The Futurists

Australia’s foremost trainer of futurist leaders, Zoe Routh, shares practical insight into her business. She explains how senior executives can improve the entire organization when they master the skill of foresight. Zoe is the author of five books about futurism and leadership.  https://www.zoerouth.com

In this weeks episode of The Futurists, cognitive scientist and AI researcher Ben Goertzel joins the hosts to talk the likely path to Artificial General Intelligence. Goertzel is the founder of SingularityNet, Chairman at OpenCog Foundation, and previously as the Chief Scientist at Hanson Robotics he helped create Sophia the robot. Goertzel is on a different level, get ready to step up.

This week on The Futurists, HG Wells, Philip K Dick and Prometheus award wining author and Singularity University faculty Ramez Naam talks the future of the world’s energy systems, and how the Russia-Ukraine conflict has had an accelerating effect on systemic energy thinking. Beyond that we get into sci-fi, multi-generational systems thinking, large scale systems design of the 21st and the incentives and levers in the system for leading humanity to a world of free energy and abundance.

Gerd Leonhard, renowned Futurist and Humanist, bestselling author and thought leader joins The Futurists this week to talk a positive future. Like many of our previous guests Gerd is an optimist, but warns us that we need a new mission for humanity writ large. One that is inclusive, sustainable and purpose driven. We dive into his new “Good Future” project as well as talking his books, the future of capitalism and the planet.

Who owns your streaming TV service?  A computer maker, a retailer, or a search engine?  This week on The Futurists we learn about the never-ending cyclone of disruption that has been tormenting the media industry for years. Our guest is Jeffrey Cole of the Center for the Digital Future, a longtime advisor to the major motion picture studios.  https://www.digitalcenter.org/jeffrey-cole-director/

Thomas Frey is who you will undoubtedly find when you do a Google search on “futurist speaker”. Having shared the stage with many A-listers, Frey has earned that moniker. But his true skill demonstrated repeatedly in this week’s episode is taking an event or innovation and the extrapolating the future. In this episode we see him do that in real time. It’s a unique glimpse into the futurist process.

In this week’s show futurist, digital analyst and anthropologist, along with being a Global Innovation Evangelist for Salesforce, Brian Solis joins us to talk adapting to life in the future. As a renowned specialist on engagement, CX and digital transformation, Brian discusses what it’s like to be a futurist at one of the worlds largest tech companies that is increasingly mission focused. And we get into the implications of his book Lifescale as we emerge from the pandemic.

In this week’s episode of the Futurists, top-ranked Female Futurist (Forbes), science fiction author and TV presenter Elina Hiltunen joins us to talk her unique brand of futurism from Finland. Elina takes us through some of her more concerning forecasts on potential climate collapse, and the role that futurists have to play in setting policy responses, galvanizing public opinion, and helping us navigate the unknowns of the future. 

In this week’s episode of the futurists, award winning British Science Fiction author Gareth Powell joins the duo to talk far flung futures and creating epic space operas from scratch. Powell talks through his process as well as discussing the possible future of humanity, and where we might go next.

Real-time 3D computing is vast, but most people are not aware of it. RT3D tech powers online and mobile games, digital twins, industrial simulations and the much-ballyhooed Metaverse. And it has important implications for training machine learning and autonomous systems. This week’s guest expert, technology innovator Sylvio Drouin, has been working at the forefront of RT3D for decades. Join us for a tour of the emerging 3D future.

In this week’s episode of The Futurists, bestselling author of MOVE and futurist Parag Khanna joins us to talk about climate migration, geopolitics, real-estate and agriculture in a world impacted by climate change. Khanna is the founder of futuremap and climate alpha, and has worked with the US government, World Economic Forum and others on climate change adaptation strategies and policy.

Award-winning author and technologist Mark Pesce tells us about the deep history of today’s consumer technology in military R&D including the 30 year arc of the Metaverse which Pesce himself kickstarted in the early 1990s. Pesce points out how consumer technology has outpaced the defense innovation, and now has become a front for a new kind of warfare.

This week we speak to a NASA veteran Wanda Harding about the future of space exploration, human boots on Mars (and back on the moon, and educating people to be passionate about the universe and exploring our solar system. Will Musk beat NASA to Mars? This week on the Futurists.

In this week’s episode Brett King and Robert Tercek, Brett’s The Futurists cohost, interview two-time presidential candidate, entrepreneur, journalist and futurist, Zoltan Istvan. We dive into how the species might evolve to adapt to living with AI, a changing climate and even to life off-planet. It’s controversial, dynamic and the philosophy and ethics of humanity are front and center in the debate. We’ll see you in the future!

In the digital domain, marketing is technology. Glenn White builds advertising systems for brand managers inside game worlds. In this episode of The Futurists, Glenn explains the complex strategic decisions that govern how brand advertising will evolve in the Metaverse.

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

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

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

In this week’s episode of The Futurists, Peter Hinssen joins the dynamic duo to talk the new normal of constant technology change and his new book The Phoenix and The Unicorn. A specialist in corporate forecast planning, Hinssen’s insights are compelling.

In this episode of the Futurists, OG of Web 3 Tony Parisi joins Tercek and King to talk how the metaverse came to be, and why Web 3 isn’t just about the metaverse but foundational for our Augmented future.

In this episode we learn from John Hagel, one of the prophets of digital transformation. For more than 30 years John has been guiding global organizations through the process of digital reinvention as a practice leader at McKinsey and Deloitte. Today he is focused on the emotional resistance to change and how to surmount it. His new book is The Journey Beyond Fear and web site is www.johnhagel.com.

In Episode 14, our guest is John Smart, founder of Foresight University. John shares insights about the practice and practical application of foresight, the distinction between foresight and futurism and its relationship with complexity and human adaptability. Our Book on Foresight:https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Foresight-Executive-Organizational-Adaptiveness/dp/1736558501Our Substack Series on the Biomimicry Future of AI:https://naturalalignment.substack.com/p/how-biomimicry-can-improve-ai

In this episode, Australian author, speaker and futurist Ross Dawson joins Robert and Brett to talk the path to the future. From tackling the qualities that make a strong futurist, to the tactical application of forecasting at a organizational level. Dawson is Australia’s leading futurist, but a globally relevant voice.

In Episode #12 of The Futurists, our guest is longtime global futurist and author Rohit Talwar, who offers his perspective on the human side of the forecasting and planning process. Rohit explains how he uses a combination of commonsense psychology, simple but profound questions, non-violent communication techniques, and data-informed storytelling to open executives up to the process of envisioning multiple possibilities. Learn more about Rohit at www.fastfuture.com. https://fastfuture.com/team/rohit-talwar/

This week we interview Dr. Roman Yampolskiy, a renowned specialist in Artificial Intelligence. We delve into the likely path that AI will take over the coming years, and how Artificial General Intelligence and then Super Intelligent AIs might change the course of human history, and life on our planet. How far away are AIs that would be as capable and as intelligent as humans? It may be much closer than you think.

In this weeks mashup Breaking Banks and The Futurists podcasts, we interview pioneering technologist Brad Templeton. In a discussion ranging from the creation of the commercial internet,  the battle for our future, to ethical AI and the likely roll out of autonomous vehicles, we cover a lot of ground. But at the heart of this discussion is how technology is reframing society and why those looking to the past are likely to be left behind.

Advertising industry legend Rishad Tobaccowala shares his perspective on the future after 30+ years as head of strategy at globe-spanning agency Publicis. In the next phase of digital transformation, he envisions marketing and design encompassing every aspect of a business, from product to store to customer experience, because “everything else will be highly automated.” Check out this energetic dialog for insight about how organizations and markets will evolve.  You’ll also learn Rishad’s technique for forecasting long-term trends. Visit rishadtobaccowala.com , join his newsletter https://rishad.substack.com/ and follow him on Twitter @rishad.   

In this week’s show Robert Tercek joins Brett King and Richard Petty, the authors of a new book titled The Rise of Technosocialism, to discuss how 21st century economics will be reframed by inequality, automation and climate change. Right now inflation is a massive issue, but it’s just the start of some seismic changes to core economics set to hit humanity over the next few decades. Which future scenario is likely? Luddistan, Failedistan, Technosocialism or the US’ Neo-Feudalism?

In Episode #7 of The Futurists, we explore the future of the company. Professor Wulf Kaal is an expert on managing community-led Decentralized Autonomous Organizations. He explains how DAOs differ from corporations, achieving consensus without a top-down hierarchy or executives. The DAO token economy provides reputation incentives and identity to participants. DAOs are the most exciting business innovation of the decade: according to Kaal, there are 50,000 active DAOs in operation today. Visit www.wulfkaal.com for white papers and more.

PJ Manney is the author of the bestselling and Philip K. Dick Award nominated Phoenix Horizon trilogy, (R)EVOLUTION, (ID)ENTITY, and (CON)SCIENCE. She is on the board of directors of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, is the futurist, media consultant and writer/producer for the Human Energy Project, runs The New Mythos Project and is the former chairperson of Humanity Plus (H+). She worked in motion picture PR at Walt Disney/Touchstone Pictures and wrote as Patricia Manney for the critically acclaimed hit TV shows Hercules and Xena: Warrior Princess. She will get you thinking about the course of Silicon Valley technology bereft of ethical foundations. 

In this week’s episode of The Futurists we delve into the world of synthetic and programmable genetics with one of the world’s foremost experts, Dr. Andrew Hessel. We also discuss his latest book The Genesis Machine: Our Quest to Rewrite Life in the Age of Synthetic Biology and how computing advances that led to gene sequencing are now allowing us to think about editing genetics in the same way we program computers. What are the implications for humanity as this allows us to radically adapt our biology for new purposes and new futures? Join us to find out.

In episode #4 of The Futurists, Regina Joseph talks us through the mechanics of the methodology known as Superforecasting. From her work with Pytho, Sibylink, the National Science Foundation, the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) and beyond, we learn how forecasting extends well into the future through human collective intelligence techniques and statistical analysis. What does it take to see the trends of the future emerging as the world seems chaotic, disruptive and unpredictable?

In this week’s episode of The Futurists Dr. Harry Kloor talks us through the process of working with Ray Kurzweil, Peter Diamandis and others in creating Beomni – a remotely teleoperated, AI-enhanced humanoid robot built for semi-autonomous operation. Kloor has consulted on the X-Prize, written for and directed sci-fi series like Star Trek Voyager, and worked with world changers like Elon Musk. 

In this week’s episode of The Futurists legendary Science Fiction and New York Times bestselling author Kevin J Anderson. He takes us through the workings of his latest Dune novel – The Lady of Caladan, and he then takes us into the creative process of working in the Dune universe. Recorded prior to the recent Oscars success of the latest Dune Movie. From the worlds of Star Wars to Dune, along with his own very successful sci-fi and fantasy landscapes, what is the process a world-class author takes in stepping into these epic worlds. A phenomenal first guest on The Futurists.

In this first episode of the Futurists we meet our hosts Brett King and Robert Tercek. We get right into why we created the podcast and why forecasting the future has never been more critical than it is today. As we launch this new podcast our intent is to seek out the world’s foremost thinkers, experts and visionaries building the future of tomorrow. Join us on this journey and we will see you in the Future!