FARSIGHT

How have societies collapsed in the past? Are we heading towards a global societal collapse? And, if looking towards history, is collapse always necessarily a bad thing when viewed from the perspective of the 99%? In this podcast, Luke Kemp (re)-joins us for yet another episode of FARSIGHT to talk about his latest book Goliath's Curse: The History and Future of Societal Collapse . Luke Kemp is...

Once a minor concern, migration now ranks as one of Europe’s top political issues among voters. As fertility rates decline and strategic independence becomes a priority, calls for both low- and high-skilled immigration are growing among Europe’s leaders. We sketch out four scenarios for the future of European migration. Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute Author: Pa...

As the world grows older, will it also become more peaceful by consequence? We speak to Mark Haas, Professor of Political Science at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and author of The Geriatric Peace: Population Aging and the Decline of War (Oxford University Press). Ageing, Haas says, will not only increase the cost and lessen the preferences and capacity for war in aged countries - it will also...

Worldwide digital connectedness increasingly resembles an external brain, and the ability to perceive the digital world has become indispensible to us. Is the tree of evolution sprouting a new branch? Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute. Author: Peter Hesseldahl Narration: August Leo Liljenberg (with ElevenLabs AI) Published by the Copenhagen Institute for Futures S...

Sohail Inayatullah is a pioneer in futures studies, most famous for developing the Causal Layered Analysis - a technique for investigate the role of myths, metaphors, and narratives in constructing and imagining possible futures. He us joins us to discuss the centrality of language in futures thinking, the connection between macrohistory and futures studies, and the role of the futurist in today&#...

As the summer break winds down, journalist and trend forecaster Jenny Southan joins us to explore the futures of travel and tourism. We discuss the differences between the two, what measures dense urban centres might adopt to mitigate overtourism, how climate change and ageing populations could reshape travel patterns, and whether the Katy Perry really deserved being vilified in the press for goin...

In the second half of the twentieth century, microchips quietly became as vital to global stability and human progress as oil. To better understand Europe’s future role in the semiconductor industry, we speak to Chris Miller, author of Chip War, for his insights. Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute Author: Caitlin van Bommel Narration: Manya Lind (with ElevenLabs AI...

Studying the future was never a value-neutral project. The origins of modern futures research (known in the 1950s and 60s as ‘futurology’), lies in the ideological struggle between capitalism and communism during the Cold War. On both sides of the Iron Curtain, the future was something to be managed and controlled in the service of a dominant ideology. That briefly changed in the 1970s with the em...

Three of the Institute’s resident futurists engage in a classic scenario-planning exercise, crafting four distinct snapshots of the continent’s future along two axes of uncertainty: European cohesion and global collaboration. Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute Authors: Daria Krivonos, Patrick Henry Gallen, and Carsten Beck Narration: August Leo Liljenberg (with Ele...

Author and existential risk researcher Luke Kemp joins us to discuss how to avoid the end of the world – and why the techno-utopianists may send us barrelling towards global disaster. Kemp’s upcoming book is Goliath’s Curse: The History and Future of Societal Collapse. Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute Guest: Luke Kemp Hosts: Casper Skovgaard Petersen & August...

For most of human history we believed that everything that could happen, had already happened, and would happen again – ad infinitum. The rise of novel media technologies would change that. From books to computers, the medium with which we record and process information grants us access to history's forking paths. Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute Author: Thom...

What goes on in our brains when we think about the future – and why are some individuals and cultures more adept at dealing with ambiguity, uncertainty, and risk? Our guests are Kerstin Presuchoff and Ewa Lombard, neuroscientists at LUCID (Laboratory for Uncertainty, Collective Intelligence & Decision Making) in Geneva.  Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute. Gues...

The ‘carbon coin’, first proposed in 2019, then popularised through science fiction, is a proposal for making carbon capture and mitigation profitable – the carrot to carbon taxing’s stick. All it takes is getting the world’s governments and central banks on board. We spoke to Delton Chen, the Australian civil engineer and geo-hydrologist who first thought of the idea. Subscribe to FARSIGHT by bec...

From Socrates’ warnings about writing leading to forgetfulness, to today’s anxieties about AI-induced brainrot, every new media technology has sparked fears of cognitive decline. But does generative AI pose a uniquely profound threat to our ability to think for ourselves? Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute. Author: Casper Skovgaard Petersen Narrator: Casper Skovgaa...

Some problems are simply too big for nation states to solve. In this episode, we speak to historian and futurist Nils Gilman, co-author of Children of a Modest Star. Planetary challenges, such as climate change, pandemics, space junk, require radically reimagining governance - and Gilman talks to us about how this could be achieved. Nils Gilman is Executive Vice President of the Berggruen Institut...

With AI, all the products of human creativity become malleable. Stories and images flow seamlessly across formats – in constant flux and open to reimagination. What does this all mean for the role of human creators? Creative Lead of GenMedia Resarch at Google DeepMind, Matthieu Lorrain, answers our questions and paints a picture of a future-that-might-be. Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Future...

There’s a coup against democracy happening, says Dutch politician Marietje Schaake, who warns against the growing influence of tech giants on society. But if Europe wants to use the technology on its own terms it will come at a cost. This article was originally published by MandagMorgen. It has been translated and edited for use in FARSIGHT. Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at th...

More from Stockholm. We visit futurist and philosopher Karim Jebari from the Mimir Centre for Long-Term Futures Research at Sweden's Institute for Futures Studies. Jebari researches transhumanism, our future in space, climate change, and other existential risks. He believes that futurism has become reactionary and backward-looking. Why? We get Jebari's answer (and much more). Subscribe to...

The history (and possible future) of dollar hegemony. Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute. Author: August Leo Liljenberg Narration: August Leo Liljenberg (with ElevenLabs AI) Published by the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies

We travel to Stockholm to visit Dr Anders Sandberg at the Mimir Centre for Long Term Futures Research – part of the Swedish Institute for Futures Studies – for a conversation on existential risks posed by AI, the state of futures studies today, being a polymath in the Nordics, and why there are so many Swedish futurists... Sandberg holds a PhD in computational neuroscience and was previously a Res...

As digital payments take over, cash is disappearing – but should we think twice? From privacy concerns to power dynamics, the push toward a cashless society raises questions about control, choice, and trust. Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute. Author: Josh Sims Narration: August Liljenberg (with ElevenLabs AI) Published by the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studi...

The recent boom in prediction markets has breathed new life into an old debate: does the wisdom of the crowd combined with financial incentives produce the best forecasts of future events? Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute Author: Casper Skovgaard Petersen Narrator: August Leo Liljenberg (with ElevenLabs AI) Published by the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studie...

Climate economists are playing dice with our future. Some are now sounding the alarm that the models they rely on are fundamentally flawed. Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute. Authors: Mikolaj Kowalewski & Caitlin van Bommel Narrator: Manya Lind (with ElevenLabs AI) Published by the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies

We speak to researcher and adult content creator Aella about sex, technology, artificial wombs, and the future of disembodied sex. Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute Author: Caitlin van Bommel & August Leo Liljenberg Narration: August Leo Liljenberg (with ElevenLabs AI) Published by the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies

The ubiquity of smartphones and social media has turbocharged visual culture. With the addition of increasingly sophisticated and affordable cosmetic surgeries, beauty standards are pushed into strange new territories. Caroline Zielinski Narration: Manya Lind (with ElevenLabs AI) Published by the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies