Welcome to Intelligence Squared, where great minds meet.
I'm head of Programming Conor Boyle.
What is a monster?
Why do humans create stories about otherness?
And what does it tell you about a society that engages in monster making?
Our guest today is Soreka Davis,
writer and historian who has written a book about these questions, Humans A Monstrous History.
Davis was joined in conversation by Sophie McBain,
Associate Editor of the New Statesman, to discuss the topic.
Let's join our speakers now.
Hello, and welcome to Intelligence Squared with me, Sophie McVeigh.
Our guest today is Sureka Davis.
She is a writer and historian and the author of Humans A Monstrous History,
a book that mies medieval history
and modern sci fi that weaves stories of zombies with plots
from the Muppets to show how people have defined,
explained and vilified otherness across the world through long wild traditions of monster making.
The book also looks forward to consider how,
amid rising political polarization and ever more powerful AI,
we prevent people from being dehumanised and turned into monsters.