Best Stemcell Podcasts (2025)

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Truth of Fact, Truth of Fiction: Is Ted Chiang a Luddite? 1:14:10

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16d ago1:14:10

1:14:10

This week we tackle another short story by Ted Chiang: From his 2019 Exhalation collection Truth of Fact, Truth of Feeling. Luddism and cognitive tool breakthroughs: we go through the pros and cons. Rich wants to go to the moon. We're not sure how much of a luddite, or dare we say relativist, we should make Chiang out to be. Fallible memories: just…

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The Dispossessed part 2: Why would capitalism make me do this? 35:34

25d ago35:34

35:34

This week we wrap up our discussion of Ursula LeGuin's 1974 classic The Dispossessed. Simultaneity physics: just a mcguffin, or deeper thematic significance? How is it different to a block universe? Does this count as hard sci-fi? on the [redacted] scene: why would LeGuin include this? how are we supposed to feel about our hero Shevek? why would ca…

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Ursula Le Guin's The Dispossessed: Real anarchy has never been tried 1:23:10

1M ago1:23:10

1:23:10

A brilliant physicist grows disenchanted with the stifling anarchist society of his home planet, defecting to a capitalist world in the hopes of finding true freedom...but what he finds only horrifies him. Cam says Ursula K. Le Guin's 1974 award-winning piece of sociological fiction is a leftist pamphlet. Benny and Rich call bs. who's right? let us…

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DeLillo's White Noise: psy-opping ourselves on death and po-mo 1:40:00

2M ago1:40:00

1:40:00

“All plots tend to move deathward. This is the nature of plots.” After a break, the boys jump into the 1980s po-mo White Noise by Don DeLillo. We talk about the denial of death, toxic airborne events, and Baudrillardian copies of copies of copies (of copies...) Simulacra: The boys shake off their reddit I Love Science teenage years and start to emb…

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The Odyssey, part 2: Failsons and deadbeat dads 1:37:51

3M ago1:37:51

1:37:51

This week we finally shut up about translations and get into some juicy themes and character analysis. Telemachus: why is he such a dweeb compared to his dad? Rich argues that he's doing the best he can growing up with an absent father. The others are less sympathetic. Odysseus: is his paranoid murderous rampage justified? what are his singular her…

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Emily Wilson's The Odyssey, part 1: Bronze age perversion 1:10:36

3M ago1:10:36

1:10:36

WOKE classics professor DESTROYED by three random guys who've never read homer before!!! just kidding we love it. Wilson translation discourse: is she really importing her feminist beliefs into the text? has she stripped the grandeur out to take 'complicated' Odysseus down a peg? what are the connotations of sluts and slaves? is the fancy language …

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Nikolai Gogol: Cutting your nose to spite the faceless bureaucracy 38:40

4M ago38:40

38:40

"For how could the nose, which had been on his face but yesterday, and able then neither to drive nor to walk independently, now be going about in uniform?" We take a break from reading novels and take a quick nose dive into Gogol's famous 1830s short story, talking absurdity, bureaucracy, and Russian wives. Status and bureaucracies: The most strai…

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Blood Meridian, part 2: It's time for some game theory 1:54:16

5M ago1:54:16

1:54:16

"He never sleeps, the judge. He is dancing, dancing. He says that he will never die." Wrapping up the second half of our discussion on Cormac McCarthy's 1985 classic, in which various chickens come home to roost. The Glanton gang's downfall: on the run from the Sonoran cavalry, mercy killings, greed and symbolism of coins, the takeover of the ferry…

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Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian, part 1: A legion of horribles 1:42:39

5M ago1:42:39

1:42:39

Hell aint half full. Hear me. Ye carry war of a madman's making onto a foreign land. Yell wake more than the dogs. Rich is a big McCarthy head. For Benny and Cam, it's their first taste, and we're going straight to the top shelf: the 1985 epic historical novel Blood Meridian; or, The Evening Redness in the West. In this discussion we cover the firs…

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DYEL Christmas party: The most beloved and hated books of 2024 1:22:45

6M ago1:22:45

1:22:45

A bit of festive fun looking back on the year that was. Which books have stayed with us? Which were forgettable? What was the best reading/watching we did outside of book club? What did we learn about podcasting? Are we gonna keep posting this stuff in public? and MORE CHAPTERS (00:00:00) festive chit chat (00:07:35) Revealing our favourite books o…

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The Moviegoer: In which we escape a deep existential malaise 1:04:55

6M ago1:04:55

1:04:55

A paradox: how can an author—say, Walker Percy—get the reader to care about a protagonist—say, Binx Bolling—who is stuck in a malaise and doesn't himself particularly care about anything? A corollary: how can a book club have an engaging discussion when they don't particularly care about said book and said protagonist? Honestly you might as well sk…

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Banned books: Vladimir Nabokov's infamous Lolita 1:24:42

7M ago1:24:42

1:24:42

“Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul... You can always count on a murderer for a fancy prose style.” Nabokov had a lot of trouble getting anyone to publish a story about a grown man falling in love with a 12 year old. After multiple bans and scandals, Lolita caught fire in America, and is now considered perhaps his greatest …

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How a large commercial property manager is committing to community safety 19:12

7M ago19:12

19:12

How does one of the largest commercial property managers in North America help advance local community safety? How can a landlord help make a city like Vancouver more vibrant, and ultimately, more sustainable? Jesse Gregson, vice-president of operations at Cadillac Fairview, joins the program to discuss the company's local efforts to support commun…

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Karl Ove Knausgaard's My Struggle: Autofiction and autofellation 43:36

7M ago43:36

43:36

These days every bestselling author writes novels about how their dad was too strict and they got bullied for bringing stinky indian food to school etc. But Karl Ove Knausgaard walked so millennial narcissists could run. This week we get absorbed in part 1 of his epic six-part autobiographical novel My Struggle, published in 2009. The big central q…

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Ted Chiang's Understand: Intelligence explosions and AI doom 1:22:53

8M ago1:22:53

1:22:53

Yeah, it's big brain time. This week we're reading 'Understand' from Ted Chiang's 2002 collection Stories of Your Life and Others. what is the ceiling on human intelligence? can we jooce it up? did Chiang inspire the whole AI doomer movement? would superintelligence beings have to annihilate each other instead of cooperating? Do we buy the orthogon…

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Chekhov urself before u wreck-ov urself (The Little Trilogy) 1:44:33

8M ago1:44:33

1:44:33

This week we're reading three of Anton Chekhov's most beloved short stories: The Man in the Case, Gooseberries, and About Love (The Little Trilogy, 1898). We get a minor assist from George Saunders and his fantastic book A Swim in the Pond in the Rain but have no shortage of stuff to discuss. Talking big 5 personality traits, the degree to which pe…

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Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms: War and love 1:00:49

9M ago1:00:49

1:00:49

Hemingway's 1929 semi-autobiographical classic tackles two big timeless themes: love and war. Two out of three of us can relate to the first one, but war feels pretty alien to us. How would the boys do if they were conscripted? What made WWI so uniquely dispiriting? What is it about this novel that so faithfully captures the experience of war? We a…

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Crime and Punishment finale: is Dostoevsky...overrated?? 1:31:50

9M ago1:31:50

1:31:50

Not too much plot to cover in parts 5 and 6; mostly we're hashing out our final thoughts on the book and Dostoevsky's legacy. First up is the controversial epilogue. The boys are not sure how believable Rodya's redemption is. It feels kinda cheap? Dostoevsky is not very good at character development but maybe it doesn't matter. Sonya is a perfectly…

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Crime and Punishment, part 2: Three extraordinary men 1:09:10

10M ago1:09:10

1:09:10

we're just normal men. We're just innocent men! In parts 3 and 4 of Fyodor Dostoevsky's 1866 Crime and Punishment we get a lot more meat on Raskolnikov's 'extraordinary man' thesis. How does it overlap with the concept of the Übermensch in Nietzsche and Hegel? Are we too deeply steeped in Christian morality to become 'extraordinary' without destroy…

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Crime and Punishment, part 1: Mister Schizo and the First Trad 1:27:10

10M ago1:27:10

1:27:10

Cracking into the first two parts of Dostoevsky's 1866 classic Crime and Punishment. The first surprising thing is that this is a conservative/reactionary book: it mocks the fancy new ideas of the youth, the spirit of revolution, naive utilitarianism, etc. Jordan Peterson laps this shit up. But did the moral panic over materialism hold up? Does mod…

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Susanna Clarke's Piranesi: Gaslight gatekeep girlboss 1:25:36

11M ago1:25:36

1:25:36

The beauty of this book is immeasurable, and its kindness is infinite. We all love Susanna Clarke's 2012 metaphysical thriller, which feels like a mashup of Borges/C.S. Lewis/Gone Girl. Venture deeper into the labyrinth with us: Piranesi as amateur scientist: On indigenous knowledge, the dangers of naïve empiricism, achieving dominion over nature, …

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The Tragedy of Hamlet: The O.G. annoying theatre kid 1:10:14

11M ago1:10:14

1:10:14

holy shit this was hard. Our first attempt at shakespeare and it was a doozy! Rich struggled through the original text and only had the vaguest idea what was going on. Cam watched every single movie adaptation and studied for two weeks but still got casually mogged by his girlfriend. By the time we got done with the discussion we were all actually …

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Albert Camus' The Fall: Signalling, scrupulosity, and pathological self-awareness 1:44:14

11M ago1:44:14

1:44:14

This one starts slow but it ends up being one of my favourite book clubs ever. Camus' last finished novel was The Fall (1956). It has a lot of personal resonance for Rich and the other boys loved it too. Loss of innocence: how much of our behaviour comes down to signalling? Is there such a thing as genuine altruism? Is it dangerous to learn about t…

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Philip K. Dick's paranoid classic Ubik: Fluttering at the windowpane of reality 1:18:21

11M ago1:18:21

1:18:21

Philip K. Dick is a sci-fi legend, but the boys have only ever seen the film adaptations of his work (Blade Runner, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly). Dick's 1969 classic Ubik has us divided. Benny is mad that major premises are introduced and then abandoned, internal logic is sloppy, and the twist ending is lazy writing. Rich and Cam are charmed …

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Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis: A Bug's Life 1:04:09

12M ago1:04:09

1:04:09

“As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into an enormous insect.” (who amongst us, etc) This week we're talking Kafka's 1915 novella The Metamorphosis. Rich swoons over Gregor and is deeply moved by his plight. Cam wonders whether the giant freaky bug might bear some responsibility for events. B…

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Frankenstein, part 2: Nature vs nurture 1:04:43

12M ago1:04:43

1:04:43

Wrapping up Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, which we all loved. Nature vs nurture: the monster as proto-incel, to what extent do we feel sympathy for him, should Victor have made him a bride, self-loathing and recrimination, and whether hot people are actually more virtuous than ugly people. Also: why rousseau was a giant piece of shit, the monster as…

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Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, part 1: Post-nut clarity and forbidden knowledge 1:16:48

1y ago1:16:48

1:16:48

Discussing chapters 1-10 of Mary Shelley's 1818 genre mash-up Frankenstein. On Mary Shelley's stacked genetics, the 'scenius' with Lord Byron and Percy Shelley, questions over authorship including a suspiciously accurate depiction of post-nut clarity. Forbidden knowledge: are infohazards real, taking accountability for new technology, guilt and the…

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Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot: The One TRUE Interpretation 42:52

1y ago42:52

42:52

Wandering through Samuel Beckett's 1953 absurdist play Waiting for Godot. Did Beckett actually have an interpretation in mind, or did he deliberately write a maximally vague story that everyone could map their own interests onto? How well does the humour hold up over time? Where does Beckett rank in the canon of absurdist and existentialist writers…

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The Razor's Edge, part 3: Climbing off the wheel of suffering 1:03:20

1y ago1:03:20

1:03:20

Our final session with W. Somerset Maugham's The Razor's Edge (chapters 5-7). Elliot Templeton as the last relic of a dying age. Was he really happy? We consider his self-worship and clout-chasing Catholicism as a counterpoint to Larry's spirituality. Rest in power queen. Sophie MacDonald attempts to climb off the wheel of suffering via more prosai…

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The Razor's Edge, part 2: Lay your hands on me Larry 47:11

1y ago47:11

47:11

Discussing chapters 4 and 5 of W. Somerset Maugham's The Razor's Edge. Larry becomes aloof and reserved. Is he really bringing anything to the table besides his sexy forearms? Has he gone full woo-woo granola cruncher? Why can Kosti only talk about spirituality when he's drunk? Why aren't muses a thing these days? CHAPTERS (00:00:00) Synopsis (00:0…

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W. Somerset Maugham's The Razor's Edge, part 1: Nobody loafs like Larry 39:26

1y ago39:26

39:26

Cracking into the first three chapters of Maugham's 1944 spiritual odyssey. Why do we love Larry so much? Rich talks about his own years of loafing around. Is Larry's decision to take a step off the beaten path less admirable given his 'trifling' $54,000 inflation-adjusted stipend? Talking about the spergy drive to collect All the Knowledge, and ho…

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Brief Interviews With Hideous Men, part 3: Was David Foster Wallace a hideous man? 1:37:03

1y ago1:37:03

1:37:03

Starts with light and breezy over-sharing of our masturbatory habits, ends with a downer discussion about how we should re-contextualise Wallace's work thru the lens of the abuse allegations against him. The main stories we talk about: Brief Interview #59: Logically coherent masturbation fantasies (00:01:34) is this a universal experience, why are …

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The latest IT trends for Canadian businesses 27:48

1y ago27:48

27:48

NOVIPRO Group recently released the 8th edition of its IT Trends Report, which surveyed Canadian businesses about their IT needs, concerns and plans. Guest Steve Small, director of sales with Blair Technology Solutions Inc., joins BIV editor-in-chief Hayley Woodin Hastings for a discussion about the state of Canadian business IT infrastructure, cyb…

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Brief Interviews With Hideous Men, part 2: If you can fake sincerity you've got it made 41:41

1y ago41:41

41:41

This week's discussion is loosely based around the story Octet, but really we just drill down on what David Foster Wallace is trying to achieve in this collection. How much metafiction is too much metafiction, does DFW stray into self-indulgence, the leap of faith he asks from his readers, is it possible to tactically and deliberately try to be sin…

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David Foster Wallace's Brief Interviews With Hideous Men, part 1: Weaponised therapy-speak 46:17

1y ago46:17

46:17

Wallace's 1999 collection of short stories takes us to some uncomfortable places (and as always, is eerily prescient). In this week's discussion we talk about his 'juvenilia' coming-of-age story Forever Overhead, his famous piece The Depressed Person, and a smattering of the titular brief interviews. We kinda fucked up the format on this by trying …

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Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse, part 3: We finally get to the fucking lighthouse 47:13

1y ago47:13

47:13

An anticlimactic final discussion to an anticlimactic book. We are confused and afraid. Cam is on the brink of quitting reading altogether. This discussion covers Parts 2 and 3 of To The Lighthouse. Actual book-related content starts at 11 minutes. CHAPTERS (00:00:00) Normative ethics and incest cold open (00:11:00) Infectiousness of social energy …

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Virginia Woolf's To The Lighthouse, part 2: Portrait of the autist as an old man 1:05:46

1y ago1:05:46

1:05:46

Rich waxes lyrical about the dinner party scene. Do men have impaired theory of mind, or are they just assholes? On the invisible mastery of social reality, and capturing subjective experience in literature. It goes well enough that the boys decide to actually read the rest of the book. CHAPTERS (00:00:00) pre-roll jibber jabber (00:12:55) a man mo…

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Virginia Woolf's To The Lighthouse, part 1: Skill issue 50:28

1y ago50:28

50:28

A fragmented jumble of multiple shifting perspectives, punctuated by abrupt jumps between topics and timelines, infused with the frustration of trying to express intensely-felt experiences within the bounds of mere words. (oh and we also talked about a Virginia Woolf book) CHAPTERS (00:00:00) - we are NOT going to the lighthouse (00:11:16) - Rich m…

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Borges' Garden of Forking Paths: a ramble through the multiverse 1:58:38

1y ago1:58:38

1:58:38

These days the 'multiverse' idea is standard marvel slop. But if we read this story in 1941 it would have blown our tiny little minds. how tf did Borges sit at the cutting edge of philosophy and physics without doing the classic info-dump spergy thing? We read one of our favourite stories in search of Clues (actual plot-related analysis starts arou…

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John Williams' sleeper hit Stoner: Finding perfection in mediocrity 1:31:10

1y ago1:31:10

1:31:10

Our critical consensus on John William's sleeper bestseller Stoner: There is almost no plot The main character doesn't get the girl, or really succeed at anything Gigantic violation of 'show don't tell', starting on literally page one WE FUCKING LOVE THIS BOOK could it be...a perfect novel? we try figure out why we relate so hard to Mr William Ston…

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Michel Houellebecq's Map and the Territory, part 3: The world is weary of me and I am weary of it 1:01:01

1y ago1:01:01

1:01:01

closing out the last section of the book with death, entropy, and thwarted ambitions: Why David Deutsch wouldn't approve of Houellebecg True artists impose their vision upon the world Sacred values and euthanasia Should kanye get back on his meds Not sure why the audio cuts off abruptly at the end but it does feel appropriate CHAPTERS (00:00:00) Th…

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Michel Houellebecq's Map and the Territory, part 2: Post-industrial society and its discontents 1:02:31

1y ago1:02:31

1:02:31

This section is light on plot but we do get a coherent theme: the perversions that emerge from consumer capitalism's relentless optimisation process. will our hero Jed maintain his artistic integrity and stop feeding the beast? does Houellebecq think of himself as a kind of ethnographer? Does the g-spot actually exist? etc benny's audio still sucks…

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Michel Houellebecq's Map and the Territory, part 1: Memeing big fat juicy asses into reality 1:23:10

1y ago1:23:10

1:23:10

Some good stuff coming up already in part 1 of The Map and The Territory: how our models of the world can change underlying physical reality is modern art a psyop? why plato would hate 'brand-name' tourism experience benny's audio is completely cooked on this. I lost the files so I can't fix it sorry CHAPTERS (00:00:00) playdough’s cave (00:04:01) …

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Key insights from new research on the fire safety of mass timber 19:13

1+ y ago19:13

19:13

A recent, significant fire test series has produced key insights on the fire safety and resilience of mass timber buildings. On this episode, WoodWorks BC's executive director Shawn Keyes, a licensed structural engineer who has pioneered timber projects across Canada, discusses the Mass Timber Demonstration Fire Test Program, and why it matters. Th…

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Anchor company 'mindset' critical to growing Canada's life sciences sector 22:41

1+ y ago22:41

22:41

According to a new white paper from the newly launched adMare Institute, Canada's life sciences sector has no anchor companies. adMare BioInnovations president and CEO Gordon McCauley discusses what that means and why it matters with BIV editor-in-chief Hayley Woodin Hastings. This podcast episode is sponsored by adMare BioInnovations. See omnystud…

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The economic costs of CleanBC – with BCBC chief economist Ken Peacock 1:00:38

1+ y ago1:00:38

1:00:38

Business Council of British Columbia senior vice-president and chief economist Ken Peacock walks BIV editor-in-chief Hayley Woodin Hastings through BCBC analysis of CleanBC – the province's plan to lower greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.By Business In Vancouver

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How the BC Technology for Learning Society narrows the technology gap 14:45

1+ y ago14:45

14:45

Mary-Em Waddington, executive director of the BC Technology for Learning Society, discusses how her operation recycles computers to provide low-income and other less privileged British Columbians access to technology. She is in discussion with BIV publisher and executive editor Kirk LaPointe. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.…

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Sanctuary AI CEO Geordie Rose on AI's potential 28:41

2y ago28:41

28:41

Entrepreneur Geordie Rose is one of British Columbia's big thinkers. Now at his second AI company, he has been honoured by the BC Tech Association as one of its laureates. He discusses with BIV publisher and executive editor Kirk LaPointe the emerging potential of AI in our lives, AI's limits, and how we can best mitigate risk. See omnystudio.com/l…

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STEMCELL Technologies founder Allen Eaves 21:06

2y ago21:06

21:06

Allen Eaves, the founder and CEO of STEMCELL Technologies, talks about the 30th anniversary of the country’s largest biotech firm. He is in conversation with BIV publisher and executive editor Kirk LaPointe. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.By Business In Vancouver

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Minister Ravi Kahlon talks housing affordability in B.C. 23:04

2y ago23:04

23:04

B.C. Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon discusses the province's recent efforts to boost affordability and build more housing. He is in conversation with Glacier Media real estate reporter Claire Wilson. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.By Business In Vancouver