Podcast appearances and mentions of Simon Ings

Rana Mitter explores looks at the role of writing in propagating ideas and exposing political tensions. He hears how writers have given voice to personal and political ambitions, from Ding Ling to the teenagers of modern China. Yuan Yang discusses her new book, Private Revolutions. Simon Ings talks about his latest book Engineers of Human Souls which examines four writers whose ideas shaped the careers of some of the twentieth century's most infamous dictators. And Jeffrey Howard analyses the ethics of negotiating free speech and censorship today.Producer: Ruth WattsPrivate Revolutions: Coming of Age in a New China by Yuan Yang is out nowSimon Ings' book Engineers of Human Souls: Four Writers Who Changed Twentieth-Century Minds looks at Maurice Barrès, Gabriele D'Annunzio, Ding Ling and Maxim Gorky.Jeffrey Howard is Associate Professor of Political Philosophy and Public Policy at UCL and Senior Research Associate at the Institute for Ethics in AI at Oxford University. You can find an Essay called Prison Break which he wrote for BBC Radio 3 asking if it is ever ok to escape from prison available on BBC Sounds. He was chosen as a New Generation Thinker in 2020 on the scheme run by the BBC and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to put research on radio.

“Esta es una historia épica. Henry Gee es un escritor maravillosamente atractivo, que hace malabarismos con el humor, la precisión, la controversia y la poesía para enriquecer su relato telescópico”, escribió sobre nuestro invitado de hoy el escritor de ciencia Simon Ings en The Times Of London. El paleontólogo y reconocido escritor británico Henry Gee nos paseará EN UN podcast por el origen del planeta Tierra, una roca impactada por cometas y asteroides gobernada por el viento y por el mar. Traducido a 22 idiomas, su libro “Una (muy) breve historia de la vida en la Tierra” repasa los 4.600 años de una historia que empezó con los primeros habitantes que prosperaron en las profundidades volcánicas, en el fondo del océano y luego, en emocionante aventura, en la tierra firme. La escritura de este libro que multiplica sus lectores y que ha hecho noticia, empezó en la sala de redacción de la revista científica Nature, en la que Gee lleva más de tres décadas como editor jefe de Biología Evolutiva: “Llegué como reportero por tres meses y aquí sigo 35 años después”. Escucha esta conversación entre Henry Gee y Margarita Valencia, traductora, escritora, maestra de la edición en Colombia, escritora y traductora de obras como la de Harold Bloom. Una atractiva conversación sobre la vida que resistió al fuego y al hielo en un planeta que alguna vez fue una bola en llamas y se convirtió en un mundo de agua. Un fascinante pasado acuático rastreable también en el cuerpo: la composición de nuestros dientes —esmalte, dentina y hueso— es la misma que la de la piel acorazada de los primeros peces. Es, también, la historia de la persistencia de lo vivo que, del hielo o la extinción, retornó siempre con más complejidad para continuar, de formas sorprendentes, su incierta aventura.

“Esta es una historia épica. Henry Gee es un escritor maravillosamente atractivo, que hace malabarismos con el humor, la precisión, la controversia y la poesía para enriquecer su relato telescópico”, escribió sobre nuestro invitado de hoy el escritor de ciencia Simon Ings en The Times Of London. Este domingo el paleontólogo y reconocido escritor británico Henry Gee nos paseará por el origen del planeta Tierra, una roca impactada por cometas y asteroides gobernada por el viento y por el mar. Traducido a 22 idiomas, su libro “Una (muy) breve historia de la vida en la Tierra” repasa los 4.600 años de una historia que empezó con los primeros habitantes que prosperaron en las profundidades volcánicas, en el fondo del océano y luego, en emocionante aventura, en la tierra firme. La escritura de este libro que multiplica sus lectores y que ha hecho noticia, empezó en la sala de redacción de la revista científica Nature, en la que Gee lleva treinta años como editor jefe de biología evolutiva: “Llegué como reportero por tres meses y aquí sigo 35 años después”. Escucha esta conversación entre Henry Gee y Margarita Valencia, traductora, escritora, maestra de la edición en Colombia, escritora y traductora de obras como la de Harold Bloom. Una atractiva conversación sobre la vida que resistió al fuego y al hielo en un planeta que alguna vez fue una bola en llamas y se convirtió en un mundo de agua. Un fascinante pasado acuático rastreable también en el cuerpo: la composición de nuestros dientes —esmalte, dentina y hueso— es la misma que la de la piel acorazada de los primeros peces. Es, también, la historia de la persistencia de lo vivo que, del hielo o la extinción, retornó siempre con más complejidad continuar, de formas impredecibles, su incierta aventura.

Scientists throughout history, from Galileo to today's experts on climate change, have often had to contend with politics in their pursuit of knowledge. But in the Soviet Union, where the ruling elites embraced, patronized, and even fetishized science like never before, scientists lived their lives on a knife edge. The Soviet Union had the best-funded scientific establishment in history. Scientists were elevated as popular heroes and lavished with awards and privileges. But if their ideas or their field of study lost favor with the elites, they could be exiled, imprisoned, or murdered. And yet they persisted, making major contributions to 20th century science. Stalin and the Scientists tells the story of the many gifted scientists who worked in Russia from the years leading up to the Revolution through the death of the “Great Scientist” himself, Joseph Stalin. It weaves together the stories of scientists, politicians, and ideologues into an intimate and sometimes horrifying portrait of a state determined to remake the world. They often wreaked great harm. Stalin was himself an amateur botanist, and by falling under the sway of dangerous charlatans like Trofim Lysenko (who denied the existence of genes), and by relying on antiquated ideas of biology, he not only destroyed the lives of hundreds of brilliant scientists, he caused the death of millions through famine. But from atomic physics to management theory, and from radiation biology to neuroscience and psychology, these Soviet experts also made breakthroughs that forever changed agriculture, education, and medicine. A masterful book that deepens our understanding of Russian history, Stalin and the Scientists is a great achievement of research and storytelling, and a gripping look at what happens when science falls prey to politics.

Welcome to the Read Smart shortlist episode! Host, BBC's Razia Iqbal explores each of the 6 shortlisted titles and authors with 2020 judges, BBC Radio 4 Today presenter Martha Kearney, editor and novelist Simon Ings, and New York Times opinion editor Max Strasser. They go through each book individually and discuss how each title reflects the very best in non-fiction. The 2020 shortlist is: • One Two Three Four: The Beatles in Time by Craig Brown (Harper Collins, 4th Estate) • The Idea of the Brain: A History by Matthew Cobb (Profile Books) • Black Spartacus: The Epic Life of Toussaint Louverture by Sudhir Hazareesingh (Penguin Random House, Allen Lane) • Our Bodies, Their Battlefield: What War Does to Women by Christina Lamb (HarperCollins, William Collins) • Stranger in the Shogun's City: A Woman's Life in Nineteenth-Century Japan by Amy Stanley (Vintage, Chatto & Windus) • The Haunting of Alma Fielding: A True Ghost Story by Kate Summerscale (Bloomsbury Publishing, Bloomsbury Circus) Find out more about the shortlist: https://bit.ly/3740UG1 This episode was recorded and produced remotely. Find us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @BGPrize and keep up to date at thebailliegiffordprize.co.uk

Ten minutes with... is a special series presented by Coode Street that sees readers and booklovers from around the world talk about what they're reading right now and what's getting them through these difficult times. If his recent conversation with John Berlyne saw Jonathan embrace the fact that Coode Street's ten minutes was at a best theoretical, then today's conversation blows that out of the water extending beyond 35 minutes, and still only being just barely long enough. Today Jonathan talks to writer and editor Simon Ings about art, despots, fabulous books, and unexpected experiences. Utterly essential listening. It's the most fun you'll have with earphones in for ages! Books mentioned include: We Robots edited by Simon Ings Lord of the World by Robert Hugh Benson  The Plague by Albert Camus The Pike: Gabriele d'Annunzio, Poet, Seducer and Preacher of War by Lucy Hughes-Hallett Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman    

We look at the rise in use and popularity of Artificial Intelligence. Joining podcast host Razia Iqbal is British novelist, scientist and 2020 Baillie Gifford prize judge, Simon Ings and mathematician Hannah Fry, author of 2018 Baillie Gifford Prize shortlisted book Hello World: How to be Human in the Age of the Machine. They explore our relationship, trust and increasing dependency on machines; issues around privacy; and if creating is solely a human skill or if technology can produce original art. This episode was recorded and produced completely remotely. Read Smart Podcast is commissioned by The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction and is generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation.

It’s the word on everyone’s lips, and has been for months now -coronavirus. We haven’t seen an international response to a crisis on this scale before. One in which every single one of the world’s 195 countries are at risk. Nations are closing their borders, halting flights, limiting social interaction and closing workplaces... except for the most essential. The world's stock market has tumbled and shows no signs of stability. These are unprecedented times, when fake news and panic travel faster than the virus. Host Suhail Akram talks to Dr Tarik Jarasevic of World Health Organisation and science historian Simon Ings about the Coronavirus. We also hear from Dr Thoraiya Kanafani, a clinical psychologist, and Ali Khawaja, a self-proclaimed prepper based in the UAE.

Physical Attraction: 100th Episode Competition Physical Attraction is the podcast focused on physics, science and technology – and we’re about to reach a very big milestone when our 100th episode releases later on this year. To celebrate, we’re hosting a special competition with FABULOUS PRIZES.  To enter, you need to send us your answer to the question “What is physics?”, either in written form, or (even better) recorded by you on some suitable equipment. Ideally, entries will be more than a few sentences long and no longer than 1000 words / ten minutes spoken audio, although exceptions will be made for shorter or longer entries of exceptional quality!  You can interpret this as broadly or as specifically as you like, and it doesn’t have to be a dictionary definition. What has physics meant in your life? How do you view the boundaries between physics and “other sciences”? What role do you think physics and physicists have to play in society, in our pursuit of knowledge, philosophically? What does physics mean in the modern world? What can it mean in the future? Or you can focus on some specific aspect of physics that fascinates you.  All suitable entries will form part of the 100th episode extravaganza, which is why I want to get as many different perspectives as possible. You will be on the podcast! Feel free to introduce yourself and details of your own story. All suitable entries will also receive a Physical Attraction postcard and ceramic mug, alongside free download links for the extra bonus episodes that we’ve released so far. Then there will be first and second place prizes!  The second place winner receives everything above, plus books by Physical Attraction interview guests Phil Torres, Simon Ings, Britt Wray, and SMBC Zach Weinersmith: Phil Torres - Morality, Foresight, and Human FlourishingSimon Ings – Stalin and the Scientists Britt Wray – Rise of the Necrofauna Zach and Kelly Weinersmith - Soonish The first place winner receives everything from second place, including the four books, plus the right to choose the subject of one episode of the show – anything science and technology-related, topic subject to discussion. I will then research, write, and record that episode, which can include a special dedication to the contest prize winner as part of it.  Sounds good? Great! Get your entries in by March 31st 2019 to be eligible.  Entries should be submitted via the competition email physicspod@outlook.com, or you can contact me on Twitter @physicspod or Facebook.   All details of the contest can be found here: www.physicspodcast.com/about while you can contact us for any clarifications here: http://physicalattraction.libsyn.com/contact 

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! 

One of the best and most enjoyable parts of hosting this show is when my favourite authors are kind enough to speak to me. I'd like to thank Simon for an excellent, enlightening, entertaining discussion: if you enjoy listening to it half as much as I enjoyed the conversation, you're in for a real treat. Today, as part of our series on science in the USSR, I'm delighted to say that we have an interview with Simon Ings, the author of a wonderful book on the subject - Stalin and the Scientists. Simon began his career writing science fiction stories, novels and films writing books on perception (The Eye: A Natural History), 20th-century radical politics (The Weight of Numbers), the shipping system (Dead Water) and augmented reality (Wolves). He co-founded and edited Arc magazine, a digital publication about the future, before joining New Scientist magazine as its arts editor, and writing Stalin and the Scientists. He very kindly agreed to be interviewed for our little show; as usual, I detained my guest for a very long time, and so I've split the interview into two parts. The second part of our interview followed scientists through the Soviet Union's tumultuous time under Stalin - through the Gulags and the Great Terror, through the horrors of the Second World War and the Sharaskhi. We discuss the legacy of the Soviet Union and move towards what we can learn about science in our society today.  If you want to find out more about Simon's work, you can buy Stalin and the Scientists online and at all good bookstores - and I highly recommend you do - and he's online at www.simonings.com and also tweets @simonings. As for us: follow the show @physicspod , or visit the website for more information at www.physicspodcast.com : there you'll find a contact form where you can bombard us with questions, comments, concerns, topic suggestions, guest suggestions, praise, anonymous threats - anything you like! If you've enjoyed the show, you can help us a number of ways. We have a paypal donate link which you'll find on the site. You can subscribe to our Patreon. But most of all, please, please - tell as many people as possible to listen. Tie them down if necessary. 

One of the best and most enjoyable parts of hosting this show is when my favourite authors are kind enough to speak to me. I'd like to thank Simon for an excellent, enlightening, entertaining discussion: if you enjoy listening to it half as much as I enjoyed the conversation, you're in for a real treat. Today, as part of our series on science in the USSR, I'm delighted to say that we have an interview with Simon Ings, the author of a wonderful book on the subject - Stalin and the Scientists. Simon began his career writing science fiction stories, novels and films writing books on perception (The Eye: A Natural History), 20th-century radical politics (The Weight of Numbers), the shipping system (Dead Water) and augmented reality (Wolves). He co-founded and edited Arc magazine, a digital publication about the future, before joining New Scientist magazine as its arts editor, and writing Stalin and the Scientists. He very kindly agreed to be interviewed for our little show; as usual, I detained my guest for a very long time, and so I've split the interview into two parts. The first part of our discussion focuses on the Bolshevik philosophy of science and the Russian Revolution more generally. If you want to find out more about Simon's work, you can buy Stalin and the Scientists online and at all good bookstores - and I highly recommend you do - and he's online at www.simonings.com and also tweets @simonings. As for us: follow the show @physicspod , or visit the website for more information at www.physicspodcast.com : there you'll find a contact form where you can bombard us with questions, comments, concerns, topic suggestions, guest suggestions, praise, anonymous threats - anything you like! If you've enjoyed the show, you can help us a number of ways. We have a paypal donate link which you'll find on the site. You can subscribe to our Patreon. But most of all, please, please - tell as many people as possible to listen. Tie them down if necessary.  Next time, we'll talk about genetics and science in general in the USSR, and what lessons it might have for the future.

With James Forsyth, Giles Kenningham, Simon Ings, Sanbot, Cosmo Landesman and David Brockway. Presented by Isabel Hardman.

Josie and Robin are joined by writer Johann Hari to talk about all manner of things. From his new book, ‘Chasing the Scream’ and rebuilding trust with readers, to the work of Rebecca Solnit, Simon Ings, Peter Ackroyd and more. This is a bonus episode, free to all with no charge to our Patreons. Subscribe to the all new Cosmic Shambles which is launching soon at cosmicshambles.com

Simon Ings, author of Stalin and the Scientists, describes how the Bolshevik leaders intervened in scientific research in the USSR. Meanwhile, food writer William Sitwell tells the story of a man who battled to bring supplies into Britain during the era of rationing See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Simon Ings began his career writing science fiction stories, novels and films, before widening his brief to explore perception (The Eye), 20th-century radical politics (The Weight of Numbers), the shipping system (Dead Water) and augmented reality (Wolves). He co-founded and edited Arc magazine, a digital publication about the future, before joining New Scientist as its arts editor. Out of the office, he lives in possibly the coldest flat in London, writing for the Guardian, Times, Telegraph, Independent and Nature. Simon's latest book is Stalin and The Scientists. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Writer of both science fact and science fiction, Simon Ings joins Josie and Robin this week to talk about his new book 'Stalin and the Scientists'. They also dive into everyone's favourite science fiction authors including Phillip K Dick, JG Ballard, Frank Herbert and a whole lot more.

Este episodio de los VerdHugos tiene dos partes bien diferenciadas:Durante la primera hora contaremos con la participación de Carrie Patel, autora de The Buried Life, con quien hablaremos del proceso de elaboración de su novela. Durante toda la entrevista nos acompañará Alexander Páez, bloguero en Donde acaba el infinito y videopodcaster en The Spoiler Club.Durante la segunda hora hablaremos de los premios Nebula, los Kitschies y los BSFA, y terminaremos con nuestras habituales recomendaciones literarias.Recomendaciones VerdHuguerasCarrie PatelUnder the skin, de Michel FaberChina Mountain Zhang, de Maureen F. McHugh. Alexander PáezUzumaki, de Junji ItoMataré a vuestros muertos, de Daniel AusentePedro RománMáscara, de Stanislaw Lem La Broma Infinita, de David Foster WallaceLeticia LaraThe Mechanical, de Ian TregillisLydie, de Jordi Lafebre y ZidrouJosep MariaWolves, de Simon Ings21st century science fiction, de David G. Hartwell (Ed.)Elías Combaro Touch, de Claire NorthThe Grace of Kings, de Ken LiuMiquel CodonyGet in Trouble, de Kelly LinkHijos Bastardos de Matusalen: Eternos, de Raúl AtreidesEl episodio se puede descargar de archive.org y, en cuanto se propaguen los feeds, de iVoox e iTunes.Música: Bitches of your souls (The Saurs) - http://thesaurs.bandcamp.com/Logotipo: Javier Hansard

On Start the Week Andrew Marr looks into the digital future. Nick Harkaway dismisses fears of a digital dystopia in which distracted people, caught between the real world and the screen world, are under constant surveillance. He believes we need to engage with the computers we have created, and shape our own destiny. Simon Ings is the editor of a new digital magazine, Arc, which uses science fiction to explore and explain what the future might hold for society. While Anab Jain's design company uses scenarios and prototypes to probe emerging technologies and ideas, from headsets to help the blind to see, to everyday objects with their very own internet connection. And Charles Arthur investigates the battle for dominance of the internet with Apple, Google and Microsoft struggling to stay on top, and asks what that means for the rest of us. Producer: Katy Hickman.

Simon Frantz discusses the science in Fritz Lang's Metropolis, with the author Simon Ings.