Future Now
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Artifact from the Future: Indulgence Navigator
This Artifact from the Future is an example of products, services, and experiences that may play out in the future based on the forecast perspective MEASUREMENT: The Creative Search for Metrics that Matter from our 2013 Reworking Health: New Authorities in a Well-Being Economy research.
INDULGENCE NAVIGATOR
WHAT:
You’ve had a hard week at work and want to indulge—but not at the expense of your long-term health. There are libraries worth of information online on the effects of any indulgence imaginable, but they give general advice, and everyone’s body processes substances differently. The Indulgence Navigator, on the other hand, gives recommendations based on your unique genetic predispositions. While it’s been banned on several app markets, you’ve jailbroken your devices to integrate your biometric data to learn how to have the most fun you can safely have this Friday night.
SO WHAT:
In recent years, we’ve seen the emergence of a variety of direct-to-consumer genetic testing services. As biometric data—genetic, metabolic, and everyday activity—grows at an exponential pace over the next decade, consumers will turn to an increasingly wide array of services to help them understand these measurements and the implications that they, not the health system, care about. While somewhat extreme, the Indulgence Navigator hints at the wide variety of ways that people might look to connect their conventional health data to their highly idiosyncratic goals.
This Artifact from the Future is a snapshot of what might emerge if forecasts about the future materialize. It was developed as part of our 2013 Reworking Health: New Authorities in a Well-Being Economy research, which explored the new tools and resources that are challenging traditional roles of patients, consumers and providers and empowering new authorities to emerge and engage people in their health.
Like all of IFTF’s Artifacts from the Future, this image offers insights into future everyday lives and is intended to give you an immersive look at a possible future change.