With series 9 of Reading Our Times coming to an end, Nick Spencer takes a look back on the series and shares his thoughts on the ideas espoused by the various guests. Should Britain pay slavery reparations? Are 'leftism' and 'wokeism' compatible? What do all these topics tell us about what it means to be human? Join us for all this and more!
The claim that evolution can help us understand, even explain, the modern world and modern mind has not always had a happy history, veering between overclaim and catastrophe. But the opposite idea - that everything is culture and nothing nature - is hardly more convincing. So, can we threat this needle? Can we have nuanced and realistic understanding of the impact of evolution on us today without going down the rabbit hole of determinism. So, what impact has evolution had on us - our communities...
The Enlightenment has become weaponised over recent years. Numerous public figures, not all of them historians, have lined up to state defiantly that it needs protecting from... postmodernity? populism? religion?... take your pick. But what is - or was - The Enlightenment? What are we being called to defend here? Is The Enlightenment actually a thing? Was it even “a thing” in the first place? And if not, when did we start talking about it, and why? Purchase a copy of Jonathan's book here: https:...
The demand for post-colonial nations to pay reparations to, and for their treatment of, their former colonies has grown increasingly loud over recent years. And although many dismiss the idea as textbook liberal guilt and bandwagon wokery, there are some serious claims behind it. The topic kicks up some big moral issues. You can’t talk about colonial reparations without working through what you think about moral responsibility, collective identity, and the effect of time on liability, all of whi...
Depending on who you are, you might understand “woke” to mean “concerned with fundamental human justice”. Alternatively, you might think its means obsessed with identity politics, tribal, angry, and inclined to cancel and censor. Either way, you probably associate the term with the left. After all, “lefty” and “liberal” and the words most commonly paired with “woke”. But what if that isn’t the case? What if it’s an oversimplification? What if woke isn’t left and left isn’t woke? Where does that ...
Assisted Dying is back on the legislative agenda, with parliament voting on it this autumn. It is a profound and contentious debate about which good and well-meaning people can and do disagree deeply. What is really at stake here? Apart from the obvious, the debate kicks up some profound and difficult questions about most important ideas concerning human life. For example, how far should we respect people's autonomy and choice? What constitutes a meaningful life? And what is the meaning of human...
For many people, many of whom would not call themselves religious or even spiritual, poetry is somehow able to enchant, to inspire, to heal– to give them a glimpse of connection, of transcendence that transforms their life. Particularly today, in “A secular age” in the West, it is poetry and indeed the arts more widely that often boast the greatest ability convey that sense of connection and transcendence that seems so important and hard-wired in humans. What is going on here? How does it work? ...
About 30 years ago, the American political philosopher Samuel Huntington wrote a hugely influential book entitled The clash of civilizations in which he predicted that the ideological wars of the 20th century would give way to civilisational ones in the 21st. The book drew criticism for the way it talked about “civilizations” as if they were hard edged and obviously identifiable things. Because the general idea of civilizations is a relatively recent one, and if we peer into the mists of time, w...
We are emerging from the so-called “Gutenberg Parenthesis”, the 500 years in which the printed word dominated society, and embracing a new age of screens, images, and tweets. Or so it is claimed. Reading remains popular, however, and the printed book has rallied of late. What’s going on? Might the dominance of the book, indeed of the written word, be coming to an end? Or is it the only medium capable of handling the complexities of human reason and imagination? And how much does any of this matt...
Science and religion have a long history. According to some, it's a history of warfare; to others they are (or at least should be) non-overlapping. Joining Nick Spencer at the @chalkehistoryfestival is historian and host of @restishistorypod Tom Holland, to discuss Nick's book Magisteria: The Entangled Histories of Science and Religion. 📚 Buy a copy of Magisteria here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/9780861544615 💬 Follow Theos here: https://linktr.ee/theosthinktank
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This series of Reading our Times has looked at a number of scientific issues that have cast questions of, and sometimes shadows on, human personhood. So, in our final episode this series, we are asking specifically about that personhood. What does it means to be a human person? And how do we come to know that personhood - not philosophically, not empirically but, well, personally. In an age in which technology threatens to remake us, even despite our intentions, how can we come to know and honou...
The question 'what is a life worth?' feels wrong; heretical even. Humans are infinitely valuable, we say. You can't put a price on a life. And yet we do, every day: for healthcare, for philanthropy, for insurance, for criminal compensation... Indeed, arguably, if we actually care for life, we must. So, how do we do it? What are we willing to pay for life? How do we calcualate it? Who decides, and on what basis? And what does all this tell us about our (in)humanity? In this week's episode, Nick S...
Pretty much every index for the mental health of young people in Britain and the US in particular is pointing in the wrong direction. More anxiety, more depression, more therapy, more medication, more suicide. Why? What is going on here? And why is it that the vast increase in spending on mental health - on counselling, therapy and drugs over recent decades seems to have made no difference whatsoever? In this week's episode, Nick Spencer speaks to Abigail Shrier about her book Bad Therapy: Why t...
The idea that non-human animals should be recognised as legal persons has gained traction over recent years, and is the subject of numerous court cases. But underlying the legal and indeed empirical questions here, are some pretty deep philosophical ones. What actually is a person? What role does rationality or consciousness or language play? And depending on our answers to those questions, could a non-human animal ever qualify as a person? In this week's episode, Nick Spencer speaks to Mark Row...
Once upon a time, it was religions that promised eternal life. Now its science, with the possibility of immortality - whether bionic, cellular, genetic, or virtual - being the subject of big Silicon Valley dollars. Is this something we want? Who actually want to live forever? And, perhaps more importantly, should we? In this week's episode, Nick Spencer speaks to Stephen Cave about his book Should You Choose to Live Forever? Buy a copy of Stephen's book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CMF7YW...
AI is taking over the planet - or at least the news agenda! For hardly a day goes by without some AI story in the headlines. Should we believe what we read? Or is it all hype? In particular, should we believe what we are promised - or threatened - about AI become super-intelligent, sentient, conscious, human? In this week's episode, Nick Spencer speaks to Eve Poole about her book Robot Souls: Programming in Humanity Buy a copy of Robot Souls here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Robot-Souls-Programming...
Little green men were once a complete fantasy - but the numbers appear to be on their side. The sheer size of the universe, the number of stars and, it seems, the number of potentially inhabitable planets means that alien life is highly probable. What would it mean for us if that were so? If we did ever 'make contact'? What would it mean for our sense of pride, our dignity and in particular for those belief systems that have a particular emphasis on the human species? In this week's episode, Nic...
Every century is different - but the 21st may be seriously different, with our ability to understand, modify and re-create humanity having come on light years in recent decades. Should we? So often, the warning we hear when it comes to the scientific manipulation of the human is that we shouldn't "play God". But what grounding does that actually have? What if we actually are a "playing God" species? Kicking off a new series of Reading our Times, this one dedicated to the overall theme of Playing...
In this week's episode, recorded live at the UnHerd cafe in London, Nick Spencer speaks to Robert Skidelsky about his book The Machine Age: An Idea, a History, a Warning. Once upon a time, we had faith in technology. Machines would make our lives easier, simpler, more comfortable. Today… well, faith in technological fixes for our problems is on the wane. Worse, it’s often replaced with fear. The companies want our data. The robots want our jobs. The government our freedoms. In his latest book, T...
Tuesday 5 July 2023 was, apparently, the hottest day ever recorded, and 2023 looks like its going to be the hottest year in human history. At this pace, we are heading for a dire future. But we do need to be careful here: after all, humans have been transforming the earth for mllennia. How? How have we changed the earth, and how has it changed us? And what does this mean for our shared future? In this week's episode, Nick Spencer speaks to Peter Frankopan about his book The Earth Transformed: An...
"Elites have open contempt for those who are not members of their rarefied class.” So claimed no less than Rupert Murdoch, friend of PMs and presidents, in his resignation letter. Is he right? Is there a "new elite"? If so, who are they and what do they believe in? And are they really in charge in now? In this week's episode, Nick Spencer speaks to Matt Goodwin about his book Values, Voice and Virtue: The New British Politics
Our relationship with food is unhealthy. While nearly 2/3 of English adults and 1/3 of children struggle with extra weight problems, there are currently around 2,500 food banks operating in the UK. What's gone wrong? Why do we so struggle with food? And whose responsiblity is it to feed us anyway? In this week's episode, Nick Spencer speaks to author Pen Vogler about her book Stuffed: A History of Good Food and Hard Times in Britain
It’s a common fantasy. You wake up and there is no one there. Civilisation, order, humanity have crumbled. You are alone. Yet, in some parts of the world, this is not a fantasy. Human civilisation has indeed gone. What does this look like? What remains in a post-human landscape? And is this what awaits us? In this week's episode, Nick Spencer speaks to Cal Flyn about her book Islands of Abandonment: Life in the Post-Human Landscape
For over 50 years now, Dan Dennett has written highly-praised, thoughtfully and provocatively on major philosophical issues. His ideas about consciousness, evolution, freedom - and, of course, theism - have provoked wonder and anger. In this week's episode, Nick Spencer speaks to Dan Dennett, about philosophy, Darwinism, naturalism and theism.
The age of boom and bust is over - we were told, shortly before the great crash of 2008-09. Such confidence is clearly ill-advised. Economies boom and economies bust - and there doesn't seem much we can do about it. Or is there? How can you spot a crash coming? What should you do about it when it descends on us? And how can we respond so that, even if we can't banish them forever, we can limit their frequency and impact? In this week's episode, Nick Spencer speaks to Linda Yueh about her book Th...
You have a mind, right? At least, that's what you and those who know you will think. But would you say the same of your pet? What about creatures like dolphins or octopus? Aliens (assuming they exist)? Robots and AI? God? What does it mean to 'have a mind'? Are all minds the same? Why should such a costly thing appear in evolution? And if we understand our minds, does that mean we have finally understood ourselves? In this week's episode, Nick Spencer speaks to science writer Philip Ball about h...
Everyone - even those who utter it with contempt - uses the word 'God'. But we don't all use it in the same way. Indeed, you could argue that we talk past each other more often when we talk about God than when we talk about any other topic. So what do we mean when we talk about God? What does the word even mean? Is the God of the philosophers the same as the God of the religious? Or indeed the God of the atheists? In this week's episode, Nick Spencer speaks to philosopher and theologian David Be...
Pentecostalism is the fastest growing religious movement in history, with nearly 600 million Pentecostals worldwide. How did the movement originate? What does it involve? And how will it change Christianity, society and politics in the 21st century? Nick Spencer talks to journalist and author Elle Hardy about her book Beyond Belief: How Pentecostal Christianity Is Taking Over the World
We raise over a trillion every year in tax, and spent a hundred billion more than that. But where do we get it from? Where do we spend it? And is it used fairly, efficiently and wisely? Nick Spencer talks to Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, Paul Johnson, about his book Follow the Money: How much does Britain cost?
