Season 1
Going back to first principles
In our first season, we wanted to do two things. Firstly, we wanted to talk to 'collators' whose job is to share information with the public or others, to learn about how and why they do it. The challenges, the hazards and any insight they have
Secondly, we wanted to go over some first principles to examine how people make sense of the world in general. From scientific method to gut feeling. Newspapers to intelligence agencies. All ways and means of looking at the world and sharing it with others
We're going to aim for one episode every two weeks, but it might ebb and flow
We really want you to engage with us, so any feedback, good or bad is sought and welcome
Email us at shout@thecollators.com or join the discord.
Episode 0: Introduction to The Collators Podcast
This is a trailer episode to introduce the pod - We’ve tried to make a show for people who want to sharpen their thinking. Whether you’re a seasoned analyst or simply curious about how we make sense of the world. If you’re interested in critical thinking, information theory of just how people form beliefs, then I think we might have something for you. On behalf of Mark, Howard and Jay, Hello world…
Episode 1: An appeal for information
We use the word information every day, but what does it actually mean? In this first episode, drawing on experience from intelligence, law enforcement and academia Mark and Howard dig into the foundations of our information saturated world, exploring how data becomes meaning, why context matters, and how our assumptions shape what we think we know.
Episode 2: OMG, TMI - How much information is too much?
In this episode of The Collators, Mark and Howard dig into the firehose of the digital age. From
the days of cereal-box reading and limited TV channels to today’s infinite scroll of TikTok,
Twitter, and AI-generated content, how has the internet reshaped the way we process and
perhaps fail to really think about the information we receive.
Episode 3: Intelligence; good, bad and indifferent - What is it?
Mark and Howard wrestle with the deceptively simple question: What is intelligence? They explore why intelligence is so hard to define, how it differs from raw data and information, and why it sits somewhere between science and art.
Along the way, they highlight the many uses (and misuses) of the word “intelligence” from law enforcement practice to political spin.
Episode 4: Intelligence Beyond Earth - Looking inside and out
In this special episode, Mark and Howard welcome their first guest: Dr. John Elliott, honorary research fellow in computer science and coordinator of the SETI Post-Detection Hub at the University of St Andrews.
Episode 5: Trust is everything - Interview with Dr James Wilson
Dr Wilson takes us through his journey from medical school in the shadow of Ebola outbreaks, to rainforest fieldwork, to NASA satellite projects that caught the attention of the intelligence community, and later, front-line pandemic response.
Episode 6: Prove it: What is evidence?
From courtrooms to laboratories, from policing to public policy, “evidence” is a term loaded with assumptions. But what do we really mean when we say something is evidence? Who gets to decide?
Mark and Howard ask: What is evidence? From courtrooms to science labs to public policy, they explore how this powerful word shapes truth, trust, and decision-making.
Episode 7: Virtually Real - What is real anyway?
In this episode of The Collators, Mark and Howard explore the promises and pitfalls of virtual reality. Not as a gaming gimmick, but as a tool for intelligence, analysis, and decision-making.
From Minority Report-style data walls to simple post-it notes, they ask whether VR and data visualisation actually help us see the world more clearly, or just distract us with prettier illusions.
Episode 8: One House; Many Rooms - What is Analysis?
Reflective, sometimes funny and occasionally heretical, this episode pulls together the threads of the series so far. Revealing how all analysis hinges on one thing: how we think, and sometimes, how it can sometimes drift into ritual rather than insight.
Episode 9: Patterns & Trends: What is a pattern?
Musical spreadsheets, a string of car thefts, and a chance observation spark a question at the heart of this episode: what exactly is a pattern, and how do we recognise one?
Mark and Howard explore Florence Nightingale’s statistical diagrams to modern AI pattern recognition, exploring how humans find meaning in data and how sometimes, meaning finds us. They discuss the risks of seeing structure where none exists, the value of curiosity, and why luck and lateral thinking still matter in an age of algorithms.
Episode 10: An Interview with Carmen Medina
In this special episode of The Collators, Mark and Howard speak with Carmen Medina, former Deputy Director of Intelligence at the CIA and one of the most respected reformers in modern intelligence analysis.
Carmen’s career spanned three decades at the heart of U.S. intelligence, leading analytic teams through the end of the Cold War, the information revolution, and the challenges of a world where secrets collide with the open internet.
Reflective, candid, and often funny, Carmen’s insights reveal the reality of analysis as both craft and calling, and a human attempt to make sense of the world.
Episode 11: An interview with Mike Hawkes
From Tandy Radioshack to nuclear submarines, this episode traces an extraordinary journey through the intersections of technology, curiosity, and courage.
Mark and Howard talk with Mike Hawkes, a technologist, inventor, and pioneer of secure digital systems whose career began in fixing computers in a local store and ended up influencing the security architecture behind global online transactions that we all use.
This is a very human story, with ebbs and flows of good and bad. Innovation, hard work and opportunity, but also cybercrime, litigation and loss.
Episode 12 : Can everything that counts, be counted?
From crime scenes to classrooms, boardrooms to briefing papers, the tension between numbers and narratives runs through every profession that tries to make sense of the world.
Mark and Howard ask whether everything that counts can, in fact, be counted.
What happens when we mistake measurement for meaning? Why do humans crave certainty even when the evidence is uncertain? And how do analysts, scientists, and policymakers balance data with judgment?