Future Tense

The New Laws of Robotics and what they might mean for AI

Way back in 1942 science fiction writer Isaac Asimov created the Three Laws of Robotics. They were written into a short story called “Runaround”. Their influence on technological development has been significant and long lasting Now, legal academic and AI expert Frank Pasquale has expanded that list. Building on Asimov’s legacy, Professor Pasquale’s four new laws of robotics are designed to ensure that the future development of artificial intelligence is done in the interest of humanity....

Dec 05, 2020•29 min

The New Laws of Robotics and what they might mean for AI

Way back in 1942 science fiction writer Isaac Asimov created the Three Laws of Robotics. They were written into a short story called “Runaround”. Their influence on technological development has been significant and long lasting Now, legal academic and AI expert Frank Pasquale has expanded that list. Building on Asimov’s legacy, Professor Pasquale’s four new laws of robotics are designed to ensure that the future development of artificial intelligence is done in the interest of humanity....

Dec 05, 2020•29 min

Plastic past, plastic present, plastic future

Over the past two decades we’ve become increasingly sensitive to the overuse of plastic and more concerned about its environmental impact – but to what effect? According to the World Wildlife Fund, we’ve actually used more plastic since the year 2000 than in all the decades leading up to that date. And previous estimates for the amount of plastic in our oceans now appear far too conservative. Feel-good campaigns aside, the signs for the future are far from promising. As part of Radio National's ...

Nov 28, 2020•29 min

Plastic past, plastic present, plastic future

Over the past two decades we’ve become increasingly sensitive to the overuse of plastic and more concerned about its environmental impact – but to what effect? According to the World Wildlife Fund, we’ve actually used more plastic since the year 2000 than in all the decades leading up to that date. And previous estimates for the amount of plastic in our oceans now appear far too conservative. Feel-good campaigns aside, the signs for the future are far from promising. As part of Radio National's ...

Nov 28, 2020•29 min

Cycling into the future; and turning the gig economy back into a sharing economy

It’s easy to forget that the “gig economy” was once universally referred to as the “sharing economy”. So what went wrong and is it possible to bring back that original promise of flexibility, autonomy and respect? Also, building a genuine cycling culture - the Dutch example. And how to make voice recognition technology better at understanding the voices of children.

Nov 21, 2020•29 min

Cycling into the future; and turning the gig economy back into a sharing economy

It’s easy to forget that the “gig economy” was once universally referred to as the “sharing economy”. So what went wrong and is it possible to bring back that original promise of flexibility, autonomy and respect? Also, building a genuine cycling culture - the Dutch example. And how to make voice recognition technology better at understanding the voices of children.

Nov 21, 2020•29 min

Urban pandemic – isolation and inequality

Speculation about the future of the city centre started as soon as the world began locking down for COVID-19. Much of it has been focussed on the economics of “working from home”, but what have we learnt about urban isolation and inequality from this time of pandemic?

Nov 14, 2020•29 min

The elusive edge of Innovation

Are entrepreneurs the great innovators we’re told they are? What if the ideal of the lone genius is simply a myth? Innovation is a buzz term that’s become so over-used as to be almost meaningless. It’s time to be more innovative in our understanding of innovation.

Nov 07, 2020•29 min

Bringing greater clarity to the laws of space

Commercial and military interest in space is growing exponentially. More and more countries and companies are keen to make money from space-related activities. They are also keen to protect their interests. There are internationally agreed rules regulating activity in space, but there’s also conjecture and confusion about how and when they should be applied. In this episode we look at efforts to better map what is, and is not, permissible in the world above our sky....

Oct 31, 2020•29 min

Wave energy and artificial photosynthesis: the tech that takes time

Australia has long been at the forefront of wave-energy development, but the industry has struggled to find its place in the world of renewables. Can it ever hope to compete with solar Also, Cambridge University’s Erwin Reisner on global efforts to replicate the energy producing power of plants.

Oct 24, 2020•29 min

Seawater greenhouses; the “insect apocalypse”; and zero carbon flight

Imagine greenhouses that produce food using just sunshine and sea-water. In Australia and Africa they’re already a reality. We talk to one of the pioneers of the concept. Also, the latest research on the so-called “insect apocalypse”. And, the new aviation prize open to any enterprising spirit able to cross the Atlantic in a plane powered entirely by renewable energy.

Oct 17, 2020•29 min

Waste management: ingenuity, mindset and working with nature

Human civilization has a waste problem, and it’s likely to get worse as population levels grow and a consumerist mentality becomes the global norm. But there are many clever, practical ways to deal with waste, including bioremediation - a nature-inspired approach.

Oct 10, 2020•29 min

Cryonics: Dilemmas of the frozen dead

Around the world a growing number of people are choosing cryonics. They opt to be frozen when they die on the speculative hope that one day advancing science will allow them to be ‘reanimated’ and brought back to life. The rising popularity of this new death ritual has led to the creation of a cryonics facility in regional Australia, and a handful of Australians have already signed up. Currently there is no existing science to prove that it will work, but even as an idea cryonics raises some imp...

Oct 03, 2020•29 min

Reinventing research – Part Two: Impact, outputs, and the US National Research Cloud

There’s bipartisan support in the United States for the establishment of a national AI research cloud. So, how would academics benefit and what role would big tech play in its operations? Also, problems with academic inclusivity in the developing world, and could alternative channels of distribution soon rival the primacy of peer-reviewed journals?

Sep 27, 2020•30 min

Reinventing research – Part One: future scenarios and moving away from the publish or perish mantra

The research community is facing a “crisis of reproducibility”, according to the head of the Center for Open Science, Professor Brian Nosek. He says many of the traditional practices designed to make research robust, actually distort and diminish its effectiveness. In this episode, he details his ideas for reform. We also explore three plausible scenarios for how the academic sector could look in 2030.

Sep 20, 2020•29 min

Controlled Environmental Agriculture

Controlled Environmental Agriculture promises to be cleaner and greener. It’s focussed on technology and it’s essentially about bringing food production closer to the point of consumption. We examine the potential and the pitfalls.

Sep 13, 2020•30 min

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