FUTURES Podcast

Author and media commentator Rachel Botsman discusses trust, collaborative consumption, and innovative new uses for blockchain technology. Rachel is the leading global authority on an explosive new era of trust. She's an award-winning author, speaker, university lecturer and media commentator. Her specialism is an engaging and intelligent long-view of how technology is transforming human relationships and what this means for life, work and and how we do business. Her book, Who Can You Trust? (Penguin Portfolio) is set to revolutionise our perception of trust and will transform traditional ideas of banking, media, politics, consumerism, dating and even how we bring up our kids. Find out more: futurespodcast.net CREDITS Produced by FUTURES Podcast Recorded, Mixed & Edited by Luke Robert Mason FOLLOW FUTURES PODCAST Twitter: @FUTURESPodcast Instagram: @futurespodcast Facebook: @FUTURESPodcast

Therapist Michael Carthy discusses how he uses virtual reality to help individuals overcome anxiety, conquer their phobias and tackle their fears. Virtual Reality Therapy (VRT) is backed by twenty years of scientific studies that prove its efficacy. Together with specialised software, Michael supervises his client's use of VR to ensure the process is controlled, safe & effective. Find out more: futurespodcast.net ON THIS EPISODE Virtual Reality Therapy Human Givens Joe Griffin Ivan Tyrrell Positive Psychology Flooding (Psychology) Fight-or-flight response CREDITS Produced by FUTURES Podcast Recorded, Mixed & Edited by Luke Robert Mason FOLLOW FUTURES PODCAST Twitter: @FUTURESPodcast Instagram: @futurespodcast Facebook: @FUTURESPodcast

Performance artist Dani Ploeger discusses electronic waste (e-waste), planned obsolescence of technology and the posthuman in performance. Dani's work investigates and subverts the spectacles of sex, violence and waste in techno-consumer culture. He has undergone an operation in which electronic waste was installed in his abdomen by a body piercer, has worked with traditional metal workers in the old city of Cairo to encase tablet computers in plate steel, attended firearms training in Poland to shoot an iPad with an AK47, and travelled to dump sites in Nigeria to collect electronic waste originating from Europe. Find out more: futurespodcast.net ON THIS EPISODE (re)Performing the Posthuman Transhumanism Consumerism Guy Debord Zygmunt Bauman James Bond Kinect Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Electronic Waste Planned obsolescence Mary Douglas Transmediale Juju CREDITS Produced by FUTURES Podcast Recorded, Mixed & Edited by Luke Robert Mason FOLLOW FUTURES PODCAST Twitter: @FUTURESPodcast Instagram: @futurespodcast Facebook: @FUTURESPodcast

Carla Gannis discusses emoji, using augmented reality for creativity and the current state of digital art in New York. Carla is an American artist and Industry Professor of Integrated Digital Media at NYU. She identifies as a visual storyteller and with the use of 21st Century representational technologies she narrates through a "digital looking glass" where reflections on power, sexuality, marginalization, and agency emerge. Find out more: futurespodcast.net ON THIS EPISODE Emoji Garden of Earthly Delights Hieronymus Bosch Hito Steyerl MoMA, New York Blippar Mixed Reality (MR) Filter Bubble L. Frank Baum Vernor Vinge Ivan Sutherland Transfer Gallery Bitforms Gallery Dorothy R. Santos Isabel Walcott Draves Postinternet Giotto CREDITS Produced by FUTURES Podcast Recorded, Mixed & Edited by Luke Robert Mason FOLLOW FUTURES PODCAST Twitter: @FUTURESPodcast Instagram: @futurespodcast Facebook: @FUTURESPodcast

Professor Steve Fuller discusses transhumanism, how scientists should approach risk, and what it means to be human in the 21st Century. Steve is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Warwick, his most recent work has been concerned with the future of humanity, or 'Humanity 2.0'. During the interview he discussed the ideas of transhumanism and posthumanism and explained the potential directions in which humanity may move. He also argued that we should embrace technological and medical advances, as well as the risks that we may face in their development. ON THIS EPISODE Humanity 2.0: What it Means to be Human Past, Present and Future Universal Declaration of Human Rights Transhumanism Posthumanism Book of Genesis Jesus The President's Council on Bioethics (PCBE) Leon Kass Wisdom of repugnance Max Planck Friedrich Nietzsche Aubrey de Grey Max More Morphological Freedom Mind Uploading Christology William James The Moral Equivalent of War Francis Fukuyama Nuremberg trials Nick Bostrom Seasteading Peter Thiel Precautionary principle Proactionary principle Henry Ford The Rockefeller Foundation James Watson Existential risk CREDITS Produced by FUTURES Podcast Recorded, Mixed & Edited by Luke Robert Mason FOLLOW FUTURES PODCAST Twitter: @FUTURESPodcast Instagram: @futurespodcast Facebook: @FUTURESPodcast

Cybersexpert Dr. Trudy Barber discusses the history of cybersex, the future of teledildonics, and the emerging field of sex robotics. For the past 20 years Trudy has been investigating how people become intimate with technology, and is credited with creating one of the first immersive virtual reality sex environments. She shares her experience of working with people who use technology to explore their sexual identities and explains her thoughts on how technology can enhance sexuality, the perception of self and human relationships. Find out more: futurespodcast.net ON THIS EPISODE Cybersex Massive Open Haptic Online Orgies Central Saint Martins Wired Love: A Romance of Dots and Dashes Sex Maniacs Ball William Gibson Oculus VR Campaign Against Sex Robots Teledildonics CREDITS Produced by FUTURES Podcast Recorded, Mixed & Edited by Luke Robert Mason FOLLOW FUTURES PODCAST Twitter: @FUTURESPodcast Instagram: @futurespodcast Facebook: @FUTURESPodcast

Professor of Cybernetics Kevin Warwick discusses augmenting human capabilities, the exciting field of robotics, and what it means to be a cyborg. His pioneering research into robots with biological brains and enhancing human physiological functioning with electronic devices has brought the science fiction future into the present. Prof Warwick is no stranger to using himself as a guinea pig for his research. One experiment, which previously had only been tested on chickens, involved him undergoing a two hour operation by a neurosurgeon to implant a 'brain gate' system in him, linking his nervous system with a computer. The implant in his arm had wires running to a connector. A computer monitored the signals between his brain and arm. Prof Warwick's brain learned to recognise the system of pulses emitted during the three months of the experiment. He was able to turn on lights and control a wheelchair via the implant. Find out more: futurespodcast.net ON THIS EPISODE Grindhouse Wetware Tim Cannon Dangerous Things Amal Graafstra Kernel Bryan Johnson Neuralink Elon Musk H.G. Wells Michael Crichton The Terminal Man Neil Harbisson Cyborg Foundation RFID Chips Neurosurgery CREDITS Produced by FUTURES Podcast Recorded, Mixed & Edited by Luke Robert Mason FOLLOW FUTURES PODCAST Twitter: @FUTURESPodcast Instagram: @futurespodcast Facebook: @FUTURESPodcast

On this show we meet the scientists, technologists, artists and philosophers working to imagine the sorts of developments that might dramatically alter what it means to be human. Some of their predictions will be preferable, others might seem impossible, but none of them are inevitable. Join your host Luke Robert Mason, and explore the multitude of possible tomorrows. --- Produced by Futures Podcast Recorded, Mixed & Edited by Luke Robert Mason Twitter: @FuturesPodcast | #FuturesPodcast Instagram: @FuturesPodcast Facebook: @FuturesPodcast