Strange New Work

Nov 02 2023 2

Strange New Work Podcast artwork

Lots of people are talking about the future of work today: remote work, artificial intelligence, white-collar unions, robots, 4-day workweeks... But those things are either here already or will be soon. What about the far future of work? What alien advancements await the office of the future? This podcast wants to boldly go where no other future-of-work podcast has gone. Host Tara McMullin (What Works) brings this limited series about how speculative fiction can help us imagine strange new ways of working and understanding ourselves. We'll explore questions about how we can transform work to be more humane and inclusive. We'll imagine new ways of working together, managing the economy, and providing for others.

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Introducing Strange New Work from What Works

Sep 07 2023 2 mins

Join Tara McMullin for a journey into the far future of work, and consider how we can create more humane, inclusive, and supportive work environment.The first episode of Strange New Work drops September 14! Support the show at: whatworks.fyiStrange New Work is brought to you by What Works with Tara McMullin and YellowHouse.Media.

Imagining a Radically Different World of Work

Sep 14 2023 27 mins

The future of work doesn't have to be an extension of today's reality.This is the first installment in Strange New Work, a new series from What Works about imagining radically different ways of working and doing business.In this episode, I take a closer look at speculative fiction and its role in the collective imaginary. Is science fiction all space operas and apocalyptic battles?

World-Building a More Sustainable Work Environment with Morgan Harper Nichols

Sep 21 2023 28 mins

Artist and writer Morgan Harper Nichols is a world-builder. She says, "Worldbuilding, for me, [is] a form of expansive hope—a necessary imagination for being alive." What is world-building? It's the process of creating secondary, fictional worlds. There's world-building in all sorts of fiction—but especially science fiction, speculative fiction, and fantasy.And world-building a

The Time to Change with Jordan Maney and Joanna L. Cea

Sep 28 2023 34 mins

Today's work happens in tiny slivers of time. And we try to optimize each minute or hour for all its worth. But remarkable work? Well, that takes time. And lots of it. The kinds of work that are central to our evolving economy—care work, maintenance work, creative work—require more time rather than more optimization. In this episode, I consider how viewing work through the long

You Will Be Assimilated with Charlie Gilkey

Oct 05 2023 32 mins

Social and professional norms aren't natural or innate. They're political. Those in power exert their preferences on those who aren't, and throughout history, have exerted social, cultural, and physical violence to either force subjugated people to assimilate or drive them out of society altogether.Speculative fiction is rife with tales of imperial conquest and colonization. And it

Disrupting Housework (Without Robots or Replicators)

Oct 12 2023 34 mins

Think the future of housework looks like Rosey the Robot from The Jetsons? Or maybe just a fleet of Roombas keeping every inch of a house free of dust or dirt?Think again. Housework is ready for a much, much bigger disruption. Of course, housework is rarely portrayed in pop culture space cowboy science fiction. And when it is, it's all about the high-tech solutions to trivial issue

Made for Work

Oct 19 2023 27 mins

Find the work you were born to do. Do what you were meant to do. Discover the work that makes you feel alive.We've all heard these messages. Crack open any career, self-help, or personal development book on your shelf, and you're sure to find a similar message. It seems pretty convenient that our "purpose" in life is work, doesn't it?In this episode, I unpack the "made for work" me

The Most Undervalued Skill of the 21st-Century Economy

Oct 26 2023 35 mins

What's the most undervalued skill of the 21st-century economy? Moderation.I very well might be forgetting something. But with more of our lives and work showing up online every day, the way our feeds, data, and connections are moderated is critical to our daily lives. Moderation can be many things—it's how platforms are designed, how content is incentivized or de-incentivized, an

The Will to Share Power with Tania Luna

Nov 02 2023 33 mins

Power. Some fear it. Others hoard it. Some with power speak softly. Others carry a big stick. Power is charisma, or coercion, or violence. Power is name recognition, or money, or computer code.Regardless of your definition or perceptions of it, power plays a critical role in how we work.Today, we explore power—what we can do with it, how we can grow it, and, critically, how we ca