Welcome to Visionaries, a podcast dedicated to futurological thinkers brought to you by Future Human and the V&A. We seek out people who are reimagining innovation in their field, and ask them to apply their intelligence to emerging trends. 

Owen Holland is professor of cognitive robotics at the University of Sussex, where he works to simulate human intelligence in robots. His research similarly focuses on analysing the potential for engineering machine consciousness. 

What is consciousness, what does it do and how did it evolve? Professor Holland explains why knowledge of the conscious processes of our mind will become deeper and more distributed in the years to come, and why this will lead to a ‘reconception’ of the human mind. Might the neuronal systems of the brain be replicated to create artificial consciousness? And if so, would machine consciousness be superior to our own? Presented by Jack Gwilym Roberts.

Future Human – understand radical change: futurehuman.io. 

Future Human Visionaries #1— Owen Holland on replicating consciousness

Welcome to Visionaries, a podcast dedicated to futurological thinkers brought to you by Future Human and the V&A. We seek out people who are reimagining innovation in their field, and ask them to apply their intelligence to emerging trends.

Cher Potter is a senior editor at the fashion forecasting company WGSN. She analyses sociopolitical and cultural trends and their potential impact on the fashion industry – in essence, predicting probable futures. 

How do trend forecasters identify the cultural shifts that shape consumer attitudes? Potter explains how the trend analysts make sense of a complex web of consumer behaviours, and how the narratives they craft manifest themselves in fashion products on the high street. But will trend forecasting services like WGSN see their influence wane as customers and manufacturers source more information online? Presented by Jack Gwilym Roberts. 


Future Human Visionaries #2 – Cher Potter on trend forecasting

Welcome to Visionaries, a podcast dedicated to futurological thinkers brought to you by Future Human and the V&A. We seek out people who are reimagining innovation in their field, and ask them to apply their intelligence to emerging trends.

Liam Young is an architect at the thinktank Tomorrows Thoughts Today. Their work focuses on researching ‘urban futures’, and examining past visions of future buildings to better understand the contemporary evolution of their industry.

He describes how he works with production designers and special effects teams from movies such as Alien and Blade Runner to visualise the role of the city in a digital world. Could we see the emergence of ‘data suburbs’, a technologically stratified housing market, and ‘weaponised connectivity’, as governments and corporations seek to control urban environments? And are utopian visions of architecture useful or profoundly misleading? Presented by Ben Beaumont-Thomas. 

Future Human Visionaries #3 — Liam Young on utopian architecture

Welcome to Visionaries, a podcast dedicated to futurological thinkers brought to you by Future Human and the V&A. We seek out people who are reimagining innovation in their field, and ask them to apply their intelligence to emerging trends.

Zoe Laughlin is an artist and the co-founder of the Materials Library at University College London (UCL). She is also the co-founder of UCL’s ‘Institute of Making’, which researches emerging materials, and the manufacturing processes that employ these, such as 3D printing.

She describes how the changing properties of artificial materials are seeing scientists create objects with improbable qualities: extreme elasticity, apparent indestructibility, refractive ‘invisibility’ and even an ability to self-repair damage. How rapidly will such developments in materials science transform the industrial sphere, consumer culture and our basic understanding of the physical objects that surround us? And might emerging materials with similar qualities be used to fortify the human body? Presented by Ben Beaumont-Thomas.

Future Human Visionaries #4— Zoe Laughlin on emerging materials

Welcome to Visionaries, a podcast dedicated to futurological thinkers brought to you by Future Human and the V&A. We seek out people who are reimagining innovation in their field, and ask them to apply their intelligence to emerging trends.

Wouter Vantisphout is the founder of the Crimson Architectural Historians Collective, and works at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. Rather than operate in an academic context, Wouter and the Crimson Collective apply their expertise to live architectural projects.

He explains how the Crimson Collective transformed a 1960s modernist utopian social housing project in the Rotterdam town of Hoogvliet. By 2000 the town had fallen into a pattern of deindustrialisation, social ghettoisation and criminal activity until Crimson Collective realised a ‘techno pastoral’ vision of the town, which was focused on a very moral ideal of public social activity that became celebrated around the world. What role can architects play in shaping the values of a society? And can the social housing projects of the 21st century learn from the failures of past architectural utopians? Presented by Jack Gwilym Roberts. 

Future Human Visionaries #5 — Wouter Vantisphout on societal engineering

Welcome to Visionaries, a podcast dedicated to futurological thinkers brought to you by Future Human and the V&A. We seek out people who are reimagining innovation in their field, and ask them to apply their intelligence to emerging trends.

Mary Ryan is professor of materials science and nanotechnology at Imperial College London. Her work focuses the use of nanotechnology within electrochemistry, exploring how tiny ‘nanomaterials' can strengthen metals. 

Could the visualisation and assembly of materials on an atomic scale disrupt our economic landscape? Professor Ryan analyses the potential of ‘atomically precise manufacturing’ and it’s capacity to build programmable, self-replicating machines. How might global economics shift in a world where complex, microscopic robots cost less to produce than a single printed character in a daily newspaper? 

She argues that the commercial potential of nanotechnology, which has led military, security and energy corporations to engage in a science funding arms race, is blinding scientists to the fears of the general public. How can scientists involve citizens in an informed debate about a technology that could greatly enhance human civilisation yet also damage it forcefully? Presented by Ben Beaumont-Thomas. 

Future Human Visionaries #6 — Mary Ryan on the impact of nanotechnology

Welcome to Visionaries, a podcast dedicated to futurological thinkers brought to you by Future Human and the V&A. We seek out people who are reimagining innovation in their field, and ask them to apply their intelligence to emerging trends.

Michael Stöppler is an entrepreneur and former academic who is leading the research project ‘Brand Fiction Space’ for the German car company Audi. Brand Fiction Space is an experimental venture that is rethinking the long term future of the company: they are doing this by commissioning some of the world’s leading science fiction authors, including William Gibson, China Mieville and Bruce Sterling, to work with filmmakers to produce films on the evolution of mobility in the 21st century.

How might corporate science fiction shape the strategic planning of modern companies? Stöppler argues that while 20th century urban development and population trends were dominated by the motor car, this trend will likely slow in the 21st century. But can a car marque like Audi truly ‘disentangle’ itself from the product it manufactures? And why should leading corporations seek to mutate themselves when they are already profitable? Presented by Jack Gwilym Roberts.

Future Human Visionaries #7 — Michael Stöppler on corporate science fiction

Welcome to Visionaries, a podcast dedicated to futurological thinkers brought to you by Future Human and the V&A. We seek out people who are reimagining innovation in their field and ask them to apply their intelligence to emerging trends.

Rebecca Earley is the head of the Textile Futures Research Centre (TFRC) at the University of the Arts London. The TFRC analyses how clothing can enhance personal wellbeing and lifestyle, conducting collaborative research projects with textiles designers, fashion entrepreneurs and scientists. Earley’s own work focuses on the environmental footprint of textile production, and how emerging technologies and production techniques can affect this.

She describes how synthetic biology will transform the textiles and materials used to manufacture clothes and apparel. Potential applications include wearable devices that release fragrances or pharmaceuticals to enhance our mood, leather that naturally moulds itself to the contours of our feet, and ‘distributed manufacturing’ that sees complex sequins and embroidery produced cheaply by 3D printers. But will scientific breakthroughs really reduce the environmental impact of mass fashion consumerism? And are visions of clothes technology improving our health overstated? Presented by Ben Beaumont-Thomas.

Future Human Visionaries #8 — Rebecca Earley on the use of synthetic biology in textiles

Welcome to Visionaries, a podcast dedicated to futurological thinkers brought to you by Future Human and the V&A. We seek out people who are reimagining innovation in their field and ask them to apply their intelligence to emerging trends.

Ken Arnold is the head of Public Programmes at the Wellcome Collection, a world renowned museum that explores ideas connecting medicine, art and everyday life. As the principal manager of their public exhibitions, he describes the changing role of the museum amid a culture that is increasingly shaped by new digital technologies and services.

Will the ‘post-institutional’ museum curate expertise instead of artefacts? And might cultural institutions that help us understand our past evolve into public theatres for the futurological visions of artists and scientists? Presented by Jack Gwilym Roberts.

Future Human Visionaries #9 — Ken Arnold on the ‘post-institutional’ museum

Welcome to Visionaries, a podcast dedicated to futurological thinkers brought to you by Future Human and the V&A. We seek out people who are reimagining innovation in their field and ask them to apply their intelligence to emerging trends.

Claire Jamieson is a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) thinktank ‘Building Futures’. Building Futures are a group of experts who research long term scenarios for the architectural industry, projecting how buildings and urban spaces will change as a result of social, technological, demographic and environmental changes.

Is the core remit of architecture moving away from building design towards anticipating the demands of a future society? And if so, how will architects reorganise their practises to serve these needs, and balance them with commercial imperatives? Presented by Ben Beaumont-Thomas.

Future Human Visionaries #10 — Claire Jamieson on the architect of 2020

Welcome to Visionaries, a podcast dedicated to futurological thinkers brought to you by Future Human and the V&A. We seek out people who are reimagining innovation in their field and ask them to apply their intelligence to emerging trends.

Anab Jain and Jon Arden are the directors of Superflux, a design consultancy and research lab based in India and the UK. The work of Superflux focuses on how emerging technologies are changing our everyday life and environment, with the ambition of helping companies make these tools more accessible.

They describe how breakthroughs in synthetic biology are informing their work, from gene sequencing projects that seek to identify the alleles that determine human intelligence to DARPA’s efforts to create ‘natural drones’ by hacking the brains of bees.

How can designers shape the way advanced technologies are experienced and understood by the general public? And will their role grow increasingly redundant at a time when products can be designed anywhere in the world, and then manufactured locally and cheaply at great speed? Presented by Ben Beaumont Thomas.

Future Human Visionaries #11 — Superflux on biologically inspired design

Welcome to Visionaries, a podcast dedicated to futurological thinkers brought to you by Future Human and the V&A. We seek out people who are reimagining innovation in their field and ask them to apply their intelligence to emerging trends.

Jan Boelen is a Belgian art curator and academic who is the director of the Z33 gallery in Hassalt, Belgium. Z33 run art exhibitions that imagine future societies and the issues they will face. He describes the tension between physical and digital experience in our everyday lives, and how this is shaping contemporary artwork. 

How are museums making themselves a multidimensional experience for visitors? Is the idea of the ‘post-institutional’ museum just a fanciful dream? And is there a danger that the complex ambitions of modern cultural institutions will alienate visitors? Presented by Ben Beaumont-Thomas. 

Future Human Visionaries #12 — Jan Boelen on the multidimensional museum

Future Human has teamed up with the V&A, the world’s leading museum of art and design, to launch a weekly podcast series that will introduce listeners to some of the Europe's most radically progressive minds. Visionaries seeks out individuals who are reimagining innovation in their field, and asks them to apply their intelligence to emerging trends. Hosted by Jack Gwilym Roberts with Ben Beaumont-Thomas. 

Future Human – understand radical change: futurehuman.io

Future Human Visionaries

Popular tracks