Somehow I missed this swash­buck­ling unde­bate between Niall Ferguson and Peter Schwartz on the gen­eral topic of: is the future screwed? Schwartz (see video here, in which he claims we will mostly all die from sudden global cli­mate change-induced vio­lence long before peak oil is an issue) is the optomist, Niall Ferguson is con­cerned things might be uncom­fort­able for us.

Alternative his­to­ries, finance, evo­lu­tionary biology, cos­mology, corn syrup, Hashemites, diesel-shitting microbes, China, com­plexity, dead friends and imag­i­nary ones. And laughs! And if you really need hard futurism, Schwartz (back in April) pre­dicts sub­stan­tial rebal­ancing of the the finance system within weeks. It’s a corker. Summary here, mp3 here, pod­cast here for the whole sem­inar series, if you wish to descend the full rabbit hole (highly, highly rec­om­mended). Don’t miss the Q&A after.

“Not Life of Brian, Meaning of Life. Sorry. Jet lag.” — Niall Ferguson