In this episode of The Future With Friends, Simon is joined by his vivacious and very lovable friend Amy Scott to explore her ironically chosen topic - the future of silence.
Set in 2045, Amy’s future scenario imagines a world where AI mediation and constant digital noise have made true silence a rare luxury. Drawing on her own experiences, including a transformative silent retreat, Amy and Simon dive into what silence means in an age overflowing with conversation, notifications, and background noise.
They explore the many layers of silence - from its role in mental health and mindfulness to the social and cultural forces that determine who gets to experience it. Together, they question whether silence has become a privilege, and what it might mean to value it not just as the absence of sound, but as the presence of awareness.
And in a delightfully ironic twist, Simon and Amy do their best to honour pauses and moments of quiet throughout the episode - no small feat for two naturally big, talkative personalities.
Their conversation ranges from the healing power of natural soundscapes to the possibility of silence being designed, protected, or even mandated in the future.
At its heart, The Future of Silence is an invitation to pause, to listen more deeply to ourselves, to each other, and to the world around us - and to imagine how stillness might become one of the most valuable resources of the decades ahead.
GUEST: