Can we be better digital citizens? In the concluding episode, we reflect on a theme that emerges throughout the series: the power of the individual. We return to our conversation with Sophia Smith Galer to discuss accountability and digital footprints. We learn about the confidence mindset with Ian Robertson. And finally, we talk about the importance of engaging critically with media and technology with Jennifer Edmond. 

Sophia Smith Galer is a multi-award-winning journalist, author and TikTok creator with over 130 million views. She is a Senior News Reporter for VICE World News, a Visiting Fellow at Brown University, and the author of Losing It: Sex Education for the 21st Century (2022). 

Ian Robertson is Co-Director of the Global Brain Health Institute and Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Trinity College Dublin, where he previously founded the Institute of Neuroscience. He is the author of several best-selling books, including How Confidence Works, which brings science-based strategies to non-specialists.

Jennifer Edmond is Associate Professor of Digital Humanities at Trinity College Dublin and a former Director of DARIAH-EU. She is an internationally recognised expert in the application of arts and humanities insight to academic and societal challenges arising at intersection of information and communication technologies and culture.   

Clips from the show 

The Futurists (1967) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPETzKYLkco&t=631s

Future Shock (1972) 

https://youtu.be/fkUwXenBokU

​​Marshall McLuhan speaks to Frank Kermode (1965) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pcoC2l7ToI

David Bowie speaks to Jeremy Paxman on BBC Newsnight (1999)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiK7s_0tGsg

The History of the Future podcast is co-created and co-hosted by Mark Little and Ellie Payne and produced by Patrick Haughey of AudioBrand. The Schuler Democracy Forum is an initiative of the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute, Trinity College Dublin. The Forum is generously supported by Dr Beate Schuler. For more information, see: https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/Schuler-Democracy-Forum.php 

How do you future-proof freedom of speech? In this episode, Karlin Lillington helps us to navigate the changing digital environment shaping freedom of expression since the early days of the internet. We find out more about the origins, evolution, and practices of cancel culture with Eve Ng and we discuss the dangers of selective application of the principle of Free Speech with Jacob Mchangama.

Karlin Lillington is a columnist with the Irish Times focusing on technology, with a special interest in its political, social, business and cultural aspects. She has also written for The Guardian, New Scientist, Wired.com, and Salon.com, served on the board of RTÉ, and is the chairperson of New Music Dublin. She holds a PhD in Anglo-Irish Literature from Trinity College Dublin.

Eve Ng is Associate Professor at Ohio University where she teaches courses on media representations, gender and globalisation, feminist studies, and queer theory. Her research examines questions of media, culture, and power. She is the author of Cancel Culture: A Critical Analysis (2022).

Jacob Mchangama is a lawyer and CEO of Justitia, a think tank focusing on human rights, where he directs the Future of Free Speech Project. He is the author of Free Speech: A History From Socrates to Social Media (2022) and the producer and presenter of the Clear and Present Danger: A History of Free Speech podcast.

Clips from the show 

Fahrenheit 451 (1966)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaLJ10v4xUA

John Perry Barlow, The Declaration of Independence of Cyberspace (1996)   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WS9DhSIWR0&t=210s

Apple Mac: 1984 (1984) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIE-5hg7FoA

Jacob Mchangama, A Global History of Free Speech (2022) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc3tP2yFJ2E

Jack Dorsey interview with WIRED's Nicholas Thompson (2018) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9z8924QJl0&t=11s

The History of the Future podcast is co-created and co-hosted by Mark Little and Ellie Payne and produced by Patrick Haughey of AudioBrand. The Schuler Democracy Forum is an initiative of the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute, Trinity College Dublin. The Forum is generously supported by Dr Beate Schuler. For more information, see:https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/Schuler-Democracy-Forum.php

Does the age of identity mean the end of community? In this episode, we find out about how media has shaped identities, created communities, and fractured and polarised societies in the past with Adrian Bingham. We discuss all things TikTok with Sophia Smith Galer and ask how the media can reinvent itself in a world of radical decentralisation. We talk to Leon Diop about their experience of identity and working to build community from the ground up.  

Adrian Bingham is Professor of Modern British History at the University of Sheffield and has written extensively on the popular press, gender and sexuality. His works include Gender, Modernity, and the Popular Press in Inter-War Britain (2004); Family Newspapers? Sex, Private Life and the British Popular Press 1918-1978 (2009); and United KIngdom (2022).

Sophia Smith Galer is a multi-award-winning journalist, author and TikTok creator with over 130 million views. She is a Senior News Reporter for VICE World News, a Visiting Fellow at Brown University, and the author of Losing It: Sex Education for the 21st Century (2022). 

Leon Diop is the co-founder of Black and Irish, an organisation that highlights and celebrates the identity of black and mixed-race Irish people. They are working to tackle racism and build representation across education, business, politics, media, entertainment, and community. Black and Irish also have a successful RTÉ podcast.

Clips from the show 

This Is Marshall McLuhan - The Medium Is The Massage (1967)

https://youtu.be/cFwVCHkL-JU

RTÉ The Black & Irish Podcast

https://www.rte.ie/radio/podcasts/series/33229-black-irish/

Sophia Smith Galer TikTok, “the suez sea shanty you all did not ask for” (2021)

https://www.tiktok.com/@sophiasmithgaler/video/6944316550128110854

The Schuler Democracy Forum podcast is co-created and co-hosted by Mark Little and Ellie Payne and produced by Patrick Haughey of Audiobrand. The Schuler Democracy Forum is an initiative of the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute, Trinity College Dublin. The Forum is generously supported by Dr Beate Schuler. For more information, see: https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/Schuler-Democracy-Forum.php

How do we find the right kind of fear? In this episode, we talk about horror stories and what we are scared of with Bernice Murphy. We discuss the effect fear has on the brain with Ian Robertson, and we examine the relationship between the media and fear with Bruce Shapiro.

Bernice Murphy is Associate Professor in Popular Literature at Trinity College Dublin. She has published extensively on topics related to American Gothic and horror fiction and film, including The California Gothic in Fiction and Film (2022); The Suburban Gothic in American Popular Culture (2009); and The Highway Horror Film (2014). She was also academic consultant to The Letters of Shirley Jackson (edited by Laurence Jackson Hyman, 2021).

Ian Robertson is Co-Director of the Global Brain Health Institute and Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Trinity College Dublin, where he previously founded the Institute of Neuroscience. He is the author of several best-selling books, including How Confidence Works, which brings science-based strategies to non-specialists.

Bruce Shapiro is Executive Director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia University. He is an award-winning reporter on human rights, criminal justice and politics. His books include Shaking the Foundations: 200 Years of Investigative Journalism in America and Legal Lynching: The Death Penalty and America's Future.

Clips from the show
Franklin D. Roosevelt  Inaugural Address (1933)
https://youtu.be/rIKMbma6_dc
Peeping Tom (1960)
https://youtu.be/B3kGTJDGTnw
This Is Marshall McLuhan - The Medium Is The Massage (1967)
https://youtu.be/cFwVCHkL-JU

The History of the Future podcast is co-created and co-hosted by Mark Little and Ellie Payne and produced by Patrick Haughey of AudioBrand. The Schuler Democracy Forum is an initiative of the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute, Trinity College Dublin. The Forum is generously supported by Dr Beate Schuler. For more information, see:https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/Schuler-Democracy-Forum.php

How do we navigate the age of information overload? In this episode, we learn about polluted information systems, bad actors, and the importance of community with Claire Wardle. We also discuss truth and how we decide what to believe with Julian Baggini. 

Claire Wardle is Professor of the Practice and co-founder and director of the Information Futures Lab at Brown University. She is considered a leader in the field of misinformation, verification and user-generated content, co-authoring the foundational report, Information Disorder: An interdisciplinary Framework for Research and Policy for the Council of Europe. 

Julian Baggini is the author, co-author, and/or editor of over 20 books, including A Short History of Truth: Consolations for a Post-truth World. He is also the co-founder of The Philosophers’ Magazine and former Academic Director of the Royal Institute of Philosophy (UK). 

Clips from show: 

Donald Trump shuts down CNN reporter: "You're fake news" (2017) 

​​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vqpzk-qGxMU

Carl Sagan’s Baloney Detection Kit from The Demon Haunted World (1995) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jkr_PbPVha0

Charlene Hunter Gault interviews media theorist and cultural critic Neil Postman on PBS The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour in (1995)

https://youtu.be/49rcVQ1vFAY

The History of the Future podcast is co-created and co-hosted by Mark Little and Ellie Payne and produced by Patrick Haughey of AudioBrand. The Schuler Democracy Forum is an initiative of the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute, Trinity College Dublin. The Forum is generously supported by Dr Beate Schuler. For more information, see:https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/Schuler-Democracy-Forum.php

Why are we so bad at predicting the future? In this episode, we talk to Jennifer Edmond about our failure to understand the future, the pros and cons of technology, and why imagination is the key to a better tomorrow.

Jennifer Edmond is Associate Professor of Digital Humanities at Trinity College Dublin and a former Director of DARIAH-EU. She is an internationally recognised expert in the application of arts and humanities insight to academic and societal challenges arising at intersection of information and communication technologies and culture.   

Clips from show: 

This Is Marshall McLuhan - The Medium Is The Massage (1967)

https://youtu.be/cFwVCHkL-JU

David Bowie speaks to Jeremy Paxman on BBC Newsnight (1999)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiK7s_0tGsg

Future Shock (1972) 

https://youtu.be/fkUwXenBokU

Arthur C. Clarke predicts the future on BBC Horizon (1964) 

https://youtu.be/YwELr8ir9qM

Carl Sagan testifying before Congress on climate change (1985)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp-WiNXH6hI

Bill Gates Explains the Internet to David Letterman (1995)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs-YpQj88ew

Charlene Hunter Gault interviews media theorist and cultural critic Neil Postman on PBS The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour in (1995)

https://youtu.be/49rcVQ1vFAY

Mark Zuckerberg Instructs Facebook to Move Fast (2013) 

https://youtu.be/V6urvN_4q9I

The Wizard of Oz - Wizard Revealed (1939)

https://youtu.be/bYDEXbj2_0c?t=65

The History of the Future podcast is co-created and co-hosted by Mark Little and Ellie Payne and produced by Patrick Haughey of AudioBrand. The Schuler Democracy Forum is an initiative of the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute, Trinity College Dublin. The Forum is generously supported by Dr Beate Schuler. For more information, see:https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/Schuler-Democracy-Forum.php

Mark Little and Ellie Payne take us on a journey along the fault-line of media, democracy, and technology, to find the thinkers and doers who can restore belief in a better tomorrow.