Futurism at JHU runs a podcast discussing billion-dollar ideas in science and technology. Since the launch of the podcast in the fall of 2021, Futurism has recorded 24 episodes on topics from artificial intelligence and neural networks to digital healthcare and, most recently, ChatGPT.
Junior Ricardo Morales Gonzalez is the co-founder and treasurer of Futurism at JHU. In an email to The News-Letter, Gonzalez provided his thoughts on the goals of the club. To him, the mission of Futurism at JHU is to spread the complex conversations on the podcast to the Hopkins body and beyond.
“We want people to be interested in technological and ideological achievements that have the potential to change the landscape of our future,” he said.
Futurism at JHU Co-Founder and Club President junior Nicholas Doupsas also emphasized the importance of starting more conversations on the intersection between ethics and science among the student body.
“Thinking about how we can ethically develop the latest science and technology developments to best help humanity is how I would describe our podcast,” he said.
Doupsas pointed out that, while there are many long-standing, reputable podcasts — such as the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs and the Hopkins Biotech Podcast — the University did not have a podcast that focused on issues of the future. Doupsas and Gonzalez aimed to correct this when they founded the club in 2020.
Futurism at JHU began as a self-described think tank but quickly launched onto other media sites. Besides the podcast, the club runs a blog of their podcast topics on Medium and Blogspot. Futurism at JHU also has content on YouTube and Instagram. The club has done “hot-take interviews” on TikTok in which the audience can answer questions on what they think will happen to humanity in the future.
Doupsas announced two projects that the club plans to undertake in the future. One project is a monthly newsletter that will summarize each month’s podcast episodes, blog posts and current events. The other reflects the club's primary focus: expansion.
"Another project we’re trying to do is getting more alumni on the podcast," Doupsas said. "We are trying to create a series to let people hear from people who have been at the school who are now doing really cool stuff in science and technology. Those are really cool conversations that we hope to continue and to expand the series.”
Besides growing the podcast, there are also plans to expand the club as a whole.
“The big vision for Futurism is to create chapters at different schools," Doupsas said. "We are reaching out to organizations right now to see if they could be a parent organization.”
A parent organization would give Futurism at JHU the support and guidance it needs to establish chapters across the country. Doupsas feels that Futurism at JHU already has a quality that makes the organization suitable for different schools.
“The name, ‘Futurism at,’ allows for that flexibility of there being different podcasts at different schools," he said. "That allows us to expand the conversation beyond Hopkins.”
As for conversations within Hopkins, Gonzalez looks for more participation from students.
"We want people to become more knowledgeable of our organization as well as open more opportunities for people to participate from video production work, to writing and researching, to simply wanting to talk or bring in guests,” he said. “We want this club to be open to everyone that is even remotely interested in technology and science.”
The Futurism at JHU podcast is available on Spotify.
Helen Lacey contributed reporting to this article.
