The Digital Human, BBC Radio 4
Winner: Royal Society Radio Prize
Winner: Radio Academy Silver
For 12 years, from 2012-2024, Aleks and the BBC Scotland team created almost two hundred episodes of award-winning documentaries about the digital world.
A selection is below. You can listen to all our episodes in the archive on the BBC website.
“I often forget that this programme is about tech, rather than about today’s world in general. It’s like modern life, remixed. Amazing” - The Guardian
“Aleks Krotoski's academic approach and validity shines through, built on a richly layered body of knowledge and understanding.” - Apple Podcasts
“A missing peace of the puzzle I’ve been looking in this confusing digital world.” - Apple Podcasts
Alternate: Aleks Krotoski finds out about an online community who believe in a film that doesn't exist and contemplates base reality with cognitive neuroscientist Donald Hoffman.
Body: Since ancient Greece, metaphors of current technology have been used understand the human body. Aleks Krotoski asks what this means in the digital era.
Bona Fide: The Right To Be Forgotten allowed people edit their online histories. But having no digital history at all is suspicious. So how much information is enough to prove you are real?
Changeling: Why does a parent's awe over their child's ability with technology turn so quickly to fear? Aleks Krotoski explores the anxieties at the heart of modern parenting and tech.
Fated: Aleks Krotoski explores the power of toys and play in shaping our technological future. And asks if the image of what's to come gets stuck in attitudes & expectations of the past?
Find: Aleks discovers how after a 14-year search by thousands of people online, a man called Satoshi was finally found using a single photo and what this means for our privacy.
Five Minutes: Aleks Krotoski explores how the mechanics of the digital environment allow misinformation to swamp digital platforms and impact on users of all ages.
Flip: Aleks Krotoski explores how the internet strayed so far from its original purpose, sharing knowledge for the benefit of humankind.
Language: Aleks Krotoski explores the digital world's impact on our original social networking technology - language.
Maps: Aleks Krotoski examines what digital mapping has meant for our understanding of the world. Are we always aware of the decisions that make them look the way they do?
Devotion: When a homeless man was killed by a train on 11/08/18 in The Dalles, Oregon, no-one realised how many people it would effect. He was Terry Davis, and he was on a mission from God.
Quantize: Aleks Krotoski asks how human beings can cope with a world saturated by data. For some it is clay to be moulded and built with, while for others it is the route to self-knowledge.
Sin-Eaters: There is a price for keeping our feeds free of images that would disgust and distress us. It's paid by the individuals who filter out the horrors. These are today's sin-eaters.
Subservience: Aleks Krotoski finds out if how we treat our subservient robots impacts how we treat one another.