I Don’t Have Time For Podcasts: A Brave New Meatless World

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The show

I have been meaning to give this show a shout-out since the first newsletter. “Flash Forward,” hosted by ESPN’s Rose Eveleth, puts real science and science fiction in a blender, and the end result is a delightful cocktail. Once a month, Eveleth takes a hypothetical — like “What if we killed all the mosquitoes?” or “What if A.I. replaced all the teachers?” — and presents both imaginary narratives off of that idea and serious interviews about whether it could actually happen.

The episode

Maybe it’s just because I’m writing this shortly before dinner, but I’d recommend starting with “Where’s the Beef?”, an episode from last August that imagines a world where all meat is banned. In the present-day segment, as in nearly every episode, Eveleth is careful to capture all the facets of this contentious idea, including the history, biology, ethics and cultural attachments of our omnivorous ways.

How to listen

You can listen to “Flash Forward” on its website or subscribe to the show in all the usual places.

My stuff

Want more podcasts? Here are the shows I’ve appeared on or produced in the past week:

• “Giant Geek vs. Mega n00b”: “30 Rock”
• “Recode Decode”: “Silicon Valley” actor and “Captain Fantastic” director Matt Ross
• “Recode Decode” bonus episode: The cast and creators of HBO’s “Silicon Valley”
• “Recode Media”: “Startup: A Novel” author Doree Shafrir
• “Too Embarrassed to Ask”: Mike Isaac / Uber drama

The weekly puppy picture

Happy listening!

Eric Johnson
@HeyHeyESJ