Modem Futura
Sean Leahy, Andrew Maynard
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Recent Episodes
Synthetic Cells, Mirror Life, and the Future of Engineered Biology — with Emma Frow
What do we actually mean when we say we've made life in a lab? In this episode, Sean and Andrew welcome back ASU's Emma Frow — a researcher working at the rare intersection of bioengineering,…
Alien Minds, Time Travelers, and Consciousness Backups: A Futures Thought Experiment
We're back for another round of Futures Improv — the segment where an AI-generated scenario lands on the table and we improvise our way through what it might mean for the rest of us. This time the…
Project Hail Mary, Dead Civilizations, and the Trouble with Feel-Good Endings
A timed episode (they gave themselves 35 minutes — barely made it) becomes an excuse for two arguments stitched together. First, Sean and Andrew finally have it out over Andy Weir's *Project Hail…
School's Out for Summer: AI, Vibe Coding, and What Teaching Still Requires
What happens when the semester ends and you finally have a moment to look back at what just happened? In this episode, Sean and Andrew sit down for an honest, reflective conversation about what it…
The Dawkins Effect: Why Even Skeptics Fall for AI Consciousness
When Richard Dawkins — the man who gave us The Selfish Gene and decades of rigorous scientific skepticism — published an essay declaring that Claude, an AI chatbot, might be conscious, the internet…
Convergence Day: Opus 4.7 and the Reliability Question
Something has changed with Claude — not catastrophically, not visibly, just enough that the writers, researchers, and builders who'd come to rely on it have started to notice the seams. What does it…
The Jagged Frontier: Reading Stanford's Human Centered 2026 AI Index
A system that can win gold at the International Mathematical Olympiad but can't read an analog clock. A technology being adopted faster than almost anything in modern history, yet only six percent of…
Mythos and the Sorcerer's Apprentice: When AI Outruns Our Wisdom
Anthropic's unreleased "Mythos" model surfaced thousands of zero-day vulnerabilities nobody had ever caught — some buried in trusted software for nearly three decades — and the company decided it was…
Artemis II: The Science, the Wonder, and the Future of Being Human
For the first time since 1972, human beings have traveled to the vicinity of the moon — and on this episode of Modem Futura, Sean and Andrew sit with what that actually means. Recorded while the…
Two Tools That Will Change How You Think About the Future
What if the future wasn't something that arrived all at once — but more like a series of waves, some barely visible on the horizon, others already crashing around your feet? In this episode, Sean and…
Fluid Futures: 10 Signals Reshaping an AI-Mediated World
What if the biggest risk right now isn't moving too slowly — it's optimizing for a world that no longer exists? That's one of the central provocations in this episode, as Sean and Andrew dig into the…
Futures Improv: Power, Probes & Post-Human Civilization
What does it mean for a civilization to truly master power — and what happens to human nature when scarcity is no longer an excuse? In this spring break edition of Modem Futura, Sean and Andrew take…
The Invisible Upgrade: How AI Is Already Changing How We Think
Something is happening with AI that almost nobody is talking about — and the reason nobody's talking about it is because, by design, you can't see it. In this episode, Sean and Andrew dig into what…
The Futures Cone: Preposterous to Plausible
What if thinking about the future isn't about predicting what will happen — but about mapping what could? In this episode of Modem Futura, Sean and Andrew dive deep into one of the most foundational…
Technologic: What Old iPods, Tiny Cameras, and Tangled Cables Teach Us About the Future
What happens when you dig through a box of old iPods and realize the tangled cables might be the least complicated thing you pull out? In this episode of Modem Futura, Sean and Andrew…
The Futures Triangle and the Intent Map: Practical Tools for Thriving with AI
What does it actually look like to thrive — not just survive — in an era of rapid AI integration? In this episode, Sean and Andrew go behind the scenes on their sold out workshop at ASU's 2026 FOLC…
The Fun They Had - Asimov Predicted AI Tutors in 1950's
In this episode of Modem Futura, Sean and Andrew explore Isaac Asimov's remarkably prescient 1951 short story "The Fun They Had," a brief, brilliant tale set in 2155 where two children discover a…
Vibe Coding and the Return of Personal Software
Something unexpected is happening in the world of software: it's becoming personal again. In this episode of Modem Futura, Sean and Andrew explore the rapidly expanding phenomenon of vibe coding—the…
The Future From a Kid's Perspective with Freddie Leahy
What do kids actually think about the future they're inheriting? In this special episode, Sean and Andrew are joined by an unexpected guest: Freddie Leahy, Sean's almost-10-year-old son and aspiring…
Pluribus: When Happiness Becomes the Apocalypse
In this episode of Modem Futura, hosts Sean M. Leahy and Andrew Maynard dive deep into Pluribus, the provocative new Apple TV series from Vince Gilligan. Framed as an inversion of the classic zombie…
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Modem Futura has published 91 episodes since October 2024, covering topics in Philosophy, Science.
Modem Futura is currently highly active with new episodes weekly. Average episode length is 1h 3m.
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