PODCAST · fiction
Us and tomorrow
by Belinda Chen
Us and Tomorrow is a science fiction podcast hosted by Belinda Chen, exploring the intersection of emerging technologies and the human experience. It asks social, ethical, and philosophical questions that arise as science fiction increasingly becomes science reality.Perfect for science fiction enthusiasts, technology professionals, and anyone curious about where humanity is headed, Us and Tomorrow invites you to join a journey into the near future, with the promise and perils of tomorrow's world.
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45
Interview with The Unsaid Eclipse: AI, social media, and mental health
Today, we are collaborating with a nonprofit organization founded by Tanishqa, discussing AI, mental health, and social media.
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44
A broad discussion: which high school educational system?
Stay tuned for more!
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43
How to Make Your Holiday Last 150 Years
(a.k.a. Time Dilation 101)
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42
Ursula K. Le Guin: My Queen
How do Taoism and Science Fiction intersect?
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41
Ever wanted to be a human popsicle?
Stay tuned for more!
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40
How to Accidentally Delete Yourself at Light Speed
What do you think? Follow for more!
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39
Your true existence lasts only 0.00002 seconds
Are you a Boltzmann Brain?
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38
Do Large Language Models Align with Hume’s Theory of Empiricism?
What do you think? Comment below!
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37
Futurology at your dinner table
Comment below!
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36
Microbiomes and the Cities of Tomorrow
Stay tuned for more!
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35
Who Owns Tomorrow’s Life: Birthrate, Longevity, and Power
Stay tuned for more!
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34
AI lovers and the intimacy we deny women
How does technology intersect with feminism?
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33
What if AI invents a new language
Stay tuned for more!
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32
Will the future be more institutionalized?
Stay tuned for more!
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31
Teaching AI to grieve like Shakespeare
What happens when machines learn to mourn in verse? This episode imagines AI trained to grieve like Shakespeare, blending technology with timeless poetry to ask whether sorrow can ever be simulated.
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30
When's the next dystopia dropping?
From Orwell to Black Mirror, dystopias have always mirrored our anxieties. This episode asks when the next dystopia is arriving, and whether we might already be living inside its early chapters.
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29
My favourite part in the Dispossessed
Le Guin’s The Dispossessed imagines a world split between freedom and constraint, utopia and struggle.
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28
The Future of Forgotten Arts
Arts once central to human culture now risk being forgotten. This episode looks at how these practices might find a future, not as relics of the past, but as renewed sources of creativity and connection.
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27
Lucid dreams under surveillance
What happens when your deepest subconscious gets minotored?
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26
Let's risk civilisations for space rocks
How does that sound?
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25
DIY: How to ruin Mars in 1000 years
How does that sound?
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24
DIY: Wrap the sun in tinfoil
How does that sound?
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23
The Library of Babel and the Heat Death of Meaning
What happens when every possible arrangement of words exists at once? This episode journeys through Borges’s Library of Babel as a metaphor for entropy, exploring how endless permutations edge us closer to the heat death of meaning itself.
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22
Skies above and timelines beyond
Ever dreamed of cities in the sky?
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21
Astrology apps, AI fortune tellers, and the Search for meaning
From astrology apps to AI fortune tellers, technology is reshaping how we look for meaning in the stars and within ourselves. This episode unpacks the rise of digital divination and what it reveals about our timeless desire for guidance.
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20
Meditating in an overloaded world
Amid constant noise and overflowing schedules, meditation offers a way back to stillness. This episode explores how ancient practices of mindfulness can ground us in an overloaded world and help us rediscover clarity.
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19
Attention in an information flooded era
In a world where every moment is drowned by notifications and endless feeds, how do we reclaim our attention? This episode dives into the science and art of focus, revealing why attention is the most valuable currency in an information flooded era.
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18
Shakespeare and Science fiction
This episode explores the surprising connections between Shakespeare’s timeless works and the imaginative worlds of science fiction. We look at how themes of power, identity, and the unknown travel across centuries and genres, shaping the way we tell stories.
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17
The Mind Machine: Exploring Brain-Computer Interfaces
Mind-controlled computers aren't science fiction anymore! Explore the incredible world of brain-computer interfaces, where paralyzed patients can control robotic arms with their thoughts alone, and Neuralink chips enable people to play video games mentally. Discover how we're breaking down barriers between minds and machines and reshaping humanity's digital future today.
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16
A Broad Discussion: Technological Progress, Access, and the Innovative Gatekeepers
Revolutionary technologies emerge daily—AI, quantum computing, gene therapy, space tech. They promise to solve humanity's biggest problems. But while innovation accelerates, access remains exclusive. Silicon Valley burns millions while rural populations lack basics. Every breakthrough creates new gatekeepers. Innovation without inclusion isn't progress—it's just better-marketed inequality.
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15
A Broad Discussion: AI and the Current Economy
We're spending more on AI than on any technology in history, yet the economy feels stuck. A computer chip company is now worth more than most countries. Half the workforce is being replaced, while the other half struggles to find workers. What's going on?
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14
Data Storage: Life's Hard Drive
Discover how scientists are encoding digital data into synthetic DNA, offering storage density 1000 times greater than hard drives with durability measured in centuries. All of humanity's data could fit in a space smaller than a sugar cube.
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13
Metamaterial Cloaking: The Science of Invisibility
Explore the real technology behind metamaterial cloaking: how engineered structures smaller than light wavelengths can cancel electromagnetic waves, why thermal invisibility might revolutionize building design, and what happens when invisibility becomes contextual rather than absolute.
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12
A Broad Discussion: The Generalists, and How AI Is Reshaping What It Means to Know
“For particulars, as everyone knows, make for virtue and happiness; generalities are intellectually necessary evils.”— Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
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11
We are voice clones! How do we work?
Unfortunately, Belinda Chen has been having a sore throat, and this episode is hosted by her voice clone. We also invited Steve, Amelia, Retro robot on Elevenlabs as our guest speakers. Join us to explore the scenes behind the advanced voice cloning technology!
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10
Nature’s Blueprints: What We Learn When We Imitate Life
The future is borrowing from the oldest designer of all: nature. In this episode of Us and Tomorrow, we explore biomimicry — how studying the intelligence of life may help us build a world that lasts.
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9
Everything is entropy!
From dying stars to messy rooms, entropy touches everything. In this episode of Us and Tomorrow, Belinda Chen explores the science and symbolism of disorder — what it means when systems unravel, and why the end of order might not be the end of meaning.
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8
Brass Futures: The Steam-Powered Dreams That Never Were
What if the future ran on gears and grit? In this episode of Us and Tomorrow, we explore the world of steampunk — a retro-futurist vision of invention, rebellion, and alternate histories. Why does this imagined past still capture our imagination?
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7
Stories from the Climate-Changed Future
What happens after the world changes? In this episode of Us and Tomorrow, Belinda Chen explores climate fiction and the futures it imagines — from flooded cities to scorched earth. How do we live, adapt, and find meaning in what comes next?
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6
What If Consciousness Isn’t Ours Alone?
Can a machine be aware of itself? And if it can’t — how sure are we that we are? In this episode of Us and Tomorrow, we dive into the mystery of consciousness: what it is, where it lives, and whether we’ve built something that can fake it well enough to matter. From ancient philosophy to synthetic minds, this is a meditation on selfhood in an age of artificial reflection.
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5
Living, Hacking, and Dreaming in a Cyberpunk World
The neon lights are brighter, but the future feels colder. In this bleak journey through cyberpunk’s prophetic vision, we unpack a world of corporate control, digital decay, and lost humanity. This isn’t fiction anymore — it's the slow collapse of the real, wrapped in circuitry and sold back to us as progress.
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4
Hearts and Algorithms: Can AI Really Love You Back?
From late-night chats to full-blown romances, AI companions are reshaping how millions experience intimacy. In this episode of Us and Tomorrow, we explore the growing world of human–AI relationships. Why are so many people falling for their digital partners? What happens when love lives inside a server? And what does it all mean for the future of connection, empathy, and what we call “real”?
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3
Till It Makes Sense: The Strange Truth About AI Hallucinations
AI tools can write poems, answer questions, and even invent fake court cases. But what’s really going on when they make things up? In this episode of Us and Tomorrow, we look into the strange phenomenon of AI hallucinations — from laughable glitches to serious misinformation. What do these moments reveal about human imagination, machine learning, and our shifting sense of truth?
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2
Cyborgs: Till Which Point Are We No Longer Humans?
In a potential and upcoming world where brains can talk to machines and senses can be engineered, where do we draw the line between humans and technology? In this episode of Us and Tomorrow, host Belinda Chen explores the real lives of modern-day cyborgs, the rise of brain-computer interfaces, and the philosophical questions that thus emerge. Are we becoming something new — and if so, what does it mean to still be human?
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Us and Tomorrow is a science fiction podcast hosted by Belinda Chen, exploring the intersection of emerging technologies and the human experience. It asks social, ethical, and philosophical questions that arise as science fiction increasingly becomes science reality.Perfect for science fiction enthusiasts, technology professionals, and anyone curious about where humanity is headed, Us and Tomorrow invites you to join a journey into the near future, with the promise and perils of tomorrow's world.
HOSTED BY
Belinda Chen
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