Flash Forward

Today we travel to a future where humans share our robotic knowledge with the rest of the animal kingdom—for better, and for worse.

This is also the LAST EPISODE of Flash Forward 1.0. Listen to the end for my sappy goodbye to this version of the show, a show that has really meant the world to me. 

More info & show notes here: https://www.flashforwardpod.com/2021/12/21/final-episode-robots-could-robots-replace-animals/

FINAL EPISODE!! ROBOTS: Could Robots Replace Animals?

More info & show notes here: https://www.flashforwardpod.com/2022/06/28/can-you-be-sued-by-a-river/

Can You Be Sued By A River?

More info & show notes here: https://www.flashforwardpod.com/2022/11/07/vanguard-estates-living-with-dementia/

Vanguard Estates: Living With Dementia

More info & show notes here: https://www.flashforwardpod.com/2022/11/14/vanguard-estates-the-future-of-the-aging-brain/

Vanguard Estates: The Future of the Aging Brain

More info & show notes here: https://www.flashforwardpod.com/2022/11/21/vanguard-estates-can-robots-really-help-the-aging/

Vanguard Estates: Can Robots Really Help the Aging?

More info & show notes here: https://www.flashforwardpod.com/2022/11/28/vanguard-estates-the-true-cost-of-care/

Vanguard Estates: The True Cost of Care

This is the final series for Flash Forward ever. The finale is three episodes, each about some aspect of future thinking that has been on my mind. It's part manifesto about the future, part love letter to listeners, part summation of what I've learned from making Flash Forward for eight years. I really hope you like it!

PUPATION

PRECIPICE

HOPE

PRECIPICE (by Lazerbeak)

There are currently millions of pieces of trash orbiting Earth, everything from defunct satellites all the way down to tiny flecks of paint. Each of those millions of pieces of debris is traveling 17,500 miles per hour as it hurtles through space. At those speeds, a collision with an active satellite or spacecraft can cause serious damage. And experts think that if humans don’t do something about all the junk up there pretty soon, low Earth Orbit could become unusable.

This episode we take on a future where space junk has gotten so bad, that active spacecraft are constantly having to maneuver around it, which wastes fuel and cuts down on operation time. And humans decide to finally do something about it. But what?

The Space Roomba

What would it be like if we could actually understand what animals were saying?

Dr. Doolittle

What if we just gave everybody money? It sounds simple, but universal basic income is a trendy idea again and a lot of you have asked for an episode about a future where everybody gets money from the government no matter what. And it turns out that while it sounds simple, just giving everybody money is way more complicated than you might thing.

Money For Nothing

Computers are getting smaller and smaller. But what if we had sensors the size of dust, that could float through the air undetected, talk to one another, gather information, and transmit that information back down to a central place? This is the concept behind smart dust, and it’s more plausible than you might think.

Eyes In The Skies

Would you replace ALL your food with pills? Where does this trope come from in science fiction, and what does it say about us that it still persists?

Farm To Tablet

If humans want to really have a go at leaving Earth and living in space or on other planets, we’re going to have to figure out a lot of things: spaceships, food supplies, fuel, how to keep everybody from killing one another. But one thing seems to be frequently left out of the picture, when it comes to distant space travel research: reproduction. It turns out we know very, very little about what pregnancy in space might look like, or whether it’s even possible at all.

What To Expect When You're Expecting In Space

Flash Forward is a show about possible (and not so possible) future scenarios. What would the warranty on a sex robot look like? How would diplomacy work if we couldn’t lie? Could there ever be a fecal transplant black market? (Complicated, it wouldn’t, and yes, respectively, in case you’re curious.) Hosted and produced by award winning science journalist Rose Eveleth, each episode combines audio drama and journalism to go deep on potential tomorrows, and uncovers what those futures might really be like. The future is going to be weird, so let's get ready for it together.

The Space Roomba

Flash Forward

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