Future Tense

By ABC listen

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Category: Society & Culture

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Subscribers: 849
Reviews: 0
Episodes: 244

Description

A critical look at new technologies, new approaches and new ways of thinking, from politics to media to environmental sustainability.

Episode Date
Forgetting, not memory, moves us forward
May 22, 2025
Bitcoin boom or digital deception?
May 15, 2025
Can the oceans solve our carbon removal problems?
May 08, 2025
YouTube turns 20; and the interesting side of boredom
May 01, 2025
Remember the Jevons Paradox! 
Apr 24, 2025
The power and peril of the optimistic mind
Apr 17, 2025
AI's "hidden labour" and the move toward a linkless internet
Apr 10, 2025
The roots of techno-authoritarianism
Apr 03, 2025
Some challenges to conventional economic thinking 
Mar 27, 2025
Civility, trash talking and more sociable cities
Mar 20, 2025
Limitarianism — could a cap on wealth reduce inequality?
Mar 13, 2025
Understanding attention and a craving for certainty
Mar 07, 2025
Flow Batteries, windships, and a new approach to off-grid solar
Feb 27, 2025
Modern museums, accountability, and openness
Feb 20, 2025
Nuclear tombs and the distant discourse of danger
Feb 13, 2025
The danger of generational labelling
Feb 06, 2025
Could Utopian thinking save democracy?  
Jan 30, 2025
How to ensure privatisation serves the public good
Jan 23, 2025
The vicious cycle of fear and anger — and how it traps society
Jan 16, 2025
Algorithms create a dull conformity — off and online
Jan 09, 2025
The must-have skill for the future: Untangling unintended consequences
Jan 02, 2025
Nostalgia can make you vulnerable to manipulation
Dec 26, 2024
The artificial secret behind "natural food"
Dec 19, 2024
The role genetics could play in bringing down Methane levels
Dec 12, 2024
The cities that create rain; AI in warfare; and do carbon offsets really work?
Dec 05, 2024
Do we need new rules of war as conflict takes on a cyber dimension?
Nov 28, 2024
Whatever happened to...?
Nov 21, 2024
A declaration on future generations
Nov 17, 2024
Robots in the home – friend or foe?
Nov 07, 2024
Melting brains and climate anxiety
Oct 31, 2024
Frozen frogs, tissues and cells — the health and environmental benefits of keeping it chill
Oct 24, 2024
Sex tech, AI and the centrality of consent
Oct 17, 2024
Wolf Warrior diplomacy — Have we finally seen an end to undiplomatic diplomacy?
Oct 10, 2024
Why China has tightened its belt and road
Oct 03, 2024
The year of the poll — democracy's mega test
Sep 26, 2024
Saying goodbye to ageism — the last “acceptable” prejudice
Sep 19, 2024
AI snake oil — its limits, risks, and its thirst for resources
Sep 12, 2024
The "disruption nexus" and the power of a good crisis
Sep 05, 2024
Rediscovering the essence of Liberalism could help in the battle against authoritarianism
Aug 29, 2024
Why in the 21st century are we still talking about the political Left and Right?
Aug 22, 2024
"Anthropocene" — why the fight about a name has real world consequences
Aug 15, 2024
We're losing the dark sky and you can already feel the consequences
Aug 08, 2024
Can we afford to continue to keep pets — environmentally and financially?
Aug 01, 2024
Technology is revolutionising sport performance
Jul 25, 2024
Are the big US media platforms swallowing our culture?
Jul 18, 2024
A new push in the search for alien life
Jul 11, 2024
Technology and language — a dynamic relationship
Jul 04, 2024
Rethinking productivity and the pushback to shareholder capitalism
Jun 27, 2024
Limitarianism — could a cap on wealth reduce inequality?
Jun 20, 2024
Sucking CO2 from the air — a "Mammoth task"
Jun 13, 2024
The truth about AI – garbage in, garbage out
Jun 06, 2024
The best response to disasters: centralised strength or community mitigation?
May 30, 2024
The greatest demographic shift in a century is being ignored: single living
May 23, 2024
It's time to take the Influencer economy seriously
May 16, 2024
When good intentions fuel further environmental problems
May 09, 2024
Big corporations are taking over as landlords and it's further fuelling the global housing crisis
May 02, 2024
The great distribution dilemma – can public interest journalism survive?
Apr 25, 2024
Dark sky at night, everyone's delight
Apr 18, 2024
Nobel-Prize laureate Abhijit Banerjee on the world's largest UBI experiment
Apr 11, 2024
The manufacturing of "natural food" and how tech can demystify what we eat
Apr 04, 2024
Self-destructive behaviour — the enemy within 
Mar 28, 2024
Fear and anger – the complicated emotions that govern our world
Mar 21, 2024
Algorithmic homogeny – why everything looks and feels the same
Mar 17, 2024
The weaponisation of nostalgia; and has culture come to a standstill?
Mar 10, 2024
Are we really becoming more isolated and less community minded?
Mar 03, 2024
TikTok's superstar economy – how live-streaming is turning social media into a game played for money
Feb 25, 2024
Conversing with aliens and 'decentering' the human
Feb 18, 2024
Does AI show we overestimate our human creativity? And what does creativity mean anyway?
Feb 11, 2024
Growing houses and running computers with help from bacteria — the future of synthetic biology
Feb 04, 2024
Building a new social contract 
Jan 28, 2024
The Great Regression and the "kidification" of adulthood
Jan 21, 2024
Research productivity and innovation is declining
Jan 14, 2024
Managerialism ... and what it means for work
Jan 07, 2024
Turning our back on alcohol
Dec 31, 2023
Who are the beneficiaries of climate change?
Dec 24, 2023
The Great Plunder – curbing human creativity through mass theft
Dec 17, 2023
Sweltering Cities – the cost of exponential urbanisation
Dec 10, 2023
Technology churn versus digital Inclusion
Dec 03, 2023
How ancient trees could help in the fight against climate change
Nov 26, 2023
Why knowing when to finish is as important as getting started
Nov 19, 2023
The great scan — mapping below Earth's surface
Nov 12, 2023
Giving old technology a future-focussed twist
Nov 05, 2023
Cory Doctorow: Platform capitalism and the curse of "enshittification"
Oct 29, 2023
Architecture's AI crossroads
Oct 22, 2023
People have to solve the climate crisis — technology alone is not the answer
Oct 15, 2023
China's plan for a digital currency will have global implications
Oct 08, 2023
Worshipping a divine AI and turning outer space into an art gallery
Oct 01, 2023
The normalisation of economic warfare
Sep 24, 2023
Considering unintended consequences is the new crucial skill for the 21th century
Sep 17, 2023
The complexities of oversimplification
Sep 10, 2023
The Circular Economy approach – thinking systemically about the environment
Sep 03, 2023
Should you pay to drive into your city centre — for the sake of the climate?
Aug 27, 2023
Rethinking productivity and the pushback to shareholder capitalism
Aug 20, 2023
Acoustic restoration of ecosystems — how the sound of love helps animals return to old habitats
Aug 13, 2023
Air conditioning: keeping us cool but making the planet hotter
Aug 06, 2023
Algorithmic Intimacy – self-love, liability and babies as click bait
Jul 30, 2023
Self-destructive behaviour — the enemy within 
Jul 23, 2023
The first ever drop in global energy sector emissions; and the battle for our brains
Jul 16, 2023
Should individuals bear the largest burden for climate action?
Jul 09, 2023
Cory Doctorow: Platform capitalism and the curse of "enshittification"
Jul 02, 2023
A new lifeline for local news
Jun 25, 2023
How Japan is redefining its military defence
Jun 18, 2023
Can mining the ocean floor go ahead without regulations?
Jun 11, 2023
Designing buildings for disasters
Jun 04, 2023
Robots + bees = pollination
May 28, 2023
Advanced AI – are we repeating the mistakes of the past?
May 21, 2023
Falling in love with an app! When Anthropomorphism, making things too human like, goes wrong
May 14, 2023
How the world could end – take two
May 07, 2023
We're all responsible for plastic pollution ─ and for cleaning it up
Apr 30, 2023
Correcting the record on China's economy
Apr 23, 2023
The sound of the stars
Apr 16, 2023
Food security in a precarious world
Apr 09, 2023
Will future generations turn away from alcohol?
Apr 02, 2023
The future threat from ancient viruses
Mar 26, 2023
Introducing "brubery" — bribery's other half
Mar 19, 2023
Some home truths about declining research productivity, innovation and disruption
Mar 12, 2023
Embracing serendipity and breaking free of algorithmic shackles 
Mar 05, 2023
ChatGPT — the hype, the limitations and the potential
Feb 26, 2023
Deep Fakes and moral panic
Feb 19, 2023
Managerialism and our obsession with hierarchy
Feb 12, 2023
A global pandemic treaty; communication vulnerabilities; and talking to the animals
Feb 05, 2023
The climate change "winners"
Jan 29, 2023
Coming to terms with noise
Jan 22, 2023
Should we really aim for sustainable development?
Jan 15, 2023
Fashion’s fast future
Jan 08, 2023
The future of satire is no laughing matter
Jan 01, 2023
Forgetting, not memory, moves us forward
Dec 25, 2022
A Right to Disconnect ... from work
Dec 18, 2022
The cultural impact of streaming; and the "digital horder" within
Dec 11, 2022
The trouble with tech-driven farming
Dec 04, 2022
Noise: the invisible ocean pollutant
Nov 27, 2022
Should individuals bear the largest burden for climate action?
Nov 20, 2022
Why corporations need to think more about society and less about profit
Nov 13, 2022
The positive side of monitoring
Nov 06, 2022
The complexities of oversimplification
Oct 30, 2022
Community electricity grids and building better batteries
Oct 23, 2022
The Great Regression and the "kidification" of adulthood
Oct 16, 2022
New ways to move about cities
Oct 09, 2022
Understanding tech-facilitated abuse; and problems in space
Oct 02, 2022
Food security in a precarious world
Sep 25, 2022
Have data breaches become just another cost of business?
Sep 18, 2022
Air conditioning: keeping us cool but making the planet hotter
Sep 10, 2022
The opportunity costs of corporate welfare
Sep 03, 2022
Xenobots - the tiny robots with enormous potential
Aug 28, 2022
How ancient trees could help in the fight against climate change
Aug 21, 2022
Airships return to the skies and a serious problem that could cripple long-range space travel
Aug 14, 2022
The strange case of the trees that grow metal and how to harvest them
Aug 07, 2022
eDNA monitoring; 'telehealth' for animals; and using animals as early warning system for disasters
Jul 31, 2022
The Digital Self, Web3 and reclaiming your online identity
Jul 24, 2022
The real worth of net zero is debateable
Jul 17, 2022
Emotional Intelligence and the promise of a better workplace
Jul 10, 2022
Algorithmic audiencing, bioluminescent lighting and the virtues of a circular city
Jul 03, 2022
A non-proliferation treaty for fossil fuels
Jun 26, 2022
Reembracing the spirit of public service
Jun 19, 2022
Cities – the hot beds of evolution
Jun 12, 2022
Disinformation and propaganda in a time of conflict
Jun 05, 2022
The Earth BioGenome Project; the church of women; and what do we really think about facial recognition technology?
May 29, 2022
The population conundrum
May 22, 2022
Does data science need a Hippocratic oath?
May 15, 2022
Cliodynamics, the Hinge of History and why all history is revisionist
May 08, 2022
Big data and farming – the promise and the fear
May 01, 2022
A slow move towards a plastic free future
Apr 24, 2022
Are Sovereign Wealth Funds the best way of safeguarding the future?
Apr 17, 2022
Space-based Solar: energy above the clouds
Apr 10, 2022
The future of satire is no laughing matter
Apr 03, 2022
Forgetting, not memory, moves us forward
Mar 27, 2022
When development aid goes wrong - propping up bad regimes
Mar 20, 2022
The fall of cash & the rise of central bank digital currencies
Mar 13, 2022
Drones, witnessing and the view from above
Mar 06, 2022
Banning books and floating suburbs
Feb 27, 2022
Fashion’s fast future
Feb 20, 2022
Space pollution, stunted high-rise and the joy of missing out
Feb 13, 2022
The opportunity costs of global pollution
Feb 06, 2022
Rare Earths and the difficulties of supply
Jan 30, 2022
Is dumbness our destiny?
Jan 23, 2022
Litigating our way out of climate change
Jan 16, 2022
The power of storytelling – a cautionary tale
Jan 09, 2022
Is the process of ageing inevitable?
Jan 02, 2022
Rewilding to safeguard biodiversity
Dec 26, 2021
Social media: harm and transformative justice
Dec 19, 2021
Coming to terms with noise
Dec 12, 2021
Geopolitics in a post fossil-fuel world
Dec 05, 2021
Our adolescent future and reassessing human rights
Nov 28, 2021
The new globalisation
Nov 21, 2021
Technology: Questions of ethics and fairness
Nov 14, 2021
An international approach to regulating AI
Nov 07, 2021
An update on nuclear energy
Oct 31, 2021
The positive side of monitoring
Oct 24, 2021
Disappearing cookies and a shortage of chips
Oct 17, 2021
Planning for a problematic future
Oct 10, 2021
The atomisation of religious belief
Oct 03, 2021
Should we really aim for sustainable development?
Sep 26, 2021
The Metaverse – turning life into one big online experience
Sep 19, 2021
Big tech’s big challenge
Sep 12, 2021
Our long-term battle with short-term thinking
Sep 05, 2021
Link rot, pay walls and the perils of preservation
Aug 29, 2021
AI inventors; “Affectivism” and the problem with Virtual Reality
Aug 22, 2021
Bitcoin: silly speculation or the future of finance?
Aug 15, 2021
A new alliance of democracies
Aug 08, 2021
Outsourcing, automation and the messiness of global labour
Aug 01, 2021
The trouble with Tech-driven farming
Jul 25, 2021
Ransomware – a very 21st century crime
Jul 18, 2021
A non-proliferation treaty for fossil fuels
Jul 11, 2021
Litigating our way out of climate change
Jul 04, 2021
Some foresight about the future of foresight
Jun 27, 2021
What role will hydrogen play in our future?
Jun 20, 2021
Rewilding: part two
Jun 13, 2021
Rewilding to safeguard biodiversity
Jun 06, 2021
Is the process of ageing inevitable?
May 30, 2021
Is dumbness our destiny?
May 23, 2021
When satellites collide…
May 16, 2021
Teaching AI to fly like a bee
May 09, 2021
The power of storytelling – a cautionary tale
May 02, 2021
Are Sovereign Wealth Funds the best way of safeguarding the future?
Apr 25, 2021
Enterprising ways to make and shift electricity
Apr 18, 2021
Locking down nature in order to liberate it
Apr 11, 2021
The Privacy Paradox
Apr 04, 2021
The strange case of the trees that grow metal and how to harvest them
Mar 28, 2021
How much change can we expect as airlines once again take to the skies?
Mar 21, 2021
Chinese technology is advancing, but it’s a long way from global domination
Mar 14, 2021
Emptying the oceans
Mar 07, 2021
Wellbeing and COVID; the problem with Wikipedia; and the future of policing
Feb 28, 2021
Brain-Machine-Interfaces - brain manipulation or brain control?
Feb 21, 2021
Hype versus reality – getting some perspective on the future of cars
Feb 14, 2021
Ecocide: making environmental damage an international crime
Feb 07, 2021
Geopolitics in a post fossil-fuel world
Jan 31, 2021
Reinventing research – Impact, outputs, and the US National Research Cloud
Jan 23, 2021
Are governance issues failing the Himalayas?
Jan 16, 2021
Artificial cities - from futuristic urban dreams to ghost towns
Jan 09, 2021
Designing technology to increase inclusion for the disabled
Jan 02, 2021
Reflections on the smart phone
Dec 26, 2020
How globalisation and technology are changing the nature of storytelling
Dec 19, 2020
Our understanding of AI and the value of a national plan
Dec 12, 2020
The New Laws of Robotics and what they might mean for AI
Dec 05, 2020
Plastic past, plastic present, plastic future
Nov 28, 2020
Cycling into the future; and turning the gig economy back into a sharing economy
Nov 21, 2020
Urban pandemic – isolation and inequality
Nov 14, 2020
The elusive edge of Innovation
Nov 07, 2020
Bringing greater clarity to the laws of space
Oct 31, 2020
Wave energy and artificial photosynthesis: the tech that takes time
Oct 24, 2020
Seawater greenhouses; the “insect apocalypse”; and zero carbon flight
Oct 17, 2020
Waste management: ingenuity, mindset and working with nature
Oct 10, 2020
Cryonics: Dilemmas of the frozen dead
Oct 03, 2020
Reinventing research – Part Two: Impact, outputs, and the US National Research Cloud
Sep 27, 2020