The Smart Cookies podcast
Zaza
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About This Podcast
Deep-dive conversations with the world's leading minds. European host Zaza looks beyond the mainstream to explore history, technology, philosophy, psychology, and science.
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Recent Episodes
S1E88 Why The Odyssey Is Actually About A Broken War Veteran | Prof. Peter Meineck
Christopher Nolan's retelling of Homer's famous epic is causing a lot of sassy drama these days, so I thought it'd be appropriate to have a chat with a Greek Mythology expert, and pick his brain on…
S1E87 Ancient Roman Slavery: The Cruel Reality Behind The Empire | Dr. Emma Southon
When we discuss Rome, we usually talk about the Emperors, the Warlords and the Conquerors, rarely about ordinary Romans... and almost never about the people who actually built it - the slaves. With…
S1E86 The German Peasants' War: The Bloody History Of Medieval Rebellion | Prof. Lyndal Roper
In 16th century Europe, few events were as momentous as the German Peasants’ War - an explosive rebellion that shocked the ruling houses of the Holy Roman Empire. Driven by the ideas of Reformation,…
S1E85 Weimar And The Terrifying Speed Of The Nazi Takeover Of Germany | Katja Hoyer
You're an ordinary German, living in 1920's Weimar when the Nazi party takes over - WHAT do you do? That's exactly the question that Katya Hoyer, "Britain's favourite German historian," wanted an…
S1E84 Why Did The Habsburg Empire Suddenly Collapse? | Pieter Judson
For at least 600 years, the lands of modern day Slovenia (where I'm from), belonged to the famous Habsburg dynasty. But how did this small aristocratic family from Switzerland come to form the first…
S1E83 Ancient Greece History: Debunking Myths On Race and Culture | Prof. Tony Spawforth
Ever since their civilisation ceased to exist, the Ancient Greeks have been appropriated to suit various agendas. But what did they actually think and believe? For example - how did they see other,…
S1E82 Nazi Human Experiments: The True History Of World War II Truth Serums | Norman Ohler
It's a real pleasure having Norman Ohler, author of Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany, back on the pod. Norman recently published a spiritual succession of his bestseller called Tripped: Nazi Germany,…
S1E81 Cryptocurrency And Masculinity: Why Some Men Risk Everything On Bitcoin | Dr. Dan Cassino
Despite it's mainstream presence for more than a decade, Bitcoin has yet to make a convincing argument about its use case. Nevertheless, the cryptocurrency space has become the home of a fascinating…
S1E80 The Psychology Of Past Life Memories: Near-Death Research Explained | Dr. Philipp Cozzolino
Dr. Philipp Cozzolino is a research Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Neuro-behavioral Sciences at University of Virginia's Division of Perceptual Studies, where he investigates reports of…
S1E79 Historical Collapse Explained: Why Civilizations And Empires Fall | Luke Kemp
Luke Kemp, a research affiliate at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk researched 324 cases of societies, usually empires (which he called Goliaths) that collapsed - and soon found one thing…
S1E78 The Renaissance Explained: History Of The Medici, Popes, And Florence | Prof. Kenneth Bartlett
I always wondered whether the Renaissance was a truly groundbreaking historical event - or has it become just a self-referential cliché? Talking to Prof. Kenneth Bartlett (author of The Renaissance…
S1E77 The Death Of Subculture: Why Modern Pop Culture Sucks Now | David Marx
What do Kanye West, Taylor Swift, Mark Zuckerberg and Donald Trump have in common? As cultural critic W. David Marx argues in his new book Blank Space, they are all generators and representatives of…
S1E76 Global Wealth Inequality: The True Flaws Of Modern Capitalism | Branko Milanović
The era of neoliberal globalisation that has dominated economies 90's and early 2000's is coming to an end. But what comes next? Renowned economist and inequality researcher Branko Milanovic believes…
S1E75 From SAMURAI to SHINKANSEN - the Rise, Fall and Stagnation of MODERN JAPAN, with Prof. Christopher Harding
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…
S1E74 The alluring MYSTERIES of Göbekli Tepe - the OLDEST monumental site in the world, with Jens Notroff
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,…
S1E73 We have stopped READING - is it a sign our civilisation is COLLAPSING? With James Marriott
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…
S1E72 Hare Krishna, Russian Jesus and the End of the World - Cultural Chaos during the COLLAPSE of the Soviet Union, with Prof. Joseph Kellner
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…
S1E71 Joe Rogan keeps claiming the EARTH is cooling down. I talk to an actual CLIMATE scientist to dispel the BS. With David Armstrong McKay
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…
S1E70 Why does the INTERNET suck so bad now? With Cory Doctorow
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's shitty. But how did…
S1E69 Genocide in GAZA, the biggest crime of our time. With Mouin Rabbani
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…
Frequently Asked Questions
The Smart Cookies podcast has published 88 episodes since July 2022, covering topics in History, Philosophy.
The Smart Cookies podcast is currently highly active with new episodes every 2 weeks. Average episode length is 1h 9m.
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