Past Present Future

Afleveringen

1. Can Universities Survive? The Great Expansion

   25 oktober 2026 · 1 uur 1 min

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   In today’s episode for our series about the plight facing universities David talks to political theorist Alan Finlayson about what’s happened to higher education in the UK since 1945. It is a story of massive expansion in the number of universities and numbers of students. What was the original rationale for this rapid growth? How did it change the social and class structure of Britain? Who were the winners and who were the losers? And what happened when this new university system collided with Thatcherism? Lees meer

   You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus our free online courses and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes – on our website https://www.ppfideas.com

   Next Time in Can Universities Survive? The Great Expansion Part 2: From New Labour to the Culture Wars
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2. Can Universities Survive? The Thousand-Year Story Part 2

   21 oktober 2026 · 1 uur

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   Today’s episode is the second part of David's conversation with historian William Whyte about how universities have survived for nearly a thousand years and whether they can last much longer. How did the industrial revolution change what universities were for? Why did the attempt by French and Russian revolutionaries to abolish universities come to nothing? What made universities symbols of modernisation? And can institutions that have adapted to just about everything adapt to the digital revolution as well? Lees meer

   William Whyte’s new book is The University: A History in Stone, Silk, and Blood – available now https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674495180

   You can find out everything else you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus our free online courses and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes – on our website https://www.ppfideas.com

   Next Time in Can Universities Survive? The Great Expansion
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3. Can Universities Survive? The Thousand-Year Story

   18 oktober 2026 · 1 uur

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   We start a new series about the long history and current predicament of universities by going back to the beginning. David talks to historian William Whyte about the origin story of the university nearly one thousand years ago. What made universities different from other places of learning? How did they assert their authority? Who controlled what they did? And how did they survive war, plague, religious turmoil and the arrival of printing? Lees meer

   Out now on PPF+: the final part of our series on transhumanism bringing the story bang up to date. How is transhumanism behind the latest warnings about the end of the world? Is Elon Musk a visionary or a fraud? And what’s wrong with transhumanism anyway? To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening – and to help support everything we do – subscribe to PPF+ no https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus

   You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus our free online courses and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes – on our website https://www.ppfideas.com

   Next Time in Can Universities Survive? The Thousand-Year Story Part 2: Enlightenment, Revolution, Modernisation
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4. The History of Transhumanism: Silicon Valley

   14 oktober 2026 · 57 min

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   Today’s episode in our series about transhumanism and its astonishing influence looks at how it helped build Silicon Valley. David talks to Duncan Bell about what happened when California became the centre of transhumanist operations. Where do drug-taking hippies fit into this story? Who were the cyberpunks and what did they want? How were Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and others shaped by the transhumanism they discovered while growing up? And is all this really just a surrogate religion? Lees meer

   Out tomorrow on PPF+: the final part of this series bringing the story bang up to date. How is transhumanism behind the latest warnings about the end of the world? Is Elon Musk a visionary or a fraud? And what’s wrong with transhumanism anyway? To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening – and to help support everything we do – subscribe to PPF+ now https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus

   You can find out everything else you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus our free online courses and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes – on our website https://www.ppfideas.com

   Next time a brand new series: The Past, Present and Future of Universities

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5. The History of Transhumanism: New Horizons

   11 oktober 2026 · 57 min

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   In part two of our series about how transhumanism shaped our world, David talks to Duncan Bell about what happened when sci fi dreams started to become reality. What changed when space travel turned from fantasy to fact? Did supercomputers herald new human possibilities or the prospect of human obsolescence? Why did transhumanism move from the left to the right of the political spectrum? And who believed that freezing their own heads was a good idea? Lees meer

   A reminder we have a pair of new educational courses to accompany two of our series – The Great Essays and The Lives of the Philosophers. These courses are free for anyone who wants to use them and offer recall tests, extensive reading guides, discussion topics and essay questions for further reading, writing and exploration around the subjects of our podcasts. For use in schools, colleges or just in your spare time. To explore these courses simply go to https://ppfideas.com/courses

   You can find out everything else you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes – on our website https://www.ppfideas.com

   Next time on The History of Transhumanism: Silicon Valley.

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6. The History of Transhumanism: Origins

   7 oktober 2026 · 1 uur 2 min

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   Today it’s the first episode in a new series about the weird and wonderful world of transhumanism: the idea that human beings can be transformed by technology and machines. David talks to historian of ideas Duncan Bell about transhumanism as science and as science fiction, as accurate prophecy and as outright lunacy. How did the idea have its origins in Darwinism? Why did the early transhumanists tend to be socialists? What made H. G. Wells such an influence on supposedly respectable scientists? And how does all this foreshadow the world of Silicon Valley today? Lees meer

   A reminder that we have a pair of new educational courses to accompany two of our series – The Great Essays and The Lives of the Philosophers. These courses are free for anyone who wants to use them and offer recall tests, extensive reading guides, discussion topics and essay questions for further reading, writing and exploration around the subjects of our podcasts. For use in schools, colleges or just in your spare time. To explore these courses simply go to https://ppfideas.com/courses

   You can find out everything else you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes – on our website https://www.ppfideas.com

   Next time on The History of Transhumanism: Spaceships, Supercomputers and Frozen Heads
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7. An Ageing World: Simone de Beauvoir on Old Age

   4 oktober 2026 · 54 min

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   For the final episode in our series on living in an ageing world David talks to Lyndsey Stonebridge about one of the most interesting and challenging of all writers on the subject of old age – Simone de Beauvoir. Why did Beauvoir believe that we are all duplicitous about the elderly? How did she experience her own ageing body and the prospect of her own death? What did she learn from watching Sartre age and die? And what makes her a prophet for the world we live in today? Lees meer

   Lyndsey Stonebridge’s 'Old Women: A History of Our Future' will be published next year.

   Out now on PPF+: part two of David’s conversation with Samuel Moyn about the problem of gerontocracy. How can older people be encouraged to stop hoarding wealth and power? Is socialised care the solution? And is that ever going to happen in a place like America? To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening – and to help support everything we do – subscribe to PPF+ no https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus

   You can find out everything else you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus our free online courses and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes – on our website https://www.ppfideas.com

   Next Time: The Curious History of Transhumanism
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8. An Ageing World: The Problem of Gerontocracy

   30 september 2026 · 59 min

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   In today’s episode for our series about living in ageing societies, David talks to historian and legal scholar Samuel Moyn about the problem of gerontocracy, aka the rule of the old. Why do older generations now have so much wealth and so much power? Why is this particularly true in the United States? Is the real problem elderly politicians or elderly voters? Do the young stand a chance any more? Lees meer

   Out tomorrow on PPF+: part two of this conversation in which David and Sam try to move from diagnosis to cure. How can older people be encouraged to stop hoarding wealth and power? Is socialised care the solution? And is that ever going to happen in a place like America? To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening – and to help support everything we do – subscribe to PPF+ no https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus

   Gerontocracy in America by Samuel Moyn is out now https://bit.ly/4ymCEss

   You can find out everything else you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus our free courses and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com

   Next time in An Ageing World: Simone De Beauvoir on Old Age
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9. An Ageing World: The Meaning of Death

   27 september 2026 · 58 min

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   In today’s episode of our series about the significance of longer human lives David talks to the doctor and writer Richard Coker about the meaning of the event that comes for all of us in the end: death. Are we finding it harder to talk about and face up to mortality? How do doctors think about death, having seen so much of it? Is the line between life and death getting harder to draw? What is the price we pay for putting off death as long as we can? Lees meer

   Richard Coker’s Timor Mortis: How We Live With Death is available wherever you get your books https://bit.ly/4yTUeE4

   Available now: a pair of new educational courses to accompany two of our series – The Great Essays and The Lives of the Philosophers. These courses are free for anyone who wants to use them and offer recall tests, extensive reading guides, discussion topics and essay questions for further reading, writing and exploration around the subjects of our podcasts. For use in schools, colleges or just in your spare time. To explore these courses simply go to https://ppfideas.com/courses

   You can find out everything else you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus upcoming events and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com

   Next Time on An Ageing World: The Problem of Gerontocracy
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10. An Ageing World: Lifespan vs Healthspan

    23 september 2026 · 56 min

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    To start our new series about what it means to live in a world of ageing populations, David talks to geneticist Adam Rutherford about the benefits and pitfalls of increasing longevity. Are GLP-1s – drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro – miracle cures that will extend human lifespans? What happens if longer lives do not coincide with better health? How far can life extension be pushed? And who wants to live forever anyway? Lees meer

    Available now: a pair of new educational courses to accompany two of our series – The Great Essays and The Lives of the Philosophers. These courses are free for anyone who wants to use them and offer recall tests, extensive reading guides, discussion topics and essay questions for further reading, writing and exploration around the subjects of our podcasts. For use in schools, colleges or just in your spare time. To explore these courses simply go to https://ppfideas.com/courses

    Out now on PPF+: ‘Podcast University’, a bonus episode to accompany the launch of our new educational courses in which David lays out the thinking behind them and his own ideas about the relationship between what he used to do as a university teacher and what we do now on PPF. To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening – and to help support and keep freely available our educational work – subscribe to PPF+ now https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus

    You can find out everything else you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus upcoming events and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com

    Next time in An Ageing World: The Meaning of Death

    They can't harm you, if they can't find you! Use code ppf at the link below and get 60% off annual plans: https://incogni.com/ppf
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