Reading Our Times

Does the universe have a purpose? In conversation with Philip Goff

16 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Human beings need a sense of purpose but differ strongly on whether that purpose is discovered or created, on whether the universe itself has a purpos...

What is the ultimate nature of reality? In conversation with Graham Harman

09 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What is the ultimate nature of reality? And how best to describe it? Is it fundamentally smooth and continuous, flowing seamlessly from one state to a...

What is consciousness? In conversation with Baroness Susan Greenfield

02 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Consciousness is famously called the “hard problem” and it elicits a very wide range of (sometimes very strongly held) opinions. These range from ...

What does Quantum Theory mean?

25 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Everyone has heard of quantum physics. Many of us can parrot its key ideas – uncertainty, entanglement, collapsing the wave function, something to d...

Can music redeem time? In conversation with Michael Symmons Roberts

18 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The performance of Olivier Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time in a freezing WW2 prison camp is one of the most famous moments of 20th century ...

What can a life tell us about transcendence?

11 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The idea of transcendence is common, perhaps even universal, among human beings. But what it means (if anything) is much more debatable. There are dif...

Is God nothing? In conversation with Gilbert Markus

04 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Many of the New Atheist arrows fired in the religion wars of 2000s and 2010s hit their target well and hard. The question is, was it the right target?...

How does life work? In conversation with Philip Ball

28 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Recent decades have seen the gene as supreme in all discussions of what life is and how it works. Whether selfish, co-operative or eternal, it's g...

Trailer: Series 11 of Reading Our Times

21 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Reading our Times is back – and this series we’re getting metaphysical.  We're going to be talking about the building blocks of life, the un...

What are children for? In conversation with Anastasia Berg

15 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Western societies have fallen out of love with (having) children, and all too often this is treated as a policy problem. But in reality, it's a mu...

How have we come to deify choice? In conversation with Sophia Rosenfeld

08 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Choice is so important to who we are in the West is no longer feels like something we do, so much as something we are. Deny someone choice, and it fee...

Would it matter if Christianity were eclipsed? In conversation with Rupert Shortt

01 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Strange things are happening to Christianity in the West. Some people are talking about revival whereas others are talking about extinction. Whoever i...

Are there limits to economic growth? In conversation with Richard McNeill Douglas

24 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The idea that society should grow - and continue to grow, economically, without ending, without limits - is a relatively new and fiercely defended ide...

Why is the Orthodox church so supportive of Putin's war? In conversation with Lucy Ash

17 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Russian Orthodox Church has been conspicuous in its support of Putin's war against Ukraine. The reasons seem as obvious as they are depressing...

What is the future for democracy? In conversation with Jonathan Sumption

10 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The UK has one of highest levels of dissatisfaction with democracy in the world, though other Western countries aren't far behind. Hopes that the ...

What has religion to do with sex? In conversation with Diarmaid MacCulloch

03 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

One of the major changes in Western society in the last half century is the so-called sexual revolution, and one way of understanding that is to see i...

Is it all over for the West? In conversation with Samir Puri

27 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The idea of the West – its foundations, its values, its future – has become much debated over recent months. What does the political rise of Chin...

Trailer: Series 10 of Reading Our Times

20 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Reading Our Times is back for its 10th series but this time, with a twist... Nick Spencer explores themes surrounding the West – its roots, its co...

Trailer: Motherhood vs The Machine

06 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Announcing a new four-part documentary podcast, Motherhood vs The Machine, where hosts Chine McDonald and Dr Madeleine Pennington look at what motherh...

Bookends: Unpacking Series 9 of Reading Our Times

17 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

With series 9 of Reading Our Times coming to an end, Nick Spencer takes a look back on the series and shares his thoughts on the ideas espoused by the...

How has our evolutionary past shaped us? In conversation with Harvey Whitehouse

10 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The claim that evolution can help us understand, even explain, the modern world and modern mind has not always had a happy history, veering between ov...

What is (The) Enlightenment? In conversation with Jonathan Clark

03 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Enlightenment has become weaponised over recent years. Numerous public figures, not all of them historians, have lined up to state defiantly that ...

Should Britain pay reparations for slavery? In conversation with Michael Banner

26 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The demand for post-colonial nations to pay reparations to, and for their treatment of, their former colonies has grown increasingly loud over recent ...

What is "woke"? In conversation with Susan Neiman

19 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Depending on who you are, you might understand “woke” to mean “concerned with fundamental human justice”. Alternatively, you might think its m...

Assisted Dying: What's really at stake? In conversation with Ilora Finlay and Julian Hughes

12 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Assisted Dying is back on the legislative agenda, with parliament voting on it this autumn. It is a profound and contentious debate about which good a...

Can poetry save us? In conversation with Charles Taylor

05 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For many people, many of whom would not call themselves religious or even spiritual, poetry is somehow able to enchant, to inspire, to heal– to give...

How Did the World Make the West? In conversation with Josephine Quinn

29 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

About 30 years ago, the American political philosopher Samuel Huntington wrote a hugely influential book entitled The clash of civilizations in which ...

Books and the Future of Civilisation live from How The Light Gets In

22 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We are emerging from the so-called “Gutenberg Parenthesis”, the 500 years in which the printed word dominated society, and embracing a new age of ...

The History of Science and Religion with Tom Holland

13 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Science and religion have a long history. According to some, it's a history of warfare; to others they are (or at least should be) non-overlapping. J...

Help Shape Reading Our Times: Take Our Quick Survey!

08 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Dear Reading Our Times listeners, We are growing and we need your help! Whether you're a long-time listener or a new follower, we would love to hear ...

How Can You Truly Know A Person? In conversation with David Brooks

04 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This series of Reading our Times has looked at a number of scientific issues that have cast questions of, and sometimes shadows on, human personhood. ...

Why is Mental Health so Bad Among the Young? In conversation with Abigail Shrier

21 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Pretty much every index for the mental health of young people in Britain and the US in particular is pointing in the wrong direction. More anxiety, mo...

What is a Life Worth? In conversation with Jenny Kleeman

21 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The question 'what is a life worth?' feels wrong; heretical even. Humans are infinitely valuable, we say. You can't put a price on a life. And yet we ...

Can Animals be Persons? In conversation with Mark Rowlands

14 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The idea that non-human animals should be recognised as legal persons has gained traction over recent years, and is the subject of numerous court case...

Should You Choose to Live Forever? In conversation with Stephen Cave

07 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Once upon a time, it was religions that promised eternal life. Now its science, with the possibility of immortality - whether bionic, cellular, geneti...

When will AI evolve a soul? In conversation with Eve Poole

30 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

AI is taking over the planet - or at least the news agenda! For hardly a day goes by without some AI story in the headlines. Should we believe what we...

What would it mean to discover alien life (or them us)? In conversation with Andrew Davison

23 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Little green men were once a complete fantasy - but the numbers appear to be on their side. The sheer size of the universe, the number of stars and, i...

Should we really be playing God? In conversation with Nick Spencer

16 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Every century is different - but the 21st may be seriously different, with our ability to understand, modify and re-create humanity having come on lig...

Will technology liberate or enslave us? Live in conversation with Robert Skidelsky

10 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's episode, recorded live at the UnHerd cafe in London, Nick Spencer speaks to Robert Skidelsky about his book The Machine Age: An Idea, a...

How have we changed the world - and how has it changed us? In conversation with Peter Frankopan

12 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Tuesday 5 July 2023 was, apparently, the hottest day ever recorded, and 2023 looks like its going to be the hottest year in human history. At this pac...

Who are the new elites? In conversation with Matt Goodwin

05 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

"Elites have open contempt for those who are not members of their rarefied class.” So claimed no less than Rupert Murdoch, friend of PMs and preside...

Who is responsible for feeding us (well)? In conversation with Pen Vogler

28 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Our relationship with food is unhealthy. While nearly 2/3 of English adults and 1/3 of children struggle with extra weight problems, there are current...

What does the end of the world look like? In conversation with Cal Flyn

21 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It’s a common fantasy. You wake up and there is no one there. Civilisation, order, humanity have crumbled. You are alone. Yet, in some parts of the ...

What makes a philosophical mind? In conversation with Dan Dennett

14 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For over 50 years now, Dan Dennett has written highly-praised, thoughtfully and provocatively on major philosophical issues. His ideas about consciou...

When is the next big crash? In conversation with Linda Yueh

07 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The age of boom and bust is over - we were told, shortly before the great crash of 2008-09. Such confidence is clearly ill-advised. Economies boom and...

What is a mind? In conversation with Philip Ball

31 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

You have a mind, right? At least, that's what you and those who know you will think. But would you say the same of your pet? What about creatures like...

What do we even mean by 'God'? In conversation with David Bentley Hart

24 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Everyone - even those who utter it with contempt - uses the word 'God'. But we don't all use it in the same way. Indeed, you could argue that we talk ...

Why are Pentecostals taking over the world? In conversation with Elle Hardy

04 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Pentecostalism is the fastest growing religious movement in history, with nearly 600 million Pentecostals worldwide. How did the movement originate? W...

How much does Britain cost? In conversation with Paul Johnson

27 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We raise over a trillion every year in tax, and spent a hundred billion more than that. But where do we get it from? Where do we spend it? And is it u...

What are the risks of going green? In conversation with Henry Sanderson

20 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We need to decarbonise, and fast. But 'going green' is not straightforward, not only practically but ethically. There is great potential there, but al...

What's happening to journalism? In conversation with Alan Rusbridger

13 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Journalism is bit like politics. As a rule, we say we don’t really trust either profession, and neither seems to be in particularly good health at t...

Can science make sense of life? In conversation with Prof. Sheila Jasanoff

06 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The ability to manipulate genetic material has never been greater, and is increasing all the time. With it comes the claim that genetics can makes sen...

What is the future of money? In conversation with Eswar Prasad

30 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Money is changing – and its changing fast and in a way that many of us find bewildering. Is cash on its way out? What is fintech? What actually is a...

Whatever happened to the human mind? In conversation with Marilynne Robinson

23 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The death of the self, of the soul, of the mind: time and again, science (or parascience) has declared the demise of a core dimension to human nature....

Science and religion: what's the story? In conversation with Nick Spencer

16 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Science and religion have a long history. According to some, it's a history of warfare; to others they are (or at least should be) non-overlapping. ...

Why tax is fun: In conversation with Michael Keen

20 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The late great American novelist David Foster Wallace, who had worked in a tax office, once remarked, “The whole subject of tax policy and administr...

Do Prime Ministers do God? In conversation with Mark Vickers

13 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The UK has a religoius Prime Minister - yet again! Rishi Sunak is the first Hindu to occupy the role, but there have been plenty more of the faithful ...

Whatever happened to civility? In conversation with Ann Hartle

06 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Are we are losing our civility and, with it, the space to disagree productively? Why? Where did the idea of 'civility' come from, where is it going, a...

Does development aid actually work? In conversation with Stefan Dercon

29 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We spend a lot of money on aid - although not as much as we used to. Does it work or is it, as some claim, a waste? And behind that, why do some count...

Have we got evolution wrong? In conversation with Simon Conway Morris

22 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

For all the fears over growing levels of creationism, evolution is widely accepted in the UK. But 'accepted' does not necessarily mean understood, par...

Does terrorism work? In conversation with Richard English

15 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Everyone knows that terrorism is wrong but - a tough question to answer objectively - does it work? And, depending on your answer to that question, ho...

How is the digital world changing our brain? In conversation with Maryanne Wolf

08 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Whereas once we read books and newspapers, and read them whole, the world is now mediated to us through screens, usually in much smaller gobbets. What...

What happened to the sexual revolution? In conversation with Louise Perry

01 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The liberation of the sexual revolution is increasingly looking anything but liberating, particularly for young women who are suffering a culture of t...

What will the world look like in 2050? In conversation with Hamish McRae

21 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What will the world be like a generation from now? Warmer and more crowded, certainly. But… richer? More peaceful? Healthier? Better educated? On Ma...

What is the soul? In conversation with John Cottingham

14 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Whatever else has happened to religious practice over the last 40 years, it doesn’t seem to have affected the way we talk about, or believe in, the ...

What do men want? In conversation with Nina Power

07 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Even allowing for the fact that relationship between the sexes has never been easy, we surely live in strangely anxious times when it comes to such ma...

Where does science end and pseudoscience begin? In conversation with Michael Gordin

31 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Anti-vaxxers, creation science, astrology – for supposedly rational times, irrational and pseudoscientific beliefs appear to be doing quite well. Wh...

How did we get into this mess? In conversation with Helen Thompson

24 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We live in strange, unsettling, perhaps even exceptional times. How did we get here? In particular, how have our dependence on energy, our need for ec...

Where did religion come from (and where is it going)? In conversation with Robin Dunbar

17 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The more religion dies, the more it stays alive, predictions of its imminent demise being as popular now as they were a hundred years ago. Why? Where ...

Can spying ever be ethical? In conversation with Cécile Fabre

10 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Strange as it may seem given what they do, ethics is very important to the intelligence services. But how do you – how even can you – spy ethicall...

Why trust science? In conversation with Naomi Oreskes

03 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Science is the basis of so much in the modern world that to ask why we should trust it seems unnecessary, even wrong. Yet, people do, and not all of t...

How do pandemics shape history? In conversation with Kyle Harper

21 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Covid-19 was not the first pandemic in history, and it won’t be the last. We have lived with disease throughout our history, and our history has acc...

What actually is the Common Good? In conversation with Anna Rowlands

14 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The Common Good is a remarkably popular phrase, used widely by the left and the right, the religious and the secular. But does it actually mean anythi...

How on earth should we talk about God? In conversation with Janet Soskice

07 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Even as formal religious adherence wanes (at least in the West), people go on talking about God and spiritual matters. But how is that even possible?...

Why is secularism failing? In conversation with Sumantra Bose

30 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Secularism is supposed to epitomise reasonableness and fairness – the refusal to favour one (non/religious) group over another. Yet, it is coming un...

What’s underneath the trans debate? In conversation with Helen Joyce

23 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Debates around sex, gender and identity have emerged as some of the most important, and heated, of our time. But what are the issues – scientific, p...

What is “the matter with things”? In conversation with Iain McGilchrist

16 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Iain McGilchrist rose to public prominence with his book 'The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World'. Now, in...

What can animals teach us about ourselves? In conversation with Frans de Waal

09 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

There was a time (and not so long ago) we thought animals were 'mere machines’, incapable of inner life or emotions. Now we know better and are begi...

What comes after liberalism? In conversation with Adrian Pabst

13 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The last 30 years have seen liberalism fall from heights of triumph at the end of the Cold War to a place of genuine fragility. Both in Western countr...

What does “being spiritual” actually mean? In conversation with Rowan Williams

06 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

People today often like to be considered “spiritual but not religious”. But what could that actually mean? All too often, the spiritual is juxtap...

What do we owe each other? In conversation with Minouche Shafik

29 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Given how much richer we are today than, say, 50 years ago, it is remarkable how many people think ‘the system’ is not working for them. Particula...

Where does language come from (and where is it going)? In conversation with Alexandra Aikhenvald

22 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Languages come and languages go – but mostly nowadays they go. According to the Cambridge Handbook of Endangered Languages, nearly 90% may have died...

What can cats tell us about the meaning of life? In conversation with John Gray

15 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Lockdown does strange things to people. After 20 years of marriage, Nick and his wife bought two cats for the family. They love them but they are myst...

What does science tell us about race? In conversation with Angela Saini

08 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

“Follow the science” we have been told – many times – over the last year. It makes good sense…and yet, there are times in history when soci...

What is the future for humanity? In conversation with Martin Rees

01 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

“It seems, just now,/ To be happening so very fast.” So wrote Philip Larkin in 1972 of the loss of the English countryside. Fifty years later, w...

How has war shaped us? In conversation with Margaret Macmillan

25 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

War seems to be omnipresent in human history and despite the number of people who have argued that the world is getting ever more peaceful, it remains...

Series two trailer

17 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In the first series of Reading Our Times we looked at meritocracy, secularism, dementia, liberalism and much else besides. In this series, we’ll be...

Can liberalism ever ‘get’ religion? In conversation with Cécile Laborde

15 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Liberalism and religion have had an intimate and sometimes tempestuous relationship over the years. In recent decades, a number of people have claimed...

Is the law damaging our politics? In conversation with Jonathan Sumption

01 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

We live in an age of ever expanding law and of rampant political cynicism. Perhaps the two are connected? Nick Spencer talks to former BBC Reith lect...

How has the divided brain shaped the modern world? In conversation with Iain McGilchrist

24 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Humans see and understand the world in different ways, ways that appear to map onto the brain’s function and in particular its hemispheric nature. B...

What's wrong with rights? In conversation with Nigel Biggar

17 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The concept of ‘rights’ tends to provoke a strong response from people today: some hold them in quasi–religious esteem, while others consider th...

Why is the West becoming so unequal and what can we do about it? In conversation with Thomas Piketty

10 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Levels of inequality, particularly in the West, have been growing steadily over the last 50 years, and they seem likely to accelerate in the wake of C...

What can dementia teach us about being human? In conversation with Nicci Gerrard

03 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Approximately 850,000 people in the UK today are living with dementia – and that number is just set to grow. But what actually is dementia? What doe...

What does it mean to live in a secular age? In conversation with Charles Taylor

27 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

We live in “a secular age”, but what does that actually mean? How does secularism relate to religion? And how should it? Nick Spencer talks to th...

What’s wrong with meritocracy? In conversation with Michael Sandel

15 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In the first episode of Reading Our Times, Nick Spencer talks to leading political philosopher Michael Sandel about the pitfalls of meritocracy.

Introducing Reading Our Times

08 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Nick Spencer introduces new podcast from Theos Think Tank 'Reading Our Times'