Owning the Future

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Original Air Date: 
January 02, 2016

Why are we so obsessed with the future? Is it because we can't handle the present and all of our current problems, like climate change, racism and terrorism? That's one theory. We explore our fascination with the future in this hour.

Why Are We Obsessed with the Future?

Gazing into the future, forever
Audio

Canadian cultural critic Hal Niedzviecki makes the case that as a culture, we may for the first time in history be more focused on what is going to happen in the future than on what is happening right now.

Length: 
10:19

You Too Can Predict the Future

A crystal ball
Audio

There's no shortage of forecasts about the future these days. But did you know that ordinary people can out-predict the pros? 

Length: 
10:51

Why You're Spending Time Thinking About the Future in the Present

A portal to the future
Articles

Science journalist Claudia Hammond unlocks the weirdness of how we experience time — including our fixation on the future — in a book called "Time Warped."

Length: 
12:58

Kurt and Bernard Vonnegut in the House of Magic

General Electric dial
Audio

Kurt Vonnegut joined his brother, Bernard, at General Electric in the late 1940s. Ginger Strand explains how Kurt's time at G.E. influenced his fiction.

Length: 
14:28
Extras
Keyboard Concerto No. 3 in D Major (Music From Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse-Five", Glenn Gould)
Show Details 📻
Airdates
January 02, 2016
January 01, 2017
January 06, 2018
Guests: 
Hal Niedzviecki wearing a t-shirt reading "I have seen the future"

Hal Niedzviecki

Author
alongcametomorrow.com
twitter.com

Philip Tetlock

Professor of Psychology
sas.upenn.edu

Claudia Hammond

Author
twitter.com
claudiahammond.com

Ginger Strand

Author
gingerstrand.com
Categories: 
Culture
Last modified: 
May 25, 2023