The Economist Radio (All audio)

What is intelligence? In the middle of the 20th century, the inner workings of the human brain inspired computer scientists to build the first “thinking machines”. But how does human intelligence actually relate to the artificial kind?This is the first episode in a four-part series on the evolution of modern generative AI. What were the scientific and technological developments that took the very first, clunky artificial neurons and ended up with the astonishingly powerful large language models that power apps such as ChatGPT?Host: Alok Jha, The Economist’s science and technology editor. Contributors: Ainslie Johnstone, The Economist’s data journalist and science correspondent; Dawood Dassu and Steve Garratt of UK Biobank; Daniel Glaser, a neuroscientist at London’s Institute of Philosophy; Daniela Rus, director of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory; Yoshua Bengio of the University of Montréal, who is known as one of the “godfathers” of modern AI.On Thursday April 4th, we’re hosting

In a result that will surprise few, America is on track to hold a rematch of the 2020 presidential election, with Joe Biden and Donald Trump winning most of the primaries held last night. But will the Republican campaign look different this time? Why shoppers and investors really love Costco (09:36). And which cities are most expensive for Europe’s renters (15:36)?Get a world of insights for 50% off—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+ If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The richer, more urban region does not just differ economically, but politically too. Can Mr Modi tone down the BJP’s Hindu nationalism and gain traction there? The EU has a grand plan to protect its economy from a host of risks, but finding consensus among 27 countries is hard (12:22). And why live music rocks (19:47). Additional music courtesy of PosthumanGet a world of insights for 50% off—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+ If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The international push for a ceasefire in Gaza continues, but the tragedies keep coming; in many ways a resolution still seems as distant as it was early in the war. We consider the temptation to go all in on stocks, given just how flaming-hot the markets are (10:55). And a data-led look into which American cities are the most dog-obsessed (16:13).Get a world of insights for 50% off—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A year on from our series Next Year in Moscow, Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition leader, is dead. Hope for the “beautiful Russia of the future” he imagined from his prison cell in Siberia is all but extinguished. The Economist’s Russia editor Arkady Ostrovsky finds out how Russians who oppose Vladimir Putin’s war are enduring these dark timesGet a world of insights for 50% off—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription.For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A visit to a port of entry at America’s Mexican border reveals the difficulties in stopping the flood of fentanyl—a cheap, potent and ever more deadly drug. Javier Milei, Argentina’s president, is looking to blunt measures to escape an economic morass; our correspondent says he should instead look to Peru’s past (10:43). And remembering Robert Badinter, who killed off France’s guillotine (17:17).Get a world of insights for 50% off—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's been two years since Russia brought war to Ukraine. America, Britain and the European Union may not have intervened by putting boots on the ground—but they have launched a massive financial counteroffensive. Vladimir Putin’s government, his cronies and the businesses profiting from the war are all subject to sanctions, yet the Russian economy has proved remarkably resilient. So, does financial warfare work?Hosts: Mike Bird, Alice Fulwood and Tom Lee-Devlin. Guests: The Economist’s Cerian Richmond Jones; Juan Zarate, the architect of America’s sanctions after the September 11th attacks; and Nicholas Mulder, author of “The Economic Weapon”, which examines the rise of sanctions as a tool of war.Get a world of insights for 50% off—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link

A slew of spycraft mishaps might suggest Russia’s once-great intelligence services have hopelessly decayed. Do not be fooled: the spooks are back, and better. We ask why a “supercycle” commodities boom might not come to pass, even though the conditions are ripe for one (10:04). And the questions raised as football attracts Saudi investment to England’s north-east (15:50).Get a world of insights for 50% off—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Some within China might prefer another Donald Trump presidency while others might favour Joe Biden. On balance, though: from there, neither option looks great. We look at the steps toward the first drug in four decades to treat the debilitating disease of endometriosis (9:28). And as the word podcasting turns 20 we reflect on a medium close to our hearts (17:51). Get a world of insights for 50% off—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The birth rate of unicorns—firms with a valuation north of $1bn—has plummeted, and prior investors in them are eyeing what exits exist. We ask why the species is endangered. The struggle to finance and build homes is contributing to a profound housing crisis in sub-Saharan Africa (08:34). And the return of Parler, a darling social-media platform for America’s far right (17:56).Get a world of insights for 50% off—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After a 20-point primary walloping in South Carolina, the state she governed for eight years, Nikki Haley vowed to fight on against Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination. But why? Seasonal opportunities for natural-gas arbitrage have been juicier during the war in Ukraine—and one good place to store cheap gas between seasons is Ukraine (9:31). And examining America’s cousin-marriage laws (16:05).Get a world of insights for 50% off—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this roundtable discussion our editors examine how the past year has progressed, discuss how things may go over the next year and consider a few fundamentally positive truths about the whole conflict. Meanwhile our senior producer travels through Ukraine, getting a measure of both determination and despondency among soldiers and civilians.Get a world of insights for 50% off—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hardened war-zone doctors say the situation in Gaza is the worst they have witnessed—and that will cost lives long after the current conflict is resolved. Numbers from America’s tight labour market suggest that long-standing gaps between black and white workers are narrowing (09:57). And we speak with the maker of The Economist’s shiny new typeface (18:18).Get a world of insights for 50% off—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dark matter is thought to make up around a quarter of the universe, but so far it has eluded detection by all scientific instruments. Scientists know it must exist because of the ways galaxies move and it also explains the large-scale structure of the modern universe. But no-one knows what dark matter actually is.Scientists have been hunting for dark matter particles for decades, but have so far had no luck. At the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, held recently in Denver, a new generation of researchers presented their latest tools, techniques and ideas to step up the search for this mysterious substance. Will they finally detect the undetectable? Host: Alok Jha, The Economist’s science and technology editor. Contributors: Don Lincoln, senior scientist at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory; Christopher Karwin, a fellow at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center; Josef Aschbacher, boss of the European Space Agency; Michael Murra of Columbia University; Jodi Cooley,

If it succeeds—and that is no sure thing—this week’s soft landing of Odysseus will be the first by a private firm. We examine the prospects and the business models of the Moon rush. Our producer visits Ukraine to mark the anniversary of a revolution that helped to shape today’s conflict (11:22). And the rise and coming fall in entertaining British obituaries (21:25).Get a world of insights for 50% off—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

China’s firms are shedding value at pace and foreign investors are starting to look elsewhere. We ask why faith is fading in a market that once looked unstoppable. Slam poetry, an American invention of the 1980s, is now conquering Francophone Africa (08:54). And why there are ever fewer athletes who excel at more than one sport (17:32).Get a world of insights for 50% off—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At last President Vladimir Putin’s regime has succeeded in silencing the country’s most prominent opposition figure. What happens next? Demand for electric cars is weakening, particularly in Britain; we ask how to recharge the market (11:47). And what is remarkable about a stage production of “The Shawshank Redemption” in China (19:44).Get a world of insights for 50% off—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Alexei Navalny flew back to Russia in 2021 he never made it through passport control. In an excerpt from Next Year in Moscow, The Economist’s series on Russian opposition to the war, today’s episode chronicles this period of his life. It’s an account of what turned out to be the last three years of Navalny’s life - peppered with his own words, and told by people who knew him well. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is not science fiction. Space is already a part of modern warfare and as technology advances, it will be an even more crucial sphere. What will extraterrestrial conflict look like? A look at the latest Democracy Index as conflict continues to dent freedoms across the globe (11:47). And, a tribute to Jack Jennings (23:35)   Get a world of insights for 50% off—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+ If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Prabowo Subianto stormed to victory in the world’s largest single-day election. But critics say his presidency could jeopardise two decades of democratic progress. Nvidia has dominated the global market for AI accelerator chips for years. Could a company about a third of its size come for its crown (10:51)? And, more people are tuning in to watch people get slapped (19:20).Get a world of insights for 50% off—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+ If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.Podcast transcripts are available upon request at podcasts@economist.com. We are committed to improving accessibility even further and are exploring new ways to expand our podcast-transcript offering. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.