ePODstemology

Medicine for intellectual boredom. Host Dr Mark Fabian of Cambridge University brings together an eclectic mix of creative young folk to discuss the most stimulating ideas at the knowledge frontier, from data governance to the metamodern cultural mode, and everything in between. The world's most thoughtful people, having a chat - and you're invited! So turn off your socials, throw away your popular science books, and get ready for some legit galaxy brain takes. Thanks to Keith Spangle for the spaceship cat avatar https://www.deviantart.com/keithspangle

Last refreshed: June 27th, 2026 at 12:44 PM

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Episodes

Taxation in the 21st Century

Taxes and transfer payments are perhaps the most fundamental element of public policy, yet we rarely hear about these issues outside of banal political point scoring. Robert Breunig joins ePODstemology for a deep dive into the past, present, and future of tax and transfer policymaking. We discuss the basic economic and political logic of taxes and transfers, the lessons of the 20th century, and what to expect from contemporary efforts to combat tax avoidance by multinational firms and individual...

May 30, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 4

Positivism and its Discontents: Why researchers need to talk to people

In the contemporary culture wars there's a crop of commentators who insist that 'science' is on their side. They're talking about falsification, replication, quantitative methods, and randomised-control trials - the buzzwords of positivism - and they insist that what their opponents say is invalid because it doesn't meet positivism's standards for what counts as 'knowledge'. Sensing an opportunity for ePODstemology to discuss epistemology, we invited Rod Graham of Old Dominion University to the ...

May 16, 2021•52 min•Season 1Ep. 3

Why China got Rich and India Hasn't - The Political Economy of Asian Development

The 'Asian Miracle' has seen several nations develop from dirt farming to the technological frontier in half a century. Among them is China, whose rise has lifted nearly a billion people out of poverty and reshaped the global economic and political order. Professor Shiro Armstrong of the ANU joins ePODstemology host Dr Mark Fabian to explain the secret sauce of East Asia's development, especially its clever trade strategies and the political economy of escaping the middle income trap. Will the C...

May 02, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 2

Zoomers, Boomers, Millennials and why they hate each: The Intergenerational wars

Why do millennials and boomers hate each other so much? Is it about intergenerational fairness, or is it actually an Oedipal thing? And why are they called zillenials? Is it because they're zooming, or because they're zealous? Sonia Arakkal of Think Forward joins ePODstemology to help us figure it all out. We explore the colourful cast of recent generations, discuss their psycho-social, economic, and historical origins, and analyse how to renew the intergenerational contract for a new century....

Apr 21, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 1

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