Context:

The MIT Media Lab was founded in 1985 by Nicholas Negroponte and Jerome Wiesner as a deliberate experiment: put digital technology, cognitive science, art, and design in one building and see what happens. Forty years later, that experiment has produced a distinctive body of work — not primarily papers or predictions, but provocations: artifacts, demos, prototypes, and experiences built to make an argument about how the future could feel. Some became the present. Many did not, and remain unfinished business.

We work from the City Science vantage point, where research spans urban modeling and simulation, transformable environments, mobility on demand, infrastructure, and civic consensus. Cities are where speculative technology stops being speculative. Our horizon is 2065 — as far ahead of us as 1985 is behind. Forty years, in other words, is precisely enough time for a provocation to become ordinary life. So we ask what the Media Lab has already imagined that the world has not yet caught up to, and what entirely new groups, themes, and research directions the next forty years will require.

Goal:

This class asks you to envision the constructive impact and consequence of your work upon — and into — the future. Not the next grant cycle; the next forty years. You'll do it in two registers: an artifact (a proto-incarnation in software, hardware, wetware, messyware, or otherware) and a world (a synthesized imagination of the future it implies — sketches, photomontages, renderings, video, genAI AV).

Structure:

The class meets weekly on Wednesday afternoons from 1:00–4:00 PM in E15-341 (Nagashima Room). Each three-hour session is structured to balance multiple modes of engagement. The first hour features talks, panels, discussions, and video viewings that ground the weekly theme. The second hour is dedicated to in-class exercises and assignments designed to build toward your final project. The third hour is flexible time that may include additional presentations, show-and-tell, Media Lab tours, independent project work, or structured office hours with instructors. This format balances input, hands-on exploration, and time for you to develop your work with instructor feedback.

Weekly assignments: 

Each week, we will explore distinct thematics that serve as creative frameworks and research territories for your work. Students will begin developing project concepts and prototypes that respond to and explore the themes.

Mid-term project: 

At the midterm, students will present the journey of their three projects developed through the weekly thematic explorations. Walk us through what they created, what they learned from each exploration, and articulate their open questions. Then present their proposal for the final project—how will you synthesize and extend these ideas into their artifact and world? The midterm is a moment to reflect on their process, share their insights, and dialogue about where they are headed. 

Final project: 

Envision the constructive impact and consequence of your group's work upon — and into — the future. You will deliver this in two registers:

• THE ARTIFACT — a proto-incarnation of your project, or of the family of artifacts and experiences it makes possible: software, hardware, wetware, messyware, otherware. It need not be complete. It must be present, and must argue by being in the room rather than by being described. The demo has been the atomic unit of this Lab since 1985.
• THE WORLD — a synthesized imagination of the future your artifact implies, emphasizing the influence of its essential design and technology: sketches, photomontages, renderings, video, genAI AV.
• THE DEMO — on the final review day, students will present and demo your artifact and world.

Enrollment: 

This class seeks highly motivated students. Diverse backgrounds are welcome. 

More questions? Email maitanei@mit.edu