The EI Podcast brings you weekly conversations with leading writers, thinkers and historians. Hosted by Alastair Benn, Jack Dickens and Paul Lay. Produced by Max Mitchell.
EI Weekly Listen — Time to regulate the development of AI by Maria Borelius
Jul 28, 2023
Show notes
The risks we now face are vast, as is the potential upside of the technology. Read by Leighton Pugh. Art installation on the theme of AI. Credit: Michele D'Ottavio / Alamy Stock Photo
Mick Jagger at 80
Jul 27, 2023
Show notes
As the Rolling Stones frontman enters his ninth decade, EI asks whether there is a future for ageing rockers. Image: Mick Jagger in 1975. Credit: Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo
What the Silicon Valley idealists got wrong
Jul 20, 2023
Show notes
The internet and social media were supposed to democratise knowledge and unite the world. Things didn't quite turn out that way. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder of Facebook. Credit: Kristoffer Tripplaar / Alamy Stock Photo
The future of tourism
Jul 20, 2023
Show notes
Paul Lay and Alastair Benn discuss the explosion of tourism in the modern era and what might come next. Image: Travel poster encouraging tourists to visit Blackpool. Credit JJs / Alamy Stock Photo
Wealth and poverty in Renaissance Florence by Antony Molho
Jul 14, 2023
Show notes
This celebration of wealth, its frequent elevation to an almost religious level, and its justification not only in terms of its social utility but also, and more remarkably, in personal terms, is one of the defining characteristics of the Florentine public culture and private ethos in the fifteenth century and beyond. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: An opulent fresco in Renaissance Florence. Credit: Peter Horree / Alamy Stock Photo
The uses and misuses of anger
Jul 13, 2023
Show notes
Paul Lay and Alastair Benn calmly discuss the uses and misuses of anger. Image: Thai mural in the temple of the Emerald Buddha, Bangkok. Credit: Sabena Jane Blackbird / Alamy Stock Photo
The public realm and the language of architecture by John Simpson
Jul 06, 2023
Show notes
We must rescue our cities from a culture of ugliness. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Sol House, Northampton. Credit: Paul Hanson / Alamy Stock Photo
Sully, Richelieu, and Mazarin
Jul 06, 2023
Show notes
Paul Lay and Iskander Rehman discuss masters of early modern statecraft: the Duke of Sully, Cardinal Richelieu, and Cardinal Mazarin. Image: Cardinal Richelieu at the Siege of La Rochelle. Credit: Niday Picture Library / Alamy Stock Photo
Can warfare ever be considered modern?
Jun 30, 2023
Show notes
Even with all its data and technology, contemporary conflict fits uneasily with our definitions of modernity. Read by Leighton Pugh Image: Mosul's old city destroyed by bombing. Credit: Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo
AI and the threat to the arts
Jun 29, 2023
Show notes
Paul Lay and Alastair Benn are joined by Times columnist James Marriott to discuss whether Artificial Intelligence poses an existential threat to the arts. Image: Man as Industrial Palace, a poster commissioned by German physician and author Fritz Kahn in 1926. Credit: JJs / Alamy Stock Photo
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