How Close to the Sun?

Amid the social upheavals of the late 1960s, Alvin Toffler (and wife Heidi) penned what would become the ultimate pop futurist classic: Future Shock. The future is coming at us faster than ever before, Toffler maintained, and our civilisational breaking point is being reached. Future shock has become a general condition of modern life, experienced at an intensity without parallel in the past.The FARSIGHT hosts take up Toffler's classic, assess what he got right and wrong and evaluate how well the book's central claims hold up today.

In 1909, H.G Wells predicted that aerial warfare would nullify the protection provided by geographical distance to the front line. His prediction has been borne out by the cheap, ready-to-use drones of contemporary conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, serving a lesson for technological foresight. Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming at the Institute.Author: Christian Kaarup Baron Narration: August Leo Liljenberg (with ElevenLabs AI)Published by the Copenhagen Institute for Future Studies

In the 14th century, Ibn Khaldûn opined that history moves in a cyclical formation, governed by the deterioration and rebirth of dynasties and civilisations. Other macrohistorians since have attempted to parse the rhythm of history. Grand historical narratives promise a future we can see coming. That is both their attraction and their defect.Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute.Author: Casper Skovgaard PetersenNarration: August Leo Liljenberg (with ElevenLabs AI)Published by the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies

The history of ideas is a history of error. Prominent scientists once believed people lived on the surface of suns — a view we now find absurd. But folly comes in many forms, and its history may be less a catalogue of embarrassments than an unlikely guide to how far we have yet to go.Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute Author: Thomas MoynihanNarrator: August Leo Liljenberg (with ElevenLabs AI)Published by the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies

The 20th century French philosopher Gilbert Simondon believed that humankind harbours a primitive and xenophobic attitude to the technologies it creates. Today, we are surrounded by conversations about acceleration and automation, with the philosopher’s thought offering a uniquely provocative take on alienation in the futureSubscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the InstituteAuthor: August Leo LiljenbergNarrator: August Leo LiljenbergPublished by the Copenhagen Institute for Future Studies

On the long history and possible future of Europe's uneasy relationship to American automation.Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute.Author: Tallulah RichardsNarration: August Leo Liljenberg (with ElevenLabs AI)Published by the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies

After a long summer break, FARSIGHT co-hosts Casper and August get meta with the Swedish superfuturist, Anders Sandberg, in the studio, reflecting on the future of their profession.What kinds of societal conditions give rise to successful futurists? How has the role of the futurist changed over the past few decades? In what ways might using AI in futures studies either aid (or inhibit) the core tenets of working with the unknown?Hosts: Casper Skovgaard Petersen & August Leo LiljenbergGuest: Anders SandbergSubscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the InstitutePublished by the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies

As generative AI disrupts the balance between effort and reward in writing and creativity, shame nevertheless remains at work, as a hidden mechanism of social control. Might a cultural backlash to generative AI cause widespread 'chat-shaming', and if so, how?Written and narrated by Toke HanghøjSubscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute.Published by the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies.

AI promises a pornography without abuse, without performers, without limits – and, apparently, without much imagination. Might the biggest disappointment of AI porn be how boring it is?This article was first featured in Issue 17: The Future of Vice. Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the Institute. Author: Josh SimsNarration: August Leo Liljenberg (with ElevenLabs AI)Published by the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies.

Expectations are that AI will automate a significant percentage of the knowledge economy’s workforce and make their jobs redundant. We dig into the futurist toolbox to interrogate this assumption – punctuated by a provocative scenario snippet from 2030.Subscribe to FARSIGHT by becoming a Futures Member at the InstituteAuthor: Toke HanghøjNarration: August Leo Liljenberg (with ElevenLabs AI)Published by the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies