Latest Episode
The Otherworldly Power of a Total Eclipse
5.11 | 03.18.24
The most important piece of advice David Baron ever got: “Before you die, you owe it to yourself to see a total solar eclipse.” The recommendation came from the Williams College astronomer Jay Pasachoff, a beloved teacher and textbook author, after Baron interviewed him for a 1994 radio story. Baron listened—and it changed his life. He saw his first eclipse in Aruba in 1998, and has since become a true umbraphile. The upcoming eclipse of April 8, 2024, will be the ninth one he’s witnessed. A veteran science journalist and former NPR science correspondent, Baron joined Soonish from his home in Boulder, CO, to talk about his 2017 book American Eclipse: A Nation’s Epic Race to Catch The Shadow of the Moon and Win the Glory of the World. It’s a dramatic account of the total eclipse of July 29, 1878, which crossed through Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and Texas and drew a fascinating cast of characters into its path, including a young Thomas Edison.
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Looking Back at 50 Episodes of Soonish
5.10 | 02.19.24
After a long hiatus, Soonish is back for a celebration. It’s the 50th full episode of the show! (I’m not counting a few bonus episodes in that total.) Tamar Avishai, creator and host of the Hub & Spoke podcast The Lonely Palette, joins this time as co-host to help me take a look look back at the first 49 episodes of the show. She quizzes me on the accuracy of many of the technology forecasts and predictions I offered along the way. And she prompts me to explain how the show has evolved since its launch in 2017, why it’s become more political than I ever expected (it’s the democracy, stupid), and where it’s going in the future.
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Brittle, Anxious, Nonlinear, Incomprehensible: How One Futurist Frames the Pandemic
4.01 | 05.12.20
What can the art of futurism tell us about how the coronavirus pandemic arrived and what kind of world is likely to emerge from it? Find out in this conversation with California-based foresight thinker Jamais Cascio. READ MORE
I Have Seen the Future of Displays
3.06 | 08.07.19
We geek out on a new piece of computer hardware—Apple's Pro Display XDR—and learn along the way how innovations in the technology of image reproduction can alter the very way we see the world. READ MORE
When Minds and Machines Converge
3.01 | 10.01.18
Can thought-power control the world outside our heads? Thanks to new brain-machine interface technology, the answer is yes. But the real question is whether it can it help us control the world inside our heads. READ MORE
The Future is Clear
2.07 | 02.27.18
What's ubiquitous but invisible, versatile yet temperamental, goopy when it's hot yet brittle when it's cold, as old as civilization yet as new as the screen of your smartphone? The answer is glass. READ MORE
Looking Virtual Reality in the Eye
2.06 | 01.05.18
The immersive, 3D environments of virtual reality aren’t science fiction any more, and they aren’t just for video games. In this episode we visit “The Enemy,” a groundbreaking VR exhibit about the psychology of war. READ MORE
Monorails: Trains of Tomorrow?
1.02 | 1.25.17
Monorails have big advantages over competing forms of mass transit, such as buses, subways, and light rail—so why are new monorail systems being built everywhere in the world except the United States? READ MORE
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“Soonish is a fascinating podcast about the future, technology, and the people shaping both. Every episode is a welcome infusion of informed optimism.”
