
Thinking About Thinking Machines: Monk & Robot
For episode four of our series on the history of thinking about thinking machines, David and Shannon discuss a very different sci-fi sensibility: Becky Chambers’ Monk & Robot series (A Psalm for the W...
3 Okt 202459min

Thinking About Thinking Machines: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Today’s episode in our series on the history of thinking about thinking machines explores the novel that inspired Blade Runner: Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968). David talk...
29 Sep 202458min

Thinking About Thinking Machines: Isaac Asimov’s ‘Franchise’
In today’s episode in our series on the history of thinking about thinking machines, David and Shannon discuss Isaac Asimov’s 1955 short story ‘Franchise’, which imagines the American presidential ele...
26 Sep 202456min

Thinking About Thinking Machines: Metropolis
For the first episode in our new series on the history of thinking about thinking machines, David talks to philosopher Shannon Vallor about Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927). The last great silent film i...
22 Sep 202455min

What if… Scotland Had Voted for Independence?
For our last episode in this series of historical counterfactuals, David talks to the historian Ben Jackson about what might have happened if the 2014 Scottish Independence referendum had gone the oth...
19 Sep 20241h

What if… The Berlin Wall Hadn’t Fallen?
Our counterfactuals series moves forward to 1989: David talks to Lea Ypi about what might have happened if the Berlin Wall hadn’t fallen when it did. Was the night it came down really just one big acc...
15 Sep 202456min

What if… The 1919 Paris Peace Conference Had Actually Kept the Peace?
David talks to historian Margaret MacMillan, author of the prize-winning Peacemakers, about whether the 1919 Paris Peace Conference deserves its reputation as a missed opportunity and the harbinger of...
12 Sep 202458min

What If… The Russian Revolution Hadn’t Been Bolshevik?
Today’s episode is another big early twentieth-century counterfactual: David talks to the historian of Russia Edward Acton about how the Russian Revolution might have unfolded if the Left SRs and not ...
8 Sep 202458min




















