What connects the first ever recorded science fiction story with Stanley Kubrick’s Dr Strangelove? And who was the real live person that Strangelove was modelled on? We all know that to understand the future we have to understand the past, so that’s why we’re starting the season deep underground in the site of ancient Roman London. In this episode Eva and John get two different takes on apocalyptic story telling, figuring out if there’s something inherently human in our fascination with the end times.  

Featuring: 

Christopher Star is professor of Classics at Middlebury College, and the author of Apocalypse and Golden Age: The End of the World in Greek and RomanThought (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2022. 

Chiara Di Leone is a writer and researcher, her writing has most recently appeared in NOEMA, Kaleidoscope and Tank magazine, among others.

LINKS

Chiara Di Leone’s Linktree

Christopher Star’s Homepage

Review of Prof. Star’s Apocalypse and Golden Age

Discover Roman London 

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Welcome back! To this, the second season of The Life Cycle. We're calling this season 'Now What?' Because every day we’re told the world is ending. But what does that mean? And if it is, what can we do about it? Should our hopes lie in the great beyond (outer space) or in the quantum realm of matter itself? Are there new ways to get blotto and party like it's 1999? Should we be cloning our dogs - or the food we eat, or indeed, ourselves? Join us as we go on a storytelling journey, as we take an irreverent and curious look at the future of humanity. We interview some fascinating thinkers, creators, inventors, artists and business people as we navigate the past, present and future. Now What? A whole lot, it seems…

John Holten is a novelist and Klang Game’s Narrative Director. His novels include Oslo, Norway (2015) and The Readymades (2011). His writing has recently appeared in Welt am Sonntag, frieze, and The Stinging Fly.

Eva Kelley is a journalist and writer. Her writing focuses on contemporary culture and has appeared in publications such as 032c, ZEITMagazin, Interview Magazine, Hearts, and on SSENSEcom among others.

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15% of all human consciousness that has ever existed is present and happening today: as we speed up and grow ever more connected via the Internet, what are the implications for this massive digital shift? In this episode, renowned Harvard Law professor Lawrence Lessig discusses the present state of the digital landscape and its impact on notions of freedom and democracy. For good or for bad, how will this new era play out in the years to come? The last episode in Season One looks resolutely into the near future.

Featuring Prof. Lawrence Lessig, Harvard Law Professor, Founder of Creative Commons, and Author.

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Is your brain a machine? Are your thoughts and feelings just malware of the mind? But what is 'really' is a machine? Welcome listeners to the transhumanist fight of the century. In the blue corner, we have Eva meeting founder and CEO of Kernel, Bryan Johnson, straight from his office in LA. And in the red corner, John meets with writer Mark O'Connell in a cafe in Dublin. Time to get out the popcorn! Round One, ding-ding...

Featuring Founder and CEO of Kernel, Bryan Johnson. And writer Mark O'Connell, author of To Be a Machine.

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Eva has followed the story to Georgia, USA and tracked Dr. Phil down at his neurological practice. In the back of the surgery and after his original patients have left, Dr. Phil carries out some mind-blowing experiments - on himself, and others. Brain interfacing is a bold new frontier for our ability to understand our minds - and in turn, help us to communicate.

Featuring Dr. Phil Kennedy, Neurologist and Founder of Neural Signals, inc.

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In this episode, John turns up to hear Eva has discovered a story she’s pretty certain will pique his interest. She starts to tell him about a transhuman hero by the name of Dr. Phil Kennedy, and it leads to some pretty interesting places by way of Belize. By the end of the episode, Eva will have left the building, getting on a Trans-Atlantic flight to follow the story….

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John and Eva go down the rabbit hole and question what is reality itself and whether or not we are in fact in a large scale simulation. Possibly one made by aliens. Or indeed our future descendants. We are such stuff as dreams are made on - who is to say we aren’t?

Featuring Joshua Tan, Ph.D. in Computer Science, Oxford. And, Prof. Stefan Sorgner, Professor of Philosophy, John Cabot University, Rome.

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In this episode, John and Eva stare up at the night sky and get deep. Some of those age-old stoner questions are posed: where are all the aliens? Are we alone in the universe? Could it be that we’re just pets in some zoo run by alien overlords? Does this mean everything we do is meaningless? And what has Jodie Foster got to say about it all? Time to get your SETI on, folks...

Featuring Joshua Tan, Ph.D. in Computer Science, Oxford.

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Beginning with the end of things - this episode kicks off The Life Cycle by asking: is there going to be a future to speak of at all? Why is it that the apocalypse is no longer just the reserve of religion, but now dominates everything from our Netflix viewing to our conversations with friends and family? And what can we learn from global climate strikes?

Featuring Joshua Tan, Ph.D. in Computer Science, Oxford.

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Introducing The Life Cycle, an offbeat journey toward the future of humanity, featuring some of the world's top innovators – and disruptors. A podcast about tech, transhumanism, future politics, brain uploads, and life as we do not yet know it. Produced by Klang Games. Transmitting soon.

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