Introduction
This week’s conversation is a rather unusual one. There’s one guest, as there usually is, but this time there are two hosts—or, two people asking the questions.
The guest is David Staley, whom longtime listeners to the podcast will recognize from Episode 111, where he talked about his book Alternative Universities: Speculative Design for Innovation in Higher Education, a collection of ideas about the kind of higher education we might have in America if we wanted to. What I didn’t really appreciate back then was that David is the rare historian who is as interested in the future as he is in the past.
Indeed, he’s written essays, and even an entire book about this, appropriately enough titled History and the Future: Using Historical Thinking to Imagine the Future. We’ve talked about history and the future before, in Episode 46 with Professor David Hochfelder, and since I’m deeply skeptical about this concept I thought it good to talk with David about it—especially in the summer of 2020, when we were all deeply uncertain about the future.
The other fellow asking questions is an old friend of mine, Brent Orrell, who is a Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on issues of career and technical education, criminal justice reform, and prison education and reentry. He also hosts the podcast Hardly Working, and I thought he would bring a very different set of questions and perspectives to the table.
About the Guest
David Staley is Associate Professor of History at The Ohio State University, where he teaches courses in digital history, historical methods, and the philosophy of history. He is the author of History and the Future: Using Historical Thinking to Imagine the Future (Lexington Books, 2007) and Alternative Universities: Speculative Design for Innovation in Higher Education (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019). His work explores the use of historical imagination not only to interpret the past but also to anticipate possible futures.
For Further Investigation
David Staley, History and the Future: Using Historical Thinking to Imagine the Future (Lexington Books, 2007)
David Staley, Alternative Universities: Speculative Design for Innovation in Higher Education (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019)
David Staley’s Substack: One-Sentence Future
Brent Orrell’s podcast Hardly Working (American Enterprise Institute)
Historically Thinking, Episode 46 with David Hochfelder: “History and the Future”
Listen & Discuss
Every episode sparks different ideas for different listeners. Share yours in the comments — and consider passing the link to a friend.
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