Today's episode is about crime and punishment: Why are 20% of all prisoners incarcerated in the United States, if only 5% of the world's population live there? Henry E. James (University College London) is writing his PhD thesis about the loss of institutional trust in America. In this episode, we talk about how people lost their belief in the government's ability to do the right things, about mass incarceration and the "broken windows" theory.

00:00 - 08:16 Introduction: The loss of institutional trust in the last few decades

08:17 - 19:22 The punitive turn & why so many people are incarcerated in the U.S.

19:23 - 34:28 "Broken windows": Does a stronger police presence help reduce crime?

34:29 - 37:30 American prisons vs European prisons

37:31 - 48:46 College programs as a way of reintegrating prisoners

48:47 - 50:17 Henry's future projects

Follow Henry's projects here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/social-historical-sciences/americas/research/research-students/henry-e-james

Are robots the better people? In his PhD project, Jiacheng Mo (Heidelberg University) analyzes artificial minds in anglophone literature. Today, we talk about whether robots dream of electric sheep (pun intended), empathy tests and the (non-)human mind.

00:00 – 02:22 Introduction

02:23 – 10:50 Why we have empathy with robots

10:51 – 20:07 Frankenstein, Blade Runner and other literary artificial minds

20:08 – 32:40 What’s the difference between (literary) humans and robots?

32:41 – 36:41Why we need stories in our lives

36:42 – 39:23 Jiacheng’s future projects

Follow Jiacheng's projects here: instagram.com/frankmjecheng

What if you could chat with someone who's no longer alive? It sounds dystopian, but several websites already offer their customers to create so-called deathbots - AI avatars of deceased people. I talked to Dr. Jenny Kidd and Dr. Bethan Jones (Cardiff University) about the ethics of digital afterlives, how AI could change our ways of grieving and our attitudes towards death in general, and how true crime victims are exploited with AI deathbots.

00:00 - 04:15: Introduction

04:16 - 16:16: MyHeritage's Deep Nostalgia tool & the ethics of bringing old family photos to life with AI

16:17 - 19:09: Is "The Substance" becoming a reality thanks to AI?

19:10 - 26:09: How to influence your own commemoration with a pre-mortem avatar

26:10 - 32:27: How authentic are these avatars?

32:28 - 36:26: Grief & capitalism

36:27 - 40:54: AI & the exploitation of true crime victims

40:55 - 44:09: Deathbots giving testimony in court

44:10 - 48:47: Will AI change how we grieve?

48:48 - 55:26: Reviving serial killers and holocaust victims with AI

55:27 - 01:01:28: Jenny's and Bethan's current & future projects

You can follow Bethan on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:7cwwdtps5lzr7gwsbfbxyuzs and on her website: https://bethanvjones.wordpress.com/

And you can follow Jenny on her website: https://profiles.cardiff.ac.uk/staff/kiddjc2 and on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenny-kidd-92999638a/?originalSubdomain=uk

In this episode, we’re looking at the other side of the Iron Curtain: we’re talking about Soviet trauma in the form of undead creatures that haunt contemporary Russian literature, about Soviet Westerns, and the question whether the USSR was a colonial empire. Lara Righi, PhD candidate at the University of Verona, talks with us about post-memory, the relationship between Russia and Belarus, and Great Patriotic War aka World War II.

00:00 – 10:17: Introduction

10:18 – 24:18: Gothic themes in contemporary Russian literature

24:19 – 29:54: Sasha Filipenko and Marija Stepanova

29:55 – 41:11: The USSR – a colonial empire?

41:12 – 54:12: Filipenko’s A Former Son

54:13 – 1:06:25: Soviet Westerns

01:06:26 – 01:09:21: Lara’s future projects

It's time to party! 🎉 Next year, the US turns 250 years old. The celebration of the so-called "Semiquincentennial" has been in the planning phase for 9 years at this point - but we don't know what to expect, because what started under the Obama administration has slowly morphed into a MAGA project. Historian Dr. Alexander "Xan" Karn talks with us about how anniversaries shape our memory of historic events, about American patriotism and the distortion of history by "memory trolls."

If you want to learn more about Xan's research & future projects, you can follow him on Mastodon (@xankarn@mastodon.online) or on his website xankarn.net.

00:00 - 06:21: Introduction: The 250th birthday of the Army in 2025 and the No Kings protests

06:21 - 13:58: What is the Semiquincentennial and why should we care?

13:59 - 21:15: The Hollywood-ification of history and liberal kitsch

21:16 - 30:10: The MAGA version of history

30:11 - 35:44: Behind-the-scenes drama in the planning process

35:45 - 40:45: What is a memory troll?

40:46 - 01:01:03: Is non-traditional patriotism possible in a politically divided country?

01:01:04 - 01:04:49: Past birthdays of the United States and why this one is different

01:04:50 - 01:07:38: Hamilton - a MAGA musical?

01:07:39 - 01:10:21: Xan's future projects