Future Tense ABC listen

It's estimated that by 2030 more than 100 thousand satellites are likely to be buzzing around in low-Earth orbit – and the implications of that for our dark skies is potentially significant. We hear from the Executive Director of the non-profit network Dark Skies International. Also, is our environmental future written in the past? Paleo-conservation could be the answer to how we adapt to the adverse effects of climate change; and in Stockholm, engineers and builders are hard at work creating an entire city district in wood – from apartments to office towers. So, what's the advantage to building in timber?

The world's largest Universal Basic Income trial is currently underway in Kenya. It involves 295 villages and more than 20,000 families. The trial has just reached the two-year mark and Nobel-Prize winning economist, Abhijit Banerjee, joins us to talk about its progress – both economic and social. Also, why it's counterproductive to talk about "screentime" and people being "addicted" to their phones; and speech writer, Lucinda Holdforth, who worries that we've supplanted old fashioned values that emphasised community responsibility with a new array of virtues that are all about personal wants and a focus on self.

Most people want to eat better. And many of us have embraced the trend toward "natural" foods and conscious eating. We equate "natural" with healthy, nutritious and virtuous, but that can often be way off the mark. New research shows many healthy alternatives are anything but. And our embrace of the term natural is more about expressing identity and morality rather than healthy eating. Empowering people to understand what and how they should eat is what it should be about – and one way to do that is by using a food labelling app.

Why do otherwise sensible people continue to do things that are bad for them, that impact negatively on their personal future? Also, what happens in the brain when you're trying to make or break a habit?  Temptation, addiction and habit formation – mapping the pathways to self-destruction and how to navigate a better course. 

Authoritarians rule through fear. We can clearly see that from China to the Middle East to eastern Europe. But why do we constantly overlook the way in which fear also shapes democratic societies? It's fuelling populism and distorting our future focus. Then there's anger. It's inspired generations to man the barricades and right society's wrongs. But anger is increasingly becoming a driver of commerce. There's billions to be made in getting you riled up and keeping you that way. Fear fuels anger, and anger blinds you to recognise that your fear might be misguided. A truly vicious cycle.

Algorithmic feeds are meant to personalise our online experiences, but increasingly they're flattening our culture and fostering a dull conformity, according to best-selling author Kyle Chayka. And the influence they exert on our lives is increasingly physical not just digital. Also, data scientist Gloria Mark who has crunched the numbers on how our attention spans have fared over the past decade or so. If you can keep focused, you might find it fascinating.