The EI Podcast

There is no linear, moral progress in knowledge and science. Read by Leighton Pugh.

Image: Triple-microscope made by the optician Camille Sebastien Nachet in Paris. Credit: gameover / Alamy Stock Photo 

EI's Deputy Editor Alastair Benn speaks to Suzanne Raine, visiting professor in the Department of War Studies at King's College London, about the evolution of the terrorist threat and its long history.

Image: Anarchist outrage at the Liceo theatre in Barcelona, 1893. Credit: Photo 12 / Alamy Stock Photo 

The mistake many Western countries make is to take Russia largely at face value. Read by Leighton Pugh.

Image: Nesting Russian dolls showing former leaders. Credit: Mr Standfast / Alamy Stock Photo 

Gillian Clark on Saint Monica, mother to Augustine of Hippo and lionized by the Latin Church, a women of many names and many more mysteries. Read by Sebastian Brown.

Image: Saint Augustine and his mother, Saint Monica. Credit:: Carlo Bollo / Alamy Stock Photo 

The story of first millennium Europe is one of remarkable economic change and demographic upheaval; a precocious analogue to the modern era of globalisation. Read by Leighton Pugh.

Image: Charlemagne. Credit: The Picture Art Collection / Alamy Stock Photo  

Daisy Christodoulou punctures the hype around the applications of Large language models (LLMs) and chatbots to the field of learning. Will AI really revolutionise education?

Image: Mechanical brain. Credit: Sibani Das / Alamy Stock Vector 

The Greeks invented the notion of the interrelationship of geography and politics; indeed, they elaborated it in myriad ways. Read by Leighton Pugh.

https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/duality-determinism-and-demography-the-greeks-on-geopolitics/

Image: The Athenian fleet. Credit: INTERFOTO \ Alamy Stock Photo

Jenny McCartney on Comte Lanjuinais, who risked his life by defying the Jacobins. Read by Sebastian Brown.

Image: Comte Lanjuinais speaks at a febrile meeting of the National Convention, 1793. Credit: Chronicle / Alamy Stock Photo

We equated a brief respite from history with the dawn of a new age. Read by Leighton Pugh.

Image: Fall of the Berlin Wall. Credit: Agencja Fotograficzna Caro / Alamy Stock Photo 

Geoff Andrew, the BFI's programmer-at-large, and film critic Muriel Zagha sit down with EI's Deputy Editor Alastair Benn to discuss the varied, visionary and eccentric creations of the German filmmaker Werner Herzog.

Credits: The audio clips at 0:07 and 4:13 are taken from Werner Herzog: Radical Dreamer, directed by Thomas von Steinaecker. The film was released on BFI Player and BFI Blu-ray on 19 February. Courtesy of BFI Distribution.

The audio clip at 53:30 is an excerpt from The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser. It is currently on release in selected cinemas via the BFI. It aired at 27 Picturehouse sites on Friday 1 March. Courtesy of BFI Distribution.

Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. Worldview is produced by Alastair Benn and Marie Jessel. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones.

Image: Werner Herzog on the set of Fitzcarraldo, 1982. Credit: Collection Christophel / Alamy Stock Photo