Show Notes
00:00 // Introduction: What This Talk Covers Uploaded 31-07-2601:44 // The Remarkable Rise of Generative AI 03:18 // Why "More Education" Has Always Been the Answer 05:57 // Structural vs Frictional Technological Unemployment 07:18 // The Illusion of "Future-Proofing" 08:19 // Case Study: The UK's Mandatory Coding Curriculum 14:07 // Why Future Skills Are Impossible to Predict 16:59 // Preparing for Uncertainty, Not Resolving It 22:22 // Back to Basics and Critical Use of AI 32:49 // Rethinking How and When We Educate 43:19 // The Real Limits of EducationWatch the Q and A session here: https://youtu.be/aJHAgt1iqVkThe most popular response to the challenge of automation is ‘more education’. This lecture argues that, for now, that is our best response. But ‘more education’ must go beyond simply rethinking what skills will be valuable in the future. We must also rethink how we educate – the way we teach has not really changed for centuries. And we must also rethink when we educate – providing people with a fixed set of skills at the start of their lives is no longer enough. However, there are serious limits to education – it is not the panacea that many imagine.This lecture was recorded by Professor Daniel Susskind on the 26th of May 2026Dr Daniel Susskind is a writer and economist. He explores the impact of technology, and particularly AI, on work and society. He is the Mercers’ School Memorial Professor of Business at Gresham College. He is also a Digital Fellow at the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, a Senior Research Associate at the Institute for Ethics in AI at Oxford University, an Associate Member of the Economics Department at Oxford University, and a Research Professor at King’s College London. He is a member of the UK Government’s Expert Panel on AI and the Future of Work. His new book, Growth: A Reckoning (2024), was chosen by President Obama as one of his ‘Favourite Books of 2024’ and was a runner-up for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year 2024. He is also the author of A World Without Work (2020), described by The New York Times as "required reading for any potential presidential candidate thinking about the economy of the future” and a runner-up for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year 2020, and co-author of the best-selling book, The Future of the Professions (2015). His TED Talk, on the future of work, has been viewed more than 1.7 million times. His next book, What Should My Children Do? How to Flourish in the Age of AI, will be published in 2026. And his first novel, The Basilisk Stare, will be published in 2027. Previously he worked in various roles in the British Government – in the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit, in the Policy Unit in 10 Downing Street, and in the Cabinet Office. He was a Kennedy Scholar at Harvard University. The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/education-limitsGresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham College's mission, please consider making a donation: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-today Website: https://gresham.ac.ukX: https://x.com/GreshamCollegeFacebook: https://facebook.com/greshamcollegeInstagram: https://instagram.com/greshamcollegeBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/greshamcollege.bsky.social TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@greshamcollegeSupport Us: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-today Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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This beautifully illustrated lecture explores the connections and interactions between British writers and artists.Uploaded 11-08-11As children, learning to read, we look first at the pictures in books - they tell the tale in their own way. With great writers, this power endures: artists connect with words in different ways. This lecture will explore fascinating examples of the relationships between artists and writers, from those that work independently from one another, such as Wordsworth and Thomas Bewick, to those that work very closely throughout the creative process, such as Dickens and Phiz.This lecture touches on a peculiarly British tradition of community and defiance of authority, unmasking pretension and celebrating energy and warmth, linking daily life to the universal and the sublime.The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website:http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/words-and-pictures-mixed-encountersGresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website.http://www.gresham.ac.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In space no-one can hear you scream... but it is still a noisy Universe. We are familiar with the many stunning images of space, but these are only part of the whole human experience. This lecture takes a new approach to appreciating the Universe, through the vehicle of sound. Once we understand how sound is propagated, we can look at the how and where it can exist in space. We examine how sound can be a diagnostic of cosmic phenomena (such as the song of the Sun and distant stars), the way it can carry energy across vast volumes of space (away from a black hole humming in B♭), how it can be a useful way to illustrate processes in astronomy (such as the rapid spin of pulsars, and other more local radio emissions) and how it is ultimately responsible for the growth of all structure we see today in the cosmos.Uploaded 15-12-11The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website:http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-sounds-of-the-universeGresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham's mission, please consider making a donation: https://gresham.ac.uk/support/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
0:00 // Introduction — Trump versus the Constitution after 16 monthsUploaded 17-07-261:27 // The five worst Supreme Court decisions of all time3:13 // Dred Scott 1857 — the case that helped start a civil war5:33 // Plessy v Ferguson 1896 — separate but equal and Angola prison8:38 // Buck v Bell 1927 — eugenics, sterilisation and echoes in the present10:43 // Korematsu 1944 — Japanese internment and the road to Guantanamo13:39 // Bowers v Hardwick — criminalising sodomy and how Stafford Smith fought it18:00 // Lawrence v Texas — how the Supreme Court finally overruled Bowers19:18 // The current court — immunity for presidents and the 22 unanimous decisions21:38 // Roberts versus Clarence Thomas — two very different conservatives23:44 // The biggest decision of this term — Trump's tariffs struck down 6 to 326:19 // Why Britain needs a constitution — prisoners' votes and Cameron's contempt27:43 // Criminal cases — death row, mental disability and the court doing its job31:20 // First Amendment cases — conversion therapy, gender and street preaching35:38 // Louisiana v Calais — gerrymandering, affirmative action and why it will backfire42:13 // Conclusion — the Constitution is surviving, but Britain has no such protectionWatch the Q and A session here: https://youtu.be/EYtlT4N0z28The Americans are very proud of their written constitution. During the first 3/8 of President Trump’s second term of office, the constitution has been severely tested. Where has the Constitution succeeded in providing legal safeguards, clarity and stability, and where has it failed? How will the remainder of this presidency look? And what is coming after Trump? This lecture was recorded by Clive Stafford Smith on the 4th of June 2026Clive Stafford Smith JD OBE is a dual UK-US national, the founder and director of the Justice League a non-profit human rights training centre focused on fostering the next generation of advocates. He was the Senior Prefect at Radley College, where he studied maths and science; then a Morehead Scholar at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill), where he took a degree in Politics; and a Stone Merit Scholar each of his three years at Columbia Law School, graduating in 1984. He previously founded and directed the legal action charities Louisiana Capital Assistance Center (1993 in New Orleans) and Reprieve (1999 in London). Since 1984 he has tried many capital cases, and helped to represent over 400 people facing execution in the US and elsewhere. He also brought the first challenge to Guantánamo Bay, where he has secured the release of 87 detainees, and continues to assist the remaining 15. In all five of the cases he has helped bring to the U.S. Supreme Court the petitioner has prevailed. He has recently taken on the case of Aafia Siddiqui, the woman who has most suffered from the US rendition-to-torture program – abducted with her three children. He continues to work on capital cases in the US, including a Post-Mortem Project where he is investigating the claims of innocence of 184 people executed since 1977.Clive has published a number of books including Bad Men (2008, describing work in Guantánamo) and Injustice (2012, on the capital case of Kris Maharaj), both of which were short-listed for the Orwell Prize; and most recently The Far Side of the Moon (2023), deconstructing the parallel lives of his father and a client Larry Lonchar, both of whom were labelled Bipolar. He has many other publications, including manuals for the defence of capital cases, and law review articles about aspects of capital defence. He has worked on many films and documentaries, starting with Fourteen Days In May (1987), recently ranked as one of the top BBC documentaries of all time. The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/current-chal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Black Holes seem to have a bad press that is largely undeserved. The lecture will explain what Black Holes are, how we can discover them even through they cannot be seen and how Stephen Hawking has shown that they are not totally black!Uploaded 11-08-11The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website:http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/black-holes-no-need-to-be-afraidGresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham's mission, please consider making a donation: https://gresham.ac.uk/support/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Britain's history has been shaped by its relationship with the sea. The possibilities and profits offered by maritime trade were particularly important in defining the country's development as a global power in the Age of Sail. Richly illustrated with images and objects from the collection of the National Maritime Museum and beyond, this lecture explores how British overseas trade went hand in hand with Britain's global empire in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.Uploaded 18-10-11[All images featured in this lecture are courtesy of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.]The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the full conference's page on the Gresham College website:http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/soothing-the-savage-breastGresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham's mission, please consider making a donation: https://gresham.ac.uk/support/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices