Augmented and virtual realities are introducing a digital layering to the human experience that will dramatically impact every city of the future. In “Multiplanar Humanity” we explore the complications and potential of a multi-layered world, starting with one of the more practical applications of augmented reality technology — construction, and a look at how the first city on Mars will be built. Then, we complicate the story, and take a peak inside that next, totally virtual layer of human civilization. From communication and leisure to education and love, this is the future of reality.

In our second episode on materials science, we take a look at metal. Christina Lomasney is the CEO of Modumetal, a company nanoscopically-engineering alloys. In a wide-ranging conversation, we talked about her work at Modumetal, the Martian applications of her work, the decentralized city, and the democratization of engineering.

Dan Widmaier is the founder and CEO of Bolt Threads. They make materials from nature that are high performance, but hard to extract, and develop technology that makes the scaling of production on these materials possible. Today, they're making spider silk affordable to the average consumer. We're designing a new world, and to build our new world we'll necessarily be developing new materials. But before we start inventing, let’s take a close look at what already exists in nature, and develop technologies capable of making the most of these resources.

What if you could plant a seed, and grow a building? A few episodes ago we talked to Paul Dabrowski, CEO of Synthego, a company building tools that help biologists. Paul's hope for the field of synthetic biology is a path to curing all disease. But in a world of further biological understanding, there are few limits to what we can grow. Let’s talk about the biological factory.

As we plan the shape of our future Martian capital, we continue our conversation with Adrian Aoun, founder of Forward, a company changing the way we think about the doctor. In our last episode we spoke broadly about the world — the way policy and design affect our lives today, and some of the ways they could or should change in the 21st Century. Today, we speak a little more specifically: how do we improve healthcare?

What will the first city on Mars look like? From a brief history of urban planning and utopianism on Earth, to selecting the site for our first colony on Mars, and laying down a new philosophy of city planning with an expert at the intersection of technology and civilization, we're laying our foundation. We've built a new world, now how will we be living on that world?

Technology has changed the nature of the threats our society is facing, but the defense industry is still mostly approaching these questions with a twentieth century mindset. Before we can make meaningful progress, we have to change our approach to the question. We sat down with Palmer Luckey to talk about his new company, Anduril, and the application of innovative thinking native to the technology industry to the problem of securing human civilization.

Founders Fund recently hosted a panel on defense: a conversation at the intersection of the U.S. government and the technology industry, or D.C. vs. Silicon Valley. Moderated by Dan Primack, and featuring Chris Lynch, Heather Podesta, and Trae Stephens.

Technology has changed the nature of the threats our society is facing, but the defense industry is still generally approaching these questions with a twentieth century mindset. Before we can make meaningful progress in the space, we need to reconceptualize our approach to the question.

But before we dig any further into the specifics of the technology, and developments we’re starting to see on that front, it’s worth talking about the government — our current relationship, and how we might improve the way we work together.

What if we had to rebuild human civilization from scratch — on Earth? Could you build a power plant with your own hands and some raw material? Let's start smaller: what about the printing press? We sat down with Lewis Dartnell, author of the Knowledge, to talk about our world of cascading, interrelated invention, how one might go about rebuilding it in a worst case scenario, and how to keep ours safe.

What if instead of changing the Martian environment to better suit human life... we changed the human being — genetically? In conversation with Josiah Zayner, George Church, and Paul Dabrowski, we take a look at redesigning the human being into a species capable of thriving on an alien world. Then, what are the ethical concerns of biological self-determination, and why are people so afraid of genetic engineering?