Welcome to the Urgent Futures podcast, the show that finds signal in the noise. Each week, I sit down with leading thinkers whose research, concepts, and questions clarify the chaos, from culture to the cosmos.

The best way to support the show, you ask? Pop over to YouTube and hit that Subscribe button. You hear it all the time for a reason—nothing will help the channel grow more than that simple click.

My guest this week is Emily Segal.

Emily Segal is a writer, strategist, and trend forecaster based in Los Angeles. She is a founding partner of Nemesis (nemesis.global) a strategic consultancy and creative studio. She also co-founded the trend forecasting group K-HOLE. Her debut novel, Mercury Retrograde (Deluge Books, 2020) was a New York Times New and Noteworthy book. 

Emily is a hard person to quickly contextualize—and I mean that in the best way. Her work consistently lives in intersections that defy simple categorization. For example, she’s one of the founders of K-HOLE, which was part trend forecasting group, part artist collective, and through one of their reports they popularized the term “normcore,” which took the Internet by storm a decade ago. As you’ll hear in the episode, there’s a bit of drift in the meaning by the time it goes mainstream, with many journalists misunderstanding the conceptual statement.

That’s the thing, there’s always more going on, some deeper experiment or question that takes a nuanced read to understand. I’ve known her for many years now, and she’s always proven prescient, and moreover she just makes things happen. Through Nemesis, she co-authored a trend report with a large language model before ChatGPT existed. She funded a book project using NFTs. She also started her own indie book press. We get into all that and so much more in the episode. One little teaser that I can’t not share is this quote:

“In 2008 when the stock market was crashing, I remember looking at the New York Times website…and there were tons of typos.”

🎧 Audio versions of the podcast can be found Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you like what you hear, please subscribe!

Support Reality Studies:

ZBiotics: Right now, get 10% off ZBiotics. Just head over to zbiotics.com and use code JESSEDAMIANI. The next day after drinking feels way better when you take one of these. Art fairs have no shortage of alcohol—perfect time to test drive ZBiotics.

Genetically engineered by a team of PhD microbiologists, ZBiotics is a probiotic drink that breaks down the byproduct of alcohol responsible for rough mornings after drinking (acetaldehyde).

NordVPN: Right now, Get up to 72% off 2-year plans + a Saily eSIM data gift through this link. Some people tell me that “VPN” brings to mind ideas of hackers and the dark web, but honestly VPNs are just an extremely easy way to stay much safer online. You don’t have to have any more tech savviness than using any other app! I’ve used NordVPN for the past four years, and appreciate what they offer, including Threat Protection against malware, 24/7 customer support, fast speeds, and more. One account can protect up to 6 devices (phone and computer), and they don’t track or share what you do online. Another benefit: you can always access the content/apps you have at home, wherever in the world you are.

Mission Farms CBD: Mission Farms CBD crafts full-spectrum CBD products for specific conditions like sleep, stress, and discomfort, using a combination of CBD and terpenes found in essential oils. I swear by this stuff: I take one of their Marionberry Lemon gummies to end each day.

There’s a lot of junk CBD on the market. All of Mission Farms’s CBD comes from a small farm in Bend, Oregon. They farm the hemp organically, tend every plant by hand, and test for purity four times: the soil, the hemp, the hemp-extract, and the final products. This CBD is designed for wellness and it shows. Go to this link and sign up for emails to get 25% off your first order.

CREDITS: This podcast is edited and produced by Adam Labrie and me, Jesse Damiani. Adam Labrie also directed, shot, and edited the video version of the podcast, which is available on YouTube. The podcast is presented by Reality Studies. If you appreciate the work I’m doing, please subscribe and share it with someone you think would enjoy it.

Find more episodes of Urgent Futures at: youtube.com/@UrgentFutures. Past conversations include Taylor Lorenz, Lia Halloran & Kip Thorne, Legacy Russell, and more.