After several months of working on the backend of the podcast, the updated look, vision, and focus is finally ready for public release!
Introduction
The Future Tech and Foresight Podcast, will focus on a diverse range of emerging technologies and their future consequences via discussions with technology leaders, researchers, futurists etc.
The Podcast was previously known as the automated podcast but it has been updated and re-branded to go beyond automation, technological unemployment and the future of work (though this will of course still be considered)
I’ll get into why the rebranding happened in a bit but first I wanted to set the stage for why a podcast like this is important.
Future Shock And Why This Podcast Exists
one of the best known futurists, Alvin Toffler said,” A lot of future shocked people and future shocked institutions in our society are simply overwhelmed, and incapable of coping with the changes facing them.” You’ve most probably heard of or even experienced culture shock when visiting a new country for the first time, and are overwhelmed with the new traditions, culture, and day to day lifestyle and are unsure how to act in many situations and might initially freeze up. Future Shock is a similar idea but relates more to being overwhelmed by all the future changes coming our way at such a fast pace, that you feel out of place even in your own daily life. Though many social, economic, environmental and even political changes are important for future change, I and many others argue that technological change is the most disruptive and creates the most predominant sense of Future Shock compared to any other.
And if you consider Moore’s law, Bell’s law, or just the general idea that technological advancement is growing at an exponential rate, we are really just starting to see the disruptive potential of our technology on our civilization, and by extension the inability of people and organizations to cope with future transformations.
Examples Of Future Shock Disruption
Let’s make this tangible. Some of the clearest examples from the recent past are Blockbuster and Kodak. Two dominant players in their respective industries, and both filed for bankruptcy relatively quickly due to technological disruptions that they didn’t capitalize on online video streaming and digital photography respectively.
Kodak’s downfall is especially interesting because one of its own employees actually invented the digital camera that could have saved the company and made it as powerful as the likes of Apple today if it had only capitalized on this opportunity instead of ignoring it. And at its peak, Kodak was the 5th most valuable brand in the world, so the ability to incorporate this digital change was definitely there. These are just two examples, but the trend runs much deeper. In fact ninety percent of Fortune 500 firms have vanished since 1995, and a study from Washington University estimated that 40% of today’s Fortune 500 companies on the S&P 500 will no longer exist in 10 years.
To go further, Mckinsey Consulting prepared a report which forecasted that by 2027 the average S&P company lifespan will shrink to just 12 years, compared to 24 years back in 2016, and 33 years in 1964. And the trend most probably won’t stop there… Though technological disruption is not the only variable that is causing this, it is a substantial one, and might perhaps be the main one especially in years to come.
Now, if you’re thinking ‘my industry is insulated and safe’, it’s sad to say but you’re probably wrong. In the previous version of this podcast, what became evident more than anything was that just in the trend of automation, every single industry is being touched. And with the recent roll out of ChatGPT the topic of job automation and human worker replacement seems to have been sparked yet again, as millions of users get a feel for how an AI tool can do large parts of their daily tasks for them which was previously only talked about on tech focused podcasts. But automation is but one powerful trend amongst many, and by focusing on only one trend, the larger story of what is unfolding across our modern world remains unseen.
So if you aren’t aware of what’s around the corner, your organization has a much higher likelihood of disappearing or at the very least being negatively impacted in the years to come. Therefore, whether a startup, traditional corporation, public entity, etc. you need to future proof yourself, and the hope is that this podcast can be part of that solution.
What Topics Will The Podcast Cover?
That’s one of the central reasons that this rebranding effort happened and why on this podcast you’ll now be hearing about a diversity of future technologies and the trends that they are a part of. From the more obvious culprits like AI, robotics, autonomous vehicles, quantum computing, and the metaverse, to less well known disruptors like Brain-Machine Interfaces, CBDC’s, synthetic blood production, Internet of bodies, Smart Dust, animal human hybrids and the powers of genetic engineering, 4D printing, under the skin surveillance, bio computers and much much much more will be covered.
The goal is to not just to get the perspective of the leaders building the future but also give you as a listener some vision of what the future can hold and help to alleviate some of our collective Future Shock to make better decisions for tomorrow.
Podcast Format
To accomplish this, the podcast will mainly focus on expert interviews where the technology itself will be explored along with the challenges, benefits, ramifications, and a general vision of what the future will look like when it is fully adopted.
The First 100 Episodes
The first 100 episodes, as part of the previous Automated Podcast, are devoted to the future of work and specifically how automation technologies will impact jobs. So if you’re curious about automation, work, skill changes, and which industries will be automated, focus here first. And if you want just an overview of this, episode 100 acts as a summary and from there the new episodes will take over.
Website And Blog
On the website futuretechandforesight.com, you’ll find more info about the podcast as a whole, individual episode shownotes with relevant links for each guest, info about me, as well as sources for any report or idea talked about on the specific episode.
There’s also a blog that will cover more in depth insights into specific megatrends and ideas relating to foresight and future-proofing.
Also, if you’re interested in being a sponsor, collaborating in any way, curious about foresight and how it might benefit your organization, or simply leaving a comment or feedback about the podcast you can also easily get in touch through the website too.
You can also engage with other listeners in the comments section on youtube or in the shownotes on each episode, but if you want to help the podcast grow there’s a section on the website which explains the best way for you to leave a review which helps more people hear about the podcast.
Who Is The Podcast Host?
And finally a little bit about myself.
My name is Marc Verbenkov. I’m a Certified Strategic Foresight Practitioner, and member of the Association of Professional Futurists. I currently work in organizations to help setup, and develop their foresight division that seeks to scan and identify the disruptive trends that will impact their products, services, and way of working. I also build scenarios or strategies to avoid these pitfalls while also leveraging discovered opportunities to future proof the organisation. I’ve been podcasting for 3 years on future technologies and their impacts on businesses, individuals, and society in general. And I’ve also worked as an innovation consultant on future of work and Industry 4.0 projects for 5 years. I’m originally from the West Coast of Canada but I’ve lived across Latin America and Europe for the better part of the last decade.
I’ve been fascinated by emerging technologies and their future impacts on the world for over a decade. I’ve been particularly interested in technological unemployment and the future of work which led to the creation of this podcast’s first iteration, but through the dozens of expert interviews realised that a wider perspective is fundamental to understanding how organisations of all sorts will be impacted by the coming future tech storm.
Hence the development of Future Tech and Foresight. Blending a wider scope of explored technologies with foresight capacities in an effort to deal with our collective Future Shock, and clarify what actions we can all strategically take for a better future.
