experiential nature of The Incu-Dater places participants in the role of decision-makers, further deepening the work's critical engagement. The moment when the algorithm calculates the emotional imbalance and prescribes oxytocin, it ignites questions about the implications of such an intervention. The prescribed dose becomes a powerful symbolic message, urging participants to reflect on the nature of their relationship and the potential consequences of relying on technological "fixes" to address emotional issues. They can either take the dose, or leave and sort the issues manually, or rather, naturally. Moreover, the print of the algorithmic calculations in the form of a bill receipt, also serves as a critique of bioeconomics - but in this scenario feelings, hormones, and complex human experiences are commodified into something quantifiable that can be depleted by humans, and replenished by biotechnology (Rose, 2007). 

Aesthetically and design-wise, The Incu-Dater incorporates futuristic and retro-futuristic elements, using rounded shapes, transparent materials, and ambient lighting to create a speculative and immersive environment as reported by the author herself in the process documentation (Li, 2021). During an interview with Dazed Magazine, Li expresses that by offering a certain level of privacy within a public yet obscured space, she wanted to underscore the absurdity and satirical playfulness of dating in modern times (Martin, 2022). By presenting a futuristic scenario where couples input their emotional data to receive a dose of the "love hormone", the artwork encourages the audience to reflect on the current state of human relationships and our increasing dependence on technological solutions for complex interpersonal challenges - a concept rooted in earlier sci-fi visions of a future where emotions are secondary to logic and analysis. While this installation envisions a distant future, the creation of artificial romantic experiences is already underway, with the technologies of metaverse, virtual reality (VR), artificial intelligence (AI), and Bluetooth-enabled sex toys (teledildonics) being already able to offer increasingly realistic intimate experiences (Kearns, 2022). Ultimately, The Incu-Dater can also be seen as a critique on the use of soft technologies such as pharmaceuticals or drugs to maintain emotional stability in relationships. Having this pod accessible to the public as a conflict-mending solution invites the audience to question the authenticity and sustainability of emotional balance maintained solely through regular hormone intake. These questions highlight the broader implications of the public health system's reliance on pharmaceutical interventions, ranging from painkillers and antidepressants to antibiotics and medications for concentration. The widespread accessibility of addictive substances has led to significant societal challenges, such as the opioid crisis initiated by OxyContin in the United States, and the rise of "Generation Rx" (Van Zee, 2009), characterized by the early and sustained prescription of study drugs like Adderall and Ritalin (Quintero, 2012). Additionally, the overprescription of antibiotics in some regions and their underprescription in others has resulted in compromised immune systems or inadequately treated infections (Goossens, Ferech, Vander Stichele, & Elseviers, 2005). While the pharmaceutical industry plays a crucial role in extending and saving lives, it has also faced criticism for minimizing the addictive potential of its products, promoting unnecessary drug use through aggressive marketing, and prioritizing profit over public well-being. In the same way, The Incu-Dater points out the quick-fix culture, temptations to feel-good addcitions, and heightened connections between people due to artificial stimulants.

Crafting Improved Experiential Futures When discussing the future of worldbuilding with Reeta Hafner previously, she mentioned that it is crucial to identify and define the key setting elements or constants by answering questions such as “Where does this future take place?”, “How far into the future are we speculating?”, and “What rules of the current reality are we considering or discarding?”. The geographical location, the temporal scope, and the underlying rules governing the imagined reality are essential components to set up a believable scenario that can be felt and understood by the audience. As such, Grettve’s work often grounds itself in numerical data and factual information, adhering to the rigorous methodologies of futures studies. In her books and artworks, she poses questions such as "What will the economic model of the world look like in 2050?" delving into probable futures while also encouraging the audience to explore scenarios more easily due to logical temporal limitations. Moreover, the local context of the placement of her work and public talks can also sometimes impose geographical limitations, like for example focusing on futures projected 25 years ahead in Sweden, or Norway, or Denmark. In contrast, Tigris Li's approach does not propose a specific timeline or place for her creative visions, allowing the audience to freely imagine when these realities might emerge. While her work remains grounded in the abilities of what can actually be practically realised even now with the current developments in technology, the scenario she puts up ventures more into ethically contentious futures. This approach ignites consideration of the boundaries of cultural and emotional imaginaries, instead of practical ones, and the extent to which people are willing to embrace this sort of transformative change in their future lives.

Within the framework of the Experiential Futures Ladder tool, The Incu-Dater embodies the following characteristics:

Setting: The installation navigates a spectrum from plausible to wild-card futures, with no strict timeline defined. 

Scenario: One distinct scenario emerges, with clear instructions on how the relationships of the future function, and what technologies and ethical rules have been adopted to further enhance them.

Situation: In this speculative scenario with an indeterminate timeline, one situation remains constant: most relationships still typically involve two people, as the design of the hub also determines. However, the uniqueness of each pair's reaction is what makes the situation highly variable. Each pair will express their emotions in a distinct combination of measurable quantities, leading to a unique algorithmic outcome that determines the amount of oxytocin released. The discussion that follows - whether the prescribed amount is too high or too low - further enhances the interaction between the individuals and the audience. Additionally, the decision of whether both individuals choose to stay in the hub, leave, or if only one does, introduces another three distinct scenarios based on their choice.

Stuff:  The installation is a profoundly interactive and immersive experience, engaging visual, olfactory, tactile, and auditory senses once inside. The tangible elements of this experiential futures project are meticulously designed to immerse participants fully. Beyond the striking aesthetics and futuristic design details, the process requires active participation as the audience inputs their own data. The algorithm then processes this data, delivering an instant accurate ratio and prescription, which adds on to the beliveability elements of the installation. This physical manifestation of a future scenario is highly convincing, eliciting minimal resistance from the audience and exemplifying an effective experiential futures project, by employing the tradition of participatory learning as defined by Inayatullah (1990).

Summary Combining the ideas explored in The Incu-Dater with Jenny Grettve’s insightful interview on the practice of experiential futures, reveals shared visions and concerns about the future of human relationships which both tackle through media art and design. Jenny’s concept of "economies of care," along with her emphasis on slowing down, and using art and design to ignite emotional reactions for noticing the future that’s coming, aligns with the core themes explored in The Incu-Dater. By challenging profit-driven systems and advocating for a shift toward care, empathy, and well-being as essential components of human existence and economies, Jenny’s philosophy resonates with The Incu-Dater’s critique of the potentially techno-revolutionized and synthetic nature of future romantic relationships. Her insights into design and art installations as expressions of alternative futures further enrich our understanding of The Incu-Dater as a speculative work that creatively and humorously uses media, art, and design (MAD) to communicate critical futures with audiences, through the common human interest and drive on the feeling of love. Moreover, both works delve into the themes of human relationships and the concept of "care profit", thus challenging the notion of quantifying and commodifying human emotions. As such, the oxytocin prescription scenario in The Incu-Dater serves as a critical commentary on the datafication of emotions, where love and connection are reduced to measurable, prescribable quantities. The Incu-Dater’s use of technology and design to express the current concerns of our reality through playfulness and humor mirrors Jenny's approach to using design, art installations, and sculpture to challenge existing economic systems and societal norms. By critiquing the notion of relying on hormones to resolve relationship conflicts, it prompts us to reevaluate the importance of emotional labor, empathy, and communication in building strong, meaningful relationships. Both Grettve’s and Li’s works exemplify the potential of speculative design to provoke thought, inspire change, and engage audiences in critical discussions about the futures we are shaping. By engaging with these speculative futures, we are encouraged to listen more deeply, think more critically, and act more responsibly as we navigate the complex and uncertain paths ahead.