Tom Merritt
Self - Host
Series SeasonSeason 1 episodes2009
FourCast
Season 1
No season overview available.
Episodes
Each episode has its own detail page.
Episode 143 min2009-07-14
Beware the Lunar Molemen
We're proud to have Len Peralta of JawBone Radio and Monsters By Mail, and Veronica Belmont of Tekzilla and Qore as our first victims, er, guests. This episode was a blast, dealing with the end of the world, the terraforming of Mars, and of course, MoleMen.
Episode 248 min2009-08-06
Water Wars
For our next trick, Scott and I got Leo Laporte of TWiT fame, and Revision3 CEO Jim Louderback to square off with their visions of the future. You may think Leo is the optimist, but you'd be wrong. Witness the title of our episode. It was Jim that has the rosier view of the future. Including the chance for all of us to someday become Ashton Kutcher. Listen in folks, it's a good one.
Episode 342 min2009-09-10
Superheroes at Play in Domed Cities
This time on FourCast, comic, movie, and TV writer Gerry Conway and podcaster Brian Ibbott predict a world brimming with superheroes, domed cities, and RPGs based on your trip to the grocery store.
Episode 435 min2009-10-15
The Machine President Sits Alone
This time we are blessed with two musicians whom we are both fans of. Jonathan Coulton, known best for his Code Monkey and zombie songs, and MC Frontalot, known best, apparently for his back trouble int he nerdcore documentary but really for his amazing nerd rap prowess. We discuss their visions of synthetic life, machine-led government, nanobots, and the amazing growth of our brains. Or will we have brains in the future?
Episode 522 min2009-11-05
Goodbye Journalism and Game Consoles
We're doing things a little differently this time. We had so much good conversation this time around, that we're pbreaking the show into three parts. Part one of the prediction extravaganza with Scott Kurtz and Jeff Cannata sees us discuss the end of journalism as we know it and ponder a world with one game console platform.
Episode 623 min2009-11-12
America Gives Way to the First Virtual Nation
In part two of our conversation with Jeff Cannata and Scott Kurtz, it's time for the long term predictions. We discuss the decline of America and the potential rise of virtual nations.
Episode 731 min2009-11-18
Omega Point Steals Our Gender
The final part of our conversation with Jeff Cannata and Scott Kurtz covers the final simulation of everything and the elimination of all genders. Or does it? In fact, it does.
Episode 3859 min2010-07-06
Sing Along with the Singularity
While we have a lot of fun worrying about self-driving cars, it's really the singularity we should be worried about. Justin Robert Young pretty much believes it will be disaster, while Brian Brushwood has a rosier vision.
Episode 3945 min2010-07-12
House of Trash
Everything's going wireless, and magazines are on the way out. So we'll build our houses out of old wires and magazines.
Episode 4048 min2010-07-20
Apple Is the Chigger of Tech Companies
Among the solid state drives and USB appendages we discover the similarity between Apple and the itchy pest, chiggers.
Episode 4145 min2010-07-26
Goodbye to Our Bodies
Defying gravity, leaving our bodies, and eliminating humanity. In a good way.
Episode 4248 min2010-08-02
It's a Dune Dune Dune Dune World
No matter what we predict in this episode we find it all leads back to Dune... and the Space Amish.
Episode 4371 min2010-08-09
Don't Insert Animals There
Candy-coated humans, the Gross Domestic Happiness quotient, one language to rule them all, and more.
Episode 4454 min2010-08-16
Humanity Is Saved!
Body mods, presidential elections in the future, and the survival of humanity.
Episode 4562 min2010-08-23
Whale Wars
We will ditch copyright, public libraries and traditional narrative, and embrace mutations. But don't worry, time is running out. Literally.
Episode 4653 min2010-08-30
Sgt. Zapata Regrows an Arm
Find out why teleportation will work for dead cats. Also, we'll pick a job for you but it won't be in self-help.
Episode 4759 min2010-09-13
Don't Steal My Arm
Looking forward to better airlines, stain-resistant clothing, pay-by-arm transactions, and more.
Episode 4851 min2010-09-20
The Great Seawall of Atlantica
Wireless brains, boundless energy, virtual religion, and more.
Episode 4950 min2010-09-27
Moop-A-Chicka-Wow-Wow
Darthweef and PhatEmoKid tells us about the bedbugs, cures and Utopias in our future.
Episode 5060 min2010-10-04
Rise of the Dolphoctopus
Solutions for cancer and money problems, and why the small humans will come out on top.
Episode 5136 min2010-10-12
Planet of the 1990s Diseases
Cheap tech saves us all while our lungs are infected by solar cells.
Episode 5252 min2010-10-18
Subscribe to the Perfect Memory
Fighting the intelligence gap, ending the judicial system, and more.
Episode 5353 min2010-10-25
BBQ on Mars
Looking forward to an alliance of space colonies rebelling against their BBQ-hating overlords.
Episode 5451 min2010-11-01
The Bug People Will Inherit the Earth
Unicorns at the bottom of the sea, level 3 civilizations, organs in jars, and more.
Episode 5550 min2010-11-08
Giraffe Burger To Go, Please
No more borders, but we will have a civil war and we'll be saved by alien cyclopicorns.
Episode 5653 min2010-11-15
What Would Blue-Jay Do?
The wild turkey shoot is coming to a big city near you, and you'll be able to literally share your memories of the event.
Episode 5762 min2010-11-22
Vote Arsonist!
We will be burning everything down and creating artificial consciousness, resulting in self-aware fire-robots.
Episode 5842 min2010-11-29
It's All a Simulization
Dogs talk while we use our networked brains to chat with artificial sentient life on the bottom of the ocean.
Episode 5956 min2010-12-06
Holodeck Full of Tuba Rock
Deciding which brain-machine interface to use for immortality: organic, mechanical or virtual.
Episode 6052 min2010-12-13
Spray-on Shopping With Cher
Our mems-pants we downloaded while VR-shopping can change colors with the situation but can't save us from destruction.
Episode 6162 min2010-12-20
Government Is Soylent Green
Democracy through Farmville, chip implants for nutrition advice, and more.
Episode 6262 min2011-01-03
Goober Great!
Seth Rogen's future, landfill rage, and the greatest peanut butter combination of all time.
Episode 6355 min2011-01-17
Nanite-Controlled Algorithms for Better Living
Life will be sweet when algorithms govern our social lives and body bugs govern our biology.
Episode 6464 min2011-01-24
Infinity Is Freaking Huge
Brain hacking will be easier when we're always connected to the Net to watch live coverage of state secessions.
Episode 6557 min2011-01-31
Gold-Backed Data Currency
Hot swap your organs without interrupting the WiFi in your brain, and bad news is consolidated at MySpoo.
Episode 6658 min2011-02-07
Robot Sugar
In our parochial future filled with pirates, robots will tolerate us while Scott pole-dances under the name Robot Sugar.
Episode 6759 min2011-02-14
Goodbye Governments, Hello Science War
In our future, there will be no governments, only science wars.
Episode 6863 min2011-02-28
Global Harmony Meets the Multiverse
The rise of citizen scientists who record their life will lead us to global harmony on Mars.
Episode 6952 min2011-03-07
We Are All X-Men
We learn to love the mole men, throw out our DVDs and break up into small countries.
Episode 7050 min2011-03-21
The Future Is Unclear
Our guests have good reasons for having hazy future predictions. But the crazy? They bring the crazy.
Episode 7162 min2011-03-28
To The Caves!
We're headed to the gold standard, going bankrupt, losing our faith in science and we'll lose the world to the slime molds anyway.
Episode 7244 min2011-04-04
We Are the Mole Men
Hollywood won't stop making comic book movies, but we will stop talking to teach other in our ultraseats. And it will all happen underground.
Episode 7351 min2011-04-11
You Died of Spacsyntery
The proxy war will rage but we'll find water on 581g, and get plenty of online music and education.
Episode 7458 min2011-04-18
The Future of No More
No more I/O devices, no more copyright and no more URLs. But we will have ChromeOS!
Episode 7558 min2011-04-25
Weightless Immortality
Find out the best way to be weightless and live forever with Aaron and Mary on this episode of FourCast.
Episode 7658 min2011-05-09
Head in the Clouds
We're putting a hard drive in our heads, and we can't tell the Google history index has changed history, but we're all in caves now, so it's OK.
Episode 7756 min2011-05-24
Stop Chad!
If Chad doesn't get us in his dictatorial domination of new media, thumb-cats will!
Episode 7854 min2011-06-06
Got Nanobots?
Desktop sales take off, data mining makes us safer, memories get cataloged, and more.
Episode 7959 min2011-06-13
Talk to the Animals
Twitter and Facebook will die, GPS gets hacked, animal chats make us all vegetarians, but we all die anyway, and more.
Episode 8052 min2011-06-21
Space Nomads
We wander the universe playing Call of Duty 20 on our million-core processors, and using our slaptops, and more.
Episode 8151 min2011-06-27
Robot Everything
Humans grow the eff up, get happy, replace our body parts and get happy.
Episode 8259 min2011-07-11
Prime Minister Doctorow If You Please
Textbooks are free, hydroponic farmers grow in our cities, and computers become Gods.
Episode 8358 min2011-07-18
Nice Bioluminescent Spots
Bioluminescent spots running down your back with billboards.
Episode 8442 min2011-07-25
It's All About Superheroes
We won't die, and we won't have nay land, but we'll all be experts.
Episode 8546 min2011-08-01
Distributed Everything
We all share Internet, power and brains, but how long now will be really smelly and social.
Episode 8660 min2011-08-08
The Gassy One
We'll taste our movies and burn our trash, but we'll all be made of broccoli. Yet a trip to Jupiter will take our mind off it.
Episode 8759 min2011-08-15
Grow Your Own Home
Scan your tomatoes, travel at Mach 20 and put your phone in your brain.
Episode 8849 min2011-08-22
Black Tar Einstein
We got brain drain, big bangs and charity that gives back.
Episode 8951 min2011-08-29
We Welcome Our Tank Spider Overlords
We wear our computers, improve our toilets and all die in a singularity. But we can think our way out of it.
Episode 9051 min2011-09-12
Putting the "I" In IPO
Beatniks, home power and board games will make our future complete.
Episode 9151 min2011-09-19
Designer Prosthetics
Aliens will bind us, waste will be dealt with and the makers will inherit the Earth.
Episode 9250 min2011-09-26
Vote Gibbon
It's survival of the cutest, or survival of the aliens that can't enjoy simulations. But we can't use telepathy because of the ads.
Episode 9359 min2011-10-04
Go Goa'uld or Go Home
Civil War leads to education reform, and finally to the singularity.
Episode 9458 min2011-10-12
Space Dragons
We live long enough to end the US, colonize the universe and meet the alien dragons.
Episode 9555 min2011-10-17
Swappin' Body Parts
We'll archive our brains, defy gravity, and colonize planets with SimCity Arcologies.
Episode 9660 min2011-10-24
Return of Alien Nation
Giant halogens on Mars, equal rights for time, and all hail the electronic king.
Episode 9759 min2011-10-31
Pulp Toy Story Dogs
We all create the movies we want in our barter society, when we're into playing realistic D&D sims. But we're all part of the AI game.
Episode 9848 min2011-11-08
Holographic Bieber
Sure, you can't hug a child with robotic eyes, and printing a baby has issues, but our perma-kittens will take our minds off it.
Episode 9962 min2011-11-14
Spider State
We stay away from space, impose a police state and then hand it over the printed-out spiders.
Episode 10056 min2011-11-21
Voodoo Bernie Is the Future
We get avatars and live for a long time, but the aliens will keep us in line.
Episode 10164 min2011-11-28
The Guilted Age
Pop in your new eyes and enjoy the new middle ages, before humanity shuts down for good and becomes hermit snipers.
Episode 10260 min2011-12-05
Megafauna
Chip me baby one more time. Also giant elephants protect us.
Episode 10357 min2011-12-12
Moonifest Destiny
China's on the Moon, the robots beat everyone else, but at least we have voice control.
Episode 10462 min2011-12-19
Introducing the Thought DVR
We move into the ocean, shut off annoyances and stop cruelty. Really? Yes.
Episode 10550 min2012-01-03
My Bricks Are Online
We all stop commuting, but we have self-driving cars! And holographic keyboards.
Episode 10658 min2012-01-16
Eyeball in My Colon
We learn how to grow eyeballs in inappropriate places, our biometrics gets hacked, but we don't care because we can get our entertainment everywhere.
Episode 10763 min2012-01-24
Robot Death or Lizard Face
Sure we can't tell if it's a computer, but it won't kill us. It will kill our physical-altered progeny. Am I right?
Episode 10852 min2012-02-06
Nobody Wants To Raise Grandma
Also you'll need an email address in the future, but not necessarily an ID.
Episode 10945 min2012-02-13
Ubiquitous Media
Computing will be everywhere and so will media, but it will all happen in our minds.
Episode 11051 min2012-02-27
Photography Becomes Archaeology
We pick our pictures after the fact and take back control of publishing!
Episode 11151 min2012-03-05
Beam Me Out Mommy
Pregnancy will get easier, safer and we'll pay the hospital bills in hugs.
Episode 11253 min2012-03-12
The Nanobots Made My Brain Do It
Your heads up display won't let you get lost, but you're rewired brain may not like where you go.
Episode 11351 min2012-03-19
Kickstart My Comic Heart
Kickstart my comic heart and speak my version of English while you do it.
Episode 11450 min2012-04-02
No Keyboard, No Security
We'll need a disaster to teach us computer security, but we won't have those nasty keyloggers since we'll all use tablets.
Episode 11548 min2012-04-09
Spectrum in My Head
We'll have enough bandwidth to live in the Simiverse and shoot documentary movies there.
Episode 11645 min2012-04-23
TV and Movies Merge
Cinemas will show TV shows, movies come straight to your TV, plus other shocking developments.
Episode 11742 min2012-04-30
Free Phone, Strong Heart, Can't Lose
We'll have an Amazon phone that's ad supported and upgraded organs to enjoy it with.
Episode 11849 min2012-05-07
No Ultrabooks, Just Paper Books
While the name ultrabook will become meaningless, eBooks will not replace the dead trees entirely.
Episode 11946 min2012-05-14
What’s the Digital Matter?
We'll be able to program matter to be whatever we want, too bad nobody will know how it works.
Episode 12050 min2012-05-21
Your Tube Is Here
Travel by tube in your custom car listening to your custom station.
Episode 12147 min2012-06-04
Jam the Reptile Terrorists
When we all have wearable computing we'll need to jam it and stop the parallel universes from invading us. But at least we have easy access to Point Break.
Episode 12262 min2012-06-11
Lastcast
Scott and Tom share their predictions in this the triumphant finale of FourCast.