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Physical Attraction

Thomas

Physical Attraction is the show that explores topics in science, technology, and the future - from a physicist's perspective. From the birth of stars to the end of the world, from interviews with experts to meticulously-researched deep dives, we'll explore the topics that shape our world.

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  • 247 episodes
  • Updated Mar 9, 2022

Episodes247

Newest first
  • Mar 16, 2021 · 1 hr 20 min

    The Glass Half-Empty: Debunking "New Optimism", with Rodrigo Aguilera: Part II

    This week, we have a guest on the show - Rodrigo Aguilera. Specifically, we're talking to him about his book "The Glass Half-Empty: Debunking the Myth of Progress in the 21st Century". We shouldn't be happy with a narrow and limited definition of "progress" when we have the capacity to achieve so much more. But if we want to see things like the elimination of poverty, the application of human ingenuity and compassion and rationality and empathy towards solving the problems that exist in the world - this must begin with an accurate assessment of where we actually are, right now; what has led to progress in the past; and how we can get further in the future. You're about to hear the second part of the interview, where we will dig into the flaws associated with "New Optimism" in more detail, and at the end we have a discussion about how we might hope to make the glass a little bit fuller in the future.

  • Mar 13, 2021 · 39 min

    Thermonuclear Takes: Greensill Collapses and Uber in Court

    Listeners to our series on Softbank Vision Fund will be interested - albeit perhaps not surprised - to hear that one of its major investments, Greensill Capital, which we covered in the episode "The Next Financial Crisis", has imploded dramatically. We discuss it - and a new court ruling on another Softbank darling, Uber - in this Thermonuclear Takes episode.

  • Mar 8, 2021 · 1 hr 2 min

    The Glass Half-Empty: Debunking "New Optimism", with Rodrigo Aguilera - Part I

    This week, we have a guest on the show - Rodrigo Aguilera. Rodrigo is an economist - born in Mexico, lives in London, and his writing has appeared all over the place in various forms over the years. Specifically, we're talking to him about his book "The Glass Half-Empty: Debunking the Myth of Progress in the 21st Century". Now; this may sound like a rather gloomy take to pick, but the point that he is making is essentially that we shouldn't be happy with a narrow and limited definition of "progress" when we have the capacity to achieve so much more. But, of course, if we genuinely do want to see progress: if we want to see things like the elimination of poverty, the application of human ingenuity and compassion and rationality and empathy towards solving the problems that exist in the world - if, in other words, we actually want things to get better, rather than just complacently gesturing at lines on graphs which tell us things are getting better - this must begin with an accurate assessment of where we actually are, right now; what has led to progress in the past; and how we can get further in the future. Rodrigo was incredibly generous with his time, and so I've split the resulting interview into two parts: you're about to hear the first one, where we will talk about what the "New Optimism" theory is; I hope you enjoy it.

  • Mar 2, 2021 · 19 min

    Graphene and the world of 2-D materials

    From the discovery of graphene to the invention of Van Der Waals heterostructures, this episode explores the potential and possibilities surrounding 2D materials - and how a particular twist between layers of graphene could unlock a playground of superconductivity.

  • Feb 25, 2021 · 44 min

    Short-Circuiting the Meaning of Life (II)

    In the concluding part of this mini-series on technological implications for being human, we discuss the idea that humans will manipulate their psychology to "short-circuit" the meaning of life - and whether there's anything wrong with doing that.

  • Feb 22, 2021 · 53 min

    Short-Circuiting the Meaning of Life (I)

    In this experimental, unusual, and wildly speculative episode, we'll discuss philosophy, and the implications of the imagined techno-future for the unanswerable questions that have been with us since the dawn of consciousness.

  • Feb 16, 2021 · 1 hr 17 min

    The Democratic Challenge of Climate Change, with Professor Rebecca Willis

    I sat down with Professor Rebecca Willis, author of the new book Too Hot To Handle, about the democratic challenge of climate change, how politicians deal with climate issues, the Climate Assembly here in the UK, and the ten-point plan for effective climate policy.

  • Feb 1, 2021 · 1 hr 13 min

    The Appallingly Bad Neoclassical Economics of Climate Change, with Professor Steve Keen

    This episode, we have a guest on the show that I'm very excited about. Professor Steve Keen is an economist and author who has been a longstanding critic of neoclassical economics, which has included writing the bestselling Debunking Economics book and hosting the podcast of the same name, as well as developing several alternative models of the macroeconomy. In recent years, he has turned his attention to how neoclassical economics has tried to deal with the issue of climate change... and, well, the fact that his paper is called "The appallingly bad neoclassical economics of climate change" probably tells you something of how he has responded to it. I was lucky enough to detain him for quite a while, so I've split the interview into two parts. They complement each other, but they can be listened to independently, depending on what you're interested in. The second part dives deep into the critique of the neoclassical economics of climate change: specifically, how economists have consistently been overconfident in their projections of climate damages and arguably helped lead us towards weak climate policies, and how we might hope to change this in the future. I think this is an incredibly important message and subject to discuss and debate, because unfortunately this stuff has been extremely influential - to the point where one of the main culprits has the so-called Nobel Prize in Economics - so I really urge everyone to listen to that. Thank you for listening to this episode of Physical Attraction, and thank you to Steve Keen for being so generous with his time and agreeing to be interviewed. You can find Steve on Patreon at www.patreon.com/ProfSteveKeen where you will have access to a good number of podcasts and posts on economics for free, and where you can subscribe for further access to more shows. He's also on Twitter @ProfSteveKeen where you can keep up with the latest news on this work. You can find us online at physicspodcast.com. There, you'll find the episode guide on the About page, where you can find all of the episodes we've done on subjects ranging from the birth of stars to the end of the world, and the episodes in the ongoing Climate 201 series which talk about the science, economics, and policy of climate change in much, much greater depth. There you can also get in touch with me with any comments, questions or concerns you might have through the contact form, and you'll also find links to support the show on Paypal for a one-time donation or Patreon for longer-term subscriptions. Thanks very much to everyone who has done that already. Until next time then, please do - take care.

  • Jan 26, 2021 · 1 hr 4 min

    Debunking Economics, with Professor Steve Keen

    This episode, we have a guest on the show that I'm very excited about. Professor Steve Keen is an economist and author who has been a longstanding critic of neoclassical economics, which has included writing the bestselling Debunking Economics book and hosting the podcast of the same name, as well as developing several alternative models of the macroeconomy. In recent years, he has turned his attention to how neoclassical economics has tried to deal with the issue of climate change... and, well, the fact that his paper is called "The appallingly bad neoclassical economics of climate change" probably tells you something of how he has responded to it. I was lucky enough to detain him for quite a while, so I've split the interview into two parts. They complement each other, but they can be listened to independently, depending on what you're interested in. The first part deals with Professor Keen's background, his critique of neoclassical economics, the parallels - and differences - between economics and physics, and a little about financial crises and possible steps we could take to deal with the economic fallout of COVID-19. The second part dives deep into the critique of the neoclassical economics of climate change: specifically, how economists have consistently been overconfident in their projections of climate damages and arguably helped lead us towards weak climate policies, and how we might hope to change this in the future. I think this is an incredibly important message and subject to discuss and debate, because unfortunately this stuff has been extremely influential - to the point where one of the main culprits has the so-called Nobel Prize in Economics - so I really urge everyone to listen to that. Thank you for listening to this episode of Physical Attraction, and thank you to Steve Keen for being so generous with his time and agreeing to be interviewed. You can find Steve on Patreon at www.patreon.com/ProfSteveKeen where you will have access to a good number of podcasts and posts on economics for free, and where you can subscribe for further access to more shows. He's also on Twitter @ProfSteveKeen where you can keep up with the latest news on this work. You can find us online at physicspodcast.com. There, you'll find the episode guide on the About page, where you can find all of the episodes we've done on subjects ranging from the birth of stars to the end of the world, and the episodes in the ongoing Climate 201 series which talk about the science, economics, and policy of climate change in much, much greater depth. There you can also get in touch with me with any comments, questions or concerns you might have through the contact form, and you'll also find links to support the show on Paypal for a one-time donation or Patreon for longer-term subscriptions. Thanks very much to everyone who has done that already. Until next time then, please do - take care.

  • Jan 19, 2021 · 36 min

    Climate 201: Project Drawdown's Solutions, Part I

    In this Climate 201 episode, we look at some of the climate change mitigation solutions proposed by Project Drawdown, in an effort to be more quantiative about what needs to be done to address our greenhouse gas emissions.

  • Jan 12, 2021 · 29 min

    Climate 201: What Drives Global CO2 Emissions?

    In this episode, we discuss the Kaya decomposition - splitting CO2 emissions into CO2/energy, Energy/GDP, GDP/person, and population. We'll talk about its usefulness and limitations in tracking what drives carbon emissions.

  • Jan 7, 2021 · 1 hr 5 min

    Climate Conversations: How the Tech/IT Sector Should (+ Shouldn't) Address Climate Change, with Paul D Johnston

    I sat down with Paul Johnston (@PaulDJohnston), cloud computing expert and tech/climate scholar, to talk about how the tech sector should tackle climate change, as well as his experiences discussing climate change with businesses and helping to run a community energy company. => How should technology companies approach climate change? => Can we trust the pledges made by big tech companies?

  • Jan 1, 2021 · 1 hr 7 min

    Lord Martin Rees on Catastrophe, Cosmology, and the Future

    Sometimes in this game you get to do an interview where you genuinely can say: "the person I'm about to interview needs no introduction." This is one of those occasions. But if I were to do that, it would wreck the fun of getting to introduce the interview, and why would I deprive myself of that? So, this episode, we are interviewing Lord Martin Rees. Martin Rees is one of the foremost cosmologists and astrophysicists of our time. He was made the Astronomer Royal in 1995, has been Master of Trinity College Cambridge, and President of the Royal Society. He has written more than 500 research papers across various areas of astrophysics and cosmology, including contributions to the origin of the cosmic microwave background radiation, the final proofs of the Big Bang theory, quasars, and gamma ray bursts. In the latter part of his career, he has been an immensely influential populariser of science, writing books on Cosmology such as Just Six Numbers and Our Cosmic Habitat. And he has also devoted himself to considering grand problems of the future of humanity and the existential risks that we face: his book, Our Final Century, helped to kick off the field of existential risk studies, and he co-founded the Centre for the Study of Existential Risks at the University of Cambridge in 2012. It is no exaggeration to say that a great many of the ideas that we've discussed on this show - and my own personal inspiration to study physics in the first place - owes to the work of Lord Rees, both in discovering much of the science in the first place and then again in popularising and explaining the ideas so wonderfully. I was extremely grateful that he was willing to be so generous with his time and respond to such a large range of my questions. Our interview touches on existential risks, the current pandemic, extraterrestrial life, cosmology in general, and the nature of fundamental physics.

  • Dec 21, 2020 · 1 hr

    Thermonuclear Takes: Uber, Boston Dynamics, Income Inequality, Climate Change

    A bumper episode with a crop of interesting news stories to round out the year: -> Uber sells its self-driving car section, and Softbank sells robot company Boston Dynamics. What can we infer from these moves about the state of the tech sector? -> Reports show income inequality rising since 1975 has resulted in $47 trillion additional income accruing to the top 10%, and that trickle-down economics doesn't work as intended -> Global emissions fall by 7% this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic: could we do this with a positive shift to decarbonisation? And a new study suggests that the land sink of CO2 may be weakening. Take a listen!

  • Dec 16, 2020 · 51 min

    Climate 201: What Is A Climate Scenario? (RCP)

    In this episode of Climate 201, we deconstruct the jargon around climate scenarios. What's the difference between RCP2.6 and RCP8.5? What purpose do the scenarios serve? How should we think about them?

  • Dec 10, 2020 · 52 min

    Subprime Attention Crisis: The Time Bomb at the Heart of the Internet, with Tim Hwang

    This week, taking a break from climate, we have a special guest on the show - Tim Hwang. Tim Hwang is a writer and researcher, and he's the author of Subprime Attention Crisis, a book about how online advertising may have become a bubble. He is currently a research fellow at the Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET) at Georgetown University. He is the former director of the Harvard-MIT Ethics and Governance of AI Initiative, $26M philanthropic fund and research effort working to advance the development of machine learning in the public interest. He previously served as the global public policy lead for artificial intelligence and machine learning at Google. We had a fascinating conversation that starts with a little word on deepfakes and misinformation, and then gets into the heart of the Subprime Attention Crisis thesis - is online advertising a bubble, and, if so, what does that mean for the internet that depends on it so much? I hope you enjoy.

  • Dec 3, 2020 · 48 min

    Climate 201: Carbon Budgets

    We explore what is meant by a "carbon budget", how and why we can determine how much CO2 is left to emit before we cross a given temperature threshold, as well as disputes in how to define these budgets and use them politically... and why the world isn't going to end in twelve years.