Episodes

Visualizing the interior of the human body has always presented a major challenge to caregivers. Most medical imaging techniques in use today were first introduced during the past fifty years. Today novel technologies for entertainment are being applied to healthcare. Michael Hollins of the University of Nebraska’s iEXCEL Center joins the Futurists to explain how breakthroughs in imaging and simulation are used to train doctors, nurses, and first responders in the most advanced techniques in the...

In this powerfully inspiring talk, Futurists co-founder Robert Tercek shares insights from his four years of collaboration with technologists to build artificial intelligence tools that empower artists to create cinematic stories. In February 2026, Tercek shared these remarks as the keynote speech at the annual meeting of the Hollywood Professionals Association, whose members include the heads of production for the major film studios, TV networks and streaming platforms. At a time when many prof...

Price is the most important signal in a market economy. But in a distorted market, prices no longer provide reliable information to consumers. For startup ventures, getting the price wrong can be a fatal mistake. Per Sjofors is the “price whisperer.” He uses AI to help companies determine the optimal price to charge for new products. Per joins the Futurists to talk about price-setting strategies in complex markets, commodity markets, and markets dominated by platforms or oligopolies.

In this episode Cecilia Tham takes us through the intersection of science, design, and business to build things that don’t exist yet. As the founder of Futurity Systems, Cecilia leads a team providing Futures-as-a-Service for global companies and government agencies. Moving beyond speculation into active future building and construction. In this episode we also talk about her efforts to build her own digital soul…

Globally the cost of health care is exploding. In the United States, the problem is particularly severe because system is fragmented across many providers and highly inefficient. Economic incentives intensify the problem among private films. Suneel Ratan, CEO of Precognitive, is on a mission to streamline service delivery by building an intelligence layer to provide a single unified care plan across siloed providers. He likens it to a fintech model for health care. Ratan points out that health c...

An erratic President, a bungled raid on American cities, two fatal shootings by ICE agents, a massive protest by thousands of citizens in Minneapolis and other US cities, and flood of dishonest and misleading statements by Presidential aides and cabinet members: the United States begins 2026 in utter turmoil. Technologist and author Ramez Naam joins the Futurists to share his perspective on the political unrest in American civil society and the collapse of governance norms. Are populist forces f...

As the founder of The Future of Storytelling, Charles Melcher curates a collection of the world’s most provocative and vivid immersive experiences. To Charlie, future stories won’t be linear or confined to the pages of a book: they will be participatory and responsive. Charlie tells The Futurists what makes this type of drama so effective and memorable. In our modern media landscape, where books and TV shows have become commoditized and formulaic, the most successful stories tend to work harder ...

Global economist Peter Middlebrook has advised governments in many nations on modernization and economic policy, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Egypt, Rwanda, Afghanistan, India, and the UK as well as the United Nations, the EU and the World Bank. He joins the Futurists to share his perspective about the current and future trajectory of capitalist economies and geopolitics. Topics include: the fate of 250 million displaced people; how governments drive up the cost of housing and other assets whe...

The Futurists starts 2026 with a stimulating conversation with serial entrepreneur Matt Miesnieks, a true pioneer of AR/XR and spatial computing. In his new startup venture, Primate AI, Matt is focused on a novel approach to artificial intelligence. He intends to construct spatial and dimensional concepts that replicate the way humans develop a mental model of the real world. Topics in this episode: how the limitations of LLMs create opportunities for new approaches, such as Yann LeCun’s JEPA (J...

Technology innovator Akshay Chopra joins the Futurists to discuss his new book: “After Us: A Tale of Life Beyond Superintelligent AI.” In this work of speculative fiction, Chopra posits scenarios of a world dominated by a benevolent superintelligence. Topics include: the challenge of envisioning a positive outcome in a world organized by AI; the perils of AI-induced delusions; AI as an evolution of mankind, not a substitute for humanity; the Dataism philosophy and the Panspermia hypothesis; the ...

This week, The Futurists offers a human interest story from Brett’s conference travels. Listen as Brett connects with Arwa Damon, former CNN reporter based in Istanbul, and current President and Founder of INARA, an NGO working in Palestine. INARA, International Network for Aid, Relief and Assistance, is a humanitarian organization providing rapid response and treatment to refugee children, its mission to ensure every child has the agency to create a dignified life. Arwa provides a first-hand lo...

Industry strategist John Sviokla is the co-founder of GAI Insights and an Executive Fellow at the Harvard Business School. He tells the Futurists about the real challenges and opportunities in the process of reorganizing businesses around unlimited intelligence. Topics include: The existential threat to the big strategic advisory firms. Why talking to machines is such a significant change. The remarkably rapid rise of machine IQ and the power of emergent capabilities. John’s forecast for the evo...

Shelly Palmer returns to the Futurists to share fresh insight about how AI agents will rearrange the way entertainment and news are published, distributed and monetized. Today, many of the biggest media companies are still reeling from the previous two rounds of digital disruption (web and mobile). This leaves Big Media unprepared for the biggest disruption of them all, because AI agents will soon reconfigure their core asset: video distribution channels. This interview provides a preview of how...

Mike Pell is an author, an artist and the director of the Microsoft Garage, the worldwide innovation program where he applies “fast design” principles to bring ideas to prototypes quickly. Mike’s hackathons scale to include 10,000 participants. Mike tells the Futurists how artificial intelligence systems accelerate ideation during the innovation process. The challenge: managing a team of AI agents will require human workers to adapt to entirely new processes and discard some outdated practices. ...

This week Brett is joined by guest host Kevin J. Anderson as the futurists have a conversation with science fiction documentary filmmaker Jeffrey Morris on his new documentary reviewing world of Space 1999. We also discuss coming Mars and Moon plans.

The future of computing is 3D, according to Avi Bar Zeev. For three decades, this creative technologist has played a part in the creation of every major advance in spatial computing, immersive media, and XR. This week, Avi joins the Futurists to explain how previous breakthroughs will make the next wave of 3D computing possible. Avi shares what he has learned from 30 years of designing theme park rides, new headsets, virtual worlds and planetary-scale maps.

The future in Dubai is so brilliant, you need sunglasses. This week Brett and Rob talk to their colleague and business partner Mohamed Alkhatib about the key findings and hot topics they covered at the first Futurists X Summit. Why Dubai? Learn about the bold steps that the United Arab Emirates is taking to foster future prosperity with applied imagination? Giant data centers, advances in AI models, asteroid mining, next generation energy, future transportation and city planning, biotech and pro...

Sangeet Paul Choudary is the world’s leading exponent of the platform economy. This week he joins the Futurists to explain how artificial intelligence is likely to reorganize industries. Choudary pushes far beyond facile claims about “AI abundance” and “AI doom” to analyze the probable redistribution of value in markets. He explains how entire systems of production and distribution will be reshaped by machine intelligence. Choudary envisions a reorganization of value creation and value capture w...

Susan Zieger, the author of “Logistics and Power”, joins the Futurists to share her insight about global trade and control. Global trade and logistics requires a hierarchy of control to ensure timely, reliable delivery. That’s why power is an emergent principle of the global supply chain. For Zieger, the supply chain covers more than containers and manufactured goods, spanning the movement of humans and information. The early phases of global trade continue to shape the present and the future of...

Media cartographer Evan Shapiro publishes the definitive chart of the global media industry cited by every pundit and trade publication. After 20 years of disruptive change, the media industry is evolving so quickly beyond recognition that Evan’s chart has emerged as the universal scorecard to keep track of who owns what. Evan joins the Futurists to decipher the chaos in streaming, television, socials and cinema. Topics include: the importance of audience fragmentation across media formats and p...

Best selling author M.P. “Mike” Woodward joins the Futurists to share scenarios for the future of the next major naval war in the Pacific. How might a war between the United States and China happen? According to Woodward, it begins with a struggle to control the chips that govern artificial intelligence, then rapidly escalates to a massive ocean-spanning clash between two navies bristling with high tech gear. Woodward exposes critical weaknesses in US military preparedness and he speculates abou...

This week The Futurists welcomes celebrated experimental astrophysicist Prof Brian Cox. Prof Cox dives into why our understanding of black holes and what it means for quantum information theory could change our fundamental understanding of the universe and usher in a new era of scientific advancement. Cox is one of the most articulate scientists in the world today and this interview proves once again that in an age where science faces ongoing attacks from political forces and media that our futu...

In this week’s episode Steve Suarez from Horizon X Quantum and one of the speakers at the Futurists Summit discusses the reality of the famed Q-Day or Quantum Day – a date sometime in the near future when Quantum computers can break our existing RSA encryption technologies exposing banks, government and military to significant cyber security risk. How real is it and how can we prepare our institutions for this change? Suarez and Brett get into it.

Think about the place where you live. Every inch of every city and suburb has been designed by other humans. For better or worse, their choices determine how the world around you works, and how you live and navigate through it. Jeff Speck is the world’s leading exponent of the concept of the “walkable city”, human-centered urban centers. In this episode of the Futurists, Jeff shares his inspiring vision of the city of the future. Topics include; the New Urbanism, how cities foster society, the i...