Ada Palmer on the history of censorship from the Renaissance to AI

Censorship is often associated with authoritarian
governments. But throughout history, efforts to control ideas have
taken many different forms — and they haven’t always come from the
state.

In this episode, Nico sits down with University of
Chicago professor Ada Palmer to explore the history of censorship
from the Renaissance to the present day. They discuss what
motivates censorship, why it evolves alongside new communication
technologies, how effective it has been throughout history, and
what historical patterns can teach us about today’s free speech
debates.

Ada Palmer is a professor of early modern European
history at the University of Chicago and the author of
Inventing the Renaissance: Myths of a Golden Age. She is
also an acclaimed science fiction and fantasy author, composer,
singer, and expert on anime and Japanese popular culture.
Visit her website
to read her blog and explore her other projects.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

01:29 Palmer’s interest in censorship

03:13 Renaissance censorship

13:15 The Inquisition and Jansenism

22:50 The blurry line between state and private
censorship

31:35 Fear and self-censorship

35:12 Does America hide its censorship efforts?

38:45 The case of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola

43:50 Will AI change censorship?

53:36 Censorship will always be with us

01:06:47 Are you a free speech absolutist?

01:13:46 Outro

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