Episode 32 - Wanders and Travelers (Arkady Strugotsky)

About this episode

The episode explores themes of intelligence, interspecies responsibilities, and reflections on life beyond Earth through the lens of science fiction.

Theme : Does this RFID tag make me look inferior? Episode Connections Authors, stories . R.A. Lafferty, “Encased in Ancient Rind.” Arthur C. Clarke, “The Sentinel.” Murray Leinster. “First Contact.” TV episodes, series . Star Trek . Star Trek: Next Generation . Babylon 5 . Ideas . Soviet-era science fiction. Political philosophy. World building. Queries about similarities and differences among species on Earth and other places around the universe. Reflections on the relative intelligence (and by extension significance) of species. Ponders the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe, and how it might compare to humans. What responsibilities do we have to other species? What responsibilities do they have to us? What is intelligence? What is reason? What is evolution and maturity? The Golden Rule as a guide for interspecies engagement. The Prime Directive. Alien abduction. Whoa - Hmmm - WTF . Dan says Hmmm. Bill says yes, but with a sprinkle of Whoa. Correction . Bill refers to the septopods as a subclass of octopi, then in fact they would be another order of cephalopod. A momentary lapse of biologic. Previous episode : Chris Neville, “The Forest of Zyl” Next episode : Frank…

People in this episode

Hosts: Bill Williamson, Dan Kamm

Topics covered

• RFID technology
• Soviet-era science fiction
• Political philosophy
• Interspecies responsibilities
• Intelligence and evolution
• World building

Keywords

• RFID
• science fiction
• intelligence
• evolution
• interspecies engagement
• political philosophy
• world building

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Incompetech.com, Creative Commons

Books & works: Encased in Ancient Rind, The Sentinel, First Contact, The Forest of Zyl, The Wreck of the Ship John B, Ouroboros

More episodes of TBD - To Be Determined

• Episode 33 - The Wreck of the Ship John B (Frank Robinson) · May 20, 2026 · 47 min
• Episode 31 - The Forest of Zyl (Chis Neville) · March 19, 2025 · 32 min
• Episode 30 - Captive Audience (Ann Warren Griffith) · February 21, 2025 · 40 min
• Episode 29 - 10:01 AM (Alexander Malac) · January 3, 2025 · 46 min
• Episode 28 - Chicago (Thomas F. Monteleone) · November 30, 2024 · 39 min
• Episode 27 - For a Breath I Tarry (Roger Zelazny) · May 21, 2024 · 56 min