Podcast: Thinking About Thinking Machines: Monk & Robot
Past Present Future is a podcast on the History of Ideas hosted by David Runciman and brought to you in partnership with the London Review of Books.
For episode four of our series on the history of thinking about thinking machines, David and Shannon discuss a very different sci-fi sensibility: Becky Chambers’ Monk & Robot series (A Psalm for the Wild-Built (2021) and A Prayer for the Crown-Shy (2022)). What would it mean for robots to ‘wake up’? How might robots teach humans about the nature of care and about the care of nature? And where do robots fit into a neurodiverse world? Plus: robots vs octopi.
