A new series of talks by David Runciman, in which he explores some of the most important thinkers and prominent ideas lying behind modern politics – from Hobbes to Gandhi, from democracy to patriarchy, from revolution to lock down. Plus, he talks about the crises – revolutions, wars, depressions, pandemics – that generated these new ways of political thinking. From the team that brought you Talking Politics: a history of ideas to help make sense of what’s happening today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
https://play.acast.com/s/history-of-ideas
Butler on Machines
Samuel Butler’s Erewhon (1872) is a strange and unsettling book about a world turned upside down. Usually classified as utopian or dystopian fiction, it also contains an eerie prophecy about the coming of intelligent machines. David explores the origins of Butler’s ideas and asks what they have to teach us about the oddity of how we choose to organise our societies, both then and now.
Free version of the text
Recommended version to buy
Going Deeper:
- Samuel Butler, The Way of All Flesh (1903)
- Virginia Woolf, 'Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown' (1924)
- George Dyson, Darwin Among the Machines (1997)
- (Video) James Paradis, 'Naturalism and Utopia: Samuel Butler's Erewhon'
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.