# πŸŽ‡ An age of transformation: My chat (+transcript) with techno-futurist Peter Leyden Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/faster-please-the-podcast-5630783/an-age-of-transformation-my-chat-transcript-with-techno-futurist-peter-leyden Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/faster-please-the-podcast-5630783/an-age-of-transformation-my-chat-transcript-with-techno-futurist-peter-leyden.md Podcast: [Faster, Please! β€” The Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/faster-please-the-podcast-5630783) Published: 2025-07-10T23:23:31+00:00 Episode link: https://fasterplease.substack.com/p/an-age-of-transformation-my-chat Audio file: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/168030185/a5e7d025cb6051bbf9d671bf077b4a1a.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/faster-please-the-podcast-5630783/episodes/an-age-of-transformation-my-chat-transcript-with-techno-futurist-peter-leyden Duration seconds: 1882 ## Resource My fellow pro-growth/progress/abundance Up Wingers, The 1990s and the dawn of the internet were a pivotal time for America and the wider world. The history of human progress is a series of such pivotal moments. As Peter Leyden points out, it seems we’re facing another defining era as society wrestles with three new key technologies: artificial intelligence, clean energy, and bioengineering. Today on Faster, Please! β€” The Podcast , I chat with Leyden about American leadership in emerging technology and the mindset shifts we must undergo to bring about the future we dream of. Leyden is a futurist and technology expert. He is a speaker, author, and founder of Reinvent Futures . Thirty years ago, he worked with the founders of WIRED magazine, and now authors his latest book project via Substack: The Great Progression: 2025 to 2050 . In This Episode * Eras of transformation (1:38) * American risk tolerance (11:15) * Facing AI pessimism (15:38) * The bioengineering breakthrough (24:24) * Demographic pressure (28:52) Below is a lightly edited transcript of our conversation. Eras of transformation (1:38) I think we Americans tend to reset the clock in which we get in these dead ends, we get in these old patterns, these old systems, and the things are all falling apart, it's not working. And then there is a kind of a can-do reinvention phase . . . Pethokoukis: Since World War II, as I see it, we have twice been on the verge of a transformational leap forward, economically and technologically. I would say that was right around 1970 and then right around 2000, and the periods of time after that, I think, certainly relative to the expectations then, was disappointing. It is my hope, and I know it's your hope as well, that we are at another such moment of transformation. One, do yo… ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/faster-please-the-podcast-5630783/episodes/an-age-of-transformation-my-chat-transcript-with-techno-futurist-peter-leyden/transcription-requests` β€” Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/faster-please-the-podcast-5630783/an-age-of-transformation-my-chat-transcript-with-techno-futurist-peter-leyden.md` β€” Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.