The Smart Cookies Podcast

As someone who moved to Japan not too long ago I was always fascinated with the country's unique history, particularly with the question of how did a country so completely isolated from the industrial revolution become a global superpower in just a few short decades? How did it manage to totally transform its society, military and culture? And finally, where did it all go wrong?

Join me and historian Christopher Harding, author of A History of Modern Japan, as we explore Japan's journey from the Edo period's isolation to the transformative Meiji Restoration, discussing how Japan's victory in the Russo-Japanese War marked its emergence as a modern power, only to later slide into the shadows of World War II fascism...

But also, how the country faces new challenges today, balancing tradition with modernity in a world primarily marked by the rise of China.

1 month ago | [YT] | 0

The Smart Cookies Podcast

The old version of the story went something like this - Homo Sapiens appeared in Africa around 2 to 300.00 years ago and for most of that time, we lived in small hunter gatherer communities, competing with other animals, sometimes more, and sometimes less successfully.

That was, until one day we had a gnarly idea to start growing crops, build settlements and settle down for good.

However, the mind-boggling discovery of the dazzling Gobekkli Teppe, has thrown this attractively simple narrative into question.
But how is it possible that such an impressive complex of monuments, built 12.000 years ago (thousands of years before the first cities ever appear), was put there by "simple" hunter gatherers... and most of all, why?

To tackle these questions I turn to Jens Notroff, a German archeologist who actually worked on the the site for many years 👇🏻

1 month ago | [YT] | 3

The Smart Cookies Podcast

In the past 2 decades literacy rates have dropped dramatically... and so have our IQ scores.

Writer James Marriott believes these two facts are connected. His Substack article, "The dawn of the post-literate society and the end of civilisation," in which he argues that the absence of reading might signify the end of our civilisation, caused a big stir online...


In this conversation we talk about the history of reading, why this immense transfer of knowledge led to the breakdown of feudal society (while making us smarter), but also about how smartphones are fracturing our political systems while robbing us of our most cherished possession - our ability to think 👇🏻

2 months ago | [YT] | 1

The Smart Cookies Podcast

A lot of Russians have nostalgia for the USSR. But why? Wasn't it all just endlessly grey days working in factories and standing in lines to buy a couple of loaves of bread?

Historian Joseph Kellner, author of the book The Spirit of Socialism, doesn't seem to think so.

He explains how the state guaranteed housing, schooling and health care to all people, and most of, all how, at least in the 50's and 60's, it provided the Soviet citizens with a sense of unity and purpose.

2 months ago | [YT] | 1

The Smart Cookies Podcast

Joseph Kellner is a historian of Russia and the Soviet Union at the University of Georgia. He's also the author of the recently released book The Spirit of Socialism - Culture and Belief at the Soviet Collapse.

Contrary to Western narratives, culture within the USSR wasn't an eternally grey monolith that we used to see in James Bond movies. Quite the opposite - it was a diverse, often flourishing organism. But what happened to it during the brutal dissolution of the Soviet Union?

In this conversation, Prof. Kellner and I discuss the decline and the indescribable shock that accompanied the sudden dissolution of the USSR, before turning our attention to an explosion of wild, "exotic" cultural countries springing up in the new country of Russia:

2 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 0

The Smart Cookies Podcast

Podcaster Joe Rogan keeps claiming that climate change doesn't really exist and that the Earth is in fact, cooling down, negating all available climate science (as well as plain observation).

To address this misleading take, and the often cited Washington Post article accompanying it, I talk to Prof. David Armstrong McKay, climate scientist from the University of Sussex.

We also talk about the rate of warming in 2025, the global lack of progress on climate targets, the danger of tipping points and whether the Paris Accords target of keeping the warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius is really dead in the water 👇🏻

2 months ago | [YT] | 0

The Smart Cookies Podcast

We all know it - the internet has become a huge garbage heap, guided by malignant algorithms and filled with useless apps, mind numbing social media and AI slop. In a word - it sucks.

But how did we get here? And how can we restore the better internet of old?


Cory Doctorow, author of the groundbreaking book ENSHITIFICATION: Why Everything Was Built to Break, has a couple of ideas 👇🏻

3 months ago | [YT] | 1

The Smart Cookies Podcast

Why is the INTERNET so shitty now?

Cory Doctorow, author of the groundbreaking book ENSHITIFICATION: Why Everything Was Built to Break, has a couple of ideas.

Full episode out tomorrow!

3 months ago | [YT] | 1

The Smart Cookies Podcast

The horrific war that Israel is waging against the predominantly civilian population in Gaza has been going on for almost two years, and yet, the slaughter continues to this day. Why is that?

To discuss one of the biggest crimes of our time, I talk Mouin Rabbani, an analyst, and commentator specialising in Palestinian affairs, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the contemporary Middle East.


We discuss the Western world's immoral support for Israel, Hamas' aims, Netanyahu's plan for Gaza, the indifference of Arab states and finally, the chances for the latest peace plan brought forward by Donald Trump to succeed and finally end the genocide:

3 months ago | [YT] | 6

The Smart Cookies Podcast

Few conflicts have been as impactful as the two Opium Wars fought between China and the Western powers during the 19th century. These unjust wars, unanimously won by the West, ultimately resulted in a series of devastating concessions and ushered in China's so-called century of humiliation, the memory of which is still shaping global politics today...

But how did it all start? Why was Britain intent on pushing opium on this vast, ancient empire? And how come Qing dynasty China crumbled in an instant?

In this episode of the Smart Cookies podcast, Yang-Wen Zheng, Professor of Chinese History at the The University of Manchester, takes us through this tricky, yet monumental chapter of global history 👇🏻

3 months ago | [YT] | 1