FARSIGHT
Episodes
Has Faith in Progress Lost its Footing?
19 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Across wealthy societies, citizens no longer believe the future will be better than the past. The idea of progress as an inevitable historical force w...
The Limitless Future w/ Thomas Moynihan
08 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We now understand that the future is not fixed but contingent – it can unfold in an endless number of ways, its outcome hinging on both choice and c...
The Shape of Knowledge to Come
21 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
With artificial intelligence comes radical change in how information is both created and retained. What place do humans have in future knowledge ecolo...
The History and Future of Societal Collapse w/ Luke Kemp
29 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How have societies collapsed in the past? Are we heading towards a global societal collapse? And, if looking towards history, is collapse always neces...
The Futures of European Migration
11 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Once a minor concern, migration now ranks as one of Europe’s top political issues among voters. As fertility rates decline and strategic independenc...
Pax Geriatrica w/ Mark Haas
02 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As the world grows older, will it also become more peaceful by consequence?We speak to Mark Haas, Professor of Political Science at Duquesne Universit...
The New Human
20 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Worldwide digital connectedness increasingly resembles an external brain, and the ability to perceive the digital world has become indispensible to us...
Macrofutures, Myths, and Metaphors w/ Sohail Inayatullah
15 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sohail Inayatullah is a pioneer in futures studies, most famous for developing the Causal Layered Analysis - a technique for investigate the role of m...
Tomorrow's Vacation w/ Jenny Southan
19 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As the summer break winds down, journalist and trend forecaster Jenny Southan joins us to explore the futures of travel and tourism. We discuss the di...
Silicon Futures
12 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the second half of the twentieth century, microchips quietly became as vital to global stability and human progress as oil. To better understand Eu...
Futurology and the Cold War: Emancipation or Control w/ Jenny Andersson
16 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Studying the future was never a value-neutral project. The origins of modern futures research (known in the 1950s and 60s as ‘futurology’), lies i...
European Futures: Four Scenarios for the Next Decade
08 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Three of the Institute’s resident futurists engage in a classic scenario-planning exercise, crafting four distinct snapshots of the continent’s fu...
Catastrophising Collapse w/ Luke Kemp
25 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Author and existential risk researcher Luke Kemp joins us to discuss how to avoid the end of the world – and why the techno-utopianists may send us ...
The Media & Morphospace of History
03 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For most of human history we believed that everything that could happen, had already happened, and would happen again – ad infinitum. The rise of no...
Neurofutures w/ Kerstin Preuschoff and Ewa Lombard
08 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What goes on in our brains when we think about the future – and why are some individuals and cultures more adept at dealing with ambiguity, uncertai...
The Currency For a Greener Future?
30 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The ‘carbon coin’, first proposed in 2019, then popularised through science fiction, is a proposal for making carbon capture and mitigation profit...
Too Much Information
07 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
From Socrates’ warnings about writing leading to forgetfulness, to today’s anxieties about AI-induced brainrot, every new media technology has spa...
Solutions to Planetary Problems w/ Nils Gilman
31 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Some problems are simply too big for nation states to solve. In this episode, we speak to historian and futurist Nils Gilman, co-author of Children of...
The Anything-to-Everything Future Is Here
18 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
With AI, all the products of human creativity become malleable. Stories and images flow seamlessly across formats – in constant flux and open to rei...
The Tech Coup
10 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There’s a coup against democracy happening, says Dutch politician Marietje Schaake, who warns against the growing influence of tech giants on societ...
Futurism Has Become Reactionary w/ Karim Jebari
26 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
More from Stockholm. We visit futurist and philosopher Karim Jebari from the Mimir Centre for Long-Term Futures Research at Sweden's Institute for...
Gold, Guns, and Greenbacks
24 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The history (and possible future) of dollar hegemony.Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute.Author: August Leo Liljenberg...
Visiting Sweden’s Superfuturist w/ Dr Anders Sandberg
04 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We travel to Stockholm to visit Dr Anders Sandberg at the Mimir Centre for Long Term Futures Research – part of the Swedish Institute for Futures St...
Cash Out
30 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As digital payments take over, cash is disappearing – but should we think twice? From privacy concerns to power dynamics, the push toward a cashless...
Wisdom in Wagers
13 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The recent boom in prediction markets has breathed new life into an old debate: does the wisdom of the crowd combined with financial incentives produc...
When Models Mislead
23 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Climate economists are playing dice with our future. Some are now sounding the alarm that the models they rely on are fundamentally flawed. Subscribe ...
Bodiless Pleasures
03 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We speak to researcher and adult content creator Aella about sex, technology, artificial wombs, and the future of disembodied sex. Subscribe to FARSIG...
The Beauty Revolution
28 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The ubiquity of smartphones and social media has turbocharged visual culture. With the addition of increasingly sophisticated and affordable cosmetic ...
How the UN Plans to Govern for Generations to Come
07 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Future generations lack political representation, constituting ‘shadow interests’ in our systems of governance. Yet ensuring their wellbeing may s...
The Self, Dissolved
18 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Some believe distinctions between the organic and the artificial are meaningless in a techsaturated world. Personality-altering brain implants may for...
The Death of Cyber Socialism
09 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Chile's cybernetic control project collapsed in 1972. Why did Project Cybersyn fail, and what can we learn from its history? Subscribe to FARSIGHT...
Biohacking for All?
02 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The rich, willing, and techno-optimistic are spending fortunes optimising their biological functions to perpetuate youth. Biohacking, once described a...
Mainstreaming Cryonics
16 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
James Arrowood, co-CEO of Alcor Life Extension Foundation, wants a fresh start for the business of reviving the dead. Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becomin...
The Painless Future
29 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Transhumanist philosopher David Pearce envisions a world filled with varying sizes of carrots, and no sticks. Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futu...
Fatal Equations
12 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Israel’s deployment of the algorithmic targeting tool 'Lavender' in their ongoing war on Gaza has reignited the debate surrounding the use o...
Why Peak Uncertainty is a Myth
12 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Public figures like to claim that the world has never been as volatile and complex as it is today - but is that really the case? Subscribe to FARSIGHT...
A Visit
24 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Three archetypal scenarios dominate the public perception of what an eventual encounter with extraterrestrials on Earth will look like. So what happen...
The Grounded Mind
17 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
New research into mental health is pushing our understanding of the mind-body connection and the intricacies of the brain. What would a more holistic ...
Treacherous Utopia
24 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
‘Longtermism’ has emerged as one of the most influential ideas of our time. But is it safeguarding or sabotaging our common future? Subscribe to F...
The Shape and Size of Wellbeing
15 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Youth attitudes towards the future are increasingly polarised across the world. Could demographic change provide us with an answer as to why? Subscrib...
Lunar Power Play
04 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The world’s most populated country is throwing their weight into the space race – but is India a genuine contender? Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becom...
No Children of Men
25 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Chemicals are among the primary causes for dwindling sperm counts worldwide. How severe is the global male fertility crisis, and can an impending ‘s...
Space for the Few
04 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
With recreational spaceflight taking off, onlookers are questioning whether something so grand can ever be for the many. Subscribe to FARSIGHT by beco...
Hope - The Pillar That Holds Up the World
16 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Although we may acknowledge the importance of hope in an age that seems plagued by perpetual crisis, is hope genuinely practical, and if it is, what m...
Technology Leading on Sexuality
05 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
From vibrators to sex bots, technology can be a force of sexual liberation, or a tool used to strengthen existing norms and taboos. How might it chang...
Stardust and Dollar Signs
26 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As the mineral-rich wealth of the cosmos is gloated at from Earth, actors are racing towards extracting, as well as regulating, its resources. Subscri...
Europe in Space
12 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
An interview with Hermann Ludwig Moeller, Chairman of the European Space Policy Institute. Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the I...
Farewell to the Astronaut?
03 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Why there will always be a need for manned space exploration missions, regardless of technological advances in robotics and AI. Subscribe to FARSIGHT ...
What Will Leisure Mean to Us in the Future?
18 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As technological strides edge us closer to a post-work world, how we perceive ‘down-time’ could undergo a radical transformation. Subscribe to FAR...
Excursions With Empathy
08 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Global tourist hotspots are integrating sustainability into their business models as holidaying abroad moves from luxury to necessity. Subscribe to FA...
The Ancient Assyrian Who Invented Sci-Fi
01 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Before Thomas More or H.G Wells came the tongue-in-cheek satirist, Lucien of Samosata. Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Insti...
To Boozy Futures
24 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A civilisational defence of the intoxicant amid cultural retrograde – alcohol. Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute A...
Eating & Techno-Pleasures
17 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Technology’s convergence with eating and sex could push both into strange and uncharted territory. Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Membe...
What Gaming Could Be
10 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
From VR to crypto and AR to AI – how might emerging technologies intersect with the human desire for play? Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futur...
Bored of the Future?
02 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How philosophers and psychologists have tried to answer the question of whether to embrace or resist the mundane – and why efforts seem to be so fut...
Eske Willerselv is Building a Genomic Time Machine
23 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The renowned evolutionary biologist explains why the future of food needs to be rooted in the ancient past – and how he and his team are working to ...
Free From Work
09 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Amid job automation, a push toward shorter work weeks, and growing political interest in Universal Basic Income schemes, why does is the idea that wor...
Running Dry
29 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Climate change will lead to an increase in water crises worldwide. What happens when we lose access to our most vital resource? Subscribe to FARSIGHT ...
Does History Repeat Itself?
15 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Cyclical theories of the past rest on questionable assumptions, but can they still help us understand our future? Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a ...
Welcome to the Splinternet
08 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The internet is fracturing along geopolitical dividing lines, putting us on the path towards a future where ‘global connectivity’ is not so global...
The Overly Simplistic Future of Public Intellectuals
31 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Our public intellectuals feed us grand narratives at the expense of a variety of images of the future. We should demand more of them. Subscribe to FAR...
Farming Without Farmland
24 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Could we farm food in Earth’s deep sea and scorching deserts – and perhaps even in outer space? Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member...
How Sci-Fi Became Big Business
17 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Why are multinational corporations and military agencies hiring science fiction authors to help them understand the future? Subscribe to FARSIGHT by b...
High Brow, Low Blood Sugar
10 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What does the ubiquity of micro-dining say about the times we live in? In this article, we explore the ‘lipstick-ification’ of urban gastronomy. S...
A Future Free from Species-ism
04 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Might humanity's circle of moral concern soon include all sentient beings? Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute Aut...
The Eccentric World of Herman Kahn
27 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How one individual's unconventionality (and controversy) helped shape Cold War strategy and futures studies today. Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becomi...
Why Generational Inequality Matters
18 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On how the moral system of intergenerational fairness has broken down. Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute Author: Sea...
Food With Thought
07 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
From lettuce ketchup to snail sausages, food designers are challenging culinary norms and changing the way we eat. Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a...
The Future of Brain Boosting
03 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The race is on in Silicon Valley to develop functioning and marketable neural interfaces. Is that goal within reach? Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming...
Cooking Up the Future
22 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the early 20th century, the Italian artist and ideologue Filippo Marinetti attempted remould his countrymen into the model citizens of a new fascis...
The Cybertariat
16 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A closer look at human-powered automation and the hidden side of the digital economy. Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Inst...
The Ethics of Ecological Sabotage
01 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Our passivity in dealing with climate change and mass extinction may lead to an increase in ‘strategic violence’ in the form of eco-sabotage. When...
The Internet as a Right
25 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Many of the rights we consider fundamental increasingly depend on the ability to go online. What would it take to provide access for all? Author: Jos...
The Zombie Futurist
16 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the year 2000, the futurist FM-2030 was frozen in liquid nitrogen. He is scheduled to be woken up in 2030, the year he turns 100. Will his predicti...
The Case for Anti-Natalism: A conversation with Professor David Benatar
09 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How do we safeguard the interests of future generations? For the controversial philosopher David Benatar, it's by ensuring that they never are bor...
A World Without Youth
28 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Demographers predict that the number of people alive will reach its peak this century. How will society be affected by an aging and shrinking populati...
The High Cost of Living in the Moment
26 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
‘Present bias’ permeates much of our decision-making and puts the lives of those yet unborn at risk. What can we do about it? Author: Casper Skovg...