Future Design Inquiries. May 2025
Hello from Enso, a future design company. We’re sharing the things that make us think, bring us joy or shift our perspective.
What we’re reflecting on
The value in values
If capitalism had a clubhouse, the words above the door might be the old Roman proverb, ‘Fortune favors the brave’. But today, those inside are whispering behind closed doors. Settling spurious lawsuits. Disowning previously-championed values. Disguising tariff costs to deceive customers while appeasing politicians. It’s pathetic. Leaders, employees, and customers feel embarrassed by association. And yet, some are showing another path. Harvard fought back. Scott Galloway recently argued that the first company to loudly and unapologetically reaffirm its values will unlock massive value creation (referencing Nike’s Colin Kaepernick campaign). Paul Polman, former Unilever CEO, advises leaders not to retreat, but to reframe: shed polarizing language, but not the values themselves. ‘The worst signal a leader can send is silence, or an abandonment of their principles all together.’ David Brooks, self-proclaimed as ‘not a movement guy’, goes further, “It’s time for a comprehensive national civic uprising. It’s time for Americans in universities, law, business, nonprofits and the scientific community, and civil servants and beyond to form one coordinated mass movement.” America has been a remarkable engine of value creation — but that engine only runs on the rule of law, free trade, and inspired people. Business watches those foundations erode at its peril. The only way through is not against, but for. It’s time for clarity and bravery. It’s time to stand for something. (SB)
The Silent Climate Majority
Most of us are climate hawks – but we don’t realize it. 89% of the world’s population wants stronger action on fighting the world’s climate crisis, but they mistakenly believe they are in the minority. In fact, the same study showed that an average of 69% of people said they’d be willing to contribute 1% of their household income every month to fighting global warming, yet when asked if they thought their fellow citizens would do the same, only 43% said yes. That is a massive perception gap and it’s having real world consequences. So why does it matter that we don’t have much faith in one another? Because people instinctively want to be part of the in-group – or the majority opinion. And those opinions dictate norms in culture and also policymaking, as policymakers respond to what voters want. Yet if everyone is simply supporting stronger climate action privately, because they think others don’t feel the same, that cycle of change can’t happen. The perception gap extends to policymakers too – in the UK, MPs underestimate public support for onshore wind farms. In the US, congressional staffers underestimate support for limits on carbon emissions. Closing this perception gap would unlock what experts call the “social tipping point” needed for massive action. So the next step in fighting climate change? Telling people they’re not alone – and waking up the majority. (HS)
Action Builds Trust (civil discourse isn’t enough)
How do we knit stronger communities at a moment when faith in institutions—and one another—is at an all-time low? For years, philanthropies have focused on building channels of civil discourse as an antidote to division. But a new national survey from Trust for Civic Life shows that’s not enough. In fact, ‘dialogue across differences,’ even when it’s professionally facilitated, shows no meaningful correlation in raising trust, agency and belonging. That’s a huge blow to a national strategy that many have poured millions into. And this research surveyed community leaders – arguably the very people most likely to value the dialogue in the first place. Yet it didn’t move the needle. The good news is: It’s clear what does make a difference – doing something together. Intuitively this makes sense – action is active, and doing something together lets people experience collective progress in real time. And that necessary collaboration? It bonds people together, in a way that talking alone just can’t. We’ve written before that action is the antidote to fear. Now I see that perhaps it’s in part because action is the on-ramp to trust. (HS)
Finding belief
“The external world is so intense now, that the internal almost gets drowned out.” Pico Iyer’s wonderful new book, Aflame, is filled with tales and tributes to his time in silence, at a retreat on the California coast. In the quiet, he writes, it’s possible to ‘draw closer to what you love’. That same clarity — the quiet certainty of belief — came through in a very different setting: this interview with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Asked by Cleo Abram about the decade-long journey of building and proving CUDA (the technology that enabled the AI boom) before market validation, Huang didn’t frame it as a struggle or gamble. “You have to reason from your best principles … at some point, you have to believe in something… The question of, ‘why did we stay so committed for so long?’, the answer is actually the opposite: there was no reason to not be committed, because we believed it.” In the same conversation, he made the case for AI as a universal personal tutor. “The knowledge of almost any field, the barriers to understanding…[have] been reduced. I have a personal tutor with me all the time. That feeling should be universal. An AI tutor could help you program, write, analyze, think, reason … it feels like I’m surrounded by superhuman people … it empowers me and gives me the confidence to tackle more and more ambitious things.” A fascinating new study shows that the leading use cases for generative AI have evolved from ‘generating ideas’ (2024) to therapy, companionship, and finding purpose (2025). Whether you turn to nature, principles, or to AI, it’s clear that navigating this world increasingly requires clarity of belief. [ps: I’ve asked for one celebrity selfie in my life; it was Pico. In a space disco.] (SB)
These nuggets are curated by enso partners Hanna Siegel (HS) and Sebastian Buck (SB).
7 things that made us think, gasp, share and laugh:
- Creative types name the small things they give themselves when things are hard
- A fascinating and scary future-cast of what AI could look like in 2027, from the nonprofit AI Futures Project, helmed by OpenAI Whistleblower Daniel Kokotajlo.
- Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams should be required reading for anyone in technology
- Jeff Bridges has a great website
- Opie Way: made-in-America sneakers; their factory was destroyed in Hurricane Helene, but they're rebuilding and will soon launch 'Opie 2.0'
- On sitting around and reading a novel
- This developer built a community designed for belonging, with cottages based on an actual storybook. To no one’s surprise, people love it.
- DishGen lets you type in whatever ingredients you have and generates actually decent recipes
- An autistic artist built ‘happy to talk’ benches in London to combat loneliness
- This video by @@ivann_sevilla on IG of people in Sevilla, unable to use their phones during the recent blackout, having an analog good time
- Bears just wanna have fun
What we’re working on
enso is a small, senior team so that we can work on just a few initiatives at a time. This allows us to go deep on some of the biggest challenges/ opportunities. Recently, we’ve been working on a few main missions with our partners:
- Defining how the world’s most dynamic ecosystem can be harnessed to fight climate change: Finding a way to turn the incredible research, education and innovation into a new future for the planet, and for us.
- A brand to radiate optimism: We think restoring optimism in the world is essential. We're exploring building a product, content and community brand around this idea.
- Changing the world of work: the labor market is the engine of prosperity, but ~80% of people are not engaged or thriving. We’re working to change the system.
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Reach us at news@enso.co
See you next time.
Enso • 115 W California Blvd #9101 Pasadena, CA 91105