Flash Forward

Today we travel to a future where it’s possible to know exactly when you will die. Do you chose to find out?    Now, this is, impossible. Totally impossible. And I’m not even going to try and come up with some strange pseudoscientific explanation for how this might happen. It’s not a thing. Just go with me here. Some people asked for more weird episodes this season, so, here you go!     We start t...

Today we travel to a world with universal translation devices. Where the babelfish from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comes true (although probably not in the form of an evolved organism, but let's not fret about the details).     We start this episode with Barry Slaughter Olsen, who's the co-president of Interpret America. Barry tells us all about what interpreting and translation actually...

Today we travel to a future where America has converted to a direct democracy. Everybody votes on everything!     Hey, did you know it was an election year in the United States? I know, you've probably not really heard about this, it's not like it's on the news 24/7. But for all the coverage and the fights you might be getting into on Facebook, tons of people in the United States aren't going to v...

Okay, you asked for it, and I finally did it. Today’s episode is about conscious artificial intelligence. Which is a HUGE topic! So we only took a small bite out of all the things we could possibly talk about.    We started with some definitions. Because not everybody even defines artificial intelligence the same way, and there are a ton of different definitions of consciousness. In fact, one of t...

Today we travel to a fully digital world, a world where paper is a thing of the past.     On this show we’ve tackled a huge range of futures — we’ve talked about things that are extremely likely, like, antibiotic resistance, and we’ve also talked about things that are simply never going to happen. Like space pirates dragging a second moon to earth for some reason.    And when I started working on...

Today’s episode is a minipod, a smattering of time travel, future travel, and news about the show.    In this episode we hear a bunch of messages from listeners: what folks think about past futures we’ve been to, and future futures we should travel to.     We also cover some show news! So, in bullet point form:    Some of you might be new to the show this season. Maybe you didn’t even know this wa...

Today we travel to a future without pets. What would it take for us to give up our fuzzy, slithery, fishy friends? Should our pets get more rights? And if we didn’t have dogs or cats, would we domesticate something else to take their place?    This week's episode name is perhaps the worst pun I've ever committed. Sorry not sorry.    Anyway. In this episode pets are outlawed, gone, we don't have th...

Today we travel to a future full of spreadsheet approved lives. A future where everything we do is tracked and quantified: calories, air quality, sleep, heart rate, microbes, brain waves, finances, happiness, sadness, menstrual cycles, poops, hopes and dreams. Everything.   This episode is longer than our usual 20 minute jaunts to the future, because the future of quantified self is so huge. We co...

Today we travel to a future where your microbiome becomes a key part of your identity. From health to your child’s kindergarten, here are all the ways knowing about your microbiome might impact your life.     Let’s start with a definition: what is the microbiome? Simply put, the microbiome is the collection of microbes (mostly bacteria) that live in and on your body. It’s hard to say exactly how m...

Today we travel to a future where humans have decided to eradicate the most dangerous animal on the planet: mosquitos. How would we do it? Is it even possible? And what are the consequences?     Mosquitos have worked hard to earn the nickname “deadliest animal on earth.” According to the World Health Organization there are 20 million cases of dengue virus every year. And there are 214 million case...

Today we travel to a future without lies. What would it be like if we all wore accurate lie detectors around all the time?    In this episode we talk about when children learn to lie, the different social functions of lying, and what might happen if we couldn’t ever fib. How would negotiations be different? How would we make small talk? Could we create art or music? All that and more in this week’...

Right now there’s a whole lot of buzz about sex robots. Some people are really excited about them, and think we’ll be marrying robots by 2050. Other people are really worried about them, and are organizing whole campaigns against sex robots. This week, we travel to a future where sex robots are realized, and talk about everything from warranties to ethics.     [A note: if you listen to our show wi...

Welcome to season two of Flash Forward! We kicked off this season with a pretty unlikely future: the entire world goes face blind.     In the episode we discuss what causes face blindness — also known as prosopagnosia — and the tricks that people use to remember their friends. We also go through all the things that would be easier (spying, hiding) and harder (police lineups, cocktail parties) in a...

What would it be like if we lived in a world where everything you do is subject to a rating dolled out by a combination of machines and other people? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every country has their own idiosyncratic rules and regulations for border crossings. But what if the whole process were standardized and run by a single organization? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What if we lived in a world where gender was more like hair color — something you could change at will, and that had little bearing on what other people thought of you? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When it comes to climate change, there are a lot of researchers already thinking about how to equip crops and food animals with genes to help them withstand heat and parched conditions. But what about genetically engineering humans to try to slow our constant carbon contributions? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2006, scientists described the world's first invisibility cloak. But there was a catch. It only worked in two dimensions, and on microwaves. But to what if scientists and engineers could created a true invisibility cloak? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Humans spend a lot of time and energy wondering if there’s anybody else out there. But what if we got unequivocal evidence that there was? In this week’s future, a probe that is extremely similar to the Voyager probes that we sent out in the 1970’s shows up in our galaxy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When you were a kid and stole your friends’ toys, your parent probably asked you this angry hypothetical: “How do you think that made them feel?” But what if you actually could feel what another person is feeling? This week, we travel to a future where humans have invented an empathy machine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What would happen if we rounded up all the critically endangered animals and plants and put them in armored zoos? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does the world look like when everybody with a smart phone also has a drone? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What if “life in prison” could mean 100 or 200 or 400 years? Does that change the way that sentences are dolled out? What happens when a person gets out of prison? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If the Earth, somehow, stopped rotating around the sun, it would have exactly 64 1/2 days before it crashed into the fireball at the center of our solar system. Here's what would happen during those last 64 1/2 days. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Your face is one of your most valuable possessions. But what happens when facial recognition is so good that any company can grab an image of your face while you’re walking down the street, and link it to everything from your social media profiles, to your credit score, to your workplace? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices