Physical Attraction

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TEOTWAWKI Failed Predictions - Part I (Free Episode) May 03, 2018

Show notes

So, it won't come to any surprise to any of you to realise that - while I've researched all of the various ways the world might end - I've found an awful lot of ways the world CATEGORICALLY WON'T END. From Raptures gone wrong to Nibiru, the planet that does not exist and will not crash into Earth, this episode eases the drama a little bit by going through some of the end-of-the-world predictions that didn't come true. The second half of the show will be available via the website as a premium episode; get in contact with me via the website (after donating your $3) or subscribe on Patreon. Help support the show, help support indie podcasting, help us cover our hosting costs (which far outstrip any donations we get) and show your appreciation for all the free entertainment I've given you so far... At least, I hope it's entertainment. It's certainly free. ------------ You can contact us via www.physicspodcast.com, that Patreon is www.patreon.com/PhysicalAttraction , and you can follow us on Twitter @physicspod.

Startup Nectome Promises Immortality or Death: Can they deliver? Apr 27, 2018

Show notes

Nectome took the tech social media world by storm when they announced, at Y Combinator, that they'd kill you for $10,000. Well, they'd kill you and preserve your brain, possibly leading to some kind of digital immortality when they upload your brain to a computer. This was met with excitement, skepticism, and - ultimately - MIT severed ties with the company. We look into the science, ethics, and philosophy of Nectome's proposed brain-uploading scheme. Could it really work? Or is it just a techno-fantasy? www.physicspodcast.com -> Contact us with comments, concerns, suggestions for content, anything you like. @physicspod on Twitter Thanks to Shelly Fan of Singularity Hub and various writers of the MIT Technology Review.

Stephen Schwartz, Atomic Analyst, on nuclear weapons: from the Cold War to Trump Apr 19, 2018

Show notes

We have a special guest on the show today - Stephen Schwartz. Stephen is an expert on nuclear weapons; he has been studying nuclear weapons policy, particularly in the US, for decades. His book - The Atomic Audit - was the first ever survey of the true financial cost of nuclear weapons; he has been the editor and publisher of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, who manage the famous Doomsday clock and publish scholarly and popular literature on existential threats including nuclear weapons. He edited the Non-Proliferation review, and is currently an Adjunct Professor at Middlebury - he also runs an excellent social media feed on Twitter @AtomicAnalyst where he keeps us all up to date on nuclear weapons and political developments. I was delighted to have him on the show: we sat down for an interview about nukes in the modern era and under Trump, the real financial cost of nuclear weapons, the biggest risks that they pose, dispelling nuclear myths, and what we can do to help keep our society safer from these risks. I also find out why he tried to position his college to stock up on suicide pills in the 1980s. I hope you enjoy.

You can follow us on Twitter @physicspod, we have a Facebook page if you're still on that website, and you can always contact us with your comments, questions, and concerns via the contact form over at www.physicspodcast.com; I read everything and respond to everything that makes sense, and if you want to tell me what you'd like to hear from the show, I'd love to hear it. You can donate to the show via links on the website to help us cover hosting costs and in case you think it's worth a few dollars, pounds, yen or euros for hours of free, independent content. If you don't want to go through the hassle of doing that, though, please do tell as many people as you can about the show. When we come back, there's going to be an overview of the series that we're just emerged from. Episodes include the apocalypses that didn't happen, the ways we might hope to avoid them in the future, and where to go next.

Simon Ings on Stalin and the Scientists: Triumph and Tragedy Apr 12, 2018

Show notes

One of the best and most enjoyable parts of hosting this show is when my favourite authors are kind enough to speak to me. I'd like to thank Simon for an excellent, enlightening, entertaining discussion: if you enjoy listening to it half as much as I enjoyed the conversation, you're in for a real treat. Today, as part of our series on science in the USSR, I'm delighted to say that we have an interview with Simon Ings, the author of a wonderful book on the subject - Stalin and the Scientists. Simon began his career writing science fiction stories, novels and films writing books on perception (The Eye: A Natural History), 20th-century radical politics (The Weight of Numbers), the shipping system (Dead Water) and augmented reality (Wolves). He co-founded and edited Arc magazine, a digital publication about the future, before joining New Scientist magazine as its arts editor, and writing Stalin and the Scientists. He very kindly agreed to be interviewed for our little show; as usual, I detained my guest for a very long time, and so I've split the interview into two parts. The second part of our interview followed scientists through the Soviet Union's tumultuous time under Stalin - through the Gulags and the Great Terror, through the horrors of the Second World War and the Sharaskhi. We discuss the legacy of the Soviet Union and move towards what we can learn about science in our society today.

If you want to find out more about Simon's work, you can buy Stalin and the Scientists online and at all good bookstores - and I highly recommend you do - and he's online at www.simonings.com and also tweets @simonings. As for us: follow the show @physicspod , or visit the website for more information at www.physicspodcast.com : there you'll find a contact form where you can bombard us with questions, comments, concerns, topic suggestions, guest suggestions, praise, anonymous threats - anything you like! If you've enjoyed the show, you can help us a number of ways. We have a paypal donate link which you'll find on the site. You can subscribe to our Patreon. But most of all, please, please - tell as many people as possible to listen. Tie them down if necessary.

Simon Ings on Stalin and the Scientists: The Revolution.mp3 Apr 05, 2018

Show notes

One of the best and most enjoyable parts of hosting this show is when my favourite authors are kind enough to speak to me. I'd like to thank Simon for an excellent, enlightening, entertaining discussion: if you enjoy listening to it half as much as I enjoyed the conversation, you're in for a real treat. Today, as part of our series on science in the USSR, I'm delighted to say that we have an interview with Simon Ings, the author of a wonderful book on the subject - Stalin and the Scientists. Simon began his career writing science fiction stories, novels and films writing books on perception (The Eye: A Natural History), 20th-century radical politics (The Weight of Numbers), the shipping system (Dead Water) and augmented reality (Wolves). He co-founded and edited Arc magazine, a digital publication about the future, before joining New Scientist magazine as its arts editor, and writing Stalin and the Scientists. He very kindly agreed to be interviewed for our little show; as usual, I detained my guest for a very long time, and so I've split the interview into two parts. The first part of our discussion focuses on the Bolshevik philosophy of science and the Russian Revolution more generally.

Next time, we'll talk about genetics and science in general in the USSR, and what lessons it might have for the future.

We Can Always Shoot Them Later - Stalin, Soviet Science, and the Bomb (II) Mar 29, 2018

Show notes

"Leave the physicists be," said Stalin to his chief of police, Beria. "We can always shoot them later." In this series of episodes, we'll take you inside the world of science in the USSR - with a particular focus on how they developed the atomic bomb. The gulags were not the only prisons in the Soviet Union; in fact, they constructed entire secret cities, called "Atomgrads", to house the scientists working on the bomb project. Technical experts were detained in prisons called sharashka. It was a simple exchange: you got to stay somewhere warm, and live under slightly better conditions than in the gulags - and in exchange, you worked on weapons and other projects to help the Soviet state. More broadly, the Communist state was a bundle of contradictions. They were focused on the power of science and technology to drag Russia into the 20th century, but also they were dogmatic and suspicious of any outside influence. Huge amounts were invested in technical education, but pseudoscience made it to the height of power and policy-making in the state. What was life like for these scientists? How did Soviet science react to its contradictions? We'll explore all this and more in this episode. If you've enjoyed the show, please tell everyone you know to listen and spread it like a super-virulent biological weapon. You can contact the show with any comments, questions, or concerns via www.physicspodcast.com or find us on Twitter @physicspod. Getting feedback from listeners is always wonderful, so please drop us a line.

We Can Always Shoot Them Later - Stalin, Soviet Science, and the Bomb (I) Mar 22, 2018

Show notes

Stephen Hawking: The Voice of Physics Mar 18, 2018

Show notes

Physics lost a bright star last week when Stephen Hawking, world-renowned cosmologist, theoretical physicist, and science communicator, died at the age of 76. Although he was only given a few years to live when first diagnosed with motor-neurone disease in 1963, aged just 21 and at the beginning of his graduate studies in Cambridge, he defied medical predictions and lived for another fifty years. Somehow, it still doesn't seem like it was long enough; but few have made such good use of their time. In this episode, I pay tribute to Stephen Hawking's life and work, and try to explain some of his discoveries in cosmology. He had a profound impact on the physics community both as a scientist and a communicator without parallel. The world will miss him.

TEOTWAWKI 1, Nuclear Weapons II: In The Shadow of the Bomb Mar 15, 2018

Show notes

Vasili Arkhipov. Stanislav Petrov. Are the names familiar? They should be: these people saved the world by refusing to use nuclear weapons under incredible circumstances of extraordinary pressure. Even if you trust every head of state in every country that has nuclear weapons - and even if you feel confident that all future heads-of-state in nuclear-armed countries can also be trusted - there's still the possibility of nuclear accidents. Over time, this possibility becomes a probability. One of the scariest things about nukes is the number of times our species has almost annihilated itself by accident. We discuss these accidents, and more, in this episode. What's life like for a species living in the shadow of the bomb? If you've enjoyed this show, you can follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/physicspod and you can visit the show with your comments, questions, concerns, or suggestions for future show topics at www.physicspodcast.com

Martin Pfeiffer (@NuclearAnthro) Interview Mar 08, 2018

Show notes

We have a special guest on the show today! This one was very fun to record. Martin Pfeiffer, perhaps more notorious by his Twitter handle @NuclearAnthro, is a must-follow expert and Anthropology PhD student who studies the history of nuclear weapons, and how human societies interact with them. We discuss folk beliefs about nuclear weapons, the history of the individuals who've wielded them... and just how easy it is for the President to launch a nuclear strike. We built them. We can take them apart. You can find Martin's Twitter @NuclearAnthro, and his blog is below: https://deusexatomica.wordpress.com/ If you enjoy his work (and you really should), you can find links to a Paypal and Patreon on both. You can find Physical Attraction at www.physicspodcast.com, where you'll also find ways to support our show, and a contact form for comments, praise, concerns, abuse, and questions as well as suggestions for future show topics. We read it all.

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