It seems to me farmore likely that a robotic existence would not be like a human one inany sense that we understand, that the robots would in no sense be ourchildren, that on this path our humanity may well be lost.

But then I learned a Norwegian phrase which eloquently explains that the longest mile of any journey is stepping across your doorstep and starting. They call it ‘The Doorstep Mile’.

8-Up works like this: 1. Get eight people in a room and ask them a design ques-tion like “How might we do a better job of moving peo-ple around?”2. Then tell them: “You each have three minutes to come up with three ideas for how we might do a better job of moving people around.”3. Once those three minutes have passed, all eight people should have three ideas each. You then tell them: “Great, now turn to your neighbor, show them your three ideas, they will show you their three ideas, take those six ideas and whittle them down to two.”4. After they’ve done that, say to each pair: “Okay, show your two ideas to the pair next to you. They’ll show you their two ideas. Take those four ideas and whittle them down to two.”5. After that, you’ll have two groups of four with two ideas each. You get all eight people together and say: “Take those four ideas and whittle them down to one.”This tends to produce better ideas than just saying, “Hey, eight people, come up with ideas and we’ll vote on the best one.” Or: “Hey, eight people, I’m gonna lock you in a room until you agree on an idea.”

Question design is one of the key tools we have at our disposal when trying to get people to work together. The art of turning a “should” statement into a “how might we” statement works something like this: for any “should” question, understand what the goal of the proposed solution is, and then frame a “how” question around that goal.

Again, we only changed a few words, but that new frame engenders a completely different conversation. This is why designers love the phrase “How might we...”—because it opens up the conversation to solutions.

The framing effect, which is the bias the above examples exploit, is in my opinion the most dangerous bias in the world.