Future Imperfect

By Jason KingsleyScience History Natural Sciences

Future Imperfect episodes

April 28, 2022 Is the world coming to an end?
Professor Nicholas Guyatt joins Jason to talk about apocalyptic cults, beliefs in the end of the world, and what that might look like.

Producer: Natt Tapley
Assistant Producer: Abi Robinson
Audio: Pete Dennis

Image: St Jean de Montmartre 4th Horseman of Apocalypse by Peter Haas licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 3.0
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
52 min
April 01, 2022 Were the Dark Ages dark?
Jason talks to David Perry & Matt Gabriele about their new book, The Bright Ages, which tries to reassess the period after the fall of the Roman empire (if that even happened).

Producer: Natt Tapley
Audio: Pete Dennis
Assistant Producer: Abi Robinson
Photo by Ali Khalil from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/columns-and-dome-of-hagia-sophia-7542061/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
46 min
March 13, 2022 When did we invent love?
Jason talks to Professor Suzannah Lipscomb about how we find out about mediaeval women in the past, how marriages worked, and whether or not Henry VIII was the ultimate romantic?

Producer: Natt Tapley
Audio: Pete Dennis
Assistant Producer: Abi Robinson
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
41 min
March 06, 2022 How does bias change the world?
Jason talks to Jessica Nordell , who showed how small amounts of bias can have huge impact on large organisations.

Producer: Natt Tapley
Audio: Pete Dennis
Assistant Producer: Abi Robinson
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
47 min
February 28, 2022 Why do we have to work?
In this episode, Jason talks to Professor Jan Lucassen about the different roles work has played in human history. Have we always worked? Will we always work? How do we define work?

Producer: Nathaniel Tapley
Audio: Pete Dennis
Assistant Producer: Abi Robinson

Photo by Yury Kim from Pexels
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
52 min
February 14, 2022 Should we worry about World War III?
Recorded last month, Jason talks to Cold War historian Alex von Tunzelmann about tensions between Russia and the West, and whether or not we're all likely to die in a Third World War.

Producer: Natt Tapley
Audio: Pete Dennis
Assistant Producer: Abi Robinson
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
27 min
January 30, 2022 Do plants have souls?
Hildegard of Bingen was a mediaeval abbess who was famous in her own time for her thoughts about the natural world. Michael Marder talks to Jason about what her philosophy can teach us today about the way in which we interact with plants and what it could mean for our future.

Producer: Natt Tapley
Audio: Pete Dennis
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
41 min
January 21, 2022 Are we entering new Fire Age?
Are we entering a new Age of Fire? Emeritus Professor Stephen Pyne believes that we have altered the geological age through our control of fire. Jason talks to him about our past manipulation of fire, and what the world is likely to look like in this new Fire Age.

Producer: Natt Tapley
Audio: Pete Dennis
Photo: Eric Chistov

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
36 min
January 17, 2022 How can we beat our unconscious biases?
Jason talks to Pragya Agarwal about unconscious bias, brain structures and what we can do to combat our own unconscious biases.

Producer: Natt Tapley
Sound: Pete Dennis

Photo by Daniel Reche from Pexels
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
42 min
January 01, 2022 Is there life on Mars?
One of the designers of the Mars Rover, Larry Crumpler, who has been involved in space exploration for forty years joins Jason to talk about the history of space exploration, and where it goes next.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
39 min

About Future Imperfect

From the publisher's feed

Jason Kingsley is a technologist who started one of the UK's most exciting games companies, Rebellion. He's also fascinated by the past. In this podcast he talks to historians, scientists, and experts…