Future Imperfect
34 episodes - English - Latest episode: 5 months ago - ★★★★★ - 3 ratingsJason Kingsley is a technologist who started one of the UK's most exciting games companies, Rebellion. He's also fascinated by the past. In this podcast he talks to historians, scientists, and experts from all fields about what we the future might hold, and what we should do to prepare for it.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
How can we fix our oceans?
December 01, 2023 11:11 - 50 minutes - 115 MBProfessor Guy Standing is an economist who has a radical way to fix the problems in our oceans, one from the past. He wants to see them held in common, as mediaeval resources often were. He talks to Jason about how this would work. Producer: Natt Tapley Audio: Pete Dennis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What does genetic engineering mean for our futures?
November 23, 2023 10:42 - 53 minutes - 123 MBGene editing therapies are just starting to be used to treat conditions. In this episode, Jason talks to Matthew Cobb, Professor of Zoology at the University of Manchester about how we got here, and what it could mean for each of us in the future. Producer: Natt Tapley Audio: Pete Dennis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
How did gift-giving work in the past?
November 14, 2023 13:24 - 44 minutes - 101 MBWhen European settlers arrived in the Americas they found many economies based on gift-giving. Jason talks to Brian Owensby about how this worked, how it didn't work, and how this could have led to conflict between the Old World and the New. Producer: Natt Tapley Sound: Pete Dennis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What is the digital mediaeval?
November 07, 2023 11:19 - 37 minutes - 86 MBJeremy Silver is the CEO of Digital Capital, and he believes that we are living in our 'digital mediaeval period'. He joins Jason today explain what he means by that, what problems it poses, and what we need to do to move to a 'digital renaissance'. Producer - Natt Tapley Sound - Pete Dennis Photo by Bingqian Li: https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-near-castle-and-scaffolding-16105790/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
How did they deal with pandemic disease in the 1660s?
October 16, 2022 23:38 - 37 minutes - 85.4 MBJason talks to Rebecca Rideal about 1666, and pandemics, great fires, and wars. Producer: Natt Tapley Audio: Pete Dennis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
How big were mediaeval warhorses?
September 12, 2022 15:30 - 55 minutes - 127 MBJason talks to Alan Outram and Oliver Creighton who have done the most extensive study of mediaeval warhorses ever made. Producer: Natt Tapley Audio: Pete Dennis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Why are our trees going north?
August 10, 2022 21:38 - 38 minutes - 88.6 MBBen Rawlence joins Jason to explain how the tree-line is moving, what that means for us, and what we can do about it. Produced by: Natt Tapley Audio: Pete Dennis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
How can we bring back action comics?
June 17, 2022 00:01 - 38 minutes - 87.6 MBJason talks to comics legend Garth Ennis about war, computer games, history, and how to bring back comics of the past. Producer: Natt Tapley Assistant Producer: Abi Robinson Audio: Pete Dennis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Can we geo-engineer our way out of climate change?
June 02, 2022 14:39 - 35 minutes - 81.2 MBIn this episode Jason talks to Gernot Wagner about the damage we're doing to our limate and whether or not it's on our power to reverse it. Producer: Natt Tapley Assistant Producer: Abi Robinson Audio: Pete Dennis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Are we going to run out of soil?
May 21, 2022 13:45 - 40 minutes - 91.7 MBJason talks to Jo Handelsman, the Director of the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery at University of Wisconsin, about the role soil has played in the historical invasions of Ukraine, how fast we're running out of soil and what will happen when we do. Presenter: Jason Kingsley Producer: Natt Tapley Assistant Producer: Abi Robinson Audio: Pete Dennis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Is the world coming to an end?
April 28, 2022 14:11 - 51 minutes - 118 MBProfessor Nicholas Guyatt joins Jason to talk about apocalyptic cults, beliefs in the end of the world, and what that might look like. Producer: Natt Tapley Assistant Producer: Abi Robinson Audio: Pete Dennis Image: St Jean de Montmartre 4th Horseman of Apocalypse by Peter Haas licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 3.0 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Were the Dark Ages dark?
April 01, 2022 13:54 - 45 minutes - 104 MBJason talks to David Perry & Matt Gabriele about their new book, The Bright Ages, which tries to reassess the period after the fall of the Roman empire (if that even happened). Producer: Natt Tapley Audio: Pete Dennis Assistant Producer: Abi Robinson Photo by Ali Khalil from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/columns-and-dome-of-hagia-sophia-7542061/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
When did we invent love?
March 13, 2022 10:45 - 40 minutes - 92 MBJason talks to Professor Suzannah Lipscomb about how we find out about mediaeval women in the past, how marriages worked, and whether or not Henry VIII was the ultimate romantic? Producer: Natt Tapley Audio: Pete Dennis Assistant Producer: Abi Robinson Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
How does bias change the world?
March 06, 2022 14:00 - 46 minutes - 106 MBJason talks to Jessica Nordell , who showed how small amounts of bias can have huge impact on large organisations. Producer: Natt Tapley Audio: Pete Dennis Assistant Producer: Abi Robinson Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Do we have to work?
February 28, 2022 00:26 - 51 minutes - 117 MBIn this episode, Jason talks to Professor Jan Lucassen about the different roles work has played in human history. Have we always worked? Will we always work? How do we define work? Producer: Nathaniel Tapley Audio: Pete Dennis Assistant Producer: Abi Robinson Photo by Yury Kim from Pexels Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Are we all going to die in World War III?
February 14, 2022 10:47 - 26 minutes - 59.8 MBRecorded last month, Jason talks to Cold War historian Alex von Tunzelmann about tensions between Russia and the West, and whether or not we're all likely to die in a Third World War. Producer: Natt Tapley Audio: Pete Dennis Assistant Producer: Abi Robinson Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Do plants have souls?
January 30, 2022 13:00 - 40 minutes - 93.7 MBHildegard of Bingen was a mediaeval abbess who was famous in her own time for her thoughts about the natural world. Michael Marder talks to Jason about what her philosophy can teach us today about the way in which we interact with plants and what it could mean for our future. Producer: Natt Tapley Audio: Pete Dennis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Are we entering new Fire Age?
January 21, 2022 12:45 - 35 minutes - 82.1 MBAre we entering a new Age of Fire? Emeritus Professor Stephen Pyne believes that we have altered the geological age through our control of fire. Jason talks to him about our past manipulation of fire, and what the world is likely to look like in this new Fire Age. Producer: Natt Tapley Audio: Pete Dennis Photo: Eric Chistov Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
How can we beat our unconscious biases?
January 17, 2022 13:41 - 41 minutes - 95.9 MBJason talks to Pragya Agarwal about unconscious bias, brain structures and what we can do to combat our own unconscious biases. Producer: Natt Tapley Sound: Pete Dennis Photo by Daniel Reche from Pexels Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Is there life on Mars?
January 01, 2022 15:19 - 38 minutes - 87.5 MBOne of the designers of the Mars Rover, Larry Crumpler, who has been involved in space exploration for forty years joins Jason to talk about the history of space exploration, and where it goes next. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
How can we communicate science better?
December 23, 2021 13:58 - 42 minutes - 97.3 MBSimonyi Professor for the Understanding of Science, Marcus du Sautoy joins Jason to talk about what we need to know about science, why it's important, and how we can improve our understanding. Producer: Natt Tapley Audio: Pete Dennis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What can ancient Greeks teach us about resisting tyranny?
December 12, 2021 23:20 - 41 minutes - 94.8 MBOverbearing governments have been with us throughout time. Professor Emily K. Anhalt believes that the ancient Greeks left us good advice in their poetry to tell us how to resist tyranny, and tells Jason all about it. Producer: Nathaniel Tapley Audio: Pete Dennis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What does ancient Egyptian bread taste like?
December 05, 2021 18:13 - 47 minutes - 110 MBJason talks to Seamus Blackley, the father of the Xbox about gaming, technology, being fascinated with the past, and how to collect ancient Egyptian yeasts. Producer: Natt Tapley Audio: Pete Dennis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
How do the aristocracy hold onto political power?
November 26, 2021 07:22 - 44 minutes - 101 MBThis week, Jason is joined by Hannah Greig to discuss how the aristocracy have held onto their land and power for almost a millennium in England. Produced by: Natt Tapley Audio by: Pete Dennis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Will artificial intelligence make us happy?
November 19, 2021 16:40 - 54 minutes - 124 MBMo Gawdat was the Chief Business Officer for Google[X], creating some of the most advanced artificial intelligences in the world. Now, he devotes himself to increasing human happiness. He talks to Jason Kingsley about algorithms, AIs and whether we can learn to live with the machines. Produced: Natt Tapley Audio: Pete Dennis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What can we learn from the Vikings' teeth?
November 11, 2021 07:30 - 34 minutes - 79.6 MBWhat we know about the mediaeval period comes, in large part, from what people wrote down about themselves and others. How do we find out about less-literate societies, like the Vikings? Cat Jarman has spent the last few years working on the the remains of the Great Army at Repton and the material artefacts they left behind. In her new book - River Kings she talks about the huge leaps archaeology has made with new technologies and all we can now learn from their teeth, jewellery, and even th...
What can we predict and what can we not predict?
November 03, 2021 01:05 - 47 minutes - 109 MBJason talks to Margaret Heffernan about what use prediction is in an unpredictable world. What can we predict, and what can we just not know? Produced by Natt Tapley Sound by Pete Dennis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Should we still have trial by combat?
October 31, 2021 17:00 - 56 minutes - 129 MBToday the law can feel arcane, complicated, and forbidding. In the past - with trial by ordeal and trial by combat - it could be simpler and more direct. Today, Jason talks to Daniel Shen Smith, a barrister and expert in martial arts, about trial by combat, how it worked, and what remnants of it are left today. Produced by Natt Tapley Audio by Pete Dennis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Why is race science making a comeback?
October 20, 2021 12:11 - 43 minutes - 98.5 MBWhat role do theories of race play in science? For years, we thought that eugenic ideas about race had fallen out of fashion, but recently they seem to be making a comeback. In today's podcast, Angela Saini talks to me about why this is happening. She's speaking to us from New York, so excuse the sound of real Manhattan traffic or the occasional transatlantic internet wobble. Welcome to Future Imperfect! Produced by: Natt Tapley Sound by: Pete Dennis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privac...
What do we get wrong about the Middle Ages?
October 13, 2021 05:45 - 1 hour - 141 MBJason talks to Dr Eleanor Janega about how fascinating and compelling the mediaeval period is. They talk about jousting, battles, and exactly how colourful everyone's trousers were. Produced by: Natt Tapley Audio: Pete Dennis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Are we too late to save the bees?
October 06, 2021 05:55 - 46 minutes - 106 MBIt seems like we're getting bad news about the planet every day, but one of the most worrying signs is the decline in our pollinating insects. In this episode, Jason Kingsley, OBE, talks to Dave Goulson from the University of Sussex about whether or not we can save the bees, and what might happen if we don't. To find out more visit Dave's Youtube channel or buy his new book. Produced by: Natt Tapley for Gloaming Productions Audio by Pete Dennis Cover Image by Richard Bartz, licensed from...
What happens to your digital stuff when you die?
September 29, 2021 06:05 - 59 minutes - 137 MBIn this episode Elaine Kasket talks to Jason about what ownership means in the 21st century. What happens to our digital possessions after we die? Who is in charge of our data when we pass on? And does privacy end after death? Produced by: Natt Tapley for Gloaming Productions Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What can the past teach us about the future?
September 29, 2021 06:00 - 48 minutes - 112 MBDan Snow is a writer, broadcaster, and a historian who's had an incredible career of amazing experiences. In this episode, he and Jason talk about what life was really like on the battlefields of the past, why bullet points are the secret of history, and why showers are amazing. Produced by: Natt Tapley for Gloaming Productions and Rebellion Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Future Imperfect Trailer
September 22, 2021 09:43 - 43 seconds - 11.1 MBJason Kingsley, OBE, talks to historians, scientists, and experts of all kinds about what is was really like in the past, and what that can tell us about what might be to come... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.