What If Our Cities Were Smart?

Flash Forward

Flash Forward Presents

Science

4.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 27 April 2021

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today’s episode is all about the future of cities. Do we want them to be smart? What does that even mean? Guests: Ben Passmore, a comic artist and contributor to the Flash Forward book! Annalee Newitz, a science journalist, science fiction writer, and author of Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age. Dr. Jathan Sadowski, author of Too Smart: How Digital Capitalism is Extracting Data, Controlling our Lives, and Taking Over the World and cohost of a podcast called This Machine Kills. Dr. Brenda McPhail, director of the Privacy, Technology, and Surveillance Program at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. Dr. Jarah Moesch, a multidisciplinary artist and professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Voice Actor: Smart City Cop — Brett Tubbs → → → Further reading & resources here! ← ← ← Flash Forward is hosted by, Rose Eveleth and produced by Julia Llinas Goodman. The intro music is by Asura and the outtro music is by Hussalonia. The episode art is by Matt Lubchansky. Get in touch: Twitter // Facebook // Reddit // [email protected] Support the show: Patreon // Donorbox Subscribe: iTunes // Soundcloud // Spotify Episode Sponsors: BetterHelp: Affordable, private online counseling. Anytime, anywhere. Flash Forward listeners: get 10% off your first month at betterhelp.com/flashforward Shaker & Spoon: A subscription cocktail service that helps you learn how to make hand-crafted cocktails right at home. Get $20 off your first box at shakerandspoon.com/ffwd. Tab for a Cause: A browser extension that lets you raise money for charity while doing your thing online. Whenever you open a new tab, you’ll see a beautiful photo and a small ad. Part of that ad money goes toward a charity of your choice! Join team Advice For And From The future by signing up at tabforacause.org/flashforward. Tavour: Tavour is THE app for fans of beer, craft brews, and trying new and exciting labels. You sign up in the app and can choose the beers you’re interested in (including two new ones DAILY) adding to your own personalized crate. Use code: flashforward for $10 off after your first order of $25 or more. Purple Carrot: Purple Carrot is THE plant-based subscription meal kit that makes it easy to cook irresistible meals to fuel your body. Each week, choose from an expansive and delicious menu of dinners, lunches, breakfasts, and snacks! Get $30 off your first box by going to www.purplecarrot.com and entering code FLASH at checkout today! Purple Carrot, the easiest way to eat more plants! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to Flash Forward. I'm Rose and I'm your host. Flash Forward is a show about
0:15.1	the future. Every episode we take on a specific possible or sometimes not so possible future scenario.
0:22.5	We always start with a quick field trip to the future to check out what's going on and then we
0:27.5	teleport back to today to talk to experts about how that world that we just heard about might
0:34.0	really go down. Got it? Great. This episode is also very, very special because the Flash Forward
0:41.0	book is now out. I know that I've sort of talked to you you're off about the book already,
0:46.4	probably if you were listening last season, but I am genuinely really proud of it and I'm so excited
0:51.8	for it to finally be out in the world for you to actually read. The book is made up of 12 chapters
0:57.6	each visiting a different future. 10 of those futures are ideas that we have done on the show
1:03.1	before, but totally reimagined. So even if you've heard that episode, you've heard every episode
1:07.9	of Flash Forward, the chapters are going to feel new to you. They all start with a little comic
1:12.8	and then an essay by me and I'm just so excited for you to see it. So if you haven't gotten a copy yet,
1:18.1	you can go to flashforwardpod.com slash book and there are a bunch of links for how to order it.
1:23.2	Yes, and so there are also two chapters that we have actually never done on the show before.
1:31.3	Until now because today we are going to talk about one of the futures that frankly I have been
1:37.2	kind of avoiding for years actually. I just couldn't really figure out what to say about it or
1:42.0	how to make it interesting and thankfully for the book I got to work with these incredible artists
1:46.4	and the artists who took on this idea had some really cool ideas. So without further ado,
1:51.3	let us go to this future. And yeah, if you if you can and would like to please buy the book
1:58.0	and if you do buy the book, please shop at your local independent bookstore if you can.
2:01.6	If you have one, that would be great. Okay, onto the future.
2:05.8	All right, my favorite little informant. What do you have for me today?
	...

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