Fear: An Alternative History of the World

Intelligence Squared

Arts, News, Society & Culture, News Commentary

4.2 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 16 October 2023

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Anyone who follows the news cycle knows that between conflict and pandemics, the looming threat of the climate crisis, powerful AI and not to mention political scaremongering and moral panics, we’re never short of things to feel fearful of. Cultural historian Robert Peckham's recent book is: Fear: An Alternative History of the World. In it, he argues that fear is one of the main driving forces of human history, while also tracing the politics of fear from the outbreak of bubonic plague in the 14th century to the covid-19 pandemic today. Peckham was previously Professor of History and MB Lee Endowed Professor in the Humanities and Medicine at the University of Hong Kong. He’s also the founder of Open Cube, an organisation that promotes the integration of the arts, science, and technology for health. Joining him in conversation is Sophie McBain, associate editor of the New Statesman, and an award-winning writer whose work often focuses on the intersection where fields such as psychology, science and society’s less explored narratives meet. We’d love to hear your feedback and what you think we should talk about next. Send us an email or voice note with your thoughts to [email protected] or Tweet us @intelligence2. And while you’re listening, why not visit Intelligencesquared.com and sign up to our newsletter to be the first to hear about some of our great upcoming events and deals. If you’d like to support our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations, as well as ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content, early access and much more, become a supporter of Intelligence Squared. Just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello, I'm Rory Stewart, and I'd like to tell you about an intelligent squared event
0:04.8	I'm doing with the classicist author and broadcaster Mary Beard. Together we'll be discussing
0:10.1	politics and power from the Caesars to Sunak, who gets to Winpar, who is excluded. Does power
0:16.6	always corrupt or other examples of leaders who've maintained their integrity while an authority?
0:22.3	And how does the nature of power vary across different times and cultures? These are just some of
0:26.8	the questions that Mary and I will be trying to answer. In person tickets are now sold out,
0:31.7	but you can still watch online on the 13th of November at 7pm BST. Put your questions
0:36.9	to his life as we discuss power and politics down the ages.
0:41.7	Welcome to Intelligent Squared. I'm senior producer Connor Boyle. Coming up on the podcast,
0:46.8	culture of his story, Robert Peckham. He's here to discuss his book Fear and Alternative
0:51.3	History of the World, which looks at some of the more shadowy scarier forces driving major
0:55.6	historical change over the last few centuries. Joining him in conversation is Sophie McBain,
1:00.4	Associate Editor of the New Statesman. Her work focuses on the intersection of psychology,
1:05.0	science and where society's less explored narratives meet. You can listen to this episode out
1:09.3	free and get a lot more member-only content, but becoming a member of Intelligent Squared by
1:13.7	heading over to IntelligentSquared.com slash membership or by subscribing to the channel
1:18.0	on Apple Podcasts. You can also sign up to Intelligent Squared newsletter to find out about events
1:22.9	coming up with the likes of Nick Kay, Rory Stewart, Mary Beard and more. Just sign up for
1:27.3	the link in the episode description. But now let's join Robert Peckham and Sophie McBain with more.
1:32.4	Anyone who follows a news cycle knows that between conflict and pandemics,
1:37.1	the looming threat of climate change and ultra-powerful AI, not to mention political
1:42.2	scare-mongering and moral panics, we're never sure of things to feel fearful of.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Intelligence Squared, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Intelligence Squared and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.