If I could get policymakers, and citizens, everywhere to read just one book this year, it would be Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future.
Best known for the Mars trilogy, Robinson is one of the greatest living science fiction writers. And in recent years, he's become the greatest writers of what people now call cli-fi — climate fiction. The nam ... Show More
Jul 31
How Google broke the internet
The internet is changing. For years our primary gateway to the internet has been search engines: we ask a question, a list of websites pops up, and we choose which ones to click on. But we are rapidly headed towards a different model, one in which AI-generated answers to our ques ... Show More
41m 3s
Jul 27
The illusion of the ‘self’
Sean Illing talks with neuroscientist Gregory Berns, author of The Self Delusion. Berns claims that the idea of a unified, persistent self is a kind of illusion, and that we are better understood as multiple selves at different moments in time, tied together by a story — which is ... Show More
43m 38s
Jul 24
How MAGA is turning on itself
For years, right-wing influencers and politicians have pushed the conservative movement to have more controversial, anti-establishment views. Why are some of those figures now upset about where the movement has ended up? In today’s episode, guest host Bryan Walsh speaks with Vox ... Show More
46m 30s
Mar 2022
How science fiction can shape our reality | Your Undivided Attention
The meta-crisis is so vast: climate change, exponential technology, addiction, polarization and more. How do we grasp it, let alone take steps to address it? One of the thinking tools we have at our disposal is science fiction. To the extent that we co-evolve with our stories, sc ... Show More
28m 14s
Dec 2024
Tomes will tell: books that predict the future
<p>Some people read books to escape. Others turn to them for instruction. As the new year looms, our correspondents – and listeners – consider which titles can help forecast what’s coming next. Picks include “Rainbows End” by Vernor Vinge, “Nuclear War” by Annie Jacobsen, “Not th ... Show More
36m 5s
Mar 2024
Is Science Fiction the New Realism?
Science fiction has historically been considered a niche genre, one in which far-flung scenarios play out on distant planets. Today, though, such plots are at the center of our media landscape. On this episode of Critics at Large, the staff writers Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, a ... Show More
50m 15s
Jan 2022
94/ The Political Economy of Solarpunk w/ Andrew Dana Hudson
<p>This is a conversation with speculative fiction writer and sustainability researcher Andrew Dana Hudson. His stories have appeared in Slate Future Tense, Lightspeed Magazine, Vice Terraform, MIT Technology Review, Grist, Little Blue Marble, The New Accelerato ... Show More
1h 37m