I'm too busy to do this thing the way I want to, so I'm taking a few months off before coming back with something better.

George Dyson returns for his fourth appearance to discuss Olof Johannesson's *The Tale of the Big Computer*, a darkly funny 1966 novel narrated from a not-too-distant future.

Justin Kiggins joins us to discuss Robert Pirsig's *Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance*. We explore the book's concept of Quality, what it is, where it lives in the scientific method, and whether AI will make it more or less elusive.

JB Flinders joins us to discuss the 1993 film *Sneakers*. We explore data, privacy, and power; the ethics of security work; how fear drives decision-making; and not reality, but the perception of reality.

Kate Chapman joins us to discuss Hugh Howey's *Wool*. We discuss failures of governance, the perils of IT supremacy, the difficult ethics of constrained environments, and competitive goating.

Kevin Bullock joins us to discuss Vince Gilligan's Pluribus. We explore individual morality, the ethics of science, AI, human nature, selfhood and memory, and ghosts.

Cyd Harrell, devout civic technologist, joins us to discuss Jorge Luis Borges's "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius." We talk about tungsten cubes, techno cults, and our guesses about the "horrifying or banal" truth revealed by the story.

Marta Regn joins us to discuss Ted Chiang's "Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom." We agree that Chiang's imaginary PRISM gives us a practical way to think through concepts of free will and individual morality.

George Dyson – historian, boat maker, and volunteer Staff Historian at Radiant Earth – returns to discuss Fred Hoyle's *The Black Cloud*. We discuss the cultural conflicts that arise between scientists and politicians, the limits of human language, human-incomprehensible modes of communication, the inevitable benefits of creating new observing instruments, alien consciousness, and the perils of simplified science.

Mark Chambers – my friend from high school (and former Chief Sustainability Officer of DC and NYC among other things) – joins us to discuss Michael Crichton's *Jurassic Park*. We talk about the collision between money and science, the illusion of control, dignity, public service, how many humans there should be, why it may or may not be ok to grill, and positive visions for the future.