Microphilosophy

Can artificial intelligence teach us about what it means to be human? That is the fascinating question behind Brian Christian's recent book, The Most Human Human. In this programme, Julian Baggini is in conversation with Christian, recorded live at the Bristol Festival of Ideas at the Arnolfini Centre earlier this year.

After a hiatus, I'm replacing my Philosophy Monthly podcast with a new series, microphilosophy. Each one will be an interview, talk, discussion or feature, no longer than half an our but usually much shorter. This first edition is an interview with the philosopher and theologian Richard Swinburne, conducted for my new book, The Ego Trick.

Recorded at the 2010 Cheltenham Festival of Literature, this discussion on Utopias features myself; editor of The Faber Book of Utopias, John Carey; and Karen O’Brien, professor of literature at Warwick University.

This skeptical edition features founder of The Skeptic magazine, Wendy Grossman; journalist, broadcaster and writer Simon Hoggart; and psychologist Christine Mohr. Recorded at the Bristol Festival of Ideas to mark the publication of Why Statues Weep, the best from the first twenty years of The Skeptic.

In this edition I talk to philosopher of biology John Dupré and the problems with genes, and the Nobel-prize winning Amartya Sen about the idea of Justice. Plus, guest reporter Antonia Macaro talks to John Heaton about Wittgenstein and therapy.