Future Tense

We face multiple looming demographic crises — and our responses seemingly contradict each other.  A rapidly aging population means that we need more children to be born. But it's foreseeable that resources on Earth simply can't sustain many more people. How can we solve this conundrum? Original broadcast on May 22, 2022 Guests Dr Stuart Gietel Basten — Professor of Social Science and Policy, Hong...

South Korea is a test case in how to maintain democracy against sustained pressure from dictatorship. The innovative and entrepreneurial country lives in the shadow of China and Russia, and its capital Seoul lies only 50km from the North Korean border. It hasn't been easy, but the difficulties South Korea faces and the way it deals with them could prove invaluable for other regional neighbours in...

Suffering internal division and stymied by geopolitical bullying, the United Nations is facing a future of diminishing influence. As the organisation marks its 80th birthday, it's also dealing with a serious financial shortfall brought on by both China and the United States, its two biggest donors. Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, has launched a major internal reform programme, but there are q...

Synthetic biologists are hard at work developing artificial biological molecules as the first step toward developing a mirror cell that would be immune from infection. If they're successful, it could transform the world of medicine. But while the potential of mirror life is great, so too are the risks. There are warnings of a catastrophic impact if the cells can't be controlled. And that's prompte...

What will Earth look like when humans become extinct? What "technofossils" will paleontologists of the future unearth and no doubt ponder over? Will we be remembered for our achievements or merely our rubbish? Also, which animals might rise to fill our role at the top of the pecking order? And is the future of live music really as dire as many predict? Guests Professor Sarah Gabbott — Paleobiologi...

History has many lessons for how to develop a successful civilisation. The trick is to understand the patterns that lead to optimism and innovation. So, where do we rate in the 21st century? Also, why all history is revisionist and why a healthy sense of revisionism drives a deeper understanding of the past, present and future. Guests Johan Norberg — author and historian. Senior Fellow, Cato insti...

Australia and Canada share much in common, politically, historically and socially. Why then do we know so little about each other? In a time of global uncertainty does it make sense for Canada and Australia to build a closer bond? If the two prosperous liberal middle powers worked together more closely, could they be a greater force for positive change in the world? Guests Dr Andrew Lilco — Econom...

The International commitment to ban landmines is wavering. Several European countries are reversing their opposition to using them. The shift comes as disarmament negotiators struggle to regulate the spread of "killer robots" — AI-controlled autonomous weapons. So, is the future of weapons containment and control under threat? And are treaties signed in peace always likely to be vulnerable during...

Researchers and corporations are already working to relocate data servers beyond the Earth's atmosphere — on satellites. Data servers are essential to the functioning of the modern world, but they're both power and water hungry. When they're built, they often meet with community concern and environmental protest. So, why not build data centres in space where solar energy is abundant? What could po...

Forgetting is the only safe response to the world's problems, from a geopolitical perspective, according to author and journalist David Rieff. Sometimes it’s too dangerous to remember. And forgetting is also a good thing in your personal life, say scientists. It moves us forward. The science of memory is giving way to the science of forgetting. Forgetting used to be seen as a failure of the brain,...

Donald Trump is establishing a US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. He wants it to rival the country's stockpile of gold. He boasts America will one day be the "Bitcoin superpower of the world", but what's his end game and what will it mean for future global finance? Questions are already being asked about why he's chosen to largely deregulate the cryptocurrency sector and whether his family's personal c...

There's been growing research and investment in projects that use the oceans to artificially remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Such techniques involve both a biological and a chemical approach. To date, carbon removal technologies have been largely land-based, using giant air-purification machines, or planting trees to consume and store carbon. Those efforts have struggled to gain scale a...

YouTube is the second biggest website in the world, containing more than 14.8 billion videos. It's been a huge success, but its public image as a haven for influencers and digital monetisers belies its true character and role. Ryan McGrady from the University of Massachusetts takes us inside the online behemoth. Also, perspectives on boredom, its purpose and prevalence; its relationship to time, a...

We like to think that increases in efficiency lead to greater sustainability – to lower resource use. But from cars to computers to bitcoin, it seems the reverse is true – efficiency stimulates demand. It’s an oft forgotten rule of economics called the Jevons Paradox, and it might explain why the demand for almost everything keeps going up even while we simultaneously fret about over-consumption. ...

Human beings have a bias toward optimism, says astrophysicist turned author and editor, Sumit Paul-Choudhury. While we may not always acknowledge it, the power of optimism is what drives our species forward. But beware of the modern craze for "Manifesting" — wishful thinking, no matter how intense, only has impact if it's married to action. Also, why we need to rethink globalisation's bad rap. Int...

Artificial intelligence, it turns out, has a heavy human backend — they're called "data labellers"; they mostly live in developing countries, and there are ethical questions about their pay and work conditions. So, why aren't we talking more about them? Also, Google and other search companies have begun replacing hyperlinks with AI summaries. It's a move seemingly in line with our AI obsessed time...

Does the spirit of the "Futurist" movement live on today in the likes of Elon Musk and America's intrigue of techno-oligarchs? The Italian poet and fantasist Flippo Tommaso Marinetti almost died in a car crash, and out of that experience was born the "Futurist" movement. It went on to inspire the fascism of Benito Mussolini with an energetic emphasis on disruptive technology, conflict and creating...

Does modern economic thinking act as a roadblock to change? Economists Kate Raworth and Rainer Kattel certainly think so. The alternatives they propose involve acknowledging limits not just obsessing about growth. And a caution from design and management expert Raz Godelink – it always pays to be skeptical when big business puts on the sustainability suit.  Guests Kate Raworth – Economist and co-f...

It certainly feels like a very shouty world. But have we really reached a new low point in civility? And, if so, where to from here? We examine what civility really entails and how it can help foster cooperation but also lead to the submission of minorities. And did you know that even the design of our urban spaces can shape and limit acts of civility? So, how can we make our cities more sociable?...

When a company CEO can be paid 1,000 times the average employee's salary it's probably time to take a long hard look at wealth inequality. And those calling for the rich to pay more aren't always the ones you'd expect – Patriotic Millionaires is a group of mega rich individuals demanding greater, not lesser taxation. Then there's the Dutch philosopher urging ordinary citizens to put a cap on their...

Are we really facing an attention crisis? Historian, Daniel Immerwahr, has his doubts. In fact, he says ours is an era of obsession as much as distraction and of zeal as much as indifference. Also, the paradox of certainty: we crave it, argues the University of Alberta's, Timothy Caulfield, even though it's so easy to fake. Guests Daniel Immerwahr — author and Professor of History, Northwestern Un...

They're cheaper and safer than their lithium counterparts, they're easier to scale-up, and they can hold power for much longer than conventional batteries, so why aren't flow batteries better known? The technology has been under development for decades, but enthusiasts now say they're finding their place in the sun. Also, why more and more cargo companies are turning to wind-power; and do developi...

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London is opening-up its storeroom, turning the back end of the operation into a public resource. It's about attracting new patrons, but it's also about accountability, the Museum's managers have declared. Across the Western world museums are having to reexamine their mission and redefine the relationship they have with the public they're meant to serve. We explor...

A series of massive underground tombs for nuclear waste are currently under construction. They've taken decades to plan and build and they're designed to house the world's nuclear waste for millennia to come. So where are they being built? How safe will they be? And how to devise a toxic waste warning sign that will make sense to people living tens of thousands of years from now? Also, the latest...

Terms like "Gen Z", "Boomer" and "Millennial" are popular, but they have no basis in science. Demographers and social scientists are now pushing back. Generational labelling, they argue, is akin to Astrology and while politicians, journalists and media influencers find them irresistible, they actually promote pseudo-science, sew social division and can reinforce prejudicial stereotypes. So why are...