Does Culture Drive Human Evolution? Gaia Vince thinks it does. She claims that four evolutionary drivers – Fire, Language, Beauty and Time – are further transforming our species into a superorganism, a hyper–cooperative mass of humanity that she calls Homo omnis, or ’Homni’.

Drawing on cutting–edge advances in population genetics, archaeology, palaeontology and neuroscience, her book Transcendence compels us to reimagine ourselves, showing us to be on the brink of something grander – and potentially more destructive.

In this fascinating episode, recorded in September 2020 as part of Galway International Arts Festival's Autumn Edition, we hear from Gaia Vince and Maureen Kennelly, Director of the Arts Council of Ireland.