The EI Podcast

Latest Episodes:

The atomic human with Neil D. Lawrence Aug 08, 2024

Show notes

Neil D. Lawrence, inaugural DeepMind Professor of Machine Learning at the University of Cambridge and author of The Atomic Human: Understanding Ourselves in the Age of AI, joins the EI team to challenge received wisdom on our AI future.
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. EI Talks... is hosted by Paul Lay and Alastair Benn. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones.
Image: An illustration of artificial intelligence. Credit: lorenzo rossi / Alamy Stock Photo

Alexander Lee on why Machiavelli wrote The Prince Aug 02, 2024

Show notes

If we want to understand the ‘meaning’ of The Prince, we should start with Machiavelli himself. Read by Helen Lloyd.
Image: A statue of Niccolo Machiavelli in Florence, Italy. Credit: Goran Bogicevic / Alamy Stock Photo

Rana Mitter on Tsiang Tingfu, pre-revolutionary China’s last bridge with the West Aug 01, 2024

Show notes

Rana Mitter profiles Tsiang Tingfu, the American-educated diplomat and historian, who sought Chinese national revival on cosmopolitan lines. Read by Sebastian Brown.
Image: Tsiang Tingfu raises his arm to veto a proposal introduced by the Soviet Union to the UN. Credit: SuperStock / Alamy Stock Photo

Francis J. Gavin on the terrible dilemmas of leadership in a thermonuclear world Jul 26, 2024

Show notes

Nuclear weapons are likely to be around for a long time to come – and the predicaments they create for world leaders are unlikely to be easily solved. Read by Helen Lloyd.
Image: President John F. Kennedy with Robert McNamara during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Credit: RBM Vintage Images / Alamy Stock Photo

Paris in the Belle Époque with Marie Kawthar Daouda Jul 25, 2024

Show notes

Marie Kawthar Daouda, author and a lecturer in French language and literature at the University of Oxford, joins EI's Alastair Benn to discuss how Belle Époque-era Paris continues to fascinate, with its burgeoning commercial culture, everyday beauty and glittering department stores.
Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. EI Talks... is produced by Alastair Benn. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones.
Image: Jean Béraud's painting 'Paris, rue du Havre', c. 1882. Credit: IanDagnall Computing / Alamy Stock Photo

James Marriott on why human art matters in the age of AI Jul 19, 2024

Show notes

A world of machine art would be an eerie one. Art connects us to one another. We cannot, and we should not, replace that connection with an uncanny simulacrum of it. Read by Helen Lloyd.
Image: The Tribuna of the Uffizi by John Zoffany. Credit: PAINTING / Alamy Stock Photo

Lawrence Freedman on John McDonald, poker-playing popularizer of game theory Jul 19, 2024

Show notes

Lawrence Freedman profiles the Fortune journalist and best-selling author who played a key role in shaping mid-20th century perceptions of strategy and the role of the corporation. Read by Sebastian Brown.
Image: From left to right: Dorothy McDonald (wife of John, née Eisner), Leon Trotsky and John McDonald in Coyoacan, Mexico, in the 1930s. McDonald was recruited to help defend Trotsky from charges made at Stalin's show trials. Credit: General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University

Bringing history to the public with Alice Loxton Jul 18, 2024

Show notes

The historian and broadcaster Alice Loxton joins the EI team to discuss her forthcoming book, Eighteen: A History of Britain in 18 Young Lives, and her fight to bring serious history to a wider public.
Image: A jigsaw puzzle from the early nineteenth century, bearing representations of the Kings and Queens of England from William I to George IV. Credit: Chronicle / Alamy Stock Photo

Katja Hoyer on East Germany's battle for technology Jul 12, 2024

Show notes

East Germany’s quest to catch up with the technological innovations of the West prompted some remarkable successes, but also expanded the oppression of its mass surveillance apparatus. Read by Helen Lloyd.
Image: The Trabant car being manufactured at the East German Sachsenring car plant. Credit: Classic Picture Library / Alamy Stock Photo

How advertising consumed the counter-culture with Ian Leslie Jul 11, 2024

Show notes

EI's Alastair Benn sits down with Ian Leslie, author of Conflicted: Why Arguments Are Tearing Us Apart and How They Can Bring Us Together, to discuss how the counterculture went mainstream.
Image: An advert on the Nike store at Oxford Circus. Credit: Matthew Chattle / Alamy Stock Photo

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