Tomorrow’s World

Britt Wray and Ellie Cosgrave take a deep dive into our data.

They discuss the implication of personal data rights in everything from city planning to medicine to human rights.

Look around you. It’s all there, right? It’s real, it’s tangible, it’s the physical world. But, what if it’s not?

In the final episode of the series, Britt and Ellie discover the ideas of Simulation Theory – the concept that the world around us could be a simulated reality. Some believe there’s proof all around us that our reality is created outside our world.

Virtual Reality could hold the answers. Britt and Ellie visit the companies creating the faux realities that shape our understanding of what’s real and what’s not, and step inside these new frontiers. As VR landscapes become more believable, does this add weight to the argument that our reality may not be quite as it seems?

Contributors include Nick Bostrom, from the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University, Dave Ranyard, CEO of Dream Reality Interactive and Herman Narula, CEO of Improbable.

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All around the world, governments are increasingly looking at control of the internet; whether it’s to regulate content, hide or ban content or increase ownership of your data.

Is this the opposite of what the internet was originally designed to be - a free, open and uncensored space?

In this seventh episode, Britt Wray and Ellie Cosgrave meet the people who want to bring that dream back using their alternative internet networks. Together, they imagine what the internet could or should look like in the future.

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In the sixth episode, entitled Dorothy, Britt and Ellie imagine a world that is completely free from disease and look at the current technology that is paving a way to that world. They investigate the cutting-edge science of CRISPR, human genome writing and the mysterious world of the Diamond Light Source.

But in a world where humans are cured of disease – should they also be “cured” of ageing? Scientist Aubrey De Grey thinks so. Not only does he think ageing can be eliminated – but that the first human to live to a thousand years old already exists. To do this he says we have to turn back the clock before it’s too late. But is this really possible?

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Do more aggressive and unknown outbreaks lie in our future?

In a world where we continue to be struck by new pathogens, Britt and Ellie pit two teams of scientists against each other. In a game with a virus at the heart of it, one team works to spread it, the other tries to contain it. Will lives be saved or will the virus prove too deadly?

Plus, join us as we journey into the hidden depths of a level four containment lab where some of the most contagious viruses in the world are housed.

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Please note: this episode contains mild swearing.

Meet Mary. She’s sentient and she’s conscious, just like us.

The difference? She’s an Artificial Intelligence.

Britt and Ellie want to know what the future holds for AI, and so they follow Mary through her dramatic tale. At every twist and turn, they ask if she needs humankind to protect her.

If Mary mirrors human qualities, should she also have human rights?

Britt and Ellie also investigate the embodiment of robots and why we feel compelled to produce them in human form. They meet those fighting to give “human” rights to chimpanzees…

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Will the cities we live in become uninhabitable due to climate change, overpopulation and other factors that lie in our future?

We meet the so-called Aquapreneurs and Seavangelists crafting models for these floating habitats. They have ambitious, yet dramatically different theories to solve these not-so-distant problems. Ship scientist Philip Wilson puts their futuristic ideas to the test, along with the plans of our “mystery floaters”.

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Guidance: Contains science experiments that should not be repeated at home.

In the second episode of Tomorrow’s World, Britt and Ellie investigate the more practical applications of brain-machine interfacing. They meet the “wizards” sharing their hats. What does it mean to “download our brains”, and will we morph our own intellect with artificial intelligence?

If you haven’t already, go back and listen to episode one first to discover the theory behind the wizard’s hat and how we’ve got this far.

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Britt Wray and Ellie Cosgrave ask how can we meld machinery and our minds? Is it possible to create seamless communication between human brains and computers?

Inventors and scientists, including Elon Musk, are fascinated by brain-machine interfacing. Not only do they hope we’ll be able to control technology with our thoughts – they are working towards humans being able to transmit information directly into one another’s brains. It’s taking factual ideas to sensory inputs.

So, don the wizard’s hat (and your headphones) and enter Tomorrow’s World. Join the conversation online using #MyTomorrow

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Please note: this episode contains mild swearing.