Urgent Futures with Jesse Damiani

Propaganda and the game of influence have evolved with the rise of social media. Who's winning that game—and who is losing? Welcome to the Urgent Futures podcast, the show that finds {signals} in the noise. Each week, I sit down with leading thinkers whose research, concepts, and questions clarify the chaos, from culture to the cosmos. My guest this week is Renée DiResta. Support the show by check...

Imagine a world without police. Would we be safe? Welcome to the Urgent Futures podcast, the show that finds {signals} in the noise. Each week, I sit down with leading thinkers whose research, concepts, and questions clarify the chaos, from culture to the cosmos. My guest this week is Professor Philip V. McHarris. Support the show by checking out: ZBiotics (Decrease impact of hangovers. Code: JESS...

How close are brain-computer interfaces? And how big of a deal is AI, really? Welcome to the Urgent Futures podcast, the show that finds {signals} in the noise. Each week, I sit down with leading thinkers whose research, concepts, and questions clarify the chaos, from culture to the cosmos. My guest this week is Taryn Southern. Support the show by checking out: ZBiotics (Decrease impact of hangove...

What if our interpersonal relationships and the polycrisis have a lot more to do with each other than we might initially think? Welcome to the Urgent Futures podcast, the show that finds {signals} in the noise. Each week, I sit down with leading thinkers whose research, concepts, and questions clarify the chaos, from culture to the cosmos. My guest this week is Nora Bateson. Pick up your copy of N...

Welcome to the Urgent Futures podcast, the show that finds signals in the noise. Each week, I sit down with leading thinkers whose research, concepts, and questions clarify the chaos, from culture to the cosmos. My guest this week is Al Hassan Elwan. Support the show by checking out: ZBiotics (Decrease impact of hangovers. Code: JESSEDAMIANI for 10% off), MUD\WTR (43% off starter kits), 1Password...

Welcome to the Urgent Futures podcast, the show that finds signals in the noise. Each week, I sit down with leading thinkers whose research, concepts, and questions clarify the chaos, from culture to the cosmos. My guests this week are Gerardo Ceballos & Paul R. Ehrlich Gerardo Ceballos , one of the world’s leading ecologists, is a professor at the Institute of Ecology at National Autonomous Unive...

Welcome to the Urgent Futures podcast, the show that finds signal in the noise. Each week, I sit down with leading thinkers whose research, concepts, and questions clarify the chaos, from culture to the cosmos. Support the show by checking out: ZBiotics (Decrease impact of hangovers. Code: JESSEDAMIANI for 10% off), MUD\WTR (43% off starter kits), 1Password (simplify your life and increase digital...

Welcome to the Urgent Futures podcast, the show that finds signal in the noise. Each week, I sit down with leading thinkers whose research, concepts, and questions clarify the chaos, from culture to the cosmos. Support the show by checking out: ZBiotics (Decrease impact of hangovers. Code: JESSEDAMIANI for 10% off), MUD\WTR (43% off starter kits), 1Password (simplify your life and increase digital...

Welcome to the Urgent Futures podcast, the show that finds signal in the noise. Each week, I sit down with leading thinkers whose research, concepts, and questions clarify the chaos, from culture to the cosmos. Support the show by checking out: ZBiotics (Decrease impact of hangovers. Code: JESSEDAMIANI for 10% off), MUD\WTR (43% off starter kits), 1Password (simplify your life and increase digital...

My guest this week is William E. Rees. There’s this quote attributed to Charles Kettering that goes “A problem well-stated is a problem half-solved.” When surveying the immensity of the interdependent crises we face: climate change, soil desertification, biodiversity loss, pollution, microplastics, war, and so on, simply stating the problem can feel impossible. But, as I’ve learned from Bill, at t...

My guest this week is Günseli Yalcinkaya. An expert in youth and internet culture, London-based writer, researcher and critic Günseli Yalcinkaya is the features editor at Dazed Magazine and the host of Logged On , a podcast series that puts online trends under the microscope. She's written extensively about AI, VR and psychedelia, and as an artist, studies the relationship between ecology, magic a...

My guest this week is data journalist & professor Meredith Broussard. The public discourse around AI is noisy . Depending on where you turn, it’s either about to save the world or destroy the world, grant you magical powers or take your job and leave you penniless. But AI is a very real thing happening in and to society. Rarely is the hype-doom binary helpful for understanding how it is and will b...

My guest this week is artist & science communicator Margaret Wertheim. (If you're loving Reality Studies, please leave us ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ or a review right now—it does wonders helping us reach new listeners!) Margaret Wertheim is a science writer and artist whose work focuses on relations between science and the wider cultural landscape. With degrees in math and physics, she is animated by a view that...

My guest this week is Landon Ross. Landon Ross is a Los Angeles artist working primarily in painting, sculpture, video, and installation. Ross’s work explores the ontology of mathematics, consciousness, the self, and seeks to explore origin-stories of a distinct epistemological stance: those derived from nature. The artist’s once-central role in channeling the human inclination for the transcenden...

My guest this week is Autumn Breon. Autumn Breon is a multidisciplinary artist who investigates the visual vocabulary of liberation through a queer Black feminist lens. Using performance, sculpture, and public installation, Breon invites audiences to examine intersectional identities and Diasporic memory. Breon imagines her work as immersive invitations for the public to join in the reimagining an...

My guest this week is Nita Farahany. Nita Farahany is a pioneering changemaker and leading authority at the intersection of law, ethics, and technology. As the Robinson O. Everett Distinguished Professor of Law & Philosophy at Duke Law School, and Founding Director of Duke Science & Society, she drives transformative discussions on technology's ethical implications. Her seminal book, The Battle fo...

Welcome to the Urgent Futures podcast, the show that finds signal in the noise. Each week, I sit down with leading thinkers whose research, concepts, and questions clarify the chaos, from culture to the cosmos. Cyborg. When you hear the word, you probably think of something like Blade Runner, Westworld, or the Terminator. Shiny tech with a dash of dystopia. But what if I told you there’s a totally...

My guests today are Eryk Salvaggio & Caroline Sinders . What role do artists actually play in society? What about in the development of AI? It’s easy to speak in vague, grandiose terms about the power of art, but when do the actual actions, techniques, and interventions of artists amount to real-world impact? I’m not saying that art needs to lead to impact, but it’s important that we’re clear abou...

Pollution is a massive problem—yet it rarely gets the kind of play other climate issues receive. But did you know that some scientists and mycologists are using mycelium to detoxify contaminated sites? It's pretty incredible stuff—and my guest this week, Danielle Stevenson, is a leading expert in this field of 'mycoremediation.' Welcome to the Urgent Futures podcast, the show that finds signal in...

Welcome to the Urgent Futures podcast, the show that finds signal in the noise. Each week, I sit down with leading thinkers whose research, concepts, and questions clarify the chaos, from culture to the cosmos. The best way to support the show, you ask ? Pop over to YouTube and hit that Subscribe button . You hear it all the time for a reason—nothing will help the channel grow more than that simpl...

My guest this week is Brittan Heller. Brittan Heller works at the intersection of technology, human rights and the law. She is currently a lecturer at Stanford University and a visiting scholar at Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, examining XR's connection to society, human rights, privacy, and security. Heller is on the steering committee for the World Economic Forum's Metaverse Governanc...

Welcome to the Urgent Futures podcast, the show that finds signal in the noise. Each week, I sit down with leading thinkers whose research, concepts, and questions clarify the chaos, from culture to the cosmos. The best way to support the show , you ask? Pop over to YouTube and hit that Subscribe button . You hear it all the time for a reason—nothing will help the channel grow more than that simpl...

Welcome to the Urgent Futures podcast, the show that finds signal in the noise. Each week, I sit down with leading thinkers whose research, concepts, and questions clarify the chaos, from culture to the cosmos. The best way to support the show , you ask? Pop over to YouTube and hit that Subscribe button . You hear it all the time for a reason—nothing will help the channel grow more than that simpl...

Welcome to the Urgent Futures podcast, the show that finds signal in the noise. Each week, I sit down with leading thinkers whose research, concepts, and questions clarify the chaos, from culture to the cosmos. The best way to support the show , you ask? Pop over to YouTube and hit that Subscribe button . You hear it all the time for a reason—nothing will help the channel grow more than that simpl...

Welcome to the Urgent Futures podcast, the show that finds signal in the noise. Each week, I sit down with leading thinkers whose research, concepts, and questions clarify the chaos, from culture to the cosmos. The best way to support the show , you ask? Pop over to YouTube and hit that Subscribe button . You hear it all the time for a reason—nothing will help the channel grow more than that simpl...