Join Scott Johnson and Tom Merritt to get short term, long term, and crazy predictions.
Join Scott Johnson and Tom Merritt to get short term, long term, and crazy predictions, as well as the always interesting FourCast Findings and FourCast QuickFire Questions segments. They're a little lazy, so they bring on two guests every episode and make them do the work.
Beware the Lunar Molemen (Episode 1)
Air date: 2009-07-14
Runtime: 43 min
Overview: We're proud to have Len Peralta of JawBone Radio and Monsters By Mail, and Veronica Belmont of Tekzilla and Qore as our first victims, er, guests. This episode was a blast, dealing with the end of the world, the terraforming of Mars, and of course, MoleMen.
Water Wars (Episode 2)
Air date: 2009-08-06
Runtime: 48 min
Overview: For our next trick, Scott and I got Leo Laporte of TWiT fame, and Revision3 CEO Jim Louderback to square off with their visions of the future. You may think Leo is the optimist, but you'd be wrong. Witness the title of our episode. It was Jim that has the rosier view of the future. Including the chance for all of us to someday become Ashton Kutcher. Listen in folks, it's a good one.
Superheroes at Play in Domed Cities (Episode 3)
Air date: 2009-09-10
Runtime: 42 min
Overview: This time on FourCast, comic, movie, and TV writer Gerry Conway and podcaster Brian Ibbott predict a world brimming with superheroes, domed cities, and RPGs based on your trip to the grocery store.
The Machine President Sits Alone (Episode 4)
Air date: 2009-10-15
Runtime: 35 min
Overview: This time we are blessed with two musicians whom we are both fans of. Jonathan Coulton, known best for his Code Monkey and zombie songs, and MC Frontalot, known best, apparently for his back trouble int he nerdcore documentary but really for his amazing nerd rap prowess. We discuss their visions of synthetic life, machine-led government, nanobots, and the amazing growth of our brains. Or will we have brains in the future?
Goodbye Journalism and Game Consoles (Episode 5)
Air date: 2009-11-05
Runtime: 22 min
Overview: We're doing things a little differently this time. We had so much good conversation this time around, that we're pbreaking the show into three parts. Part one of the prediction extravaganza with Scott Kurtz and Jeff Cannata sees us discuss the end of journalism as we know it and ponder a world with one game console platform.
America Gives Way to the First Virtual Nation (Episode 6)
Air date: 2009-11-12
Runtime: 23 min
Overview: In part two of our conversation with Jeff Cannata and Scott Kurtz, it's time for the long term predictions. We discuss the decline of America and the potential rise of virtual nations.
Omega Point Steals Our Gender (Episode 7)
Air date: 2009-11-18
Runtime: 31 min
Overview: The final part of our conversation with Jeff Cannata and Scott Kurtz covers the final simulation of everything and the elimination of all genders. Or does it? In fact, it does.
Sing Along with the Singularity (Episode 8)
Air date: 2010-07-06
Runtime: 59 min
Overview: While we have a lot of fun worrying about self-driving cars, it's really the singularity we should be worried about. Justin Robert Young pretty much believes it will be disaster, while Brian Brushwood has a rosier vision.
House of Trash (Episode 9)
Air date: 2010-07-12
Runtime: 45 min
Overview: Everything's going wireless, and magazines are on the way out. So we'll build our houses out of old wires and magazines.
Apple Is the Chigger of Tech Companies (Episode 10)
Air date: 2010-07-20
Runtime: 48 min
Overview: Among the solid state drives and USB appendages we discover the similarity between Apple and the itchy pest, chiggers.
Goodbye to Our Bodies (Episode 11)
Air date: 2010-07-26
Runtime: 45 min
Overview: Defying gravity, leaving our bodies, and eliminating humanity. In a good way.
It's a Dune Dune Dune Dune World (Episode 12)
Air date: 2010-08-02
Runtime: 48 min
Overview: No matter what we predict in this episode we find it all leads back to Dune... and the Space Amish.
Don't Insert Animals There (Episode 13)
Air date: 2010-08-09
Runtime: 71 min
Overview: Candy-coated humans, the Gross Domestic Happiness quotient, one language to rule them all, and more.
Humanity Is Saved! (Episode 14)
Air date: 2010-08-16
Runtime: 54 min
Overview: Body mods, presidential elections in the future, and the survival of humanity.
Whale Wars (Episode 15)
Air date: 2010-08-23
Runtime: 62 min
Overview: We will ditch copyright, public libraries and traditional narrative, and embrace mutations. But don't worry, time is running out. Literally.
Sgt. Zapata Regrows an Arm (Episode 16)
Air date: 2010-08-30
Runtime: 53 min
Overview: Find out why teleportation will work for dead cats. Also, we'll pick a job for you but it won't be in self-help.
Don't Steal My Arm (Episode 17)
Air date: 2010-09-13
Runtime: 59 min
Overview: Looking forward to better airlines, stain-resistant clothing, pay-by-arm transactions, and more.
The Great Seawall of Atlantica (Episode 18)
Air date: 2010-09-20
Runtime: 51 min
Overview: Wireless brains, boundless energy, virtual religion, and more.
Moop-A-Chicka-Wow-Wow (Episode 19)
Air date: 2010-09-27
Runtime: 50 min
Overview: Darthweef and PhatEmoKid tells us about the bedbugs, cures and Utopias in our future.
Rise of the Dolphoctopus (Episode 20)
Air date: 2010-10-04
Runtime: 60 min
Overview: Solutions for cancer and money problems, and why the small humans will come out on top.
Planet of the 1990s Diseases (Episode 21)
Air date: 2010-10-12
Runtime: 36 min
Overview: Cheap tech saves us all while our lungs are infected by solar cells.
Subscribe to the Perfect Memory (Episode 22)
Air date: 2010-10-18
Runtime: 52 min
Overview: Fighting the intelligence gap, ending the judicial system, and more.
BBQ on Mars (Episode 23)
Air date: 2010-10-25
Runtime: 53 min
Overview: Looking forward to an alliance of space colonies rebelling against their BBQ-hating overlords.
The Bug People Will Inherit the Earth (Episode 24)
Air date: 2010-11-01
Runtime: 51 min
Overview: Unicorns at the bottom of the sea, level 3 civilizations, organs in jars, and more.
Giraffe Burger To Go, Please (Episode 25)
Air date: 2010-11-08
Runtime: 50 min
Overview: No more borders, but we will have a civil war and we'll be saved by alien cyclopicorns.
What Would Blue-Jay Do? (Episode 26)
Air date: 2010-11-15
Runtime: 53 min
Overview: The wild turkey shoot is coming to a big city near you, and you'll be able to literally share your memories of the event.
Vote Arsonist! (Episode 27)
Air date: 2010-11-22
Runtime: 62 min
Overview: We will be burning everything down and creating artificial consciousness, resulting in self-aware fire-robots.
It's All a Simulization (Episode 28)
Air date: 2010-11-29
Runtime: 42 min
Overview: Dogs talk while we use our networked brains to chat with artificial sentient life on the bottom of the ocean.
Holodeck Full of Tuba Rock (Episode 29)
Air date: 2010-12-06
Runtime: 56 min
Overview: Deciding which brain-machine interface to use for immortality: organic, mechanical or virtual.
Spray-on Shopping With Cher (Episode 30)
Air date: 2010-12-13
Runtime: 52 min
Overview: Our mems-pants we downloaded while VR-shopping can change colors with the situation but can't save us from destruction.
Government Is Soylent Green (Episode 31)
Air date: 2010-12-20
Runtime: 62 min
Overview: Democracy through Farmville, chip implants for nutrition advice, and more.
Goober Great! (Episode 32)
Air date: 2011-01-03
Runtime: 62 min
Overview: Seth Rogen's future, landfill rage, and the greatest peanut butter combination of all time.
Nanite-Controlled Algorithms for Better Living (Episode 33)
Air date: 2011-01-17
Runtime: 55 min
Overview: Life will be sweet when algorithms govern our social lives and body bugs govern our biology.
Infinity Is Freaking Huge (Episode 34)
Air date: 2011-01-24
Runtime: 64 min
Overview: Brain hacking will be easier when we're always connected to the Net to watch live coverage of state secessions.
Gold-Backed Data Currency (Episode 35)
Air date: 2011-01-31
Runtime: 57 min
Overview: Hot swap your organs without interrupting the WiFi in your brain, and bad news is consolidated at MySpoo.
Robot Sugar (Episode 36)
Air date: 2011-02-07
Runtime: 58 min
Overview: In our parochial future filled with pirates, robots will tolerate us while Scott pole-dances under the name Robot Sugar.
Goodbye Governments, Hello Science War (Episode 37)
Air date: 2011-02-14
Runtime: 59 min
Overview: In our future, there will be no governments, only science wars.
Global Harmony Meets the Multiverse (Episode 38)
Air date: 2011-02-28
Runtime: 63 min
Overview: The rise of citizen scientists who record their life will lead us to global harmony on Mars.
We Are All X-Men (Episode 39)
Air date: 2011-03-07
Runtime: 52 min
Overview: We learn to love the mole men, throw out our DVDs and break up into small countries.
The Future Is Unclear (Episode 40)
Air date: 2011-03-21
Runtime: 50 min
Overview: Our guests have good reasons for having hazy future predictions. But the crazy? They bring the crazy.
To The Caves! (Episode 41)
Air date: 2011-03-28
Runtime: 62 min
Overview: We're headed to the gold standard, going bankrupt, losing our faith in science and we'll lose the world to the slime molds anyway.
We Are the Mole Men (Episode 42)
Air date: 2011-04-04
Runtime: 44 min
Overview: Hollywood won't stop making comic book movies, but we will stop talking to teach other in our ultraseats. And it will all happen underground.
You Died of Spacsyntery (Episode 43)
Air date: 2011-04-11
Runtime: 51 min
Overview: The proxy war will rage but we'll find water on 581g, and get plenty of online music and education.
The Future of No More (Episode 44)
Air date: 2011-04-18
Runtime: 58 min
Overview: No more I/O devices, no more copyright and no more URLs. But we will have ChromeOS!
Weightless Immortality (Episode 45)
Air date: 2011-04-25
Runtime: 58 min
Overview: Find out the best way to be weightless and live forever with Aaron and Mary on this episode of FourCast.
Head in the Clouds (Episode 46)
Air date: 2011-05-09
Runtime: 58 min
Overview: We're putting a hard drive in our heads, and we can't tell the Google history index has changed history, but we're all in caves now, so it's OK.
Stop Chad! (Episode 47)
Air date: 2011-05-24
Runtime: 56 min
Overview: If Chad doesn't get us in his dictatorial domination of new media, thumb-cats will!
Got Nanobots? (Episode 48)
Air date: 2011-06-06
Runtime: 54 min
Overview: Desktop sales take off, data mining makes us safer, memories get cataloged, and more.
Talk to the Animals (Episode 49)
Air date: 2011-06-13
Runtime: 59 min
Overview: Twitter and Facebook will die, GPS gets hacked, animal chats make us all vegetarians, but we all die anyway, and more.
Space Nomads (Episode 50)
Air date: 2011-06-21
Runtime: 52 min
Overview: We wander the universe playing Call of Duty 20 on our million-core processors, and using our slaptops, and more.
Robot Everything (Episode 51)
Air date: 2011-06-27
Runtime: 51 min
Overview: Humans grow the eff up, get happy, replace our body parts and get happy.
Prime Minister Doctorow If You Please (Episode 52)
Air date: 2011-07-11
Runtime: 59 min
Overview: Textbooks are free, hydroponic farmers grow in our cities, and computers become Gods.
Nice Bioluminescent Spots (Episode 53)
Air date: 2011-07-18
Runtime: 58 min
Overview: Bioluminescent spots running down your back with billboards.
It's All About Superheroes (Episode 54)
Air date: 2011-07-25
Runtime: 42 min
Overview: We won't die, and we won't have nay land, but we'll all be experts.
Distributed Everything (Episode 55)
Air date: 2011-08-01
Runtime: 46 min
Overview: We all share Internet, power and brains, but how long now will be really smelly and social.
The Gassy One (Episode 56)
Air date: 2011-08-08
Runtime: 60 min
Overview: We'll taste our movies and burn our trash, but we'll all be made of broccoli. Yet a trip to Jupiter will take our mind off it.
Grow Your Own Home (Episode 57)
Air date: 2011-08-15
Runtime: 59 min
Overview: Scan your tomatoes, travel at Mach 20 and put your phone in your brain.
Black Tar Einstein (Episode 58)
Air date: 2011-08-22
Runtime: 49 min
Overview: We got brain drain, big bangs and charity that gives back.
We Welcome Our Tank Spider Overlords (Episode 59)
Air date: 2011-08-29
Runtime: 51 min
Overview: We wear our computers, improve our toilets and all die in a singularity. But we can think our way out of it.
Putting the "I" In IPO (Episode 60)
Air date: 2011-09-12
Runtime: 51 min
Overview: Beatniks, home power and board games will make our future complete.
Designer Prosthetics (Episode 61)
Air date: 2011-09-19
Runtime: 51 min
Overview: Aliens will bind us, waste will be dealt with and the makers will inherit the Earth.
Vote Gibbon (Episode 62)
Air date: 2011-09-26
Runtime: 50 min
Overview: It's survival of the cutest, or survival of the aliens that can't enjoy simulations. But we can't use telepathy because of the ads.
Go Goa'uld or Go Home (Episode 63)
Air date: 2011-10-04
Runtime: 59 min
Overview: Civil War leads to education reform, and finally to the singularity.
Space Dragons (Episode 64)
Air date: 2011-10-12
Runtime: 58 min
Overview: We live long enough to end the US, colonize the universe and meet the alien dragons.
Swappin' Body Parts (Episode 65)
Air date: 2011-10-17
Runtime: 55 min
Overview: We'll archive our brains, defy gravity, and colonize planets with SimCity Arcologies.
Return of Alien Nation (Episode 66)
Air date: 2011-10-24
Runtime: 60 min
Overview: Giant halogens on Mars, equal rights for time, and all hail the electronic king.
Pulp Toy Story Dogs (Episode 67)
Air date: 2011-10-31
Runtime: 59 min
Overview: We all create the movies we want in our barter society, when we're into playing realistic D&D sims. But we're all part of the AI game.
Holographic Bieber (Episode 68)
Air date: 2011-11-08
Runtime: 48 min
Overview: Sure, you can't hug a child with robotic eyes, and printing a baby has issues, but our perma-kittens will take our minds off it.
Spider State (Episode 69)
Air date: 2011-11-14
Runtime: 62 min
Overview: We stay away from space, impose a police state and then hand it over the printed-out spiders.
Voodoo Bernie Is the Future (Episode 70)
Air date: 2011-11-21
Runtime: 56 min
Overview: We get avatars and live for a long time, but the aliens will keep us in line.
The Guilted Age (Episode 71)
Air date: 2011-11-28
Runtime: 64 min
Overview: Pop in your new eyes and enjoy the new middle ages, before humanity shuts down for good and becomes hermit snipers.
Megafauna (Episode 72)
Air date: 2011-12-05
Runtime: 60 min
Overview: Chip me baby one more time. Also giant elephants protect us.
Moonifest Destiny (Episode 73)
Air date: 2011-12-12
Runtime: 57 min
Overview: China's on the Moon, the robots beat everyone else, but at least we have voice control.
Introducing the Thought DVR (Episode 74)
Air date: 2011-12-19
Runtime: 62 min
Overview: We move into the ocean, shut off annoyances and stop cruelty. Really? Yes.
My Bricks Are Online (Episode 75)
Air date: 2012-01-03
Runtime: 50 min
Overview: We all stop commuting, but we have self-driving cars! And holographic keyboards.
Eyeball in My Colon (Episode 76)
Air date: 2012-01-16
Runtime: 58 min
Overview: We learn how to grow eyeballs in inappropriate places, our biometrics gets hacked, but we don't care because we can get our entertainment everywhere.
Robot Death or Lizard Face (Episode 77)
Air date: 2012-01-24
Runtime: 63 min
Overview: Sure we can't tell if it's a computer, but it won't kill us. It will kill our physical-altered progeny. Am I right?
Nobody Wants To Raise Grandma (Episode 78)
Air date: 2012-02-06
Runtime: 52 min
Overview: Also you'll need an email address in the future, but not necessarily an ID.
Ubiquitous Media (Episode 79)
Air date: 2012-02-13
Runtime: 45 min
Overview: Computing will be everywhere and so will media, but it will all happen in our minds.
Photography Becomes Archaeology (Episode 80)
Air date: 2012-02-27
Runtime: 51 min
Overview: We pick our pictures after the fact and take back control of publishing!
Beam Me Out Mommy (Episode 81)
Air date: 2012-03-05
Runtime: 51 min
Overview: Pregnancy will get easier, safer and we'll pay the hospital bills in hugs.
The Nanobots Made My Brain Do It (Episode 82)
Air date: 2012-03-12
Runtime: 53 min
Overview: Your heads up display won't let you get lost, but you're rewired brain may not like where you go.
Kickstart My Comic Heart (Episode 83)
Air date: 2012-03-19
Runtime: 51 min
Overview: Kickstart my comic heart and speak my version of English while you do it.
No Keyboard, No Security (Episode 84)
Air date: 2012-04-02
Runtime: 50 min
Overview: We'll need a disaster to teach us computer security, but we won't have those nasty keyloggers since we'll all use tablets.
Spectrum in My Head (Episode 85)
Air date: 2012-04-09
Runtime: 48 min
Overview: We'll have enough bandwidth to live in the Simiverse and shoot documentary movies there.
TV and Movies Merge (Episode 86)
Air date: 2012-04-23
Runtime: 45 min
Overview: Cinemas will show TV shows, movies come straight to your TV, plus other shocking developments.
Free Phone, Strong Heart, Can't Lose (Episode 87)
Air date: 2012-04-30
Runtime: 42 min
Overview: We'll have an Amazon phone that's ad supported and upgraded organs to enjoy it with.
No Ultrabooks, Just Paper Books (Episode 88)
Air date: 2012-05-07
Runtime: 49 min
Overview: While the name ultrabook will become meaningless, eBooks will not replace the dead trees entirely.
What’s the Digital Matter? (Episode 89)
Air date: 2012-05-14
Runtime: 46 min
Overview: We'll be able to program matter to be whatever we want, too bad nobody will know how it works.
Your Tube Is Here (Episode 90)
Air date: 2012-05-21
Runtime: 50 min
Overview: Travel by tube in your custom car listening to your custom station.
Jam the Reptile Terrorists (Episode 91)
Air date: 2012-06-04
Runtime: 47 min
Overview: When we all have wearable computing we'll need to jam it and stop the parallel universes from invading us. But at least we have easy access to Point Break.
Lastcast (Episode 92)
Air date: 2012-06-11
Runtime: 62 min
Overview: Scott and Tom share their predictions in this the triumphant finale of FourCast.