Modem Futura is your weekly guide to the future of science, technology, and society—where futures and foresight meets real-world impact. Hosts Sean Leahy and Andrew Maynard—educators, futurists, and public scholars—dive into the breakthroughs and big questions shaping tomorrow: AI ethics, space exploration, climate tech, bio-engineering, digital media, STEM education, and the shifting future of work. In candid, banter-filled conversations with innovators, scholars, and storytellers, they unpack how emerging technologies influence human values, creativity, and culture—and what these trends mean for you today.
Whether you’re curious about quantum computing, electric air taxis, or the sociology of robots, Modem Futura connects cutting-edge research with the narratives that drive innovation. Join us each week to explore possible, probable, and preferred futures, and discover practical insights for navigating an increasingly tech-driven world. Follow and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and be part of the conversation exploring what it will mean to be human in the future!
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Modem Futura is your weekly guide to the future of science, technology, and society—where futures and foresight meets real-world impact. Hosts Sean Leahy and Andrew Maynard—educators, futurists, and public scholars—dive into the breakthroughs and big questions shaping tomorrow: AI ethics, space exploration, climate tech, bio-engineering, digital media, STEM education, and the shifting future of work. In candid, banter-filled conversations with innovators, scholars, and storytellers, they unpack how emerging technologies influence human values, creativity, and culture—and what these trends mean for you today.
Whether you’re curious about quantum computing, electric air taxis, or the sociology of robots, Modem Futura connects cutting-edge research with the narratives that drive innovation. Join us each week to explore possible, probable, and preferred futures, and discover practical insights for navigating an increasingly tech-driven world. Follow and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and be part of the conversation exploring what it will mean to be human in the future!
We put Apple Vision Pro to work—literally. From six‑monitor flight‑friendly workflows to immersive media, telepresence “personas,” and shared spatial spaces, we explore what spatial computing is (and isn’t), where it adds value, and what comes after the headset.
A Modem Futura Halloween special episode of Futures Improv – a game that merges science fiction, futures thinking, and spooky fun — exploring haunted algorithms, sentient mirrors, and neural nightmare tech in this fun and spooktacular “Tech or Treat.”
Sean Leahy and Andrew Maynard explore global attitudes toward AI, from optimism to unease, while questioning who gets to shape our technological futures—and what trust, transparency, and playfulness look like in an algorithmic age.
Sean and Andrew dissect the wild week in AI—from Sora 2 and Walmart’s ChatGPT partnership to the launch of AI and the Art of Being Human—asking what happens when technology starts writing the rules of reality itself.
A year in, Modem Futura reflects on how a relational podcast builds real community while exploring the possible, probable, and preferable futures across AI, robotics, mobility, space, media, and more—then dives into “liquid media,” workplace “work slop,” and playful future prompts to kick off Year Two.
How do you thrive with AI—and rediscover yourself in the process? We launch AI and the Art of Being Human with guest Jeffrey Abbott, covering the book’s AI‑augmented writing process, 21 practical tools, and community‑first paths to intentional futures.
Educator Tara Menghini joins Modem Futura to unpack how AI and digital tools are transforming K–6 learning, from balancing screen time with hands-on play to building early habits of judgment, resilience, and digital citizenship. A candid conversation about raising kids in an AI-shaped world.
What happens when pop culture slang becomes a signal of social backlash against AI? In this milestone episode of Modem Futura, Sean Leahy and Andrew Maynard unpack the rise of “clanker” (and its messy cousin, “slopper”) as new pejoratives aimed at AI systems—and the people who use them exploring whether we’re witnessing AI’s “Frankenfood” moment. They trace the social backlash, its parallels to past tech controversies, and what it signals for our future with intelligent machines.
Sean Leahy and Andrew Maynard get real about a practical primer on futures thinking—mindset, methods, ethics, and classroom/corporate use—so you can navigate uncertainty with agency. If you’re curious about backcasting, horizon scanning, and avoiding “used futures,” this episode is your on‑ramp.
Sean and Andrew revisit Films from the Future to unpack how sci-fi movies like Jurassic Park, Ex Machina, and Contact reveal deep truths about technology, ethics, and society. From clones and crime prediction to AI manipulation, the films spark urgent questions about the future of being human.
Modem Futura explores the world of eVTOLs—personal flying drones and air taxis—unpacking the technology, risks, and societal implications of a possible “flying car” future. Are we on the edge of a mobility revolution, or just rehashing a Jetsons dream, and what about those dirigibles?
Agentic AI, beyond the hype: Sean Leahy and Andrew Maynard joined by Punya Mishra to explore the futures of AI can and how these tools can amplify Dewey’s impulses and Papert’s constructionism, resist surveillance‑driven efficiency, and support learning as a lifelong process of becoming—rather than a pipeline to predefined outcomes.
Where is AI on the hype cycle—and how do we keep the human voice intact when co‑authoring with machines? Sean and Andrew map hype vs. reality (agentic AI, open‑weight models), then look ahead to spatial/ambient computing and sensor‑rich futures.
Sean and Andrew dissect Meta’s “super‑intelligence is within sight” claim, challenge AI solutionism, and map out how humans can keep agency—and reliability—in the age of emerging future digital technologies and the ever‑shifting large language models.
Sean and Andrew are joined by ASU's Sean Dudley to explore how bio‑hybrid robots—part organism, part machine—are reshaping medicine, defense, and our very definition of life. From cyborg cockroaches to muscle‑powered prosthetics, they debate the promises and perils of a future where technology is literally alive.
In this episode Sean and Andrew unpack the new U.S. 2025 AI Action Plan and the rise of “agentic” bots, asking whether deregulated speed, colossal data‑centers, and algorithmic tutors will shape a flourishing future—or an automated dystopia. Tune in for sharp policy analysis, live tech demos, and plenty of skeptical humor.
Dr. Rachna Mathur joins Sean on this summer episode of Modem Futura to explore how generative AI and emerging technologies are already rewriting childhood, schooling, and work—and why a balanced, futures‑oriented mindset is essential to avoid dystopia and build preferable futures.
Episode 40 celebrates summer cinema while interrogating what AI‑rich storytelling means for education, media, and the human future. From Superman and Megan 2 to liquid media, dead‑internet theory, and Clippy’s hypothetical uprising, Sean and Andrew deliver equal parts popcorn fun and mind‑bending foresight.
Dive into Modem Futura’s “Summer Vibes” episode, where hosts Dr. Sean M. Leahy and Dr. Andrew Maynard unpack Apple Vision Pro spatial video, Jurassic World’s reboot, Formula 1’s cinematic debut, and China’s AI surge after WEF’s “Summer Davos”—all while exploring how these breakthroughs reshape humanity’s tech‑driven future.
Sean Leahy and Andrew Maynard trade print, pixels, and audio to curate a fiction-futurist-friendly summer reading list, spanning Dear Committee Members, to Murderbot, to Jurassic Park—and explore how imaginative fiction seeds real-world insights into the emerging futures of science, technology, AI, society, and what it means to be human.
Modem Futura is your weekly guide to the future of science, technology, and society—where futures and foresight meets real-world impact. Hosts Sean Leahy and Andrew Maynard—educators, futurists, and public scholars—dive into the breakthroughs and big questions shaping tomorrow: AI ethics, space exploration, climate tech, bio-engineering, digital media, STEM education, and the shifting future of work. In candid, banter-filled conversations with innovators, scholars, and storytellers, they unpack how emerging technologies influence human values, creativity, and culture—and what these trends mean for you today.
Whether you’re curious about quantum computing, electric air taxis, or the sociology of robots, Modem Futura connects cutting-edge research with the narratives that drive innovation. Join us each week to explore possible, probable, and preferred futures, and discover practical insights for navigating an increasingly tech-driven world. Follow and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and be part of the conversation exploring what it will mean to be human in the future!
