Welcome to... the future? Though we still don't have our jet-packs, there is something future-feeling about the year 2020. As such we thought we'd kick off the new year and new decade with some forward-looking episodes.

Back in 2007, John and Ken were joined by Nassim Taleb, author of The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, to talk about the extent to which we can forecast the future. A year earlier, at the annual meeting of the Pacific Division of the American Philosophical Association, they were joined by three (then-)young philosophers to think about where philosophy might be headed in the coming years. As for the likely direction of our democracy, former U.S. Senator Russ Feingold joined John and Ken in the heat of the 2012 election season to talk about the role of corporations in shaping our politics. Of course politics is just part of what future generations will inherit from us, so just last year Josh and Ken spoke to Rahul Kumar from Queen's university about what we might owe people who don't yet exist. And what if some of us might exist again? John and Ken questioned the possibility of reincarnation and future selves with Robert Thurman from Columbia University. We hope you enjoy listening -- now and in the future!