Fire at Will

It feels like AI can now write anything for us and create anything for us. In some respects it’s exciting, but it’s also scary, and it raises a depressing question: will technology kill creativity?There are few people better placed to answer that question than Polish-American artist Agnieszka Pilat. Agnieszka is the Silicon Valley elite’s favourite artist. Intelligencer magazine has called her the court painter of the potentate’s of Silicon Valley, including Elon Musk, who has twice invited her onsite for an artist residency at SpaceX. She is best known for her work with Spots: dog-like robots designed by Boston Dynamics, which are more usually used by mining companies or militaries than by artists. In her own words, “Machines are humanity’s children. I am just giving them a page in a family album.”Follow Will Kingston and Fire at Will on social media here.Subscribe to The Spectator Australia here.

There has long been a curious sub-genre in liberal journalism. It can best be described as “examining working class Americans in their natural habitat.” It goes something like this. Journalists from New York or California will bravely venture into a red state, observe the local inhabitants from afar, and come back with a series of superficial insights that reinforce the existing prejudices of coastal elites. Partly as a result of this lack of journalistic curiosity, liberal America is no closer to truly understanding the underlying forces that swept Donald Trump into the White House, and may yet do so again.Batya Ungar-Sargon did something novel. She wanted to understand the American working class, so she actually spoke to them, all over the country, for over a year. Lessons learnt were captured in ‘Second Class: How the Elites Betrayed America’s Working Men and Women.’ It is the best book to read if you want to understand the political and cultural forces at play in America in 2024.Follow Will Kingston and Fire at Will on social media here.Subscribe to The Spectator Australia here.

The most peculiar aspect of 'Pride' is how it has lumped together the gay population, with the most extreme proponents of gender ideology, when the latter have arguably done more than any other group to harm the former. Gareth Roberts has witnessed this firsthand. Gareth has fallen into commentary on gender ideology, but like previous guests of the show such as Graham Linehan and Helen Joyce, he was marvellously successful before wading into such treacherous waters. Gareth is a screenwriter and novelist, best known for his work on the iconic British series Doctor Who. His latest book is titled 'Gay Shame: The Rise of Gender Ideology and the New Homophobia.'Follow Will Kingston and Fire at Will on social media here.Subscribe to The Spectator Australia here.

The world could end before you finish listening to this podcast. That's the reality of a nuclear-armed world. If a sense of complacency had crept in about the threat of nuclear weapons, Annie Jacobsen's stunning new book is a wake up call. 'Nuclear War: A Scenario' imagines the 72 minutes after the 'button is pushed', and it doesn't end well. It's shockingly realistic, due to Annie’s meticulous research, which reflects her status as a Pulitzer Prize finalist and New York Times bestselling author.Follow Will Kingston and Fire at Will on social media here.Subscribe to The Spectator Australia here.

Heresy is defined as opinion profoundly at odds with what is generally accepted. It has rarely been more dangerous to be a heretic, which is why it's rarely been more important to champion them.There is no bigger heretic than Andrew Gold. Andrew is a journalist, author, and TV presenter who produces documentaries on bizarre and controversial subcultures. He has battled an abusive exorcist, dueled with the Crazy Baby Lady, hunted UFOs, and spoken to a teen school captain, who also happened to be a pedophile. His podcast is appropriately titled, ‘heretics’.Follow Will Kingston and Fire at Will on social media here.Subscribe to The Spectator Australia here.Subscribe to Andrew's YouTube channel here.Buy 'The Psychology of Secrets' here.

Note: We had some minor sound issues in the first 10 minutes, but we couldn’t bring ourselves to edit out anything that Victor said. Stick with it. It’s worth it!In some respects, the West is exhibiting similar symptoms to past civilizations that decayed, declined, or were completely wiped off the map. At the same time, there are green shoots that may point to a rebirth of the United States, and Western civilization more broadly.To put our moment in a historical context, Will is joined by the inimitable Victor Davis Hanson. Victor's latest book is titled 'The End of Everything: How Wars Descend Into Annihilation.'Follow Will Kingston and Fire at Will on social media here.Subscribe to The Spectator Australia here.Buy 'The End of Everything' here.

Australiana is now Fire at Will - your safe space for dangerous conversations.Why is Africa poor? There’s a series of trendy answers to that question, that are almost taken as read amongst the progressive elite that dominate our institutions. Racism, slavery, and colonialism. Magatte Wade has called BS on this narrative, and she is uniquely qualified to do so, being widely regarded as the world’s leading African prosperity activist. She is an entrepreneur, speaker, and author. Her latest book is titled ‘The Heart of a Cheetah: How we have been lied to about African poverty, and what that means for human flourishing’.Follow Will Kingston and Fire at Will on social media here.Subscribe to The Spectator Australia here.Follow Magatte here.

Australiana is now Fire at Will - your safe space for dangerous conversations.Across the western world, cosplay protests are ongoing in some of the most elite academic institutions. They point to a deeper malaise in places of higher education. That's a real problem. The illiberal dogmas that have infiltrated our social institutions have their roots in the cultural rot in western education systems.To discuss how this happened, and what can be done, Will is joined by Eric Kaufmann. Eric is Professor of Politics at the University of Buckingham. His next book is out soon. It is titled 'Taboo: How making race sacred produced a cultural revolution.'Follow Will Kingston and Fire at Will on social media here.Subscribe to The Spectator Australia here.

Introducing your safe space for dangerous conversations.Follow Will Kingston and Fire at Will on social media here.Subscribe to The Spectator Australia here.

Australiana is now Fire at Will - your safe space for dangerous conversations.Western liberal democratic capitalism has created more prosperity, and enabled more human flourishing, than any other social system. It is something we should be proud of. And yet, Jonah Goldberg argues it is under attack, both from illiberal progressive identity politics, and right-wing populism.Jonah is one of America's most esteemed political pundits. He was the first editor of National Review Online, before founding The Dispatch - a digital media company providing engaged citizens with fact-based reporting and commentary on politics, policy and culture. He is a regular contributor to CNN and The Los Angeles Times, and a #1 New York Times bestselling author.Follow Australiana on social media here.Subscribe to The Spectator Australia here.Visit The Dispatch here.