The Futurists

In this episode, cybersecurity specialist and advisor to the DoD and former DIA cyber chief, Tyler Cohen Wood, joins us to talk about the recent Microsoft update crash and DDOS attacks. Wood takes us through emerging vectors and the cyberpunk future of our internet. If you think you’re safer online, you might want to skip this one.

In this week’s show we interview the legendary British science fiction author Charlie Stross. From Accelerando through to the Laundry Files we talk through how politics and social dynamics of our day tend to inform science fiction and why science fiction authors should be thought of as hi-brow entertainers rather than particularly gifted seers of the future. And yet, we get into why sci-fi authors tend to be fairly good at forecasting too. 

What will happen in the US Presidential election? It’s no exaggeration to say that the fate of the republic hangs in the balance as the United States heads to the national election in November. A series of historic incidents in the month of July 2024 has completely upset the dynamics of the contest: an attempted assassination, a surprise vice president pick and President Biden’s decision to withdraw from the race. This week the Futurists discuss the global consequences of these unprecedented dynamics and speculate about what might happen if Donald Trump returns to the White House, or if he is thwarted by Kamala Harris.

Monica Anderson returns to the Futurists to share a radical concept: future AI models based on Darwinism.  The “AI epistemologist” shares provocative opinions about where the current crop of generative AI systems went wrong, and why generative AI is computationally expensive and energy intensive, and why scaling AI with hardware will not achieve general intelligence. Instead she offers a radical alternative: a design for machine intelligence that is inspired by biology, and in particular by the Darwinian process of selection. Topics include: why generative AI is not a plagiarism machine; syntax versus semantics and why AI needs both;  there is only one algorithm for creativity; and how to construct an AI that consumes a million times less energy. 

Ross Dawson and Brett King discuss AI, climate survivability, mass migration, and collaborative intelligence. They explore AI's role in healthcare, digital twins, and the need for long-term investments. The conversation highlights the importance of futurists in shaping positive societal and economic outcomes.

This week we call upon renowned media personality and thought leader Tariq Qureishy. Based between London and Dubai, Tariq has recently helmed a project known as “Voices of the Future”. A chronicling of 110 of the world’s best future thinkers, analysts and researchers and their thoughts about humanity can adapt to the incredible changes being thrust upon society. He tells us why he’s MAD – dedicated to “Making a difference” – and why thinking about the future is a core skill in today and tomorrow’s world  Bio – https://tariq.tv/

Exploring the impacts of climate change on global supply chains, governance structures in Dubai and Singapore, the development of cities like Shenzhen and Beijing, and the evolution of containerization in global shipping. Embracing societal transitions and adopting a futurist mindset for a better future.

David Wood and Calum Chace lead the London Futurists, a group that promotes radical scenarios for the future. In this episode they explain how expectations about the future have evolved in the UK during the past 15 years under Tory leadership, and they identify the trends that will shape the next 15 years.  Brett King and Rob Tercek draw comparisons to economic and political trends in the US, Australia and other regions. Topics include populism, geopolitical conflict, immigration, and the pervasive influence of emerging technology on society. 

The future is complicated!  Brett King and Rob Tercek trace the trajectory of several major economic, political, and technology trends, including:  the rising cost of home ownership, price-fixing scams that crank up apartment rent, the rising cost of insurance due to climate change, the dramatic increase in populist movements, the politics of resentment in democracies worldwide, and the advent of  quantum computing.  At the point where these trends intersect, the world becomes more complicated and interesting. It’s not all gloom and doom. Brett and Rob talk about opportunities and the expanding cone of possibility, too. 

The best way to predict the future is to invent it. In this episode, Rob Tercek shares tools and techniques for team-based collaboration to create innovations that can change the world.  He knows his stuff.  Rob designed and launched digital platforms for games and video that are used by hundreds of millions of people today. In this special edition of the Futurists, Rob shares an easy and fun methodology for inventing new products and services used by dozens of major corporations to shape the future.