FARSIGHT

Kahn the genius, Kahn the futurist, Kahn the psychopath. The FARSIGHT hosts take a closer look at the life and legacy of one of the 20th century’s most influential futurists and public intellectuals.

Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute.

Hosts: Casper Skovgaard Petersen & August Leo Liljenberg

Sources

Alex Abella: Soldiers of Reason: The RAND Corporation and the Rise of the American Empire

Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi: The Worlds of Herman Kahn: The Intuitive Science of Thermonuclear War

Paul Dragos Aligica: “The challenge of the future and the institutionalization of interdisciplinarity: notes on Herman Kahn’s legacy”

Herman Kahn: On Thermonuclear War

Herman Kahn: The Year 2000

Neil Pickett: A History of Hudson Institute

Published by the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies

When confronted with the great crises of our time, a sense of hope about the future can seem naïve at best, or even counterproductive if it leads to complacency.

Yet thinkers across psychology, behavioural science, and philosophy recognise hope as an essential driver of social and societal change. Far from being a passive sentiment, hope paired with purposeful action enables humans to imagine alternative futures and work their way through tough times.

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Author: Lisa Di Giulio

Narration: Manya Lind (with ElevenLabs AI)

Published by the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies

Most futurists prefer the exploration of multiple potential scenarios over determinate paths. Some will say prediction is entirely impossible – but is this necessarily true?

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Author: Christian Kaarup Baron

Narration: August Leo Liljenberg (with ElevenLabs AI)

Published by the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies

Across wealthy societies, citizens no longer believe the future will be better than the past. The idea of progress as an inevitable historical force was born in the Western world – now it may be drawing its last breath there, too.

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Authors: Casper Skovgaard Petersen & Suus Hulsen

Narration: Manya Lind (with ElevenLabs AI)

Published by the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies

We now understand that the future is not fixed but contingent – it can unfold in an endless number of ways, its outcome hinging on both choice and chance. When did humans discover that the future is undecided, and what did it mean?

We’re joined by Thomas Moynihan, a thinker and author interested in X-risk, deep possibility, planetary-scale thinking, and the history of human self-understanding. Thomas Moynihan’s upcoming book is The History of Contingency and Future-Oriented Thought.

Subscribe to FARSIGHT in print by becoming a ⁠Futures Member⁠ at the Institute.

Hosts: Casper Skovgaard Petersen & August Leo Liljenberg

Guest: Thomas Moynihan

Published by the ⁠Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies

With artificial intelligence comes radical change in how information is both created and retained. What place do humans have in future knowledge ecologies?

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Author: Caitlin van Bommel

Narration: August Leo Liljenberg (with ElevenLabs AI)

Published by the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies

How have societies collapsed in the past? Are we heading towards a global societal collapse? And, if looking towards history, is collapse always necessarily a bad thing when viewed from the perspective of the 99%?

In this podcast, Luke Kemp (re)-joins us for yet another episode of FARSIGHT to talk about his latest book Goliath's Curse: The History and Future of Societal Collapse.

Luke Kemp is a Research Affiliate & Former research Associate at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge.

Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute.

Hosts: Casper Skovgaard Petersen & August Leo Liljenberg

Guest: Luke Kemp

Published by the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies

Once a minor concern, migration now ranks as one of Europe’s top political issues among voters. As fertility rates decline and strategic independence becomes a priority, calls for both low- and high-skilled immigration are growing among Europe’s leaders. We sketch out four scenarios for the future of European migration.

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Author: Patrick Henry Gallen

Narration: August Leo Liljenberg (with ElevenLabs AI)

Published by the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies

As the world grows older, will it also become more peaceful by consequence?

We speak to Mark Haas, Professor of Political Science at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and author of The Geriatric Peace: Population Aging and the Decline of War (Oxford University Press).

Ageing, Haas says, will not only increase the cost and lessen the preferences and capacity for war in aged countries - it will also likely prevent a great power transition from the US to China.

Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a ⁠Futures Member⁠ at the Institute.

Guest: Mark L. Haas

Hosts: Casper Skovgaard Petersen, August Leo Liljenberg

Research and production assistant: Suus Hulsen

Published by the ⁠Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies

Worldwide digital connectedness increasingly resembles an external brain, and the ability to perceive the digital world has become indispensible to us. Is the tree of evolution sprouting a new branch?

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Author: Peter Hesseldahl

Narration: August Leo Liljenberg (with ElevenLabs AI)

Published by the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies