An Introduction to Thinking Differently about Technology, Society & The Future

This summer we took my science fiction movie-based course on socially responsible and ethical innovation online. This is an exciting departure from the in-person course, and one that has led to a number of innovations in how the course is taught. It’s also meant that I’ve needed to capture some of the essence of that course on video.

What exactly is the future, how are we connected to it, and what is our responsibility to it? These are questions that the new podcast Future Rising grapples with as it takes listeners on a journey that starts with the Big Bang, and ends with our responsibility to future generations within an increasingly complex world.

What have pendulums, the future, and Iron Man, got in common? More than you might at first think! Several years ago now, I had the pleasure of being the inaugural Charles and Rita Gelman Professor of Risk Science at the University of Michigan. As is often the case with such positions, I was asked to give a public lecture to mark my inauguration.

Back in March, I was asked to give the first FRANKx lecture at ASU. These lectures are designed to draw on ASU experts and visionaries who “strive to challenge, disrupt and redefine the landscape of higher education with innovative ideas that encourage conversation and thinking outside the status quo.”

I’m sure that every generation has a point where its members believe they are at a pivotal point in human history. Sadly, generational exceptionalism rarely stands the test of time.

“We’ve been sent the wrong book!” — this was my wife a week or so ago, on opening one of the increasingly ubiquitous Amazon packages that seem to litter our

The new book Covid-19 Conspiracy Theories: QAnon, 5G, the New World Order and Other Viral Ideas by John Bodner, Wendy Welch and their co-authors, should come with a public health warning: “If you’re easily disturbed, proceed with caution!”

This week was the start of what is possibly my favorite class to teach–The Moviegoer’s Guide to the Future in the Arizona State University College of Global Futures! It’s a

I have no words that adequately capture my feelings of anger and dismay as I watch the ongoing assault against American democracy, justice and freedom that’s unfolding. And even if I had, they wouldn’t fit comfortably in a blog posted on a public university website. Yet we are a College of Global Futures, and so the one thing we surely cannot do is stay silent as those futures we aspire to come under threat.