Why Modem Futura is more than just another tech podcast

As we pass our tenth full episode of Modem Futura, I take a look at why we started, what we hope to achieve, and what makes this more than just another tech podcast

Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU News

This past week we hit the magic tenth episode of Modem Futura — the podcast my co-host Sean Leahy and I launched out of Arizona State University’s Future of Being Human initiative back in October.

The number’s important as it feels like we’ve passed a milestone in becoming part of the community of tech-forward podcasts — plus it was our first recording in front of a live audience!

The milestone’s also a chance to revisit why we launched Modem Futura in the first place, and why I believe it’s far more than just another tech podcast.

For this though, I need to go back to the genesis of the podcast’s home — Arizona State University’s Future of being Human initiative.

For our tenth episode of Modem Futura we had the privilege of recording in front of a live audience in ASU’s Thunderbird School of Global Management — in Thunderbird’s renowned Pub no less!

Back in 2022 when we launched the Future of Being Human initiative I wrote on the initiative’s website:

Over the past 100 years, our collective capacity to imagine and influence the future has evolved faster than at any previous point in human history. Yet we have barely begun to scratch the surface of what is possible.

Over the coming 100 years we will experience vastly greater leaps in our ability to design and change the future through advanced technologies, and these in turn will have a profound impact on what it means to be human.

As we stand on the brink of what may be one of the most transformative eras in human history, the Future of Being Human initiative brings together a visionary community of thinkers and future-builders who are inspired by what it might mean to be human a hundred years from now, and how this in turn catalyzes their ideas and actions in the present.

Our vision was not one of a research center, or even an educational endeavor (although we do both), but of an initiative that would catalyze thinking at scale around the future at this profoundly unique point in human history.

It was a vision that responded to a “growing need for bold ideas and visionary insights that transcend the constraints of conventionality and empower a new wave of thought leaders to be part of building a vibrant future that benefits all of humanity.”

Modem Futura is part of this vision of catalyzing thinking at scale.

Given this, we intentionally set out to create a podcast that would draw listeners in from around the world and make them feel as if they were a part of unique and compelling conversations about the future.

Because of this the podcast is intentionally authentic and conversational. You get to hear Sean and I exploring ideas with each other and our guests “in the raw” and with minimal editing (apart from Sean’s meticulous attention to audio detail).

It’s not a style that suits everyone. But it is one that, I hope, eschews any sense of being “talked-at” in favor of creating a space where listeners feel they have permission to explore nuanced and complex ideas with us.

This in itself places Modem Futura amongst a very small number of similar podcasts. But there’s an additional aspect to the podcast that, I believe, make us stand out even further.

Each week, the conversations that Sean and I have are part of our own intellectual journeys. Our conversations are places where we get to think about and test new ideas, to be surprised by novel perspectives, and to be delighted by the serendipity of unexpected insights.

And rather than being confined to the inaccessible corridors of academia, these are journeys that our listeners are invited to join us on.

In other words, Modem Futura is a space where Sean and I get to explore and expand our own ideas and understanding, while simultaneously making them accessible, engaging, and relevant, to a broad and diverse audience.

Back in November, Sean and I were interviewed about Modem Futura for an article published by ASU, and much of what I’ve written above is reflected in our responses.

It’s worth reading the whole article. But I wanted to wrap up this piece with the final question we were asked: What do you hope your listeners will take away from the podcast?

This was our response:

One of the reasons we established the ASU Future of Being Human initiative is the growing need for new ways of thinking and talking about the future in a technologically complex world. And the podcast provides a unique opportunity to do this as we catalyze new thinking and ideas at scale. It also responds to a growing hunger for informed conversations around transformative technologies and the future.

The thing is, you can’t do this by being preachy or polarizing or boring — you have to be worth listening to, you have to be engaging and you have to build meaningful relationships with your listeners, whether they’re high school students, retired or anyone in between.

I hope we achieve this, because it’s never been more important that a public university like ASU is at the forefront of creating spaces where everyone — no matter who they are — can be part of exploring the futures we collectively aspire to in an age of unprecedented technological advances.

Which is a rather long-winded way of saying that I hope our listeners are entertained, engaged, amazed, awed, frequently excited, sometimes shocked and ultimately energized as we explore what it means to be part of creating better futures at one of the most transformative points in human history.

This, to me, gets to the heart of why this is not just another tech podcast. At its core, Modem Futura is an invitation — an invitation to think differently, dream boldly, and join us in exploring and even shaping what it means to be human in the most technologically transformative age we’ve ever lived through.

And just because I’m constantly being told that calls to action are important, you can accept the invitation by following Modem Futura on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube (yes, we have a video feed), or wherever else you get your podcast fix 😊

Thanks!

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PS - We will be posting two not-to-be-missed holiday specials of the podcast on December 24 and December 31 — no spoilers here, but worth following (and keeping an eye on YouTube) for these as the conversations we had with our guests were amazing!