We often speak of design as problem-solving. But that may not be the whole of what a designer can do.

Humans created technology to secure survival and safety, then expanded its reach toward convenience, achievement, and self-realization. Technology is no longer merely a way to make up for human shortcomings; it is advancing toward realizing the transcendent area that humankind could once never reach. So if this flow continues, what technological possibilities might we come to face?

The Accelerator sees technology as an active means of expanding human potential and speeding progress toward our goals. They believe that if there's
a future we want, technology should be used to find the fastest ant the most efficient path to it.

Just as we check a clock to keep our lives on our schedule, they look at this device to keep from straying off the predicted path.

Since the prediction device appeared, their sense of time and the future had reversed, and they came to divide time not by the hour and minute hands, but by "actions toward a goal" as its unit.

They called this a "clock."

The Clock reduced the time spent on trial and error, helping people reach their desired future more quickly.

But some people began finding themselves unable to look away from the device, for their anxiety about the future.⁴ Paradoxically, staring at the future too long causes the potential future possibilities the machine presents to gradually narrow — and once a certain threshold is crossed, the future stops appearing altogether, leaving only a black screen.

To limit their own tendency to endlessly stare into the future, they deliberately installed the device on the ceiling. It was designed so that users cannot rest at ease while looking, but must remain standing to look up at the screen.

The Optimizer believes good intentions alone don't guarantee good outcomes. Rather than relying on human emotion and intuition, they hold that decisions should be made using verified evidence and data — judging the greatest good
not just for the present,
but for future generations as well. Hence, they applied prediction technology not to individual success but to communal decisions, turning it into a tool for weighing whom to help and what to choose, and for looking at the results a generation ahead.

When people voice their dilemmas in front of the massive object, ⁵ it simulates the impact each choice would have on society and future generations over the next 20 years. It then presents the direction closest to the common good as a "light".

They called this public device the "Calculator."

Instead of offering a lengthy explanation of a complex future, the Calculator presents a single direction for people to move toward. Countless values are entangled within any one choice. Rather than conveying that complex web through text or images, it reduces it down to a single impression: "light". ⁶

The Calculator helped people avoid choices swayed by emotion or immediate self-interest, encouraging them to weigh long-term impact instead.

However, only a small group of experts set the criteria for the "common good" that the object calculates.⁷ The majority trusted and followed those criteria, believing those experts accounted for more outcomes and a longer view of the future than they themselves could.

The Watcher focuses on how technology changes human freedom, dignity, and choice, rather than the convenience technology offers. They argue that the scope and limit of technology must be set before irreversible changes occur.
The Watcher opposes future prediction technologies themselves. They believe human randomness and imperfection must be respected and should not be reduced to numerical calculations and predictions.

The Watcher created a device that introduces errors into the data coming from their own bodies. The device consists of a nerve bundle structure attached to the side of the head and a small, round device attached to clothing. It is designed to blend in with hair and clothes so it is not easily noticed. This is to ensure that the act of wearing it itself is not collected as new data, allowing it to be used as discreetly as possible in daily life.

They call this device the 'Protector.'

Users go about their daily lives while wearing the Protector. The device adds subtle alterations to biosignals like heart rate and body temperature, and sometimes influences the user's voice or facial muscle movements on their behalf. ⁸ As a result, they don't get linked together as one continuous, identifiable person. For future prediction technology to work, it is important to link data collected from numerous people into consistent and stable patterns.² The Watcher choses to exploit this point by continuously creating errors for themselves and breaking the continuity of data as a single person.⁹

The Protector prevented the Watchers' data from accumulating as consistent individuals within future prediction technology.

Errors from a single person do not significantly affect the prediction system,
but when the number of Watchers exceeds a certain scale, individual errors accumulate, gradually lowering the reliability of future prediction models.