Future Humans

Can You Predict a Future 1,000 Years From Now?

IB attributes: inquirers, risk-takers, thinkers

Innovative thinkers regularly stretch their imaginations and think critically about how we move, structure, and design the world around us.

The grade 10 Future Humans project asks students to envisage and draw a new species of human that could exist 1,000 years from now. Using CAD (computer-aided design) techniques that fuse geometry into new shapes, students learn to make detailed silhouette drawings of these future humans.

Creativity can run wild, but good design ideas are built on existing research in science, emerging technologies and patterns in society. Students are given a series of design constraints that must be considered when determining how their future humans might look and behave.

For example, one student had to develop a concept around this situational prompt: a barren world where bioengineering has extended lives and money no longer exists.

Although this scenario may seem implausible, it encourages critical and lateral thinking. In this example, the student came up with an idea for the Aquidili, a new species of underwater dwelling humans, featuring hooklike hands and wearable technology designed to refilter their sweat into water for survival! Drawing upon conceptual, critical and technical skills, the Future Humans project forces the students to practice creative problem solving in order to fabricate sustainable products and generate innovative solutions in a Fab Lab environment.

ALEC MATHEWSON ’95, Technology & Design Integration Specialist, Fab Lab Coordinator