For this task, I used Microsoft Copilot to generate a speculative story using the prompt: “In approximately 500 words, describe or narrate a scenario about a gift found a few years into a future in which ‘progress’ has continued. Your description should address issues related to family and elicit feelings of happiness.” The AI-generated story described a “memory capsule”, a device that allowed a family to relive real memories from the past. The story followed a young girl who discovered this gift from her grandmother, and through it, her family reconnected with their shared history. In a world where technology had become fast, efficient, and artificial, the gift reminded them of what truly mattered: love, family, and remembering where they came from.
After reading the story and reflecting on the module readings and videos, I began to understand speculative design in a new way. As Dunne and Raby (2013) explain, speculative design is not about predicting or forecasting what will happen; rather, it uses imagined futures as a lens to question and critique the present. The future becomes a kind of mirror that shows us our current values, fears, and hopes. I think the AI story did this quite well. It imagined a future full of technological progress, yet it wasn’t about efficiency or profit, it was about emotional connection. In a way, it took the idea of “progress” away from corporations and gave it back to people. It imagined technology as something that brings families together instead of replacing human relationships.
This idea connects to what Mitrovic et al. (2021) discuss when they describe how events like the 1964 World’s Fair presented a polished, corporate-controlled vision of the future, one that was meant to dazzle and distract rather than provoke critical thought. Those designs made the future look clean, simple, and full of promise, but they also ignored real social complexities. That’s the risk of speculative design when it becomes spectacle, it can lose its ability to challenge the present. The AI-generated story, however, offered something different. It was simple, but it also carried a quiet critique. In all our technological advancement, maybe what we truly need to preserve is our humanity.
Honestly, I have a somewhat bleak view of the future. With the state of the world right now, and with powerful corporate figures like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos shaping what “progress” looks like, it’s hard to imagine a better world. They seem more interested in escaping our planet than healing it. But reading Dunne & Raby (2013), and Mitrovic et al. (2021), made me realize that speculative design is about hope, about imagining possibilities that don’t yet exist but could. That’s what I appreciated about the AI story. It offered a hopeful version of the future where the past and the present could coexist, where family and memory still matter. In that sense, speculative design isn’t about predicting a better future; it’s about reminding us that we still have the power to create one.
Reflecting on this AI-generated story and the ideas of speculative design has reinforced for me the importance of keeping the human element at the center of educational technology. While tools and platforms can enhance learning experiences, they must be integrated thoughtfully to support emotional, social, and cognitive development. In my own teaching practice, this means balancing digital and physical literacy experiences, using technology to enrich engagement and differentiation without losing the tactile components that are vital for young learners. Speculative design reminds me that the choices we make today about technology in classrooms can shape not just what students learn, but how they experience connection, curiosity, and meaning in their education.
References
Dunne, A., & Raby, F. (2013). Speculative everything: Design, fiction, and social dreaming. The MIT Press.
Mitrović, I., Auger, J., Hanna, J., & Helgason, I. (Eds.). (2021). Beyond speculative design: Past – present – future. SpeculativeEdu.