Future Talk
By Futurae Fidelis
Future Talk is brought to you by futuraefidelis.co.uk
Future TalkOct 11, 2021
19. Learning
Does the age-old view that going to university is required to be successful? Sam and Harry discuss this and more. They cover cohort-based courses, with Harry talking about his experience with On Deck and both bringing up how they've learned from online courses. Is there also an opportunity for VR learning as well?
18. Food and Drink
With an increasing population, food may become scarce, and humanity will have to adapt to eating genetically modified food or even insects. Sam and Harry discuss this as well as the ramifications for our water supply.
17. Robots
Sam and Harry are back after a long hiatus to discuss the Tesla robot announced at their AI Day in late August. They discuss the broader implications of robots in the workplace and when they imagine it will happen.
Note from Harry: When discussing Boston Dynamics, I said they're owned by Google. This isn't correct. Google sold Boston Dynamics to SoftBank who have since sold them to Hyundai. Sorry for that mistake.
16. Personal Finance
Sam and Harry are joined by a special guest today, Beth, a chartered accountant and personal finance influencer. They discuss what the future holds for managing our finances with the emergence of new technology. And how automation can make significant changes to companies' finance departments.
15. Warfare and Defence
As tensions rise geopolitically and technology advances, what does the future of conflict look like? Sam and Harry discuss the future of warfare covering topics such as robots, AI, nuclear weapons and drones.
14. Which Technologies Excite Us Most?
In this episode, rather than focusing on one specific domain, Sam and Harry discuss the technologies that excite them the most.
13. Home
Sam and Harry discuss the future of home appliances. Smart devices are becoming increasingly popular in the average person's home - from smart lights to smart assistants and even smart fridges. The conversation quickly becomes one around security. What happens if we don't adequately secure our home network? And could a person's home become a vector for a wider and more consequential attack?
12. DeFi
Sam and Harry are once again together in person, this time discussing DeFi. Looking away from market movements and coin suggestions, they're thinking about the broader implications of DeFi. Will DeFi replace the financial system as we know it? And who are the people behind this movement?
11. Sex
For the first time since the beginning of the podcast, Sam and Harry have recorded in the same room (so forgive any audio issues!). Weirdly, they discussed sex. With the rise of camgirls on Twitch and the metaverse, what will physical intimacy look like in the future?
10. Wokeism
Sam and Harry attempted to derail the podcast entirely and get all controversial talking about ‘wokeism.’ Being woke is to be aware. But are people simply too woke in situations where they really don’t need to be? Are social justice movements capitalised upon by corporations for profit? They get into the nitty-gritty of all of this and more.
9. Education
How will education change to support the future economic shift putting many out of work without relevant skills? Harry feels like he's already participating in this future as part of his On Deck fellowship. And he discusses that and more with Sam in this episode.
8. eSports
The popularity of eSports is ever-growing. Thousands attend in-person events and millions stream worldwide. Video game publishers are increasing their focus on eSports when developing and marketing their games. With the growing popularity, will we see eSports go a similar way to physical sports with training camps for children and how will parents respond to their child saying they want to be an eSports player? Sam and Harry discuss eSports and the parallels between it and physical sport.
7. Will the Rapture come?
In 2007 the video game Bioshock released. In the game, Andrew Ryan, a megalomaniac built his own city underwater with the idea of 'no gods or kings, only man'. In this episode, Sam and Harry talk about what would happen if a billionaire built their own city. Decentralized power and water? A city governed by smart contracts and code? Listen to this episode to hear wild ideas on what a city built from scratch could look like.
- Nevada bill would allow tech companies to create governments
"Steamtech Mayhem"
Music by Eric Matyas
www.soundimage.org
6. Immortality
They say the only guarantees in life are life, death and taxes. But what if we could stop death? The average lifespan has increased in the past century dramatically, can it increase further? Scientific advancements over the next decade could reduce mortality by treating illnesses such as HIV, AIDS and maybe even cancer. And there's a chance that we could reverse ageing along with this so we're happy and healthy at age 1000. Join Sam and Harry as they discuss the potential of immortality and the consequences that would bring.
- First hint that body’s ‘biological age’ can be reversed
- mRNA vaccine protects monkeys against HIV-like virus
- Worm lifespans extended 500 percent in surprising new aging study
"Steamtech Mayhem"
Music by Eric Matyas
www.soundimage.org
5. Health Sensors
In recent years, there's been an explosion in ways to monitor our health, from the obvious, like an Apple Watch, to the more specific, like Levels, which monitors blood sugar levels. Join Sam and Harry while they discuss the state of medical sensors and where they think more sensors will be.
- Levels
"Steamtech Mayhem"
Music by Eric Matyas
www.soundimage.org
4. Online communities
Since their founding, Twitter and Facebook have considered themselves to be town squares. But division is more rife now than ever, will they remain town squares? Or will various tribes move away and meet on their own platform with like-minded individuals away from the social network giants' moderation. And should we identify ourselves before signing up to social networks? Join Sam and Harry as they discuss the future of online communities.
"Steamtech Mayhem"
Music by Eric Matyas
www.soundimage.org
3. What is the future of retail?
Sam Clusker and Harry Moy discuss the future of retail. With the pandemic causing many physical locations to close, will we see the high-street become a thing of the past? And why are companies like Nike switching to a direct-to-consumer model? Where do supermarkets stand in all this? We discuss these questions and imagine what retail will look like in the future.
- The Economist Future of Shopping special report that kickstarted the conversation
- How Nike is using DTC and data to expand its empire
"Steamtech Mayhem"
Music by Eric Matyas
www.soundimage.org
2. Will culture impede technology change?
Sam and Harry discuss technology and culture. As we're becoming more aware as a society of the impact of technological change, much less so than in the 20th century, will we see the speed of technology change slow down? How do we respond to the uses of AI and big data? And will we see a shift in entertainment as artists could look to be better compensated for their content? How will customers respond to this?
- Sam's article that triggered this discussion
1. Will we return to the office?
Welcome to the first episode of Future Talk, the podcast all about the future. Sam Clusker and Harry Moy from Futurae Fidelis discuss remote working in this episode. The COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating the rise of remote-working, and some may not go back to the office. But what does this mean for the wider economy and will this shift cause inequality to increase?