Power of Ten with Andy Polaine S4 Ep13: Carissa Carter — Assembling Tomorrow
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Nov 26, 2025 
In this discussion, Carissa Carter, a designer and academic director at the Stanford d.school, shares her journey from geoscience to design. She highlights the layers of design thinking, emphasizing the urgency of addressing climate change through practical solutions. They explore the intersection of narratives and data, warning against the pitfalls of biased data in predictive policing. Carissa also introduces the concept of a fictional World Creation Council aimed at reversing harmful technologies, advocating for design that promotes healing and sustainability.
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Onion Layers Of Design
- Design operates in layered systems from data and technology up through products, experiences and ecosystems.
- Tracing effects across those layers reveals hidden consequences and agency in design choices.
Use Stories To Prototype Futures
- Use fiction as a prototyping tool to explore plausible near-term futures and emotional impacts.
- Pair speculative stories with nonfiction analysis to help people test whether they want that future.
Balance AI Excitement With Caution
- Rapid AI and tech advances create both enabling possibilities and unseen harms simultaneously.
- Balancing excitement with anticipating downstream effects is essential in design and policy.
