Future Hindsight Future Hindsight

Thursday, June 1st, 2023
 
Beto O’Rourke is a fourth-generation Texan, the former US Representative of Texas’s 16th Congressional district, the Democratic Party’s nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2018, and the Democratic nominee for the 2022 Texas gubernatorial election. He is also the author of We've Got to Try: How the Fight for Voting Rights Makes Everything Else Possible.
 
We discuss the outsized importance of Texas politics for the nation. Republicans have relied on winning Texas’s electoral college votes to clinch presidential races. However, even without investment from the Democratic party, the trend over the last three presidential elections is improving for Democratic candidates. Texas is currently the hardest state in which to vote and to register to vote. Broad and consistent participation from citizens is vital to changing the status quo. The fight for democracy goes on forever and no victory is ever final. 



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https://poweredxpeople.org/
 
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Read the transcript here: 
https://www.futurehindsight.com/episodes/democracy-in-texas-beto-orourke 
 
 
Credits: 
Host: Mila Atmos 
Guests: Beto O’Rourke
Executive Producer: Mila Atmos
Producer: Zack Travis and Sara Burningham

Thursday, May 25th, 2023
 
Representative Anna Eskamani serves on behalf of Florida’s 42nd district of Orange County in the state House of Representatives. We discuss her victories at the ballot box and her work to represent her constituents. Her campaign slogan is “Working for you. Fighting for us.”
 
When serving in the minority of the Florida state legislature, you only pass legislation by working across the aisle. Anna is a firm believer in calling people in before calling them out, and on finding common ground on issues of good government. Her formula for success is showing up for people by focusing on real life issues, like on tax fairness, versus the manufactured culture war debates.
 
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https://twitter.com/AnnaForFlorida 
 
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Sponsor
Thanks, HelloFresh! Go to HelloFresh.com/HOPEFUL16 and use code HOPEFUL16  for 16 free meals plus free shipping!
 
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Want to support the show and get it early? 
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www.futurehindsight.com
 
Read the transcript here: 
https://www.futurehindsight.com/episodes/fighting-for-good-governance-anna-eskamani 
 
 
Credits: 
Host: Mila Atmos 
Guests: Anna Eskamani
Executive Producer: Mila Atmos
Producer: Zack Travis & Sara Burningham

Thursday, May 18th, 2023
 
Chris Wiggins and Matthew L. Jones are co-authors of How Data Happened: A History from the Age of Reason to the Age of Algorithms. Chris is an associate professor of applied mathematics at Columbia University and the New York Times’s chief data scientist and Matt is a professor of history at Columbia. Together, they taught a course called “Data: Past, Present, and Future," and their book is an extension thereof. We discuss the history of how data is made; the relationship between data and truth; and the unstable three-player game between corporate, state, and people power. 
 
We are currently in an unstable and unpredictable three-player game between state power, corporate power, and people power. In fact, we have a lot of collective influence via the way we construct norms. Our constant human activity is the grist of the mill for machine learning. Corporations do not have all the power. Still, the mix between advertising and data has created a lot of the most pressing concerns in the world’s algorithmically mediated reality.

 
Follow Chris on Twitter: 
https://twitter.com/chrishwiggins
 
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https://twitter.com/nescioquid
 
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Take the Democracy Group’s Listener Survey!
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Want to support the show and get it early? 
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Check out the Future Hindsight website! 
www.futurehindsight.com
 
Read the transcript here: 
https://www.futurehindsight.com/episodes/people-power-and-ai-chris-wiggins-matt-jones
 
 
Credits: 
Host: Mila Atmos 
Guests: Chris Wiggins & Matt Jones
Executive Producer: Mila Atmos
Producer: Zack Travis

Thursday, May 11th, 2023
 
Judge Victoria Pratt was Chief Judge in Newark Municipal Court in New Jersey and the author of The Power of Dignity. She is currently the Executive Director of Odyssey Impact, an interfaith non-profit driving social change through innovative storytelling and media. We discuss procedural justice, municipal court reform, and increasing the public's trust in the justice system. 
 
Tough-on-crime laws are ineffective. Punishing people for wrongdoing does not change behavior. Judge Pratt asserts her authority when she understands the people who appear in court before her. People obey the law when they are treated with respect and dignity, because then they view the people who impose rules and laws as legitimate authorities. Engaging with the criminal justice system is punishment enough, whether you're innocent or not. 
 
Follow Judge Pratt on Twitter: 
https://twitter.com/JudgeVPratt 
 
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Want to support the show and get it early? 
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Check out the Future Hindsight website! 
www.futurehindsight.com
 
Read the transcript here: 
https://www.futurehindsight.com/episodes/dignity-and-justice-judge-victoria-pratt 
 
 
Credits: 
Host: Mila Atmos 
Guests: Judge Victoria Pratt
Executive Producer: Mila Atmos
Producers: Zack Travis and Sara Burningham

Thursday, May 4th, 2023
 
Craig Aaron is the Co-CEO of Free Press and Free Press Action. We discuss the civic information bill in New Jersey and the promise of centering civic information in the media.
 
A vibrant multiracial democracy requires civic information media, which delivers the information that helps us live better lives in our communities. Journalism or civic media are a public good, and the public needs to invest in media along those lines. In New Jersey, bipartisan legislative support led to the civic information bill and the founding of the Civic Information Consortium. The best thing all of us can do right now is to support our local media. Read it and engage it!
 
Follow Craig on Twitter: 
https://twitter.com/notaaroncraig 
 
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https://twitter.com/milaatmos 
 
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Love Future Hindsight? Take our Listener Survey! 
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Check out the Future Hindsight website! 
www.futurehindsight.com
 
Read the transcript here: 
https://www.futurehindsight.com/episodes/civic-information-media-craig-aaron 
 
 
Credits: 
Host: Mila Atmos 
Guests: Craig Aaron
Executive Producer: Mila Atmos
Producers: Zack Travis and Sara Burningham

Thursday, April 27th, 2023
 
Jeff Sharlet is a journalist, best-selling author, and longtime observer and investigator of the Christian right. His latest book is The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War. We discuss America's democratic bankruptcy, the martyrdom of Ashli Babbit, and the rightward shift of the mainstream. 
 
The notion of civil war was a fringe idea, but in recent years it has become mainstream.  It was just a question of time and for some, it was already happening. Fascism does not respond to logic but relies heavily on myths. Fascist movements need martyrs like Ashli Babbitt. Along those lines, the MAGA movement can be understood as an innocence cult, wishing for a return to a time that never was. 
 
Follow Jeff on Twitter: 
https://twitter.com/JeffSharlet 
 
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https://twitter.com/milaatmos 
 
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Love Future Hindsight? Take our Listener Survey! 
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Want to support the show and get it early? 
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Check out the Future Hindsight website! 
www.futurehindsight.com
 
Read the transcript here: 
https://www.futurehindsight.com/episodes/a-slow-civil-war-jeff-sharlet 
 
Credits: 
Host: Mila Atmos 
Guests: Jeff Sharlet
Executive Producer: Mila Atmos
Producers: Zack Travis and Sara Burningham