
Bookends with Mattea Roach Ian McEwan has hope for humanity — here’s why
Oct 26, 2025
35:03
A century from now, how will historians look back on your life? In his latest novel, What We Can Know, Ian McEwan imagines the future in 100 years. In a world altered by climate change and nuclear war, human beings are looking back at our current age with a mix of nostalgia, envy and contempt … which is why a scholar becomes fixated on finding a lost poem from 2014. You might know Ian from his breakout hit Atonement, which was made into an Oscar-winning film. This week, he joins Mattea Roach to talk about crafting his own dystopia, his concerns about AI and why we just might be living in a golden age.
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