--- title: "Murderbot: Futures of AI Superintelligence, Rogue Robots, and Care" podcast: "Modem Futura" episode: "Episode 35" hosts: "Sean Leahy and Andrew Maynard" date: 2025-06-10 audio: https://cdn.simplecast.com/audio/018f87c3-4d42-4bc0-9d66-53873b51ec68/episodes/88a8437e-4ee0-4dfc-8c39-4c63890b84ff/audio/ad61a3da-e719-4674-a778-7acf8e4efcf5/default_tc.mp3?aid=rss_feed&feed=3frRI0HN mirror: https://text.futureofbeinghuman.com/modemfutura/35-murderbot-futures-of-ai-superintelligence-rogue-robots-and-c.html --- # Murderbot: Futures of AI Superintelligence, Rogue Robots, and Care Modem Futura · Episode 35 · June 10, 2025 · 58 min · Hosts: Sean Leahy and Andrew Maynard Listen: [MP3 audio](https://cdn.simplecast.com/audio/018f87c3-4d42-4bc0-9d66-53873b51ec68/episodes/88a8437e-4ee0-4dfc-8c39-4c63890b84ff/audio/ad61a3da-e719-4674-a778-7acf8e4efcf5/default_tc.mp3?aid=rss_feed&feed=3frRI0HN) · [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/murderbot-futures-of-ai-superintelligence-rogue/id1771688480?i=1000712223679&uo=4) · [Spotify (show)](https://open.spotify.com/show/3eFl4hY4t1qTCWE2Bxotrg) · [YouTube (video)](https://www.youtube.com/@ModemFutura) --- Hosts Sean Leahy and Andrew Maynard kick off this episode with a behind-the-scenes reveal: they’re now capturing each conversation in Apple’s easy-to-edit spatial video—and debating what immersive podcasting might become. From there the discussion rockets into the cultural obsession with AI super-intelligence and “rogue” robots, sparked by Apple TV+’s new adaptation of *Murderbot*. Sean and Andrew unpack why stories from *Terminator* and *Ex Machina* to *Westworld* and *Her* keep returning to machines that betray us—and contrast them with gentler robot narratives like *Bicentennial Man*, Spielberg’s *A.I.*, *After Yang* and *WALL-E*. Along the way they revisit Mary Shelley’s *Frankenstein*, the concept of technological “care” raised in a recent Emma Frow episode, and fresh Pew Research data (April 2025) showing a massive perception gap between AI experts and the U.S. public. The hosts ask: if companies such as Boston Dynamics, Figure, and Tesla are racing to drop humanoid bots into our homes, how do we bake empathy, governance and responsible foresight into their design—before the “red-eyed Robot” nightmare becomes a reality? **Links:** - [How the U.S. Public and AI Experts View Artificial Intelligence [Pew Research]](https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2025/04/03/how-the-us-public-and-ai-experts-view-artificial-intelligence/) -----Modem Futura is a production of the Future of Being Human initiative at Arizona State University. Be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. To learn more about the Future of Being Human initiative and all of our other projects visit - [https://futureofbeinghuman.asu.edu](https://futureofbeinghuman.asu.edu/)Subscribe to our [YouTube Channel: @ModemFutura](https://www.youtube.com/@ModemFutura)Follow us on Instagram: [@ModemFutura](https://www.instagram.com/modemfutura/)**Host Bios:****Sean M. Leahy, PhD** - [ASU Bio](https://search.asu.edu/profile/3183014)\ Sean is an internationally recognized technologist, futurist, and educator innovating humanistic approaches to emerging technology through a Futures Studies approach. He is the Executive Director for the [Future of Being Human Initiative](https://futureofbeinghuman.asu.edu/) and Research Scientist for the [School for the Future of Innovation in Society](https://sfis.asu.edu/) and Senior Global Futures Scholar with the [Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory](https://globalfutures.asu.edu/) at [Arizona State University](http://www.asu.edu/).**Andrew Maynard, PhD** - [ASU Bio](https://search.asu.edu/profile/2670673)\ Andrew is a scientist, author, thought leader, and Professor of Advanced Technology Transitions in the ASU [School for the Future of Innovation in Society](https://sfis.asu.edu/). He is the founder of the ASU [Future of Being Human initiative](https://futureofbeinghuman.asu.edu/), Director of the ASU [Risk Innovation Nexus](https://riskinnovation.org/), and was previously Associate Dean in the ASU [College of Global Futures](https://collegeofglobalfutures.asu.edu/).----- --- *These are the show notes for this episode of Modem Futura (), a podcast hosted by Sean Leahy and Andrew Maynard and part of the ASU Future of Being Human initiative (). This file is a text mirror of the episode’s show notes — not a transcript. Listen to the full episode via the links above, or watch it on YouTube ().*