dConstruct

Matt Novak

paleofuture.com/about-me/
@paleofuture
About

Matt Novak is the editor of Gizmodo’s Paleofuture blog, which looks at past visions of the future. He explores the history of our most optimistic dreams and our most pessimistic fears by looking at everything from flying cars and utopian communities to overpopulation and complete societal collapse. His work is inspired by his private collection of retro-futuristic artifacts, including hundreds of vintage tech magazines, space age lunchboxes, 1980s videophones, among hundreds of other pieces. Matt started the Paleofuture blog independently in 2007 and it was later acquired by Smithsonian magazine in 2011 and then by Gawker Media in 2013. He currently lives in Los Angeles, a city which has about four years until it’s set to achieve the utopia depicted in the 1982 documentary Blade Runner.

Listen to the podcast episode with Matt Novak.

A Brief History of Tomorrow

What did you imagine the early 21st century would look like when you were a kid? Was it all flying cars and jetpacks? Daily trips to the moon and hoverboards back here on Earth? Or were you more enamoured with the darker sides of futurism? Perhaps Doomsday prophecies and the ravages of Future Shock were on your mind. Did you sit up nights worrying about acid rain and environmental degradation?

How we imagine the future says a lot about us both as individuals and as groups. And by studying past visions of the future we can not only gain new insights into history, but we might even learn something about where we’re heading today.

Matt Novak’s talk, “A Brief History of Tomorrow”, looks at the history of invention and imagination -- from robot vacuum cleaners of the 1950s to visions of the internet before the internet even existed. He’ll trace the history of popular ideas about how we’d be living here in the year 2015, and debunk a few common historical myths along the way. No matter how talented our prognosticators, we often discover that the future is never exactly as anyone predicted. Which is precisely what makes studying it so much fun.

Join these men and women in their
vision of the future

See our
fantastic lineup!

Registration
Opening Remarks
Brian David Johnson Designing the Future…and Building It…with Science Fiction!
Matt Novak A Brief History of Tomorrow
Break
John Willshire Metadesign For Murph
Josh Clark Magical UX and the Internet of Things
Chris Noessel Gorgeous Catastrophic
Lunch
Nick Foster The Future Mundane
Carla Diana Designing the Future Through Tangible Storytelling
Ingrid Burrington Come With Me If You Want To Live, or How To Survive A Time Travel Paradox
Break
Dan Hill The City of Things
Mark Stevenson Up for Grabs
Closing Remarks
After Party

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Located at
the Brighton Dome

Located in the all new Brighton Space Dome, 2,000 miles above the city of Brighton and Hove. Please make your way to the Brighton Dome Space Port, for your complimentary low earth orbit shuttle service.

Accommodation

Looking for somewhere to stay while in this friendly, futuristic city? Check out the Brighton page on AirBnB for local dwellings.

There are plenty of hotels too: Ibis, MyHotel, Artist Residence, Jury’s Inn, and Fhloston Paradise to name just a few.

To eat

For traditional earthly sustenance, you could beam yourself to the weekly Street Diner food market. There are also lots of ground-level restaurants and cafés nearby, where you can grab a bite during the lunch break (the lunch break lasts for an hour and a half so you’ll have plenty of time).

For liquid refreshment, the popular fuel known as ‘coffee’ is available from purveyors such as the Small Batch Coffee Company (on New Road, very close to the Brighton Dome Space Port).

  • Burgers and Cocktails
    15 North Road
    Brighton BN1 1YA
    (on Sept 11th, show your dConstruct pass & get 20% off food orders)*
  • Coho
    83a Queens Road
    Brighton BN1 3XE
     
    53 Ship Street
    Brighton BN1 1AF
    (on Sept 11th, show your dConstruct pass & get 10% off everything)*
  • Gourmet Burger Kitchen
    44–47 Gardner Street
    Brighton BN1 1UN
    (on Sept 11th, show your dConstruct pass & get 15% off food orders)*
  • Kooks
    56 Gardner Street
    Brighton BN1 1UN
    (on Sept 11th, show your dConstruct pass & get 20% off entire bill)*
  • Taylor St Baristas
    28 Queens Road
    Brighton BN1 3XA
    (on Sept 11th, show your dConstruct pass & get 20% off all hot drinks)*
  • Strada
    160–161 North Street
    Brighton BN1 1EZ
    (on Sept 11th, show your dConstruct pass & get 20% off food bill​)*
  • Las Iguanas
    7–8 Jubilee Street
    Brighton BN1 1GE
    (on Sept 11th, show your dConstruct pass & get 20% off food bill)*
  • Pizza Express
    A3 Block, Jubilee Street
    Brighton BN1 1GE
    (on Sept 11th, show your dConstruct pass & get 20% off food bill)*
  • E-kagen
    22–23 Sydney Street
    Brighton BN1 4EN
*Cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer

Presented By

Clearleft is a user experience design consultancy based in Brighton, UK. We design delightful digital experiences.