Modem Futura is your weekly guide to the future of science, technology, and society—where futures and foresight meets real-world impact. Hosts Sean Leahy and Andrew Maynard—educators, futurists, and public scholars—dive into the breakthroughs and big questions shaping tomorrow: AI ethics, space exploration, climate tech, bio-engineering, digital media, STEM education, and the shifting future of work. In candid, banter-filled conversations with innovators, scholars, and storytellers, they unpack how emerging technologies influence human values, creativity, and culture—and what these trends mean for you today.
Whether you’re curious about quantum computing, electric air taxis, or the sociology of robots, Modem Futura connects cutting-edge research with the narratives that drive innovation. Join us each week to explore possible, probable, and preferred futures, and discover practical insights for navigating an increasingly tech-driven world. Follow and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and be part of the conversation exploring what it will mean to be human in the future!
All content for Modem Futura is the property of Sean Leahy, Andrew Maynard and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
Modem Futura is your weekly guide to the future of science, technology, and society—where futures and foresight meets real-world impact. Hosts Sean Leahy and Andrew Maynard—educators, futurists, and public scholars—dive into the breakthroughs and big questions shaping tomorrow: AI ethics, space exploration, climate tech, bio-engineering, digital media, STEM education, and the shifting future of work. In candid, banter-filled conversations with innovators, scholars, and storytellers, they unpack how emerging technologies influence human values, creativity, and culture—and what these trends mean for you today.
Whether you’re curious about quantum computing, electric air taxis, or the sociology of robots, Modem Futura connects cutting-edge research with the narratives that drive innovation. Join us each week to explore possible, probable, and preferred futures, and discover practical insights for navigating an increasingly tech-driven world. Follow and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and be part of the conversation exploring what it will mean to be human in the future!
Modem Futura closes out 2025 with a fast, thoughtful retrospective on the year’s biggest ideas — from AI and education to space, biotech, and “used futures” — and a clear thesis: the future is participatory, and it’s ours to shape.
A reflective holiday episode exploring the future of creativity, platform culture, and why human craft still matters in an AI-saturated world—featuring Spotify Wrapped insights and a deep dive into Apple’s surprisingly human holiday ad "A Critter Carol".
Rizwan Virk returns to Modem Futura to explore the Simulation Hypothesis through the lens of AI, gaming, virtual worlds, and philosophy—asking whether emerging technologies are quietly blurring the line between reality and simulation. A mind-bending conversation on what it may soon mean to be human in a simulated age.
This episode explores the consequences of frictionless AI creation — from aesthetic homogenization to the erosion of expertise — and makes the case for reclaiming creative struggle as essential to human meaning, craft, and agency. Sean and Andrew unpack the cultural, psychological, and future-facing implications of living in an age where “That was easy” might be our greatest threat.
This episode of Modem Futura digs into AI-powered toys, from chatty teddy bears to “learning” dinos, and what happens when children form deep relationships with systems designed to collect data and shape behavior. Sean and Andrew explore privacy, mental health, and educational implications—and why that adorable AI plush might be more like a teddy bear with a concealed knife. This show was made by humans.
A five-second Apple TV logo becomes a lens on the future of creativity as Sean and Andrew explore why handcrafted, human-made design still matters in an AI-saturated world. This episode celebrates care, craft, and professional pride in the tiniest details of modern media.
A wide-ranging, energizing conversation about whether AI can help humanity navigate climate change and planetary pressures — or whether its own environmental footprint creates an unsolvable paradox. A must-listen for anyone interested in sustainability, emerging tech, and future planetary governance.
The metaverse isn’t a place—it’s a stack of realities. Sean Leahy and Andrew Maynard unpack how AI, spatial computing, and immersive tech are reshaping what’s real, what’s virtual, and why our digital futures demand new tethers to reality.
We put Apple Vision Pro to work—literally. From six‑monitor flight‑friendly workflows to immersive media, telepresence “personas,” and shared spatial spaces, we explore what spatial computing is (and isn’t), where it adds value, and what comes after the headset.
A Modem Futura Halloween special episode of Futures Improv – a game that merges science fiction, futures thinking, and spooky fun — exploring haunted algorithms, sentient mirrors, and neural nightmare tech in this fun and spooktacular “Tech or Treat.”
Sean Leahy and Andrew Maynard explore global attitudes toward AI, from optimism to unease, while questioning who gets to shape our technological futures—and what trust, transparency, and playfulness look like in an algorithmic age.
Sean and Andrew dissect the wild week in AI—from Sora 2 and Walmart’s ChatGPT partnership to the launch of AI and the Art of Being Human—asking what happens when technology starts writing the rules of reality itself.
A year in, Modem Futura reflects on how a relational podcast builds real community while exploring the possible, probable, and preferable futures across AI, robotics, mobility, space, media, and more—then dives into “liquid media,” workplace “work slop,” and playful future prompts to kick off Year Two.
How do you thrive with AI—and rediscover yourself in the process? We launch AI and the Art of Being Human with guest Jeffrey Abbott, covering the book’s AI‑augmented writing process, 21 practical tools, and community‑first paths to intentional futures.
Educator Tara Menghini joins Modem Futura to unpack how AI and digital tools are transforming K–6 learning, from balancing screen time with hands-on play to building early habits of judgment, resilience, and digital citizenship. A candid conversation about raising kids in an AI-shaped world.
What happens when pop culture slang becomes a signal of social backlash against AI? In this milestone episode of Modem Futura, Sean Leahy and Andrew Maynard unpack the rise of “clanker” (and its messy cousin, “slopper”) as new pejoratives aimed at AI systems—and the people who use them exploring whether we’re witnessing AI’s “Frankenfood” moment. They trace the social backlash, its parallels to past tech controversies, and what it signals for our future with intelligent machines.
Sean Leahy and Andrew Maynard get real about a practical primer on futures thinking—mindset, methods, ethics, and classroom/corporate use—so you can navigate uncertainty with agency. If you’re curious about backcasting, horizon scanning, and avoiding “used futures,” this episode is your on‑ramp.
Sean and Andrew revisit Films from the Future to unpack how sci-fi movies like Jurassic Park, Ex Machina, and Contact reveal deep truths about technology, ethics, and society. From clones and crime prediction to AI manipulation, the films spark urgent questions about the future of being human.
Modem Futura explores the world of eVTOLs—personal flying drones and air taxis—unpacking the technology, risks, and societal implications of a possible “flying car” future. Are we on the edge of a mobility revolution, or just rehashing a Jetsons dream, and what about those dirigibles?
Agentic AI, beyond the hype: Sean Leahy and Andrew Maynard joined by Punya Mishra to explore the futures of AI can and how these tools can amplify Dewey’s impulses and Papert’s constructionism, resist surveillance‑driven efficiency, and support learning as a lifelong process of becoming—rather than a pipeline to predefined outcomes.
Modem Futura is your weekly guide to the future of science, technology, and society—where futures and foresight meets real-world impact. Hosts Sean Leahy and Andrew Maynard—educators, futurists, and public scholars—dive into the breakthroughs and big questions shaping tomorrow: AI ethics, space exploration, climate tech, bio-engineering, digital media, STEM education, and the shifting future of work. In candid, banter-filled conversations with innovators, scholars, and storytellers, they unpack how emerging technologies influence human values, creativity, and culture—and what these trends mean for you today.
Whether you’re curious about quantum computing, electric air taxis, or the sociology of robots, Modem Futura connects cutting-edge research with the narratives that drive innovation. Join us each week to explore possible, probable, and preferred futures, and discover practical insights for navigating an increasingly tech-driven world. Follow and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and be part of the conversation exploring what it will mean to be human in the future!
