Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that is some level of genius. It also helps that it's a long time ago, right?

It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream van plays music

when it's out of ice cream.

Listen to evil genius on BBC Sounds.

Hello, I'm Shahid Abari, and welcome to the Arts and Ideas podcast for BBC Radio 3.

This is the BBC.

Hello.

And hello. Welcome to the show.

Before we start, you might like to take a moment to straighten your tie,

smooth down your hair or, let's be realistic here, brush off the crumbs from your pajamas this evening's

program is about selfies and self-consciousness narcissism and navel-gazing disney had the right

idea in 1937 slave in the magic mirror come from the father's space. Through wind and darkness, I summon

thee. Speak. Let me see thy face. What wouldst thou know, my queen? Magic mirror on the wall.

Who is the fairest one of all?

Alas, the evil queen from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

wasn't even the most self-obsessed of them all.

Narcissus beat her to it some 2,000 years earlier

when he fell in love with his own reflection.

But the idea of narcissism seems all around us at the moment in talk of political bubbles,

social media echo chambers, and in the very possibility of Googling yourself.

But is this a fair depiction of the times?

Are we really more narcissistic now than we've ever been?

...