Book Of The Future

Tom shares advice from his mentor about simply doing less: sometimes everyone needs an external perspective. Plus, the future of work: what matters?

Will we really all take to the skies? Or is terra firma a safer bet? Plus, have you ever thought about the bandwidth between you and your machines? It's falling.

As more and more of our daily experience is digitised, do we lose touch - literally - with the physical world? Tom doesn't think so. Plus, the TSB banking failure: what really happened?

We have barely entered the quantum age, yet already our expanded understanding of physics has begun to define our world. What's next? Plus, moving money: how will we pay in the future?

As levels of faith fall, what replaces religion in tomorrow's society? Plus, Tom returns to the Cambridge Analytica story: how will we manage - and monetise - our personal data in the future?

Tom examines what is - and what isn't - true innovation. Plus, fighting friction, what role does 5G have in saving us time and hassle?

The Value Of Imperfection

Tom explores the assumption that no-one will own a car in the future, and that we will all be serviced by self-driving fleets, arriving on demand. Is this realistic? Plus are futurists here to share a vision, or advocate for one?

Would you want to be nursed by a machine when you're in your old age? Tom explores the adoption of robots in care. Plus, why transparency undermines trust and threatens human strengths in the workforce.

Tom explores the Cambridge Analytica story: will this be the bucket of cold water that awakens people to how their data is data is being traded by social networks? Plus, why the art of lying will be a growth business in tomorrow's mixed reality world.

Tom replays his talk from SCVO's giant charities conference, The Gathering, where he helped third sector organisations to understand how automation my benefit - and threaten - their organisations, and missions. Plus, takeaways from Mobile World Congress, one of the world's largest technology shows.

Tom explores two possible policy responses to rising automation in the workforce: enhanced employment regulations and rising corporation taxes. Plus, how do you make a phone disappear? Three critical considerations for whatever replaces the smartphone.

Augmenting your connection with customers is a critical component of building a future-eady organisation, Tom argues this week. Plus, is tomorrow's trucker a glorified hitch hiker?

As we begin to adapt our cities to the challenges of climate change, should we be considering a more radical move to the stars? Plus, when does a company become too big to be regulated by the market - a market in its own right?

Automation promises to fundamentally reshape the traditional hierarchy of our organisations. Could we see future businesses with more people at the top than the bottom? Plus, how do we prepare tomorrow's workforce for a world where creativity is the most important human talent?

Is Facebook forever? Tom doesn't think so. Mark Zuckerberg has led the company to sustained success through acquisitions and rapid change, but one day it is bound to be outpaced. This is how it will happen. Plus, why there is no single future for everyone.

Tom talks to his house. Well, sort of. What can we learn about smart cities and artificial intelligence from basic experiments. Plus, why we shouldn't be too negative about the impact of technology on young people and their social lives.

New Year means curious journalists, wanting to know what's next. This episode features a round-up of the key technologies for 2018 that Tom's been talking about on the radio. Plus, why tech is the starting point for examining possible futures.

Tom shares 10 trends that are transforming the future home, following his closing keynote at the Property Week RESI 2017 conference.

Tom talks to Andrew Back (@9600) founder of the Wuthering Bytes festival of technology in Hebden Bridge, about this year's programme and the global open source project, collaborating to solve tomorrow's tech problems in everything from the Large Hadron Collider to NASA spacecraft