Future Dualities: Fast & Slow
We are speeding up while slowing down. This is part three of our Future Dualities series. If you’re new here, see the introduction and part two, Future Dualities: Community & Independence, before reading on.
![](https://designit-web.imgix.net/images/Point-of-view/Future-Dualities/fast-header-3.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&cs=srgb&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=225&q=90&w=400&s=9ba746b25b8d1d279551df81c701900a 400w, https://designit-web.imgix.net/images/Point-of-view/Future-Dualities/fast-header-3.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&cs=srgb&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=337&q=90&w=600&s=d7405b3fbf0f050d77a96427eaacfc64 600w, https://designit-web.imgix.net/images/Point-of-view/Future-Dualities/fast-header-3.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&cs=srgb&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=449&q=90&w=800&s=63bfd6b2a9f51d26d4557619c5c77ed3 800w, https://designit-web.imgix.net/images/Point-of-view/Future-Dualities/fast-header-3.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&cs=srgb&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=562&q=90&w=1000&s=ce466372f77b251da864b40ab53dae5a 1000w, https://designit-web.imgix.net/images/Point-of-view/Future-Dualities/fast-header-3.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&cs=srgb&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=674&q=90&w=1200&s=b473fe442ecd8cbae8a21664a81679df 1200w, https://designit-web.imgix.net/images/Point-of-view/Future-Dualities/fast-header-3.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&cs=srgb&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=787&q=90&w=1400&s=2a4c17bc8dbad8b81f5dcb8fc52e86f5 1400w, https://designit-web.imgix.net/images/Point-of-view/Future-Dualities/fast-header-3.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&cs=srgb&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=899&q=90&w=1600&s=5faa25cb71d953686c255c4690e57f80 1600w, https://designit-web.imgix.net/images/Point-of-view/Future-Dualities/fast-header-3.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&cs=srgb&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=1011&q=90&w=1800&s=2c1b94f5e844a25a5887346edb38aba3 1800w, https://designit-web.imgix.net/images/Point-of-view/Future-Dualities/fast-header-3.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&cs=srgb&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=1124&q=90&w=2000&s=dc49d92e0312dd50a85d18c235800326 2000w, https://designit-web.imgix.net/images/Point-of-view/Future-Dualities/fast-header-3.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&cs=srgb&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=1236&q=90&w=2200&s=03b8f59d8988f3ba50cfd22fc01c9335 2200w, https://designit-web.imgix.net/images/Point-of-view/Future-Dualities/fast-header-3.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&cs=srgb&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=1348&q=90&w=2400&s=6a9d32fc86b2e00bf4c84c86a3a9d78d 2400w)
Contact info for Eden Dotan
Global Senior Business Designer
Contact info for Lasse Underbjerg
Global Future Lab Director
Thinking ahead is messy. In futurism, it's a widely accepted fact that we can't predict one true future. There is not one direction forward, but many different — sometimes contradictory — directions happening at once.
Paradoxically, we humans still love a simple story; Good and bad. Us and them. But more than ever, we need to shift away from simplified, binary thinking. If we want to design truly sustainable futures for both planet, people, and profit, we need to stop oversimplifying our choices. Explore the continuum, present and beyond. But it's not an easy feat.
To start, we interviewed thinkers and creators from across the world and across competencies to get a deeper and wider perspective on the possibilities and pitfalls ahead. Our conversations led us to five overarching dualities through which we can view, explore, discuss and even begin shaping strategies for potential futures.
This article will dive into the second of these five dualities: Fast & Slow.
Fast: Radical change tests the limits of human adaptability
Humans are naturally resourceful and adaptive; our very nature is one of continuous evolution. But technology is advancing at a rate more rapid than most of us can process or understand.
'I don't need to wait for consumers' words to understand how they feel and what to offer them. I can read their facial movements. This will be integrated into sales tactics.' — Oded Maimon, Oracle Chair Professor at Tel Aviv University
We can print everything from a beating heart to sustainable footbridges. Data has become so prolific that scientists are working on storing it in liquid hard drives. AI outperforms human competitors in activities ranging from gaming to cancer screening.
'We need more philosophers working alongside technologists. How can we regulate technologies before disasters happen?' — Alejandra Gonzalez, Innovation Consultant
This pace of change will continuously challenge what it means to be human and what we contribute to society. The race to re-think, re-learn, and re-skill will become ever faster and test the limits of human adaptability. As a result, many will benefit, while many will be left far behind.
'Technology will polarise two sets of people: The ones who can afford to follow, learn, experience, and comply with it, and the ones who get left behind.' — Laura Schwamb, Founder of Project61
Consider the implications for your organisation. In a future of increasingly accelerated change, you need to adapt to survive.
- How adaptable is your organisation? How can you heighten your adaptability?
- How do you evaluate what changes you need to respond to?
- What is your role in the re-skilling of employees?
Slow: Searching for meaning forces us to slow down
No matter how the world around us changes, human needs forever stay the same: shelter and security, love and belonging, meaning and fulfilment.
'We forget so fast. This idea of COVID-19 and the new normal…The day people could go out again, they were buying clothing at Zara.' — Gaston Lisak, Founder of Random Happiness
But in the face of exponential change and the uncertainty that comes with it, meaning has become hard to find. Life in the fast lane has left little time to stop and smell the roses. To contemplate why we are here and what makes us happy.
'We think everything is accelerating. But most things are slowing down (except temperature). Population growth is slowing. Technological change is slowing.' — Dan Hill, Director of Strategic Design, Vinnova
And in response, we are slowing down. Focusing on the bare necessities. Ditching our smartphones for Light phones. Marie Kondo-ing our homes. Moving to smaller cities. Turning to new, secular religions — yoga, astrology, Brené Brown, hallucinogens — that offer us some meaning to grasp on to.
'As a society, we're going through a huge crisis of meaning. The new visibility the internet provides shows such gaps in opportunity. If you're in a small town in middle America and you look at influencers in LA or the lives of the corporate elite in NYC, that life feels so inaccessible, so what's the point? We turn to new 'isms' to find meaning and fill the void: Trumpism, Kardashian-ism, and, for the coastal elite, Corporate-Purposeism.' — Nina Montgomery, Author of Perspectives on Purpose and IDEO Design Lead
Consider the implications for your organisation. In a future slowed down, you should take time to reflect, re-focus, and re-purpose.
- Before we rush to create something new, can we re-purpose something existing?
- What lessons have we learned in the past that can help us move forward?
- How can we help our consumers in their quest to stabilise and slow down?
Of course, there is a colourful range between hyper-speed and slow motion. We watch documentaries on minimalism, decluttering and technological detox — on the bus, on the latest retina display screen, wireless air pods in-ear. We receive seasonal, organic vegetable deliveries — in under 24 hours, sorted in our refrigerators so that we don't have to.
Possible futures lie on each end of this spectrum and at any tension points in between. Each of these futures carry implications on diverse industries and markets. And we can begin to understand and explore these implications when we turn imagined possibilities into tangible artefacts.
We use dualities to inspire tangible future scenarios that get designers and businesses thinking, feeling, and beginning to devise and test strategies for the future.
Let's look at eating.
The food and beverage industry is witnessing developments like lab-grown meat on the one hand and movements towards 0-kilometre food on the other. What will our nutritional and dining experiences look like in a future on speed? In a future that has regressed to basics? In the hybrid in between?
Take a look at the possible future scenarios below. What implications could they have for the food and beverage industry? What responsibilities and opportunities could arise for your own organisation?
![](https://designit-web.imgix.net/images/Point-of-view/Future-Dualities/eating-01-1.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&cs=srgb&fit=clip&q=90&w=400&s=709f168d549392cf65b36a60af20b93c 400w, https://designit-web.imgix.net/images/Point-of-view/Future-Dualities/eating-01-1.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&cs=srgb&fit=clip&q=90&w=600&s=771c8338bdcf5e26d7f211b710ba9af5 600w, https://designit-web.imgix.net/images/Point-of-view/Future-Dualities/eating-01-1.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&cs=srgb&fit=clip&q=90&w=800&s=56e4893a00f7e4413d3a0638f9099b6d 800w, https://designit-web.imgix.net/images/Point-of-view/Future-Dualities/eating-01-1.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&cs=srgb&fit=clip&q=90&w=1000&s=c8ad6030f6c6ae440bb13ad1aeb67e08 1000w, https://designit-web.imgix.net/images/Point-of-view/Future-Dualities/eating-01-1.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&cs=srgb&fit=clip&q=90&w=1200&s=6341a2ce17954a0e48f5e9e3f26dcfd7 1200w, https://designit-web.imgix.net/images/Point-of-view/Future-Dualities/eating-01-1.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&cs=srgb&fit=clip&q=90&w=1400&s=0f9c7f42cc1691d2275d0b560b5f71f8 1400w, https://designit-web.imgix.net/images/Point-of-view/Future-Dualities/eating-01-1.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&cs=srgb&fit=clip&q=90&w=1600&s=577eef9458a7db4dfb8fbf426a7d7b6e 1600w, https://designit-web.imgix.net/images/Point-of-view/Future-Dualities/eating-01-1.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&cs=srgb&fit=clip&q=90&w=1800&s=e487acc9cc5fb3aba63861082baf036a 1800w, https://designit-web.imgix.net/images/Point-of-view/Future-Dualities/eating-01-1.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&cs=srgb&fit=clip&q=90&w=2000&s=6c7644d237a4e442dbf256821842fa08 2000w, https://designit-web.imgix.net/images/Point-of-view/Future-Dualities/eating-01-1.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&cs=srgb&fit=clip&q=90&w=2200&s=5718ec79322c30a0629ff0c3e2307b68 2200w, https://designit-web.imgix.net/images/Point-of-view/Future-Dualities/eating-01-1.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&cs=srgb&fit=clip&q=90&w=2400&s=7c867bfc6431e9f622f7106e9d24c166 2400w, https://designit-web.imgix.net/images/Point-of-view/Future-Dualities/eating-01-1.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&cs=srgb&fit=clip&q=90&w=2600&s=e022e3fe7e992b56a5644e312946c533 2600w)
Grow your own spaghetti marinara.
![](https://designit-web.imgix.net/images/Point-of-view/Future-Dualities/eating-02.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&cs=srgb&fit=clip&q=90&w=400&s=eb83e4aecb3267efc10b7fdaf7a9e113 400w, https://designit-web.imgix.net/images/Point-of-view/Future-Dualities/eating-02.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&cs=srgb&fit=clip&q=90&w=600&s=e728f74c3de479f44288627ec2a60efb 600w, https://designit-web.imgix.net/images/Point-of-view/Future-Dualities/eating-02.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&cs=srgb&fit=clip&q=90&w=800&s=c9849173f099560460f3cf5692cae86b 800w, https://designit-web.imgix.net/images/Point-of-view/Future-Dualities/eating-02.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&cs=srgb&fit=clip&q=90&w=1000&s=345e70007106254ab3128b6047d955de 1000w, https://designit-web.imgix.net/images/Point-of-view/Future-Dualities/eating-02.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&cs=srgb&fit=clip&q=90&w=1200&s=b1a6eaff1c4b28c813ba4b7f1588e3a6 1200w, https://designit-web.imgix.net/images/Point-of-view/Future-Dualities/eating-02.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&cs=srgb&fit=clip&q=90&w=1400&s=910e130c90fda5fe0f98d335d7fd0411 1400w, https://designit-web.imgix.net/images/Point-of-view/Future-Dualities/eating-02.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&cs=srgb&fit=clip&q=90&w=1600&s=5e3ebae5cb1e5dc80524221f0a5cce46 1600w, https://designit-web.imgix.net/images/Point-of-view/Future-Dualities/eating-02.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&cs=srgb&fit=clip&q=90&w=1800&s=8ba7f8fc6fe4da12b4493832c23b0ad8 1800w, https://designit-web.imgix.net/images/Point-of-view/Future-Dualities/eating-02.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&cs=srgb&fit=clip&q=90&w=2000&s=3ad8b1dd38a668cc5a8ff218fa7632a1 2000w, https://designit-web.imgix.net/images/Point-of-view/Future-Dualities/eating-02.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&cs=srgb&fit=clip&q=90&w=2200&s=2d37be2373947d0970ebe4c9bb4e8f46 2200w, https://designit-web.imgix.net/images/Point-of-view/Future-Dualities/eating-02.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&cs=srgb&fit=clip&q=90&w=2400&s=32a65bba146f6ff3348e4f2f1fb9c605 2400w, https://designit-web.imgix.net/images/Point-of-view/Future-Dualities/eating-02.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&cs=srgb&fit=clip&q=90&w=2600&s=7cf718d0554d5afb47b43f97b4ac4d36 2600w)
What meal are you watching for dinner?
Stay tuned. Next up in our Dualities series, Convenience & Consideration. How are we seeing this duality play out today? How could it shape a particular industry in the future? And what questions should you be asking about your organisation moving forward?
To learn more about what lies ahead, we built our very own Futures Generator. Don't forget to take it for a spin - the results may surprise you.
Interested in giving the futures of your business some more thought? We’d love to have the conversation. Get in touch.