---
title: "A new podcast on tech, society, and sci-fi movies"
subtitle: "Based on the book Films from the Future, the podcast explores technology and society through the lens of 12 films"
author: "Andrew Maynard"
date: 2023-07-03
original: https://www.futureofbeinghuman.com/p/a-new-tech-podcast
mirror: https://text.futureofbeinghuman.com/substack/a-new-tech-podcast.html
---

# A new podcast on tech, society, and sci-fi movies

*Based on the book Films from the Future, the podcast explores technology and society through the lens of 12 films*

By Andrew Maynard · July 3, 2023 · [Original post](https://www.futureofbeinghuman.com/p/a-new-tech-podcast)

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*[Image: Image: Midjourney — [view image](https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/d3355734-5a7c-4472-a802-8d6cddcda92c_1664x960.png)]*

Back in the early days of the pandemic, there was a surge in creators producing free content for people looking for ways to take the edge off the lockdown.

In a moment of weakness I joined them! Thinking that people would appreciate an author reading their book, I recorded myself reading *Films from the Future: The Technology and Morality of Sci-Fi Movies* cover to cover, and posted the videos on YouTube.

Big mistake — not surprisingly, very few people were interested in watching hours of me sitting in front of a computer reading into a microphone.

However, I’ve long wondered whether there’s a way to repurpose those recordings.

As a result, this week marks the beginning of a 14 week exercise in [turning them into a Substack podcast](https://andrewmaynard.substack.com/podcast). I’ll be posting new episodes each week starting this coming Friday.

[Listen to the podcast](https://andrewmaynard.substack.com/podcast)

One of the reasons I’ve decided to do this is that the next offering of my undergraduate course *The Moviegoer’s Guide to the Future* starts in a few weeks, and I wanted to give students an alternative to purchasing the book — which we use extensively.

But it’s also a useful test of Substack’s podcast capabilities — something I’ve been wanting to experiment with.

I’ll be the first to admit that the recordings aren’t as slick as I’d like them to be — I’ll not be giving up the day job to become an audiobook narrator anytime soon! But revisiting the content I’m surprised at how relevant it still is — especially with current debates around the responsible development and use of AI.

I’d love your feedback on the podcast — and hope you find it interesting and useful!

Episode 1, which follows chapter 1 of the book, comes on Friday July 7.

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*This Markdown file is a text-only version of “A new podcast on tech, society, and sci-fi movies” by Andrew Maynard, from The Future of Being Human (<https://www.futureofbeinghuman.com>). The original post at <https://www.futureofbeinghuman.com/p/a-new-tech-podcast> is the canonical version. Images, video, audio and interactive elements are indicated inline and available in the original. © Andrew Maynard.*