Futur-ish

Futur-ish
  • 5.0 (4)
  • DESIGN
  • UPDATED FORTNIGHTLY

This is futur-ish, a podcast about how nothing is new and everything has happened before. With careers spent meandering (sometimes fortuitously) through design and futures, Radha Mistry and Tobias Revell emerge from the smoking wreckage of existential dread to decode the strange signals, hype and bluster of the everyday future to try, try and try again to make it make sense.

  1. 1 DAY AGO

    015: Throwing Money and Ideology at the Population Timebomb

    While it’s generally agreed that the global population is continuing to expand (at least until flatlining at the end of the century) for some parts of the world it is falling dangerously precipitously with the potential for severe economic and security impacts.  For the wealthy elite of Silicon Valley, this is an ideological failing, one that their blogs and op-eds are ready to tackle with shady conferences that have a whiff of something mid-century Europe about them, and not in the nice furniture way. For others, it’s an opportunity to throw (quite a lot) of money at the problem and see what sticks.  Links: With new ordinance, Santa Fe becomes first city to tie minimum wage to rental costs, Albuquerque Journal: https://www.abqjournal.com/news/with-new-ordinance-santa-fe-becomes-first-city-to-tie-minimum-wage-to-rental-costs/2893470Fertility rate falls to lowest globally, Taipei Times: https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2026/01/10/2003850357South Korea birthrate rises for the first time in nine years, AlJazeera: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/2/26/south-korea-birthrate-rises-for-the-first-time-in-nine-yearsDoes the U.S. Have a Fertility Crisis? Johns Hopkins: https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2026/is-the-us-birth-rate-decliningThe Ultimate status symbol? A big family, Financial Times: https://www.ft.com/content/a4025e93-7552-4f8f-8ce2-e785a7d950a4The influencers who want the world to have more babies - and say the White House is on their side, BBC News: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5ypdy05jl9oElon wants you to have more babies, Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2024-elon-musk-population-collapse-baby-push/The Far Right’s Plan to Explode the Population, Politico: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/04/28/natalism-conference-austin-00150338Your baby could qualify for $1,000 with a Trump Account. Here’s what to know, Associated Press: https://www.ap.org/news-highlights/spotlights/2026/your-baby-could-qualify-for-1000-with-a-trump-account-heres-what-to-know/National child care policy 2.0 for ages 0-6, Executive Yuan: https://english.ey.gov.tw/News3/9E5540D592A5FECD/7b033800-d295-4a7a-8fba-dfbf617142d6What birth rate crisis? Here’s how one city in Taiwan is bucking the island’s worrying trend, Straits Times: https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/chips-powerhouse-hsinchu-a-bright-spot-amid-taiwans-birth-rate-crisisThe Impact of the Real Estate Market on Fertility, NBER: https://www.nber.org/digest/feb12/impact-real-estate-market-fertility?page=1&perPage=50A South Korean firm is offering to pay its workers $75,000 each time they have a baby, CNN: https://edition.cnn.com/2024/02/06/business/south-korea-firm-child-cash-payout-intl-hnkFollowing Booyoung, Krafton to Offer 100 Mil. Won Childbirth Incentive to Employees, BusinessKorea: https://www.businesskorea.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=235577It’s Me, Hi, I’m the Problem I’m 33, New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/02/business/economy/33-year-olds-millennials.html

    25 min

  2. 19 FEB

    014: Robotaxis into Car Shares; The Real Future of Transport

    While you were counting down to 2026 on New Years, Tobias was counting down the last seconds of a future he very personally dreamed of; a future with less cars. You see, Zipcar, the UK’s biggest car sharing company were going out of business, ceasing operations for 2026.  Almost simultaneously, the UK government accelerated the timeline on autonomous vehicle trials. Before we know it, LA’s Waymos are going to be hitting London streets. But this isn’t the future either, it’s just a different version of the same car-fuelled nightmare. What if, instead, we already had the perfect technology and just didn’t realise it?  LInks: Car-sharing company ZipCar to end UK operations, BBC News: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp8zv1gr0z9oAutonomous Vehicle Market Surges with 34.84% CAGR as MaaS, ADAS, and AI Adoption Accelerate, Newswire: https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/01/19/3221004/0/en/Autonomous-Vehicle-Market-Surges-with-34-84-CAGR-as-MaaS-ADAS-and-AI-Adoption-Accelerate.htmlRoad traffic injuries, WHO: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/road-traffic-injuriesAutonomous Vehicle Accidents: NHTSA Crash Data (2019-2025). Craft Law: https://www.craftlawfirm.com/autonomous-vehicle-accidents-2019-2024-crash-data/Cyclist 'jumped red light and killed pedestrian Peter McCombie', BBC News: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-56320121Does cycle commuting reduce the risk of mental ill-health? An instrumental variable analysis using distance to nearest cycle path: https://academic.oup.com/ije/article/53/1/dyad153/7529101Association of Cycling With All-Cause and Cardiovascular Disease Mortality Among Persons With Diabetes: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8290339/Potential for reduced premature mortality by current and increased bicycle commuting: a health impact assessment using registry data on home and work addresses in Stockholm, Sweden: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7849870/Get on your bike: Study shows walking, cycling and e-biking make a significant impact on carbon emissions, Oxford: https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2021-02-02-get-your-bike-study-shows-walking-cycling-and-e-biking-make-significant-impactBicycle Technology, Scientific American: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bicycle-technology/A Classic Graphic Reveals Nature’s Most Efficient Traveler, Scientific American: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-human-on-a-bicycle-is-among-the-most-efficient-forms-of-travel-in-the/Energy and Equity, Ivan Illich: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1683220.Energy_and_Equity

    29 min

  3. 5 FEB

    013: Hacking the Collapse of Healthcare into Your Own Hands

    All over the world, healthcare systems are straining under the weight of ageing populations, crippling costs and overheads and new and novel conditions exacerbated by the biodiversity crisis.  A spate of new gadgets promises to give us more control over our health but if the social problems that underpin failing healthcare aren’t solved, how much can they do? Could we instead use seismic sensors in our feet, colour sensors on our heads and piezoelectric patches on our skin to talk to the planet? To hang out with rivers?  LInks: Anonymous crypto gambler made $436,000 on Maduro capture, BBC News: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2gn93292doGambling platform Polymarket not paying bets on US invasion of Venezuela, The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/07/wager-platform-polymarket-will-not-pay-out-on-bets-on-us-invasion-of-venezuelaRoxana Chicas designs wearable patch for early detection of heat exposure, Dezeen: https://www.dezeen.com/2025/09/28/roxana-chicas-designs-wearable-patch-for-early-detection-of-heat-exposure/REFILE: Atlanta scientist creates biopatch to protect farmers from the heat and heat-related deaths, Reuters: https://www.reutersconnect.com/item/refile-atlanta-scientist-creates-biopatch-to-protect-farmers-from-the-heat-and-heat-related-deathsInxects vest lets architects "feel" the health of a site like a sixth sense, Dezeen: https://www.dezeen.com/2025/01/21/gaia-communication-system-wearable-inxects/Cyborg artist Moon Ribas feels earthquakes, Next Nature: https://nextnature.org/en/magazine/story/2020/moon-ribasNobody Told Me Rivers Dream, Superflux: https://superflux.in/index.php/work/nobody-told-me-rivers-dream/#The Americans Who Stick Gadgets Under Their Skin, VICE: https://www.vice.com/en/article/hannes-wiedemann-american-grinders-biohacking-photo-book/A 3-in-1 wearable and implantable biopatch for integrated in-body energy harvesting, sensing, and self-powered diabetic wound treatments: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2211285525001028

    27 min

  4. 22 JAN

    012: Why Leaders are Turning to Gambling to Bet Which Way the World Will Burn

    There’s been enough warning from fiction and indeed reality that people should really know better than to reduce the horror of conflict to gaming, petty bets and the chaos of chance. But perhaps ‘leaders’ really do think the gods play dice and now, as global institutions become increasingly unreliable, they want in. Things look pretty ‘yucky’ if you, for instance, respect the dignity of human life and though this isn’t anywhere near the first time finance has been tied up in geopolitics, the incentives are all backwards now, fuelling misinformation, deception and misappropriation in the name of a quick crypto-buck.  Links: 'Unauthorized' Edit to Ukraine's Frontline Maps Point to Polymarket's War Betting, 404 Media: https://www.404media.co/unauthorized-edit-to-ukraines-frontline-maps-point-to-polymarkets-war-betting/Institute for The Study of War: https://understandingwar.org/ The Polymarket Effect: How Prediction Markets Are Beating The Experts, Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonwingard/2025/11/19/the-polymarket-effect-how-prediction-markets-are-beating-the-experts/How the Trump Whale and Prediction Markets Beat the Pollsters in 2024, Wall Street Journal: https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/how-the-trump-whale-and-prediction-markets-beat-the-pollsters-in-2024-dd11ec4e?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=AWEtsqeH1TI6Po6c_Ztr0l0voyhPfeAozcF_RHfJiu9zSQXT5KxGQFR_lYDXAzE0Cw8%3D&gaa_ts=694649c3&gaa_sig=ap1q4d4NOKg-UohvdZv-8fI_BySV6y0o1O_HI8iDwa0TtkNG50snxiApdJ1viRVncs1hQWDI28kjzDrZuCDjDQ%3D%3DDisaster Map Foundation: https://info.petabencana.id/ypbNew App Lets Users Bet on Deadly Conflicts in Real Time, Futurism: https://futurism.com/future-society/polymarket-polyglobe-gamblingDeep State Live: https://deepstatemap.live/en#6/49.4383200/32.0526800 Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oryx_and_Crake

    29 min

  5. 8 JAN

    011: How Banning Architecture Might Mean more Buildings for Your Brain

    Somewhere, in a Trump administration office, someone decided that architects aren’t all that and now they’re being de-professionalised and removed from public debate. At the same time, more and more research is telling us that architecture happens inside your head and we need to design that way.  But what does this have to do with World War 2 battleships and the state of education? Radha thinks that the banning of architects from public discourse gives us an opportunity to reimagine what ways, for who and how the built environment is imagined and designed.  Links Architecture no longer considered a "professional degree" in US, Dezeen: https://www.dezeen.com/2025/11/24/architecture-degree-not-professional-usa/Making Federal Architecture Great Again, Whitehouse.gov: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/08/making-federal-architecture-beautiful-again/ Could bad buildings damage your mental health? The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/sep/16/bad-buildings-damage-mental-health-research-anxiety-depressionWhy Ugly Architecture Is Bad for Your Health, The Architectural Uprising: https://www.architecturaluprising.com/studies/why-ugly-architecture-is-bad-for-your-health/Cleo Valentine: We now know architecture can cause stress, Venetian Letter: https://venetianletter.com/2023/09/07/cleo-valentine-we-now-know-architecture-can-cause-stress/Trump doubles down on classical capital with "Arc de Trump" proposal, Dezeen: https://www.dezeen.com/2025/10/16/trump-triumphal-arch-proposal/Dazzle Camouflage, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dazzle_camouflageCV Dazzle, Adam Harvey: https://adam.harvey.studio/cvdazzle

    28 min

  6. 25/12/2025

    Update: Tis The Season

    Futur-ish are taking a short hiatus from our bi-weekly release schedule for the holiday. We’ll be back in 2026!

    2 min

  7. 11/12/2025

    010: The Problems with Australia’s Bottomless Brunch of free Energy

    The sun has been the biggest tech success story of the last quarter century. Solar panels are cheaper than fences, efficiency just keeps going up and people are installing them at rates that consistently exceed projections.  A bottomless brunch of free photons might sound like the perfect gift, and for some, it is. However, for 250 years, we’ve built energy systems and grids around the core concept of scarcity and they’re fundamentally unequipped for the crisis of overabundance. Step in, friend of the pod, Australia, who are about to introduce a new plan to shock the system and drive a behaviour change that tells us more about what the future of energy might look like than you might think.  Links Too Cheap to Meter, NRC: https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/students/history-101/too-cheap-to-meter#:~:text=Strauss's%20optimism%20for%20fission%20continued,be%20metered%2C%20just%20as%20weAustralians have been offered free solar power. How do I get mine and will it make my energy bill cheaper? The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/04/australia-free-solar-power-scheme-how-when-houshold-billsThe Duck Curve, US Department of Energy: https://www.energy.gov/eere/articles/confronting-duck-curve-how-address-over-generation-solar-energyQuotes, Hon. Chris Bowen: https://minister.dcceew.gov.au/bowen/media-releases/joint-media-release-more-victorian-communities-benefit-100-million-energy-upgrades#:~:text=%E2%80%9CGenerations%20of%20Australians%20have%20enjoyed,and%20keep%20their%20communities%20strong.Power to the people: the neighbours turning their London street into a solar power station, The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/18/power-to-the-people-the-neighbours-turning-their-london-street-into-a-solar-power-station

    28 min

  8. 27/11/2025

    009: The Teens Rejecting AI Gimmicks for See-through Plastic Blocks

    It used to be that the plastic blocks most teens might be interested in were multicoloured and used for stacking on top of each other. Now they’re transparent and vaguely-phone shaped, designed as addiction aids and symbols of protest.  Add in to this the growing popularity of Luddite movements across university campuses and charities, signals of democratic legislation banning phones and a proliferation of AI-powered gizmos that seem to distance themselves from the economy and interactions of social media and Radha has an idea that she’s on to something new. Maybe this does mark a new phase in our digital economies but, truly, nothing is new, and everything has happened before.. LInks PRX, The Teens Are Offline: https://exchange.prx.org/pieces/478234Exploring the Social Life of Urban Spaces through AI: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2424662122The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QkJkT3M-UsAskCatGPT, Social Experiments with Methaphones: https://www.tiktok.com/@askcatgpt/video/7504849538209860906Rabbit R1: https://www.rabbit.tech/rabbit-r1?srsltid=AfmBOopyARX2j2eXeBcZttRbOb7TyeQr00XRh8hzPQKfMuguf8TRyUfkHumane Inc.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humane_Inc.Terra Compass: https://modemworks.com/projects/terra/The Luddite Club: https://www.theludditeclub.org/about Lamp Club, a Luddite Group, Has Come to Free the ‘IPad Babies’, New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/30/style/lamp-club-luddites.html The Gnomes are Taking Over New York City, The Blue and White: https://www.theblueandwhite.org/post/the-gnomes-are-taking-over-new-york-cityAI is Reshaping Childhood in China, Rest of World: https://restofworld.org/2025/ai-china-childhood/Fighting the smartphone ‘invasion’: the French village that voted to ban scrolling in public, The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/10/fighting-the-smartphone-invasion-the-french-village-that-voted-to-ban-scrolling-in-publicAustralia approves social media ban on under-16s, BBC News: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c89vjj0lxx9oSilicon Valley parents are raising their kids tech-free — and it should be a red flag, The Independent: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/tech-free-silicon-valley-parents-raising-children-red-flag-a8256166.html TikTok’s enshitification, Pluralistic: https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/#hey-guys ‘It’s Hurting Like Hell’: AI Companion Users Are In Crisis, Reporting Sudden Sexual Rejection, VICE: https://www.vice.com/en/article/ai-companion-replika-erotic-roleplay-updates

    29 min
See All (17)

Trailer

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

This is futur-ish, a podcast about how nothing is new and everything has happened before. With careers spent meandering (sometimes fortuitously) through design and futures, Radha Mistry and Tobias Revell emerge from the smoking wreckage of existential dread to decode the strange signals, hype and bluster of the everyday future to try, try and try again to make it make sense.

Information

  • Creator
    Futur-ish
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    17
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Futur-ish
  • Show Website
    Futur-ish

You Might Also Like