Future Tense ABC listen

When a company CEO can be paid 1,000 times the average employee's salary it's probably time to take a long hard look at wealth inequality. And those calling for the rich to pay more aren't always the ones you'd expect – Patriotic Millionaires is a group of mega rich individuals demanding greater, not lesser taxation. Then there's the Dutch philosopher urging ordinary citizens to put a cap on their own personal wealth. She calls her approach Limitarianism. Also, Rewilding the Internet – how to purify an online environment made toxic by monopolistic capitalism.

Guests

Dr Ingrid Robeyns – author, philosopher and Chair in Ethics of Institutions, Ethics Institute, Utrecht University (The Netherlands)

Robert Guest – Deputy Editor, The Economist

Morris Pearl – Chair of the Board, The Patriotic Millionaires

Professor Jean-Etienne Joullie — EMLV Business School, Paris

Maria Farrell – Writer and keynote speaker on technology and the future

Further information

Ingrid Robeyns: Limitarianism, The Case Against Extreme Wealth

Robert Guest: The fallacious case for abolishing the rich

Maria Farrell: We need to rewild the Internet 

Listen to Future Tense - Managerialism and our obsession with hierarchy
 

They've just unveiled the world's largest air purifier in Iceland. Christened "Mammoth" the machine can filter up to 36,000 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere every year. It's the biggest carbon capture device ever built – but is it mammoth enough? And do the economics stack up?

Other scientists are using microbes to speed the process of mineralisation, the turning of CO2 into rock.

And all the while the search for alternative energy sources continues with an Icelandic company even getting ready to drill down into an underground magma chamber to try and tap its thermal potential.

Dr Rudy Kahsar – Manager, Carbon Dioxide Removal Team, Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI)

Dr Gokce Ustunisik – Associate Professor of Petrology, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology

Bjorn por Gudmundsson – Chief Executive Officer, Krafla Magma Testbed

Dr Jess Adkins – Professor of Geochemistry and Global Environmental Science, California Institute of Technology

Exploring new ideas, new AI isn't magic, but many of us are accustomed to thinking and talking about it as if it was. It can't solve every problem and its application can sometimes make matters worse. To make the most of Artificial Intelligence we should follow the dictum often used by data scientists – garbage in, garbage out. In other words, AI is only as good as the person who deploys it. In this episode we explore several cautionary examples.

Guests

Dr Guillaume Desjardins – Associate Professor, Industrial Relations, Université du Québec en Outaouais

Dr Magdalena Soffia – Lead author, Workplace AI study, Institute for Work, UK

Virginie Simoneau-Gillbert – Researcher, Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford

Dr Wellett Potter – Lecturer in Law, University of New England

Further information

Briefing Paper: What impact does exposure to workplace technologies have on workers' quality of life? - IFOW 

The Dangers of AI farming (animals)approaches, new technologies — the edge of change.

Australia's disaster response procedures are under review. The new reality requires us to deal with multiple natural disasters simultaneously — to tackle polycrises. While some suggest a more centralised approach, others are calling for something very different — a greater focus on strengthening local community resilience and prioritising mitigation over clean-up. The climate clock is ticking, so which direction promises the greatest return?

Guests

Dr Paul Barnes – Senior Research Fellow and emergency and risk management expert, Griffith University

Rebecca McNaught – Research Fellow, University Centre for Rural Health, Lismore, NSW

Mark Duckworth – Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Resilient and Inclusive Societies, Deakin University

Professor Mehmet Ulubasoglu – Director of the Centre for Energy, the Environment and Natural Disasters, Deakin University

Listen to Future Tense — Designing buildings for disasters

Across the globe single household occupancy is skyrocketing. In some Western cities "singletons" make up almost fifty per cent. But it's a trend that's largely slipped under the radar. Policy makers are yet to catch up with the new social reality. The growing cohort has significant economic potential, but they continue to face stereotyping and discrimination.

Globally, around 300 million people consider themselves "influencers" or professional content creators. In the United States alone the number is approximately 13 million – that's roughly the same size of the US manufacturing sector. It's a precarious profession and the reasons for choosing to become an influencer are many and varied. So, what does their rise tell us about the modern workforce? Also, building islands to create offshore energy hubs; and a warning about the dangers of normalising the abnormal.