Episode Details

In this chapter discussion, Rob Hygate explores a tense meeting between Dr Aris Thorne and River Washbroke after an unusual encounter on a wet London street. Their conversation ranges from the pressure of modern life and housing, to loneliness, care, automation, and who benefits when markets shape everything from work to homes. River describes a life built around simplicity, time, and repair, while Thorne argues that many of today’s crises come from treating land, labour, money, and even technology as commodities. Together they weigh ideas from Polanyi, Weber, and Ostrom, and ask whether a powerful intelligence could help run systems more fairly without taking away human autonomy, detours, or the value of community.