All Episodes
Future Tense — 244 episodes
The danger of generational labelling
Civility, trash talking and more sociable cities
Frozen frogs, tissues and cells — the health and environmental benefits of keeping it chill
Building a new social contract
Whatever happened to...?
A Future Tense retrospective
Is AI really taking over the internet?
A tale of two futuristic cities
Ancient viruses, new threats
Microplastic removal and decarbonising cement
Learning how to learn in the age of generative AI
Disinformation, digital tech and democracy
Getting up to speed with autonomous vehicles
Technology and language — a dynamic relationship
Are we turning the housing crisis into a living crisis?
Reviving the past and digital mapping for the future
Are we kidding ourselves about decarbonisation?
Is globalisation dying?
Taxing carbon on the border and at sea
Existential hope vs Existential Fear
Cooperation, not conflict on the High Seas
Convenience culture's inconvenient truth
Perspectives on the potential of AI-powered policing
The truth about AI and productivity
Sinking Cities
How to balance the population needs on our planet
Lessons from South Korea's security dilemma
A turning point for the United Nations
The potential benefits and risks of developing "mirror life"
The world after us!
How to start your own golden age
Australia and Canada — Strategic partners, but near total strangers?
Reassessing the laws of war; and why progress isn't always a straight line
Beyond the cloud — storing data in space
Forgetting, not memory, moves us forward
Bitcoin boom or digital deception?
Can the oceans solve our carbon removal problems?
YouTube turns 20; and the interesting side of boredom
Remember the Jevons Paradox!
The power and peril of the optimistic mind
AI's "hidden labour" and the move toward a linkless internet
The roots of techno-authoritarianism
Some challenges to conventional economic thinking
Civility, trash talking and more sociable cities
Limitarianism — could a cap on wealth reduce inequality?
Understanding attention and a craving for certainty
Flow Batteries, windships, and a new approach to off-grid solar
Modern museums, accountability, and openness
Nuclear tombs and the distant discourse of danger
The danger of generational labelling
Could Utopian thinking save democracy?
How to ensure privatisation serves the public good
The vicious cycle of fear and anger — and how it traps society
Algorithms create a dull conformity — off and online
The must-have skill for the future: Untangling unintended consequences
Nostalgia can make you vulnerable to manipulation
The artificial secret behind "natural food"
The role genetics could play in bringing down Methane levels
The cities that create rain; AI in warfare; and do carbon offsets really work?
Do we need new rules of war as conflict takes on a cyber dimension?
Whatever happened to...?
A declaration on future generations
Robots in the home – friend or foe?
Melting brains and climate anxiety
Frozen frogs, tissues and cells — the health and environmental benefits of keeping it chill
Sex tech, AI and the centrality of consent
Wolf Warrior diplomacy — Have we finally seen an end to undiplomatic diplomacy?
Why China has tightened its belt and road
The year of the poll — democracy's mega test
Saying goodbye to ageism — the last “acceptable” prejudice
AI snake oil — its limits, risks, and its thirst for resources
The "disruption nexus" and the power of a good crisis
Rediscovering the essence of Liberalism could help in the battle against authoritarianism
Why in the 21st century are we still talking about the political Left and Right?
"Anthropocene" — why the fight about a name has real world consequences
We're losing the dark sky and you can already feel the consequences
Can we afford to continue to keep pets — environmentally and financially?
Technology is revolutionising sport performance
Are the big US media platforms swallowing our culture?
A new push in the search for alien life
Technology and language — a dynamic relationship
Rethinking productivity and the pushback to shareholder capitalism
Limitarianism — could a cap on wealth reduce inequality?
Sucking CO2 from the air — a "Mammoth task"
The truth about AI – garbage in, garbage out
The best response to disasters: centralised strength or community mitigation?
The greatest demographic shift in a century is being ignored: single living
It's time to take the Influencer economy seriously
When good intentions fuel further environmental problems
Big corporations are taking over as landlords and it's further fuelling the global housing crisis
The great distribution dilemma – can public interest journalism survive?
Dark sky at night, everyone's delight
Nobel-Prize laureate Abhijit Banerjee on the world's largest UBI experiment
The manufacturing of "natural food" and how tech can demystify what we eat
Self-destructive behaviour — the enemy within
Fear and anger – the complicated emotions that govern our world
Algorithmic homogeny – why everything looks and feels the same
The weaponisation of nostalgia; and has culture come to a standstill?
Are we really becoming more isolated and less community minded?
TikTok's superstar economy – how live-streaming is turning social media into a game played for money
Conversing with aliens and 'decentering' the human
Does AI show we overestimate our human creativity? And what does creativity mean anyway?
Growing houses and running computers with help from bacteria — the future of synthetic biology
Building a new social contract
The Great Regression and the "kidification" of adulthood
Research productivity and innovation is declining
Managerialism ... and what it means for work
Turning our back on alcohol
Who are the beneficiaries of climate change?
The Great Plunder – curbing human creativity through mass theft
Sweltering Cities – the cost of exponential urbanisation
Technology churn versus digital Inclusion
How ancient trees could help in the fight against climate change
Why knowing when to finish is as important as getting started
The great scan — mapping below Earth's surface
Giving old technology a future-focussed twist
Cory Doctorow: Platform capitalism and the curse of "enshittification"
Architecture's AI crossroads
People have to solve the climate crisis — technology alone is not the answer
China's plan for a digital currency will have global implications
Worshipping a divine AI and turning outer space into an art gallery
The normalisation of economic warfare
Considering unintended consequences is the new crucial skill for the 21th century
The complexities of oversimplification
The Circular Economy approach – thinking systemically about the environment
Should you pay to drive into your city centre — for the sake of the climate?
Rethinking productivity and the pushback to shareholder capitalism
Acoustic restoration of ecosystems — how the sound of love helps animals return to old habitats
Air conditioning: keeping us cool but making the planet hotter
Algorithmic Intimacy – self-love, liability and babies as click bait
Self-destructive behaviour — the enemy within
The first ever drop in global energy sector emissions; and the battle for our brains
Should individuals bear the largest burden for climate action?
Cory Doctorow: Platform capitalism and the curse of "enshittification"
A new lifeline for local news
How Japan is redefining its military defence
Can mining the ocean floor go ahead without regulations?
Designing buildings for disasters
Robots + bees = pollination
Advanced AI – are we repeating the mistakes of the past?
Falling in love with an app! When Anthropomorphism, making things too human like, goes wrong
How the world could end – take two
We're all responsible for plastic pollution ─ and for cleaning it up
Correcting the record on China's economy
The sound of the stars
Food security in a precarious world
Will future generations turn away from alcohol?
The future threat from ancient viruses
Introducing "brubery" — bribery's other half
Some home truths about declining research productivity, innovation and disruption
Embracing serendipity and breaking free of algorithmic shackles
ChatGPT — the hype, the limitations and the potential
Deep Fakes and moral panic
Managerialism and our obsession with hierarchy
A global pandemic treaty; communication vulnerabilities; and talking to the animals
The climate change "winners"
Coming to terms with noise
Should we really aim for sustainable development?
Fashion’s fast future
The future of satire is no laughing matter
Forgetting, not memory, moves us forward
A Right to Disconnect ... from work
The cultural impact of streaming; and the "digital horder" within
The trouble with tech-driven farming
Noise: the invisible ocean pollutant
Should individuals bear the largest burden for climate action?
Why corporations need to think more about society and less about profit
The positive side of monitoring
The complexities of oversimplification
Community electricity grids and building better batteries
The Great Regression and the "kidification" of adulthood
New ways to move about cities
Understanding tech-facilitated abuse; and problems in space
Food security in a precarious world
Have data breaches become just another cost of business?
Air conditioning: keeping us cool but making the planet hotter
The opportunity costs of corporate welfare
Xenobots - the tiny robots with enormous potential
How ancient trees could help in the fight against climate change
Airships return to the skies and a serious problem that could cripple long-range space travel
The strange case of the trees that grow metal and how to harvest them
eDNA monitoring; 'telehealth' for animals; and using animals as early warning system for disasters
The Digital Self, Web3 and reclaiming your online identity
The real worth of net zero is debateable
Emotional Intelligence and the promise of a better workplace
Algorithmic audiencing, bioluminescent lighting and the virtues of a circular city
A non-proliferation treaty for fossil fuels
Reembracing the spirit of public service
Cities – the hot beds of evolution
Disinformation and propaganda in a time of conflict
The Earth BioGenome Project; the church of women; and what do we really think about facial recognition technology?
The population conundrum
Does data science need a Hippocratic oath?
Cliodynamics, the Hinge of History and why all history is revisionist
Big data and farming – the promise and the fear
A slow move towards a plastic free future
Are Sovereign Wealth Funds the best way of safeguarding the future?
Space-based Solar: energy above the clouds
The future of satire is no laughing matter
Forgetting, not memory, moves us forward
When development aid goes wrong - propping up bad regimes
The fall of cash & the rise of central bank digital currencies
Drones, witnessing and the view from above
Banning books and floating suburbs
Fashion’s fast future
Space pollution, stunted high-rise and the joy of missing out
The opportunity costs of global pollution
Rare Earths and the difficulties of supply
Is dumbness our destiny?
Litigating our way out of climate change
The power of storytelling – a cautionary tale
Is the process of ageing inevitable?
Rewilding to safeguard biodiversity
Social media: harm and transformative justice
Coming to terms with noise
Geopolitics in a post fossil-fuel world
Our adolescent future and reassessing human rights
The new globalisation
Technology: Questions of ethics and fairness
An international approach to regulating AI
An update on nuclear energy
The positive side of monitoring
Disappearing cookies and a shortage of chips
Planning for a problematic future
The atomisation of religious belief
Should we really aim for sustainable development?
The Metaverse – turning life into one big online experience
Big tech’s big challenge
Our long-term battle with short-term thinking
Link rot, pay walls and the perils of preservation
AI inventors; “Affectivism” and the problem with Virtual Reality
Bitcoin: silly speculation or the future of finance?
A new alliance of democracies
Outsourcing, automation and the messiness of global labour
The trouble with Tech-driven farming
Ransomware – a very 21st century crime
A non-proliferation treaty for fossil fuels
Litigating our way out of climate change
Some foresight about the future of foresight
What role will hydrogen play in our future?
Rewilding: part two
Rewilding to safeguard biodiversity
Is the process of ageing inevitable?
Is dumbness our destiny?