FARSIGHT

In 1909, H.G Wells predicted that aerial warfare would nullify the protection provided by geographical distance to the front line. His prediction has been borne out by the cheap, ready-to-use drones of contemporary conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, serving a lesson for technological foresight. Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming at the Institute. Author: Christian Kaarup Baron Narration: Augu...

In the 14th century, Ibn Khaldûn opined that history moves in a cyclical formation, governed by the deterioration and rebirth of dynasties and civilisations. Other macrohistorians since have attempted to parse the rhythm of history. Grand historical narratives promise a future we can see coming. That is both their attraction and their defect. Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at t...

The history of ideas is a history of error. Prominent scientists once believed people lived on the surface of suns — a view we now find absurd. But folly comes in many forms, and its history may be less a catalogue of embarrassments than an unlikely guide to how far we have yet to go. Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute Author: Thomas Moynihan Narrator: August Leo L...

The 20th century French philosopher Gilbert Simondon believed that humankind harbours a primitive and xenophobic attitude to the technologies it creates. Today, we are surrounded by conversations about acceleration and automation, with the philosopher’s thought offering a uniquely provocative take on alienation in the future Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute Autho...

On the long history and possible future of Europe's uneasy relationship to American automation. Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute. Author: Tallulah Richards Narration: August Leo Liljenberg (with ElevenLabs AI) Published by the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies

After a long summer break, FARSIGHT co-hosts Casper and August get meta with the Swedish superfuturist, Anders Sandberg, in the studio, reflecting on the future of their profession. What kinds of societal conditions give rise to successful futurists? How has the role of the futurist changed over the past few decades? In what ways might using AI in futures studies either aid (or inhibit) the core t...

As generative AI disrupts the balance between effort and reward in writing and creativity, shame nevertheless remains at work, as a hidden mechanism of social control. Might a cultural backlash to generative AI cause widespread 'chat-shaming', and if so, how? Written and narrated by Toke Hanghøj Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute. Published by the Copenhagen Instit...

AI promises a pornography without abuse, without performers, without limits – and, apparently, without much imagination. Might the biggest disappointment of AI porn be how boring it is? This article was first featured in Issue 17: The Future of Vice . Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute. Author: Josh Sims Narration: August Leo Liljenberg (with ElevenLabs AI) Publish...

Expectations are that AI will automate a significant percentage of the knowledge economy’s workforce and make their jobs redundant. We dig into the futurist toolbox to interrogate this assumption – punctuated by a provocative scenario snippet from 2030. Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute Author: Toke Hanghøj Narration: August Leo Liljenberg (with ElevenLabs AI) Pub...

Writing in the ruins of post-war Europe, Dutch futurist Fred Polak argued that societies rise and fall based on the vitality of their images of the future. By that measure, he believed, Western civilization was headed for terminal decline. In his 1953 masterwork The Image of the Future , Polak traced how magnetic visions of tomorrow, whether religious or revolutionary, had pulled history forward s...

From the utopian ideals of LSD in the sixties to the grunge-infused nihilism of heroin in the nineties, culture and intoxication seem to have always mirrored each other. Might uncovering the nebulous relationship between drug and zeitgeist help us predict our future high? Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute. Author: August Leo Liljenberg Narration: August Leo Liljen...

Time and technology are inextricably linked. For the first time since the Industrial Revolution, doing things slowly, inefficiently, and without precision looks existentially preferable. The Information Age is replacing sloth with speed as its new Deadly Sin. Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute Author: Caitlin van Bommel Narration: Manya Lind (with ElevenLabs AI) Pu...

Mysticism meets Big Oil in the tale of Pierre Wack, the eccentric French economist who brought scenario planning to the corporate world during the geopolitically turbulent 1970s. Then, as today, a war in the Middle East upset global energy markets, showing the limitations of traditional forecasting. Yet not everyone was equally unprepared. Wack and his team of scenario planners at Royal Dutch Shel...

Mythical stories of future doom have been supplanted by scientifically grounded ones, with the interconnectedness and complexity of our world-system pushing us closer towards a scenario of inescapable global collapse. Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute. Author: Christian Kaarup Baron Narration: August Leo Liljenberg (with ElevenLabs AI) Published by the Copenhagen...

Theories that inaccurately observe the present will inevitably fall short in predicting the future. Yet, our dominant frameworks for understanding international relations remain anchored in assumptions about power and sovereignty that no longer hold. If we want to grasp where geopolitics is actually heading, we need a new lens. Dr Parag Khanna argues that lens is entropy: the accelerating dispersa...

We are joined by Andrew Maynard, scientist, author, and Professor of Advanced Technology Transitions at Arizona State University, to discuss phase shifts, technological risk, and the accelerating LinkedInification of human expression. Andrew Maynard writes the "future of being human" substack https://www.futureofbeinghuman.com/ and co-hosts the Modem Futura podcast. Subscribe to FARSIGHT in print...

Political philosopher turned futurist, Bertrand de Jouvenel is one of the foundational figures in futures studies. His life and thought were deeply shaped by the defining upheavals of the 20th century — the rise of fascism, the catastrophe of World War II, and the titanic ideological struggle of the Cold War. Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a ⁠ Futures Member⁠ at the Institute. Hosts: Casper Sko...

Trains and rail once symbolised progress and modernity in Europe. Today, they have more-so come to represent ideas of social equity and public good – an unassuming but universally accessible means of transport. Could rail reclaim its lost significance and prestige – and if so, what would it take? Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute. Author: Casper Skovgaard Petersen...

Since its invention in the sixteenth century, the idea of 'Utopia' has carried an inherent ambiguity. Suspended between reality and fiction, the emancipatory and the fatal, two conflicting meanings have clung to the word for centuries and continue to do so today, as visions of utopia are making a comeback among tech billionaires and Saudi Arabian royalty alike. Subscribe to FARSIGHT by bec...

Kahn the genius, Kahn the futurist, Kahn the psychopath.   The FARSIGHT hosts take a closer look at the life and legacy of one of the 20 th century’s most influential futurists and public intellectuals. Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute. Hosts: Casper Skovgaard Petersen & August Leo Liljenberg Sources Alex Abella: Soldiers of Reason: The RAND Corporation and t...

When confronted with the great crises of our time, a sense of hope about the future can seem naïve at best, or even counterproductive if it leads to complacency. Yet thinkers across psychology, behavioural science, and philosophy recognise hope as an essential driver of social and societal change. Far from being a passive sentiment, hope paired with purposeful action enables humans to imagine alte...

Most futurists prefer the exploration of multiple potential scenarios over determinate paths. Some will say prediction is entirely impossible – but is this necessarily true? Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute. Author: Christian Kaarup Baron Narration: August Leo Liljenberg (with ElevenLabs AI) Published by the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies

Across wealthy societies, citizens no longer believe the future will be better than the past. The idea of progress as an inevitable historical force was born in the Western world – now it may be drawing its last breath there, too. Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute. Authors: Casper Skovgaard Petersen & Suus Hulsen Narration: Manya Lind (with ElevenLabs AI) Publ...

We now understand that the future is not fixed but contingent – it can unfold in an endless number of ways, its outcome hinging on both choice and chance. When did humans discover that the future is undecided, and what did it mean?   We’re joined by Thomas Moynihan, a thinker and author interested in X-risk, deep possibility, planetary-scale thinking, and the history of human self-understanding. T...

With artificial intelligence comes radical change in how information is both created and retained. What place do humans have in future knowledge ecologies? Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute. Author: Caitlin van Bommel Narration: August Leo Liljenberg (with ElevenLabs AI) Published by the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies