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.
Worldview — The global struggle for microchip supremacy
Nov 09, 2022
Show notes
When the pioneers of computer engineering created the first integrated circuits in the 1950s they could not have envisaged how this technology would infiltrate all elements of our daily lives. The production of microchips is now rapidly becoming the defining force in geopolitics and will play a fundamental role in the conflicts of the future. In this episode of Worldview, Adam Boulton is joined by Chris Miller, author of Chip Wars, and historian of computing, Thomas Haigh. Together, they discuss the development of the computer chip and how it fits into the coming struggle between the US and China. Image description: A retro circuit board with germanium transistors and diodes, electrolytic and ceramic capacitors, carbon resistors, aluminium coils. Credit: KPixMining / Alamy Stock Photo
Rethinking geopolitics by Jeremy Black
Nov 04, 2022
Show notes
Geography and politics are closely intertwined, although that no more means that all geography is political than that all politics is geographical. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: An American map of the West Coast of Africa from Sierra Leone to Cape Palmas, 'including the colony of Liberia'. Credit: Everett Collection Historical / Alamy Stock Photo
Why the idea of Carthage survived Roman conquest by Richard Miles
Oct 28, 2022
Show notes
The Romans burnt Carthage’s books and buildings – but ‘Punic’ identity remained influential throughout Antiquity. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Print of ancient Carthage. Source: Wiki Creative Commons
EI Weekly Listen — The end of history ends by Walter Russell Mead
Oct 21, 2022
Show notes
The era in world history that began with the fall of the Soviet Union is drawing to its close. The post-Cold War Eurasian settlement that the United States and its allies imposed after 1990 has three big challengers - Russia, China and Iran. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: A symbol of American power, the National Capitol in Washington, DC. Credit: Christian Offenberg / Alamy Stock Photo.
The restless search for the fun wars by David J Betz
Oct 14, 2022
Show notes
The West, more specifically the United States, with its major allies alongside it, has been chasing the 'fun wars' for forty years and serially coming up empty. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: British Prime Minister Tony Blair greets an ethnic Albanian by holding up his hand in central Pristina, Yugoslavia during a one-day visit Saturday July 31, 1999. It was Blair's first visit to Kosovo since NATO's bombing campaign against Yugoslavia. (Photo by David Brauchli)
The impact of the First World War on strategy by Hew Strachan
Oct 07, 2022
Show notes
The First World War fundamentally altered our understanding of strategy — we should heed the insights of the era's leading thinkers and generals. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: First World War Commanders looking at a battle plan. Painting by Francois Flameng (1856-1923), 1916. Army Museum, Paris. Credit: Leemage/Corbis via Getty Images
The polymath in the age of specialisation by Peter Burke
Sep 30, 2022
Show notes
Crises of knowledge precipitate drives towards specialisation. In our digital age we still need polymaths. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: This chart is taken from the book 'Ars Magna Lucis Et Umbrae' which was published in 1646 by the Jesuit scientist and inventor, Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680). Credit: SSPL/Getty Images
Authority without knowledge by Erica Benner
Sep 23, 2022
Show notes
The worst form of ignorance in politics is an inflated opinion of one’s own wisdom. In matters of moral judgement, authority-dependence carries grave risks. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: French painter David's The Death of Socrates. Credit: Universal History Archive/Getty Images
Geopolitics and the Mongol Empire by Morris Rossabi
Sep 16, 2022
Show notes
Political and economic concerns were as critical as environmental and geographic factors in forging the unity of the Mongol Empire. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Genghis Khan in combat. Miniature from Jami' al-tawarikh, ca 1430. Found in the collection of Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Artist. Credit: Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images
Fairy Tales of Statehood: the politics of sacred land and divine-kings by Jessica Frazier
Sep 09, 2022
Show notes
Land is the silent, steady, partner in the messy realm of politics and national divides between monarchs. Read by Leighton Pugh. You can find the essay featured in this episode here: https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/spirit-lands-and-tyrant-kings-differing-tales-of-statehood/
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