Podcasts about autocracy now

An announcement regarding the future of the show.  Hi all, So this is just a quick update to explain a little about the podcast, so that I don't just vanish without trace entirely. Autocracy Now! was the first show idea I had, way back at the end of 2016. I'd been a podcast fan for many years, and finally just decided to start podcasting for myself after listening to Mike Duncan of The History of Rome talk about it. Over the next few months, I wrote the first scripts - for Commodus, and then the huge behemoth that became the Stalin scripts, and then finally the scripts for Huey P Long. The Huey Long scripts were finished by the end of the summer of 2017, which means that it's been 18 months since I actually wrote anything for this show. Initially, my physics show - Physical Attraction - was going to be a very quick "test" podcast, before launching the longer-term history show. But I pretty quickly realised that I had an awful lot to say about physics, and I got into writing that, and now that show has over a hundred episodes and has taken up far more of my time than it was ever supposed to. It came to the point where I was worried that the history show, which I'd finished recording months ago, would never be released. So I decided - I can't let all those months of work go to waste - and I started releasing episodes of the show so that someone, somewhere might eventually hear them. But I never intended to run two shows at once: it's just too much work, alongside my PhD which is a full-time job on its own, and other writing committments that I have in my free time. I could probably try to juggle both of the shows, but I know that the quality of both would suffer, and I really don't want that to happen. At the same time, there are loads of stories on Autocracy Now that I never got the chance to tell - reading that I did that I never got to use. I was definitely going to do a show about Mao, and another about the Taiping Rebellion, and all manner of other things. And maybe, someday, I will get a chance to write and record all of those shows for you - I'd love to do it. But as things are, I have to, sadly, put the history show on an indefinite hiatus. If I ever get a chance, I will return and tell you all of those stories. But this isn't the end for me as a podcaster. As most of you probably already know, the physics show, Physical Attraction, is over at www.physicalattraction.libsyn.com or www.physicspodcast.com - and if you don't already listen to it, you're missing out. We have interviews with experts, we have interviews with historians, and we go through an awful lot of the history and philosophy of physics as well as going through breaking news about technology, speculation about the future - all that kind of thing. That show is going to continue, hopefully also indefinitely, and I already have episodes ready to go for the next few months at least. So what you should all do, as soon as this little announcement ends, is go and subscribe to Physical Attraction if you haven't already. Stay subscribed to this feed, too - if... let's say when - the show comes back, I will be releasing episodes here as normal. And, of course, if the history show comes back I will announce it on the physics feed, so it's worth being subscribed to that and keeping up with it as far as you can. Finally, I'd like to say. It's a strange game, this podcasting lark. I spend weeks researching and writing without knowing if anyone would ever listen. That was fine, because I liked doing it, and I liked having the project to work on, and telling people about them. I know that somewhere, out there, some of you are, and that makes me happy. And for now, it's done - just another thing someone created, living there in the ether, free for anyone who wants to access it. Tell anyone who might be interested to give it a whirl. Head on over to Physical Attraction. And until I return, or until next time: thanks for listening.  

The laws of thermodynamics govern the flow of energy - from your coffee cup to the sparse plasma floating between stars to the formation of black holes.  And, in short, they are: You can't win. You can't break even. You can't get out of the game. These laws, which were first derived by dreaming of ideal heat engines, turned out to have profound and vital physical and philosophical consequences. Far from just relating to an arbitrary concept called "temperature", they can teach us about how the Universe began - and how it will all, inevitably end. This episode deals with the Third Law of Thermodynamics - regarding the impossibility of attaining absolute zero. We'll also discuss the seeming paradox that, while you cannot reduce matter to a temperature of absolute zero in a finite time, you can have negative absolute temperatures.... according to certain definitions of temperature.   You can listen to all of our archived episodes up at www.physicspodcast.com or listen to our sister podcast, Autocracy Now, at www.autocracynow.libsyn.com. On the physicspodcast website, you will find a contact form where you can discuss any comments, questions, concerns, suggestions for future show topics or interview guests - we'd love to hear from you. You can also donate to the show there, or buy some bonus episodes to help support us: we have a Patreon, or you can label your Paypal donation and I will send you the episodes. You can also contact us via Twitter @physicspod or @autocracynow. Thanks for listening, and tell fellow thermodynamic systems about the show!

"The law that entropy always increases holds, I think, the supreme position among the laws of Nature. If someone points out to you that your pet theory of the universe is in disagreement with Maxwell's equations — then so much the worse for Maxwell's equations. If it is found to be contradicted by observation — well, these experimentalists do bungle things sometimes. But if your theory is found to be against the second law of thermodynamics I can give you no hope; there is nothing for it but to collapse in deepest humiliation." Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington, The Nature of the Physical World (1915), chapter 4   And yet, throughout the years and decades and centuries, countless people have tried to convince others that they hold the key to violating the laws of thermodynamics and generating limitless amounts of free energy. Here, in the spirit of narrative fun, we explore the vast array of free energy scams that have been perpetrated over the years - from the age of PT Barnum style "inventors" to the age of GoFundMe and the tragic tale of the self-recharging battery. It didn't work. None of them work. Not the nuclear reactor that was secretly powered by wires. Not the magic liquid that could turn water into gasoline. Free energy is a scam as old as time, and yet people still seem to be taken in by it - often to the tune of millions of dollars. If you take only one thing from Physical Attraction, let it be this:  It's much easier and infinitely likely that the laws being broken are laws that prohibit fraud, and not the Laws of Thermodynamics. You can listen to all of our archived episodes up at www.physicspodcast.com or listen to our sister podcast, Autocracy Now, at www.autocracynow.libsyn.com. On the physicspodcast website, you will find a contact form where you can discuss any comments, questions, concerns, suggestions for future show topics or interview guests - we'd love to hear from you. If you're trying to sell me your free energy device, please, feel free to pitch it so that I can laugh and then report you to the authorities. You can also donate to the show there, or buy some bonus episodes to help support us: we have a Patreon, or you can label your Paypal donation and I will send you the episodes. You can also contact us via Twitter @physicspod or @autocracynow. Thanks for listening, and tell fellow thermodynamic systems about the show!

The laws of thermodynamics govern the flow of energy - from your coffee cup to the sparse plasma floating between stars to the formation of black holes.  And, in short, they are: You can't win. You can't break even. You can't get out of the game. These laws, which were first derived by dreaming of ideal heat engines, turned out to have profound and vital physical and philosophical consequences. Far from just relating to an arbitrary concept called "temperature", they can teach us about how the Universe began - and how it will all, inevitably end. This episode deals with the Second Law of Thermodynamics - regarding the inevitable increase of entropy and the ultimate fate of the Universe. This is a law so philosophically profound that it is believed by many to have contributed to the suicide of one of its discoverers, Boltzmann. So, while you're still acting to keep your own entropy low by increasing the entropy of the Universe (a.k.a fighting the good fight), take a listen.   You can listen to all of our archived episodes up at www.physicspodcast.com or listen to our sister podcast, Autocracy Now, at www.autocracynow.libsyn.com. On the physicspodcast website, you will find a contact form where you can discuss any comments, questions, concerns, suggestions for future show topics or interview guests - we'd love to hear from you. You can also donate to the show there, or buy some bonus episodes to help support us: we have a Patreon, or you can label your Paypal donation and I will send you the episodes. You can also contact us via Twitter @physicspod or @autocracynow. Thanks for listening, and tell fellow thermodynamic systems about the show!

The laws of thermodynamics govern the flow of energy - from your coffee cup to the sparse plasma floating between stars to the formation of black holes.  And, in short, they are: You can't win. You can't break even. You can't get out of the game. These laws, which were first derived by dreaming of ideal heat engines, turned out to have profound and vital physical and philosophical consequences. Far from just relating to an arbitrary concept called "temperature", they can teach us about how the Universe began - and how it will all, inevitably end. This episode deals with the First Law of Thermodynamics - regarding the conservation of energy. So kick your heels back in nice warm surroundings and take a listen.  You can listen to all of our archived episodes up at www.physicspodcast.com or listen to our sister podcast, Autocracy Now, at www.autocracynow.libsyn.com. On the physicspodcast website, you will find a contact form where you can discuss any comments, questions, concerns, suggestions for future show topics or interview guests - we'd love to hear from you. You can also donate to the show there, or buy some bonus episodes to help support us: we have a Patreon, or you can label your Paypal donation and I will send you the episodes. You can also contact us via Twitter @physicspod or @autocracynow. Thanks for listening, and tell fellow thermodynamic systems about the show!

Towards the end of Stalin's life, he became ever more paranoid, embittered, isolated, and vengeful. As his various ministers and members of the Politburo jockeyed for power and position around him, using his fits of paranoia to exact revenge on one another, the only thing that united them all was fear. This is the final omnibus in the series from our sister podcast, Autocracy Now, which brings the biography of Stalin to its conclusion.  Listen to the rest of the show over at www.autocracynow.libsyn.com

In 1953, in a final convulsion of paranoid violence, Stalin suffered a massive stroke. As his underlings jockeyed and vied for position, alternating between their lust for power and fear that the man who had dominated their lives for decades might recover, he passed from the world's stage.  In this episode, we will discuss that passing, talk briefly about what happened afterwards, and attempt to get some kind of a handle on the legacy of Stalin - the leader who brutally butchered his own people and saved Europe from the Nazis, and who presided over a state founded in idealism and run on blood, violence, and terror.  Following this, the Autocracy Now podcast will take a short break, before returning with our (shorter) series on Huey P Long, the Louisiana politician who changed the course of history.  In the meantime, you can find us on Twitter @autocracynow and keep up to date with everything I'm up to via www.physicspodcast.com, the sister podcast about physics. Be kind to each other. 

The Starshot Project is one of those rare, exciting technological plans that seems to come straight out of science fiction - a plan to visit the nearest star to Earth within our lifetimes.  It will require huge technological advancements in virtually every relevant field, but it's still the most feasible way to get to the stars. We'll discuss the project, how it would work, and the physics of why interstellar travel is so damn difficult. Comments? Questions? Concerns? Praise? Rage?  Visit the website at www.physicspodcast.com Follow us on that Tweet website at @physicspod. We have a Facebook page if that's your tech giant of choice.  Don't forget our sister podcast, Autocracy Now, just about to wrap up the life of Stalin in its series of shows on the lives of notorious dictators and wannabe dictators. 

As we bring our series on Stalin to its conclusion, I'm posting the full and unedited interview with Simon Ings, author of Stalin and the Scientists, about Stalin's impact on the sciences. This originally appeared on the www.physicspodcast.com Physical Attraction feed - so on the off-chance that there's someone out there who listens to Autocracy Now but doesn't yet listen to my main show, go and check it out! 

Towards the end of Stalin's life, he became ever more paranoid, embittered, isolated, and vengeful. As his various ministers and members of the Politburo jockeyed for power and position around him, using his fits of paranoia to exact revenge on one another, the only thing that united them all was fear: fear that they would not outlive the dying old man, and instead, die at his hand.  Autocracy Now can be found at www.autocracynow.libsyn.com and our sister podcast can be found at www.physicspodcast.com, along with various ways to contact and support the show.  One more episode on Stalin to go to follow this. 

So, as you probably already know by now, the Nobel Prize in Physics 2018 was awarded to another trio: Gérard Mourou, Arthur Ashkin and Donna Strickland, “for groundbreaking inventions in the field of laser physics”. Specifically, Arthur Ashkin was awarded the prize ““for the invention of optical tweezers and their application to biological systems” and Mourou and Strickland were awarded the prize for developing chirped pulse amplification, a method of generating very short but very high-intensity pulses of light with lasers. In this episode, we'll describe how they made these groundbreaking discoveries, and what they meant for science and physics in the years that followed. But as dismal as the world might seem sometimes, there’s still so much joy to be found in the world of science, the world of physics, and the glorious intricacies of the vast, complex, beautiful and mysterious universe we all live in. And the human ingenuity that has gone into allowing us to discover that, to even make strides towards understanding it, is one of the best parts of our species. Both of these discoveries, chirped pulse amplification and optical tweezers, represent clever tools that we have developed to allow us to probe and explore and understand nature, and there can be few greater undertakings than that. So here’s to the scientists who won the Nobel Prize in 2018, for giving us the tools that can help in many more discoveries to come. That’s all for this special episode. Remember, if you like the show, which consumes my nights and weekends with its fiery lust, there are plenty of things you can do to support us. Visit the website at www.physicspodcast.com where you’ll find a contact form: I read all your email and try to respond where I can, but it’s really the best part about doing this show is actually hearing from listeners, so you can know that if nothing else you’ll make my day by sending your message. Go ahead, punk. There you’ll also find a form where you can donate to the show, or purchase some of our previous bonus episodes. There’s a Patreon where you can subscribe to do that automatically in the future, so you don’t even need to fiddle with Paypal. You can follow us on Twitter @physicspod and on Facebook, Physical Attraction. You can go listen to our sister show, and by our sister show I mean the other thing I record in my free time, Autocracy Now – at www.autocracynow.libsyn.com – we’re just coming to the end of Stalin’s life, which is a great relief both for me personally and the people of the world in general. But, as I always say, the best thing you can possibly do to support is to tell your friends about the show, and to tell them to listen. I have printed up thousands of postcard-sized flyers, so if you really want to go the extra mile or just give people some merchandise with our logo on, get in touch with me and I can send some of those over to you!

Everything is made up of fundamental particles. You have the leptons: that’s the electron, muon, tau, and their ghostly neutrinos that help us to conserve momentum. You have the quarks, which make up all of the hadrons. The up, down, and strange quarks: and their heavier cousins, the top, bottom, and charm quarks. Mixing quarks can give you baryons, like the proton and neutron. It can give you mesons, like the pion particles. But you also have four forces. There’s gravity, which pulls on everything with mass. There’s electromagnetism, which pulls on everything with charge. There’s the weak nuclear force, which is involved in the decay of neutrons and other particles, and it’s also how the ghostly neutrinos interact. And, finally, there’s the strong nuclear force: which binds the protons and neutrons together in the nucleus, and binds the quarks within each proton and neutron. It turns out that the final part of the Standard Model is associated with these forces. Because, although we can imagine force fields that extend throughout space like Maxwell did, it turns out that forces have ‘carriers’. In some sense, when one particle exerts a force on another, another particle jumps between them to spread that influence. These force carriers are bosons. In this episode, we'll complete our picture of the Standard Model by adding the force carriers and the Higgs Boson into the mix. And then, we'll dive into the terrifying world of BDSM - BeyonD the Standard Model. You can listen to all of our archived episodes up at www.physicspodcast.com or listen to our sister podcast, Autocracy Now, at www.autocracynow.libsyn.com. On the physicspodcast website, you will find a contact form where you can discuss any comments, questions, concerns, suggestions for future show topics or interview guests - we'd love to hear from you. You can also contact us via Twitter @physicspod or @autocracynow. 

Quarks, hadrons, baryons, leptons - we explore the material particles, ponder the question of why the electron has two heavier cousins, and describe the snark of Wolfgang Pauli in this - our second episode in a series explaining fundamental subatomic and atomic physics, and the Standard Model. Can you tell your quarks from your elbow? If not, never fear, because these episodes will be your guide to particle physics, and, specifically, what’s called the Standard Model. Has absolutely nothing to do with the catwalk, but instead the fundamental building blocks that make up all of visible matter and energy in the Universe. You can listen to all of our archived episodes up at www.physicspodcast.com or listen to our sister podcast, Autocracy Now, at www.autocracynow.libsyn.com. On the physicspodcast website, you will find a contact form where you can discuss any comments, questions, concerns, suggestions for future show topics or interview guests - we'd love to hear from you. You can also donate to the show, subscribe to our Patreon, or buy extra episodes if you want to help support us for what we do.  You can also contact us via Twitter @physicspod or @autocracynow. 

Can you tell your quarks from your elbow? If not, never fear, because these episodes will be your guide to particle physics, and, specifically, what’s called the Standard Model. Has absolutely nothing to do with the catwalk, but instead the fundamental building blocks that make up all of visible matter and energy in the Universe. You can listen to all of our archived episodes up at www.physicspodcast.com or listen to our sister podcast, Autocracy Now, at www.autocracynow.libsyn.com. On the physicspodcast website, you will find a contact form where you can discuss any comments, questions, concerns, suggestions for future show topics or interview guests - we'd love to hear from you. You can also donate to the show, subscribe to our Patreon, or buy extra episodes if you want to help support us for what we do.  You can also contact us via Twitter @physicspod or @autocracynow.  This episode was brought to you by the American National Standards Institute. To find out more, visit https://www.ansi.org/. 

In this episode, we'll discuss how you can use dimensional analysis to measure the yield of the blast of a nuclear bomb, and weird units from banana equivalent doses to the distance at which sheep remain picturesque. You can listen to all of our archived episodes up at www.physicspodcast.com or listen to our sister podcast, Autocracy Now, at www.autocracynow.libsyn.com. On the physicspodcast website, you will find a contact form where you can discuss any comments, questions, concerns, suggestions for future show topics or interview guests - we'd love to hear from you. You can also contact us via Twitter @physicspod or @autocracynow.  This episode was brought to you by the American National Standards Institute. To find out more, visit https://www.ansi.org/. 

Units and Dimensional Analysis, Pt I: The Metric Revolution No physicist would be anywhere without dimensional analysis. In this episode, we answer the surprisingly complicated question - how long is a metre? www.physicspodcast.com for previous shows, information, donations.  @physicspod on Twitter www.autocracynow.libsyn.com for Autocracy Now, a show about historical dictators. 

So in this episode, I am fortunate enough to interview Cornelius Schilt – perhaps better known to the world by his blog title, Corpus Newtonicum, which you can go and read at Corpus Newtonicum.wordpress.com. He is a DPhil student at the University of Oxford, studying the History of Science, and focused on the life, career, and works of Isaac Newton. What’s more, he just handed in his thesis the day before I conducted this interview – best of luck on the viva, CJ!  In this, the second part of our interview, we talk about the context of the philosophy of time and Newton’s philosophy of the universe, Newton’s personal life, his alchemy, his legacy. Our guest today was CJ Schilt, a History of Science DPhil student here at Oxford – in a few weeks’ time, I have no doubt, Dr Schilt. If you want to find out more, you can follow him on Twitter, and do visit the blog Corpus Newtonicum. You can also check out the newton project atwww.newtonproject.ox.ac.uk which CJ contributed to – an attempt to transcribe all of Newton’s works.  In the meantime, for us – subscribe to the sister podcast, Autocracy Now, which deals with the history of notorious dictators. Follow us on Twitter @physicspod. If you visited the website at www.physicspodcast.com, you’d be able to use the contact form to send us any of your comments, questions, or concerns. You’d also be able to donate to the show if you wished, or purchase some of the bonus episodes I’ve created for the low low price of $3 using the Paypal link. But, of course, the best thing you can do to support the show is always to tell as many of your friends as possible about the show – listeners make it all worthwhile! 

So in this episode, I am fortunate enough to interview Cornelis Schilt – perhaps better known to the world by his blog title, Corpus Newtonicum, which you can go and read at Corpus Newtonicum.wordpress.com. He is a DPhil student at the University of Oxford, studying the History of Science, and focused on the life, career, and works of Isaac Newton. What’s more, he just handed in his thesis the day before I conducted this interview – best of luck on the viva, CJ!  In this, the first part of our interview, we discuss Newton’s less well-known works, his attempts to understand chronology, and how his religious faith predominated in his life. If you want to find out more, you can follow him on Twitter, and do visit the blog Corpus Newtonicum. You can also check out the newton project atwww.newtonproject.ox.ac.uk which CJ contributed to – an attempt to transcribe all of Newton’s works.  In the meantime, for us – subscribe to the sister podcast, Autocracy Now, which deals with the history of notorious dictators. Follow us on Twitter @physicspod. If you visited the website at www.physicspodcast.com, you’d be able to use the contact form to send us any of your comments, questions, or concerns. You’d also be able to donate to the show if you wished, or purchase some of the bonus episodes I’ve created for the low low price of $3 using the Paypal link. But, of course, the best thing you can do to support the show is always to tell as many of your friends as possible about the show – listeners make it all worthwhile! 

To keep you all updated on the goings-on at my other podcast, I'm presenting a Stalin Omnibus with all of the episodes that have released since the last time Autocracy Now appeared on my feed. Episode IV: Revolution In The Economy After consolidating power over his Bolshevik rivals, Stalin dispensed with Lenin's pseudo-capitalist NEP and replaced it with the top-down bureaucratic nightmare that was the Five-Year Plans. Episode V: Nadya and Kirov In the early 1930s, two mysterious (at the time) deaths occurred to people who were close to Stalin as he consolidated power as the supreme leader of the USSR. Episode VI: Devouring the Children After the death of Kirov, Stalin would turn his wrath towards the Old Bolsheviks that remained as key revolutionary figures in his own right. His fellow Communists could remember a time when Stalin was not Lenin's divinely appointed successor; and for that, they had to be destroyed.  Episode VII: The Common Enemy of Mankind Stalin's "Great Terror" was not limited to eliminating his political rivals. Soon enough, detentions and executions were occurring according by quota. In 1937, the killing and persecution rose to its virtually indiscriminate peak.  Follow us on Twitter @autocracynow, our sister podcast @physicspod, and subscribe to the show where-ever you listen to podcasts. Visit our online home at www.autocracynow.libsyn.com.  If you want to support independent podcasters and enjoyed this show, consider donating to help keep us going, or buying a bonus episode of the physics show - details on the website at www.physicspodcast.com 

Alongside all of his scientific achievements, there is another fascinating side to Newton - one intimately linked with the supernatural, even the occult. A belief in alchemy, an attempt to establish a new chronology, hunting through the Bible for the ability to predict the future: were these aspects to Newton's intellect contrary to his rationality, or did they actually feed into his studies of physics?  And, as we bring his life to its conclusion, we'll try to answer Keynes' question:  Was Newton the first of the physicists, or the last of the magicians?  You can subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts, and visit our website at www.physicspodcast.com where you'll be able to find all the archived episodes of the show, a contact form that will allow you to ask me questions or make any comments, and the option to donate or subscribe via our Patreon in exchange for bonus episodes. You can follow us on Twitter @physicspod and on Facebook at Physical Attraction. Why not subscribe to our sister podcast at Autocracy Now at www.autocracynow.libsyn.com - focusing on the lives of famous dictators. 

In this episode, we get into the heart of Isaac Newton's scientific contribution. His laws of mechanics and gravitation fundamentally changed the way that we viewed both motion, and one of the (now four) fundamental forces. They would become the theory that dominated our understanding for the next three centuries, and even when relativity is discovered, Newton's laws are accurate enough across a wide enough range of circumstances to allow us to put humans on the Moon.  We'll dive into these laws, explain them, and discuss how they govern so many phenomena in the world around us - from snooker to the cosmos.  You can subscribe to the show on iTunes or where-ever you get your podcasts, and visit our website at www.physicspodcast.com where you'll find a contact form to get in touch with the show, and donate buttons if you want to help the show out. Also listen to our sibling podcast www.autocracynow.libsyn.com - Autocracy Now, about the lives of famous dictators: currently, Stalin. 

We discuss some of Isaac Newton's most notable discoveries, from the invention of calculus (simultaneously with Leibniz) and his early grappling and wrestling with a physical theory of light. Was Newton contemplating wave-particle duality in the 17th century?  You can follow the podcast on Twitter @physicspod and follow us on Facebook at the Physical Attraction page. Visit our website at www.physicspodcast.com where you can find A YEAR'S WORTH of back episodes, alongside donation links and opportunities to buy bonus episodes if you want to thank the show and help us keep running. There's also a contact form for any comments, concerns, questions, or feedback!  And you can listen to our sister show, about historical dictators - currently an epic series on the life and times of Joseph Stalin - over on Autocracy Now's feed - www.autocracynow.libsyn.com 

Should we be talking about a one-world government to head off existential threats? What about schemes to preserve human genetic information, or launch relics from our civilisation to land on the moon?  Is worrying about the end of the world even worthwhile? What can we practically do to reduce the risks for our civilisation? These are the questions that this, the very last episode in our TEOTWAWKI series (okay... for now...) will explore. Questions? Comments? Concerns? Twitter: @physicspod Facebook: Physical Attraction Website: www.physicspodcast.com -> where you'll find every episode we've ever released, -> a contact form for more information and to send in your listener questions, -> and our Patreon and Paypal accounts for donations. As always, the best way to help out with what we do is to tell everyone about the show. And don't forget you can listen to our sister podcast, Autocracy Now, about the lives of various dictators - currently Stalin - wherever you listen to podcasts, or at www.autocracynow.libsyn.com  We're having a week to write and research and when we come back, we'll be talking about Isaac Newton. 

The last bonus from the Autocracy Now feed for a while - we take Stalin's career up to the Russian Revolution and Civil War. For the rest of his story, head over to www.autocracynow.libsyn.com Or subscribe via iTunes, where-ever you get your podcasts. 

This is a bonus episode coming out on the Physical Attraction feed. The topic is even less related to physics than usual, but since it's extra, I hope you'll forgive me. As I mentioned a few episodes ago, this wasn't the first podcast I ever made. In fact, I scripted and recorded about twenty episodes of a show - Autocracy Now - on historical dictators. It's not something I'm an expert in - just a topic of fascination! Then I started the physics show. And it became clear to me that it would be impossible to juggle writing, recording, and scripting *two* podcasts a week - and doing my PhD in physics - and writing for Singularity Hub and other websites to supplement the meagre income you get for doing a PhD. But I still had all of these episodes recorded, with no idea when to release them, gradually gathering dust in a corner of my hard-drive. And it took months to research and record them. So I've decided I will be releasing them on a bi-weekly basis, via the Autocracy Now feed. You can subscribe to that feed where-ever you get your podcasts, and via www.autocracynow.libsyn.com - that's the website to visit. By the time the last episode comes out, if I stick to my schedule, it will be 2019. If anything, I'll be even busier then, so I don't know if the show will continue beyond that point - we'll have to see what happens. But I hope you enjoy the sister podcast while it lasts, and Physical Attraction will keep going for some time to come yet. To save time, I'll put any updates concerning either show on this main feed, but for the rest of the Autocracy Now episodes, subscribe to that feed. The first of the bonus episodes I'll be releasing is about the Roman Emperor, Commodus. The second is the first in what became a fourteen-part epic series on the life of Soviet dictator and mass-murdering tyrant, Stalin. I hope you enjoy them - and, if you do, subscribe to Autocracy Now as well!

This is a bonus episode coming out on the Physical Attraction feed. The topic is even less related to physics than usual, but since it's extra, I hope you'll forgive me. As I mentioned a few episodes ago, this wasn't the first podcast I ever made. In fact, I scripted and recorded about twenty episodes of a show - Autocracy Now - on historical dictators. It's not something I'm an expert in - just a topic of fascination! Then I started the physics show. And it became clear to me that it would be impossible to juggle writing, recording, and scripting *two* podcasts a week - and doing my PhD in physics - and writing for Singularity Hub and other websites to supplement the meagre income you get for doing a PhD. But I still had all of these episodes recorded, with no idea when to release them, gradually gathering dust in a corner of my hard-drive. And it took months to research and record them. So I've decided I will be releasing them on a bi-weekly basis, via the Autocracy Now feed. You can subscribe to that feed where-ever you get your podcasts, and via www.autocracynow.libsyn.com - that's the website to visit. By the time the last episode comes out, if I stick to my schedule, it will be 2019. If anything, I'll be even busier then, so I don't know if the show will continue beyond that point - we'll have to see what happens. But I hope you enjoy the sister podcast while it lasts, and Physical Attraction will keep going for some time to come yet. To save time, I'll put any updates concerning either show on this main feed, but for the rest of the Autocracy Now episodes, subscribe to that feed. The first of the bonus episodes I'll be releasing is about the Roman Emperor, Commodus. The second is the first in what became a fourteen-part epic series on the life of Soviet dictator and mass-murdering tyrant, Stalin. I hope you enjoy them - and, if you do, subscribe to Autocracy Now as well!

Hello, and welcome to Autocracy Now, the show about the lives of famous autocrats. In this first episode, I'll discuss my motivations behind creating the show, and what I hope we can learn from examining the lives of these dictators. What exactly is an autocrat - how do we define different types of government? What are the advantages of a dictatorship over a democracy? If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, I'd be happy to hear from you. If there's a particular dictator you'd like me to cover in the future, this is your chance to make your case! Please visit us over at autocracynowpodcast.wordpress.com, contact me on Twitter at @AutocracyNow, or email us at autocracynow@outlook.com.