The Futurists Provoke.fm

What happens when society is subject to accelerated change? Now we know: uncertainty and widespread panic. March 2023 was the month when the old systems began to collapse and entirely new systems were launched. In one month we experienced a viral run on banks, the launch of AI superpowers, and the exposure of systematic deceit at a major news publisher. In this special edition of The Futurists, co-hosts Brett King and Robert Tercek review current events through the lens of the future. Who profits from uncertainty and confusion? How do the merchants of doubt leverage social and traditional media to undermine faith in conventional norms and governance?  Can the trustworthiness of machine learning systems be certified?  By whom?  Discussion topics include: democracy versus autocracy in a time of rapid change; the business of social inequality; the failure of Silicon Valley Bank; lies and manipulation at Fox News; the false dichotomy of political parties;  the inaccuracy of ChatGPT; the advent of robotic corporations in the clouds; why it’s more profitable to break consensus than to build it; and the greater chaos is yet to come. 

In this weeks episode of The Futurists we talk to author Gunjan Bagla, a leading figure in India-US trade relationships and commerce. Bagla argues that while China is seen as a massive threat to the US, India is a natural ally of the west having supported outsourcing over the last 4 decades, and being more aligned on policy. But like China, India has big ambitions and will overtake China as the most populous nation this decade. Will that translate into economic growth or does India need infrastructure investment to level up as a global economic powerhouse? 

Co-hosts Brett King and Robert Tercek interview journalist Dean Takahashi, who has been covering innovation in the game industry for three decades. Dean gives The Futurists a post-CES roundup of new trends and genres that span a dizzying array of evolving technologies. 







Games have expanded beyond a niche category of entertainment to dominate mainstream media. Games now foster new story franchises that attract tens of millions of fans daily. Dean explains how game tech is blurring the boundaries between the classic game industry and other media, such as motion pictures and television series. He tells us why game developers are most likely to lead the way into the metaverse. And he anticipates interoperable game economies where any player can also be a creator of generative worlds that are photorealistic. Topics include: core gamers, casual games, free-to-play, cloud gaming, blockchain games, VR and AR, Roblox, Fortnite, PUBG, digital twins and game communities. 







Websites: 







@DeanTak on Twitter







GamesBeat.com







VentureBeat.com

Co-hosts Brett King and Rob Tercek speak with medical futurist Dr. Daniel Kraft on the topic of exponential health care. Kraft reports that we’ve entered a decade-long era of rapid innovation that began with the pandemic. Covid-19 accelerated progress in health care from incremental to exponential, including: vaccines derived from messenger RNA, consumerized health care and home diagnostic kits, loosening of regulation to allow telemedicine, and innovation in payments. What’s next: hybrid care, AI medical chatbots, the “mediverse”, advanced sensors, DNA sequencing, the Big Data shift from quantified self to quantified health, advances in wearables, “predictalytics", the advantages of crowdsourcing actionable data, democratization and equity in global health care, medical tricorders, 3D printed medications and foods, “humanized” pigs. Daniel extends an invitation to listeners to visit his event www.NextMed.Health and to access the free resources at www.Digital.Health 







https://danielkraftmd.net/

Anders Sorman-Nilsson is a Swedish futurist living in Australia, but he believes that humanity is on the cusp of a new renaissance where humanity finds purpose beyond consumption and market profit. He calls out human systems that are coming to a natural conclusion due to this emerging thinking, including the damage that fossil fuel companies and others have done to our ecosystem in the name of profits. Ultimately, Anders is an optimist but he thinks that human behavior and technological leaps and bounds don't necessarily align, but it's navigating the conflict between our long-held traditions, global conflicts, and climate disasters, along with our rapidly advancing technical capabilities that will define humanity for centuries to come. We get deep on this one...

In this episode, creative technologist Roger Holzberg recounts his personal career journey from the Imagineering studio at the Walt Disney Company, where he devised and built original theme park rides, to his second career as where he applies immersive technology to health care and healing, first at the National Cancer Institute and now as a med tech innovator at Reimagine Well.  Roger explains the subtle art of balancing new technologies with real world events and the ever-evolving customer experience. Discussion topics include: designing deep futures, the use case for virtual reality and augmented reality, dealing with animated dolphins, lessons from Walt Disney’s Imagineering, visualization tech in cancer treatment and research, the use of distraction therapy, healthcare by design, teaching the art of world building, turning students in Imagineers, environmental sustainability.  







https://reimaginewell.com/