This issue likely marks a challenging perspective for practitioners of interaction disciplines, as it paints a picture of what is to come and raises a fairly explicit and demanding challenge. To quote Seymour, "It's no longer down to what we can do - it's about what we should do." We hope practitioners will acknowledge this challenge and consider it in light of the collision of worlds. The challenges are great, but the opportunities are greater.

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Richard Seymour, co-founder of the well known product design futurism company Seymourpowell, offers and demands both a rallying cry and a challenge. His topic is the future, and his optimism is for our ability to positvely affect the culture and society in which we live. As Seymour explains, Design is about making things better for the world, and his challenge is aimed explicitely at practicioners of interaction: what matters most is not how hard we work, but what we choose to work hard on.

Richard Seymour and Dick Powell formed Seymourpowell in 1984. Seymour was trained both as a graphic designer and an illustrator, and his career has touched the design of everything from books to films, and ultimately, to futuristic visioning of products and platforms. Seymourpowell has won numerous design awards for its work over the last 20 years, and Seymour continues to push the firm into new and exciting territory: his recent work on space tourism for Virgin was presented with wonderful response to the IDSA/ICSID World Design Congress in 2007.

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