Future Imperfect

Simonyi Professor for the Understanding of Science, Marcus du Sautoy joins Jason to talk about what we need to know about science, why it's important, and how we can improve our understanding.

Producer: Natt Tapley

Audio: Pete Dennis

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Overbearing governments have been with us throughout time. Professor Emily K. Anhalt believes that the ancient Greeks left us good advice in their poetry to tell us how to resist tyranny, and tells Jason all about it.

Producer: Nathaniel Tapley

Audio: Pete Dennis

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jason talks to Seamus Blackley, the father of the Xbox about gaming, technology, being fascinated with the past, and how to collect ancient Egyptian yeasts.

Producer: Natt Tapley

Audio: Pete Dennis

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Jason is joined by Hannah Greig to discuss how the aristocracy have held onto their land and power for almost a millennium in England.

Produced by: Natt Tapley

Audio by: Pete Dennis

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mo Gawdat was the Chief Business Officer for Google[X], creating some of the most advanced artificial intelligences in the world. Now, he devotes himself to increasing human happiness. He talks to Jason Kingsley about algorithms, AIs and whether we can learn to live with the machines.

Produced: Natt Tapley

Audio: Pete Dennis

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What we know about the mediaeval period comes, in large part, from what people wrote down about themselves and others. How do we find out about less-literate societies, like the Vikings? Cat Jarman has spent the last few years working on the the remains of the Great Army at Repton and the material artefacts they left behind. In her new book - River Kings she talks about the huge leaps archaeology has made with new technologies and all we can now learn from their teeth, jewellery, and even the metals of the Vikings. Welcome to Future Imperfect!

Producer: Natt Tapley

Audio: Pete Dennis

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jason talks to Margaret Heffernan about what use prediction is in an unpredictable world. What can we predict, and what can we just not know?

Produced by Natt Tapley

Sound by Pete Dennis

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today the law can feel arcane, complicated, and forbidding. In the past - with trial by ordeal and trial by combat - it could be simpler and more direct. Today, Jason talks to Daniel Shen Smith, a barrister and expert in martial arts, about trial by combat, how it worked, and what remnants of it are left today.

Produced by Natt Tapley

Audio by Pete Dennis

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What role do theories of race play in science? For years, we thought that eugenic ideas about race had fallen out of fashion, but recently they seem to be making a comeback. In today's podcast, Angela Saini talks to me about why this is happening. She's speaking to us from New York, so excuse the sound of real Manhattan traffic or the occasional transatlantic internet wobble. Welcome to Future Imperfect!

Produced by: Natt Tapley

Sound by: Pete Dennis

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jason talks to Dr Eleanor Janega about how fascinating and compelling the mediaeval period is. They talk about jousting, battles, and exactly how colourful everyone's trousers were.

Produced by: Natt Tapley

Audio: Pete Dennis

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.