Episodi

  • If your name were Jaucourt, would you write 17,266 unpaid articles?

    If your name were Jaucourt, would you write 17,266 unpaid articles?
    Oct 20 2026
    A Huguenot noble in Paris pours decades into a banned Encyclopédie. Would you keep building if your name vanished?

    If your name were Jaucourt, would you write 17,266 unpaid articles?

    In this episode, we follow Louis de Jaucourt from a precarious childhood to becoming a prodigious polymath and the secret engine of the Encyclopédie. We trace his loss, choices, daily routine and the risks he took-so you can ask whether you would keep building when recognition and safety are not guaranteed.

    Person: Louis de Jaucourt
    Date: born 16 September 1704
    Location: Paris, France
    Event: contributions to the Encyclopédie (1736-1765)
    Status: wrote 17,266 articles; paid secretaries from his own pocket

    - Born a younger son and a Huguenot after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, he had no inheritance and had to construct his career.
    - He studied theology in Geneva, natural sciences in Cambridge, and medicine in Leiden, and joined the Royal Society and various academies.
    - After a six-volume manuscript sank at sea, he continued working and was recruited by publisher Michel-Antoine David to join the Encyclopédie.
    - From 1759 to 1765 he dictated roughly eight finished articles every day, funding his own team of secretaries and writing across many disciplines.
    - Colleagues nicknamed him l'esclave de l'Encyclopédie as he produced about 25% of the work-approximately 4.7 million words-under censorship and surveillance.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    17 min
  • The condition that doomed the internet's inventor

    The condition that doomed the internet's inventor
    Oct 19 2026
    A 19th-century visionary builds the internet by hand, on paper, in a single building-will his bid to connect all human knowledge be his undoing?

    The condition that doomed the internet's inventor

    This episode explores the life and work of Paul Otlet, a Belgian information theorist who, in the late 19th century, envisioned and began building a global network of knowledge. What happens when an idea is decades ahead of its time?

    Person: Paul Otlet
    Date: 1895
    Location: Brussels
    Event: Founding of the Institut International de Bibliographie
    Topic: Information theory

    - Paul Otlet, born in 1868, was a wealthy industrialist's son who studied multiple disciplines before becoming a lawyer.
    - At 23, Otlet wrote an essay describing a card-based, cross-linked knowledge retrieval system, a network of facts.
    - In 1891, Otlet met Henri La Fontaine, a lawyer who shared his vision for organized information as a form of peace.
    - They co-founded the Institut International de Bibliographie in 1895, launching the Répertoire Bibliographique Universel with 400,000 entries by year-end.
    - They adapted Melvil Dewey's decimal system into the Universal Decimal Classification, with the condition it could not be translated into English.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    22 min
  • The Diaries That Forced a Wife to Face His Past

    The Diaries That Forced a Wife to Face His Past
    Oct 18 2026
    A celebrated novelist hides all weapons and ropes from himself; his wife reads his diaries-will she uncover what he's trying to hide?

    The Diaries That Forced a Wife to Face His Past

    This episode explores the life of Leo Tolstoy, a literary giant whose personal struggles and radical beliefs shaped his work and challenged the world around him. It asks what it costs to live authentically when the world expects a performance.

    Person: Leo Tolstoy
    Date: 1877
    Location: Yasnaya Polyana, Russia
    Status: Excommunicated by the Church
    Topic: Nonviolent movements

    - In 1877, Leo Tolstoy, having just completed a major novel, removed all firearms and ropes from his study.
    - Tolstoy was nominated for both the Nobel Prize in Literature and Prize but never received either.
    - He was excommunicated by the Church in 1901 and died on a railway platform in 1910, with police observing his funeral.
    - At 22, he joined the Imperial Army and served during the siege of Sevastopol, later writing dispatches that shocked Russian readers.
    - The night before his wedding to Sophia Behrs, Tolstoy gave her his diaries, revealing his gambling, sexual history, and a son born to a serf.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    20 min
  • The book you wrote twenty years ago makes the bestseller list

    The book you wrote twenty years ago makes the bestseller list
    Oct 17 2026
    A dangerous idea written decades ago resurfaces on the bestseller list. What does it cost to carry a dangerous idea for two decades?

    The book you wrote twenty years ago makes the bestseller list

    This episode explores the life of bell hooks, born Gloria Jean Watkins, and her lifelong commitment to challenging conventional wisdom. It delves into the personal and intellectual journey of a writer who dared to articulate difficult truths long before the world was ready to hear them.

    Person: Gloria Jean Watkins (bell hooks)
    Birth Date: September 25, 1952
    Birth Location: Hopkinsville, Kentucky
    First Book Title: Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism
    First Book Publication Year: 1981

    - Gloria Jean Watkins, one of six children, grew up in the segregated South, where her father was a janitor and her mother cleaned houses.
    - She began writing Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism at 19, while an undergraduate at Stanford University, arguing that mainstream feminism excluded Black women.
    - She carried the manuscript for Ain't I a Woman for ten years before its publication, enduring a long period of doubt and resistance to her ideas.
    - She chose to publish under the name bell hooks, in lowercase, to honor her maternal great-grandmother and to center her work and ideas over her personal identity.
    - Her book, Ain't I a Woman, was published in 1981 when she was 28, and was later recognized as one of the most influential women's books of the previous two decades.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    21 min
  • The plaque on the wall asked if goodness is a fact

    The plaque on the wall asked if goodness is a fact
    Oct 16 2026
    A moral philosopher argues goodness is as verifiable as fact. What would it cost you to hold such a position?

    The plaque on the wall asked if goodness is a fact

    This episode explores the life and dangerous idea of Philippa Foot, a philosopher who spent her life arguing for the objective reality of moral facts. It delves into the intellectual and personal challenges of maintaining such a belief against the current of an entire discipline.

    Person: Philippa Foot
    Date: October 3, 2010
    Location: Walton Street, Oxford
    Topic: Moral philosophy

    - Philippa Foot was born on October 3, 1920, and died on her 90th birthday, October 3, 2010.
    - Her maternal grandfather was Grover Cleveland, a two-time US President, and her paternal grandfather was Sir Frederick Albert Bosanquet, a senior criminal judge in England.
    - Foot became an atheist moral philosopher, questioning the foundations of authority and inherited power that defined her family.
    - She arrived at Somerville College, Oxford, in 1939, at the start of World War II, and later worked as a British government economist.
    - Foot credited G.E.M. Anscombe with profoundly shaping her philosophical outlook, stating, "I learned everything from her."

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    21 min
  • The cord you hide that makes you choose the life you refuse

    The cord you hide that makes you choose the life you refuse
    Oct 15 2026
    A medieval theologian stops writing after two decades of work, claiming it all seems like "straw." What makes a life's work feel like nothing?

    The cord you hide that makes you choose the life you refuse

    This episode explores the life of Thomas Aquinas, a man who produced millions of words of theological text before abruptly ceasing his work. It delves into the forces that shaped his early life and the choices he made that defied his family's expectations.

    Person: Thomas Aquinas
    Date: December 6, 1273
    Location: Naples
    Age: 48

    - Thomas Aquinas, the ninth son of Landulf the Sixth of Aquino, was born into a noble family in Roccasecca, Kingdom of Sicily, around 1225.
    - His family sent him to Monte Cassino at age five with the intention of him becoming an abbot to secure family influence and power.
    - At the University of Naples, he encountered Aristotle through Arabic translations and was drawn to the Dominican Order, which championed reason in defending faith.
    - Around age nineteen, his brothers intercepted him on his way to join the Dominicans, holding him under house arrest for a year to pressure him to abandon the idea.
    - During his confinement, he made a private vow of chastity, symbolized by a cord he wore for the rest of his life, before his mother arranged his quiet escape through a window.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    22 min
  • The Telescope You Refuse to See

    The Telescope You Refuse to See
    Oct 14 2026
    A celebrated philosopher refuses to look through a telescope. What does it mean when the bravest thinker you know refuses to see?

    The Telescope You Refuse to See

    This episode explores the story of Cesare Cremonini, a renowned natural philosopher in 17th-century Europe, and his puzzling refusal to engage with Galileo's new invention. It delves into the reasons behind his decision and what it reveals about the intellectual climate of his time.

    Person: Cesare Cremonini
    Date: 1610
    Location: Padua, Venetian Republic
    Status: Natural philosopher
    Topic: Dangerous ideas

    - Cesare Cremonini was a philosopher whose salary in 1610 was twice that of Galileo.
    - He taught natural philosophy at the University of Padua for forty consecutive years.
    - Cremonini was prosecuted by the Holy Office in 1604 for atheism and the heresy of double truth.
    - He refused to retract his ideas, sheltering behind Aristotle's arguments.
    - His personal motto was "Intus ut libet, foris ut moris est," meaning "Privately, think what you wish. Publicly, behave as custom requires."

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    20 min
  • The smell of hides that birthed a philosophy

    The smell of hides that birthed a philosophy
    Oct 13 2026
    A self-taught tanner from Prussia develops a philosophy of socialism, only to find his ideas challenged by the very people he sought to impress. What happens when an idea is ahead of its time?

    The smell of hides that birthed a philosophy

    This episode explores the life of Joseph Dietzgen, a craftsman who independently developed a philosophical framework similar to Karl Marx. It raises the question of what happens when an individual's profound thoughts are dismissed by those in authority.

    Person: Joseph Dietzgen
    Date: April 15, 1888
    Location: Chicago
    Occupation: Tanner
    Philosophical work: The Nature of Human Brain-Work

    - Joseph Dietzgen, a tanner from the Rhine Province of Prussia, died at 59 while arguing about the collapse of capitalism.
    - He developed a philosophical framework independently, without formal education or institutional backing.
    - Dietzgen participated in the German Revolution of 1848, where he first encountered Karl Marx.
    - He traveled to the United States and Russia, managing tanneries while developing his philosophical ideas in isolation.
    - Marx initially criticized Dietzgen's work as underdeveloped and suggested he publish it under his trade as a tanner.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    23 min