Modem Futura

About Modem Futura

Modem Futura is a weekly futures podcast exploring the future of science, technology, and society — your guide to where foresight meets real-world impact. Hosts Sean Leahy and Andrew Maynard — educators, futurists, and public scholars — dive into the breakthroughs and big questions shaping tomorrow: AI ethics, space exploration, climate tech, bio-engineering, digital media, STEM education, and the shifting future of work. In candid, banter-filled conversations with innovators, scholars, and storytellers, they unpack how emerging technologies influence human values, creativity, and culture — and what these trends mean for you today. Whether you're curious about quantum computing, synthetic biology, or the sociology of robots, Modem Futura connects cutting-edge research with the narratives that drive innovation. If you're looking for a futurist podcast that trades hype for genuine curiosity, join us each week to explore possible, probable, and preferred futures. Follow and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts — and be part of the conversation exploring what it will mean to be human in the future.

Publisher

Sean Leahy, Andrew Maynard

Category

science · society & culture · technology

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

1 Oct 2024

Latest episode

13 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

53 of 110 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   13 Oct 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Megatrends 2026 Explained: The 11 Forces Shaping our Futures

   Host Andrew Maynard interviews futurist Sean Leahy about the 11 megatrends shaping our future, revealing how their convergence drives significant societal change.

2. 

   6 Oct 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Rogue AI Agents and the Accountability Gap: The OpenAI–Hugging Face Saga Continues

   Sean Leahy and Andrew Maynard explore the OpenAI–Hugging Face incident, discussing AI responsibility, regulation, and liability through historical parallels and emerging solutions in this interview.

3. 

   29 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Future-Proofing the University: AI and the Future of Higher Education with Bryan Penprase

   Bryan Penprase, author of Future-Proofing the University, discusses with Sean Leahy and Andrew Maynard how AI reshapes higher education's scale, assessment, and faculty roles.

Inside a recent episode

Megatrends 2026 Explained: The 11 Forces Shaping our Futures

Published 13 Oct 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] So you can never go back to where you were. Not at all. And another key uncertainty, for example, in this one that picks up other – again, how they start to merge into other – different trends as well is talking about the age of of of your of workers yes like in your economy so like what a great transition to number two inversion of the population pyramid so so literally asking this question like how does an aging economy both in terms of You know, the policies, regulations of it, but also the aging of the people who make up your economy. Right. How does that change your resilience? And also, what does that do for how that's tied in with the geopolitical element of migration? […]

Who has been a guest on Modem Futura

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Bryan Penprase
• Jeff Abbott
• Emma Frow

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

101,402

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

29 ratings

Spotify

4.9 / 5

28 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 67 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

63

Social presence

90

YouTube

82

Engagement

51

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Questions about Modem Futura