What happens if we don't just put humans, but all life on Earth, at the centre when we design businesses, products and services?For the past decades, we've designed our societies and products putting humans at the centre – so-called human-centered design. At what cost? Our planet, fuelled by the consumption of oil. The good news is that the tools to design businesses, services and products in symbiosis with the planet already exist. It is called life-centered design. In this episode, I've interviewed the Swedish design ecologist and systems innovation strategist Anna Gyllenklev, about life-centered design and how this can benefit businesses.You'll learn:1. What is life-centered design and why businesses should care2. The basic principles of life-centered design3. Real-life examples of how products or services could be designed according to life-centered design 4. What would be the business reasons or benefits of caring about these design principles5. What would be a simple way to get started

In today’s episode, we’re interviewing Muriel Leuenberger who is a postdoctoral researcher in philosophy at the Digital Society Initiative at the University of Zurich.

She works on ethics of technology with a focus on generative AI and neuroethics. In those fields, she analyses the impact of different technologies on identity, authenticity and meaning in life.

We dive into her latest research paper ‘Should you let AI tell you who you are and what you should do?”. We discuss to what extent AI actually can impact who you are and your process of self-creation. 

Some questions we address: 

• How do humans form their identify? 
• How could lack of randomness, and bad choices, prevent you from finding out who you are? 
• What could be the implications if we let AI provide recommendations in most aspects of our lives? 
• Where do we draw the line between harmless suggestions and deeper influence over our identity or life choices? 
• What does a future where we get AI right look like? 

Tune in to listen to the interview! 

What if questions could replace our KPIs and companies could legally work like an organism?

Companies are one of the most powerful technologies humans have ever invented. But they can no longer maximise profit at the cost of the planet, we need a new approach.

This is why Amit Paul, previous member of A-teens and co-founder of Innrwrks, has invented a new legal business form that is inspired to function like nature.

By hacking the current system, Amit and his co-founder Nils von Heijne, has found a way to legally register a company new form, called a Regenerative Community Organism, that:

What happens when we incorporated companies in a structure inspired by nature? They come alive.

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About the guest

Amit Paul has had 3 careers in his life. The first entailed selling millions of records and topping the charts starting at the age of 15 as a member of the band A-teens. The second as the CEO of a green chemistry startup aiming to eliminate persistent chemicals in plastics. Currently as a systems dancer and co-founder of a transformation lab with the ambition to transforming business into something that creates a future we want for our kids. This talk draws on his experience of creating and implementing a regenerative hybrid organisational structure - the RCO, that’s grounded in living systems principles. An exploration that led to the discovery of the enlivening power of structuring business around questions.

Einstein once said: "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."

Someone that understands this is John Bunzl, a businessman and a political activist from the UK. He’s the founder of Simpol, the International Simultaneous Policy Organisation, a new political innovation to overcome the obstacles that are today refraining governments to cooperate with each other.

By applying game theory from business school, he explains the concept "The Political Prisoner's Dilemma" to visualise why governments are held back on taking true action to solve global problems. Simpol is a solution to overcome this obstacle that keeps governments from true cooperation and is designed in such an ingenious way so that all countries can keep their competitiveness and only gain benefits from supporting it.

Episode learnings:

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To support the cause, go to Simpol.org and make your global vote count.

Want to learn more about the research behind it, evolutionary biology and how to design a global vote system? Listen to the ebook - it is a highly recommended read.

The political initiative Simpol is today supported by over 100 Members of the Parliament in the UK, and growing internationally as well. It is supported by many eminent professionals and researchers across the globe, such as José Ramos-Horta, previous Noble Peace Prize Laureat.

New disruptions and technological advancements always lead to new ethical dilemmas and uncertainties.

In the past year, we've seen an explosion of technological advancements, and hence, new ethical discussions have become a hot topic.

Ben Wilberforce-Ritchie is an Ethics Manager and Philosopher who helps companies think better and make wiser decisions.

During this episode, Ben guides us through four approaches to ethics that can help your decision-making process.

There are no easy answers to ethics, but if we approach situations from different moral perspectives, we can increase the likelihood of making the right decision.

In this episode, you'll learn:

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Ben Wilberforce-Ritchie is a Philosopher partnering with the organisation Philosophy at Work – who deliver workshops and talks to organisations on topics such as Curiosity, Critical Thinking and Navigating Change, practicing philosophical thought techniques to help people “think better, do better”. He is also an author and his first novel Furze: Sweethearts and Swan Songs was published in Nov-21. Lastly, he is an Ethics Manager at the FTSE100 Aerospace and Defence firm BAE Systems.

What if we let a plant rule the world? 

It is, in fact, already possible. 

In this episode, we discover Herbie, a plant that has been given autonomy through the power of AI to make its own decisions based on its own health. Herbie can decide to invest in things like replanting a forest or protecting wetlands. 

Mark Bünger is the co-founder and CTO of Futurity Systems, who has built Herbie as part of the 'Plantiverse' project. 

In this episode, you’ll learn: 

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About the the guest Mark Bünger

Mark is co-founder and CTO of Futurity Systems an observatory for deeptech: science-driven technologies that will have disruptive impacts on industry, such as synthetic biology, artificial intelligence, private spaceflight, or quantum computing. His clients include venture capitalists, product developers, and R&D teams at more than 150 of the world’s largest companies.

The word artificial in artificial intelligence, is the polar opposite of nature's natural intelligence. What if we could find some answers on how to navigate the AI disruption in nature itself?

In today's solo episode, we'll dive into five ways to navigate the AI disruption, drawing inspiration from nature's intelligence itself.

We'll discuss:

Happy to heard your thoughts and ideas for future episodes. For more content or to book a talk, go to phuturist.se. Talk to you in the next episode!

In today's episode, I'm stepping out of my comfort zone to share my own thoughts in a solo podcast format. In this debut episode, we'll explore AI through the lens of parenting. I wrote an article a few years ago about how we don't truly understand the potential of what we can become, until we've already become. The current AI boom is no different.

In the recent AI safety discussions, I've come to think of parallels between AI creation and parenting. Who's responsible for ensuring well-behaved children, or creations? Just as parents shape their kids, creators shape AI, but to what extent? These are the topics we'll dive into today.

We'll discuss:

I'd love to hear your reflections on this episode and whether you enjoyed this format. If you did, and if you would like to reach out to me or book a talk, visit phuturist.se/talks. Stay curious and keep questioning. See you in the next episode!

Finding Answers to Human Challenges in Outer Space?
In this episode, we go on a cosmic journey with the space entrepreneur Mattias Hansson, CEO and Founder of I.S.A.A.C International Space Asset Acceleration Company AB, who is passionate about finding answers to some of our most pressing earthly challenges through insights from the space industry. Join us as we dive into the intriguing world of space exploration and its unexpected lessons for life on our planet.

You'll learn: 

Whether you're a space enthusiast or space research critic, this episode opens up some fresh new perspectives on the possibilities for humanity that lie beyond our atmosphere.

In today's episode, we're interviewing the crypto-professional Ludvig Öberg, co-founder of Safello and the Swedish Bitcoin Association, currently developing an open-source blockchain at ChromaWay. In other words, he is a true blockchain expert. He has recently pioneered one of the first theses on management controls within so-called Decentralized Autonomous Organizations, which are members-driven organizations powered by Blockchain technologies.

Blockchain technologies have opened new possibilities for how we organize ourselves. In the past, it has been challenging to maintain control in decentralized organizations as the number of members grows, however, blockchain technologies enable control in decentralized organizations at scale through so-called smart contracts, voting rights, ownership through tokens etc. This way, we can avoid the "tragedy of the commons" as members feel invested with clear owner rights and responsibilities.

However, is it really possible to maintain a decentralized organization at scale? How do you maintain management controls in large Decentralized Autonomous Organizations as they grow? Is it even possible to avoid corporate governance, or is it an inevitable must?

In today's episode you'll learn:

Tune in to learn more!