Science Fiction Author Stephen Oram shares his insights on collaborating with scientists to transform research into speculative storytelling, using near-future fiction to explore the ethical implications of emerging technology, and leveraging narrative to foster public engagement with science. Stephen Oram writes near-future science fiction, exploring the intersection of messy humans and imperfect technology. He also works with scientists and technologists on projects that explore possible futur...
Feb 12, 2025•44 min•Ep. 84
Computer Scientist Neil Lawrence shares his insights on what machine intelligence can teach us about being human, the risks of relying on technologies that prioritise efficiency and scalability over ethics, and the hubris of efforts to extend or upload human consciousness using AI. Neil Lawrence is the inaugural DeepMind Professor of Machine Learning at the University of Cambridge. He has been working on machine learning models for over 20 years. He recently returned to academia after three year...
Feb 03, 2025•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 83
Architect Liam Young shares his thoughts on how science fiction can be a powerful tool for prototyping new possibilities, why problems like climate change urgently need planetary-scale solutions, and how speculative design can inspire meaningful cultural transformation. Liam Young is a designer, director, and BAFTA-nominated producer who operates in the spaces between design, fiction, and futures. Described by the BBC as ‘the man designing our futures’, his visionary films and speculative worlds...
Jan 29, 2025•26 min
Earth Species Project’s Jane Lawton shares her insights on how artificial intelligence is used to decode animal communication, how new technology challenges human-centric views of intelligence, and how the ‘voices’ of other species can inform conservation efforts and influence rights-for-nature debates. Jane Lawton has over 30 years of international experience working with leading organisations focused on sustainable development and nature conservation. Throughout her career, she has explored va...
Jan 22, 2025•23 min
Philosopher Koert van Mensvoort shares his insights into humanity’s ever-evolving relationship with nature, how integrating technology and biology can support ecology, and the possibility of becoming an interplanetary species. Koert van Mensvoort is an artist and philosopher best known for his work on the philosophical concept of Next Nature, which revolves around the idea that our technological environment has become so complex, omnipresent, and autonomous that it is best perceived as a nature ...
Jan 20, 2025•28 min
Young Change Advocate Adam El Rafey shares his thoughts on why ability, not age, should determine opportunity, how to reimagine education towards problem-based learning, and how the adaptability of the younger generation will prepare them for an increasingly uncertain future. Adam El Rafey is a 14-year-old change advocate, public speaker, and innovator. He is a learning enthusiast passionate about urban planning and transport, reforming education, breaking down barriers, and inspiring others to ...
Jan 15, 2025•19 min
MIT Media Lab’s Prof. Pattie Maes shares her insights on using technology to enhance human potential and agency, developing wearable systems to support cognition and learning, and designing ethical human-centred artificial intelligence. Prof. Pattie Maes is the Germeshausen Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at the MIT Media Lab. With a background in Artificial Intelligence and Human-Computer Interaction, her research focuses on human augmentation and how wearable, immersive, and brain-compute...
Jan 13, 2025•27 min
Conceptual Artist Pierre-Christophe Gam shares his thoughts on the transformative power of imagination to shape reality, the potential of the African continent to become a global leader, and how to dream futures that reflect our individual aspirations and collective desires. Pierre-Christophe Gam is a French-born conceptual artist whose contemporary multimedia installations investigate the future through myths, technology, and dreams. Trained as an interior architect at ENSAD in Paris and CSM in...
Jan 08, 2025•33 min
Founder & CEO of OpenBCI Conor Russomanno shares his thoughts on what neurotechnology can teach us about being human, the ethical challenges of designing devices to measure brain activity, and the advantages of open-source brain-computer interfaces. Conor Russomanno is the founder and CEO of OpenBCI, a company working to build ethical brain-computer interfaces. He became fascinated with the relationship between the human brain and mind after suffering concussions playing college football and rug...
Jul 15, 2024•29 min
Senior Research Fellows Dr. Eleanor Drage and Dr. Kerry McInerney share their insights on how artificial intelligence will impact society, using a feminist lens to rethink innovation and the importance of language in shaping our understanding of ‘good’ technology. Dr Eleanor Drage is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge Centre for the Future of Intelligence. She teaches AI Professionals about AI ethics at Cambridge and presents widely on the topic. She specialises in using fem...
Jun 10, 2024•50 min•Ep. 82
Legal scholar Nita Farahany shares her insights into protecting our privacy through the right to cognitive liberty, how neuro-technology can enhance our understanding of mental health, and why the public should demand self-access to their brain data. Nita Farahany is Professor of Law & Philosophy at Duke Law School, Director of Science & Society, and Faculty Chair of the MA in Bioethics & Society Policy. Since 2010, she has served on Obama’s Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Is...
May 27, 2024•27 min
Human rights lawyer Dr. Susie Alegre shares her insights into the threat artificial intelligence poses to human creativity, the importance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in safeguarding freedom of thought, and applying existing laws to regulate the development and deployment of emerging technologies. Dr. Susie Alegre is a leading international human rights lawyer and Associate at Garden Court Chambers. She has been a legal pioneer in digital human rights, in particular the i...
May 22, 2024•32 min•Ep. 81
Cultural & Political Theorists Jeremy Gilbert, Alex Williams & Alison Winch share their insights on the societal impacts of technological innovation, the hegemonic power of the Silicon Valley tech billionaires, and re-engineering digital platforms for democratic purposes. Jeremy Gilbert is Professor of Cultural & Political Theory at the University of East London. He is the author of Common Ground: Democracy and Collectivity in an Age of Individualism, Anticapitalism and Culture: Radical Theory a...
Apr 29, 2024•49 min•Ep. 80
Mechanical Engineer Shini Somara shares her thoughts on why we need impactful storytelling in science communication, how diversity drives innovation in STEM, and why imagination is key to understanding new technologies. Dr. Shini Somara is a Mechanical Engineer specialising in Computational Fluid Dynamics and an award-winning media broadcaster. She deep dives into all topics on science, technology and innovation to deliver easily accessible and relatable pearls of wisdom for all ages and abiliti...
Apr 08, 2024•34 min•Ep. 79
Blockchain Socialist Joshua Dávila shares his insights on using blockchain technology to challenge capitalism, why we should take a techno-probabalistic approach to crypto, and how to build a more equitable and decentralised world. Joshua Dávila has been working in the blockchain space for the past five years in Europe and has been anonymously moonlighting as the one behind The Blockchain Socialis t blog and podcast. He is also the co-director of the upcoming documentary Crypto Futures which exp...
Apr 02, 2024•41 min•Ep. 78
Futurist Ari Wallach shares his insights into why we need ethical long-term visions that prioritise humanity, the importance of transgenerational empathy, and how to co-construct inclusive stories that imagine better tomorrows. Ari Wallach is a futurist and social systems strategist. He is the founder and Executive Director of Longpath Labs, an initiative focused on bringing long-term thinking and coordinated behavior to the individual, organizational, and societal realms in order to ensure huma...
Mar 11, 2024•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 77
Researchers Dr. Corinne Cath & Dr. Fieke Jansen share their insights into critical approaches to internet infrastructure, the environmental costs of data centres, and how to reimagine our relationship with digital technologies to ensure a more equitable and sustainable future. Dr. Corinne Cath is a postdoc at the University of Delft, working with Dr. Seda Gürses and Prof Linnet Taylor. She is also a research affiliate at the Minderoo Centre at the University of Cambridge. Corinne is a cultural a...
Mar 04, 2024•52 min•Ep. 76
Authors Kelly Weinersmith & Zach Weinersmith share their insights into the challenge of building settlements on Mars, how extended periods in extra-terrestrial environments would impact our body and mind, and how international space law needs to be updated if we are to become a multi-planetary species. Dr. Kelly Weinersmith received her PhD in Ecology at the University of California Davis, and is an adjunct faculty member in the BioSciences Department at Rice University. Kelly studies parasites ...
Feb 26, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 75
Mathematician Prof. Ian Stewart shares his strategies for explaining abstract mathematical concepts to the public, the role imagination can play in education, and how science fiction can assist in solving the world’s most complex mysteries. Professor Ian Stewart is a British mathematician who majored in mathematics at the University of Cambridge and is an emeritus professor of mathematics at the University of Warwick. With more than 200 papers and 20 books on mathematics under his name, Professo...
Feb 19, 2024•1 hr 37 min•Ep. 74
Philosopher Dr. Émile P. Torres & sociologist Prof. Steve Fuller share their thoughts on the history of human extinction, how apocalyptic narratives inform culture, and what it means to live in the end times. Émile P. Torres is a philosopher whose research focuses on existential threats to civilization and humanity. They have published widely in the popular press and scholarly journals, with articles appearing in the Washington Post, Aeon, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Metaphilosophy, Inqui...
Jan 29, 2024•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 73
Astrobiologist Prof. Lewis Dartnell shares his insights into how biology has shaped civilisation, the challenges of living on Mars, and why cooperation is our human superpower. GUEST BIO Lewis Dartnell is a science researcher, and writer and holds a Professorship at the University of Westminster . His research is in the field of astrobiology and the search for bacterial life beyond the Earth. Lewis explores how microbial life, and signs of its past existence, might survive the bombardment of cos...
Jan 08, 2024•46 min•Ep. 72
Journalist Richard Fisher shares his thoughts on the importance of taking a long view of the future, why short-termism is the greatest threat to civilisation, and how metaphors are key to our comprehension of time. Richard Fisher is a Senior Journalist with BBC Global News in London, where he writes and commissions for BBC Future, the BBC's international-facing science, technology and health features site. He was recently a 2019-20 Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT, based in Cambridge, Mas...
Oct 11, 2023•41 min•Ep. 71
Transhumanists Elise Bohan, Prof. Steve Fuller and Anders Sandberg share their thoughts on the future of humanity, the role artificial intelligence will play in society, and the radical ways advanced technology may redefine what it means to be human. Recorded in front of a live audience at Kings Place, London on 16 February 2023. Elise Bohan is a Senior Research Scholar at the University of Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute (FHI). She holds a PhD in evolutionary macrohistory, wrote the world...
Jul 31, 2023•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 70
Bioethicist Dr. Sarah Chan shares her thoughts on the ethics of human genome editing, the potential of developing a social model of enhancement, and the possibility of using biotechnology to improve the cognitive abilities of animals. Sarah Chan is a Chancellor’s Fellow working in interdisciplinary bioethics at the Usher Institute for Population Health Sciences and Informatics, and Co-Director of the Mason Institute for Medicine, Life Sciences and Law, University of Edinburgh. Previously, from 2...
May 01, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 69
Media scholar David J. Gunkel shares his thoughts on the philosophical case for the rights of robots, the challenge artificial intelligence presents to our existing moral and legal systems, and how tools like ChatGTP force us to confront our human exceptionalism. David J. Gunkel is Presidential Research, Scholarship, and Artistry Professor in the Department of Communication at Northern Illinois University. He is the author of Robot Rights , Of Remixology: Ethics and Aesthetics after Remix , and ...
Apr 24, 2023•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 68
Cyberpunk author Pat Cadigan shares her thoughts on the role of science fiction in society, her methods for thinking about the future, and which elements of the cyberpunk genre have become features of our everyday reality. Pat Cadigan was born in Schenectady, NY, and grew up in Fitchburg, MA. Attending the University of Massachusetts on a scholarship, she eventually transferred to the University of Kansas where she received her degree. Since embarking on her career as a fiction writer in 1987, h...
Nov 07, 2022•29 min•Ep. 67
Macrohistorian Elise Bohan shares her thoughts on the importance of adopting a transhumanist worldview, why we live in a make-or-break century, and what is worth preserving about humanity. Elise Bohan is a Senior Research Scholar at the University of Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute (FHI). She holds a PhD in evolutionary macrohistory, wrote the world’s first book-length history of transhumanism as a doctoral student, and recently launched her debut book Future Superhuman: Our transhuman liv...
Oct 10, 2022•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 66
Founder of Second Life Philip Rosedale shares his thoughts on what virtual worlds can teach us about being human, the relationship between Second Life users and their avatars, and the challenges of building the metaverse using Web 3.0 technologies. Philip Rosedale is the Founder of Linden Lab, parent company of Second Life, an open-ended, Internet-connected virtual world and pioneering metaverse. Following Second Life, he worked on several projects related to distributed work and computing. Exci...
Sep 07, 2022•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 65
Biomedical engineer Ritu Raman shares her insights on designing biological robots, how new developments in tissue engineering may allow us to grow organs, and what biofabrication means for the future of food and medicine. Ritu Raman, PhD is the d’Arbeloff Career Development Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT. Her lab is centered on engineering adaptive living materials for applications in medicine and machines. The Raman Lab’s current focus is building neuromuscular actuators t...
Jul 18, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 64
Sociologist James Hughes shares his thoughts on how libertarian transhumanism allows for cognitive liberty and bodily autonomy, the ethical implications of using enhancement technologies to amplify human virtues, and the challenge of being a techno-optimist. James Hughes, the Executive Director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, is a bioethicist and sociologist who serves as the Associate Provost for Institutional Research, Assessment and Planning for the University of Massac...
Jul 04, 2022•1 hr 30 min•Ep. 63
