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Bristol Festival of Ideas Podcasts
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Stewart Brand is one of the great visionaries of our time. His latest book, 'Whole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto', argues that ‘Being Green’ is no longer enough. Three profound transformations are underway on Earth: climate change, urbanisation and biotechnology. Unless environmentalists keep up with new science, and embrace tools and disciplines that they have traditionally distrusted - such as science and engineering - in order to forestall the cataclysmic deterioration of the earth’s resources, they will become part of the problem.
Brand shatters a number of environmental myths and argues that cities are greener than the countryside, nuclear power is the future of energy, and genetic engineering is the key to crop and land management. Through scientific rigor and blazing advocacy, Brand offers a bold and creative set of policies and solutions for producing a more sustainable society.
He is in discussion with Brian Eno, musician and composer, cultural critic and writer who has a long-standing interest and involvement in new thinking about politics and the future.
Lecture - Stewart Brand and Brian Eno, 'The Future of Environmentalism' (18 January 2010)
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The 'New York Times' calls Barbara Ehrenreich “our premier reporter of the underside of Capitalism”. Recent books have seen her go undercover to find a job in America’s corporate sector and work in low-wage America, busting the myth of the American dream. She now looks at positive thinking – formerly a marginal 19th century healing technique, which is now seen as the key to success and prosperity.
Ehrenreich exposes the downside of the science of happiness which leads to self-blame, a morbid preoccupation with stamping out ‘negative’ thoughts and, on a national level, created an era of irrational optimism. Ehrenreich attacks conventional wisdom and faux science, and calls for clarity and courage.
This podcast is 27 minutes long (50MB). If you would like to hear more lectures from the 2010 Festival, please visit our website at: www.ideasfestival.co.uk.
Lecture - Barbara Ehrenreich, 'Smile or Die: How Positive Thinking Undermines Us All' (12 January 2010)
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George Miller interviews Margaret Atwood for the Bristol Festival of Ideas just before her event at St George's Bristol on 9 September 2009 to mark the launch of her new book 'The Year of the Flood'. The event, attended by nearly 600 people, featured an exciting performance with actors and a choir, followed by an on-stage interview with Margaret herself.
This podcast is 12 minutes long (11MB). If you would like to hear more interviews with selected speakers from this year's festival, please visit our website at: www.ideasfestival.co.uk.
Presented by Bristol Festival of Ideas (www.ideasfestival.co.uk), in association with St George's Bristol. (www.stgeorgesbristol.co.uk). Interview by George Miller (http://podularity.com).
Interview - Margaret Atwood, 'The Year of the Flood' (9 September 2009)
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In this final podcast from summer 2009, presented by Bristol Festival of Ideas, George Miller looks back at some of the highlights of the 2009 May Festival.
Award-winning writer, Times columnist and broadcaster David Aaronovitch discusses conspiracy theories in connection with his new book: 'Voodoo Histories: The Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History'; Helen Bamber talks about her long experience of human rights campaigning; and leading novelist and playwright Michael Frayn ponders our ideas and the world around us.
This podcast is 30 minutes long (27MB), and is the final recording in our summer podcast series for 2009. If you would like to hear more interviews with selected speakers from this year's festival, please visit our website at: www.ideasfestival.co.uk.
Presented by Bristol Festival of Ideas (www.ideasfestival.co.uk), in association with The Philosopher's Magazine (www.philosophersnet.com). Interviews by George Miller (http://podularity.com).
Audio compilation - David Aaronovitch, Helen Bamber and Michael Frayn (September 2009)
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In this second podcast from summer 2009, presented by Bristol Festival of Ideas, George Miller looks back at some of the highlights of the 2009 May Festival.
Internationally renowned philosopher and author, Peter Singer, discusses the moral implications of greed and poverty in connection with his new book: The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty'; historian Richard Holmes talks about 'The Age of Wonder' and romantic science; and scientist Freeman Dyson looks at the challenges and opportunities of the time in which we live.
This podcast is 30 minutes long (27MB), and is the second recording in our summer podcast series for 2009. If you would like to hear more interviews with selected speakers from this year's festival, please visit our website at: www.ideasfestival.co.uk.
Presented by Bristol Festival of Ideas (www.ideasfestival.co.uk). Interviews by George Miller (http://podularity.com).
Audio compilation - Peter Singer, Richard Holmes and Freeman Dyson (August 2009)
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In this first podcast from summer 2009, presented by Bristol Festival of Ideas, George Miller looks back at some of the highlights of the 2009 May Festival.
One of Britain's leading philosophers, writers and broadcasters, Alain de Botton, discusses the pleasures and sorrows of work; Tariq Ramadan, Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Oxford and one of the foremost voices of reformist Islam in the West, talks about the challenges facing Islam today; and Susie Orbach, author of the best-selling book 'Fat is a Feminist Issue' looks at our changing relationship with our bodies.
This podcast is 31 minutes long (30MB), and is the first recording in our summer podcast series for 2009. If you would like to hear more interviews with selected speakers from this year's festival, please visit our website at: www.ideasfestival.co.uk.
Presented by Bristol Festival of Ideas (www.ideasfestival.co.uk). Interviews by George Miller (http://podularity.com).
Audio compilation - Alain de Botton, Tariq Ramadan and Susie Orbach (July 2009)
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In the final podcast of this series, presented by Bristol Festival of Ideas and sponsored by the Philosopher's Magazine, George Miller looks back at some of the highlights of the 2008 Bristol Festival of Ideas.
Alan Weisman looks to the future to discover what the world might be like, and how it would change if humans disappeared right now for good. In the current age of anxiety over our impact on the earth's climate and environment, he offers an intriguing glimpse of what the real legacy of our time on the planet may be.
New York University psychologist Gary Marcus argues that the mind is not an elegantly designed organ but a 'kluge', a clumsy, cobbled-together contraption. He unveils a fundamentally new way of looking at the human mind, arguing against a whole tradition that praises our human minds as the most perfect result of evolution.
Andrew Kelly, Director of the Bristol Festival of Ideas talks about some of this year's events and looks forward to 2009.
Audio compilation - Alan Weisman, Gary Marcus and Andrew Kelly (October 2008)
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In this third podcast, presented by Bristol Festival of Ideas and sponsored by the Philosopher's Magazine, George Miller looks back at some of the highlights of the 2008 Bristol Festival of Ideas.
Julian Baggini, author of 'Atheism: A Short Introduction', discusses matters of atheism, agnosticism and God with Rev. Robert Grimley, Dean of Bristol Cathedral, and agnostic Mark Vernon, who in 'After Atheism', argues that a committed, even passionate, agnosticism is vital for the future of our planet and our souls.
This debate is followed by Tony Benn, veteran Labour politician, who talks about his life after politics and changes in the Labour party.
The final speaker in this month's podcast is Astrid Proll, a member of the early Baader-Meinhof gang, who talks about Germany in 1968 and what happened afterwards.
This podcast is 28 minutes long (26MB), and is the third in a series that will be issued each month from now until autumn. If you would like to hear more interviews with selected speakers from this year's Festival, please visit our website at: www.ideasfestival.co.uk/audio.html.
Presented by Bristol Festival of Ideas (www.ideasfestival.co.uk) and the Philosopher's Magazine (www.philosophersnet.com).
Audio compilation - 'Atheism, Agnosticim & God', Tony Benn and Astrid Proll (September 2008)
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In this second podcast, presented by the Bristol Festival of Ideas, George Miller looks back at some of the highlights of the 2008 Festival of Ideas.
Historian, Adrian Tinniswood, presents the second Museum of Bristol Lecture: 'The Historian and the City'. As regional chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund, Adrian has been involved in many Bristol heritage projects, and now, in the lead-up to the opening of the Museum of Bristol in 2010, he reflects on his own work as a historian, looks at ways in which historians have defined the city in the past, and outlines the vital role that history has in shaping Bristol's future.
Jean Moorcroft Wilson talks about the life and work of Bristol-born war poet, Isaac Rosenberg. Author of the first biography of Rosenberg for 30 years, she looks back at his childhood in Bristol and the Jewish East End of London, his time at the Slade School of Art where he met David Bomberg, Mark Gertler and Stanley Spencer, and his harrowing life as a private in the British Army.
Sebastian Peake, son of Mervyn Peake, speaks about his father's life and work with reference to drawings, paintings and designs presented in his new book: 'Mervyn Peake: The Man and His Art'.
This podcast is 30 minutes long (26MB), and is the second in a series that will be issued each month from now until autumn. If you would like to hear more interviews with selected speakers from this year's Festival, please visit our website at: www.ideasfestival.co.uk/audio.html.
Presented by George Miller for the Bristol Festival of Ideas (www.ideasfestival.co.uk).
Audio compilation - Adrian Tinniswood, Jean Moorcroft Wilson & Sebastian Peake (August 2008)
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In this first podcast, presented by Bristol Festival of Ideas and sponsored by the Philosopher's Magazine, George Miller looks back at some of the highlights of the 2008 Bristol Festival of Ideas.
Baroness Susan Greenfield, Professor of Pharmacology at Oxford University, Director of the Royal Institution and a member of the House of Lords, talks about her new book 'ID: The Quest for Meaning in the 21st Century'.
Raymond Tallis, polymath, poet and Emeritus Professor of Gerontology, then discusses what goes on inside our heads with reference to his new book, 'The Kingdom of Infinite Space'.
He is followed by Alan Sokal, Professor of Physics at New York University, who talks about pseudo-science, religion and misinformation in public life.
This podcast is 30 minutes long (28MB), and is the first in a series that will be issued each month from now until autumn. If you would like to hear more interviews with selected speakers from this year's Festival, please visit our website at: www.ideasfestival.co.uk/audio.html.
Presented by Bristol Festival of Ideas (www.ideasfestival.co.uk) and the Philosopher's Magazine (www.philosophersnet.com).
Audio compilation - Baroness Susan Greenfield, Raymond Tallis & Alan Sokal (July 2008)