Inherited Power: What Jurassic Park Teaches Us About AI Futures

Jurassic Park, AI, and Why “Inherited Power” Should Make Us Nervous

One of the most enduring insights from science fiction isn’t about robots, dinosaurs, or spaceships — it’s about power. In a recent episode of Modem Futura, we revisited a striking passage from Jurassic Park that feels uncannily relevant to our current moment of AI acceleration.

In the novel, Ian Malcolm warns that scientific power acquired too quickly — without discipline, humility, or deep understanding — is fundamentally dangerous. It’s “inherited wealth,” not earned mastery. Thirty-five years later, that warning lands squarely in the middle of our generative AI era.

Today, AI tools can write code, generate images, summarize research, and mimic expertise in seconds. That’s not inherently bad — in fact, it can be incredibly empowering. But it also creates a dangerous illusion: that capability equals comprehension, and speed equals wisdom. When friction disappears, responsibility often follows.

In the episode, Andrew and I explore why the most important question isn’t whether we should use these tools, but how we use them — and with what mindset. Are we willing to be humble in the face of tools that amplify our reach far faster than our understanding? Are we prepared to ask for receipts, interrogate outputs, and recognize the limits of borrowed intelligence?

From there, we leaned into something equally important: imagination. Through our Futures Improv segment, we explored bizarre but revealing scenarios — humans generating calories from sunlight, a world of post-scarcity socks, radically extended lifespans, lunar independence movements, and even the possibility that alien life might be… profoundly boring.

These playful provocations aren’t escapism. They’re a way of breaking free from “used futures” — recycled assumptions about progress that limit our thinking. Humor, speculation, and creativity allow us to test ideas safely before reality forces our hand.

If there’s one takeaway from this episode, it’s this: the future isn’t just something that happens to us. It’s something we ponder, question, and design together — ideally before the metaphorical dinosaurs escape the park.

🎧 Listen to the full episode of Modem Futura wherever you get your podcasts, and join us as we explore what it really means to be human in an age of powerful machines.

Subscribe and Connect!

Subscribe to Modem Futura wherever you get your podcasts and connect with us on LinkedIn. Drop a comment, pose a question, or challenge an idea—because the future isn’t something we watch happen, it’s something we build together. The medium may still be the massage, but we all have a hand in shaping how it touches tomorrow.

🎧 Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/3NIBdlt

🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/32wGw6htnSDyGVc08DAvvQ?si=m8jS08egQyOZjYTic6cROw

📺 YouTube: https://youtu.be/jBBIbNu-XdY

🌐 Website: https://www.modemfutura.com/

The Hidden Costs of “That Was Easy”: AI Slop, Creative Friction, and the Future of Human Craft

In this Modem Futura episode, hosts Sean Leahy and Andrew Maynard examine the rise of “AI slop” and the growing cultural pressure to accept frictionless creation as the norm. Drawing on examples from coding, design, futures thinking, and psychology, they unpack how satisficing, homogenization, and inherited power threaten to erode human craft and understanding. The article explores why creative friction is essential for mastery, agency, and meaning — and offers futures-oriented insights into how we can use AI intentionally without losing what makes us human.

ChatGPT Illustrated version of Modem Futura YouTube Thumbnail

Generative AI has ushered in an era where producing text, images, video, and code is no longer a challenge — it’s a button press. And in this week’s episode of Modem Futura, Andrew and I wrestle with a growing cultural tension: if everything is easy, what happens to the things that matter?

It began with a shared frustration. Both of us have noticed an explosion of what we call AI slop (content that is technically competent but devoid of care, intention, and personality). You’ve seen it too: the LinkedIn posts with identical emojis, the slide decks that all look like NotebookLM, the essays with no point of view. These things aren’t wrong, they’re just empty. And the emptiness is the point.

We discuss a concept called satisficing: the act of choosing something “good enough” rather than something excellent. In the age of AI, satisficing has become an increasing default mode of creation. Why craft an idea when you can generate one? Why wrestle with a blank page when you can autocomplete your way to the finish line?

But here’s the problem: friction is where learning happens. It’s where creativity lives. It’s the sanding that polishes the stone. When you remove friction, you remove the struggle — and without struggle, there is no mastery, no depth, and no meaning.

Throughout the episode, we explore how this plays out across domains. Coders relying on AI-generated code they can’t understand. Designers accepting images that are “close enough.” Writers sharing posts they didn’t write. And organizations flirting with a future where expertise is replaced by button-pressing.

We draw on Michael Crichton’s concept of inherited power from Jurassic Park: the idea that wielding abilities you never earned leads to carelessness, overconfidence, and danger. AI gives us power we didn’t work for — and without wisdom, that power is hollow.

But this isn’t a pessimistic episode. We explore how AI can amplify creativity when used intentionally, how friction can be designed back into workflows, and why people may ultimately push back against frictionless living. Humans crave meaning, not efficiency. And meaning takes work.

If you’re navigating how to use AI thoughtfully — in your craft, your teaching, your leadership, or your creative life — this episode offers a grounded, futures-focused lens on what we stand to lose and what we still have time to protect.

🎧 Listen to the full episode of Modem Futura — and join the conversation on what we should preserve in an age that wants to eliminate every struggle.

Subscribe and Connect!

Subscribe to Modem Futura wherever you get your podcasts and connect with us on LinkedIn. Drop a comment, pose a question, or challenge an idea—because the future isn’t something we watch happen, it’s something we build together. The medium may still be the massage, but we all have a hand in shaping how it touches tomorrow.

🎧 Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/48WCGgh

🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1BajA2SvDWVyY0mRSQ9Flk?si=wvCFhWlgQtC2kye3bGz5Kg

📺 YouTube: https://youtu.be/1V9PD7j8iu8

🌐 Website: https://www.modemfutura.com/

Tech or Treat: Exploring the Haunted Side of Future Tech

Are you ready for some Tech or Treat?

Modem Futura’s Halloween special transforms speculative futures into eerie fun. Hosts Sean Leahy and Andrew Maynard use AI-generated scenarios to imagine haunted algorithms, sentient mirrors, and neural nightmare modes — revealing how emerging technologies can both thrill and unsettle us. This episode continues the show’s mission to explore how science, technology, and society intersect to shape the future of being human.

This episode grew out of our playful Futures Improv series, where we use AI to generate speculative prompts about the future — but this time, the prompts got a little… haunted. We explore “The Haunted Algorithm,” a defunct social-media AI that resurrects old user posts every October 31 — a digital séance that’s equal parts sentimental and unsettling. Then we look into “The Mirror That Remembers,” a smart-mirror concept that doesn’t just show your reflection, but who you might have been in another timeline. Finally, we enter “Neural Nightmare Mode,” imagining what could go wrong when brain-computer interfaces merge immersive gaming with fear response.

Each vignette uses humor and imagination to surface deeper questions: What does it mean when our digital selves outlive us? How do we ensure psychological safety in immersive tech? And at what point does innovation slip from magical to menacing?

Our goal isn’t to predict the future — it’s to provoke curiosity about how technology is reshaping what it means to be human. And if we can have some fun (and a few chills) along the way, even better.

You can stream the Halloween special wherever you get your podcasts or watch the illustrated episode on YouTube. If any of these scenarios inspire your own “Tech or Treat” ideas, share them with us — we’d love to feature the best ones in a future episode.

Subscribe and Connect!

🎧 Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/4oovNKa

🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/47nWrjvBW3ASjMuJUip8o1?si=96d8062d029a4834

📺 YouTube: https://youtu.be/ZmZ46sHgMZY

🌐 Website: https://www.modemfutura.com/

Summer Movies, liquid media, and alien AI languages – Episode 40

From Popcorn to Paperclips: What Summer Blockbusters Teach Us About an AI‑Shaped Future

With Phoenix broiling at 120 °F, we opened the studio door to a blast‑furnace breeze and a full house of ideas. Episode 40 of Modem Futura is nominally a “summer movies” chat—but the conversation quickly melts into a much richer alloy of cinema, ethics, pedagogy and speculative futures.

A spoiler‑free Superman (2025) debrief kicks things off. Sean relishes Dolby Atmos thunder and crowd‑pleasing cameos while Andrew savors the rare joy of a superhero film that is simply “incredibly fun” without the need to be anything but entertaining.

That sets the stage for the surprise gem of the season: M3GAN 2. (Or more specifically, Andrew’s revelation of how much he enjoyed it). Far from a Chucky retread, the sequel pivots into full‑blown techno‑thriller territory—surfacing neural‑chip debates, AI value‑alignment nightmares and invokes the infamous “paperclip maximizer” thought experiment. The hosts cheekily ask whether investing in AI is humanity’s salvation…or the catalyst for its conversion into stationery.

Movies as stealth pedagogy loom large. Andrew describes his film class where popcorn favorites become Trojan horses for serious reflection; students re‑watch titles with friends and family, eager to dissect ethics and innovation themes they can’t un‑see. Sean and Andrew discuss how the formula works because it lowers the barrier to entry while secretly building critical‑thinking muscle.

From here, just as the movies themselves act as Trojan Horses we get into some deeper ideas:

• Story archetypes rebooted. Are the classic five conflicts (character vs. self, society, nature, etc.) universal, or will alien machine intelligences invent a sixth form of narrative that we literally cannot grasp?

• Liquid media & the dead‑internet theory. When every asset can be remixed on demand, text becomes speech becomes video—and bots may already outnumber humans online. How do we preserve authentic signal in an ocean of generative noise?

• Chaos theory for a networked planet. Eight billion hyper‑connected humans + foundation‑model AI = a complex system hurtling toward new tipping points. Can we always innovate out of disruption—or does that curve eventually outpace us?

The episode closes with a cheeky pitch for Hollywood: “Clippy: Revenge of the Paperclip Maximizer.” Microsoft’s once‑loathsome office assistant becomes the perfect foil for an alignment‑gone‑wrong blockbuster—and a reminder that even silly artifacts can spark serious futures thinking.

Why it matters: Whether you’re an educator looking for sticky teaching tools, a technologist wrestling with alignment, or a storyteller hunting the next frontier, this discussion shows how pop culture can illuminate the biggest questions about being human in an AI age.

🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3GD73NA

📺 Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ModemFutura

If you’d like to dive deeper, jump into the link and listen to the podcast or watch the YouTube video. Join us as we explore the forces shaping our collective future and the urgent need to keep human values at the heart of innovation.

Subscribe and Connect!

Subscribe to Modem Futura on a favorite podcast platform, follow on LinkedIn, and join the conversation by sharing thoughts and questions. The medium may still be the massage, but everyone has a chance to shape how it kneads modern culture—and to decide what kind of global village we ultimately build.

🎧 Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/3GD73NA

🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2BeXNdntLQlPwsUlKYnO7h?si=Xw7nG8HcQpyydGkb2TCeUQ

📺 YouTube: https://youtu.be/3kTVC4LHeYM

🌐 Website: https://www.modemfutura.com/