Can We Live Our Whole Lives Online?
Teach Me A Lesson with Greg James and Bella Mackie
BBC
4.8 • 957 Ratings
🗓️ 24 October 2022
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
IT teacher Mr Kolawole teaches his favourite lesson to Greg and Bella – after 18 months of WFH, home learning and video calls – could we ever live our whole lives online?
He starts by looking at our current internet and social media usage, encouraging Greg and Bella to bare all when it comes to their own screen time figures. He then discusses Dunbar's Number - the idea that humans only have the capacity for a certain number of real life connections - and how the internet might be a brilliant way of finding your own tribe. They'll discuss the potential of the Metaverse and the experiences that could be possible there. To end the lesson, he introduces Greg and Bella to a thought experiment put forward by philosopher Robert Nozick in the 1970s called The Pleasure Machine, to find out what they would make of a world where we get everything our hearts desire, without question. Is this a healthy way to live?
Bad students of all ages are welcome. Expect brilliant teachers, captivating subjects but absolutely no homework.
Get in touch with the podcast - email us at teachme@bbc.co.uk
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | How many people who have been on the FBI's most wanted list? |
| 0:04.6 | I've ever sat down for a podcast with the BBC. |
| 0:08.7 | For over a decade, a pair of mug shots have lived side by side on the FBI's website. |
| 0:14.7 | These individuals are considered as terrorists. |
| 0:17.4 | In 2005, they were called the number one domestic terror threat in America. |
| 0:22.6 | Estimates are a quarter billion dollars in damages. |
| 0:25.1 | The cause of their alleged terrorist actions, the environment. |
| 0:29.2 | Our purpose was direct action to disrupt environmental destruction. |
| 0:34.8 | How far is too far to go to stop the planet burning? |
| 0:38.6 | If it's not me, then it's who? |
| 0:40.2 | If it's not now, then it's for end. |
| 0:42.8 | Burn Wild. |
| 0:44.2 | Find us now on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:48.0 | BBC Sounds. |
| 0:49.0 | Music Radio Podcasts. |
| 0:52.0 | By the end of this podcast, we're going to answer the question, can we live our whole lives online? |
| 0:57.6 | I'm Bella Mackie. |
| 0:58.8 | And I'm Craig James. |
| 1:00.0 | Today's lesson is Computer Science. memories, Bella, of the IT room from you, please. |
| 1:06.5 | I will say that I am so... |
| 1:07.5 | Were there computers when you were at school? |
| 1:09.5 | Don't do the joke for me. |
... |
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