Flash Forward

Today we travel to a future where the Earth’s magnetic poles reverse.→ → → Further reading available here ← ← ← Guests:Eftyhia Zesta -- Chief of the Geospace Physics Laboratory in the Heliophysics Division at NASAMichael Purucker -- Planetary Magnetosphere Lab chief at NASAAlanna Mitchell -- author of The Spinning Magnet Rory Cottrell -- archaeomagnetism researcher at The University of Rochester Thorsten Ritz -- biophysics researcher at UC Irvine Actors:The Snowglobe Narrator: Brent RoseLenny Haywood: Evan JohnsonFarah Mousterian: Zahra Noorbakhsh, host of Good Muslim, Bad MuslimJohn Jacob Siwa: Joseph JonesJuana Aguilar: Tamara Krinsky, host of Tomorrow’s World TodayRoberta Peary: Avery Trufelman, host of Articles of InterestRamona Byrd: Andrea Silenzi, host of The Longest Shortest Time Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky.Join the Listener Facebook Group!Get in touch: Twitter // Facebook // Reddit // [email protected] the show: Patreon // Donorbox // Buy Some Merch Subscribe: iTunes // Soundcloud // Spotify // wherever you get your podcasts! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're back! Did you miss me? Don't answer that please. Today's episode kicks off Season FIVE of Flash Forward. This year, I'm doing things a little bit differently. Instead of doing a new episode every other week, you're getting little mini-seasons. Each little block of five episodes will come out weekly, and center around a theme. This week we're starting our EARTH series. Five episodes, five different future Earths. Buckle up, I hope you're ready for some fun. And some terror. This is Flash Forward after all.Today we travel to a future where humanity decides to pull the climate emergency break, and spray sulphuric acid into the upper atmosphere.GuestsAnthony Jones, climate model researcher at University of ExeterJane Flegal, climate science and policy advisor, program officer at The Bernard and Anne Spitzer Charitable TrustKate Marvel, climate scientist at Columbia University and NASA Goddard Institute for Space StudiesRomaric Odoulami, climate scientist at the University of Cape TownPrakash Kashwan, political scientist at the University of Connecticut ActorsThe Snowglobe Narrator: Brent RoseLenny Haywood: Evan JohnsonFarah Mousterian: Zahra NoorbakhshJohn Jacob Siwa: Joseph JonesJuana Aguilar: Tamara KrinskyThor Surtr: Oliver BlankSpecial ThanksWomen's Audio Mission studios, Maryam Qudus, Stephanie LopezThe Potluck Podcast Collective, The Potluck Podcast studio, Quincy SurasmithFlash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky.Get in touch: Twitter // Facebook // Reddit // [email protected] the show: Patreon // DonorboxThanks to PNAS for supporting Flash Forward. Listen to Science Sessions on iTunes today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In case you think I've been sitting on my butt doing nothing, here's a trailer to let you know that I have been sitting on my butt doing lots of things! Flash Forward returns to your feeds NEXT WEEK, but to get you excited, I wanted to drop in and give you all a little taste of what’s to come.See you in the future! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At long last, we’re doing genetic editing. What’s the deal with the recent news about CRISPR babies? What does a future full of human genetic editing look like? And how might CRISPR change the food we eat? Guests:Sarah Zhang, reporter at The AtlanticGreta Johnsen, weekend anchor at WBEZ, co-host of NerdetteAlice Wong, founder of the Disability Visibility ProjectAlison Van Eenennaam, researcher at UC Davis→→→ Further reading and sources HERE ←←←Paper mentioned in the Policygenius ad: “National culture and life insurance consumption”Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky.Get in touch: Twitter // Facebook // Reddit // [email protected] the show: Patreon // DonorboxSubscribe: iTunes // SoundcloudLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens when the Rio Grande dries up? The river is often overshadowed, at least in the US, by the Colorado River. But the Rio Grande creates the border between US and Mexico, and the water that flows through it is at the center of a looming geopolitical crisis. So what happens when towns, farms and cities on both sides of the border start to run out of water?Guests:Naveena Sadasivam: staff writer at the Texas Observer covering the environment, energy and climate and co-author on the series Shallow WatersZoë Schlanger: staff writer at Quartz covering the environment, and co-author on the series Shallow WatersFlavio Lehner: Climate scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric ResearchJ. Alfredo Rodríguez-Pineda: Water program coordinator at the WWFSponsors:Bombas (use code FLASH at checkout)Papers mentioned in the ad: Deranged Socks, Sock Matching exercise, Sock sorting→ → → Links to sources and further reading available here ← ← ←Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky.Get in touch: Twitter // Facebook // Reddit // [email protected] the show: Patreon // DonorboxSubscribe: iTunes // SoundcloudLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Getting from one place to another is hard. What if we could just teleport? From the physics of how this would work (it wouldn’t) to the ripple effects it might have on politics, urban development, and tourism, this episode is all about what would happen if we could zip instantly from one place to another.GuestsMatt Lubchansky, comic artist and associate editor at The NibZeeya Merali, physicist at the Foundational Questions Institute, author of A Big Bang in a Little Room, cohost of the FQXi PodcastPeter Norton, historian at the University of Virginia, author of Fighting Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City(Paper from the advertisement: Time to End the Use of Genetic Test Results in Life Insurance Underwriting) → → → Sources and more links available here ← ← ←Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth.The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia.The teleportation attendant from the future was played by Tamara Krinsky. Tamara is the host of the science & technology show TOMORROW'S WORLD TODAY, which you can watch on Amazon, right now.The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky.If you want to suggest a future we should take on, send us a note on Twitter, Facebook or by email at [email protected]. We love hearing your ideas! And if you think you’ve spotted one of the little references I’ve hidden in the episode, email us there too. If you’re right, I’ll send you something cool.And if you want to support the show, there are a few ways you can do that too! Head to www.flashforwardpod.com/support for more about how to give. But if that’s not in the cards for you, you can head to iTunes and leave us a nice review or just tell your friends about us. Those things really do help. That’s all for this future, come back next time and we’ll travel to a new one. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If humans want to really have a go at leaving Earth and living in space or on other planets, we’re going to have to figure out a lot of things: spaceships, food supplies, fuel, how to keep everybody from killing one another. But one thing seems to be frequently left out of the picture, when it comes to distant space travel research: reproduction. It turns out we know very, very little about what pregnancy in space might look like, or whether it’s even possible at all.GuestsMaggie Koerth-Baker: senior science writer at FiveThirtyEightKim Stanley Robinson: science fiction author of the Mars trilogy, The Years of Rice and Salt, 2312, Aurora and others, including a new book Red Moon.Anicca Harriot: PhD student at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, advocate for STEM outreach→ → → Further reading and sources available at flashforwardpod.com ←←←Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth.Intro music by AsuraOuttro music by Hussalonia.Episode art by Matt Lubchansky. Connect with us on: Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Instagram More about how to support the show HERE.Go to iTunes and leave us a nice review! If you think you’ve spotted one of the little references I’ve hidden in the episode, email [email protected]. If you’re right, I’ll send you something cool. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s episode we tackle a future that was once a staple of science fiction: food pills. Instead of shopping and cooking and sitting down to eat meals together, we all simply pop our nutritional pills and move along with our lives. How feasible is this, really? Where did the idea come from? And what does the rise and fall in the popularity of the idea say about our changing relationships to food, culture and politics?Guests:Annalee Newitz, science journalist and science fiction author, co-host of Our Opinions Are CorrectCharlie Jane Anders, science fiction author, co-host of Our Opinions Are CorrectHelen Rosner, food correspondent for the New YorkerRob McGinley Myers, writer and podcasterKatie Gordon, associate professor of psychology at North Dakota State University and co-host of Jedi Counsel PodcastMike Rugnetta, producer of Reasonably SoundSoleil Ho, food writer, co-host of Racist Sandwich, host of Popaganda→→→ For more information about the guests, links, and further reading, go to https://www.flashforwardpod.com/2018/10/21/farm-to-tablet/ ←←←Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia. The voices from the future for this episode were provided by Tony Garcia, Fernando Galdino and Ed Yong. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky.If you want to suggest a future we should take on, send us a note on Twitter, Facebook or by email at [email protected]. We love hearing your ideas! And if you think you’ve spotted one of the little references I’ve hidden in the episode, email us there too. If you’re right, I’ll send you something cool.And if you want to support the show, there are a few ways you can do that too! Head to www.flashforwardpod.com/support for more about how to give. But if that’s not in the cards for you, you can head to iTunes and leave us a nice review or just tell your friends about us. Those things really do help.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Computers are getting smaller and smaller. But what if we had sensors the size of dust, that could float through the air undetected, talk to one another, gather information, and transmit that information back down to a central place? This is the concept behind smart dust, and it's more plausible than you might think.Guests:Amy Webb, quantitative futurist and founder of the Future Today InstituteFaine Greenwood, journalist and drone expertStacey Higginbotham, journalist, co-host of the Internet of Things podcast→ → More information band background reading at flashforwardpod.com ←←Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky.If you want to suggest a future we should take on, send us a note on Twitter, Facebook or by email at [email protected]. We love hearing your ideas! And if you think you’ve spotted one of the little references I’ve hidden in the episode, email us there too. If you’re right, I’ll send you something cool.And if you want to support the show, there are a few ways you can do that too! Head to www.flashforwardpod.com/support for more about how to give. But if that’s not in the cards for you, you can head to iTunes and leave us a nice review or just tell your friends about us. Those things really do help. That’s all for this future, come back next time and we’ll travel to a new one. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What if we just gave everybody money? It sounds simple, but universal basic income is a trendy idea right now and a lot of you have asked for an episode about a future where everybody gets money from the government no matter what. And it turns out that while it sounds simple, just giving everybody money is way more complicated than you might thing.Guests:Atossa Araxia Abrahamian, Senior editor at The Nation, author of The CosmopolitesShaksam Khosla, graduate student at Johns Hopkins University, author of India’s Basic Income: Bedeviled by the Details Aisha Nyandoro, CEO of Springboard to OpportunityCara Rose deFabio, special initiatives director at Economic Security Project →→ Further Reading Here ←←Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia. The human voice from the future was provided by Daniel Tannenbaum. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How much of what you do is actually your choice? What if you were secretly being controlled by a parasite that had infected your brain? What if that infection was spreading? Guests:David Walton, author of The Genius PlagueTade Thompson, author or RosewaterCharissa de Bekker, researcher at the University of Central FloridaSandeep Ravindran, science journalistFor additional reading and resources on this episode, visit flashforwardpod.com. Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia. The voices from the future this week were provided by Charles Anderson, David Dunsmuir, Anthony Friscia, Andrea Klunder and Brent Rose. Check out Brent’s project Connected States, in which he drives around the US in a big van, at http://www.connectedstates.com/. You can listen to Andrea’s podcast The Creative Imposter wherever you get your podcasts. If you want to be a voice in a future scene for Flash Forward, that is one of the perks of a $10 Patreon pledge! Whenever I need voices I send out a little note to those patrons and people can sign up to do one! The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky. Who is amazing! You should check out their art AND you should go look at the new magazine that they’re creating at the comics website The Nib. Go to membership.thenib.com to learn more about that.If you want to suggest a future we should take on, send us a note on Twitter, Facebook or by email at [email protected]. We love hearing your ideas! And if you think you’ve spotted one of the little references I’ve hidden in the episode, email us there too. If you’re right, I’ll send you something cool. And if you want to support the show, there are a few ways you can do that too! Head to www.flashforwardpod.com/support for more about how to give. But if that’s not in the cards for you, you can head to Apple Podcasts and leave us a nice review or just tell your friends about us. Those things really do help. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s episode we travel to the near-future of advertising. Welcome to a future in which you can sign up to be a brand ambassador, and get paid for every time you mention a product in conversation. Simply download the app, and your phone will listen to your every word waiting to hear brand names, and pay you some money every time you mention one. Guests:Deborah Dahl, speech technology expert and principal of Conversational TechnologiesLee Tien, senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier FoundationLindsey Webber, writer, editor and cohost of the podcast Who? WeeklyBobby Finger, writer at Jezebel and cohost of the podcast Who? WeeklyKristen Strader, campaign coordinator for Public Citizen’s Commerical Alert program🚀 Further reading and source notes can be found here 🚀Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

~~~~ TAKE THE SURVEY! (Please) ~~~~Today we tackle the age-old question: what if animals could talk? Or, more precisely, what if we could actually understand what animals are saying?Guests:Con Slobodchikoff, professor at Northern Arizona University, CEO of Zoolingua, and author of Chasing Dr. Doolittle: Learning the Language of Animals.Irene Pepperberg, professor of psychology Harvard University, author of Alex and Me: How a Scientist and a Parrot Discovered a Hidden World of Animal Intelligence-and formed a Deep Bond in the ProcessAlexandra Horowitz, professor at Barnard, head of dog cognition lab, author of Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and KnowAshley Shew, professor at Virginia Tech, author of Animal Constructions and Technological KnowledgeKeri Cronin, professor at Brock University, author of Art for Animals: Visual Culture and Animal Advocacy, 1875-1914Further Reading:The “Clever Hans Phenomenon” revisitedLost in Translation: Koko the gorilla and language researchThe Alex studies: cognitive and communicative abilities of grey parrotReddit AMA: I am Dr. Irene Pepperberg, research associate at Harvard in the field of avian cognition...ask me anythingAnimal language studies: What happened?Learn to sniff like a dog.“‘Can’t You Talk?’: Voice and Visual Culture in Early Animal Welfare (more reading at Flash Forward's main site) Learn more about Twenty Thousand Hertz hereLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the 1960's, the United States spent millions of dollars exploring two different realms: outer space, and the deep oceans. But today, only one of those programs is still around. Why do space colonies seem more likely than underwater cities? And what does it take to build a settlement on the sea floor?Guests:Ben Hellwarth, journalist and author of SEALAB: America's Forgotten Quest to Live and Work on the Ocean FloorJim Fourqurean, professor of Marine Science at Florida International University and the director of the Center for Coastal Oceans ResearchRoger Garcia, operations director at Aquarius Reef BaseKatherine Sammler, assistant professor at California State University Maritime in the department of Global Studies & Maritime AffairsFurther Reading/Watching:The Silent WorldJFK's Moon Shot speechJFK 1961 remarks on the oceanJFK Address at the Anniversary Convocation of the National Academy of Sciences, 22 October 1963SEALAB: America's Forgotten Quest to Live and Work on the Ocean FloorTo Tell The Truth featuring Bob BarthI have lived underwaterMedina Aquarius ProgramFrom the Ocean’s Abyss to the Vacuum of Space: Privatization in the Vertical Commons National Governance Of Ocean VolumesSubsuming the Submerged: Producing Seabeds as Political Territories.Knowing the Abyss: Seeking Geographies of Ocean Space.The Deep Pacific: Island Governance and Seabed Mineral Development.United Nations Convention on the Law of the SeaCredits:Produced by me, Rose Eveleth.The intro music: AsuraOuttro music: Hussalonia.Voices of the future this episode: Stephen Granade and Andrea Klunder.Episode art: Matt Lubchansky.Get in touch at [email protected] the show. Rate & review on Apple Podcasts.Twitter // Facebook // InstagramLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today’s episode I welcome you to the Museum of Non-Human Art, a brand new gallery full of art made entirely by machines, computers, algorithms, robots and other non-human entities. I hope your enjoy your visit!To see pictures of any of the artworks we talked about on this show head to the website! Guests:Elizabeth Stephens, Australian Research Council Future Fellow in the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of QueenslandMichael Noll, computer artist, professor emeritus at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern CaliforniaAhmed Elgammel, director of the The Art & Artificial Intelligence Lab at Rutgers UniversityOrit Gat, art critic & writerXiaoyu Weng, Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Associate Curator of Chinese Art at the Guggenheim Further Reading:Do Androids Dream of Electric Bananas?Machines in the GardenAutomata by Jacquet-DrozThe Story of Jacquet-DrozWhen the Machine Made Art "Incredible Machine" (1968) — main-title animation sequence for award-winning movie by Owen Murphy Productions for the American Telephone & Telegraph Company."Patterns by 7090," by Michael Noll"Computer Generated Ballet" by Michael NollHuman or Machine: A Subjective Comparison of Piet Mondrian’s ‘Composition with Lines’ and a Computer–Generated PictureCAN: Creative Adversarial Networks Generating “Art” by Learning About Styles andDeviating from Style NormsQuantifying Creativity in Art NetworksLarge-Scale Classification of Fine-Art Paintings: Learning the Right Metric on the Right FeatureA Computer Vision System for Artistic Influence MiningTales of Our Time Exhibit at the GuggenheimSun Yuan & Peng Yu: Tales of Our TimeFlash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky.Want to send a note or idea? Spotted a reference? Email me at [email protected]. Want to donate? Head this way. Can't give money? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts! Tell a friend about the show! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1918, the Spanish flu killed four to five percent of the entire global population. Infectious disease experts all agree that another pandemic is coming. It's when, not if. But are we ready for it? Today's episode explores what happens when a pandemic strikes, what the most likely candidates are, and whether or not the world is ready.Guests:Ed Yong, science writer at The AtlanticNahid Bhadelia, assistant professor at Boston University School of Medicine and the Medical Director of Special Pathogens Unit (SPU) at Boston Medical CenterLaura Spinney, science writer and author of Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the WorldNicola Twilley, co-host of Gastropod and author of a forthcoming book on quarantineFurther Reading:The Next Plague is Coming. Is America Ready?Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the WorldYuuyaraq: The Way of the Human Being by Harold NapoleonStrengthening Health Systems While Responding to a Health Crisis: Lessons Learned by a Nongovernmental Organization During the Ebola Virus Disease Epidemic in Sierra Leone Medicine’s Long, Thin Supply ChainWhat Bill Gates Fears MostPredicting virus emergence amid evolutionary noiseNebraska’s Biocontainment UnitThe Terrifying Lessons of a Pandemic SimulationClade X LivestreamCDC Director: Why I Don’t Support A Travel Ban To Combat The Ebola OutbreakProtecting the Public's Health from Diseases, Disasters and BioterrorismHow prepared is the world for the next epidemic? This tool shows most countries are not.Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia. The voices from the future this episode were provided by Paul Krueger, Sean Raines, and Sameer Ajmani. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky.Get in touch: Twitter, Facebook, [email protected]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode we take on a future where space junk has gotten so bad, that active spacecraft are constantly having to maneuver around it, which wastes fuel and cuts down on operation time. And humans decide to finally do something about it. But what?Guests:Loren Grush, science reporter at The VergeLisa Ruth Rand, historian of science technology and the environment.Tiago Soares, systems engineer for ESA’s Clean Space programAndrew Wolahan, systems engineer for ESA’s e.deorbit programAlice Gorman, space archaeologist at Flinders University Jill Stuart, space policy & law expert at the London School of EconomicsFurther Reading:Tracking Space JunkHow can humans clean up our space junk?The Space Junk Problem is About to get a Whole Lots GnarlierOrbital Decay: Space Junk and the Environmental History of Earth’s Planetary BorderlandsThe Forgotten Cold War Plan That Put A Ring Of Copper Around The EarthProject West Ford, NASA RepositoryJapanese mission to clear up space junk ends in failureThis is what happens when a tiny piece of flying space debris hits the ISSESA EnvisatESA Clean SpaceESA e.deorbitSpace Age ArchaeologyWhat is Space Archaeology?The Outer Space Treaty has been remarkably successful – but is it fit for the modern age?Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia. The space dispatcher from the top of the episode was played by Andrew Hackard. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky. If you want to suggest a future we should take on, send us a note on Twitter, Facebook or by email at [email protected]. And if you think you’ve spotted one of the little references I’ve hidden in the episode, email us there too. If you’re right, I’ll send you something cool. And if you want to support the show, there are a few ways you can do that too! Head to www.flashforwardpod.com/support for more about how to give. But if that’s not in the cards for you, you can head to iTunes and leave us a nice review or just tell your friends about us. Those things really do help. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the rise in consumer DNA tests and online genealogy, people might soon have a pretty good idea where their families came from for generations. But are we putting too much faith in DNA? Can our genetic ancestry really tell us anything about ourselves? And what happens when DNA databases become playgrounds for true crime sleuths?Guests:Carl Zimmer, science journalist and author of She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Powers, Perversions and Potential of HeredityKristen V. Brown, biotechnology reporter at BloombergKim Tallbear, author of Native American DNA: Tribal Belonging and the False Promise of Genetic ScienceClan_McCrimmon, moderator of the Lyle Stevik subreddit Colleen Fitzpatrick and Margaret Press, cofounders of DNA Doe Kelly Hills, cofounder of Rogue BioethicsFurther Reading:She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Powers, Perversions and Potential of HeredityNative American DNA: Tribal Belonging and the False Promise of Genetic ScienceThe Garden of Invention: Luther Burbank and the Business of Breeding Plants In an Age of Gene Editing and Surrogacy, What Does Heredity Mean? How DNA Testing Botched My Family's Heritage, and Probably Yours, Too DNA testing is like the 'Wild West'; should it be more tightly regulated? DNA test kits: Consider the privacy implications The ingenious and ‘dystopian’ DNA technique police used to hunt the ‘Golden State Killer’ suspect The Strange Case of the Man With No Name Web Sleuths: Lyle Stevik Reddit: Lyle Stevik GED MatchActive DNA Doe CasesDNA Doe Lyle Stevik Press Release Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guests:Susan Quinn, author of Furious Improvisation: How the WPA and a Cast of Thousands Made High Art out of Desperate Times and other books.Monet Noelle Marshall, playwright, consultant, artist, director, founder of JOCOAA.Monica Byrne, novelist, playwright, futurist, activist.Further Reading:Furious Improvisation: How the WPA and a Cast of Thousands Made High Art out of Desperate Times by Susan QuinnThe New Deal Art Projects, An Anthology of Memoirs by Francis V. O’ConnorEngendering Culture: Manhood and Womanhood In New Deal Public Art and Theater by Barbara MedoshAmerican-Made: The Enduring Legacy of the WPA:When FDR Put the Nation to Work by Nick TaylorThe Subsidized Muse: Public Support for the Arts in the United States by Dick NetzerThe American Guide to the New VermontAfter the Curtain CallsCreator of the Week with Monica ByrneWhat if Trump Really Does End Money for the Arts?Global Trends in Art FundingHow the United States Funds the ArtsCulturally Impoverished: US NEA Spends 1/40th of What Germany Doles Out for Arts Per CapitaWhy Are Americans So Hostile to State-Funded Art?Orson Welles’ Voodoo Macbeth: A forgotten diversity landmarkFlash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia. The voice of your future president was played by Andrea Klunder, the Producer & host of The Creative Impostor and Podcast Envy podcasts. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky. If you think you’ve spotted one of the little references I’ve hidden in the episode, email us there too. If you’re right, I’ll send you something cool. And if you want to support the show, there are a few ways you can do that too! Head to www.flashforwardpod.com/support for more about how to give. But if that’s not in the cards for you, you can head to Apple Podcasts and leave us a nice review. Or just tell your friends about the show! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode we talk exoskeletons: what are they being used for now? What might they be used for in the future? And what happens when they’re everywhere?Guests:Tim Pote, PhD student at Virginia TechGreg Pote, Tim’s brotherDr. Bill Marras, professor at The Ohio State University & Director of the Spine Research InstituteLarry Jasinksi, CEO, RewalkAshley Shew, assistant professor at Virginia Tech in technology & disability, and author of Animal Constructions and Technological KnoweldgeKim Sauder, graduate student in Disability Studies, author of Crippled Scholar blogBill Peace, anthropologist & bioethicist, author of Bad Cripple blogFurther Reading:The robotic exoskeleton market is poised to grow to $1.9 billion in 2025, compared to $97 million in 2016, says ABI Research's Dan Kara.Berkeley BLEEX ExoskeletonExoskeletons Won’t Turn Assembly Workers into Iron ManWe Try a New Exoskeleton for Construction WorkersThe Exoskeletons Are ComingReWalk TestimonialsFor heavy lifting, use exoskeletons with cautionBiomechanical evaluation of exoskeleton use on loading of the lumbar spineExoskeletons for industrial application and their potential effects on physical work loadThe effects of a passive exoskeleton on muscle activity, discomfort and endurance time in forward bending work.The Exoskeleton’s Hidden BurdenWalking is Over RatedThe Obsession With WalkingExoskeletons as a Social ProblemYou Cannot Kill a Bad Idea: The Exoskeleton LivesReWalk: A Plea for Common SenseFlash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia. The voice of the future historian from the intro was by Sarah Werner. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky.For more about the show or this episode go HERE. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some people love going to the gym. Some people hate it. But what if there was a pill that could replace exercise? Today’s future might actually be closer than you think.Today’s guests:Nicola Twilley, co-host of Gastropod and New Yorker writerDavid Eveleth, my dad and biotech expertNatalia Mehlman Petrzela, historian and co-host of Past PresentSigmund Loland, philosopher of sports at Norwegian School of Sport SciencesCasey Johnston, editor at The Outline, author of Ask a Swole WomanRobert, my boyfriendFurther reading can be found here, including background documents, research papers, suggested books and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, a huge submarine volcano erupts, breaks the surface of the ocean, and forms a new island. What happens next?Guests:Tracy Gregg, associate professor of geology at the University at BuffaloRebecca Carey, senior lecturer at the University of TasmaniaParaskevi V. Nomiku, assistant professor of geological oceanography at the University of AthensGianpierro Orbasano, Tongan photojournalist and explorerMichael Bates, Prince of SealandJames Grimmelmann, professor of law at Cornell TechFurther reading:The largest deep-ocean silicic volcanic eruption of the past centuryTsunami hazard risk of a future volcanic eruption of Kolumbo submarine volcano, NE of Santorini Caldera, GreeceVolcanic ash as fertiliser for the surface ocean The Submarine Volcano Eruption off El Hierro Island: Effects on the Scattering Migrant Biota and the Evolution of the Pelagic Communities What is law of the sea?United Nations Convention on the Law of the SeaPrincipality of Sealand: Nation Building by IndividualsSealand, Havenco and the Rule of LawHunga Tonga volcano eruption forms new S Pacific islandThis episode was suggested by listener and long-time friend of the show Charlie Loyd.Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky.If you want to suggest a future we should take on, send us a note on Twitter, Facebook or by email at [email protected]. I love hearing your ideas! And if you think you’ve spotted one of the little references I’ve hidden in the episode, email us there too. If you’re right, I’ll send you something cool.And if you want to support the show, there are a few ways you can do that too! Head to www.flashforwardpod.com/support for more about how to give. But if that’s not in the cards for you, you can head to iTunes and leave us a nice review or just tell your friends about us. Those things really do help. That’s all for this future, come back next time and we’ll travel to a new one. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re back! After a bit of a break, your regularly scheduled Flash Forward episodes will resume starting today. Every other Tuesday you’ll get a future delivered straight to your listening device. I hope you enjoy!On this episode, we’re talking about the future of senior care. Namely: what happens when we outsource care for our aging loved ones to robots, apps and devices?Let’s start by defining the challenge that the technology in today’s episode is trying to solve: in the United States, there are six million people over the age of 85. Experts estimate that, by 2050, that number will jump to 19 million. And a question looms over those numbers, right? Who’s going to take care of us? And who is going to pay for our care? The average cost of a year in a nursing home in the United States is over $80,000. In home services provided by humans are $48,000. At the same time, care facilities are already reporting a shortage of qualified nurses.So of course one of the classes of solutions proposed to this looming problem is technology. There are already apps to monitor and assist seniors, robots to remind them to take their meds, and sensors to predict when they might fall. There are even little robot animals that can provide them with affection and comfort. But what do we give up when we hand our parents over to robots? What do they want? And are the products that tech people are coming up with actually solving the problem at all? Those are the questions of today’s episode.For a full transcript of this episode, and for further reading visit flashforwardpod.com. Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia. The voice of the annoyed father in the intro was played by Brent Rose. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky.If you want to suggest a future we should take on, send us a note on Twitter, Facebook or by email at [email protected]. We love hearing your ideas! And if you think you’ve spotted one of the little references I’ve hidden in the episode, email us there too. If you’re right, I’ll send you something cool.And if you want to support the show, there are a few ways you can do that too! Head to www.flashforwardpod.com/support for more about how to give. But if that’s not in the cards for you, you can head to Apple Podcasts and leave us a nice review or just tell your friends about us. Those things really do help. That’s all for this future, come back next time and we’ll travel to a new one.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In our last episode of the season, we take one one of the most requested futures: telepathy! What would it be like to be able to link minds, and communicate brain to brain? And how likely is it that we’ll ever get this kind of technology? We start the episode by talking to Roger Luckhurst, a Professor in Modern and Contemporary Literature at Birkbeck, University of London, who explains where the word telepathy comes from, and how it totally obsessed men of science in the early 1800’s. Then, futurist and science fiction author Ramez Naam walks us through both the current state of science and the futuristic world of his science fiction series Nexus, that centers around a drug that gives people telepathic powers. After that, we consider what a future full of telepathic people might mean for etiquette with Robin Abrahams, the etiquette columnist for the Boston Globe. And then we talk privacy and digital security with Kit Walsh, a a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. And we finish out the episode by talking to Lateef McLeod, a poet, blogger, activist and doctoral student in the anthropology and social change program at California Institute for Integral Studies, about how those with complex communication needs might appreciate a new form of communication. Further reading: Science & history The Neurologist Who Hacked His Brain -- And Almost Lost His Mind When “I” becomes “We”: ethical implications of emerging brain-to-brain interfacing technologies Conscious Brain-to-Brain Communication in Humans Using Non-Invasive Technologies Brain-to-Brain Interfaces: When Reality Meets Science Fiction The invention of telepathy, 1870-1901 by Roger Luckhurst Telepathy and literature: essays on the reading mind by Nicholas Royle “First Report of the Literary Committee by W.F. Barrett, C.C. Massey, Rev. W. Stainton Moses, Frank Podmore…. In Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research” Phenomena: the secret history of the U.S. government's investigations into extrasensory perception and psychokinesis by Annie Jacobsen The 120-Year-Old Mind-Reading Machine The Future of Human Evolution | Ray Kurzweil Q & A | Singularity University Science Gave My Son the Gift of Sound Understanding Deafness: Not Everyone Wants to Be 'Fixed' Memory Implant Gives Rats Sharper Recollection Building the Bionic Brain A cortical neural prosthesis for restoring and enhancing memory Computing Arm Movements with a Monkey Brainet A Brain-to-Brain Interface for Real-Time Sharing of Sensorimotor Information The Ultimate Interface: Your Brain Reconstructing visual experiences from brain activity evoked by natural movies Facilitation and restoration of cognitive function in primate prefrontal cortex by a neuroprosthesis that utilizes minicolumn-specific neural firing Protect Your Right to Repair and Control the Devices in Your Life Defend Your Right to Repair! Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky. If you want to suggest a future we should take on, send us a note on Twitter, Facebook or by email at [email protected]. We love hearing your ideas! And if you think you’ve spotted one of the little references I’ve hidden in the episode, email us there too. If you’re right, I’ll send you something cool.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode we travel to a future where the 2020 census goes haywire. What happens if we don’t get an accurate count of Americans? Who cares? Apparently the constitution does! The 2020 census is currently in the crosshairs — census watchers say that it’s not getting enough funding, and community organizations and local governments are already worrying about what an inaccurate census might mean for their people. To walk us through the current perils facing the census I talked to Hansi Lo Wang, a national correspondent for NPR who has been covering the census; Phil Sparks, the co-director of The Census Project, an organization that brings together groups who use census data; Susan Lerner, the director of Common Cause New York, a government watchdog group; Cayden Mak, the executive director of 18 Million Rising, an online organizing group that works with Asian American communities; and Dawn Joelle Fraser, a storyteller and communications coach who worked for the census in 2010. Further reading: Could A Census Without A Leader Spell Trouble In 2020? US Census Director Resigns Amid Turmoil Over Funding of 2020 Count Departure of U.S. Census director threatens 2020 count The 2020 Census is at risk. Here are the major consequences With 2020 Census Looming, Worries About Fairness and Accuracy Trump's threat to the 2020 Census NAACP lawsuit alleges Trump administration will undercount minorities in 2020 Census Census 2020: How it’s supposed to work (and how it might go terribly wrong) Census watchers warn of crisis if 2020 funding is not increased Likely Changes in US House Seat Distribution for 2020 What Census Calls Us: A Historical Timeline As 2020 Census Approaches, Worries Rise Of A Political Crisis After The Count The American Census: a social history by Margo J. Anderson The Story Collider podcast: Dawn Fraser, The Mission Note: This is the second to last episode of this season of Flash Forward! The last episode drops January 9th, and then the show will be in hiatus for a few months while I prep for season 4, which is going to be great I can already assure you! If you want to follow along with the prep for season 4, and just generally keep up with what's going on with the show and when it's coming back stay in touch via Twitter, Facebook , Reddit, or, best of all, Patreon, where I'll post behind the scenes stuff as I get ready for the next Flash Forward adventures. Also, I’m going on tour with PopUp Magazine in February! Get your tickets at popupmagazine.com. Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia. Special thanks this week to Liz Neeley who voiced our discouraged bureaucrat. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky. If you want to suggest a future we should take on, send us a note on Twitter, Facebook or by email at [email protected]. We love hearing your ideas! And if you think you’ve spotted one of the little references I’ve hidden in the episode, email us there too. If you’re right, I’ll send you something cool. And if you want to support the show, there are a few ways you can do that too! Head to www.flashforwardpod.com/support for more about how to give. But if that’s not in the cards for you, you can head to iTunes and leave us a nice review or just tell your friends about us. Those things really do help. As a bonus, at the end of this episode, you'll hear a human chorus record a psalm that was written by Janelle Shane's machine learning algorithm. (Remember her from the super religion episode?) and arranged by Hamish Symington and Owain Park.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is all about a world without plastic. What would that look like? Is it even possible? Today, plastic is seen as one of our great environmental enemies. But it actually wasn’t always that way. Bradford Harris, a historian of science and the host of a podcast called How It Began: A History of the Modern World, and Susan Freinkel, a journalist and the author of Plastic: A Toxic Love Story, walk us through how plastic started out as a solution to unsustainable practices. Then we talk to Sherry Lippiatt, California Regional Coordinator for the NOAA Marine Debris Program, about what exactly is going on with garbage in the ocean. And finally I visit Danielle Trofe at her studio in Brooklyn, where she grows sustainable materials using mushrooms. Further reading: Debbie Chachra on peak plastics "On a scale beyond all previous conceptions" [electronic resource] : plastics and the preservation of modernity Bradford Harris: Plastics and Sustainability Our 'Toxic' Love-Hate Relationship With Plastics 99 Percent Invisible: The Post-Billiards Age Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean There Is No Island of Trash in the Pacific Global Plastic Production Rises, Recycling Lags Different Types of Plastics and their Classification Health risks posed by use of Di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) in PVC medical devices: A critical review How Stuff Works: bioplastics Taxation and Regulation of Plastic Shopping Bags in Botswana and South Africa GROW: A Lamp YOU Grow from Mushroom Mycelium Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia. The voices from the future this episode were provided by Lisa Pollak, Arielle Duhaime-Ross, Brent Rose, Victor Dorff and Mary Beth Griggs. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky. If you want to suggest a future we should take on, send us a note on Twitter, Facebook or by email at [email protected]. We love hearing your ideas! And if you think you’ve spotted one of the little references I’ve hidden in the episode, email us there too. If you’re right, I’ll send you something cool. And if you want to support the show, there are a few ways you can do that too! Head to www.flashforwardpod.com/support for more about how to give. But if that’s not in the cards for you, you can head to iTunes and leave us a nice review or just tell your friends about us. Those things really do help. That’s all for this future, come back next time and we’ll travel to a new one.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, we travel to a future where a tech mogul feeds a machine learning system all the religious texts he can find, and asks it to generate a “super religion.” Buckle up because this is a long episode! But it’s fun, I promise. For the intro of this episode I worked with Janelle Shane to actually train a machine learning algorithm on a big chunk of religious texts that I assembled, and spit something back out. The specifics of the texts and the machine learning algorithm come with a handful of caveats and notes, which you can find at the bottom of this post. Janelle has done of ton of really funny, interesting things with machine learning algorithms that you can find here. To analyze the text that this algorithm generated, and talk about the limitations of this kind of project, I spoke with a big group of people from a variety of backgrounds: Linda Griggs is an Episcopal priest and an assisting priest at St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Providence Rhode Island. Lauren O’Neal and Niko Bakulich are the hosts of a podcast called Sunday School Dropouts, whose tagline is: "an ex-Christian (Lauren) and a non-believing sort of Jew (Niko) read all the way through the Bible for the first time." Elias Muhanna is the Manning Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature at Brown University, and director of the Digital Islamic Humanities Project. Beth Duckles is a sociologist (who you heard last episode talking about peanut allergies). Carol Edelman Warrior is an Assistant Professor of English at Cornell’s American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program. She is also enrolled with the Ninilchik Village Tribe (Dena'ina Athabascan / Alutiiq), and is also of A'aninin (Gros Ventre) descent. Mark Harris is a journalist who writes about technology, science and business for places like WIRED, The Guardian and IEEE Spectrum. He wrote a great piece about Anthony Levandowski’s new religion of artificial intelligence called Way of the Future. Further Reading: Sunday School Dropouts: Robobible Inside the First Church of Artificial Intelligence God is a Bot and Anthony Levandowski is His Messenger Way of the Future Nine Billion Names by Arthur C. Clarke Dataism + Machine Learning = New Religion Machine Learning May Help Determine When the Old Testament Was Written Indigenous Writers of Speculative Fiction Aztec Philosophy: Understanding a World in Motion The Space NDN's Star Map Borrowed Power: Essays on Cultural Appropriation For more caveats on the algorithm itself and the source text, see here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode we travel to a future where you can choose to turn off your ability to deceive yourself. Are you now a perfectly clear eyed genius? Or a perpetually depressed misanthrope? Maybe both? This episode was suggested by my mom. It begins with two tales of self deception, one from Jacquelyn Gill, an assistant professor of paleo-ecology at the University of Maine and the host of a podcast about climate change called Warm Regards, and the other from Beth Duckles, a writer, researcher, ethnographer and social scientist. Then we talk to Zoë Chance, an assistant professor of marketing at the Yale School of Management and an expert on self-deception. After that, we go to therapy, and Chamin Ajjan, a clinical psychotherapist and author of Seeking Soulmate: Ditch the Dating Game and Find Real Connection explains what she does when she sees a case of self-deception in her office. And finally, Erik Vance, science journalist and author of Suggestible You: The Curious Science of Your Brain's Ability to Deceive, Transform, and Heal helps us understand what might really happen if we could truly turn off this ability to deceive ourselves. Further reading: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Self Deception The Elements of a Scientific Theory of Self-Deception People don’t know when they’re lying to themselves Temporal view of the costs and benefits of self-deception The slow decay and quick revival of self-deception DENIAL: Self-Deception, False Beliefs, and the Origins of the Human Mind Suggestible You: The Curious Science of Your Brain's Ability to Deceive, Transform, and Heal Seeking Soulmate: Ditch the Dating Game and Find Real Connection Patrons are going to get a really fun bonus segment next week that didn’t quite make it into this episode. It’s about hypnosis. So if you want that, go to Patreon and sign up as a $5 donor! Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia. The voice from this episode’s future was provided by Cynthia Graber. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky. If you want to suggest a future we should take on, send us a note on Twitter, Facebook or by email at [email protected]. We love hearing your ideas! And if you think you’ve spotted one of the little references I’ve hidden in the episode, email us there too. If you’re right, I’ll send you something cool. And if you want to support the show, there are a few ways you can do that too! Head to www.flashforwardpod.com/support for more about how to give. But if that’s not in the cards for you, you can head to iTunes and leave us a nice review or just tell your friends about us. Those things really do help. That’s all for this future, come back next time and we’ll travel to a new one.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode we take on a future full of bioprinted replacement organs. You asked for more hopeful futures, this is about as hopeful as they get! We start by hearing a bit about what the current organ donation market is like from Christine Gentry, who donated a kidney to a stranger. Then we talk to Dr. Anthony Atala, the Director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine and of the world’s leading regenerative medicine specialists. Dr. Atala has implanted organs grown from the cells of patients themselves in clinical trials. Then Kelly and Zach Weinersmith join us to talk about what they learned while writing a chapter about bioprinting for their new book Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies That'll Improve and/or Ruin Everything. And finally, we get an impassioned indictment of 3D printing file formats from Meghan McCarthy, Project Lead for the NIH 3D Print Exchange. Further reading: Organ Donation Statistics Neural and cognitive characteristics of extraordinary altruists Boston woman's donation creates 3rd-longest kidney transplant chain, saving 28 people The Doctor and the Salamander How An Economist Helped Patients Find The Right Kidney Donors TED Talk: Printing a Human Kidney Rebuilding the Breast Soonish: Zach and Kelly Weinersmith on 10 technologies that will change everything Online Course Bioprinting: 3D Printing Body Parts Scientists 3-D Print Mouse Ovaries That Actually Make Babies If you’re interested in becoming a living organ donor and want to know what it’s like, you can get in touch with Christine Gentry. Her email is christine.gentry at gmail.com, and she’s all about helping people understand donation. Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia. Our intro future voices were skillfully provided by Alyssa Mondelli, BW and Josh Kirby. The music from the intro was by Unheard Music Concepts, PC III and Soft and Furious. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky. If you want to suggest a future we should take on, send us a note on Twitter, Facebook or by email at [email protected]. We love hearing your ideas! And if you think you’ve spotted one of the little references I’ve hidden in the episode, email us there too. If you’re right, I’ll send you something cool. And if you want to support the show, there are a few ways you can do that too! Head to www.flashforwardpod.com/support for more about how to give. But if that’s not in the cards for you, you can head to iTunes and leave us a nice review or just tell your friends about us. Those things really do help. That’s all for this future, come back next time and we’ll travel to a new one.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode we travel to a world without bees. And not just honey bees, all bees. You’ve probably heard a lot of doom and gloom predictions about what might happen if honey bees went extinct. Mass famine! The end of coffee! World economic collapse! But is that all true? (Probably not.) And how likely is a honeybee extinction anyway? (Extremely unlikely.) Plus, what about all the other bees in the world? We ponder these questions and more in this episode. To walk us through what might happen to agriculture if bees went away, I talked to Marcelo A. Aizen, a researcher who studies plant pollinator interactions. His research suggests that the loss of honeybees might not be as dire as everybody claims. And to talk about the more neglected bees out there, I called up Elaine Evans, a professor at the University of MInnesota’s Bee Lab, and Paige Embry, the author of the forthcoming book Our Native Bees: North America’s Endangered Pollinators and the Fight to Save Them. Plus, a little bonus “what if” at the end, featuring cartoonist Dean Yeagle, the man who drew the original Honey Nut Cheerios bee. Further reading: How much does agriculture depend on pollinators? Lessons from long-term trends in crop production (PDF) How to befriend bumblebees What if bees went extinct? Why bees are disappearing Citizen Science: Bumble Bee Surveys Has Anybody Seen the Franklin’s Bumblebee? Franklin’s Bumblebee Still Elusive The Old Man and the Bee Wallace’s Giant Bee Honey Nut Cheerios Mascot Goes Missing as Brand Addresses Declining Bee Populations Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia. The future voice this episode was provided by Mike Rugnetta. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky. If you want to suggest a future we should take on, send us a note on Twitter, Facebook or by email at [email protected]. I love hearing your ideas! And if you think you’ve spotted one of the little references I’ve hidden in the episode, email us there too. If you’re right, I’ll send you something cool. And if you want to support the show, there are a few ways you can do that too! Head to www.flashforwardpod.com/support for more about how to give. But if that’s not in the cards for you, you can head to iTunes and leave us a nice review or just tell your friends about us. Those things really do help. That’s all for this future, come back next time and we’ll travel to a new one.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode we go to a future with pirates! There always has to be at least one pirate episode per season. This time it’s pharmaceutical pirates. This episode was inspired by a new book by Annalee Newitz called Autonomous. It’s very good and you should read it. I am not being paid to say that, I just really like the book. Autonomous tells the story of two main characters: Jack the pharmaceutical pirate, and Palladin the bot that is trying to hunt her down. A few cool links related to Autonomous: How to Write a Novel Set More Than 125 Years in the Future Robots need civil rights, too Sword and Laser podcast #306 - Indentured Robotude w/ Annalee Newitz Pirates and Robots Square Off Over Drugs in Annalee Newitz’s Debut Novel In A Future Ruled By Big Pharma, A Robot Tentatively Explores Freedom — And Sex: 'Autonomous' For our episode, we focused on the pharmaceutical piracy part of the book. And to talk to us about the nitty gritty of how pharmaceuticals are made, and how they’re protected by patents, I talked to Jason Kahana, the founder and president of a small biotech company called Integrity Biosolutions, and Charles Duan, the director of the Patent Reform Project at Public Knowledge. [Full disclosure: my father and Jason know each other and have worked together in the past.] These Aren’t the Patent Remedies You’re Looking For (No, Really) Teva Pharmaceuticals Antitrust Settlement is a Win for Competition Martin Shkreli Is Big Pharma’s Biggest A**hole Drug C.E.O. Martin Shkreli Arrested on Fraud Charges Yusuf Hamied, generic drugs boss The Treasure of Mumbai Pharmaceutical deformulation The Role of Reverse Engineering in the Development of Generic Formulations The Impact of the US Food and Drug Administration Chlorofluorocarbon Ban on Out-of-pocket Costs and Use of Albuterol Inhalers Among Individuals With Asthma Do Patents Disclose Useful Information? We Are Definitely Against Indefiniteness in Patents Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro and ad-break music is by Hussalonia. The pirate music from the intro is by Nerve Damage. The future voices this episode were played by Tamara Krinsky, Brent Rose and Stephen Granade. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky. If you want to suggest a future we should take on, send us a note on Twitter, Facebook or by email at [email protected]. We love hearing your ideas! And if you think you’ve spotted one of the little references I’ve hidden in the episode, email us there too. If you’re right, I’ll send you something cool. And if you want to support the show, there are a few ways you can do that too! We have a Patreon page, where you can donate to the show. But if that’s not in the cards for you, you can head to iTunes and leave us a nice review or just tell your friends about us. Those things really do help. That’s all for this future, come back next month and we’ll travel to a new one.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This month’s episode is about what it would take to sterilize the Earth, and why you might want to figure that out in the first place. First we talk to the authors of a paper that tries to figure out this exact question. David Sloan and Rafael Alves Batista are the authors of a paper called “The Resilience of Life to Astrophysical Events” (along with Avi Loeb). No, they’re not evil scientists, just interested in what it might take to find life on other planets. They explain their calculations, and how we mostly don’t have anything to worry about. Plus, cool facts about tardigrades! Then we talk to science-fiction author N.K. Jemisin who is the author of The Broken Earth trilogy. Which is very good! She explains her thinking behind the books, why the Earth is out to get her characters, and how humans banding together to survive is more interesting to her than the lone ranger making it on his own. Further reading: What Would It Take to Completely Sterilize the Earth? The Resilience of Life to Astrophysical Events Did a gamma-ray burst initiate the late Ordovician mass extinction? NASA: Gamma-ray Bursts Flash Forward: The Supernova Next Door 'The Fifth Season,' by N.K. ­Jemisin N. K. Jemisin on Diversity in Science Fiction and Inspiration From Dreams The Tardigrade: Practically Invisible, Indestructible ‘Water Bears’ Tardigrades return from the dead Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky. If you want to suggest a future we should take on, send us a note on Twitter, Facebook or by email at [email protected]. We love hearing your ideas! And if you think you’ve spotted one of the little references I’ve hidden in the episode, email us there too. If you’re right, I’ll send you something cool. And if you want to support the show, there are a few ways you can do that too! We have a Patreon page, where you can donate to the show. But if that’s not in the cards for you, you can head to iTunes and leave us a nice review or just tell your friends about us. Those things really do help. That’s all for this future, come back next month and we’ll travel to a new one.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is a little different than other episodes. As many of you know, Flash Forward is my second job. My first job is at ESPN, where I recently helped launch an audio documentary series called 30 for 30 Podcasts. Please go check that out, even if you don’t like sports I promise there’s something for you. My episodes are numbers three and four in the series, and they’re both out, and if you like the weird stuff I do on this show I think you’ll probably enjoy them. Trying to make two highly produced shows at once is hard though! So for my mental health, this month’s Flash Forward is a bit of a remix. The top of the show is new, it’s an interview with Kit Walsh, who is a staff attorney at Electronic Frontier Foundation where she works on free speech, net neutrality, copyright, coders' rights, and other issues that relate to freedom of expression and access to knowledge. Then, you’ll hear a remixed version of an old episode about the future of the internet, and what it would take for us to abandon the world wide web. More information about net neutrality: Net neutrality explained: "Imagine internet is pizza ..." Throttling on Mobile Networks Is a Sign of Things to Come, Unless We Save Net Neutrality Now Dear FCC Ajit Pai’s anti-net neutrality plan gets the facts and law wrong, lawmakers say Am I The Only Techie Against Net Neutrality? The remixed episode after my interview with Kit is all about what it would take to lose the internet. And to figure that out I talked to two historians of digital culture at NYU. Laine Nooney studies the history of computers and video games. Finn Brunton studies how and why different technologies get adopted (or don’t). Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky. Special thanks this episode to Lena Groeger, Sisi Wei, Colin Schultz, and my mom. Yes, that was my actual mom. If you want to suggest a future we should take on, send us a note on Twitter, Facebook or by email at [email protected]. I love hearing your ideas! And if you think you’ve spotted one of the little references I’ve hidden in the episode, email us there too. If you’re right, I’ll send you something cool. And if you want to support the show, there are a few ways you can do that too! We have a Patreon page, where you can donate to the show. But if that’s not in the cards for you, you can head to iTunes and leave us a nice review or just tell your friends about us. Those things really do help. That’s all for this future, come back next month and we’ll travel to a new one.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode, we travel to a future where your romantic partners aren’t chosen by questions or swipes, but rather by your brainwaves. This future is based on an idea from Shelly Ronan and Ernesto D. Morales and their project Object Solutions. If you liked what you heard about Object Solutions you should check out their other work, and their Patreon page. I also talked to Suzanne Dikker, who has used EEG headsets to study everything from education, to Marina Abramovic’s art, to compatability. And to get a true expert position on dating apps, I talked to Andrea Silenzi from the podcast Why Oh Why. If you’re interested in the intersection between sex, dating, relationships and technology, check out her show. Other things to read: The Mutual Wave Project by Suzanne Dikker ‘EEG Dating’ matches people based on their brainwave data This Tinder Hands-Free App Makes Dating Decisions by Reading Heartbeats This Tinder-Swiping Biometric Love Robot Knows Who Your Body Wants Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky. By the way, check out Matt's new animated web series over at Topic. If you want to suggest a future we should take on, send us a note on Twitter, Facebook or by email at [email protected]. I love hearing your ideas! And if you think you’ve spotted one of the little references I’ve hidden in the episode, email us there too. If you’re right, I’ll send you something cool. And if you want to support the show, there are a few ways you can do that too! We have a Patreon page, where you can donate to the show. But if that’s not in the cards for you, you can head to Apple Podcasts and leave us a nice review or just tell your friends about us. Those things really do help. That’s all for this future, come back next month and we’ll travel to a new one.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode, we go on another vacation! Can you tell I need a vacation? Anyway, back to the episode. What would it be like if you could hop on a space cruise ship, and take a trip to Mars? This is a special episode because our little future intro is actually two real people playing real parts. Olivia Koski and Jana Grcevich are the authors of a new book called Vacation Guide to the Solar System. The book is a spinoff of their long-running project the Intergalactic Travel Bureau, a project of Guerilla Science and a place where people could really come inside and ask about trips to other planets. And they take us on a very fun tour of what you could do, as a tourist, to Mars. Along with Olivia and Jana, this episode features Ben Longmier, a former rocket scientist, and Rebecca Boyle, a science writer who has a true love for Mars. There’s a lot to talk about when it comes to intergalactic travel, so in this episode we focus specifically on tourism. Not colonization, or research, or any of the other things that you could potentially try to do. And we’re also going to focus on a single planet, just because trying to cover all the planets would be really hard. So what would it be like, to take a vacation to Mars. Just… a trip for fun. Like going to Cancun. But instead of snorkeling you hike up Olympus Mons? Listen to find out! Further reading: 'Intergalactic Travel Bureau' Wants to Plan Your Space Vacation Vacation to Mars Everything About Mars is the Worst Welcome To Mars! Enjoy Perpetual Jet Lag Under An Eerie Red Sky Mars Needs Lawyers Life on Mars time for JPL scientist and his family Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky. If you want to suggest a future we should take on, send us a note on Twitter, Facebook or by email at [email protected]. We love hearing your ideas! And if you think you’ve spotted one of the little references I’ve hidden in the episode, email us there too. If you’re right, I’ll send you something cool. And if you want to support the show, there are a few ways you can do that too! We have a Patreon page, where you can donate to the show. But if that’s not in the cards for you, you can head to iTunes and leave us a nice review or just tell your friends about us. Those things really do help. That’s all for this future, come back next month and we’ll travel to a new one.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Long time listeners of Flash Forward might feel like this future is kind of… familiar. And it is. It’s actually the first future we ever traveled to on this show. A future where humans have invented artificial wombs. And this is a special bonus episode of Flash Forward where we’re going to go back and revisit that future, because a new piece of research recently came out about artificial wombs. I’m calling this, a BACK TO THE FUTURE episode. Related reading: Fluid-filled ‘biobag’ allows premature lambs to develop outside the womb An extra-uterine system to physiologically support the extreme premature lamb Early Ectogenesis: Artificial Wombs in 1920s Literature The Man Who Ran a Carnival Attraction That Saved Thousands of Premature Babies Wasn’t a Doctor at All The World, the Flesh & the Devil An Enquiry into the Future of the Three Enemies of the Rational Soul The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus Daedalus, or Science and the Future Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth, and is part of the Boing Boing podcast family. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky. If you want to suggest a future we should take on, send us a note on Twitter, Facebook or by email at [email protected]. We love hearing your ideas! And if you think you’ve spotted one of the little references I’ve hidden in the episode, email us there too. If you’re right, I’ll send you something cool. And if you want to support the show, there are a few ways you can do that too! We have a Patreon page, where you can donate to the show. But if that’s not in the cards for you, you can head to iTunes and leave us a nice review or just tell your friends about us. Those things really do help. That’s all for this future, come back next time, and we’ll travel to a new one!Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this future there are no more human police officers. Is that even possible? The future of policing is a really really complicated topic. And it’s also, and this might be the understatement of the year, a controversial one. On this episode we’re not going to try and give you a full picture of what the future of policing might be. That would take hours. Instead, we’re going to focus on two really specific pieces of this topic. First we talk to Madeline Ashby, futurist and science fiction writer, about robots, and what it might be like if we replaced human law enforcement with robotic law enforcement. Then, we talk to historian and writer Walidah Imarisha, about a future with no cops at all. We also hear from Doug Wyllie, the Editor at Large for PoliceOne, who, perhaps unsurprisingly, doesn't like either proposal. Further reading: Disrupt Tha Police by Madeline Ashby Bomb Robots: What Makes Killing In Dallas Different And What Happens Next? Robocop Delivers Pizza, Prevents Suicide 11 Police Robots Patrolling Around the World Machine Bias Hard Truths: Law Enforcement and Race Angels with Dirty Faces Wrestling With Angels: Walidah Imarisha on Harm and Accountability Audre Lord Safe Outside the System Collective Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia. Special thanks this week to Brent Rose. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky. If you want to suggest a future we should take on, send us a note on Twitter, Facebook or by email at [email protected]. We love hearing your ideas! And if you think you’ve spotted one of the little references I’ve hidden in the episode, email us there too. If you’re right, I’ll send you something cool. And if you want to support the show, there are a few ways you can do that too! We have a Patreon page, where you can donate to the show. But if that’s not in the cards for you, you can head to iTunes and leave us a nice review or just tell your friends about us. Those things really do help.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This month on Flash Forward, we go to a future where anybody can make a video of you doing anything they want. And that technology is cheap and easy to access. What happens? This episode we start by talking about the technology as it exists now. Hamed Pirsiavash the show to explain his research into generating videos using algorithms. So that’s where the technology stands now. But once it gets better, there are all kinds of applications. Hal Hodson, a tech reporter at The Economist, tells us about how it could be used in movies. Right now, movie-makers use CGI to project faces onto other faces. Recently, in the latest Star Wars, the faces of Princess Leia and Grand Moff Tarkin from the original trilogy were projected onto actors faces for the few scenes in the new movie. Here’s a look at how they did it. But in the future, they might not have to do any of this. They could simply generate the video they need using images of Leia and Tarkin’s faces. Which also means that movie stars could wind up being in hundreds of movies a year, since they don’t have to actually be there, on set, to act. And they could keep acting in movies long after they’ve died, too. That’s a fun thing to think about. Here’s a less fun thing to think about: how people would use this technology to seek revenge and ruin people’s lives. And to talk through the legal implications, I called Carrie Goldberg, a lawyer who specializes in revenge porn cases. She explains how these generated videos of the future would actually get around today’s revenge porn laws. Then, to wrap it all up, I talk to Jenna Wortham, a writer for the New York Times Magazine and the co-host of an amazing podcast called Still Processing. In a world where online identities are not only personally valuable, but economically valuable, what does this do to us? When anybody can torpedo your finely crafted online persona with a fake video, do we all just give up? Do we try to erase everything from the internet about ourselves? Or do we lean into this and start making wild aspirational and experimental videos? Or maybe all of the above? Bonus: You will also find out what butter, The Falkland Islands, and Snakes on a Train have in common. According to Rose. Some further reading for this episode: The Attorney Fighting Revenge Porn Social Media Got You Down? Be More Like Beyonce The future of fake news is real time video manipulation The Butter Wars: When Margarine Was Pink The British Punk Band That Fooled Reagan, Thatcher and the CIA Introduction to Generative Adversarial Networks Teaching Machines to Predict the Future Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth, and is part of the Boing Boing podcast family. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia. Special thanks this week to Wendy Hari, Jacki Sojico and Dan Tannenbaum. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky. If you want to suggest a future we should take on, send us a note on Twitter, Facebook or by email at [email protected]. We love hearing your ideas! And if you think you’ve spotted one of the little references I’ve hidden in the episode, email us there too. If you’re right, I’ll send you something cool. And if you want to support the show, there are a few ways you can do that too! We have a Patreon page, where you can donate to the show. But if that’s not in the cards for you, you can head to iTunes and leave us a nice review or just tell your friends about us. Those things really do help. That’s all for this future, come back next time, and we’ll travel to a new one!Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California has one of the largest economies in the world. So what would happen if it broke away from the United States? Could California ever go independent? And if it did, what would that look like? This is a future that’s been on my list for a while, but since the election here in the United States it’s taken a bit of a different tone. California voted overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton in the presidential election, 66 percent of the state cast their votes for her. And as most of you probably know, she did not win. And this is one of the big talking points of many California secessionists. The presidential election is almost alway totally decided before California’s polls even close. So why should California continue to be ruled by a government that it basically doesn’t elect? And, they argue, that doesn’t really have their best interests at heart. To help figure out what this future might be like, I talked to: Peter Laufer, a journalist and the author of a book called The Elusive State of Jefferson. Jon Christensen, a professor at the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability and the Department of History at UCLA. He’s also the editor of a quarterly magazine about California called Boom. Jay Rooney, the press secretary for the California National Party. Richard Monette, a professor of law at the University of Wisconsin and the director of the Great Lakes Indian Law Center. If you want to learn more about the various California independence movements, here are some links. The California National Party Yes, California Independence Campaign Secession, the American Civil War Calexit? Brexit Buoys California Independence Movement Active separatists movements in North America Republic of Lakotah One in four Americans want their state to secede from the U.S., but why? Americans for Independence, in America Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia. Special thanks this week to Sameer Ajmani, Jade Davis, Brent Rose, Jim Basili, Caroline Sinders and Scott Musgrove. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky. If you want to suggest a future we should take on, send us a note on Twitter, Facebook or by email at [email protected]. We love hearing your ideas! And if you think you’ve spotted one of the little references I’ve hidden in the episode, email us there too. If you’re right, I’ll send you something cool. And if you want to support the show, there are a few ways you can do that too! We have a Patreon page, where you can donate to the show. But if that’s not in the cards for you, you can head to iTunes and leave us a nice review or just tell your friends about us. Those things really do help.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every year, over 20 million people get on a cruise ship and set sail for a seafaring vacation. Most of those cruises take their vacationers to warm, sunny climates. But thanks to climate change, a new hoard of ships might start sailing North rather than South. This episode of Flash Forward explores a future where the Arctic becomes a tourist destination just like the Bahamas or the Great Barrier Reef. Researchers at UCLA have projected that the Northwest Passage might be totally ice-free by 2050. And that’s something that big commercial cargo ships have been eyeing for a while. But now, cruise ships are getting in on the game. The first big cruise ship to make the full Northwest Passage trip was the Crystal Serenity. This week we talk to a few people who have seen the impacts of this new tourism boom. Arielle Duhaime-Ross is a climate and environment correspondent for HBO’s VICE News Tonight. Arielle went up to Pond Inlet to see the Crystal Serenity, and talk to the people in Pond Inlet about what it's like to suddenly be flooded with visitors in puffy coats. Jackie Dawson is the Canada Research Chair in Environment, Society and Policy at the University of Ottawa. She’s done a lot of work studying the ways tourism impacts people and the environment in places like Pond Inlet. And she spent years trying to convince people to take arctic tourism seriously. Nancy Guyon is the Director of Tourism and Cultural Industries for Nunavut, the northernmost Canadian territory. And Nancy’s job is to try and figure out how to harness this new interest in the arctic for the good of Nunavut. So this future is a little bit unlike some of the other ones I do on this show, because it’s a future that’s kind of inevitable. It’s happening, it’s going to happen. Are communities ready for it? No, is the general consensus. And in this episode we talk about what might happen as this gets more and more popular. What happens when a ship hits and iceberg? What happens when private yachts show up to communities that don't want them? How do you make sure that these ships don't disrupt local hunts, and that the tourists respect the people living in these communities? Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth, and is part of the Boing Boing podcast family. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky. If you want to suggest a future we should take on, send us a note on Twitter, Facebook or by email at [email protected]. We love hearing your ideas! And if you think you’ve spotted one of the little references I’ve hidden in the episode, email us there too. If you’re right, I’ll send you something cool. And if you want to support the show, there are a few ways you can do that too! We have a Patreon page, where you can donate to the show. But if that’s not in the cards for you, you can head to iTunes and leave us a nice review or just tell your friends about us. Those things really do help. The music in this episode was: BoxCat Games, “Assignment” BoxCat Games, “Love of my Life” Oorlab, “Apiarist, Part 1” Sounds in this episode: "Wind, Synthesized, A.wav" by InspectorJ of Freesound.orgLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s episode is about a future where nobody works on farms anymore, all farming is done by robots. It might be closer than you think.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we travel to a future where there is so much fake news that nobody can tell what is real anymore. Are we already there? What happens next?Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens when everybody has 100% control over when they do or don’t have babies? We got to a world with perfect and accessible birth control. You asked for a utopia, and this is as close as we're going to get!Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we do something weird, in honor of the end of the second season! Instead of coming up with a future and then finding experts to talk about it, I asked an AI to write a future for us. And the AI apparently wants us to talk about space travel, witches, and the occult. So here’s what happened in this episode. I asked Mike Rugnetta, the creator and host of PBS Idea Channel and Reasonably Sound, to help me create a script for Flash Forward. Mike had done this for his own channel a few months ago. Around the same time that Idea Channel video came out there was this short film that came out called Sunspring which was written by an AI named Benjamin. The guys behind Benjamin fed a neural network a huge corpus of science fiction scripts, everything from Avatar to Armageddon to Resident Evil to Spiderman. And they asked that AI to write them a script. And then they spent one day with a cast, filming the movie that Benjamin wrote for them. I totally recommend watching it. And so I thought, what if, I fed an AI all the future scenes we’ve ever done on this show, and asked it to write one for me? And then, I have to figure out what that future is, and how we would get there. So that’s what we’re going to do on this episode. I compiled all the futures we’ve ever traveled to on this show, and sent them to Mike, and he fed them to this neural network he already had set up to make his video. And he then sent me the results. And what came out that first time was just complete nonsense. Because the system really needs more material than I had to feed it. On the show we’ve traveled to 41 futures, which in the grand scheme of things actually isn’t all that much text. So on top of all the futures we’ve done, I added two big chunks of text: the script for The War of the Worlds, and the script for the 1979 Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy radio play. And here’s what the AI wrote. You can see the full script (and leave your interpretation of the AI future) here. I will confess that my first thought when I read the script was: “what the hell am I supposed to do with this?” But, I am never one to back down from a challenge, even if that challenge is self imposed, so I sent this little intro to a bunch of smart people, and asked them what future they saw here. First we talk to Miriam Kramer, the senior space reporter at Mashable, about how easy (or hard) it would be for witches to travel to and from Mars. Then I called up Annalee Newitz, to get her take on the witches and how the themes in this scene fit in with the broader science fiction landscape. (Fun fact, Annalee is the person who first asked me to do a podcast for Gizmodo, and thereby birthed Flash Forward! Yay Annalee!) Then we turn our attention to the witches, and bring back Damien Williams, who you heard on our episode about conscious AI. Damien writes a lot about technology and the occult (I recommend this 2015 Theorizing the Web panel about it, featuring him and lots of other smart people) and he weighs in on the future of witches, how tech and magic aren’t all that different, and what the AI might mean by “behanding.” And last but not least, we talk to the brains and voices behind Spirits Pod, a new podcast about mythology. Julia Schifini and Amanda McLoughlin have been best friends since childhood, and co-host a podcast all about myths and legends that I very much enjoy. And the two of them had all sorts of fun and interesting stuff to say about this witchy future.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we go to a future where animal products are banned. It’s one that lots of listeners have asked for so here you go. We talk about what happens to the land, the animals and the humans in this equation. In this episode we discuss the arguments in favor and against banning meat. How does that impact culture? Why should we do it? Does it help or hurt the environment? Can you really grow meat in a lab? And is that meat vegan? First we talked to folks in the “ban the meat” camp. Marta Zaraska, the author of Meathooked: The History and Science of Our 2.5-Million-Year Obsession With Meat, tells us about the evolution of meat consumption and why we don’t actually need meat to survive. Then, David Agranoff, the author of The Vegan Revolution with Zombies, makes the vegan argument. Then we talk about the environmental argument in favor of kicking our global meat habit. And as promised here are the citations for the statistics I talk about. In 2014, the entire world produced 315.3 million tonnes of meat from cows, pigs, chickens and sheep. 1.3 billion tons of grain is consumed by those animals every year as feed. Livestock production uses about a third of the world’s fresh water every year, and contributes about between 14 and 18 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, depending on whose numbers you trust. Fourteen to eighteen percent might not seem like that much, but it is. That’s about the same amount of greenhouse gas emissions that come from the transportation sector every year. And a recent study in Science suggested that increases in livestock farming go hand in hand with decreases in biodiversity. Livestock, both the actual animals and the plants we grow to feed them, also takes up a lot of land. According to the United Nations, twenty six percent of the land on this planet is used for livestock. After that, we hear about why it’s so hard for many people to give up meat, and how culturally important foods can be. To help us with that segment, we talk to Psyche Williams-Forson, a professor of American Studies at the University of Maryland and the author of a book called Building Houses Out of Chicken Legs: Black Women, Food, and Power. Psyche explains why people get so angry and frustrated when you tell them what to eat. Then we hear from listeners about what you think! After the break, we talked about lab grown meat, and whether or not you can grow animal products in the lab. And are those products vegan? Could they be? Researcher Abi Aspen Glencross explains her work on trying to grow steaks in the lab. Then we round out the episode with a surprise guest: my grandma. She grew up on a farm and then farmed sheep until she retired. And she had some very good questions about this future. Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth, and is part of the Boing Boing podcast family. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Broke for Free. Special thanks this week to Caroline Sinders, Jess Zimmerman, Kevin Wojtaszek, and John Olier. The break music is by Black Ant and the episode art is by Matt Lubchansky. That's all for this future! Come back soon for a new one. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we try to figure out what happens when our future presidential candidates have thousands of Tweets and Tumblr posts and Instagrams in their online record. What happens, when today’s teens start running for office? When their entire internet history is there, searchable, for us to read? What if these teens Tweet something at 15 that they might regret at 45? Do we learn to accept that their opinions have changed? Or do we go through every candidate's entire social media history to find dirt on them? Does that tactic still work in the future? Or do we all just throw up our hands and admit that teens have bad opinions and that hopefully those opinions have changed? To find out, I talked to a real live young person with political ambitions, Eve Zhurbinskiy a student at George Washington University. She describes her own social media strategy, and how she never Tweets without thinking about how it might come back to bite her. She also talks about going back and deleting Facebook posts and even in one case her entire Tumblr because she thought it might be used against her. And that’s not paranoid, I also talk to someone who tracks that kind of thing among politicians. Josh Stewart from the Sunlight Foundation explains what Politwoops is and why they’re tracking the deleted Tweets of politicians. And to round things out this episode I talked to someone who’s got a lot of experience managing digital campaigns for today’s politicians. Laura Olin was one of the first hires for Obama’s 2012 digital team, and she not only ran the Obama Tumblr, but she also actually Tweeted as the President. Throughout the episode we discuss all kinds of questions about how we think about and forgive humans. In March of this year, a State Supreme Court justice from Wisconsin named Rebecca Bradley issued an apology for some columns that she wrote 24 years ago in a student newspaper. In the columns she referred to gay people as “queers” and called people with AIDS “degenerates who basically commit suicide through their behavior.” She also said that it would be better to get AIDS than cancer, because, quote “those afflicted with the politically correct disease will be getting all of the funding.” And that abortion is like the Holocaust and slavery. Bradley says that she was, quote “frankly embarrassed at the content and tone of what I wrote those many years ago” but she also said that when she wrote them, she was “a very young student.” Now the release of these 24 year old columns wasn’t random, the organization that found the columns unveiled them just a month before voters in Wisconsin would vote on whether or not Bradley should retain her seat on the court. People who wanted Bradley off the court, said that the comments in the columns were so hateful that time didn’t really matter. People who wanted Bradley to say said that she had grown and learned since then, and did not still hold those beliefs. (To be clear, there was also a contingent of people who supported Bradley because they still do hold those beliefs). So, voters in Wisconsin could decide. And they decided to keep her, Bradley won her seat back. So you could interpret that as evidence that past transgressions can be forgiven, right? So this brings us to one version of this future. A future in which voters learn to approach their candidates as flawed individuals, people who have made missteps, people who can change their mind. This isn’t to say that we let people off the hook for their past, but rather that we are okay with them saying “I was wrong, and here’s how I’ve changed for the better.”Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we travel to a future where all drugs are legal. Just roll up to the store, and get yourself some cocaine! We start with some history: for centuries a world without drug laws existed. Mark Kleiman, a professor at NYU who studies drug policy, explains that fear of drugs, and the desire to regulate them, really started in the last 1800’s. The rise of industry, advances in chemistry, and the invention of the hypodermic needle all fueled a rise in drug use and in drug fears. Today, of course, some drugs are legal and others aren’t. Alcohol, tobacco, caffeine and pharmaceuticals are all legal. You probably already know what’s not. But why are certain drugs legal in the United States and others not? The answer isn’t really science or public health research, but rather historical precedent and racism. Maia Szalavitz, the author of a book called Unbroken Brain: A Revolutionary New Way of Understanding Addiction, walks us through some of the racist campaigns against drugs that linked most of them with “violent” people of color. Take this New York Times story from 1914, headlined ““Negro Cocaine ‘Fiends’ Are a New Southern Menace: Murder and Insanity Increasing Among Lower Class Blacks Because They Have Taken to ‘Sniffing Since Deprived of Whiskey by Prohibition.’” White people said that drug use would make white women sleep with black, asian and latino men. That cocaine made black men impervious to bullets, and make them murder whites at the slightest provocation. Today, the legacy of those racist ideas is still with us in the form of both drug laws and stereotypes about what a drug user looks like. Which impacts who goes to jail for drugs and who doesn’t. Here are some statistics: in America, white people and black people are equally likely to use drugs. But black Americans are arrested at twice the rate of white americans for drug crimes. Not only that, but black Americans are more likely to be offered a plea deal that involves prison time than whites are for the same crimes, and are more likely to serve longer sentences than white Americans for the same offense. Here’s another way to look at it: Black Americans represent 12% of monthly drug users, but comprise 32% of persons arrested for drug possession. And when we’re looking at drug arrests, it’s a huge number of people. Between 1993 and 2011 there were 30 million arrests for drug crimes in the United States, and 24 million of those were for possession of drugs, not selling them. And while Mark and Maia disagree on a lot of things regarding drug policy, this was one thing they actually agreed on: they both think that possession of small amounts of drugs should be decriminalized. And I talked to a third person for this episode who agrees. And he’s not someone you’d expect to do so. Officer Tim Johnson, a retired cop. Tim is part of a program called LEAP, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. He joined as soon as he retired, because despite making a whole lot of drug arrests while he was a cop, he didn’t feel like they were actually making a difference. And there’s data to support that feeling. Studies have shown that while we’ve arrested a whole lot of people for drug possession, the rate of drug abuse hasn’t gone down.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today a future without schools. Instead of gathering students into a room and teaching them, everybody learns on their own time, on tablets and guided by artificial intelligence. First, I talk to a Ashok Goel, a computer scientist who developed an artificially intelligent TA named Jill Watson and didn’t tell any of his students she wasn’t a human. Then I talk to two people building future, app based educational systems. Jessie Woolley-Wilson from DreamBox explains what adaptive learning is, and how it can help create a better learning experience for kids. She also talks about all the data they collect on kids to better serve them (data we’ll come back to later in the episode.) Along with Jessie, Julia Stiglitz from Coursera explains how this kind of self-directed learning can extend into the college and post-college world. Jessie and Julia see a future with these kinds of learning apps that could be more democratic, more creative, more fun and more effective. But there are some downsides too. Neither of them see apps or algorithms replacing teachers, but there are other organizations and projects that do. In 2013, a guy named Sugata Mitra won the TED Prize which comes with a pretty healthy million dollar check. He won this prize for his work on what he calls “A school in the cloud.” Mitra founded this organization named Hole in the Wall, where he went around the slums of India and installed these kiosks that children could use and play with. His whole thesis is that students can be taught by computers, on their own time. Without teachers. Here’s his TED talk. And this Hole in the Wall thing is one of the classic examples that a lot of people working on education apps point to to show that kids don’t need teachers to learn. Kids are naturally curious, they’re going to want to seek out information, you don’t have to force them into a tiny room to listen to a boring teacher. But we talk to some people who question that narrative. Audrey Watters, who runs the site Hack Education, says that projects like Hole in the Wall often don’t last. Nearly all the kiosks that Mitra set up are abandoned and vandalized, she says, and when you look at footage and images of the kiosks you can see that older, bigger boys dominate and push the smaller boys and girls out. And get this to a question that came up with literally every person I talked to for this episode. What is the purpose of school? Is it to teach content? Or is it to teach students how to relate to one another, how to empathize, how to think, how to be good citizens? Nobody really knows. But we talk about it on the episode! We also talk about some of the other downsides of these systems. Jade Davis, the associate director of digital learning projects at LaGuardia Community College in Queens New York, tells us about her concerns that algorithms might pigeonhole Kids who might not take to the system immediately. Kids like her own. In the end, we talk about whether or not these kinds of solutions are really for everyone. Or if they’re just going to be used on poor, disadvantaged kids. Because, are Harvard students really going to be taught by robots? Probably not. Bonus: Listen to the very end for a fun surprise. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today week we take on a doomsday future! We haven’t done one of those this season. So, what would happen if all the active volcanoes in the world erupted at the same time? The short answer is: bad things. The long answer is, well, you’ll have to listen to the episode! First we talk to Jessica Ball, a volcanologist, who walks us through the different types of eruptions, what make something an active volcano, and just how bad ash is. Spoiler: it’s really bad. It gums up engines, cuts up your lungs, and is so heavy that it can collapse buildings. But the destruction of a massive volcanic eruption doesn’t stop there. Oh no. Then Ball tells us about the ways in which volcanoes can actually impact the climate. In fact, in 1815, a single volcanic eruption at Mount Tambora caused the entire Northern Hemisphere to experience “A Year Without a Summer,” resulting in famine, death, and Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein. (You’ll have to listen to the podcast to get that particular story.) So how does one live through this kind of apocalyptic event? To find out, I called up two people who, unlike me, would probably survive: Megan Hine and Pat Henry. Megan and Pat are both sort survival experts, but they go about it in really different ways. Megan is an adventurer and wilderness expedition leader. She takes people out into the middle of nowhere, and trains them no how to survive. People like Bear Grills, the man of the Discovery Channel show Man vs. Wild. Bear has called Megan “the most incredible bushcraft, climbing and mountain guide you’ll ever meet.” Pat is a little bit different. Pat is a prepper, someone who is actively preparing today for a disaster that might come tomorrow. Pat is the founder and editor of a website called The Prepper Journal, which has pretty much everything you need to know about prepping, should you be worried about, say, all the volcanoes in the world going off at once. Oh and Pat isn’t his real name. He uses a pseudonym, so that nobody knows that he has two years worth of food stored up. So when something terrible does happen, he doesn’t have to turn his unprepared friends and neighbors away. Both Megan and Pat said that the first way to survive is by being lucky. Don’t live or be near a volcano. But after that, surviving 1,500 volcanic eruptions is like surviving any other terrible thing. You’ll need food, water, shelter, medicine. You’ll have to fight off other humans. And you’ll probably be surprised by what you can do, when push comes to shove. And we end the episode with a note about who you want in your little gang of survivalists. You’ll be surprised who’s actually a good addition to that team. Stay tuned to the end for that. Also! Right now I'm running a little survey for listeners. Tell me a bit about yourself, please. Thanks! Flash Forward is produced by me, Rose Eveleth, and is part of the Boing Boing podcast family. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Broke for Free. The voices for this week’s future scene were provided by Suzanne Fischer, Eddie Guimont, Guillermo Herrera, Wendy Hari, John Olier, Caroline Sinders and Kevin Wojtaszek whose name I think I might have finally pronounced correctly this time. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky. If you want to suggest a future we should take on, send us a note on Twitter, Facebook or by email at [email protected]. We love hearing your ideas! And if you think you’ve spotted one of the little references I’ve hidden in the episode, email us there too. If you’re right, I’ll send you something cool. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we go to a future where all pop stars use avatars, clones, robots or cartoons instead of their real bodies and faces. What does that do to music? Can everybody pull off an avatar? And why would any pop star even want that? We start with a conspiracy theory. Jaya Saxena tells us about the theory that Beyonce is a clone. And one of the reasons Jaya thinks that people might think Beyonce is using a clone is because she’s so private, and hates doing press stuff. Which of course is not the case, Beyonce may seem perfect but she is in fact a single human woman. But the idea that a pop star might want to use a clone or avatar to do some of the more boring and annoying tasks required of pop stars: red carpets, meet and greets, constant interviews, is believable. Kelsey McKinney, a culture writer at Fusion, says that most of the pop stars she’s interviewed would absolutely take an out if they were given one. She tells us about what the grind of pop-stardom is really like, and why so many stars eventually do break down. Now, there are some pop stars who use fronts or avatars. The Gorillaz performed as a cartoon troupe. Daft Punk wears those helmetty things. Sia wears a big wig. Deadmaus often performs wearing a giant mouse head. There’s this rock band called The Residents that has a small but very intense cult following. MF Doom performed in this gladiator mask. There are lots of examples of this. But Kelsey points out that none of them have reached the level of fame that say Beyonce or Taylor Swift has. The one possible place we can find a true pop star that is represented by an avatar is Hatsune Miku. Now, if you’re not familiar with Hatsune Miku, she’s a 16 year old Japanese popstar. She’s 5 feet 2 inches tall, and she weighs 93 pounds and she’s got this really striking blue hair that is usually in these super long pigtails. And she is not real, she’s a cartoon or hologram. Hatsune Miku is a particularly interesting case to me because unlike The Gorillaz or Daft Punk or Sia, Hatsune Miku isn’t a front for a person. There is no artist laboring behind the scenes, who then goes out and uses the Hatsune Miku cartoon character to perform. She’s entirely a fabrication of a company, and I swear to you that I am not making this up, the company’s name is Crypton Future Media. And Crypton Future Media makes these singing synthesizer programs. And that’s where Hatsune Miku’s voice comes from, it’s totally created by a computer. And last week when I was doing some research for this episode I realized that Hatsune Miku was actually playing at Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City where I live, in just a couple days. So, obviously I bought tickets and this past weekend I dragged my very patient boyfriend to her show. You can hear how that went in the episode. But of course I can’t interview Hatsune Miku, since she’s not real. So instead I called my favorite anonymous musician: the man behind Hussalonia. You can read about the back story to Hussalonia on their site, but here’s the gist: Hussalonia is a pop music cult, which was purchased by an evil soap company called Nefarico, which demanded that Jesse no longer use his name or face in the songs, and also required him to put out two albums of soap jingles. And the man behind Hussalonia, Jesse Mank, tells us about why he came up with this story, and why he didn’t even do interviews until recently. Finally, we all discuss what kinds of avatars people would choose, whether certain types of music are better suited to avatars, and what kind of fan art might spring up from these avatars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices