iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! Today it’s the 1st in a new series about the weird & wonderful world of transhumanism: the idea that human beings can be transformed by technology and machines. David talks to historian of ideas @duncanbell.bsky.social about where it all began. Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! For the final episode in our series on living in an ageing world David talks to @lyndseystonebri.bsky.social about one of the most interesting and challenging of all writers on the subject of old age – Simone de Beauvoir. Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

BONUS EPISODE OUT NOW! Today’s PPF+ bonus episode is part two of David’s conversation with @samuelmoyn.bsky.social about the growing wealth and power of older generations and what can be done about it. Join PPF+ now: www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! In today’s episode for our series about living in ageing societies, David talks to historian and legal scholar @samuelmoyn.bsky.social about the problem of gerontocracy, aka the rule of the old. Do the young stand a chance any more? Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! Today in our series about longer human lives David talks to the doctor & writer @richardcoker.bsky.social about the meaning of the event that comes for us all in the end: death. Are we finding it harder to talk about and face up to mortality? Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! To start our new series about what it means to live in a world of ageing populations, David talks to geneticist @adamrutherford.bsky.social about the benefits and pitfalls of increasing longevity. Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! Today is the final episode in our series about the relationship between 20th-century biography & philosophy. David talks to Nikhil Krishnan about the life & thought of Iris Murdoch, a deeply philosophical novelist & a fully committed philosopher. Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! In today’s episode about 20th century philosophy and biography David talks to the historian and literary critic @lyndseystonebri.bsky.social about the life and thought of Hannah Arendt. What did it all mean for the human condition? Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! Today in our series about 20th-century philosophy & biography we explore the life & thought of Elizabeth Anscombe, a remarkable & remarkably uncompromising philosopher. David talks to Nikhil Krishnan about her fierce relationship with the truth. Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! In the second part of David’s conversation with historian @robertsaunders.bsky.social about the impact of the Bulgarian crisis of 1876 on the course of British politics, they discuss how Gladstone used the controversy to plot his way back to power. Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! In our occasional series with @robertsaunders.bsky.social about significant political anniversaries, we remember the appearance of a pamphlet 150 years ago that changed the course of British politics. Was this the dawn of a new age of populism? Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

BONUS EPISODE OUT NOW! In today’s PPF+ bonus David talks to philosopher & biographer @philosofemme.bsky.social about the life & thought of Simone de Beauvoir. How was Beauvoir shaped by her childhood & was she a reliable narrator of her own history? Join PPF+ now: www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! In today’s episode exploring how 20th-century philosophy and biography intersect David talks to philosopher and biographer @philosofemme.bsky.social about Jean-Paul Sartre, a thinker whose life has been as closely scrutinised as his ideas. Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! David talks to philosopher and author Nikhil Krishnan about the life and times of a little known but highly influential 20th-century philosopher: J. L. Austin, who believed that the deepest truths lay in understanding how ordinary language worked. Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! In our series about how 20th-century philosophy & biography intersect, David talks to philosopher Alex Carter about the life of Albert Camus, novelist, playwright, journalist, celebrity and public intellectual. What makes him a philosopher as well? Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! The 2nd life in our series about 20th-century philosophers could not be more different from the 1st. David talks to philosopher Alex Carter about Simone Weil, who died at 34 and lived through much political & personal hardship, some self-inflicted. Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! Today we begin a new series exploring 20th-century philosophy through the lives of the people behind the ideas. First up David talks to philosopher Nikhil Krishnan about A.J. Ayer, the man who helped inspire the rise & fall of logical positivism. Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! In today’s episode David talks to forensic anthropologist Sue Black about what happens when forensic science and forensic expertise end up on trial in the courtroom. Can a jury distinguish between good science, bad science and junk science? Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

BONUS EPISODE OUT NOW! In this PPF+ bonus episode David talks to geneticist and science writer @adamrutherford.bsky.social about the pitfalls of genealogy and why we need to be careful about over-interpreting the evidence regarding our ancestry. Join PPF+ now: www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! Today a conversation with neurologist Suzanne O’Sullivan about the problems of living in an age of diagnosis, when all medical conditions need a label. What happens when the classification criteria for conditions get broader and broader? Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! Today’s bad idea is one with a very recent history but also a long backstory: David talks to author & journalist @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social about what happens when the written word gets supplanted by video and when videos get shorter and shorter. Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! Today’s bad idea is a hard one to pin down: David talks to writer & literary scholar Ian Ellison about the concept of decadence, which went from explaining the fall of ancient Rome to becoming a label modern artists wanted to claim for themselves. Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

BONUS EPISODE OUT NOW! In this PPF+ bonus David talks to political historian @dmk1793.bsky.social about an idea of the 1920s & 30s: social credit, meant to usher in an age of abundance & freedom, producing conspiracy theories & crypto-fascism instead. Join PPF+ now: www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! For today’s bad idea David talks to literary critic and memoirist Catherine Taylor about what’s wrong with romantic heroes, from Byron and Heathcliff to James Dean and Jack Kerouac to Bridget Jones’s Mr Darcy and Andy Burnham. Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! Today’s bad idea is one the US has been stuck with for a long time: David talks to historian of America @aipsmith.bsky.social about the damage done by the idea of the electoral college. How has it served to distort or discredit electoral outcomes? Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

BONUS EPISODE OUT NOW! In this PPF+ bonus episode David and philosopher Nikhil Krishnan explore some of the political implications of utilitarianism from its relationship to democracy to its role in justifying colonialism. Join PPF+ now: www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! Today’s ep is about one of the central ideas in modern philosophy: utilitarianism, or the view that what matters is the greatest happiness of the greatest number. David talks to philosopher Nikhil Krishnan. Whose pleasure and pain gets to count? Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! Today a pervasive political myth: the notion that what really matters at election time is political leadership. David talks to political scientist @profjanegreen.bsky.social about why leaders are less important than they – and we – tend to think. Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! David talks to historian & broadcaster @gregjenner.bsky.social about the surprising history of the idea of celebrity, from Roman generals to 18th-century child stars to contemporary pop culture icons. How is celebrity different from fame or renown? Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! Today’s episode is about a bad idea with a very recent history: David talks to political historian @dmk1793.bsky.social about the dangers of deliverism. When did the view that delivering for the voters is a good idea become so controversial? Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

BONUS EPISODE OUT NOW! In this PPF+ bonus episode David discusses what’s wrong with the idea of the news. How does news have its origins in gossip, rumour and travellers’ tales? Why does it put a premium on new information over true information? Join PPF+ now: www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! Today’s bad idea is a way of doing history: David talks to historian Alec Ryrie about the seductions and pitfalls of narrative history. Why do we need more Herodotus and less Thucydides? And how can podcasts do it better? Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! For the 1st in a new set of episodes about bad ideas with interesting histories David talks to the writer and broadcaster @helenlewis.bsky.social about hysteria, an ancient idea that became a very modern diagnosis. Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! In the 2nd part of their conversation about what has happened to our ideas of the future David and Ivan Krastev explore where the future is going next. Why do our expectations of what comes after us shift as we live longer and our societies age? Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! Today’s episode is the first of two with writer and political scientist Ivan Krastev exploring what has happened to our ideas of the future. What goes wrong with democracy when we start to lose our faith in the future? Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! Recorded in front of a live audience, David talks to geneticist & science writer @adamrutherford.bsky.social about Mark Romanek’s 2010 film of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go. A story of cloning & organ donation exploring the meaning of mortality. Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

BONUS EPISODE OUT NOW! Today’s PPF+ bonus is part 2 of David’s conversation with @robertsaunders.bsky.social about the Brexit referendum, exploring the twists & turns of the past decade. Is Britain a more sovereign nation than it was 10 years ago? Join PPF+ now: www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! Today’s episode in our occasional series looking at significant political anniversaries explores the Brexit Referendum, 10 years ago this week. David talks to historian @robertsaunders.bsky.social. Is it too soon to know what it all meant? Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! Today’s episode was recorded at the Cheltenham Science Festival: David talks to Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales about what we can learn from an encyclopaedia built by its users. Are there wider lessons for how we might do democracy differently? Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! Our final great political fiction (for now!) is Laurent Binet’s HHhH (2010) which tells the story of Operation Anthropoid, the mission that led to the assassination of Reinhold Heydrich, the architect of the Final Solution. Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! The penultimate great political fiction in this series is not strictly a fiction: it’s Annie Ernaux’s retelling of her own life in The Years (2008). What does this book tell us about the passing of political time? What comes next? Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! Today’s political fiction is a spy novel, a Cold War comedy and a meditation on the nature of good and evil: Graham Greene’s The Human Factor. Why has Greene so fallen out of fashion? And how did he prefigure the world of Slow Horses? Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

BONUS EPISODE OUT NOW! In today’s PPF+ bonus David asks Luke Kemp, author of Goliath’s Curse, about how Le Guin’s The Dispossessed matches up to his own understanding of the possibility of living without the Leviathan. And who else should we read? Join PPF+ now: www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! Today a path-breaking work of science fiction: David explores Ursula Le Guin’s The Dispossessed (1974), which imagines a world without the need for government or coercive authority. What makes this the most realistic of all utopias? Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! In our 2nd ep about Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook, David talks to critic & memoirist Catherine Taylor about the novel’s place in the history of feminism. Why are the things that shocked its original readers not what shock its readers today? Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! Today David explores Doris Lessing’s bold and brilliant The Golden Notebook (1962), about female emancipation, political disillusionment and much more. Why did Lessing insist that the novel’s original critics misunderstood what the book's about? Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

BONUS EPISODE OUT NOW! In today’s PPF+ bonus episode David explores what makes George Orwell’s 1984 utterly different from and yet eerily similar to Brave New World. What is the book saying about the relationship between past, present and future? Join PPF+ now: www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! 1st in a new set of eps on some of the great political fictions of the past 100 years, David explores Aldous Huxley’s much misunderstood dystopian masterpiece Brave New World (1932). What makes it eerily prophetic of 21st-century consumer culture? Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! Recorded in front of a live audience David talks to the writer and broadcaster Helen Lewis about George Clooney’s Good Night, and Good Luck (2005). A film about the golden age of journalism and the grim years of McCarthyism. Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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