No, we're not really on ketamine. But as the spring series continues we're going sideways with a bonus episode featuring my good friend Snarky Platypus and many, many topics. In this episode we talk about robot whales, the secrets of Dinosaur Club, Australia's proposed social media age restrictions (again), the truly horrible side effects of ketami…

The spring series grinds on — and I do mean grinds — with friend of the pod, satirist Mark Humphries. In this episode we do talk about the thing that happened last week — the Trump thing — but we also talk about edible underwear, North Korean soldiers, British comedians Ben Elton, Rik Mayall, and Steve Coogan, whether straight people can do camp, a…

As the spring series continues we're joined by Scottish author and social researcher David F Porteous to talk about the thing that happened in The America this week — but also much more. In this episode we talk about Australia's plans to ban under-16s from social media, a selection of animals to turn into jerky, Macaulay Culkin, British religious h…

As regular listeners to the Edict will know, I reckon Australians should know more about the other nations in our region. So our special guest today is journalist Erin Cook, who covers South-East Asia, and we're talking Indonesia and Thailand. Mostly. Erin produces the excellent newsletter “Dari Mulut ke Mulut”, an English-language summary of what'…

The spring series of the Edict kicks off properly with our first special guest and it's David Gerard, co-editor of the newsletter Pivot to AI. So guess what we talk about. Yes, in this episode we talk about artificial intelligence. Specifically, we test out Google's NotebookLM podcast creator, we discuss why the much-promoted AI utopia won't happen…

It's more or less the start of the spring series as Stilgherrian vents about three more things that got on his wick this week. He also plugs his current crowdfunding campaign, because of course he does. In this episode he talks about the shoddy journalism of the US presidential campaign, the problems of artificial intelligence, and his disturbing d…

With so much news about social media in Australia right now, I thought I'd wrap up the winter series by speaking with Professor Axel Bruns from the Digital Media Research Centre at Queensland University of Technology. In this episode we discuss whether anything can replace what was Twitter, Australia's News Media Bargaining Code and Meta refusing t…

It's time for another podcast about space, so we're joined once again by astrophysicist Rami Mandow, founder of SpaceAustralia.com. In this episode we talk about what may be a new kind of pulsar, the cancellation of the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, three ways in which the solar system is being a jerk, Japanese folklore (no really), those astronauts w…

Victorian-era Melbourne had a thriving sex industry, and the flashiest of the flash madams was Caroline Hodgson, aka Madame Brussels. My guest today is Barbara Minchinton, author of the new book, Madame Brussels: The Life and Times of Melbourne's Most Notorious Woman. In this episode we talk about Madame Brussels' life in the context of Victorian-e…

Have you ever been a victim of cybercrime? I know I have. I bet you have too. So let’s talk about that now with Dr Miranda Bruce from UNSW Canberra, because she's been working on the World Cybercrime Index. In this episode we talk about the types of cybercrime and its different characteristics around the world, cybercrime factories and human traffi…

Finally the real special guests start hitting the Edict's winter series. It's Scottish author and social researcher David F Porteous. We do touch upon the recent UK election results, but there's much, much more. In this episode we talk about Armando Iannucci, lacerated ears, magic shoes, serial killers, haggis smuggling from Kenya, the weight of a …

Back at the start of the year, my good friend Snarky Platypus and I created some bingo cards for 2024. Two sets of 25 things that might happen. Well, we’re half-way through the year, so let’s see how we went. You might want to follow along with the original blog post. https://stilgherrian.com/essay/bingo-card-2024/ In this episode we talk about Tha…

It's more or less the start of the winter series as Stilgherrian vents about three things that got on his wick this week. In this episode he talks about some stupid political reporting from Canberra about Labor's equally stupid response to Senator Fatima Payman, a stupid law that will change nothing, and a stupid event that kicked off in Kuala Lump…

The autumn series of the Edict concludes with a returning special guest, Scottish author and social researcher David F Porteous, to chat about the UK election campaigns and much, much more. We discuss cocaine and koalas, Scott Morrison's post-parliamentary career, Elon Musk's $56 billion package, the King's Birthday, and an encounter between an ech…

The last couple of weeks have been full of online safety news, from eSafety Commissioner v X Corp in the Federal Court to AI to deepfakes. So my guest this time is. Zoe Jay Hawkins, head of policy design at ANU’s Tech Policy Design Centre. In this episode we talk about the way AI and deepfakes might influence this year's many elections, the polaris…

As the autumn series of the Edict overflows into Official Winter, we go arty with Esther Anatolitis, editor of Australian literary journal Meanjin and a colossus striding the Melbourne arts scene and beyond. In this episode we discuss the controversy over Vincent Namatjira's portrait of billionaire Gina Reinhart, and why Melbourne is so arty and, a…

In recent weeks the Australian government has opened multiple fronts in its war against the social media giants. So who better to speak with than Justin Warren, “consultant, freedom of information tragic, hexagon enthusiast, and creator of the CyberRating™ labelling scheme”? In this episode we discuss the MediSecure data breach, Australia's new Dig…

It may come as a shock, but it turns out the climate crisis has not yet been solved. So joining me for an update is Ketan Joshi, a researcher and communications consultant who works on climate-focused comms. We discuss why the atmosphere is a bathtub, why bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) is absurd, and why more rain and snow doesn'…

A chicken shop in New York leads into a commentary on the correct use of capital letters in a podcast of a slightly different style. This mini-episode was commissioned by Jamie Morrison as part of his reward for supporting The 9pm Autumn Series 2024 crowdfunding campaign. Full podcast details and credits at: https://the9pmedict.com/edict/00217/ Ple…

A comet! An eclipse! Everything is happening in space! To kick off the autumn series, my special guests are space archaeologist Dr Alice Gorman aka Dr Space Junk from Flinders University, and astrophysicist and founder of SpaceAustralia.com Rami Mandow. In this episode we talk about the plurality of worlds controversy, comets and eclipses, Irish as…

Have you heard? Artificial intelligence is a thing! Maybe it's even out of control? For that and various other reasons, my special guest for the final summer series episode is Professor Johanna Weaver, former cyber diplomat, and director of the Tech Policy Design Centre at ANU. We talk about making the internet more resilient, diplomacy during the …

This episode's special guest is Scottish author and social researcher David F Porteous, who manages to deliver some fascinating commentary on happenings in Britain, while I increasingly suffer the totally unforeseeable effects of wine and gin. We talk about King Charles III, Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss, and sewage. We also discuss the important differen…

This week I've been obsessed with a certain news story out of Glasgow, so I just had to do a podcast. Also, the episode I'd originally scheduled is running late — and that's my fault. In this episode we talk about Laurie Anderson's weird AI experiment, various other gripes about AI, politics, and alcohol pricing. There's audience feedback. There's …

It's a marathon episode for serious political tragics! I'm joined by Snarky Platypus to discuss the ABC TV documentary series Nemesis about the three recent Liberal Party prime ministers of Australia. But we also find time to discuss other matters. We talk about the complexities of Lunar New Year, comedians, absinthe, magpies, Prague, trifle, lab-g…

With so much AI in the news, I thought our special guest for this first episode for 2024 should be Justin Warren, "consultant, freedom of information tragic, hexagon enthusiast, and creator of the CyberRating™ labelling scheme". In this episode we talk about panic, generative AI, millipedes, why Taylor Swift fans are so few in number that we need t…