Future Imperfect: Recent Episodes
Jason Kingsley
Jason 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.
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Professor 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
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Gene 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.
When 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.
Jeremy 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.
Jason talks to Rebecca Rideal about 1666, and pandemics, great fires, and wars.
Producer: Natt Tapley
Audio: Pete Dennis
Jason 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
Ben 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
Jason 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
In 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
Jason 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
Professor 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
Jason 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/
Jason 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
Jason 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
In 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
Recorded 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
Hildegard 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
Are 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
Jason 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
One 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.
Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.
Simonyi 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
Overbearing 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
Jason 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
This 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
Mo 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
What 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 the metals of the Vikings. Welcome to Future Imperfect!
Producer: Natt Tapley
Audio: Pete Dennis
Jason 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
Today 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
What 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
Jason 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
It 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 Wikimedia Commons on a Creative Commons Share-Alike 2.5 licence
In 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
Dan 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
Jason 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...
Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.