Angela Oguntala: Re-imagine the Future at TEDxCopenhagen (Full Transcript)

Angela Oguntala

Full transcript of futurist and designer Angela Oguntala’s TEDx Talk: Re-imagine the Future at TEDxCopenhagen conference.

Listen to the MP3 Audio here: re-imagine-the-future-by-angela-oguntala-at-tedxcopenhagen

TRANSCRIPT:

We love to think about the future. We have all of these predictions about what it will be like when it comes. The future of meat is lab-grown. The future of music is a chip in your brain. The future of chairs is a pair of Bionic pants that you put on and then you just kind of lean back into. The future of film, of work, of love, we talk about the future like it’s this thing that will just arrive one day.

But why do we think that? I have a little nephew named Nelson and he told me that he thinks that school is pointless. And when I asked him why, he said, because sooner than later, there’s going to be a machine that he can get into and then he’s just going to get smart by the push of a button, so why should he waste his time? And you know what he might be right. Who knows?

And then there’s this guy. I call him Doomsday Jerry and Jerry believes that a huge catastrophe is on its way. He’s not exactly sure what it will be: a nuclear attack, natural disaster but he knows that it’s coming. So he has spent $7 million preparing for it, including booby-trapping his house and buying a lifetime supply of premium toilet paper.