Could Should Might Don't: How We Think About the Future

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'A rare and wondrous thing' STEPHEN FRY

As the tempo of change accelerates beyond anything our ancestors could have imagined, the ability to think clearly about what lies ahead has never been more important - yet we remain remarkably bad at it.

So how might we think about the future with greater rigour

Nick Foster is one of very few people to have built a career considering this question, and in this book he's written an invaluable guide for the rest of us. From the Could of excitable, science fiction utopianism and the Should of data-driven, dogmatic certainty, to the Might of scenario planning and the Don't of fear-driven risk avoidance, Foster explores how humanity has grappled with the concept of the future throughout history, tracing the emergence of distinct schools of thought and exploring the virtues, blind spots, and inevitable shortcomings of each.

Could Should Might Don't resists making cocksure prophecies and bombastic predictions, instead encouraging us to create more balanced, detailed and truthful versions of the future, so that we might improve what we leave behind for those who might follow.

Reviews

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 towards what might be coming next -- OLIVER BURKEMAN
I 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 EAGLEMAN
It'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 FRY
A 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 McDOWELL
Thoughtful . . . 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 -- QUESTLOVE
Rather 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 JAIN
It'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 HILL
The future has rarely been more of a contested space than right now, and we are nearly constantly bombarded by competing visions and interpretations. This is a vital handbook for those looking to make sense of the noise and understand the ways that futures are invoked, inevitable, invented, called upon or avoided -- TOBIAS REVELL
Foster, a futurist and designer for many top companies, including Google, turns a critical eye to the future in this thought-provoking book * * Booklist * *

Author Bio

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.

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