Social Science Talks Science Fiction » Podcasts: Recent Episodes
Social Science Talks: Science Fiction
A podcast in which social scientists, philosophers and researchers discuss the themes and works of science fiction.
‘In the grim darkness of the far future…’ This month, we try and take on the Warhammer universe by reading the Eisenhorn Trilogy, by Dan Abnett. Does knowledge require […]
‘It was a bright cold morning in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen…’ After much pressure, and the election of Donald Trump, we finally get round to covering 1984 […]
“I stopped believing there was a power of good and a power of evil that were outside us. And I came to believe that good and evil are names for […]
The Babylon Project was a dream given form… It’s a new year, and carrying through on a resolution that we’ve had since we started the podcast, we got together to […]
So long, and thanks for all the fish! As we wind down for Christmas, we crank up the improbability drive to a level where it produces, fully formed, and episode […]
“We were the people who were not in the papers. We lived in the blank white spaces at the edges of print. It gave us more freedom. We lived in […]
Following the 50th Anniversary and the recent film Star Trek: Beyond, we sit down at Social Sci-Fi towers to discuss what we love and hate about the Star Trek franchise. […]
“The Fremen were supreme in that quality the ancients called “spannungsbogen” — which is the self-imposed delay between desire for a thing and the act of reaching out to grasp […]
It’s conference season once again, and Matthew got the long train to Edinburgh in order to talk to Professor Penny Fielding about spies and genre fiction. It’s a great follow up […]
After a film night at Social Science Towers, Alex, Matt, Jess and Bleddyn discuss the beginning of the large-scale disaster film, Independence Day. Join us as we discuss 90s pop […]
“We did not ask if he had seen any monsters, for monsters have ceased to be news. There is never any shortage of horrible creatures who prey on human beings, […]
“Word spread because word will spread. Stories and secrets fight, stories win, shed new secrets, which new stories fight, and on.” This month we discuss Embassytown, by China Miéville. […]
What would you do if your actions would change the course of history? Lydia, Charlotte, Sorana and Jess take the spotlight on the podcast this month in this episode, recorded […]
Common misconception that; that fun is relaxing. If it is, you’re not doing it right. Would you like to play a game? This month, we read the Player of Games, […]
We are all susceptible to the pull of viral ideas. Like mass hysteria. Or a tune that gets into your head that you keep humming all day until you spread […]
I have told my sons that they are not under any circumstances to take part in massacres, and that the news of massacres of enemies is not to fill them […]
It’s been a rough month here at Social Science Towers, and we were unable to record a new episode. Luckily for you, we have an interview with friend of the […]
“No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man’s and yet as […]
Never compromise. Not even in the face of Armageddon. That’s always been the difference between us, Daniel. Today, we deal with Watchmen, because Matt had the bright idea of doing […]
It’s conference season, and we dispatched our one-man-army Matt to interview a series of scholars studying science fiction at the British International Studies Association 2015 conference in London. This time […]
I have thus endeavoured to preserve the truth of the elementary principles of human nature, while I have not scrupled to innovate upon their combinations. Today we discuss Mary Shelley’s […]
Even if this is something that isn’t saying ‘this is how you need to change your thinking about international politics’, it gives you a place to stand to begin to […]
Come on you apes, do you want to live forever? Continuing his march through the hostile environment of BISA 2015, Matt tracks down Malte Riemann, Senior Lecturer at Sandhurst to […]
The biggest power a superhero has is to go beyond their society. It’s conference season, and we dispatched our one-man-army Matt to interview a series of scholars studying science fiction […]
We talk Agent Carter today, a recent TV spin-off of Captain America that has made waves for making feminist science fiction possible in a commercial setting. Spies, explosions and fabulous […]
In this episode, the discussion from Social SciFi Towers turns to Max Brooks’ World War Z, as well as Dan Drezner’s Theories of International Politics and Zombies. Why is it […]
The Social Science Talks team discusses Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? today, as well as the film adaptation, Blade Runner. While the film is well known for setting the […]
“Students will say ‘I don’t know whether I’m reading a novel or a piece of theory.’ And I’ll say ‘Exactly, that’s the point.” We caught Patrick Thaddeus Jackson as he […]
In this episode, we discuss Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley. What would society look like if we considered order the highest value to strive for? Treading the line between […]
In this episode, we talk about The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. Le Guin. In laying out two societies, one anarchist and poor, the other capitalist and opulent, Le Guin’s novel […]
Today we’re discussing Neuromancer by William Gibson. Published in 1984, the novel follows the activities of the hacker Case and his associates as they work for a shell company run […]