297 | Emily Wilson on Homer, Poetry, and Translation
Not too long ago, Brad Pitt and Eric Bana starred in a (loose) adaptation of Homer’s epic poem The Iliad; […]
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Literature
254 | William Egginton on Kant, Heisenberg, and Borges
It can be tempting, when first introduced to a deep concept of physics like Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, to draw grand
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142 | Charlie Jane Anders on Stories and How to Write Them
Telling a story seems like the most natural, human thing in the world. We all do it, all the time.
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135 | Shadi Bartsch on Plato, Vergil, Confucius, and Modernity
In our postmodern world, studying the classics of ancient Greece and Rome can seem quaint at best, downright repressive at
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124 | Solo: How Time Travel Could and Should Work
Time! It doesn’t stop, psychological effects of being under lockdown notwithstanding. How we experience time depends on our situation, but
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74 | Stephen Greenblatt on Stories, History, and Cultural Poetics
An infinite number of things happen; we bring structure and meaning to the world by making art and telling stories
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58 | Seth MacFarlane on Using Science Fiction to Explore Humanity
Fiction shines a light on the human condition by putting people into imaginary situations and envisioning what might happen. Science
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Episode 40: Adrienne Mayor on Gods and Robots in Ancient Mythology
The modern world is full of technology, and also with anxiety about technology. We worry about robot uprisings and artificial
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Episode 27: Janna Levin on Black Holes, Chaos, and the Narrative of Science
It’s a big universe out there, full of an astonishing variety of questions and puzzles. Today’s guest, Janna Levin, is
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Episode 17: Annalee Newitz on Science, Fiction, Economics, and Neurosis
The job of science fiction isn’t to predict the future; it’s to tell interesting stories in an imaginative setting, exploring
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