Listen: David Attenborough and Naomi Klein kick off innovative new podcast series

Let’s face it: the UK’s podcast game leaves a lot to be desired. We’ve been pushing the same, stuffy debate-based formats while the US has been raising the bar with storytelling-lead smashes like This American Life, Serial and others.

The Glass Bead Game attempts to change that, with a series of monthly documentaries focussed on climate change and other meaty geopolitical issues, which fuses academic debate and real-world storytelling.

Broadcaster David Attenborough and social activist Naomi Klein kick the series off in earnest with a two-part episode, ‘The Meaning Of Climate Change’, where they take a wide-ranging view of climate change and look at what it will mean for those affected.

“The huge difference between humanity and the natural world is that we have a way of externalising knowledge … that simply makes an enormous difference,” Attenborough explains. “Humanity is able to store knowledge across time and across space and that gives us huge power – we haven’t yet got the wisdom to handle it properly but that’s what makes us different from the rest of the world.”

The Glass Bead Game is produced by The School of Global Studies at the University Of Sussex, so stay locked for more thought-provoking episodes over the coming months. Or follow the show on Soundcloud.

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