The Life Cycle
We have reached the third season of The Life Cycle, and this time around we want to bring the podcast right down to earth and get in deep with the things that matter to us all and our collective future. And what better way to do that than to have long, engaged conversations with some brilliant people? We talk food, we talk fertility, we talk about life online and we also visit the site of one of humanity’s most exciting endeavors: the mission to create nuclear fusion here on Earth, and harness the power of the Sun itself! Beginning with a chat with Klang CEO Mundi Vondi, this season promises to deepen our understanding of the life cycle, and just what it is we’re all doing here….
John Holten is a novelist and Klang Game’s Narrative Director. His novels include The Trains of Europe (2024), Oslo, Norway (2015) and The Readymades (2011). His writing has recently appeared in Welt am Sonntag, frieze, and The Stinging Fly.
Eva Kelley is a journalist and writer. Her writing focuses on contemporary culture and has appeared in publications such as 032c, ZEITMagazin, Interview Magazine, Hearts, and on SSENSE.com among others.
Episodes
29 episodes
S3E9: ‘This New Fire’ with Pietro Barabaschi
In our last episode from ITER, we round out season 3 with an exclusive interview with the head of ITER, Pietro Barabaschi! John and Eva got the chance to chat to Pietro about what it’s like running an international undertaking such as ITER, and...
S3E8: ‘Field Trip!’ with Sabina Griffith
Take a trip, and visit the incredible site of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor in Provence in the south of France. In this episode, Eva and John get a tour of the huge international effort to recreate what happens in our Sun...
S3E7: Just What Is ITER?
Our ability to create energy is everything. When looking to the future, one thing is clear—humanity needs to find ways of harnessing power that is sustainable and good for the planet. One such source of energy is similar to what powers the sun ...
S3E6: 'Caroline' with Caroline Wilkinson
What is it actually like to undergo IVF? What does it even entail exactly? In this episode, we hear the incredible story and journey of Caroline, a mother whose experience offers insight and hope into the current and future landscape of reprodu...
S3E5: ‘7 Million Eggs’ with Jennifer Garrison
Sure longevity science is interesting, but what about the most pressing biological aging for half the world’s population? In this fascinating episode, Eva meets Jennifer Garrison who is at the forefront of trying to expand our understanding of ...
S3E4: ‘Forever Young’ with Daniel Ives
What would you do if you could live to be 100, 125 or even 150? Sure, we all may want to live forever, but what would that actually look like? How would we communicate to those around us? And not only that, is the recent longevity craze feasibl...
S3E3: ‘Ultra Processed Internet’ with Professor Lawrence Lessig
We all know that the Internet is ruled by forces vying for our attention, and that often they gain our attention through highly emotive means, in ways that can seem imperceptible until they add up to massive political upheavals or indeed the ve...
S3E2: ‘Ultra Processed Food’ with Chris Van Tulleken
We are all taking part in a massive experiment for which none of us have signed up: much of the food we consume daily comes in the form of ultra-processed food, something that has been described as ‘industrially produced edible substances’.&nbs...
S3E1: 'This Is Not An Advert' with Mundi Vondi
We thought it was about time to take stock and catch our breath. The Life Cycle podcast is about the future of humanity, but over the last five years, the future has arrived in many ways. In this episode, we take a look at how some of o...
S2 Coda: Cosmic Hitchhikers
We've come a long way and where do we go next? Who will we meet along the way? The season fades out as we imagine ways to travel beyond our solar system...Thanks for the ride.Irina Mullins is a Professor of Physics ...
S2E10: Some Quantum Stories (Quantum Part 2)
Many have heard about how the CIA introduced LSD to America, right? But did you know that they also wanted to introduce quantum entanglement and mind control? This episode revolves around an interview between John and David Kaiser, an American ...
S2E9: How Much Is The Fish? (Quantum Part 1)
What do you think of when you hear the word ‘quantum’? What even is quantum physics? What does it tell us about our world and universe, and what can it offer us in the future? In this episode, John and Eva meet up with executive producer Mundi ...
S2E8: I Cloned My Cow, I Cloned My Cow
We continue our exploration of cloning with a closer look at how cloning and factory farming interact. Is animal cloning humane? Is it a technologically advanced key to the problems of factory farming? Or does it simply perpetuate the already e...
S2E7: I Cloned My Dog, I Cloned My Dog
Cloning has long been a pillar of sci-fi tales. But now it's here, as is CRISPR technology - gene editing. What does this all look like exactly and how does it work? And more importantly, are we already eating clones at the dinner table? <...
S2E6: AI and I
Could AI make this entire episode? And replace Eva and John altogether? In this episode we look at the range of tools and solutions that AI offers right now, and look at where it might go in the future. It feels like every week there's a new de...
S2E5: The Paperclip Interlude
I am a paperclip. Just don’t call me Mr. Clippy. Pull up a chair and listen to this humorous tale that tells the history - and possible future - of the humble paperclip. In this little interlude we bring together some of the various themes of t...
S2E4: Synthetic Vice
The future of booze. What does it taste like? Join us while we look at the role of the oldest of human concoctions: alcohol, and how it we may just be on the cusp of a radical revolution in all things inebriation. Professor David Nut...
S2E3: Dr. Philippson, Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Aliens and Started to Govern from my Sofa
Hear that? In the blink of an eye we could be not just contacted but overtaken by loud aliens. Are we , here on earth, quiet aliens in the universe? What is the difference exactly between loud and quiet aliens? And if we’re ever going to become...
S2E2: Getting There
It’s the age of Artemis! This means humanity is going back to the moon. And beyond! But where did this journey begin exactly? We’ve got a wild story that involves Nazis, bad novels, Walt Disney and the tyranny of the rocket equation. Listen as ...
S2E1: The Stories We Tell Ourselves
What connects the first ever recorded science fiction story with Stanley Kubrick’s Dr Strangelove? And who was the real live person that Strangelove was modelled on? We all know that to understand the future we have to understand the past, so t...
S2 Preamble: Now What?
Welcome back! To this, the second season of The Life Cycle. We're calling this season 'Now What?' Because every day we’re told the world is ending. But what does that mean? And if it is, what can we do about it? Should our hopes lie in...
E7: THE BEGINNING
15% of all human consciousness that has ever existed is present and happening today: as we speed up and grow ever more connected via the Internet, what are the implications for this massive digital shift? In this episode, renowned Harvard Law p...
E6: DON'T YOU KNOW I'M LOCO?
Is your brain a machine? Are your thoughts and feelings just malware of the mind? But what is 'really' is a machine? Welcome listeners to the transhumanist fight of the century. In the blue corner, we have Eva meeting founder and CEO of Kernel,...
