Ben Hammersley (@benhammersley) is a technologist, futurist author and Editor-at-Large of UK’s WIRED magazine.

Ben explores the effects of the internet and the digital network on the world’s business, political and social atmospheres. His latest book, 64 Things You Need to Know Now For Then gives us the essential guide to the things we need to know for life in the 21st century. He’s the writer, host, and narrator of Netflix and BBC television series Cybercrimes with Ben Hammersley that was shot in over six countries across the globe. As the first specialist correspondent on the internet for The Times and The Guardian, he became the inventor of the popular term, ‘podcast.’

Ben’s been called upon to advise three governments and countless tech organizations, including a seat on the European Commission High-Level Group on Media Freedom of the European Union. He has a private pilot’s license, is a Rescue Diver, and is a nationally registered Emergency Medical Technician in the USA, with an additional wilderness medicine diploma, and he holds qualifications in genomic science, disaster response, and advanced cardiac life support.

In today’s episode we discuss:
- How societal norms and social media breakdown without problem guidance
- The future of publishing and media in an age of outreach
- Why Ben thinks we can change politics and we’re both excited about the future for Millenials
- What it’s like as a futurist and why most companies are living in the past
- The effect of GDPR and Europe’s rules and regulations
- Why internet censorship is important and key to democracy
- Is democracy or authoritarianism a better model going forward
- Why Ben isn’t worried about AI and thinks blockchain is overrated
- What happens when China becomes THE economic powerhouse of the world
- How Ben accidentally invented the term podcast and why it’s haunted him ever since
- What it’s like working with Netflix and the future of solo-media companies
- Why Ben believes digital advertising is an enormous bubble