Jessica Lanyadoo thinks civil war is coming — she has seen it in the stars. But it isn’t just astrologers who think we’re living through an age of upheaval. Peter Turchin, a Soviet-born professor who studies historical cycles, has already seen one political system collapse in his lifetime. He calls this decade the Turbulent Twenties. Could our collective anxiety explain the rise of the new gurus?The New Gurus is a series about looking for enlightenment in the digital world.Written and presented by Helen LewisSeries Producers: Morgan Childs and Tom Pooley
Story consultant: Geoff Bird 
Original music composed by Paper Tiger
Sound design and mix: Rob Speight
Editor: Craig Templeton SmithA Tempo & Talker production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds

Jessica Lanyadoo thinks civil war is coming — she has seen it in the stars. But it isn’t just astrologers who think we’re living through an age of upheaval. Peter Turchin, a Soviet-born professor who studies historical cycles, has already seen one political system collapse in his lifetime. He calls this decade the Turbulent Twenties. Could our collective anxiety explain the rise of the new gurus? The New Gurus is a series about looking for enlightenment in the digital world. Written and presented by Helen Lewis Series Producers: Morgan Childs and Tom Pooley Story consultant: Geoff Bird Original music composed by Paper Tiger Sound design and mix: Rob Speight Editor: Craig Templeton Smith A Tempo & Talker production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds

Jessica Lanyadoo thinks civil war is coming — she has seen it in the stars. But it isn’t just astrologers who think we’re living through an age of upheaval. Peter Turchin, a Soviet-born professor who studies historical cycles, has already seen one political system collapse in his lifetime. He calls this decade the Turbulent Twenties. Could our collective anxiety explain the rise of the new gurus?The New Gurus is a series about looking for enlightenment in the digital world.Written and presented by Helen LewisSeries Producers: Morgan Childs and Tom Pooley
Story consultant: Geoff Bird 
Original music composed by Paper Tiger
Sound design and mix: Rob Speight
Editor: Craig Templeton SmithA Tempo &amp; Talker production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds

New Gurus: 8. Prophets of Doom

Helen Lewis Has Left the Chat. The rise of instant messaging has made our social and professional lives faster, more casual — and more chaotic. But amid all the discussion of the effects of public social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, there has been relatively little attention paid to private social networks—the direct message and the group chat — and how they are shaping our relationships and our world. In this series, Helen Lewis looks at the secret world of instant messaging, meeting a woman who married a chatbot, discovering how Russian dissidents are fighting a propaganda war, and hearing the inside story of how Britain ended up governed from a single WhatsApp group. It's a strange new world where workplace rebellions are conducted through duelling emojis and military secrets are traded on chat forums about a children's cartoon. It's also a world where you can never be quite sure who you're talking to—and who's eavesdropping on you.

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Helen Lewis Has Left the Chat. The rise of instant messaging has made our social and professional lives faster, more casual — and more chaotic. But amid all the discussion of the effects of public social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, there has been relatively little attention paid to private social networks—the direct message and the group chat — and how they are shaping our relationships and our world. In this series, Helen Lewis looks at the secret world of instant messaging, meeting a woman who married a chatbot, discovering how Russian dissidents are fighting a propaganda war, and hearing the inside story of how Britain ended up governed from a single WhatsApp group. It's a strange new world where workplace rebellions are conducted through duelling emojis and military secrets are traded on chat forums about a children's cartoon. It's also a world where you can never be quite sure who you're talking to—and who's eavesdropping on you.

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