2014 Festival [Free Thinking]

Title

First
Broadcast

Repeated

Comments

Animals: Watching Us Watching Them Watching Each Other

20141113

20150819 (R3)

50 years ago Jane Goodall got into trouble for suggesting chimps displayed personalities and moods. ' Foul! ' cried scientists, 'that's Anthropomorphism!' Today, the fact that animals recognise individuals within their group, choose whom to copy, and whom to learn from - and that their populations have distinct social traditions and behaviours - suggests that culture is not an exclusively human attribute.

Rana Mitter talks to the primatologist, Andrew Whiten, Professor of Evolutionary and Development Psychology at St Andrews, to Dr Katie Slocombe of York University and to the social anthropologist, Professor Alex Bentley of Bristol University, about chimps and imitation, culture and evolution - from the deep past to our digital present.

Recorded in front of an audience at BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival of Ideas at Sage Gateshead in 2014.

All the discussions and essays from the Free Thinking festival are available as Radio 3 Arts and Ideas downloads.

Rana Mitter explores the links between the behaviour of animals and humans.

Bringing The Rich To Book: John Lanchester On The Language Of Money

20141112

John Lanchester explores the wealth gap in Britain with Matthew Sweet. From Dickens to the dead cat bounce, fairness and the role of the FSA to fat finger mistakes, bailouts and Bitcoin - how easy is it to understand the language of money?

John Lanchester is the author of the novel Capital and popular studies of the financial crisis Whoops! Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No One Can Pay and How To Speak Money

Recorded in front of an audience at BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival of Ideas at Sage Gateshead

All the discussions and essays from the Free Thinking festival are available as Radio 3 Arts and Ideas downloads.

John Lanchester discusses the wealth gap, banking and how we understand the economy.

Burning The Facts: The Link Between Lord Lucan And Joan Of Arc

20141106

Which historical 'facts' should be burned on the fire? How do you comb ancient and recent times for evidence?

Rana Mitter is joined by Helen Castor and Laura Thompson to discuss the ways mythmaking can cloud history.

Laura Thompson's books include Life in a Cold Climate:Nancy Mitford - A Portrait of a Contradictory Woman, An English Mystery: A Life of Agatha Christie and A Different Class of Murder:The Mysterious Case of Lord Lucan.

Helen Castor is the author of Joan of Arc and writer and presenter of the TV series She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England and the book it was based upon.

Recorded in front of an audience at BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival of Ideas at Sage, Gateshead. All the discussions and essays from the Free Thinking festival are available as Radio 3 Arts and Ideas downloads.

Producer: Harry Parker.

Historian Helen Castor and biographer Laura Thompson discuss myths, mysteries and evidence

Fear Or Wonder: Everything Under The Moon

20141125

Naomi Alderman, Roger Luckhurst and BALTIC curator Alessandro Vincentelli join Matthew Sweet to discuss how science fiction and space travel change our view of this world and to discuss whether the limits of our knowledge about the future make us scared or optimistic? BALTIC's They Used To Call It The Moon brings together artworks to reflect the new space race. The BFI has curated a 3 month season of science fiction film screenings and events around the UK.

Professor Roger Luckhurst from Birkbeck College, University of London has written about J. G. Ballard, a cultural history of science fiction, and about the film Alien for the BFI Classic book series.

Naomi Alderman is a novelist and author of many short stories which consider the future. She is also co-creator of the online game Zombies, Run!

Alessandro Vincentelli is Curator of Exhibitions & Research at BALTIC and has curated the exhibition They Used to Call it the Moon which runs until January 11th.

The Star and Shadow cinema in Newcastle is running a series of science fiction film screenings and events.

Recorded in front of an audience at Sage, Gateshead as part of Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival of Ideas. Part of a series of programmes on BBC Radio 3 exploring science fiction.

All the discussions and essays from the Free Thinking festival are available as Radio 3 Arts and Ideas downloads.

Have science fiction and space travel changed people's relationship with the world?

From Flat Caps To Benefit Caps

20141110

20150828 (R3)

Anne McElvoy explores whether it is worth getting hot under the collar about blue collar history with historian Alison Light, David Almond and Eliza Carthy. Once upon a time the working class were heroes; their close-knit communities were celebrated. Has this working class disappeared along with the great industries - steel, coal and ship-building - that brought them into being? Is the working class now a figment of other people's dreams or nightmares?

Alison Light is the author of Common People: The History of an English Family, and a Visiting Professor in the School of English at Newcastle University

David Almond's novels for children and teenagers include Skellig, A Song for Ella Gray and My Name is Mina. His new novel for adults is The Tightrope Walkers.

Eliza Carthy has performed as a singer/songwriter and fiddle player for 21 years, presenting a range of music including ballads relating folk history. She is the current Folkworks Artistic Associate at Sage.

The discussion was recorded in front of an audience at BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival of Ideas at Sage Gateshead in 2014.

All the discussions and essays from the Free Thinking festival are available as Radio 3 Arts and Ideas downloads.

David Almond, Eliza Carthy and Alison Light debate working class history with Anne McElvoy

Happy Talk: Beatrix Campbell, Vincent Deary And Paul Dolan

20141119

20150826 (R3)

How much self-knowledge do you need to be happy - and what are the limits to what you can achieve alone? Paul Dolan, Vincent Deary and Beatrix Campbell ask why everybody from governments to therapists want us to be happy. Chaired by Rana Mitter.

Paul Dolan is Professor of Behavioural Science at the London School of Economics, a government advisor on well being and author of Happiness by Design.

Dr Vincent Deary is a senior lecturer in health psychology at Northumbria University. The first book in his trilogy about how to live is called How We Are.

Beatrix Campbell received the OBE for 'services to equal opportunities'. Her most recent book is End of Equality.

Recorded in front of an audience at BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival of Ideas at Sage Gateshead in 2014.

All the discussions and essays from the Free Thinking festival are available as Radio 3 Arts and Ideas downloads.

Rana Mitter and a panel consider 'how much self-knowledge do we need to be happy?'.

Imagining Turkey: Elif Shafak In Conversation

20141111

20150821 (R3)

Turkey's best selling female writer, Elif Shafak, has been published in more than 40 countries. Her books, including The Forty Rules of Love, The Bastard of Istanbul and Black Milk - her memoir of motherhood and depression, reflect her interest in building connections between Western and Eastern traditions. Her cosmopolitan voice is of particular importance in a year when the Middle East has been undergoing enormous shifts, and both nationalism and xenophobia are on the rise around the world.

She talks to Anne McElvoy about imagination and storytelling as she publishes her new novel The Architect's Apprentice.

The conversation was recorded in front of an audience at BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival of Ideas at Sage Gateshead in 2014

All the discussions and essays from the Free Thinking festival are available as Radio 3 Arts and Ideas downloads.

Turkish writer Elif Shafak joins Anne McElvoy in conversation at Sage Gateshead.

Karen Armstrong

20141030

20141031 (R3)

Karen Armstrong, one of the world's leading thinkers about religion, gives the Free Thinking Lecture, arguing that, in the current global situation, a recognition of how little we know is the only way to peace.

A former Roman Catholic nun, Armstrong has addressed members of the US congress. She was appointed by Kofi Annan to join the United Nations group 'The Alliance of Civilisation' and, in 2008, won the TED prize. She is the author of more than 20 books on faith, including The Case For God and Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence.

She talks to Rana Mitter and takes questions from the audience.

Recorded earlier this evening in front of an audience at BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival of Ideas 2014 from Sage Gateshead.

Producer: Fiona McLean.

Karen Armstrong argues that a recognition of how little we know is the only way to peace.

Knowing Your Characters: David Greig And Siobhan Redmond In Conversation

20141118

Matthew Sweet talks to playwright David Greig and actor Siobhan Redmond about their approaches to drama. How much do you have to know about the characters and the story before you begin? How has theatre contributed to the recent discussions about Scottish identity ?

David Greig, the National Theatre of Scotland's first Dramaturg, is one of our leading playwrights whose work has been produced around the world, including Dunsinane, his sequel to Macbeth, The Events, written after the Breivik massacre in Norway; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and his Yes/No plays on Twitter before the Scottish referendum.

Siobhan Redmond has worked in theatre, television and radio including work for the RSC, National Theatre of Scotland and Renaissance

Theatre Company. She played the role of Gruach (Lady Macbeth) in Greig's Dunsinane.

Recorded in front of audiences at the BBC Radio 3 Free Thinking Festival of Ideas at Sage Gateshead. The festival theme this year is The Limits of Knowledge.

All the discussions and essays from the Free Thinking festival are available as Radio 3 Arts and Ideas downloads.

Producer: Fiona McLean.

Siobhan Redmond and David Greig discuss drama and how much one has to know about a play.

Knowing Your Enemy: Andrey Kurkov, Gabrielle Rifkind, John Kampfner

20141103

Anne McElvoy chairs a discussion exploring protest, foreign policy, intervention and peace-making.

Andrey Kurkov is the Ukrainian author of best-selling novels, including Death and the Penguin; he has recorded his experience of living through unpredictable times in his Ukraine Diaries.

Conflict resolution expert Gabrielle Rifkind is Director of the Middle East programme at Oxford Research Group and author of The Fog of Peace

Journalist John Kampfner is columnist for and former editor of the New Statesman magazine. He began his career as a foreign correspondent reporting on the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the collapse of Soviet communism. His books include Blair's Wars, Freedom For Sale and The Rich: From Slaves to Super-Yachts: A 2,000 Year History.

Recorded in front of an audience at BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival of Ideas at Sage, Gateshead.

Producer: Harry Parker.

Right Thinking People

20141105

David Willetts MP and the writer and philosopher Roger Scruton discuss the best way to foster knowledge in schools and universities and whether politicians have become too professionalised. In an age when many politicians have never had other jobs, are we better off with representatives who have specialist knowledge from careers forged outside Westminster?

Roger Scruton is the author of books including The Soul Of The World, The Palgrave MacMillan Dictionary of Political Thought and How to Be a Conservative.

The Rt Hon David Willetts MP was Minister for Universities and Science, attending Cabinet from 2010 to 2014. He has held various posts in the Shadow Cabinet and has worked at HM Treasury, and the Number 10 Policy Unit. He is a member of the Council of the Institute for Fiscal Studies and has written widely on economic and social policy including The Pinch: How the Baby Boomers Took Their Children's Future, and Why They Should Give it Back.

The conversation is chaired by Anne McElvoy and was recorded in front of an audience at the Free Thinking Festival at Sage, Gateshead.

All the discussions and essays from the festival are available as Radio 3 Arts and Ideas downloads.

David Willetts MP and Roger Scruton discuss how much specialist knowledge politicians need

The Cost Of Free Information

20141120

Against a backdrop of perceived excess of intellectual property, and problems that require solving with a matter of urgency, Rana Mitter and his panel test the promises of the internet to spread ideas quickly and democratically.

Jodie Ginsburg is the Chief Executive of Index on Censorship and former London bureau chief for Reuters.

Dr Rufus Pollock is Founder and President of Open Knowledge, an international non profit organisation which promotes making data and information accessible.

Kenneth Cukier is Data Editor for The Economist magazine.

From advocates of open source who claim that information should be set free from to new economic models that purport to place cooperation over competition, the discussion looks at what these changes mean and how they ripple out to affect our behaviour offline as well as on - disrupting notions of ownership and originality.

Recorded in front of an audience at BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival of Ideas at Sage Gateshead. The festival theme this year was the limits of knowledge.

All the discussions and essays from the Free Thinking festival are available as Radio 3 Arts and Ideas downloads.

Producer: Georgia Catt.

Rana Mitter hosts a debate asking if the internet can make knowledge open to all.

You Must See This

20141104

20150825 (R3)

Matthew Sweet explores the way digital media have transformed our cultural interests. Superfans can now bury themselves in online recommendations but are these helping us, or simply trapping us into consuming more of the same? Are we now risk averse?

Naomi Alderman is the author of novels including The Liars' Gospel, The Lessons and Disobedience and an online games creator of Zombies, Run!

Dave Hepworth is a music journalist who helped launch magazines including Empire, Q, Mojo, Heat and The Word.

Kei Miller is a poet whose collections include The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion, which has been nominated for this year's Forward Prize for Poetry

Serena Kutchinsky is Prospect Magazine's Digital Editor. Previously, she was the Assistant Digital Editor of The Sunday Times and helped launch their award-winning website and tablet edition.

Recorded in front of an audience at BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival of Ideas at Sage, Gateshead

You can download this programme by searching in the Arts and Ideas podcasts for the broadcast date.

Matthew Sweet chairs a debate exploring technology's impact on cultural taste.

Episodes

Title	First Broadcast	Repeated	Comments
Animals: Watching Us Watching Them Watching Each Other	20141113	20150819 (R3)	50 years ago Jane Goodall got into trouble for suggesting chimps displayed personalities and moods. ' Foul! ' cried scientists, 'that's Anthropomorphism!' Today, the fact that animals recognise individuals within their group, choose whom to copy, and whom to learn from - and that their populations have distinct social traditions and behaviours - suggests that culture is not an exclusively human attribute. Rana Mitter talks to the primatologist, Andrew Whiten, Professor of Evolutionary and Development Psychology at St Andrews, to Dr Katie Slocombe of York University and to the social anthropologist, Professor Alex Bentley of Bristol University, about chimps and imitation, culture and evolution - from the deep past to our digital present. Recorded in front of an audience at BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival of Ideas at Sage Gateshead in 2014. All the discussions and essays from the Free Thinking festival are available as Radio 3 Arts and Ideas downloads. Rana Mitter explores the links between the behaviour of animals and humans.
Bringing The Rich To Book: John Lanchester On The Language Of Money	20141112		John Lanchester explores the wealth gap in Britain with Matthew Sweet. From Dickens to the dead cat bounce, fairness and the role of the FSA to fat finger mistakes, bailouts and Bitcoin - how easy is it to understand the language of money? John Lanchester is the author of the novel Capital and popular studies of the financial crisis Whoops! Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No One Can Pay and How To Speak Money Recorded in front of an audience at BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival of Ideas at Sage Gateshead All the discussions and essays from the Free Thinking festival are available as Radio 3 Arts and Ideas downloads. John Lanchester discusses the wealth gap, banking and how we understand the economy.
Burning The Facts: The Link Between Lord Lucan And Joan Of Arc	20141106		Which historical 'facts' should be burned on the fire? How do you comb ancient and recent times for evidence? Rana Mitter is joined by Helen Castor and Laura Thompson to discuss the ways mythmaking can cloud history. Laura Thompson's books include Life in a Cold Climate:Nancy Mitford - A Portrait of a Contradictory Woman, An English Mystery: A Life of Agatha Christie and A Different Class of Murder:The Mysterious Case of Lord Lucan. Helen Castor is the author of Joan of Arc and writer and presenter of the TV series She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England and the book it was based upon. Recorded in front of an audience at BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival of Ideas at Sage, Gateshead. All the discussions and essays from the Free Thinking festival are available as Radio 3 Arts and Ideas downloads. Producer: Harry Parker. Historian Helen Castor and biographer Laura Thompson discuss myths, mysteries and evidence
Fear Or Wonder: Everything Under The Moon	20141125		Naomi Alderman, Roger Luckhurst and BALTIC curator Alessandro Vincentelli join Matthew Sweet to discuss how science fiction and space travel change our view of this world and to discuss whether the limits of our knowledge about the future make us scared or optimistic? BALTIC's They Used To Call It The Moon brings together artworks to reflect the new space race. The BFI has curated a 3 month season of science fiction film screenings and events around the UK. Professor Roger Luckhurst from Birkbeck College, University of London has written about J. G. Ballard, a cultural history of science fiction, and about the film Alien for the BFI Classic book series. Naomi Alderman is a novelist and author of many short stories which consider the future. She is also co-creator of the online game Zombies, Run! Alessandro Vincentelli is Curator of Exhibitions & Research at BALTIC and has curated the exhibition They Used to Call it the Moon which runs until January 11th. The Star and Shadow cinema in Newcastle is running a series of science fiction film screenings and events. Recorded in front of an audience at Sage, Gateshead as part of Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival of Ideas. Part of a series of programmes on BBC Radio 3 exploring science fiction. All the discussions and essays from the Free Thinking festival are available as Radio 3 Arts and Ideas downloads. Have science fiction and space travel changed people's relationship with the world?
From Flat Caps To Benefit Caps	20141110	20150828 (R3)	Anne McElvoy explores whether it is worth getting hot under the collar about blue collar history with historian Alison Light, David Almond and Eliza Carthy. Once upon a time the working class were heroes; their close-knit communities were celebrated. Has this working class disappeared along with the great industries - steel, coal and ship-building - that brought them into being? Is the working class now a figment of other people's dreams or nightmares? Alison Light is the author of Common People: The History of an English Family, and a Visiting Professor in the School of English at Newcastle University David Almond's novels for children and teenagers include Skellig, A Song for Ella Gray and My Name is Mina. His new novel for adults is The Tightrope Walkers. Eliza Carthy has performed as a singer/songwriter and fiddle player for 21 years, presenting a range of music including ballads relating folk history. She is the current Folkworks Artistic Associate at Sage. The discussion was recorded in front of an audience at BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival of Ideas at Sage Gateshead in 2014. All the discussions and essays from the Free Thinking festival are available as Radio 3 Arts and Ideas downloads. David Almond, Eliza Carthy and Alison Light debate working class history with Anne McElvoy
Happy Talk: Beatrix Campbell, Vincent Deary And Paul Dolan	20141119	20150826 (R3)	How much self-knowledge do you need to be happy - and what are the limits to what you can achieve alone? Paul Dolan, Vincent Deary and Beatrix Campbell ask why everybody from governments to therapists want us to be happy. Chaired by Rana Mitter. Paul Dolan is Professor of Behavioural Science at the London School of Economics, a government advisor on well being and author of Happiness by Design. Dr Vincent Deary is a senior lecturer in health psychology at Northumbria University. The first book in his trilogy about how to live is called How We Are. Beatrix Campbell received the OBE for 'services to equal opportunities'. Her most recent book is End of Equality. Recorded in front of an audience at BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival of Ideas at Sage Gateshead in 2014. All the discussions and essays from the Free Thinking festival are available as Radio 3 Arts and Ideas downloads. Rana Mitter and a panel consider 'how much self-knowledge do we need to be happy?'.
Imagining Turkey: Elif Shafak In Conversation	20141111	20150821 (R3)	Turkey's best selling female writer, Elif Shafak, has been published in more than 40 countries. Her books, including The Forty Rules of Love, The Bastard of Istanbul and Black Milk - her memoir of motherhood and depression, reflect her interest in building connections between Western and Eastern traditions. Her cosmopolitan voice is of particular importance in a year when the Middle East has been undergoing enormous shifts, and both nationalism and xenophobia are on the rise around the world. She talks to Anne McElvoy about imagination and storytelling as she publishes her new novel The Architect's Apprentice. The conversation was recorded in front of an audience at BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival of Ideas at Sage Gateshead in 2014 All the discussions and essays from the Free Thinking festival are available as Radio 3 Arts and Ideas downloads. Turkish writer Elif Shafak joins Anne McElvoy in conversation at Sage Gateshead.
Karen Armstrong	20141030	20141031 (R3)	Karen Armstrong, one of the world's leading thinkers about religion, gives the Free Thinking Lecture, arguing that, in the current global situation, a recognition of how little we know is the only way to peace. A former Roman Catholic nun, Armstrong has addressed members of the US congress. She was appointed by Kofi Annan to join the United Nations group 'The Alliance of Civilisation' and, in 2008, won the TED prize. She is the author of more than 20 books on faith, including The Case For God and Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence. She talks to Rana Mitter and takes questions from the audience. Recorded earlier this evening in front of an audience at BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival of Ideas 2014 from Sage Gateshead. Producer: Fiona McLean. Karen Armstrong argues that a recognition of how little we know is the only way to peace.
Knowing Your Characters: David Greig And Siobhan Redmond In Conversation	20141118		Matthew Sweet talks to playwright David Greig and actor Siobhan Redmond about their approaches to drama. How much do you have to know about the characters and the story before you begin? How has theatre contributed to the recent discussions about Scottish identity ? David Greig, the National Theatre of Scotland's first Dramaturg, is one of our leading playwrights whose work has been produced around the world, including Dunsinane, his sequel to Macbeth, The Events, written after the Breivik massacre in Norway; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and his Yes/No plays on Twitter before the Scottish referendum. Siobhan Redmond has worked in theatre, television and radio including work for the RSC, National Theatre of Scotland and Renaissance Theatre Company. She played the role of Gruach (Lady Macbeth) in Greig's Dunsinane. Recorded in front of audiences at the BBC Radio 3 Free Thinking Festival of Ideas at Sage Gateshead. The festival theme this year is The Limits of Knowledge. All the discussions and essays from the Free Thinking festival are available as Radio 3 Arts and Ideas downloads. Producer: Fiona McLean. Siobhan Redmond and David Greig discuss drama and how much one has to know about a play.
Knowing Your Enemy: Andrey Kurkov, Gabrielle Rifkind, John Kampfner	20141103		Anne McElvoy chairs a discussion exploring protest, foreign policy, intervention and peace-making. Andrey Kurkov is the Ukrainian author of best-selling novels, including Death and the Penguin; he has recorded his experience of living through unpredictable times in his Ukraine Diaries. Conflict resolution expert Gabrielle Rifkind is Director of the Middle East programme at Oxford Research Group and author of The Fog of Peace Journalist John Kampfner is columnist for and former editor of the New Statesman magazine. He began his career as a foreign correspondent reporting on the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the collapse of Soviet communism. His books include Blair's Wars, Freedom For Sale and The Rich: From Slaves to Super-Yachts: A 2,000 Year History. Recorded in front of an audience at BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival of Ideas at Sage, Gateshead. Producer: Harry Parker.
Right Thinking People	20141105		David Willetts MP and the writer and philosopher Roger Scruton discuss the best way to foster knowledge in schools and universities and whether politicians have become too professionalised. In an age when many politicians have never had other jobs, are we better off with representatives who have specialist knowledge from careers forged outside Westminster? Roger Scruton is the author of books including The Soul Of The World, The Palgrave MacMillan Dictionary of Political Thought and How to Be a Conservative. The Rt Hon David Willetts MP was Minister for Universities and Science, attending Cabinet from 2010 to 2014. He has held various posts in the Shadow Cabinet and has worked at HM Treasury, and the Number 10 Policy Unit. He is a member of the Council of the Institute for Fiscal Studies and has written widely on economic and social policy including The Pinch: How the Baby Boomers Took Their Children's Future, and Why They Should Give it Back. The conversation is chaired by Anne McElvoy and was recorded in front of an audience at the Free Thinking Festival at Sage, Gateshead. All the discussions and essays from the festival are available as Radio 3 Arts and Ideas downloads. David Willetts MP and Roger Scruton discuss how much specialist knowledge politicians need
The Cost Of Free Information	20141120		Against a backdrop of perceived excess of intellectual property, and problems that require solving with a matter of urgency, Rana Mitter and his panel test the promises of the internet to spread ideas quickly and democratically. Jodie Ginsburg is the Chief Executive of Index on Censorship and former London bureau chief for Reuters. Dr Rufus Pollock is Founder and President of Open Knowledge, an international non profit organisation which promotes making data and information accessible. Kenneth Cukier is Data Editor for The Economist magazine. From advocates of open source who claim that information should be set free from to new economic models that purport to place cooperation over competition, the discussion looks at what these changes mean and how they ripple out to affect our behaviour offline as well as on - disrupting notions of ownership and originality. Recorded in front of an audience at BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival of Ideas at Sage Gateshead. The festival theme this year was the limits of knowledge. All the discussions and essays from the Free Thinking festival are available as Radio 3 Arts and Ideas downloads. Producer: Georgia Catt. Rana Mitter hosts a debate asking if the internet can make knowledge open to all.
You Must See This	20141104	20150825 (R3)	Matthew Sweet explores the way digital media have transformed our cultural interests. Superfans can now bury themselves in online recommendations but are these helping us, or simply trapping us into consuming more of the same? Are we now risk averse? Naomi Alderman is the author of novels including The Liars' Gospel, The Lessons and Disobedience and an online games creator of Zombies, Run! Dave Hepworth is a music journalist who helped launch magazines including Empire, Q, Mojo, Heat and The Word. Kei Miller is a poet whose collections include The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion, which has been nominated for this year's Forward Prize for Poetry Serena Kutchinsky is Prospect Magazine's Digital Editor. Previously, she was the Assistant Digital Editor of The Sunday Times and helped launch their award-winning website and tablet edition. Recorded in front of an audience at BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival of Ideas at Sage, Gateshead You can download this programme by searching in the Arts and Ideas podcasts for the broadcast date. Matthew Sweet chairs a debate exploring technology's impact on cultural taste.