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Uncomfortable Collisions with Reality podcast artwork
Government

Uncomfortable Collisions with Reality

by Nicholas Gruen
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United Kingdom · Government
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About the show

In this podcast, Nicholas Gruen discusses the issues of today in a unique way. The three questions we've always got an eye to are 1) What's missing in the way people normally talk about these issues? 2) Where do they fit in the bigger picture, whether that's * the long history of our species or * the deeper aspects of the way we're thinking about it and 3) Do these ways of thinking help us improve the world we live in? (Which we often focus on in our shorter 'Policy Provocations' podcasts.)

Latest episodes

  • Digital Public Goods and Common Purpose: Part 1

    July 16, 2026 · 29 min

    Welcome to another edition of Uncomfortable Collisions with Reality, where Gene Tunny and I react to a UN report on AI that invested me as the intellectual godfather of the phrase "digital public goods". I have been mulling on the…

  • Austerity of the imagination

    May 15, 2026 · 41 min

    Are we suffering from an austerity of the imagination? Why does modern political and policy reform feel completely stuck in a rut?In this episode of Uncomfortable Collisions with Reality, I sit down with Luca Tiratelli to diagnose the…

  • Rent seeking or competitive oligarchy? The coming global battle

    October 1, 2025 · 1 hr 11 min

    Greg Smith has a well thought out, deeply compelling and scary take on the world we suddenly find ourselves in. I thought you should hear from him and so have just recorded this conversation. I strongly recommend you check it out. (Note…

  • Shouldn't tech help us build society, not destroy it? This tech does! - Part 2

    September 11, 2025 · 24 min

    What if technology stopped keeping us apart and started bringing us back together? In this, part 2 of my conversation with Jim Savage, we turn from diagnosing the problem of loneliness to what we’re doing about it. Jim introduces…

  • Why do we only hang out with people like us? - Part 1

    September 11, 2025 · 44 min

    Why, in an age of constant connection, are so many of us lonelier than ever? In this first part of my conversation with Jim Savage, entrepreneur, dinner party host, acrobat and thinker on social connection, we dive into one of the…

  • Don't mention the war: how politics steers clear of everything that matters

    July 24, 2025 · 59 min

    In this discussion with Crikey's Bernard Keane, we discuss the "don't mention the war" syndrome - how politicians' technique increasingly avoids discussing anything difficult. We start with the proposed Tasmanian AFL stadium inquiry as a…

  • Could Trump become richer than Putin?

    April 11, 2025 · 1 hr 4 min

    In this episode of "Uncomfortable Collisions with Reality," Gene Tunny and I explore the implications of President Trump's tariffs on international trade. We discuss the micro and macroeconomic aspects of tariffs, and how these policies…

  • Rent seeking or competitive oligarchy? The coming global battle

    March 29, 2025 · 1 hr 11 min

    Greg Smith has a well thought out, deeply compelling and scary take on the world we suddenly find ourselves in. I thought you should hear from him and so have just recorded this conversation. I strongly recommend you check it out. If you…