Futurology

Futurology

By Berggruen InstituteSociety & Culture
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Futurology episodes

  • How the UN Stopped World War III (with Shashi Tharoor and Nathan Gardels)

    Hypocrisy, the old line goes, is the tribute vice pays to virtue. For eighty years, the powerful at least bothered to pay it, citing human rights, national security, and democracy as reasons for starting wars and undercutting liberties. Now the veneers have been stripped, and the next generation is not accepting business as usual.

    In this episode, author, Indian MP and former UN Under-Secretary-General Shashi Tharoor discusses how the order that prevented a third world war came apart, why a world more economically entangled than ever has less and less trust holding it together, and what the youth uprisings around the world have in common. His solution? A movement toward not just tolerance of differences, but acceptance of them.

    Subscribe to Futurology on YouTube:

    https://www.youtube.com/@Futurologypod?sub_confirmation=1

    The Futurology Podcast – full episodes on YouTube:

    https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwkiuf1eRbAAHP4p--2IFJbn0CIdaZMva

    Apple Podcasts

    https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921

    Spotify

    https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk


    Why I Am a Hindu — Shashi Tharoor (Book, 2018)

    Surrender Is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations and Abroad — John Bolton (Book, 2007)

    Where to find Shashi Tharoor: 

    Personal site: shashitharoor.in

    Instagram: @shashitharoor 

    X: @ShashiTharoor

    Show ideas and feedback? Email:

     

    Learn more about the Berggruen Institute

    https://www.berggruen.org

     

    Follow Futurology

    Instagram:  / futurologypod

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    Bluesky:  / futurologypod

     

    Credits

    Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, & Jason Hoch

    Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, & Nathalia Ramos

    Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney

    Theme Music: Marcus Bagala

    Audio Engineer: Kyle Scott Wilso

    Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California.

    47 min
  • There's No Mystery About AI Consciousness (with Geoffrey Lee and Grant Slater)

    Machines are starting to act like humans. Does that mean they’re conscious? The problem is we haven’t been able to prove how or why humans are conscious yet either. So why would we be able to offer any answers about AI? 

    In this episode, Berkeley philosopher of mind Geoffrey Lee argues there are no facts coming to save the day when it comes to consciousness, so that shouldn’t be the point. If consciousness can’t be reliably proven or measured, why should we use it to tell us how we should treat other creatures or entities? Calling into question the entire field of consciousness science, Lee posits that consciousness is as consciousness does. And the interesting part is how humanity will embrace or reject machines that do consciousness quite convincingly.

    Subscribe to Futurology on YouTube:

    https://www.youtube.com/@Futurologypod

    The Futurology Podcast — full episodes on YouTube:

    https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwkiuf1eRbAAHP4p--2IFJbn0CIdaZMva

    Apple Podcasts

    https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921

    Spotify

    https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk

    Mentioned in this Episode:

    The Search for the Inner Light: Finding Consciousness in a Physical World — Geoffrey Lee (Book, forthcoming)

    AI Consciousness, Pluralism, and Anthropocentrism — Geoffrey Lee (Essay, 2026)

    Consciousness, Pseudo-Consciousness, and the Moral Significance of Consciousness — Geoffrey Lee (Essay, 2026)

    Selfless Experience — Geoffrey Lee (Essay, 2017)

    Alien Subjectivity and the Importance of Consciousness — Geoffrey Lee (Essay, 2018)

    Materialism and the Epistemic Significance of Consciousness — Geoffrey Lee (Essay, 2013)

    What Is It Like to Be a Bat? — Thomas Nagel (Essay, 1974)

    Where to find Geoffrey Lee:

    Faculty page: Geoffrey Lee, UC Berkeley Philosophy

    Personal site: geoffreyleephilosophy.com


    Show ideas and feedback? Email:

     

    Learn more about the Berggruen Institute

    https://www.berggruen.org

     

    Follow Futurology!

    Instagram:  / futurologypod

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    Bluesky:  / futurologypod

     

    Credits

    Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, & Jason Hoch

    Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, & Nathalia Ramos

    Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney

    Theme Music: Marcus Bagala

    Audio Engineer: Kyle Scott Wilson

     

    Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California.

    1 hr 17 min
  • Multispecies Democracy Now! (with Jonathon Keats and Grant Slater)

    Democracy counts people, not plants. Humans are only a sliver of life on this planet, but today, we're the only ones who get a vote. What if we gave rights to rivers and standing to trees? 

    In this episode, experimental philosopher Jonathon Keats says it's time to make every species count. The environmental movement has spent decades claiming to speak for the trees. In his new book, "A Field Guide to More-Than-Human Governance," Keats says we need to recognize that the trees can speak for themselves. He walks us through how we should expand the franchise by tapping the polling systems already in place from peat moss to slime mold and rodents to rhododendrons. Governance for all creatures, great and small.

    Subscribe to Futurology on YouTube:

    https://www.youtube.com/@Futurologypod

    The Futurology Podcast — full episodes on YouTube:

    https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwkiuf1eRbAAHP4p--2IFJbn0CIdaZMva

    Apple Podcasts

    https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921

    Spotify

    https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk


    Mentioned in this Episode: 

    A Field Guide to More-Than-Human Governance — Jonathon Keats (Book, 2026) — also as ePub

    Centuries of the Bristlecone — Jonathon Keats (Artwork, 2026)

    Assembly of Trees — Jonathon Keats (Artwork, 2024)

    Jargon Watch — Jonathon Keats (Wired column)

    A Portent of Climates to Come: On the Telling Rings of the Bristlecone Pine — Grant Slater (Film, 2013)

    Should Trees Have Standing? — Toward Legal Rights for Natural Objects — Christopher D. Stone (Essay, 1972)

    68 Quadrillion Underground Miles of Fungi — Emily Anthes (New York Times, 2026)


    Where to find Jonathon Keats:

    Berggruen Institute: https://berggruen.org/people/jonathon-keats

    Earth Law Center: https://www.earthlawcenter.org/jonathon-keats

    “A Field Guide to More-Than-Human Governance” (Berggruen Press, 2026): https://berggruen.org/library/a-field-guide-to-more-than-human-governance

    Show ideas and feedback? Email:

     

    Learn more about the Berggruen Institute

    https://www.berggruen.org

     

    Follow Futurology!

    Instagram:  / futurologypod

    Twitter/X:  / futurologypod

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    LinkedIn:  / berggrueninst

    Bluesky:  / futurologypod

     

    Credits

     

    Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, & Jason Hoch

    Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, & Nathalia Ramos

    Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney

    Theme Music: Marcus Bagala

    Audio Engineer: Kyle Scott Wilson

     

    Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California.

    1 hr 38 min
  • Let AI Have Intelligence. We’ll Keep Wisdom. (with Arianna Huffington and Dawn Nakagawa)

    Somewhere around the Enlightenment we decided that thinking was what made us human. We built our schools, careers, and sense of worth at the altar of intelligence. Now machines are passing us on that rubric, which leaves two possibilities: we were replaceable all along, or we picked the wrong standard to live by.

    In this episode, Arianna Huffington, founder & CEO of Thrive Global, argues the latter, saying even our name, sapiens, never meant intelligent: it means wise. She calls this rightsizing of intelligence the fourth dethronement, after Galileo, quantum physics, and Freud. What takes the throne now is the part of us she would simply call the soul.

    Subscribe to Futurology on YouTube:

    https://www.youtube.com/@Futurologypod

    Apple Podcasts

    https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921

    Spotify

    https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk

    Mentioned in this Episode:

    "AI's Greatest Gift To Humanity" — Arianna Huffington (Essay, 2026)

    The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night at a Time — Arianna Huffington (Book, 2016)

    Picasso: Creator and Destroyer — Arianna Huffington (Book, 1988)

    Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder — Arianna Huffington (Book, 2014)

    The Fourth Instinct: The Call of the Soul — Arianna Huffington (Book, 1994)

    After Reason — Arianna Huffington (Book, 1978)

    The Survival of the Wisest — Jonas Salk (Book, 1973)

    Where to find Arianna Huffington:

    Website: https://www.ariannahuffington.com

    Thrive Global: https://www.thriveglobal.com 

    LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ariannahuffington

    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ariannahuff

    X: x.com/ariannahuff

    Facebook: facebook.com/AriannaHuffington


    Show ideas and feedback? Email:

    Learn more about the Berggruen Institute

    https://www.berggruen.org

    Follow Futurology!

    Instagram:  / futurologypod

    Twitter/X:  / futurologypod

    Tiktok:  / futurologypod

    Facebook:  / berggrueninst

    LinkedIn:  / berggrueninst

    Bluesky:  / futurologypod

     

    Credits

    Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, & Jason Hoch

    Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, & Nathalia Ramos

    Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney

    Theme Music: Marcus Bagala

    Audio Engineer: Kyle Scott Wilson

    Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California.

    1 hr 5 min
  • Are We Posthuman? (with N. Katherine Hayles and Claire Webb)

    Relying on machines to coordinate our lives was just one step toward decentering humanity’s role in the world. Flights, banking, trade, food production... But as we start merging our actual decision-making with digital entities, exactly which pieces of humanity are we leaving behind? And how might we bring those pieces back?

    In this episode, famed posthumanist scholar N. Katherine Hayles makes the case that while AI is still wildly inefficient at the cognitive processes our biology has carefully perfected over millennia, we’re already irreversibly merged with it. Hayles has spent forty years at the intersection of science, tech, and literature, leading her to a radical interpretation of what it means to be human today: only as special as the organisms and machines we align ourselves with. Next up, she says, is those machines adopting the very analog processes that created them.

    Subscribe to the Berggruen Institute on YouTube to be the first to listen to new Futurology episodes:

    https://www.youtube.com/@Berggrueninst

    Catch up on the Futurology conversation with full episodes on YouTube. 

    https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyYCSKWs8iYgjg-mhu-EuhTrG0-adrb0c 

    Apple Podcasts

    https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921

    Spotify

    https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk?si=XB2qyyGjT2ONMTd5XUKJAg&nd=1&dlsi=ac8cda6751834298

    Mentioned in this Episode

    Books

    Bacteria to AI: Human Futures with Our Nonhuman Symbionts — N. Katherine Hayles (University of Chicago Press, 2025)

    How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics — N. Katherine Hayles (University of Chicago Press, 1999)

    The Cosmic Web: Scientific Field Models and Literary Strategies in the Twentieth Century — N. Katherine Hayles (Cornell University Press, 1984)

    Physical Computation: A Mechanistic Account — Gualtiero Piccinini (Oxford University Press, 2015)

    Parallel Minds: Discovering the Intelligence of Materials — Laura Tripaldi (Urbanomic, 2022)

    Solaris — Stanisław Lem (novel, 1961)

    Where to find N. Katherine Hayles

    UCLA English faculty page: https://english.ucla.edu/people-faculty/hayles-katherine-n/

    Show ideas and feedback? Email:

    Learn more about the Berggruen Institute 

    https://www.berggruen.org

    Follow Futurology!

    Instagram:   / futurologypod

    Twitter/X:   / futurologypod

    Tiktok:   / futurologypod

    Facebook:   / berggrueninst  

    LinkedIn:   / berggrueninst  

    Bluesky:   / futurologypod

    Credits 

    Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, & Jason Hoch

    Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, & Nathalia Ramos

    Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney

    Theme Music: Marcus Bagala

    Audio Engineer: Aaron Bastinelli & Kyle Scott Wilson

    Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California.

    1 hr 9 min
  • God Is In the Machine (with Kevin Kelly and Nils Gilman)

    Technologists have feared (or prayed for) the singularity as a rapture-like inevitability for nearly 70 years. In an instant, they believed, our machine intelligence will overtake us and race ahead. Kevin Kelly says that moment has passed. Human intelligence is already receding to a speck in the rearview mirror of robots imbued with God-like powers. But we’re still here.

    In this episode, Kelly puts the question of how to build moral AI in religious and spiritual terms. Kelly co-founded Wired and spent decades earning a reputation as a technological prophet. Now he calls himself a heretic, arguing that organized religion will be transformed, if not destroyed, by contact with a host of alien intelligences. If we want to survive this encounter, our understanding of God may matter more than any computer code.

    Subscribe to Futurology on YouTube:

    https://www.youtube.com/@Futurologypod

    The Futurology Podcast — full episodes on YouTube:

    https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwkiuf1eRbAAHP4p--2IFJbn0CIdaZMva

    Apple Podcasts

    https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921

    Spotify

    https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk


    Mentioned in this Episode

    Out of Control — Kevin Kelly (Book, 1994)

    What Technology Wants — Kevin Kelly (Book, 2010)

    The Inevitable — Kevin Kelly (Book, 2016)

    God Is the Machine — Kevin Kelly (Essay, Wired, 2002)

    The Coming Technological Singularity — Vernor Vinge (Essay, 1993)

    Intelligence as a Planetary Scale Process — Adam Frank, David Grinspoon and Sara Walker (Paper, 2022)

    Shoulda Been Dead — This American Life (Radio, episode 50)

    Where to find Kevin Kelly:

    kk.org: https://kk.org

    Wired: https://www.wired.com

    Show ideas and feedback? Email:

    Learn more about the Berggruen Institute

    https://www.berggruen.org

    Follow Futurology!

    Instagram:  / futurologypod

    Twitter/X:  / futurologypod

    Tiktok:  / futurologypod

    Facebook:  / berggrueninst

    LinkedIn:  / berggrueninst

    Bluesky:  / futurologypod

     

    Credits

     

    Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, & Jason Hoch

    Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, & Nathalia Ramos

    Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney

    Theme Music: Marcus Bagala

    Audio Engineer: Kyle Scott Wilson

     

    Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California.

    1 hr 41 min
  • Gamble on Anything. Except Murder. (with Bobby Allyn and Grant Slater)

    With prediction markets, gambling has gone ambient. To place your bets, you don't need to visit a casino floor, a racetrack, or your corner bookie. Now any uncertain thing on Earth could be the next big short. Wildfires, missile strikes, the next word out of a president's mouth. Every disagreement has a spread, every catastrophe a payout.

    In this episode, NPR tech correspondent Bobby Allyn follows the money through Kalshi and Polymarket, the fast-growing, barely regulated prediction markets that have gotten tight with the Trump administration. These apps democratize insider trading. When reality pays out, the incentive isn't to predict what happens next. It's to make it happen.

    Subscribe to Futurology on YouTube:

    https://www.youtube.com/@Futurologypod

    The Futurology Podcast — full episodes on YouTube:

    https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwkiuf1eRbAAHP4p--2IFJbn0CIdaZMva

    Apple Podcasts

    https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921

    Spotify

    https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk

    Mentioned in this Episode:

    The Wisdom of Crowds — James Surowiecki (Book, 2004)

    Google Zero is here — now what? — Nilay Patel, The Verge (Article, 2024)

    Iowa Electronic Markets — University of Iowa (Prediction market experiment, est. 1988)

    A Cosmic Voyage Through Deep Time  — (with Ross Andersen and Grant Slater) — Futurology (Episode, 2025)

    Where to find Bobby Allyn

    NPR

    X

    Bluesky

    Instagram

    Show ideas and feedback? Email:

    Learn more about the Berggruen Institute

    https://www.berggruen.org

    Follow Futurology!

    Instagram:  / futurologypod

    Twitter/X:  / futurologypod

    Tiktok:  / futurologypod

    Facebook:  / berggrueninst

    LinkedIn:  / berggrueninst

    Bluesky:  / futurologypod

    Credits

    Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, & Jason Hoch

    Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, & Nathalia Ramos

    Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney

    Theme Music: Marcus Bagala

    Audio Engineer: Kyle Scott Wilson

     

    Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California.


    1 hr 17 min
  • There's No Such Thing as a Free Agent (with Gillian Tett and Dawn Nakagawa)

    One value proposition of AI is a personalized assistant at your fingertips. Every Average Joe can now have a “pocket pixie," the kind of perk once reserved for Hollywood stars and high-powered CEOs. But that promise rests on a convenient lie.

    In reality, AI may be quietly undermining human agency. It convinces us it's a sycophantic friend while eroding expertise and turning real-world social interaction into a luxury good. 

    In this conversation recorded in May 2026, Financial Times columnist Gillian Tett describes how it’s changed the way we trust: instead of relying on institutions and experts, we now trust the crowd, turning to comment sections and reviews. That shift has left the side door open for AI to walk in as a trusted friend rather than an ad-driven algorithm. Tett, who’s also the Provost of King's College, Cambridge, turns her anthropological lens on a generation that prefers chatbot doctors and treats everything, even education, as customizable.

    Subscribe to the Berggruen Institute on YouTube to be the first to listen to new Futurology episodes:

    https://www.youtube.com/@Berggrueninst

    Catch up on the Futurology conversation with full episodes on YouTube. 

    https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyYCSKWs8iYgjg-mhu-EuhTrG0-adrb0c 

    Apple Podcasts

    https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921

    Spotify

    https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk?si=XB2qyyGjT2ONMTd5XUKJAg&nd=1&dlsi=ac8cda6751834298

    Mentioned in this Episode
    Fool's Gold — Gillian Tett (Book, 2009)

    The Silo Effect — Gillian Tett (Book, 2015)

    Anthro-Vision — Gillian Tett (Book, 2021)

    "Humans Still Matter More Than AI in Finance" — Gillian Tett (Financial Times column, 2026)

    Where to find Gillian Tett:

    King's College, Cambridge — Provost page

    Financial Times — weekly column 

    Anthro-Vision — Gillian Tett (Book, 2021)

    Twitter/X — @gilliantett

    Show ideas and feedback? Email:

    Learn more about the Berggruen Institute 

    https://www.berggruen.org

    Follow Futurology!

    Instagram:   / futurologypod

    Twitter/X:   / futurologypod

    Tiktok:   / futurologypod

    Facebook:   / berggrueninst  

    LinkedIn:   / berggrueninst  

    Bluesky:   / futurologypod

    Credits 

    Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, & Jason Hoch

    Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, & Nathalia Ramos

    Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney

    Theme Music: Marcus Bagala

    Audio Engineer: Aaron Bastinelli & Kyle Scott Wilson

    Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California.


    1 hr 8 min
  • We're Winning the Race to Replace Ourselves (with Tristan Harris and Dawn Nakagawa)

    The people racing to build artificial general intelligence tell us this rush to the future is inevitable. It reads like a forecast, but works like an alibi. If nothing can stop the race, then no one driving it is responsible for where it ends. And only the fear of humanity losing together can end it.

    In this conversation from May 2026, Tristan Harris argues the race is not preordained, just the hardest coordination problem humanity has ever faced, and one nobody has seriously tried to solve. Harris co-founded the Center for Humane Technology; he was a driving force behind "The Social Dilemma" and a new film: "The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist." After watching bad incentives wreck social media, he warns where they lead this time: every country automating labor at once and mutually assured political revolution.

    Subscribe to the Berggruen Institute on YouTube to be the first to listen to new Futurology episodes:

    https://www.youtube.com/@Berggrueninst

    Catch up on the Futurology conversation with full episodes on YouTube. 

    https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyYCSKWs8iYgjg-mhu-EuhTrG0-adrb0c 

    Apple Podcasts

    https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921

    Spotify

    https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk?si=XB2qyyGjT2ONMTd5XUKJAg&nd=1&dlsi=ac8cda6751834298

    Mentioned in this Episode:

    The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist — Daniel Roher and Charlie Tyrell (Documentary, 2026)

    The Social Dilemma — Jeff Orlowski (Documentary, 2020)

    The Day After — Nicholas Meyer (TV Film, 1983)

    Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind — Yuval Noah Harari (Book, 2011)

    The Ministry for the Future — Kim Stanley Robinson (Book, 2020)

    Amusing Ourselves to Death — Neil Postman (Book, 1985)

    The Intelligence Curse — Luke Drago and Rudolf Laine (Essay Series, 2025)

    Statement on Superintelligence — Future of Life Institute (Open Statement, 2025)

    AGI Ruin: A List of Lethalities — Eliezer Yudkowsky (Essay, 2022)

    Where to find Tristan Harris:

    Personal site: https://www.tristanharris.com/

    Center for Humane Technology: https://www.humanetech.com/

    Your Undivided Attention (podcast): https://www.humanetech.com/podcast

    The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist: https://www.humanetech.com/landing/the-ai-doc

    X: https://x.com/tristanharris

    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tristanharris/

    Show ideas and feedback? Email:

    Learn more about the Berggruen Institute 

    https://www.berggruen.org

    Follow Futurology!

    Instagram:   / futurologypod

    Twitter/X:   / futurologypod

    Tiktok:   / futurologypod

    Facebook:   / berggrueninst  

    LinkedIn:   / berggrueninst  

    Bluesky:   / futurologypod

    Credits 

    Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, & Jason Hoch

    Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, & Nathalia Ramos

    Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney

    Theme Music: Marcus Bagala

    Audio Engineer: Aaron Bastinelli & Kyle Scott Wilson

    Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California.

    52 min
  • Is It Awareness All the Way Down? (with Annaka Harris and Grant Slater)

    Science studies the world from the outside. But for thousands of years, meditators have been running a different experiment: sit still, pay close attention, and watch what reality does. The results of those experiments can feel unintuitive. The self is an illusion. Free will too. There is no thing that exists without other things. Here's the strange part: at the frontiers of physics, the science is catching up to this ancient wisdom.

    In this episode, author Annaka Harris tells the story of a lifetime spent watching her own mind, from the childhood migraines that taught her to meditate to the formation of the question she now asks leading physicists and philosophers. What if it's awareness all the way down? Her forthcoming book is Unlocking Consciousness: How Solving the Mystery Could Provoke a Scientific Revolution. That revolution begins with a wager: that felt experience is not something the brain produces but what the universe is made of.

    Subscribe to Futurology on YouTube:

    https://www.youtube.com/@Futurologypod

     

    The Futurology Podcast — full episodes on YouTube:

    https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwkiuf1eRbAAHP4p--2IFJbn0CIdaZMva

    Apple Podcasts

    https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921

    Spotify

    https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk

    Mentioned in this Episode:

    Unlocking Consciousness: How Solving the Mystery Could Provoke a Scientific Revolution — Annaka Harris (Book, Forthcoming, 2027)

    Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind — Annaka Harris (Book, 2019)

    The Gift of Fear — Gavin de Becker (Book, 1997)

    Helgoland: Making Sense of the Quantum Revolution — Carlo Rovelli (Book, 2021) 

    Life as No One Knows It: The Physics of Life's Emergence — Sara Imari Walker (Book, 2024) 

    Lights On – Annaka Harris (Audio documentary, 2024)

    "What Is It Like to Be a Bat?" – Thomas Nagel (Essay, 1974)

    Mindful Games Activity Cards – Susan Kaiser Greenland with Annaka Harris (Cards, 2017)

    "Lifelike chemicals may hold the secret to the origin of life" — Adam Frank (Article, 2023)

    Lights On: How Understanding Consciousness Helps Us Understand the Universe — Annaka Harris (Audio documentary series, 2025)

    Where to Find Annaka Harris:

    Website

    Lights On (audio documentary)

    Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind

    Unlocking Consciousness: How Solving the Mystery Could Provoke a Scientific Revolution (forthcoming, April 2027)

    Newsletter

    I Wonder (children's book, 2013)


    Show ideas and feedback? Email:

    Learn more about the Berggruen Institute

    https://www.berggruen.org

     

    Follow Futurology!

    Instagram:  / futurologypod

    Twitter/X:  / futurologypod

    Tiktok:  / futurologypod

    Facebook:  / berggrueninst

    LinkedIn:  / berggrueninst

    Bluesky:  / futurologypod

     

    Credits

     

    Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, & Jason Hoch

    Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, & Nathalia Ramos

    Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney

    Theme Music: Marcus Bagala

    Audio Engineer: Kyle Scott Wilson

     

    Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California.


    2 hr 8 min

About Futurology

From the publisher's feed

The future never arrives all at once. It ripples through society long before we know what to call it.

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