Future Around & Find Out
Dan Blumberg
You know what would be awesome? If we could build the future we want — before we muck it up.
Future Around & Find Out helps builders think clearly about AI and emerging technologies, grapple with the implications, and decide what to build next.
Independent technologist and former NPR journalist Dan Blumberg speaks with founders, makers, and you to celebrate breakthroughs, call BS on the hype, explore how things might go sideways — and how we can steer the future in the right direction.
The Webby Awards have honored the show (formerly known as CRAFTED.) as a top tech podcast three years in a row!
On Tuesdays, we feature interviews with the builders changing how we work, live, and play.
On FAFO Fridays, futurist Kwaku Aning joins Dan for a playful recap of the week in tech, including the amazing, the scary, and the strange.
You’ll also hear about innovations that too often get overshadowed by AI, including in deep tech, biotech, fintech, quantum computing, robotics, blockchain, and more.
Across it all, you’ll hear sharp takes on what comes next and what builders need to know now.
So let’s Future Around & Find Out together!
https://www.FutureAround.com
Future Around & Find Out helps builders think clearly about AI and emerging technologies, grapple with the implications, and decide what to build next.
Independent technologist and former NPR journalist Dan Blumberg speaks with founders, makers, and you to celebrate breakthroughs, call BS on the hype, explore how things might go sideways — and how we can steer the future in the right direction.
The Webby Awards have honored the show (formerly known as CRAFTED.) as a top tech podcast three years in a row!
On Tuesdays, we feature interviews with the builders changing how we work, live, and play.
On FAFO Fridays, futurist Kwaku Aning joins Dan for a playful recap of the week in tech, including the amazing, the scary, and the strange.
You’ll also hear about innovations that too often get overshadowed by AI, including in deep tech, biotech, fintech, quantum computing, robotics, blockchain, and more.
Across it all, you’ll hear sharp takes on what comes next and what builders need to know now.
So let’s Future Around & Find Out together!
https://www.FutureAround.com
Episodes
Mentioned books
Mar 28, 2026 • 34min
Melania's Humanoid Guest, Robot Teachers, and What We Lose When Learning Is "Instant"
A spicy take on the White House humanoid photo op and why robot teachers may be more spectacle than solution. A debate over Melania’s “instantaneous” learning vision and what gets lost when struggle disappears. Questions about whether education needs human-shaped robots and where embodied machines might actually help. Tangents about deepfakes, student misuse, and what AI should automate versus what we should practice.
14 snips
Mar 24, 2026 • 47min
What should kids study? How should AI help? Khan Academy's learning chief on productive struggle
Kristen DiCerbo, Chief Learning Officer at Khan Academy and AI-in-education expert, discusses what kids should study now: fundamentals plus AI literacy and critical thinking. She explores when AI should prompt reflection versus give answers. Topics include productive struggle, personalized learning with Khanmigo, low edtech adoption, scenario planning for AI in schools, and practical questions parents should ask.
Mar 20, 2026 • 33min
Glimpsed at SXSW: Robot Soccer, AI Sweet Nothings, and Pants That Do the Walking | It's FAFO Friday
A rooftop roundup from SXSW covering robot soccer and the race for humanoids to beat humans. They riff on wearable augmentation like e-bike pants and the cost of outsourcing feelings to AI. Conversations touch on the mental tax of managing many AI agents and the odd economics of falling for AI-powered services.
Mar 17, 2026 • 31min
"Train the Monkey First" — How Google Built a Moonshot Factory | Astro Teller (Captain of Moonshots)
Astro Teller, Captain of Moonshots at X and leader of the lab behind Waymo and Google Brain, shares how to systematize audacious innovation. He explains greenlight everything then kill fast, setting kill criteria, blending audacity with humility, and why diverse teams and prototyping accelerate breakthroughs. He also discusses bets in biology, the electric grid, and AI as foundational infrastructure.
Mar 13, 2026 • 4min
BONUS: A quick riff on that weird Anthropic graph with Paul Ford | FAFO Friday
Paul Ford, writer and founder of Aboard known for sharp tech commentary. He and Dan riff on that viral, Rorschach-like Anthropic radar graph and why people share it for looks rather than clarity. They geek out on a taco-themed AI remake, explain why radar charts mislead, and talk about how AI can quickly materialize bad ideas.
Mar 10, 2026 • 42min
"It Sounds Like Something From Marvel" — Building an Antivirus for AI... With AI | Daniel Hulme (Founder, Conscium)
Daniel Hulme, founder of Conscium and WPP’s Chief AI Officer, studies AI, consciousness, and neuromorphic computing (he even researched bumblebee brains). He discusses building AI that can detect suffering, creating AI as an “antivirus” for unsafe agents, neuromorphic paths to huge energy gains, testing and verifying agent behavior, and a vision of AI-driven abundance that reshapes society.
Mar 6, 2026 • 42min
Choose Your Own Adventure | It's FAFO Friday
They laugh through a victory lap of predictions that came true and riff on OpenAI's bar‑fly energy. Quantum computing gets a choose‑your‑own‑adventure treatment. Waymo, robot choreography, and debates about humanoid designs come up. Politics, regulation, and the timing of self‑driving cars in New York get hashed out. Plus SXSW plans, moonshot spinoffs, and an AI fact‑checking mishap about Velcro.
Mar 3, 2026 • 33min
Dead as a Dodo? Maybe Not! Colossal's Beth Shapiro on the Science of De-Extinction — and Moonshots
Beth Shapiro, Chief Science Officer at Colossal Biosciences and ancient DNA researcher, explains why bringing back extinct species can solve broader conservation and biotech problems. She describes the dire wolf births, the choices behind genetic edits, moonshot-driven lab innovations, and an ethics framework for risky science. Short, vivid tales of mammoth mysteries and reproductive biology round out the conversation.
Feb 27, 2026 • 43min
To Accede or Not To Accede? That Is The Question | It's FAFO Friday!
They debate Anthropic's refusal to comply with a Pentagon demand and what that means for AI control. They cover dramatic mass layoffs at Block and skepticism over AI as the reason. They unpack the Paramount–Warner consolidation and its implications for media power. Quick riffs include Maduro’s outfit meme, newsroom fallout, and worries about creator survival.
29 snips
Feb 24, 2026 • 39min
"I just want AI to replace me as a scientist" | The co-founder of Diagnostic Robotics predicts the future
Kira Radinsky, CEO of Diagnostic Robotics and co-founder of Mana.bio, is an AI entrepreneur who turns prediction into action. She discusses using ML to automate healthcare admin, build causal systems that predict outbreaks and patient twins, and accelerate drug delivery with closed-loop labs. Conversation covers incentivizing bold algorithms, ROI-aware models, and avoiding bias in healthcare AI.
