The Peril of Romanticism

07/29/22 • 55 min

In Episode 19 of The Futurists, David Brin expounds on the interplay between scientific research and storytelling in shaping society’s future. An astrophysicist, prolific science fiction author and the winner of many awards, Brin also writes non-fiction about social dynamics and politics and contributes to NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts Program. In this playful and wide-ranging interview, Brin discusses all of his passionate pursuits. Brin sets forth the distinction between fantasy and science fiction, and he underscores the danger of romantic notions that inspire political movements. He ends the episode with speculation about a universe filled with planets and teeming with life.

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The Philosophy of Future Tech

In this episode Robert and Brett talk to futurist, entrepreneur David Orban, who talks us through the early days of the internet and crypto to where he thinks we're going as a society with increasingly dense technology saturation and immersion. From his background as Singularity University and as the founder of Network Society Research, David has a uniquely philosophical approach to the application of technology in our world. David was an early bitcoin, ethereum and blockchain adopter, so we get into the future of crypto too.

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The Jetsons as futurists

July 31, 2022 was the fictional birthdate of George Jetson, so we thought we’d take a look this week at how The Jetsons has stood up over time in respect to its vision of the future. It’s just Robert and Brett comparing notes and debating what the Jetsons got right and what they got wrong. From smart watches and flying cars to household robots and 3D printers.