Future Design Inquiries. August 2024

Hello from your friends at enso, a future design company.

For anyone new here, we’re sharing the things that make us think, bring us joy or shift our perspective. And we welcome your reactions, additions, and suggestions – reach out news@enso.co.

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What we’re reflecting on

These nuggets are curated by enso partners Hanna Siegel (HS) and Sebastian Buck (SB).

Can the placebo effect be used for good?

I’ve been reading Nathan Hill’s new novel, Wellness (it’s great), which features a clinic that provides entirely fake medicines to unsuspecting people with very real conditions. The insight around the placebo effect is that, in many cases, the story we believe can change the way our brains and bodies respond to pain, injury, trauma, etc. In the book, Elizabeth is a scientist who takes a given patient (ex: type A, organized, business-like), adjusts the ambiance of the clinic accordingly (sleek, corporate, medical) and crafts a story about how the medicine she’s prescribing will help. And, more times than not, it works. Scientifically, people get better. This isn’t fiction. Placebos have meaningfully reduced Parkinson’s symptoms, chronic pain, depression and asthma, among many others. The rub, of course, and the reason this would never happen in real life, is that the effect only works if people don’t know the truth. Yet, in violating the most basic ethical principle, Elizabeth helps countless people stop suffering, all without any of the risk that real interventional medicine carries. After all, you can’t get addicted to a sugar pill. It made me think differently about the booming wellness industry we have today. So much is marketed as if it can make you feel great but without any solid scientific proof (ex: supplements). There is so much wrong with those empty promises. And yet, I imagine that millions of people are suffering a little bit less because of the placebo effect they trigger. The wellness industry knows how to tell a good story. And in many cases, that’s enough. But it makes me wonder – what is the ethical, scalable way to utilize the placebo effect for good? (HS)

Eddy Out

Enso went to Montana this month, the latest in our series of ~quarterly nature weeks that we do rather than have an office. We work and play in beautiful places. While whitewater rafting in Big Sky, our guides would call ‘eddy out’, a term for pulling out of the fast-moving water into a gentler, protected pool. From there, you can catch your breath, look at the rapids you’ve just been through, and plan for what’s ahead. It’s what these weeks in nature feel like. It also struck me that it’s the reason I love the Sun Valley Writers’ Conference, which I drove to after Montana. In a whiplash-inducing culture that can feel like fast-moving rapids, our attention is so exhausted that 6 minute articles or 15 minute TED talks can feel stress-inducing. Spending days with writers who have dedicated years to a single topic is a deeply satisfying ‘eddy out’, from Niall Ferguson on geopolitics to Judy Blume on inspiration to Rabbi Brous on navigating moral earthquakes to John Vaillant’s edge-of-your-seat writing on fire. Books are an eddy out; talking about books with readers and writers is an even better one. (You should probably join me there next year, although you have to be quick on tickets in January because they sell out in minutes.) (SB)

In support of late bloomers

We live in a culture that values youth and (traditionally defined) success – and those who can put these two things together are richly rewarded, at least in the short term. But the truth is, a 50 year old tech founder is twice as likely to start a successful company as a 30 year old one. The peak innovation age is in the late 40s. A 45 year old is twice as likely to produce a scientific breakthrough as a 25 year old. David Brooks’ piece You Might Be a Late Bloomer is an enlightening reminder to slow down, enjoy the ride and trust that you’ll find your way eventually. (HS)

A First Gen future

Alejandra Campoverdi’s session at Sun Valley resonated deeply with me. At one level, her book First Gen is a heroic tale of rising from poverty in LA to USC, then Harvard Kennedy School, then the Obama White House. But really it’s about the psychological and cultural price involved in being a ‘first and only', from ‘breakaway guilt’ to transcending inherited life patterns, bi-cultural balancing acts, the need to support an extended family, and the loneliness of being a pioneer. She defines ‘first gen’ broadly — the first in a family to cross a threshold, from college to career to country. Despite the fact that 56% of college students identify as first gen, mostly they are left to figure out their own way through the crushing barriers. At a time when we need big new answers that get us beyond zero-sum 20th Century tradeoffs — to be a first gen culture, economy, culture writ large — can we help fuel every first gen to lead us there? (SB)

Be ignorant (some of the time)

The explosion of media and social channels has led to an unfortunate arms race of ‘hot takes’ – too many people feel the need to comment on too many things. And it’s impossible for one person to be informed enough about every hot topic to have valuable or even accurate thoughts about all of them. Yet that doesn’t stop people and the result is, frankly, stressful for the rest of us. A constant barrage of opinions, designed to provoke, that may or may not be backed by actual facts. A few years ago, I put myself on a ‘news diet’ and limited my content intake for the sake of my sanity. And I miss things – I’m a little bit ignorant – but that’s ok. Similarly, we need to (re)normalize not having opinions on every issue of the day. Because the irony is, the more honestly ignorant you are, the more knowledgeable you become, because you’re listening instead of talking. There’s a term for this – Selective Ignorance – coined by Tim Ferriss and expanded upon by James Clear, who said, “Ignore topics that drain your attention. Unfollow people that drain your energy. Abandon projects that drain your time. Do not keep up with it all. The more selectively ignorant you become, the more broadly knowledgeable you can be.” (HS)

The abundance agenda

Well, we made it this far without presidential politics :-)  Some big things are happening. David Brooks wrote a great piece on the ‘spasm of discontent’ that’s driven a reductive, greed- and fear-based approach to the world … and the dynamic path beyond it. “My favorite definition of dynamism is adapted from the psychologist John Bowlby: All of life is a series of daring explorations from a secure base. If Democrats are to thrive, they need to offer people a vision both of the secure base and of the daring explorations.” In this he builds on Derek Thompson’s ‘simple plan to solve all of America’s problems’: an abundance agenda. “We should aim for abundance of comfort, abundance of power, and abundance of time.”  Is there anything more American than abundance? We need to get back to the optimism that defines this place, and this election is a fork in the road. Every leader, company and organization has a role to play in an abundance agenda; it’s the future we’re dedicated to. (SB)

7 things that made us think, gasp, share and laugh:

• The 70-20-10 Rule (h/t Ben Meer):
  • 70% of your work will be mediocre
  • 20% will suck
  • 10% will be amazing

If you’re avoiding failure, you’re avoiding success

• Bloomberg Philanthropies donated enough money to make Johns Hopkins medical school free for any family who makes <$300,000/year, the majority of students there.
• Gallup’s 2024 Global Emotions report and interactive. Turns out that in some ways, we’re starting to get back on track.

• This anonymous ‘Gnome Restoration Society’ steals garden gnomes only to return them repainted and restored days later. Of course, they’re Canadian.
• Sweden passed a law that allows grandparents to step in and get paid parental leave for up to 3 months. We all know it takes a village – how awesome for more of that village to be paid.
• “I could never get into my college if I applied today.” - Me, and everyone else I know. Now you can fact-check that assumption with this tool where you can search your school and see what admissions looked like over the last 20 years.
• The School for Moral Ambition; Rutger Bregmen’s new effort, “The most important thing is that you combine the idealism of an activist with the ambition of an entrepreneur.”

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:

1. The business case for work wellbeing: Showing how companies that prioritize employee wellbeing outperform the market – and spreading the word. 
2. Design The Future book: Distilling wisdom from those actively designing and creating the future, from a wide variety of fields. We hope to complete this in 2024.
3. 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.
4. Radical leap stories in Mexico: Uncovering the stories of Mexicans creating and solving with technology.
5. Optimizing the labor market: Can AI be the tool that makes the labor market work better for workers and companies?

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All photos by Sebastian Buck in Big Sky, Montana.

See you next time.

enso • 115 W California Blvd #9101 Pasadena, CA 91105