PodCompanions
Discussions: 2026-W43 — page 53
Discussions added each week. These are publication dates here; the original episodes may be older.
- 25:00–30:00
Cooper recounts the city’s foundation story and explains the strategic advantages of its waterways and harbour.
- 20:00–25:00
Cooper discusses imperial division and Constantine, then introduces the Black Sea flood hypothesis.
- 15:00–20:00
Cooper narrates Roman growth and uses ancient descriptions to explain the spread and consequences of plague.
- 10:00–15:00
Cooper describes the proposed flooding of the Mediterranean, early human settlement and Rome’s expansion.
- 5:00–10:00
Cooper frames the Byzantine story, then introduces the Mediterranean basin and its geological past.
- 0:00–5:00
Cooper introduces Gautier’s visit to Istanbul and his descriptions of the remains of Byzantine Constantinople.
- 5:00–10:00
Hsu continues his recollections and discusses changes he observed in weight training and athletic culture.
- 1:15:22–1:18:53
Hsu calls proposed links between inherited disorders and cognitive traits speculative, then argues that future genetic interventions might avoid some trade-offs.
- 2:07:18–2:09:45
Patel uses martial arts as an analogy for technique; Hsu considers how tools and information practices can amplify cognitive performance.
- 1:33:02–1:36:43
Hsu discusses scientific specialisation, then considers how predictor quality and the number of available embryos might affect selection.
- 1:44:48–1:49:48
Hsu and Patel discuss different approaches to programming and technical problems, including visual, spatial and verbal reasoning.
- 54:50–58:24
The speakers discuss variation among possible offspring; Hsu speculates about genetic compatibility and possible reproductive applications.
- 2:12:48–2:17:48
Hsu discusses scientific development, migration and possible benefits and costs of international competition for research jobs.
- 51:05–54:50
The speakers discuss genetic identification and privacy; Hsu distinguishes disease risk from diagnosis and speculates about future longevity and inequality.
- 1:49:48–1:53:05
Hsu discusses visual reasoning and explains why derivatives pricing and data analysis have attracted people trained in physics.
- 10:00–11:47
The speakers compare historical images of physique with modern athletic training; Hsu offers his interpretation of changing physical culture.
- 1:53:05–1:58:02
Hsu discusses experience with noisy experimental data; Patel compares it with debugging, before they turn to physicists’ career paths.
- 29:58–34:55
The speakers use software analogies to discuss genetic architecture; Hsu argues that many disease predictors involve relatively distinct sets of variants.
- 39:50–43:20
Hsu forecasts future editing capabilities and discusses possible longevity gains, while acknowledging uncertainty about ultimate biological limits.
- 46:25–51:05
Hsu describes embryo-sample processing and possible cloud services, then forecasts facial prediction while saying his company does not offer that service.
- 1:41:41–1:44:48
The speakers discuss possible inequality from reproductive technologies; Hsu acknowledges the concern and proposes broader public access.
- 34:55–39:50
Patel asks about a health-index result; Hsu discusses available genetic variation and extrapolates from selection and breeding to potential human interventions.
- 11:47–16:17
Hsu introduces genomic prediction as a statistical problem and describes his company’s proposed application to choosing among IVF embryos.
- 1:36:43–1:41:41
Hsu discusses pluripotent-cell gametes, editing and iterated selection as possible future technologies, while acknowledging adoption concerns.