If you were an avid cinema-goer in the 1980s and 1990s, it would’ve felt like almost every blockbuster film was set in New York. But fast-forward to the present day and the number of films set in the city has declined sharply. Why aren’t films set in New York anymore and is it part of a more general trend of films not being set in the real-world? In this week’s podcast, we discuss New York in film. We hark back to the gritty glamour of 1980s New York, discuss how globalisation may have changed t...
Dec 21, 2022•35 min
As loyal listeners to the podcast will know, we regard the Conservative politician Sir Gavin Williamson as a source of almost endless fascination. His personal idiosyncrasies and unusual career path seem unique. But do politicians play by the same rules as the rest of us or are they held to an entirely different standard? In this week’s podcast, we discuss Sir Gavin Williamson. We sketch out the synergies between politics, sport, finance and the arts, present data on personality traits for leade...
Dec 14, 2022•45 min
Nick recently made the surprising discovery that Mrs. Brown’s Boys continues to attract millions of viewers each week on prime-time television. So, we asked ourselves, why are there films, music and television programmes that appear to be universally loathed, but are inexplicably popular? Are there any identifiable traits or patterns that can lead us closer to explaining this phenomenon? In this week’s podcast, we discuss things that seem universally hated but are popular. Is it the result of a ...
Dec 07, 2022•33 min
We’ve all experienced that feeling after a long, perhaps arduous, journey of finally arriving back home. In fact, it may not even matter if it was a trip down to the local supermarket or halfway across the world, the feeling of arriving back at home safely and securely feels universal. But have we invented this idea of home? In this week’s podcast, we discuss going home. How does the feeling of home work for nomads and those without a home? Does our concept of home change depending on how far aw...
Nov 30, 2022•35 min
Some of our listeners will only know the late Robbie Coltrane from his performances as Hagrid in the Harry Potter film series, despite a long and varied career in film and television. But what happens when one of our cultural references dies? Is it our responsibility to find new ones, and if so, where do we start looking? In this week’s podcast, we discuss cultural references. We explore the measure of a good cultural reference and debate whether they can be mobilised for culture war debates. In...
Nov 23, 2022•40 min
Historians often refer to the Renaissance, the Enlightenment period in England and 1960s pop music as golden ages. These are seen as periods of great advancement in the arts and scientific discovery. But how do you get one? In this week’s podcast, we discuss golden ages. How do you foster a golden age, what are the required conditions and can we predict one in advance? We explore the history of golden ages, put forward a model for determining a golden age lifecycle and finally, make predictions ...
Nov 16, 2022•37 min
Do high budgets for films and television series lead to high-quality productions? Or does spending too much money actually make the end product worse? In this week’s podcast, we discuss big budgets. We use Amazon’s Rings of Power series to question whether a large budget is a necessary condition for success in film and television. We discuss the economic theory of resource scarcity, hubristic planning, white elephants, the Mythical Man-Month, and the Swedish warship Vasa. We widen the lens of th...
Nov 09, 2022•45 min
What are the ingredients of a good conversation? Does it require a balance between conversational givers and takers or is it simply down to taking an interest in what your interlocutor is saying? In this week’s podcast, we discuss conversations. We debate whether there is an optimal way to conduct a conversation and put forward a series of explanations based on our own idiosyncratic approaches. We discuss sideways conversations, the rationalist movement and share some of our most memorable conve...
Nov 02, 2022•45 min
There seems to be an ever-growing list of examples that reminds us we are living through an age of nostalgia for past media. Black and white photography, vinyl records and the iPod Classic are all experiencing renewed popularity, but what can we put this down to? In this week’s podcast, we discuss future nostalgia. What are the technologies and media we will feel nostalgic about in the future and are they simply a reflection of current limitations and imperfections? We discuss The Commitments, h...
Oct 26, 2022•34 min
It’s a question that has left many puzzled. What, in fact, is a sandwich? Is it the classic two slices of bread, Earl of Sandwich creation? Or is it simply anything in a similar arrangement? In this week’s podcast, we discuss sandwiches. Tom harks back to his Swedish heritage by posing the question, is an open-sandwich a sandwich? From here we discuss logical positivism, neural networks and Quine’s seminal work ‘Two Dogmas of Empiricism’. Finally, we share some of our favourite sandwich creation...
Oct 19, 2022•38 min
As King Charles III was proclaimed the new monarch of the UK and the Commonwealth realms, we were left questioning if the era of deference is a thing of the past or if it does still hold some meaning today. In this week’s podcast, we discuss deference. Do kings and queens deserve the level of deference they receive or is it an anachronism? We attempt to define the key components of deference, speculate on the differences between deference and respect, discuss the If-By-Whiskey fallacy, Robert Sa...
Oct 12, 2022•37 min
What makes certain types of crime cool and are there any rules? Why is it that the arts and media glorify different forms of criminality over others? In this week’s podcast, we delve into the world of cool criminals. We discuss the difference between pirates and privateers, the Byronic hero, the mafia, Baader Meinhof and Narco ballads. Nick presents his theory on how to make crimes cool and we speculate on the origins of coolness itself. Finally, we share some of our favourite crimes and crimina...
Oct 05, 2022•40 min
As Britain enters a new era with the passing of the Queen, we revisit a previous podcast on the past, tradition and nostalgia. We even make mention of the new King. ------------------------ Do you prefer Rembrandt or Rothko? The Vatican or The Shard? A Georgian terrace or a 1960s housing estate? Ever wondered why we stopped building beautiful old buildings and how architectural modernism came to dominate our skylines? This week we discuss the theory of the Tartarian civilization. It claims that ...
Sep 28, 2022•37 min
Do you remember the Suez Crisis, Soviet Union, using a phone box, smoking on planes or 9/11? In this week’s podcast, we discuss the historical present. When does our historical frame of reference start and when does it end? We look at why young people seem to overgeneralise from their experience and whether knowledge and values are generation-specific. We discuss the Beloit College Mindset Lists, the British sitcom Are you Being Served?, and Mini-discs, before finally testing our own subjective ...
Sep 21, 2022•35 min
Square-rimmed glasses, skinny jeans and 1940s clothing are all subject to aesthetic considerations. Are these driven by the whims of fashion or are they part of a deeper and more obscure notion of ‘good’ taste? In this week’s podcast, we discuss taste. Are there objective elements to taste or is it purely subjective? We discuss the case of John Lewis, Hipsters, Donald Trump, and the Russian aristocracy. We explore the barber pole model for fashion and ask if there is a difference between social ...
Sep 14, 2022•43 min
The US and China, Manchester United and Liverpool, Truss and Sunak. It seems wherever you look, rivalry abounds. As the UK enters a new era of government, we take a look back at a podcast on rivals. Is rivalry just an extension of competition and is it actually good for us to have a rival? Why do we often need rivals to propel us into action? ------------- We discuss whether rivalries spur us on to ever greater achievements or distract us with unnecessary competition. Is a nemesis necessary in o...
Sep 07, 2022•30 min
As the UK Conservative leadership race enters the final stretch, we take a look back at a previous podcast on power transitions where we discussed the United States' change in administration from Trump to Biden. What are the potential pitfalls when one government is replaced by another? Is there a recipe for success or can we always expect issues and uncertainty? - 2022 Conservative Party leadership election (UK) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Conservative_Party_leadership_election_(UK) ----...
Aug 24, 2022•25 min
Summer is here and in this week’s podcast we decided to weigh in on an age-old question: which is the most annoying insect? We discuss the different species of cricket, explore data on the most annoying sounds, the flight strategies of mosquitoes, psychological warfare and how transitive inference is used by wasps. Peter presents his framework for insect annoyingness, while Nick presents an alternative framework that drills down into the concept of annoyingness itself. Finally, we share our find...
Aug 17, 2022•40 min
For some time the consensus has been that democracy is the most desirable form of government. But if democracy is so great, why aren’t companies run like countries? In this week’s podcast, we discuss democracy in business. We explore the multitude of company arrangements and ownership structures, Peter explains his principles for benevolent governance and how they differ from running a business and we trace back the origins of democracy to test whether the analogy between democracy in government...
Aug 10, 2022•33 min
As widespread strikes continue across the UK and around the world this summer, this week’s podcast delves into strike action. We discuss what makes a successful strike, whether they are an effective bargaining tool, and if they actually work. We recount the history of strikes in the UK and US, account for the steep decline in striking since the 1970s, and provide a few speculative reasons for why you don’t see as many strikes these days. We diagnose the problems facing the world economy and disc...
Aug 03, 2022•39 min
When we think of propaganda these days it’s hard not to conjure up images and posters from the Second World War, but was it always this way? This week we discuss propaganda. Does propaganda work anymore or have we, as a society, become immune to propaganda? We explain the concept of “rewired propaganda”, internet memes, clickbait and the differences between misinformation and disinformation. We debate the hypothesis that propaganda is more about style rather than substance and finally, share som...
Jul 27, 2022•44 min
Does being a subject matter expert make you good at predicting events? This week, we delve into economist Tyler Cowen's blog on International Relations scholars and their views on Russia and Ukraine, and discuss international relations, analysis, and forecasting. We consider what makes for good analysis and the importance of having a sound methodology, diversity of thought, and understanding our own biases. A few things we mentioned in this podcast: - Tyler Cowen: How did the IR community get Ru...
Jul 20, 2022•39 min
Do you ever arrive at a train station early only to gaze up at the timetable in utter confusion as you search for your train? As you stand there bewildered, do you ever wonder if there is a better way to present this kind of information? In this week’s episode, we discuss the exciting topic of train timetables. Why are there different train scheduling systems in different places and can technology help to cut through the complexity? We discuss London postcodes, the perils of standardisation and ...
Jul 13, 2022•41 min
Why is YouTube full of documentaries and Netflix packed with drama? Which comes first, the medium or the content? In this week’s podcast, we traverse the history of media consumption, examine YouTube consumer behaviour and explore the differences between traditional programming and the production of YouTube videos. We debate whether we are living in a golden age of series drama and speculate on where you might find the next media growth area. We end by sharing our concept ideas for YouTube chann...
Jul 06, 2022•41 min
Autocorrect, spell check and 'smart compose' were ostensibly invented to make our writing lives easier. But are they taking over and making us redundant? In this week’s podcast, we discuss predictive text. Now that there are a slew of freely available AI text-based software applications, should we be disturbed by AI innovations that closely resemble human writing skills? Do they lead to the grave implications claimed by some or should they be seen as benign creations? We discuss GPT-3, AI Dungeo...
Jun 29, 2022•37 min
If you were able to time travel back into the past, how would you go about proving you were from the future? Is there a set of predictions you could offer that would improve your chances of being believed? In this week’s podcast, we discuss what it is that makes a person from the future different to those from the present day and what technology or innovation we might replicate to persuade the disbelieving. We also look at the illusion of explanatory depth, the concept of proof, rationality and ...
Jun 22, 2022•32 min
Are general tools more useful than specific tools? Is it better to have one thing that tries to do everything or many things that only attempt a single function? In a world awash with multifunctional tools and devices, in this week’s podcast, we discuss multifunctionality. How should we design tools to perform multiple tasks and does multifunctionality lie in the object or in the user? We discuss cobblers cutting keys, stores that sell both darts and televisions, and Swiss army knives. Finally, ...
Jun 15, 2022•33 min
Whenever a new conflict emerges, the two sides seem to almost naturally fall into an underdog scenario. It’s a concept that looms large in our collective imagination, but is there any evidence the underdog does any better than the top dog? In this week's podcast, we discuss the underdog. What are the benefits of being an underdog and why is the concept more prevalent in sport and warfare than other domains? We survey how the underdog effect operates in historical military campaigns, the Russian ...
Jun 01, 2022•36 min
If there’s one thing that was made easier by the Covid-19 lockdowns, it was holding meetings online. Now that lockdowns are hopefully a thing of the past, are we once again condemned to the horrors of trying to arrange physical meetings? This week, we discuss the problems with booking meetings. How do you schedule meetings with people coming from different places and is there a way to do it properly? We discuss the set cover problem, information theory and ask if organising meetings solidifies p...
May 25, 2022•34 min
The old adage that ‘violence is never the answer’ was put to the test when the actor Will Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock at this year's Oscars ceremony. Are there instances where violence is acceptable? And if so, how much violence is proportional? In this week’s podcast, we unpack the infamous Oscars slap and apply an analytical lens to the concept of violence more broadly. We discuss the narrow legal conditions that apply to violence, the historical use of violence in Hollywood films and th...
May 18, 2022•38 min
