The Future With Friends
The Future With Friends
Podcast Description
Have you ever wondered about the future of work life balance? Or the future of death and dying? Or perhaps the future of friendships themselves? Well it turns out these are the futures my friends think about and this is the podcast where we explore those futures with you.
Each episode I invite a friend to discuss the future of any topic they choose. I challenge them to write a future scenario set at least five years from now that captures their hopes and dreams, or quite possibly, their worst fears and nightmares. We then get to spend a little time together exploring what might happen next.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
Focuses on future scenarios for work-life balance, friendships, and death, with episodes like The Future of Work-Life Balance examining technology's impact on wellbeing and The Future of Friendships exploring the implications of social scoring on relationships.
Have you ever wondered about the future of work life balance? Or the future of death and dying? Or perhaps the future of friendships themselves? Well it turns out these are the futures my friends think about and this is the podcast where we explore those futures with you.
Each episode I invite a friend to discuss the future of any topic they choose. I challenge them to write a future scenario set at least five years from now that captures their hopes and dreams, or quite possibly, their worst fears and nightmares. We then get to spend a little time together exploring what might happen next.
This is the final episode of The Future With Friends for the year, and Simon Waller is joined by Steph Clarke—returning to the podcast as the very first guest and therefore self-appointed (and largely uncontested) holder of “best friend” status.
It’s also a slightly different format. Rather than exploring a single future, Simon and Steph arrive armed with duelling scenarios—each having written their own version of the future of Christmas set in 2051ish. Using scenario thinking, humour, and just enough provocation, they imagine how one of our most entrenched rituals might evolve—and what that says about us.
Steph imagines a future where Christmas shifts to July, shaped by supermarkets, consumer behaviour, and a society increasingly disconnected from seasonal traditions. Simon counters with a darker scenario, where Christmas is gradually co-opted by a political movement, stripped of shared meaning and repurposed as a tool for influence.
Together, these competing futures surface deeper questions about consumerism, power, community, and the role of rituals in a diverse society. As befits the final episode of the year, the conversation meanders into reflections on connection, festive tourism, humour, and why asking better questions matters more than ever.
At its core, this episode isn’t really about Christmas at all. It’s about how we imagine the future, the stories we tell ourselves, and how those stories shape what we choose to protect, change, or let go of.
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