Al Alvarez hosts a discussion of the Jewish contribution to western culture
Frank Kermode argues that our culture seems to be in decline
A discussion of how the dictates of commercialism force a new fashion in art each year
Discussing whether an authoritarian system can produce more creativity than the free West
John Berger and Susan Sontag exchange ideas on the 'lost art' of story-telling
Richard Sennett argues that movements defined by sexuality could be diminished
David Edgar argues that an ominous change is taking place in British theatre
Mary Warnock questions a separate feminist approach to art and literature
Andre Gorz argues that technological change will dispense with work as we know it
Terry Eagleton argues that literature is in crisis, isolated from society's major concerns
Fritjof Capra argues that the mechanical world-view of Newton and Descartes is outmoded
Professor Ted Honderich chairs a discussion of the relationship between mind and brain
Ted Honderich, professor of philosophy at University College, London, introduces the second of 10 arguments highlighting the turmoil of contemporary ideas which challenge our perception of ourselves and the world we live in. Rapid and extraordinary developments in computer science have given birth to a new discipline — artificial intelligence — and with it have come new philosophical and psychological models of human beings. Margaret Boden, professor of philosophy and psychology at Sussex University, argues that computers will be able to replicate unique human qualities such as intelligence, understanding and consciousness. John Searle, professor of philosophy at the University of California Berkeley, sets out to prove that computers cannot, under any circumstances, have human qualities. "
Technologies of Freedom? Exploring the underlying implications of the high tech revolution
A discussion on the implications of Artificial Intelligence
A discussion on the relationship of the human world with the animal world
A discussion on the validity of the science of sociobiology
Discussing whether socialism and liberalism will give way to a new post-modern politics
A look at how if the new art is to survive, it must maintain its position of 'marginality'
Few would doubt that science opens the only real gate to truth. But increasingly, the highly questionable nature of technological progress has led to creeping doubt. How true are the laws and methods of science? Kurt Hubner argues that science is merely one construction of reality, no more or less true than many other forms of knowledge displaced by science. He discusses this with Bob Young and Professor John Charap. Introduced by Roy Porter.
How the intellectual should involve him/herself in the political/social issues of the day