FUTURES Podcast

Futurist Tracey Follows shares her insights into how digital technology is transforming identity, how new ways to capture biometric data will require us to rethink our relationship with governments and corporations, and what AI-enabled virtual persons can teach us about what it means to be human. Tracey Follows is a professional futurist identifying the future trends that will shape our world. Her clients have included Telefonica, Google, Sky, Farfetch, Conde Nast and Virgin. She has spoken at UN HQ in New York, delivered her TedX at the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office and closed at events such as Think With Google. She writes her own contributor column in Forbes and her opinions are regularly sought by national media. She was an Adage 'Woman to Watch' 2017, Women in Marketing Award Winner 2016, and Inaugural Creative Strategy Jury President at Cannes Lions 2019. In 2018, she was listed by Business Cloud as a Trailblazing Woman in Tech. She is a member of the Association of Professional Futurists, World Futures Studies Federation and a Fellow of the RSA.  Find out more: futurespodcast.net CREDITS Produced by FUTURES Podcast Recorded, Mixed & Edited by Luke Robert Mason FOLLOW Twitter: twitter.com/futurespodcast Facebook: facebook.com/futurespodcast Instagram: instagram.com/futurespodcast

Science writer Ginny Smith shares her insights into the latest ways to scientifically understand the human brain, the role of hormones and neurotransmitters in memory, sleep, depression and addiction, and the methods we can use to improve our cognition. Ginny Smith studied Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge, specialising in Psychology and Neuroscience, and now spreads her love of her subject as a science writer and presenter.  Ginny performs a range of science shows about the brain at science festivals and teaches at the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Continuing Education. She is a presenter and producer for the British Psychological Society’s Psych Crunch podcast, and a regular on the Cosmic Shambles Network. For several years she worked with the Naked Scientists, and produced and presented a weekly science show for Cambridge TV. She loves to write science articles for a general audience, and has written several books for DK, targeted at a younger audience. Overloaded is her first title for a popular science readership.  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

Bionic pop artist Viktoria Modesta shares her insights into developing artworks that showcase a posthuman aesthetic, the challenge of constructing and managing online digital-identities, and the role collaboration plays in prototyping future possibilities. Viktoria Modesta is a bionic pop artist, creative director and futurist. Describing her work as post-human and post-disability, she bridges performance art, music and fashion with technology, science and medicine. She first gave us a fresh and glamorous perspective of disability in a cultural content when she performed as the Snow Queen during the closing ceremony of Paralympics 2012 wearing a diamond encrusted prosthetic. 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

Product designer Tom Gruber shares his insights into creating intelligent interfaces, the ethical use of technology, and how humanistic AI can enable learning, knowledge sharing, and increased productivity. Tom Gruber is a technologist, designer, and entrepreneur, using technology to augment human intelligence. He was cofounder and head of design for Siri, which created the first virtual assistant for everyone. Siri is included on every new iPhone and iPad, and used every day by millions around the world. He led the design of RealTravel, a popular Web 2.0 site that harvests the collective knowledge of travelers around the world. He pioneered the space of Collaborative Knowledge Management, which allows large virtual organizations to collaborate on line and contribute to a collective memory of their work and knowledge. He invented HyperMail, the granddaddy of open-source software that turns email conversations into collective memories on the Web. He is known in the Artificial Intelligence world for foundational work in ontology engineering and the Semantic Web. He dabbles in underwater photography and contact improvisation. This discussion was recorded for SingularityNET as part of their Decentralised OS Web Series. This Bonus Episode is not sponsored content. 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

Co-founder of The Pirate Bay Peter Sunde shares his insights into the cultural importance of copying, why pranking and trolling is an effective form of online activism, and why civil disobedience might be our best tool to bring about a free and open internet. Peter Sunde, alias brokep, is a politician, computer expert, and spokesperson with Norwegian and Finnish ancestry. He is best known for being a co-founder and ex-spokesperson of The Pirate Bay, a BitTorrent search engine. He is an equality advocate and has a popular blog where he expresses, among other issues, concerns over the centralization of power to the European Union. Sunde also participates in the Pirate Party of Finland. 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

Professor Andy Miah shares his insights into why competitive video gaming has experienced a rapid growth in popularity, how digital technology is changing the way traditional sports are played, and how gamification looks set to transform the world of health and fitness. Professor Andy Miah, PhD is Chair of Science Communication & Future Media, at the University of Salford, where he also leads The #SciComm Space and Co-Chairs the University’s Esports Strategy. He was previously Chair of Ethics and Emerging Technologies at the University of the West of Scotland. He is a Fellow of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, USA, Advisory Board Member for the Science and Industry Museum, Manchester, Advisory Board Member for the British Esports Association, and Commission Member of the Global Esports Federation. Professor Miah’s research examines the intersections of art, ethics, technology and culture and he has published broadly on areas of emerging technologies, particularly related to digital and biotechnological innovations. Current research themes include the use of virtual reality in science, health, and art, the ethics of artificial intelligence, and the rise of transhumanism. 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

Professor Frank Pasquale (Brooklyn School of Law) and Professor Steve Fuller (University of Warwick) debate whether humans should regulate artificial intelligence, and discuss the appropriate ways to safeguard the development of automation technologies. Pasquale argued for a precautionary approach to the development of AI - one that favours a careful deployment of new laws for their usage. Whereas Fuller argued for a more proactionary approach to technological innovation - one that allows AI to developed unencumbered by the sorts of governance that might limit its scope. This debate was recorded for SingularityNET as part of their Decentralised OS Web Series. This Bonus Episode is not sponsored content. Frank Pasquale is Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School and author of The Black Box Society: The Secret Algorithms That Control Money and Information. His work has appeared in the Atlantic, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Guardian, and other outlets. Prof. Steve Fuller is Auguste Comte Professor of Social Epistemology at the University of Warwick, UK. Originally trained in history and philosophy of science, he is the author of more than twenty books. From 2011 to 2014 he published three books with Palgrave on 'Humanity 2.0'. His most recent book is Nietzschean Meditations: Untimely Thoughts at the Dawn of Transhuman Era (Schwabe Verlag, 2020). 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

Historian Thomas Moynihan shares the complex history of how humanity began to contemplate its capacity to bring about its own extinction, why the study of existential risk exposes a prevailing pessimism about the future, and what the search for extraterrestrial intelligence reveals about our unique place in the universe. Thomas Moynihan is a writer from the UK, currently working with Oxford University's Future of Humanity Institute. His work explores how our knowledge of the threats and promises of the future has developed throughout the past, revisiting the ways people have thought about both the failure and the flourishing of our species within the wider universe. 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

Professor of Law Frank Pasquale shares his insights on how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can capitalise on human strengths and take advantage of human limits; what automation means for healthcare, education and warfare; and how the robotics regulations we implement today might have a dramatic effect on the future of work. Frank Pasquale is Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School and author of The Black Box Society: The Secret Algorithms That Control Money and Information. His work has appeared in the Atlantic, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Guardian, and other outlets. 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

Writer Grafton Tanner shares his insights into how nostalgia is leveraged by big tech and corporations, how fictional universe-building has impacted the way we think about lived-reality, and how our recent obsession with the past might stop us from imagining a better future. Grafton Tanner is a writer and musician from Athens, Georgia. He is the author of Babbling Corpse: Vaporwave and the Commodification of Ghosts, and his work has appeared in The Nation, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and other locations. He writes and performs with his band Superpuppet. 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