Past Present Future

In this episode of our series on the lingering hold of bad ideas David talks to the writer and broadcaster Helen Lewis about the arguments made at the turn of the last century against giving the vote to women. Why were so many women against female enfranchisement? What did attitudes to women in politics reveal about the failings of men? And where can the echoes of these arguments still be heard today?Helen Lewis’s Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights is available wherever you get your books https://bit.ly/3wp8DNX Sign up now to PPF+ to get ad-free listening and bonus episodes to accompany every series. Coming soon: two bonus bad ideas just for PPF+ subscribers www.ppfideas.com Next time on The History of Bad Ideas: Kathleen Stock discusses The Death of the Author.

For the latest episode in our series about the hold of bad ideas, we welcome back the geneticist Adam Rutherford to talk about Linnaean taxonomy, a seemingly innocuous scheme of classification that has had deeply pernicious consequences. From scientific racism to social stratification to search engine optimisation, taxonomy gets everywhere. Can we escape its grip?Sign up now to PPF+ to get ad-free listening and bonus episodes to accompany every series. Coming soon: two bonus bad ideas just for PPF+ subscribers www.ppfideas.com Next time on The History of Bad Ideas: Helen Lewis on women against the enfranchisement of women.

Today’s bad idea is one with a very long history: David talks to the historian Christopher Clark about antisemitism and the reasons for its endless recurrence. What has made discrimination against the Jews different from other kinds of violent prejudice over the course of European history? How did the ‘Jewish Question’ become the battleground of German politics? Why do so many Christians have a love-hate relationship with Judaism? And where does the state of Israel fit into this story?For ad-free listening and bonus episodes – including more bad ideas – subscribe to PPF+ www.ppfideas.comNext time on The History of Bad Ideas: Adam Rutherford on Taxonomy.

In today’s episode about seemingly good ideas gone badly wrong David talks to the philosopher and journalist Kathleen Stock about Facebook Friends, something that was meant to make us happier and better connected but really didn’t. How did online friendship become so performative? Does its failings say more about Facebook and its business models or does it say more about us? And why are academics so susceptible to the madness of social media?For ad-free listening and bonus episodes – including more bad ideas – subscribe to PPF+ www.ppfideas.comNext time on The History of Bad Ideas: historian Christopher Clark on Antisemitism

In the second episode in our series on bad ideas David talks to the political economist Helen Thompson about the gold standard, which was meant to anchor the world economy until it all fell apart a hundred years ago. Why does gold so often appear like a stable basis for money in an unstable world – and why not silver? What made the gold standard a source of instability instead?  How can money work if it has no material basis? And is quantitative easing a bad idea as well?For ad-free listening and bonus episodes – including more bad ideas – subscribe to PPF+ www.ppfideas.comNext time on The History of Bad Ideas: Kathleen Stock on Facebook Friends

For the first episode in our new series about the hold of bad ideas David talks to the geneticist and science broadcaster Adam Rutherford about eugenics: from its origins in the 19th century through its heyday in the 20th century to its continuing legacy today. Is eugenics bad science, bad morality, bad politics – or all three? What are the fears that keep drawing people back to trying to control the consequences of human reproduction? And is a new age of consumerist eugenics upon us?For ad-free listening and bonus episodes – including more bad ideas – subscribe to PPF+ www.ppfideas.comNext time on The History of Bad Ideas: Helen Thompson on the Gold Standard

In our final episode David and Lea discuss liberation movements, from post-colonial liberation to women’s liberation, gay liberation and animal liberation. What, if anything, do these movements have in common? Is liberation about equality or is it about difference? And who needs liberating next – children?You can hear our bonus episodes for this series by signing up to PPF+ www.ppfideas.com In the first bonus episode – available now – David and Lea answer listeners’ questions about AI, technology, online surveillance and brains-in-a-vat: what happens to freedom if we’re living in a computer simulation?Coming next our brand new series: The History of Bad Ideas, beginning with Adam Rutherford on eugenics.

In the penultimate episode in this series David and Lea discuss two twentieth-century philosophies of freedom and the human psyche. What can existentialism teach us about the nature of free choice under conditions of despair? Is there any escape from bad faith? And what can individuals – or even entire societies – learn about their freedom from being put on the couch?Sign up to PPF+ to get two bonus episodes to accompany this and all future series along with ad-free listening: www.ppfideas.comComing next on the History of Freedom: Liberation Movements

In our series about different ideas of freedom David and Lea have reached anarchism and nihilism. What is the positive vision of human freedom behind the anarchist rejection of the established order? What can nineteenth-century anarchists teach us about freedom in the twenty-first century? And if nihilists are against everything, what are they for?Sign up to PPF+ to get ad-free listening and two bonus episodes a month – just go to ppfideas.comComing up next: David and Lea discuss existentialism and psychoanalysis.