In this episode, had the pleasure of speaking with . Paul is the founder and CEO of Kosmik, a tech startup based in France. Paul is also deeply knowledgeable about the history of computing and the ideas that animate it, and Samuel wanted to discuss these ideas with him.

Samuel and Paul had a chance to discuss how Paul became interested in computing history, his own experiences with older computers, and the importance of the intellectual history and ideas that suffuse these technologies. They talked about the value of playing with old computers, the changing nature of programming as well as what hasn't changed, preserving old software and hardware, and even the best ways of learning about the history of computing. And of course, they talked about HyperCard, one of the wildest pieces of software ever.

In this episode, had the pleasure of speaking with Nicholas Bergson-Shilcock. Nick is the cofounder and CEO of the Recurse Center, a kind of retreat for programmers and community for people to work at what they term the edge of their abilities. RC has been running these self-directed retreats since 2011 and the company is a very intentional effort in fostering curiosity and is informed by the philosophy of unschooling.

Samuel and Nick had a chance to discuss his unschooling experience and how he became interested in coding, the founding of what eventually became the Recurse Center, and how it developed. They talked about the uniqueness of RC's model, how Nick thinks about AI and programming, and the intentional culture of RC. Sonnet 4.6

In this episode, had the pleasure of speaking with Corey Maley. Corey is an associate professor of philosophy at Purdue University who explores the philosophy of science and computation, focusing on cognitive science, the nature of computation both digital and analog, and how brains compute.

Samuel and Corey had a chance to discuss the nature of analog computation and what people get wrong about it, the ways in which neurons are likely analog computers not digital ones, and even the implications for AI and consciousness. They talked about the history of computing, what computation is, and even explored some intriguing issues at the intersection of philosophy and computing.

In this episode, had the pleasure of speaking with Joel Simon. Joel is a fascinating creator who works at the intersection of art and computational research, particularly in the realm of AI and creativity. He is the creator of Artbreeder, a biologically inspired tool for navigating the space of AI images, and has also worked on many other projects, such as evolving floorplans, a digital puppet theater, and generating computational paintbrushes. He is also the author of a new essay entitled "Beyond Slop" which explores how to think about creativity and AI.

Samuel and Joel had a chance to discuss how Joel thinks about his work, the nature of evolutionary algorithms and his interest in them, and the origins of Artbreeder. They also spent time discussing his new essay, and the need for creating computational tools that expand self-expression rather than limiting it, and how to think more broadly about creativity and AI.

In this episode, is excited to welcome David Edmonds back to the podcast. Dave is the cohost of the Philosophy Bites podcast as well as the bestselling author of numerous books about philosophy. Last time they spoke about his book Death in a Shallow Pond: A Philosopher, A Drowning Child, and Strangers in Need, and this time they discuss Parfit, his biography of the philosopher Derek Parfit, one of the most influential moral philosophers of the modern era. The book explores the life and philosophy of Parfit, and is simply delightful — a wonderful exploration of Parfit’s personality, his ideas, and his relationships with others.

Dave and Samuel discuss what prompted him to write this book and the origins of the biography, as well as his personal relationship to Derek Parfit and Parfit’s wife, the philosopher Janet Radcliffe Richards. They explore Parfit’s philosophy on personal identity, self-defeating moral theories, and non-identity and population ethics. But they also discuss Parfit as a person, including how he changed over his life and his combination of extreme kindness and self-absorption. They even explore how All Souls College at Oxford was the ideal place for a genius such as Parfit.

In this episode, welcomes back Edward Ashton. Edward is a science fiction writer and the author of numerous novels, including Mickey7, which served as the basis for the film Mickey 17. The two last spoke about Ashton’s novel The Fourth Consort, a compelling first-contact story, and he now returns to discuss his new book, After the Fall.

After the Fall is a delightful and thought-provoking novel set on a post-apocalyptic Earth where an alien civilization has settled on the planet and domesticated humans. Despite the premise, the book is surprisingly fun and funny, featuring a goofy alien who owns the story’s main human character. Ashton’s publisher sent Arbesman an advance copy, which he quickly devoured, eager to dig deeper into the novel’s ideas with its author.

Their conversation explores the origins of After the Fall, the concept of domestication and how we think—or perhaps should think—about it, and a distinctive feature of the alien species known as the Grays called “absenting,” along with its parallels in bull elephants. They also touch on the deliberately ambiguous future history of the book and venture into larger themes, including human mediocrity, the Great Filter, and humanity’s own self-destructive possibilities.

In this episode, speaks with Lori Emerson, a professor of Media Studies at University of Colorado Boulder and the founding director of the Media Archaeology Lab, where Arbesman serves as an advisor. Emerson’s work sits at the crossroads of media, technology, and history—a perspective embodied by the Lab’s hands-on approach to preserving older technologies and keeping them alive through use, not just observation.

The conversation also explores Emerson’s recent book, Other Networks: A Radical Technology Sourcebook, which treats the idea of the “network” as something far older and stranger than the modern internet. Drawing on examples ranging from pagers and flag signaling to pneumatic tubes—and even the memex envisioned by Vannevar Bush—the book radically expands how we think about connectivity across technological history.

Together, Arbesman and Emerson discuss how she approaches her research, the practice of media archaeology, and how engaging directly with obsolete or forgotten technologies can stretch our collective imagination about what technology has been—and what it might yet become. Their conversation ranges from the deep logic of networks to Emerson’s enthusiasm for radio, and the vital role artists play in pushing new technologies into unexpected territory.

In this episode, speaks with , a builder obsessed with learning and community, and the cofounder of Hyperlink and Leaflet—projects devoted to helping people learn together and share knowledge in public.

Samuel and Brendan trace the history of Hyperlink and the learning communities it sparked, and how that work ultimately led to Leaflet: a tool designed to make publishing and sharing online feel effortless again. Along the way, they explore learning and education, the strange power of lists, personal canons, antilibraries, practical advice for connection (online and off), and even why a two-person book club can be unexpectedly transformative.

In this episode, speaks with , a technologist and researcher currently building Deep Future, an AI tool designed to facilitate scenario planning. Gordon has worked in design and engineering at organizations including Mozilla and Google, where he used scenario planning in practice—and he’s now aiming to democratize the framework more broadly.

Together, Samuel and Gordon explore the history and mechanics of scenario planning: what it is, how it works, and what it’s actually useful for. They dig into risk versus uncertainty, epistemic humility, and Knightian uncertainty, along with the research process behind building scenarios—and the common perils and misuses that can turn the practice into self-deception. They also discuss Gordon’s AI-powered approach with Deep Future (which Samuel is advising) and how scenario planning has reshaped Gordon’s understanding of society and the world.

In this episode, speaks with , a researcher who studies the nature of societal collapse and the author of the blog ⁠⁠. Existential Crunch examines and summarizes scientific work in this space, serving as a living literature review of research on societal collapse.

Samuel and Florian discuss the origins of Existential Crunch, the radically interdisciplinary nature of collapse studies, and how the field cuts across domains—from the statistical study of history and the rise and fall of civilizations to catastrophic and existential risk, and the mechanics of societal resilience. They also explore what collapse might feel like from the inside, and whether we could already be living through a slow-motion version of it.

In this episode, speaks with novelist Dexter Palmer, the author of three books that deliberately resist easy categorization. As they discuss, Palmer’s work can be thought of as literary fiction infused with science-fictional tropes and textures. His debut, The Dream of Perpetual Motion, is a kind of steampunk tale; Version Control explores a near-future world with dollops of time travel; and Mary Toft; or, The Rabbit Queen is historical fiction drawn from the real 18th-century case of a woman who claimed—falsely—to be giving birth to rabbits.

Together, Arbesman and Palmer talk through Palmer’s novels, the nature of realism in science fiction, how to build a lived-in near future, the tradeoffs of exposition and “info dumps,” the strangeness of AI, the parallels between historical fiction and science fiction, and more

In this episode, speaks with , executive director of the Good Science Project—a think tank devoted to better understanding how science is done and funded. Stuart previously served as a vice president at Arnold Ventures, where he focused (among other things) on scientific practice and reproducibility, and he holds a PhD in education policy and a JD. Stuart also wrote a fascinating essay last year for Palladium Magazine titled “The Case for Crazy Philanthropy,” and Samuel wanted to explore the idea with him.

Together, they discuss the nature and history of “crazy philanthropy,” why we don’t see more of it, and how to incentivize everything from risk-taking to new—and genuinely weird—types of research institutions. They also dig into metascience, neglected research, and federal science funding more broadly, including potential scenarios for where U.S. science might head next. This conversation was recorded in September 2025, so a few references may be slightly dated.

*Conected to this conversation Sam recently published a post in Asimov Press on “Why Do Research Institutes Often Look the Same?”. Check it out

Asimov Press

Why Do Research Institutes Often Look the Same?

In biology, genetic variation often results in things that look more or less the same. Despite the panoply of genetic sequences in our cells, for example, we end up with a limited number of tissue types. This is known as canalization, the idea that, despite genetic variation, environmental forces, and randomness, lots of genotypes yield the same phenotype. This is why many…

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3 months ago · 76 likes · 6 comments · Samuel Arbesman and Asimov Press

In this episode, host speaks with writer, researcher, and entrepreneur ⁠⁠. Max is the cofounder of multiple AI companies and the author of the fascinating book⁠ ⁠A Brief History of Intelligence⁠⁠: Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains. This book offers a deeply researched look at the nature of intelligence and how biological history has led to this phenomenon. It explores aspects of evolution, the similarities and differences between AI and human intelligence, many features of neuroscience, and more.

In this episode, ⁠ speaks with Peter Bebergal⁠. Peter is a writer and the author of numerous books, and the editor, most recently, of Appendix N: Weird Tales From the Roots of Dungeons & Dragons. Dungeons and Dragons was created by Gary Gygax and draws from numerous sources, which Gygax listed in Appendix N of his Dungeon Master’s Guide. Peter took this list as the basis for creating a fascinating collection of stories that inspired D&D.

Peter and Sam talked about the origins of this book and how he chose what to include in the anthology. But they also spoke more broadly about pulp and high fantasy, remixing and creativity in the role playing world, and even how all of this led to Peter’s favorite parts of the Internet.

In this episode, host ⁠ speaks with novelist⁠ ⁠⁠. A longtime fan of Lev’s novels, the Sam delves into his works, including⁠ ⁠The Magicians trilogy⁠⁠—a splendid set of books about a university for magic, fantastical worlds, and much more. These books are amazing. Lev’s newest book is the novel⁠ ⁠The Bright Sword⁠⁠, a retelling of the legends of King Arthur, particularly focusing on what happens after Arthur dies.

The Sam devoured The Bright Sword and found it fascinating. It’s a book that weaves together ideas about gods and magic, the layering of myths across history, and much more—all topics explored in the conversation with Lev.
Lev and Sam discuss the story of King Arthur, its gaps and its history, the layering of gods and stories over time, the nature of magic and religion, the importance of secondary worlds, and the magic in The Magicians versus the magic of The Bright Sword. They even have a chance to discuss Lev’s next project, which is a space opera.

In this episode, host ⁠⁠ speaks with⁠ Adrian Tchaikovsky⁠⁠, the celebrated novelist of numerous science fiction and fantasy books, including his Children of Time series, Final Architects series, and The Doors of Eden. Among many other topics, Adrian’s novels often explore evolutionary history, combining “what-if” questions with an expansive view of the possible directions biology can take, with implications for both Earth and alien life. This is particularly evident in The Doors of Eden, which examines alternate potential paths for evolution and intelligence on Earth.

Sam was interested in speaking with Adrian to learn how he thinks about evolution, how he builds the worlds in his stories, and how he envisions the far future of human civilization. They discussed a wide range of topics, including short-term versus long-term thinking, terraforming planets versus altering human biology for space, the Fermi Paradox and SETI, the logic of evolution, world-building, and even how advances in AI relate to science fiction depictions of artificial intelligence.

In this episode, speaks with — a writer, musician, and now researcher in cosmology. Julian was part of Toasted Heretic, an Irish rock group, has written novels for both children and adults, and even composed Minecraft’s end poem. More recently, he has turned his attention to cosmology, exploring ideas at the intersection of evolution and universe formation to better understand why the cosmos is the way it is. He writes about this work in his newsletter ⁠The Egg and the Rock⁠, where he argues that “our universe appears to be the result of an evolutionary process at the level of universes,” drawing on recent data from across many fields.

Samuel and Julian discuss his career in music and writing, and how he gradually became drawn into big questions about cosmology. Their conversation explores cosmological natural selection, the idea of the universe as a developmental process, Julian’s blowtorch theory, and the challenges and opportunities of doing research outside the scientific establishment. Along the way, they consider the implications for our understanding of the cosmos, the role of intelligent life in the universe, how scientific paradigm shifts occur, and the value of interdisciplinary thinking.

In this episode, speaks with⁠ ⁠⁠, a science writer, and formerly a longtime editor at the science journal Nature. Philip is the author of the fantastic new book⁠ ⁠“How Life Works: A User’s Guide to the New Biology.”⁠⁠
Samuel wanted to talk to Philip because he loved this book. It’s fascinating and deeply provocative, even for someone with a PhD in computational biology—though Samuel’s might be a bit worn and out of date—and yet he still learned so much. The book examines how new advances in our understanding of biology have led scientists to understand that life is far less deterministic than we might imagine. For example, cells are not really machines, as some might have thought, but complex and messy yet robust systems. And while DNA and genes are important, there is so much more going on, from the processes that give rise to the shape of our limbs and our bodies, to how all of this can have implications for rethinking medicine and disease.

In this episode, speaks with game designer and researcher ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, the author of the fantastic new book Building SimCity: How to Put the World in a Machine.⁠⁠

As is probably clear from the title, this new book is about the creation of SimCity, but it’s also about much more than that: it’s about the deep prehistory and ideas that went into the game — from system dynamics to cellular automata — as well as a broader history of Maxis, the company behind SimCity. Chaim previously worked with SimCity’s creator Will Wright on the game Spore, where he designed the Spore Creature Creator. Because of this, Chaim’s deep knowledge of Maxis, his access to the folks there, and his excitement about SimCity and everything around it makes him the perfect person to have written this book.

In this episode, Sam and Chaim discuss Chaim’s experience at Maxis, the uniqueness of SimCity, early 90’s gaming, the rise and fall of Maxis, Will Wright and his role translating scientific ideas for a general audience, and much more.

Tinkered Thinking is the pseudonym of the author behind White Mirror, a collection of stories that explore the implications of artificial intelligence and advances in computing—while offering a more optimistic lens than much of contemporary science fiction.

In this episode, speaks with Tinkered Thinking about the origins of these stories and his broader evolution as a writer, including his shift from a kind of Luddism toward a more forward-looking view of technological progress. Their conversation ranges across how we examine ideas about the future, societal blind spots around technology, the impact and importance of AI, concerns about AI doomers, and the kind of future he hopes we might create.