FUTURES Podcast

Astronomer Royal Lord Martin Rees shares his insights into the existential threats facing humanity, what it means to be a techno-optimist, and how we can plan for the long-term future.

Lord Martin Rees is a leading astrophysicist as well as a senior figure in UK science. He has conducted influential theoretical work on subjects as diverse as black hole formation and extragalactic radio sources, and provided key evidence to contradict the Steady State theory of the evolution of the Universe.

Martin was also one of the first to predict the uneven distribution of matter in the Universe, and proposed observational tests to determine the clustering of stars and galaxies. Much of his most valuable research has focused on the end of the so-called cosmic dark ages — a period shortly after the Big Bang when the Universe was as yet without light sources.

As Astronomer Royal and a Past President of the Royal Society, Martin is a prominent scientific spokesperson and the author of seven books of popular science. After receiving a knighthood in 1992 for his services to science, he was elevated to the title of Baron Rees of Ludlow in 2005.

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CREDITS

Produced by FUTURES Podcast

Recorded, Mixed & Edited by Luke Robert Mason

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Anthropologist Dr. Beth Singler shares her thoughts on the misconceptions surrounding artificial intelligence, the dangers of treating humans like machines, and whether virtual reality could provide us with quasi-religious experiences.

Dr Beth Singler is the Junior Research Fellow in Artificial Intelligence at Homerton College, University of Cambridge, where she is exploring the social, ethical, philosophical and religious implications of AI. As an associate fellow at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence she is collaborating on the AI Narratives and Global AI Narratives projects, as well as co-organising a series of Faith and AI workshops as a part of the AI: Trust and Society programme.

She has also produced a series of short films on the questions raised by AI, and the first, Pain in the Machine, won the AHRC Best Research Film of the Year Award in 2017. Beth has appeared on Radio4’s Today, Sunday and Start the Week, spoken at the Hay Festival as one of the ‘Hay 30’, the 30 best speakers to watch, as well as speaking at New Scientist Live, Edinburgh Science Festival, the Science Museum, Cheltenham Science Festival, and Ars Electronica. She was also one of the Evening Standard’s Progress 1000, a list of the most influential people, in both 2017 and 2018.

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CREDITS

Produced by FUTURES Podcast

Recorded, Mixed & Edited by Luke Robert Mason

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Journalist Jenny Kleeman shares her thoughts on developments in the emerging fields of sex robotics, lab-grown meat, artificial wombs, and assisted dying.

Jenny Kleeman is a journalist and documentary filmmaker who travels the world finding eye-catching, thought-provoking stories and compelling characters. Her articles appear regularly in the Guardian and also in the Sunday Times (London), The Times of London, The New Statesman and VICE. She has reported for BBC One’s Panorama and HBO’s VICE News Tonight. She won the One World Media Television Award for her work on Unreported World and was nominated for the Amnesty International Gaby Rado Award. She lives in England.

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CREDITS

Produced by FUTURES Podcast

Recorded, Mixed & Edited by Luke Robert Mason

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Historian Rutger Bregman shares his insights into why we have such a pessimistic view of human nature, what it means to be evolutionarily hardwired for kindness, and how radical ideas and stories can shape the future.

Rutger Bregman is a historian and author. He has published five books on history, philosophy, and economics. His book Utopia for Realists was a New York Times Bestseller and has been translated in 32 languages. Bregman has twice been nominated for the prestigious European Press Prize for his work at The Correspondent. His new book, Humankind, will be published in May 2020. Rutger lives in Holland.

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CREDITS

Produced by FUTURES Podcast

Recorded, Mixed & Edited by Luke Robert Mason

FOLLOW FUTURES PODCAST

Twitter: @FUTURESPodcast

Instagram: @futurespodcast

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Former NASA Astronaut Kathy Sullivan shares her insights into what it was like to be part of the team responsible for the launch of The Hubble Space Telescope, the scientific and societal importance of space exploration, and how to create the ideal conditions for innovation to thrive.

Kathy Sullivan is former NASA astronaut and the first American woman to walk in space. She has been a crew member on three Space Shuttle missions as a geologist, and subsequently served as the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the Obama administration. Most recently, she is the Charles A Lindbergh Chair of Aerospace History at the Smithsonian Institute, and is an inductee in the Astronaut Hall of Fame.

Find out more: futurespodcast.net

CREDITS

Produced by FUTURES Podcast

Recorded, Mixed & Edited by Luke Robert Mason

FOLLOW FUTURES PODCAST

Twitter: @FUTURESPodcast

Instagram: @futurespodcast

Facebook: @FUTURESPodcast