Jurassic Park Was Right: AI, Inherited Power, and the Cost of Moving Too Fast

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Jan 13, 2026

Hosts explore the implications of advanced technologies racing ahead of our understanding, drawing from a cautionary quote in Jurassic Park. They dive into how generative AI creates an illusion of expertise while questioning the responsibility that comes with innovation. The conversation shifts to quirky Futures Improv scenarios, imagining photosynthesis skin patches, post-scarcity textiles, and lunar independence. They humorously contemplate the repercussions of living to 250 years, and even contact with mundane aliens, blending laughter with crucial societal insights.

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ANECDOTE

Hosts' ChatGPT Misfires

Sean tried to locate a Jurassic Park passage using ChatGPT and failed, proving LLMs can mislocate text.
Andrew recounts correcting ChatGPT from original Hitchhiker's scripts and feeling smug at being right.

INSIGHT

Power Without Apprenticeship Is Risky

Rapidly transmissible scientific power creates “inherited” capabilities without the apprenticeship that builds responsibility.
Sean Leahy and Andrew Maynard warn this frictionless power risks misuse and loss of humility before nature.

ADVICE

Show Me The Receipts

Show your work: demand evidence and receipts before accepting claimed expertise produced by AI.
Use humility and deliberate checks rather than assuming mastery granted by tools, Sean Leahy advises.

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In this playful yet deeply thoughtful episode of Modem Futura, hosts Sean Leahy and Andrew Maynard lean into speculative fun while wrestling with some of the most serious questions shaping our technological future. Sparked by a timeless passage from Jurassic Park, the conversation explores what happens when powerful technologies advance faster than our ability to understand, govern, or ethically wield them — a theme that feels especially resonant in today’s age of AI acceleration.

Drawing on Michael Crichton’s iconic warning about “inherited power without discipline,” the hosts unpack how tools like generative AI can create the illusion of expertise, raising urgent questions about responsibility, humility, and what it truly means to earn knowledge. The discussion weaves through reflections on frictionless technologies, the dangers of techno-hubris, and why “show me the receipts” may be the most important mantra of the decade.

The episode then pivots into a fan-favorite segment: Futures Improv. With rapid-fire speculative scenarios ranging from photosynthesis skin patches and post-scarcity socks to radically extended human lifespans, lunar independence movements, and the discovery of deeply boring aliens, Sean and Andrew riff on the social, economic, and philosophical implications of bizarre — yet strangely plausible — futures.

By blending laughter with insight, this episode reminds us that imagining weird futures isn’t escapism; it’s a critical tool for breaking free from “used futures” and expanding our collective capacity to design better ones. Equal parts funhouse mirror and foresight exercise, this is Modem Futura at its most curious, creative, and human.

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Modem Futura is a production of the Future of Being Human initiative at Arizona State University. Be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. To learn more about the Future of Being Human initiative and all of our other projects visit - https://futureofbeinghuman.asu.edu

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Host Bios:

Sean M. Leahy, PhD - ASU Bio
Sean is an an internationally recognized technologist, futurist, and educator innovating humanistic approaches to emerging technology through a Futures Studies approach. He is a Foresight Catalyst for the Future of Being Human Initiative and Research Scientist for the School for the Future of Innovation in Society and Senior Global Futures Scholar with the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory at Arizona State University.

Andrew Maynard, PhD - ASU Bio
Andrew is a scientist, author, thought leader, and Professor of Advanced Technology Transitions in the ASU School for the Future of Innovation in Society. He is the founder of the ASU Future of Being Human initiative, Director of the ASU Risk Innovation Nexus, and was previously Associate Dean in the ASU College of Global Futures.

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