Smart Cookies: Recent Episodes
Zaza
Eastern European host Zaza talks to some of the SMARTEST PEOPLE on the planet, exploring as many different topics as he can get his greedy hands on.
Michael Mann is a Presidential Distinguished Professor of Earth & Environmental Science at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Our Fragile Moment. He's also one of the most renowned climatologists in the world - and that's why I was over the moon when he agreed to have a chat with me...
Given the extremely grim daily news on climate change, I ask Prof. Mann whether the fight for a habitable planet is over, how bad he thinks the upcoming El Nino will be, and finally, what kind of consequences do Trump's insane, climate denial policies have for the world's decarbonisation plans.
I'm super stoked to welcome back the legendary blogger, journalist and author of Enshittification, Cory Doctorow.
This time around we tackle his latest book, The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI: How to Think About Artificial Intelligence — Before It's Too Late.
I ask Cory about the ideology behind the shameless AI push, the state of this technology in 2026, the billionaires lapping it up, as well as the feared AI bubble that Corey believes will tank the entire system.
I'm super happy to welcome dr. Christopher Harding, lecturer in Asian history at the University of Edinburgh, back to the show, to have a chat about his amazing upcoming book, "Barbarians: The First Century of European Encounter with Japan."
This time around we talk about a myriad of fascinating episodes that arose from this dramatic exchange - the first Portuguese landing on Tanegashima, the curiosity their appearances caused, the introduction of Christianity in Japan, the growing power of the Jesuits and finally, the expulsion of all foreigners in 1641.
Obviously we can't get past the infamous bromance between William Adams and Tokugawa Ieyasu that inspired the popular TV show Shogun.
As a foreigner in Japan myself, I'm not exaggerating when I say this is one of my favourite conversations this year.
Medieval historian and champion of the podcast, Prof. Nicholas Morton (from Nottingham Trent University) is back on the pod to talk about the feverish history of the Crusades - only this time, we explore the subject from the perspective of the Muslim nations who were fighting for supremacy in the tricky landscape of the medieval Middle East...
What did they think when they first saw these unexpected strangers in their lands? Did jihad become a thing just like a holy war in Christendom? And why was it so important for Saladin to tear Jerusalem from Crusader's hands?
We chat about all this and more in this action packed episode!
In 2015, Carlos Barragan, a young Spanish journalist working for The New York Times, received a surprise - his mother, having long being single, told him she finally met somebody on Tinder. The man's name was Brian and he was an American soldier stationed in Syria. Carlos' alarm bells however, started going off immediately - and sure enough, he quickly tracked "Brian's" IP address not to the US, but to Lagos, the capital of Nigeria.
Being intent on finding the scammer himself, he travelled to the country only to find himself embedded into the culture of the so-called Yahoo Boys - poor young men, who saw scamming Westerners as their only ticket out of the slums.
Carlos' extensive experiences in Nigeria gave birth to his reportage book, The Yahoo Boys: Love, Deception, and the Real Lives of Nigeria's Romance Scammers, which has been touted as the most anticipated non-fiction book of 2026 by most major publications.
In this conversation we talk about his first journey to Nigeria, his life in the infamous Ikotun slum, the fates of his 4 main characters, but also about the loneliness epidemic in the West that's making this all possible.
Christopher Nolan's retelling of Homer's famous epic is causing a lot of sassy drama these days, so I thought it'd be appropriate to have a chat with a Greek Mythology expert, and pick his brain on what this foundational poem of Western literature is really about - because cause truth be told, I don't think I really know. Is The Odyssey about heroism? Homecoming? Fate?
To find out, I talk to Prof. Peter Meineck, the renowned professor of Classics in the Modern World at NYU.
And since the internet seems ablaze with controversy regarding Christopher Nolan's upcoming adaptation, we have a chat about that as well...
When we discuss Rome, we usually talk about the Emperors, the Warlords and the Conquerors, rarely about ordinary Romans... and almost never about the people who actually built it - the slaves.
With her recently released book SERVUS: How Slavery Made the Roman Empire, historian Emma Southon attempts to shift that narrative.
In this convo we talk about how one could became enslaved, what it was like to visit a Roman slave market, how slaves coped with the brutality of their everyday life, but also, why the Romans are so easy to roast.
In 16th century Europe, few events were as momentous as the German Peasants’ War - an explosive rebellion that shocked the ruling houses of the Holy Roman Empire.
Driven by the ideas of Reformation, apocalyptic preaching and an all-out anger about the increasingly cruel conditions of serfdom, bands of peasants marched to war, during which they came close to overturning the entire feudal order… T
o find out why the revolt started, how it engulfed an entire nation and why it ultimately failed, I talk to Lyndal Roper, a celebrated historian who's the 2026 recipient of the Holberg prize, and the author of the award winning book, Summer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasants’ War.
You're an ordinary German, living in 1920's Weimar when the Nazi party takes over - WHAT do you do? That's exactly the question that Katya Hoyer, "Britain's favourite German historian," wanted an answer to.
For her latest book, Weimar: Life on the Edge of Catastrophe, she spent years combing the Weimar archives, inspecting the fates of its citizens who were living through some of the most turbulent times in world history - what choices did they end up making? Did they resist, look away or even support Hitler's murderous regime?
In this gripping conversation, Katja and I talk about Weimar's contrast to Berlin, Hitler's infatuation with the city... But also how it went from being the birthplace of Bauhaus to hosting the biggest concentration camp on German soil...
For at least 600 years, the lands of modern day Slovenia (where I'm from), belonged to the famous Habsburg dynasty. But how did this small aristocratic family from Switzerland come to form the first global empire in the world?
Was the multi-ethnic monarchy really a "prison of the peoples" or was it in fact a modernising state?And most importantly - how come it all fell apart so quickly in 1918?
In this lovely (and friendly) sparring session, prof. Pieter Judson, author of the seminal book The Habsburg Empire: A New History explains why the Habsburg Empire often gets a bad rep in history books, and why its high time we should change that.
Ever since their civilisation ceased to exist, the Ancient Greeks have been appropriated to suit various agendas. But what did they actually think and believe? For example - how did they see other, non-Greek people? Was sexual orientation even a thing in Ancient Greece? Did they ever wrestle with the institution of slavery?
To help me find answers to my burning questions, I talked to Tony Spawforth, professor emeritus of ancient history at Newcastle University, and the author of the fantastic book, What the Greeks Did for Us.
It's a real pleasure having Norman Ohler, author of Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany, back on the pod. Norman recently published a spiritual succession of his bestseller called Tripped: Nazi Germany, the CIA, and the Dawn of the Psychedelic Age, which recounts the wild history of LSD...
In this conversation we talk about the Nazi quest to find a truth serum, the crazy MKUltra plot concocted by the CIA, as well as Norman micro-dosing his mother to alleviate her Alzheimer's symptoms.
Despite it's mainstream presence for more than a decade, Bitcoin has yet to make a convincing argument about its use case. Nevertheless, the cryptocurrency space has become the home of a fascinating subculture - that of the Bitcoin Bros.
But who are these people? Why do they hinge their identity to this digital casino? And finally - do they actually believe in crypto, or are they in it for other reasons?
As someone who actually used to work in the space (although reluctantly) I was more than happy to turn to Prof. Dan Cassino, author of the recently released book, Bitcoin Bros: Masculinity, Cryptocurrency, and the Future of Men.
Dr. Philipp Cozzolino is a research Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Neuro-behavioral Sciences at University of Virginia's Division of Perceptual Studies, where he investigates reports of past-life memories from children around the world.
In this wonderful chat we discuss his work on death anxiety, the incredible testimonies of kids who claim to have lived before (as well as his thoughts on what might be going on), and finally, whether he thinks death is the end.
Luke Kemp, a research affiliate at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk researched 324 cases of societies, usually empires (which he called Goliaths) that collapsed - and soon found one thing they all had in common...
In this (slightly terrifying) conversation we discuss the main questions featured in Luke's groundbreaking book, Goliath's Curse - questions like why are hierarchical societies always a bad idea, what usually goes wrong first and finally, why we seem to be heading for a collapse of our own.
I always wondered whether the Renaissance was a truly groundbreaking historical event - or has it become just a self-referential cliché?
Talking to Prof. Kenneth Bartlett (author of The Renaissance in Italy: A History), I finally had a chance to ask...
In this illuminating conversation we talk about the movement's main ideas, the timeless art they produced, the political intrigues of Florence, the House of Medici and finally, their creepy adversary, friar Savonarola.
What do Kanye West, Taylor Swift, Mark Zuckerberg and Donald Trump have in common? As cultural critic W. David Marx argues in his new book Blank Space, they are all generators and representatives of a MONOCULTURE that has taken over the planet.
From VICE magazine's domination of the early 2000s and Kanye's forays into high fashion to the rise of the tech bros, we are living through a time in which everything seems to be increasingly turning into mush.
But how did we get here? Listen to my convo with David here!
The era of neoliberal globalisation that has dominated economies 90's and early 2000's is coming to an end. But what comes next?
Renowned economist and inequality researcher Branko Milanovic believes the world is entering a much more precarious phase, one in which countries bet on nationalist interests instead of free trade, but also a world in which China is rising and the West if falling.
But what are the underlying drivers of this new order? And how will it play out in the real world? More in my conversation with Branko!
As someone who moved to Japan not too long ago I was always fascinated with the country's unique history, particularly with the question of how did a country so completely isolated from the industrial revolution become a global superpower in just a few short decades? How did it manage to totally transform its society, military and culture? And finally, where did it all go wrong?
Join me and historian Christopher Harding, author of A History of Modern Japan, as we explore Japan's journey from the Edo period's isolation to the transformative Meiji Restoration, discussing how Japan's victory in the Russo-Japanese War marked its emergence as a modern power, only to later slide into the shadows of World War II fascism... But also, how the country faces new challenges today, balancing tradition with modernity in a world primarily marked by the rise of China.
The old version of the story went something like this - Homo Sapiens appeared in Africa around 2 to 300.00 years ago and for most of that time, we lived in small hunter gatherer communities, competing with other animals, sometimes more, and sometimes less successfully. That was, until one day we had a gnarly idea to start growing crops, build settlements and settle down for good.
However, the mind-boggling discovery of the dazzling Gobekkli Teppe, has thrown this attractively simple narrative into question. But how is it possible that such an impressive complex of monuments, built 12.000 years ago (thousands of years before the first cities ever appeared), was put there by "simple" hunter gatherers... and most of all, why?
To tackle these question I turn to Jens Notroff, a German archeologist who actually worked on the site for many years.
In the past 2 decades literacy rates have dropped dramatically... and so have our IQ scores.
Writer James Marriott believes these two facts are connected. His Substack article, "The dawn of the post-literate society and the end of civilisation," in which he argues that the absence of reading might signify the end of our civilisation, caused a big stir online...
In this conversation we talk about the history of reading, why this immense transfer of knowledge led to the breakdown of feudal society (while making us smarter), but also about how smartphones are fracturing our political systems while robbing us of our most cherished possession - our ability to think.
Joseph Kellner is a historian of Russia and the Soviet Union at the University of Georgia. He's also the author of the recently released book The Spirit of Socialism - Culture and Belief at the Soviet Collapse.
Contrary to Western narratives, culture within the USSR wasn't an eternally grey monolith that we used to see in James Bond movies. Quite the opposite - it was a diverse, often flourishing organism. But what happened to it during the brutal dissolution of the Soviet Union?
In this conversation, Prof. Kellner and I discuss the decline and the indescribable shock that accompanied the sudden dissolution of the USSR, before turning our attention to an explosion of wild, "exotic" cultural countries springing up in the new country of Russia.
Podcaster Joe Rogan keeps claiming that climate change doesn't really exist and that the Earth is in fact, cooling down, negating all available climate science (as well as plain observation). To address this misleading take, and the often cited Washington Post article accompanying it, I talk to Prof. David Armstrong McKay, climate scientist from the University of Sussex.
We also talk about the rate of warming in 2025, the global lack of progress on climate targets, the danger of tipping points and whether the Paris Accords target of keeping the warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius is really dead in the water.
We all know it - the internet has become a huge garbage heap, guided by malignant algorithms and filled with useless apps, mind numbing social media and AI slop. In a word - it's shitty.
But how did we get here? And how can we restore the better internet of old?
Cory Doctorow, author of the groundbreaking book ENSHITIFICATION: Why Everything Was Built to Break, has a couple of ideas.
The horrific war that Israel is waging against the predominantly civilian population in Gaza has been going on for almost two years, and yet, the slaughter continues to this day. Why is that?
To discuss one of the biggest crimes of our time, I talk Mouin Rabbani, an analyst, and commentator specialising in Palestinian affairs, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the contemporary Middle East.
We discuss the Western world's immoral support for Israel, Hamas' aims, Netanyahu's plan for Gaza, the indifference of Arab states and finally, the chances for the latest peace plan brought forward by Donald Trump to succeed and finally end the genocide.
Few conflicts have been as impactful as the two Opium Wars fought between China and the Western powers during the 19th century. These unjust wars, unanimously won by the West, ultimately resulted in a series of devastating concessions and ushered in China's so-called century of humiliation, the memory of which is still shaping global politics today.
But how did it all start? Why was Britain intent on pushing opium on this vast and ancient empire? And how come Qing dynasty China crumbled in an instant?
In this episode of the Smart Cookies podcast, Yang-Wen Zheng, Professor of Chinese History at the University of Manchester, takes us through through this tricky, yet monumental chapter of global history.
Neoliberal capitalism is dead. But what kind of a system has replaced it?
In the era of tech titans, weakening institutions and growing social tensions it's hard to get a grip on the forces that are governing our lives. Throw the chaotic administration of Donald Trump into the mix and the political landscape becomes truly unrecognisable.
Are we living in the era of technofeudalism, platform capitalism or libertarian authoritarianism? And how do increasing political killings, such as the one of MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk, fit into the mix?
Professor William Davis, sociologist and political economist, author of the impactful books Happiness Industry and Nervous States, takes us through these unprecedented and transitory times.
It's the middle of the 13th century and the Mongols have bulldozed their way through a host of Middle Eastern kingdoms like they are playing a strategy game with a cheat code. One after the other, the powerful Christian, as well as Islamic, states fell until there were almost none left on the map. The conquest of EVERYTHING seemed inevitable...
However, in one of history's greatest upsets of all time, the Mongols finally met their match. This is the second part of the conversation with Prof. Nicholas Morton, author of the Mongol Storm, an unputdownable history of Mongol conquests of the Middle East.
We talk about the mysterious Assassins, the fall of the Crusader States, and the rise of the Ottomans, an empire that will dominate the Mediterranean for hundreds of years to come...
The Byzantine Empire, Anatolian Seljuks, The Ayyubid Empire, Kingdom of Armenia, The Crusader States, The Abbasid Caliphate, the Nizari Assassins... this isn't a list of factions for a new Age of Empires video game, it's a snapshot of the Middle East in the middle of the 13th century - a time (and place) of incredible diversity, sophistication and struggle.
All of these states, whether Christian or Muslim, are continuously interlocked into alliances and division, cooperation and armed conflict. But however different, they suddenly have 1 thing in common - the whispers of a TERRIFYING new power rising in the East, approaching their borders with unprecedented speed...
How will they deal with this apocalyptic threat? Will they try diplomacy, submit or go to war? Will they stand together or fall separately? All of these questions are the subject of "The Mongol Storm: Making and Breaking Empires in the Medieval Near East," a fascinating book by historian Nicholas Morton, professor of Medieval history at Nottingham Trent University.
- This is the FIRST PART of our conversation. The SECOND part will be available next week... unless you're a PATREON subscriber. Then you can access it straight away!
In the mainstream media China still occupies the role of the main adversary of the West. It's usually portrayed negatively, as a belligerent country and a paragon of human rights abuses.
But is China really just an endless Asian gulag, or is the picture a bit more complicated?
To find out I talked to Kaiser Kuo, creator and host of the Sinica podcast, and former Director of International Communications at the Chinese search giant Baidu.
In this wonderfully illuminating conversation we discuss inaccurate Western perceptions, China's unique political system, its breathtaking technological advances, as well as the realities and challenges of everyday life in a first-tier Chinese city in 2025.
The omnipresent problem of bad leadership in politics and business seems to be more pressing than ever. So why do we keep choosing incompetent leaders? What kind of people get ahead in the workplace? What does good leadership actually look like?
And finally - do I have what it takes to fulfil my lifelong dream and become an effective basketball coach?
Tune in to my convo with historian Martin Gutmann, author of the best-selling book The Unseen Leader, to find out!
Marci Shore is a historian, chair in European Intellectual history, a professor at the Munk School of Global affairs, and the author of The Taste of Ashes: The Afterlife of Totalitarianism in Eastern Europe.
Since she's an expert in the history of totalitarian regimes, I ask her about Hitler's Nazi Germany, the brutal claustrophobia of Stalinism, the twisted psychology of Soviet purges and the totalitarian mechanisms that turned ordinary people into monsters.
As prof. Shore recently made headlines when she announced she is leaving the US due to Donald Trump and his policies, we can't get past the question on how close current America is to a totalitarian state and even to civil war.
Tovarishi and tovarischitze, you don't wanna miss this one!
What are the motivations of artificial intelligence CEO's, people like Peter Thiel, Elon Musk and Sam Altman? What kind of ideologies are animating Silicon Valley? Why are AI companies, such as Palantir, suddenly signing huge military contracts with the Pentagon?
I addressed all of these questions to Nick Srnicek, Senior Lecturer in Digital Economy at King's College London and author of Silicon Empires: The Fight for the Future.
Check out the full conversation on what our AI future holds here!
Marcus Chown is an award-winning writer, broadcaster and former radio astronomer at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. He's the author of The Ascent of Gravity, Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt you and Afterglow of Creation.
His latest title, A Crack in Everything: How Black Holes Came in from the Cold and Took Cosmic Centre Stage details the mind-blowing science of black holes, and traces this, once preposterous idea to its obscure beginnings.
In this interstellar conversation we discuss what would have happened if you managed to fall into a black hole, whether time travel is indeed possible, why black holes aren't really black and finally, why do we find them at the centre of every galaxy in space.
In light of a scandalous recent Guardian article which explored why Zoomers think we Millennials are profoundly uncool, I desperately needed some answers. So I turned to Dr. Carolina Are, an Innovation Fellow and a social media researcher at Northumbria University’s Centre for Digital Citizens.
We proceeded to talk about the list of perceived millennial sins, the many different aesthetic sensibilities we inhabit, the various unique challenges that only Gen Z faces, the nature of cringe... and last but not last, about Goblin mode.
Dr. Christopher Dillon is Senior Lecturer in Modern German History at King’s College London who has authored many books and articles on the history of the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany.
In this conversation we tackle the supposedly failing economy of the Weimar Republic, how this perception helped the Nazis take power, why big business supported Hitler, but also what economic policies did the Nazis actually implement?
Obviously we can't get past the big elephant in the room, namely the often repeated notion that the Wall Street Crash of 1929 launched Hitler straight to the top of the weakened German State.
Welcome back to the second episode of the extraordinary history of the CRUSADES, with renowned historian Prof. Nicholas Morton from Nottingham Trent University.
In this episode we discuss the unexpected military success of the First Crusade, the horrific massacres that followed, the resulting establishment of the Crusader States and the initiation of the Knights Templar - but also their ultimate demise, the grim reality of the so-called Children's Crusade and finally, Ridley Scott's epic crusader film, Kingdom of Heaven.
Nicholas Morton is an Associate Professor in Middle Eastern history at Nottingham Trent University in the UK, and has been teaching Medieval - Middle Eastern History, especially the history of the Crusades, since 2008.
In the first part of our conversation on the CRUSADES, we talk about the conditions in medieval Europe at the turn of the 11th century, the religious ideas that made the prospect of a holy war possible in the first place... as well as the first military expedition that ventured to the Holy Land and it's completely unexpected success, that culminated in the eventual conquest of Jerusalem.
Dr. James Glattfelder is a theoretical physicist turned complexity scientist, who's interested in the really big picture, questions such as the nature of consciousness, the universe and reality itself. He's also the author of the book The Sapient Cosmos: What a modern-day synthesis of science and philosophy teaches us about the emergence of information, consciousness, and meaning.
In this mind-bending conversation we talk about the stubborn limits of known science, mind-altering experiences, the problem of consciousness, as well as the wisdom of mystics and shamans that can help bridge the gap between the rational mind and the great beyond...
Tim McMahon is a sports writer and journalist covering the NBA for ESPN. He is also the author of the book, Wonder Boy: Luka Doncic and the Curse of Greatness.
In this conversation we talk about Luka Doncic's beginnings in the NBA, his exceptional basketball talents and competitive nature, but most of all, we talk about his involuntary move to the Los Angeles Lakers, in what is quickly becoming one of the most controversial and shocking trades in the entire history of sports.
Sunil Amrith is a professor of History at Yale University. He is the author of four books, and a recipient of multiple awards including a MacArthur “Genius” fellowship. His latest book is called The Burning Earth: An Environmental History of the Last 500 Years.
In this conversation we explore the impact the environment has on the development of civilisations - we begin a 1000 years ago in medieval China and the Mongol Empire, move on to Europe and it's violent push outwards, discuss the many effects that both world wars had on our planet, and finally try to offer a glimmer of hope in the days of the climate catastrophe.
Jake Adelstein was a reporter for the Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan’s largest newspaper, from 1993 to 2005. He has also written for The Daily Beast/Newsweek, The Independent, and The Guardian, and is a regular contributor to The Atlantic Wire. However, most of us will probably be familiar with the name from the hit TV series Tokyo Vice, which is based on his memoir.
In this conversation we talk about his pioneering career as a foreign journalist at a Japanese newspaper, his decades long reporting on crime, and also about the slow, but undeniable demise of the Yakuza.
Dr. Nafeez Ahmed is a trans-disciplinary academic, investigative journalist and systems theorist, who's also the author of the best-selling book, “The Alt Reich: The Network War to Destroy the West from Within”.
In this conversation we're talking about the long historical reach of the far-right, it's shadowy resurgence after WWII, as well as it's current, frightening grip on Western politics.
We also discuss a role of billionaires, such as Elon Musk, in propping up these networks, the rise of Donald Trump and the complete failure of the mainstream Left.
Dr. Ariel Zeleznikow - Johnston is a neuroscientist, and a Research Fellow at Monash University. He's also the author of the acclaimed book, The Future Loves You: How and Why We Should Abolish Death.
In this conversation we talk about the current prospects of brain preservation, the possibilities of mind revival in the future, and also about the implications of living unimaginably long lives.
Batja Mesquita is a social psychologist, an affective scientist, and a pioneer of cultural psychology. She is a professor of psychology at the University of Leuven, Belgium, and director of the Center for Social and Cultural Psychology at the University of Leuven. She's also the author of the groundbreaking book, “Between Us - How Cultures Create Emotions,”
In this conversation we explore the complex interplay between emotions and culture, focusing on how different societies perceive and express emotions like anger, shame, empathy and love. We also tackle the cultural significance of these emotions, the implications for health, and the challenges of navigating intercultural relationships in the modern world.
The holiday season is here, which means we need to have a conversation about... ALCOHOL. And that's why I invited dr. Sally Adams, an alcohol researcher from the University of Birmingham, to the pod to discuss the physiological and psychological effects of alcohol consumption, the risks associated with drinking, and the cultural expectations surrounding alcohol use.
We also talked about alcohol's effects on the brain, such as impaired decision-making, as well as potential long-term health risks, including various cancers.
In the end we also turned to the nature of hangovers, their causes, and practical tips for responsible drinking, as well as Dr. Adams' personal journey of abstaining from alcohol and its positive impact on her life.
Phillip Goff is a professor of philosophy at Durham University and the author of extremely thought-provoking books, such as Consciousness and Fundamental Reality, Galileo's Error: Foundations for a New Science of Consciousness and his last one Why? The Purpose of the Universe.
We talk about the utterly improbable conditions for life in the universe, the stubborn problem of human consciousness, the idea of a God of limited abilities and the purpose behind... everything.
Timothy Ryback is the co-founder of the Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation in the Hague. Some of His previous books include the highly acclaimed Hitler's Private Library: The Books that Shaped his Life, The Last Survivor: Legacies of Dachau, and Hitler's first Victims: The Quest for Justice.
His latest book, Takeover: Hitler's Final Rise to Power just came out and has already been showered with praise. In this conversation we talk about the failing Weimar republic, Hitler's rise to power and his obsession with spirituality... as well as the many eery parallels with Donald Trump.
Dr. Justin Sledge is a professor of philosophy and religion whose work focuses on the Western Esoteric Tradition, particularly in religious and philosophical thought. He's also the host and creator of the extremely popular Youtube channel, Esoterica.
In this exhilarating conversation we talk about the fascinating tradition of summoning demonic entities, mystical experiences and magic, as well as the brutal medieval persecution of esoteric practices.
As an undying fan of Ridley Scott's Gladiator, I've always wanted to learn the real history of these celebrated, yet mysterious figures - and now I finally have the chance...
Alexander Mariotti is a Roman historical consultant and a leading speaker on gladiatorial life, combat, and weaponry.
Following academic work, his main focus has been working as an advisor to the media, featuring in countless documentaries, TV shows, and movies, most recently for the Amazon Prime TV show, Those about to die.
We talk about gladiator origins, the Olympic games, ancient superstardom, as well as the UFC, modern gladiators, and the best films and TV shows depicting them.
Dr. Emmanuel Maggiori is a software engineer, writer, and speaker, who's on a mission to help develop a more balanced view about the tech and AI industries in the midst of the relentless hype. He's also the author of the books Smart Until It's Dumb and Siliconned: How the tech industry solves fake problems, hoards idle workers, and makes doomed bets with other people's money.
We talk about the potential rise of artificial consciousness, the way large language models really work, doomsday AI predictions, the future of work and the many cons of Silicon Valley.
Professor Norman Finkelstein is a political scientist whose primary fields of research are the politics of the Holocaust and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. He's the author of many books, such as The Holocaust Industry, I'll burn that bridge when I get to it, and Gaza: an Inquest into its martyrdom.
We talk about the origins of Zionism, the current state of Israeli society, the horror of the conflict in Gaza, the prospects of Kamala Harris... as well as his notorious debate with the popular streamer Destiny.
The story of dog domestication seems as simple as pie - humans took some wolf puppies, brought them over to the campfire and the rest is history... However, the truth is far less straightforward and far murkier, sometimes even downright bizarre.
From rabbits and chickens, to dogs and cats, prof. Greger Larson, an evolutionary geneticist from University of Oxford breaks down the extremely complicated story of humans and the process of animal domestication.
Daniel McClellan is a scholar of the Bible and religion, and an honorary fellow at the University of Birmingham's Cadbury Centre for the Public Understanding of Religion.
He's also the c0-host of the Data over Dogma podcast and runs a brilliant Tik Tok channel where he tackles common questions and misunderstandings about the Bible.
In this amazingly illuminating conversation we talk about the origins of the Old Testament, the historicity of its personalities, the inconsistencies in the four Gospels, Jesus's stance on hell and homosexuality, as well as the scientific claims supposedly found in the Bible.
Chris Stringer is a physical anthropologist celebrated for his work on human evolution, as well as a research leader in human origins at the Natural History Museum in London.
He comes back to Smart Cookies to share of his vast knowledge on my favourite archaic humans, the Neanderthals.
We discuss their origins, culture, language, technology, interbreeding with Homo Sapiens, their eventual extinction... as well as the rise of garbage origin theories propagated by the likes of Graham Hancock.
In the second part of the fantastic conversation about the FRENCH REVOLUTION with historian David Andress, we discuss the downward spiral of Louis XVI, the relentless reign of terror, the bloody civil wars that rocked France... as well as the eventual rise of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Professor David Andress is a renowned historian of the French Revolution at the University of Portsmouth.
In this episode we talk about the prelude to arguably the most important revolution of all time, the deteriorating social conditions before the storm, the emerging class of urban revolutionaries, the that were ideas driving them... as well as the events that finally push France into irreversible turmoil.
Thomas Lockley is Associate Professor at Nihon University College of Law in Tokyo, where he teaches courses about the international and multicultural history of Japan and East Asia.
We talk about the REAL HISTORY behind the "Shogun" TV show, but also about feudal Japan, the Samurai, the arrival of Europeans... as well as Prof. Lockley's latest book "A Gentleman from Japan."
Peter Heather is Chair of Medieval History at King's College London. Some of his most famous books include The Fall of the Roman Empire, Rome Resurgent, Christendom, and most recently Why Empires Fall: Rome, America and the Future of the West.
We talk about the last days of the western Roman empire, the role of barbarians, the rise of the Persian empire, decadence, popular cliches, the worst Roman Emperor of all time and many parallels of falling Rome with the West today.
Alison Rowlands is a Professor of European history at the University of Essex researching witchcraft of the early modern period in central Europe.
We talk about medieval beliefs in the supernatural, witch trials, the Inquisition, torture, the role of gender in accusations of witchcraft, as well as witchcraft in popular culture.
The Illegals was a network of sleeper agents created by KGB, who were sent into western countries, pretending to be ordinary citizens. Jack Barsky was a young German man when he signed up and became one of the few Illegals who sent straight into the belly of the beast - into the US.
We discuss his early life in East Germany, the KGB training he went through in Moscow, his mission in the US, the eventual arrest by the FBI, as well as famous films portraying spying.
Jacob Mikanowski is a Polish-American journalist, writer and academic who's recently published an amazing book on the history of EASTERN EUROPE called "Goodbye Eastern Europe: An Intimate History of a Divided Land."
Jacob and I talk about the origins of Slavs, the surprising role of slavery in early kingdoms, the colourful medieval Slavdom, as well as modern stereotypes and our unique sense of humour.
Uwe Boll is an infamous German film director, a Hollywood outcast consistently panned by critics, who produced and directed more than 30 films, working with some of the biggest names in show business.
We talk about his everlasting passion for film, humble beginnings, first feature, developing a hard skin, hanging out with Mike Tyson and boxing his critics in the ring.
Most of us believe our lives are ordered by reason, or at least some kind of a sensible narrative... However, much as we hate to admit it, chance, randomness and chaos all play a crucial role in our lives (as well as our societies) - and that's exactly what Brian Klaas, associate professor in Global politics at University College London, wrote a phenomenal book about (called Fluke: Chance, Chaos and Why Everything We Do Matters). We also discuss the pervasive ideology of individualism, "hustle culture", the myth of a secret genius, conspiracy theories and the best way to lead our lives in our dopamine dependent societies.
I talk to Norman Ohler, the author of the best-selling book Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany. We discuss the hidden history of widespread drug use in the Third Reich, the mass consumption of methamphetamines by the German army, as well as Adolf Hitler's spiralling dependence on "injections" administered to him by his doctor, Theo Morell.
Brent Lee is an ex-conspiracy theorist who's managed to escape the rabbit hole after dwelling in its depths for 15 years. These days he's known as the host of the "Some Dare Call It Conspiracy" podcast, through which he's trying to help people who are still caught up in these beliefs.
We talk about his descent into the bizarre world of conspiracies, the impact they had on his personal life, his beliefs at the time, the con men "influencers" he encountered, as well as his mission of trying to reach people who still inhabit this paranoid world.
Dr. Michael Rowe is a Reader in modern European History at King's College London. Over the last two decades he has published extensively on the period of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars.
In this episode of Smart Cookies we talk about Napoleon's rise, his personality, conquests and defeats, as well as his relationship with Josephine and finally, bout Ridley Scott's divisive Napoleon biopic.
Dr. Tobias Jones is a researcher, historian and lecturer of Mongol history at Leiden University. Back by popular demand, he returns to Smart Cookies to talk about some of the most powerful women of the Mongol Empire.
We also talk discuss upbringing and the role of Mongolian women, the ancient custom of bride kidnapping, levirate marriage, whispers of warrior women, and Marco Polo doing kung-fu in China.
Bruce Greyson is a Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Neuro-behavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia, who has studied near-death experiences for more than 45 years and is one of the world’s leading experts on their science and significance. He is the author of After: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal about Life and Beyond, co-author of Irreducible Mind and co-editor of The Handbook of Near-Death Experiences. We talk about his research on near-death experiences, science defying survivor testimonies, the prospect of the afterlife and scepticism.
Tariq Ali is a writer, filmmaker and a leading figure of the international left since the 60s. He is a long-standing editor of the New Left Review and a political commentator published on every continent. His books include The Clash of Fundamentalisms, The Obama Syndrome and the latest, Winston Churchill: His Times, His Crimes, which we discuss in this episode.
We also talk about Churchill's racist views, support of British Imperialism, World War 2, Class Warfare and his role in The Bengal Famine.
During one of the most dramatic summers in recent memory, filled with record breaking temperatures, devastating wildfires and destructive floods, a bombshell report released by the IISD exposed the fact that our governments are pumping RECORD amounts of money into big oil...
I talk to one of the reports' authors, Tara Laan, to figure out WHY.
We also discuss climate anxiety, the relationship between pollution and health, climate summits, COP28 and climate activism.
Professor Avi Loeb is a former Chair of the astronomy department at Harvard University, founding director of Harvard's Black Hole Initiative and director of the Institute for Theory and Computation at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He is also the head of the Galileo Project - the Systematic Scientific Search for Evidence of Extraterrestrial Technological Artifacts. We talk about the US government's "secret retrieval program" testimony by David Grusch, UFO and UAP sightings, the search for Alien Civilisations, space trash from possible neighbours.... and Professor Loeb's hunt for interstellar objects in the Pacific Ocean.
Stanley Stepanic is an Assistant Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Virginia. To date he has published three textbooks that have been released in recent editions - these are "Dracula or the Timeless Path of the Vampire," "Russian and East European Film", and "Russian Folklore". In addition to such publications, Professor Stepanic has been very active in the public sphere, giving a variety of presentations, primarily concerning the VAMPIRE.
We talk about vampire origins, Count Dracula, the Blood Countess, Nosferatu, symbolism, vampire incarnations in pop culture and... Morbius.
Stuart Vyse is a behavioral scientist and writer with a PhD in psychology and BA and MA degrees in English Literature. He's a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, as well as a contributing editor for the Skeptical Inquirer magazine. His first book, Believing in Magic: The Psychology of Superstition won the William James Book Award of the American Psychological Association. In 2020 he wrote a book called Superstition, published by Oxford press - who also released his latest book, The Uses of Delusion: Why It’s Not Always Rational to be Rational. We talk about black cats, Friday the 13th, Zodiac, delusions, the futility of Twitter debates and my addiction to fortune telling.
Professor Patrick McNamara has over 15 years of experience working directly on the problem of the nature and function of dreaming. He has been the recipient of grant awards from the National Institutes of Health, to further study sleep and was awarded the Ph.D. in Behavioral Neuroscience from Boston University. He did a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Aphasia Research Center, Boston VA Medical Center. He has published over 50 scientific papers as well as several books on the neuroscience of dreams. We talk about the neuroscience and evolution of dreaming, but also about REM sleep, the function of nightmares, demonic possession dreams, sleep paralysis, lucid dreaming and dreams within dreams.
Mike Rothschild is a journalist and author, focused on the intersections between internet culture and politics as seen through the dark glass of conspiracy theories. Since 2018, he has specialized in examining the QAnon conspiracy cult and is one of the first journalists to reveal its connections to past conspiracy theories. He is the author of the seminal work on QAnon, "The Storm Is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, Cult, and Conspiracy Theory of Everything.""We talk about QAnon's humble beginnings, it's meteoric rise and it's status after the 2020 presidential election... We also discuss conspiracy theories in general, as well as Bill Gates, the Reptoids, JFK, the attempted coup in Germany, the pervasive underlying thread of anti-Semitism, and of course, the infamous "Mattress Conspiracy."
Agustín Fuentes is a professor of anthropology at Princeton University. His research focuses on the biosocial, delving into the entanglement of biological systems with the social and cultural lives of humans, our ancestors, and a few of the other animals with whom humanity shares close relations.He has written many books, but we mostly discuss his latest one, which is called "Why we believe: Evolution and the Human Way of Being;" in it Professor Fuentes examines our capacity to believe.We also talk about the effects our minds have on our bodies and health, the genesis of our belief systems, the importance of travelling and education, and the enormous influence of figures, such as Joe Rogan, on public opinion.
Anil Seth is a professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, where he is also Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science. His latest book Being You: A New Science of Consciousness, is a Sunday Times Top 10 Bestseller, a New Statesman Book of the Year, an Economist Book of the Year and a Guardian Science Book of the Year. His TED talk on consciousness has more than 13 million views and is one of TED’s most popular science talks. We talk about ChatGPT, the possibility of conscious machines, the illusory nature of reality and our ability to perceive it, as well as about his research on (human) consciousness as a controlled hallucination.
Bill Schutt is Professor Emeritus of biology at LIU Post and a research associate at the American Museum of Natural History. He is the author of Dark Banquet: Blood and The Curious Lives of the Blood-Feeding Creatures and Pump: A Natural History of the Heart, which is his latest book. In 2017 he published an astonishing book called Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History, which is what we discuss in this episode... We also talk about cannibalism's rise in contemporary Hollywood, Christopher Columbus, 2Pac and Keith Richards.Oh, and we can't get past the time Professor Schutt ate a woman's placenta while doing research for his book.
Dr. Lisa Sugiura is a Reader in Cybercrime and Gender at the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Portsmouth, Themes Strategic Innovation Fellow and the Deputy Director of the Cybercrime Awareness Clinic. Her research focuses on online deviance, and technology facilitated gender-based abuse and sexual violence. She has published on topics including the online pharmaceutical trade, online research ethics, and rape culture online. She is the author of the books: Respectable deviance and The incel rebellion: the rise of the manosphere and the virtual war against women.
We talk about the Andrew Tate "phenomenon", different Manosphere groups, the Red and Black pill concepts, Incels and the dangers of (self-)indoctrination.
Professor Chris Stringer has worked at The Natural History Museum London since 1973. He is now Research Leader in Human Origins and a Fellow of the Royal Society, and is also a Visiting Professor at Royal Holloway and UCL. His early research was on the relationship of Neanderthals and early modern humans in Europe, but through his work on the 'Recent African Origin' theory of modern human origins, he now collaborates with archaeologists and geneticists in attempting to reconstruct the evolution of modern humans globally. His recent books include The Complete World of Human Evolution, The Origin of Our Species and Britain: One Million Years of the Human Story.
We talk about Human Evolution, the prehistoric world we shared with other Hominins, the demise of the Neanderthals, my big nose and Ozzy Osbourne's DNA.
The Partial Historians is a renowned podcast about ancient Roman history, hosted by historians dr. Fiona Radford and dr. Peta Greenfield, who discuss, spar, and laugh their way through different aspects of the Roman world...
We talk about the first Roman Emperor's scandalous daughter, Julia the Elder, but also about sassy Roman parties, unforgivable affairs and the endless cycle of the struggle for power.
Edward Slingerland is Distinguished University Scholar and Professor of Philosophy at the University of British Columbia, where he also holds appointments in the Departments of Psychology and Asian Studies. He is an expert on early Chinese thought, comparative religion and digital humanities. Besides numerous academic books, translations and edited volumes, Professor Slingerland is the author of the best-selling book "Drunk - How we sipped, Danced and stumbled our Way to Civilization", which explores the evolutionary and civilizational importance of alcohol.
We talk about why humans love to get sloshed, "beer goggles," the beer over bread hypothesis, different drinking culture(s), the depiction of booze in books and film, and much more...
Toby Jones has just finished his PhD at Leiden University in the Netherlands, where he is also teaching. His work focuses on the irruption of the Mongols onto the larger world scene focusing on their invasion of the Persianate world. The topic of his research is ‘Loyalty in the Turco-Mongol World' - through it he considers the Mongol invasions and their impact on the cultures around them.
We talk about Chinggis Khan, Mongol feasts, Conquest, Ruthlessness, their Sense of Humour and the Role of Women in Mongol Society... as well as a very unlikely, Medieval James Bond.
Bill McGuire is a Professor Emeritus of Geophysical and Climate Hazards at University College London, a co-director of the New Weather Institute and was a contributor to the 2012 IPCC report on climate change and extreme events.
His books include A Guide to the End of the World: Everything you Never Wanted to Know and Waking the Giant: How a Changing Climate Triggers Earthquakes, Tsunamis and Volcanoes. In his latest book Hothouse Earth: an Inhabitant’s Guide, Professor McGuire explains the science behind the climate crisis and presents an honest picture of the world we’re going to leave to our kids and grandkids…
We talk about the unknown dangers of Climate Breakdown, the Planet's Tipping Points, Denialism, COP27, Doomerism and a possible way out of the mess we've created.
Mostafa Minawi is an associate professor of history at Cornell University and the director of the Critical Ottoman and Post-ottoman studies. He is the author of "The Ottoman Scramble for Africa: Empire and Diplomacy in the Sahara and the Hijaz", as well as the very recent "Losing Istanbul: Arab-Ottoman Imperialists and the End of Empire". His short video ‘The rise of the Ottoman Empire’ he made with TED-Ed has almost a million views on Youtube and is just the coolest introduction into the history of the Ottoman Empire.
We talk about the founding dream of Osman I, the Janissaries, the power of the Imperial Harems and the Golden Age of Istanbul.
Prof. Massimo Pigliucci has a PhD in Evolutionary Biology from the University of Connecticut and a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Tennessee. He is the K.D. Irani Professor of Philosophy at the City College of New York. His research interests include the philosophy of science, the nature of pseudoscience, and practical philosophies like Stoicism and New Skepticism. He is the author or editor of 16 books, including the best selling How to Be A Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life.
In this episode we discuss how philosophy can help us lead better lives, the importance of virtues and his latest book, The Quest for Character: What the Story of Socrates and Alcibiades Teaches Us about Our Search for Good Leaders
Dr. Mathias Nordvig is a visiting assistant professor of Nordic and Arctic studies at the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures at University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder). He teaches subjects on Viking history, Nordic mythology, folklore, Arctic culture and society, and Danish language. Dr. Nordvig earned his PhD in Nordic mythology in 2014 at Aarhus University in Denmark, his native country...
In this episode, we talk about persistent stereotypes we have about the Vikings, the (in)accuracy of their portrayal on film and TV, and of course, about the easiest way to piss of your average Viking when sitting next to one.
Dr. Peter Struck is Professor and Chair of the Department of Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He received his A.B. at the University of Michigan and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. His primary research interests are in the history of ideas about the construction of meaning, with specialties in myth, literary criticism, and divination.
His book Birth of the Symbol: Ancient Readers at the Limits of Their Texts won the C. J. Goodwin Award from the American Philological Association for best book in Classical Studies.
We discuss the nature and functions of Myths, the dysfunctionality of the celestial Olympian family and of course Xena, the warrior princess.
Dr. Delfi I. Nieto-Isabel is a Scholar and Historian who holds a Bachelor's degree in Physics, a BA in History and a PhD in Medieval Cultures from the University of Barcelona. She has been awarded a Marie Curie Individual Fellowship to carry out her research project ILLITTERATAE at Queen Mary University of London.
We talk about Women's Spirituality, Mysticism, the Inquisition and the accusations of Witchcraft in the Middle Ages.
Dr. John Aberth is a medieval historian, author and professor. He received his M.A. in Medieval Studies from the University of Leeds in England and his Ph.D. in Medieval History from the University of Cambridge. Professor Aberth is the author of ten books on Medieval History, focusing mostly on the Black Death of the late Middle Ages.
In this episode we talk about the origins of the bubonic plague, the devastation it caused during the Middle ages, the many unsuccessful ways it was treated, and also about its similarities to the epidemic of our time, Covid-19.
Dr Jonathan Mijs is a Dutch sociologist who earned his Ph.D at Harvard University and is currently teaching at Boston University. His research describes the beliefs people hold about economic inequality, its causes and political consequences. It especially highlights the process through which citizens - especially young ones - learn about inequality and come to make sense of poverty and wealth.
His works have been featured in The Guardian, The Washington Post, Financial Times, Harvard Business Review, The Independent and a myriad of scientific journals.
In this episode we're trying to dissect the many reasons why it's so hard for us to believe that inequality is mostly undeserved, and what we can do about that.
Dr. Julia Rucklidge is a Professor of Clinical Psychology in the School of Psychology, Speech and Hearing at the University of Canterbury and the Director of Te Puna Toiora, the Mental Health and Nutrition Research Lab.
Her TEDx talk, ’The surprisingly dramatic role of nutrition in mental health’ has been viewed over 4 million times, and she recently co-authored a book, The Better Brain: Overcome Anxiety, Combat Depression, and Reduce ADHD and Stress with Nutrition, which was released in 2021.
This is a conversation about the "mental health epidemic" of our day, as well as about the connection between nutrition and mental health.
We also discuss the best ways to start eating (and feeling) better.