E018: Mike Jay & the radical history of nitrous oxide

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People Just Do Something

The Bristol Cable

23 episodes

1 month ago

People Just Do Something is a relaxing and possibly enraging podcast about people who might self-identify as activists. Join professional busybody Isaac Kneebone-Hopkins, The Bristol Cable’s in-house Columbo, Priyanka Raval and a special guest each week as they attempt to untangle the means of effecting change in Bristol, broken Britain and beyond. Episodes release ever other week with the first season spanning 6 episodes. To secure the future of the show and The Bristol Cable, head to www.thebristolcable.org/join

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E018: Mike Jay & the radical history of nitrous oxide

People Just Do Something

1 hour 3 minutes

2 months ago

E018: Mike Jay & the radical history of nitrous oxide

So, this is a bit of a break from the usual, but we figured the lessons we can learn from radicals 200 years ago are every bit as relevant as those from today. Isaac is back out exploring, and this time he's in a Hotwells building that was once ground zero for radical science and politics in England: The Pneumatic Institute. This place was a hotbed in the late 1700s, right around the time of The French Revolution. Joining Isaac is cultural historian Mike Jay, author of Free Radicals, who gets stuck into this history and the psychedelic science it sparked. The conversation revolves around Nitrous Oxide (NOS) - re-criminalised in 2023 but still wildly popular - and the experiments a motley crew of renegades conducted with it. They were essentially getting high, but these weren't just parties; they sparked revolutionary thinking across medicine, chemistry, and the arts, ultimately forging groundbreaking ideas about public health.

The cast:
Thomas Beddoes
Humphrey Davy
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
James Watt

People Just Do Something (PJDS) is the podcast for people who want to change the world. It is for those who act, instead of waiting for others. It is for those who understand the impact of local change. If you’ve found this episode, then you’re not far from action.

From The Bristol Cable's award-winning newsroom, hosts Isaac Kneebone-Hopkins and Priyanka Raval, along with producer George Colwey, bring you relaxing and possibly enraging conversations with activists, organisers, and change-makers tackling everything from local Bristol struggles to global movements.

The Bristol Cable is Bristol's community-owned cooperative newsroom—fiercely independent journalism that puts people before profit. Since 2014, we've been holding power to account through investigative reporting, community campaigns, and democratic media ownership. Because when journalism serves the community, not shareholders, real change becomes possible.

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