Beef And Dairy Network - Episode 93 - Artificial Intelligence

Episode Date: February 20, 2023

Susan Harrison, Graham Dickson and George Fouracres join in this month as we learn about artificial intelligence and the secret history of Shakespeare's plays.Stock media provided by Setuniman/Pond5.c...om and Soundrangers/Pond5.comMusic credits courtesy of epidemicsound.com:Prelude / Trevor Kowalski

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Starting point is 00:00:00 The Beef and Dairy Network is sponsored by Value Grow Basic, the new super cheap cattle feed from Mitchells. If it's not Mitchells, get back in the truck. Value Grow Basic is officially the cheapest commercially available animal feed on the market today. But when you buy Value Grow, you're not just saving money. You're also doing your bit for the environment because it's largely made of old tires and marine waste. For 10% off your first order of Value Grow Basic, use the code LETSBURNRUBBER. Hello, and welcome to the Beef and Dairy Network podcast, the number one podcast for those involved, or just interested, in the production of beef animals and dairy herds.
Starting point is 00:00:51 The Beef and Dairy Network podcast is the podcast companion to the Beef and Dairy Network website, as well as the printed magazine brought to you by Value Grow Basic. Alugro Basic. Before we go any further, may I apologise for my slightly husky voice this month. I'm just shaking off the last of a light bout of bovine splenic fever. My GP, Dr Sam Archer, tells me that it won't be long before I'm back to full fitness, and indeed my nipples have almost completely gone back to normal. Later we speak to some people making ripples in the theatre world, but first, artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence, or AI, is a big, big buzzword in the general world of science, revolution in the way that communications, industry from Christmas to New Year and beyond and before that. Thinking time, now the computer can compute on our behalf in electronic fashion.
Starting point is 00:01:55 Now, what you probably didn't notice about that last thing I just said is that it was entirely written by artificial intelligence. Pretty amazing, huh? Well, check out this next bit. In the future, a podcast like this one could be entirely written by AI and even presented by an AI voice. The next thing you'll hear has been generated by a machine learning algorithm that has learned my voice and can reproduce it. Please. Please.
Starting point is 00:02:26 Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. And now it's me talking again. Or is it? Anyway, to help us understand how the growth of AI might help with various processes in the beef and dairy industries, I spoke to Dr. Katie Beam. Hi, I'm Dr. Katie Beam, and I work for the
Starting point is 00:02:53 Future Foundation as an AI engineer. Katie, thank you so much for coming in. It feels like at the moment, all we're hearing about is AI. And I just wanted to talk to someone who could explain kind of what it is. Yeah. Oh, thank you so much. Well, as you've sort of pointed out, it is a really exciting time for AI at the moment. In terms of how I relate to it, I'm really, really interested in seeing how AI can be applied to the beef and dairy industry. Yeah. People often say to me that they have the impression that farmers, for example, are kind of stuck in their ways. You know, obviously, you'll go to a farm, you'll often see a farmer keeping his trousers up with a piece of string, for example. And you think, well, you
Starting point is 00:03:35 know, they haven't even embraced the leather belt yet. So will they take on this new technology? But I actually think if you, you know know farmers have been using new technology for years and i think there's an appetite to embrace ai yeah well i'm really glad you said that actually because that's what i'm really hopeful about you know i'm feeling really hopeful that it's easy to dismiss people who work in those sort of traditional industries but actually you're right there is an appetite for for modernizing and moving with the times and yeah i'm excited to see where we can go with it. When you visit, I know you do farm visits with your work, trying to sort of sell farmers on the benefits of what you do.
Starting point is 00:04:13 If you see someone and their trousers are held up with an old piece of string, does your heart sink? Yeah, it's not something I've encountered personally. Most of the farmers I've met have been sort of, you know, able to dress yeah so it's not something that you know that's a big problem what about if the trousers are absolutely stuffed full of like ferrets again that's that's not something i've encountered i'm i'm i'm not sure where you're sort of getting those ideas from but yeah farmers nowadays are much more up to date than than you know stereotypical ideas would have you believe i mean you know there's an argument that says
Starting point is 00:04:50 despite all the technology that's being thought of and and developed by the likes of yourselves there's still nothing really that challenges the warmth you get from six seven eight ferrets down your trousers on a winter's morning no i, I mean, yeah, obviously I take your point. This is your, in some ways, your area of expertise, but I feel like we're sort of missing the main point here, which is AI. Okay, yeah. And, yeah, you know.
Starting point is 00:05:17 Okay, well, let's talk about that. Something I was very interested in in your press release was that you said that the first stage of your work, and that you spent a number of years on, I believe, was working out exactly how intelligent a cow is. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yes. Thank you. After many months of research, I've come to the exciting conclusion, to be honest, that their level of intelligence equates to that of a DVD player, which is actually much higher than many people expected. Right. Okay, so just want to get my head around this. You mean that a cow is able to do the same things that a DVD player is able to do? Well, obviously not, because a cow can't play you a film. Obviously not, because a cow can't play you a film. But no, more what I'm saying is that the level of intelligence is very similar to the level of capability that a DVD player has.
Starting point is 00:06:17 So are you putting the DVD, just like, jam it in the arse hole? Oh, no, I'm not saying we're going to put a DVD in a cow, obviously. In the mouth? As I say, I'm not suggesting that we put a DVD in a cow. That's absolutely... Sorry, sorry. I'm just passionate about my subject. I don't mean to sound...
Starting point is 00:06:42 This is the way that we're presenting the information to the public i mean it's obviously a lot more complicated and scientific than that this is how we're best describing it in this kind of like broad um terms looking forward into the future is there ever a time or can you ever conceive of a time when a cow would be able to play a Blu-ray? Okay. As I said before, this is not about trying to insert something into a cow to insert or to somehow make a film come out of a cow. I'm just saying that the level of intelligence that I... I get this.
Starting point is 00:07:25 You're saying a cow isn't currently intelligent enough to project 4K HD footage. I'm actually not suggesting a cow should project any footage. What I'm saying is that cows are smarter than we think. They're not geniuses. That would be crazy. But they're smarter than we think. They're not geniuses. That would be crazy. But they're smarter than we think. But it kind of depends what DVD it is because if it's like A Beautiful Mind, for example,
Starting point is 00:07:53 that film, obviously that's really clever. But if you're just playing, I don't know, Shrek, that doesn't feel like it's as intelligent. Okay. I'm not sure how much more I can can explain this but i'm not saying that there's any film going into a cow i'm not saying that okay let's let's let's let's move on to my next question um do you get differences of intelligence between different cows so for example a younger cow versus an older cow is there a difference there yeah that now that is a good
Starting point is 00:08:24 question um yes there is of course when they're younger they're still learning and and by that younger cow versus an older cow, is there a difference there? Yeah, now that is a good question. Yes, there is. Of course, when they're younger, they're still learning. And by that logic, you know, an older cow, maybe born as long ago as early 90s, they only remember VCRs. So to them, they may have learned what a DVD is, but they're not DVD native in the same way as someone who's born in the DVD era. Okay. I mean, is this a waste of my time?
Starting point is 00:08:55 Is it the best use of a cow's time to be playing a DVD rather than... Okay, look, that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about... I'm sorry, are you not more excited about the possibilities of AI in relation to the beef and dairy industry? Well, yeah, okay. No, let's talk about that. Let's talk about the future. Yeah, good. Thank you.
Starting point is 00:09:13 So your work's very future focused. Yeah. And if you think about a cat, like I'm just spitballing here, so you can tell me if this is, you know. Okay. You know, this is maybe a good idea. You know, a cow has two eyes. Yes. Left and right.
Starting point is 00:09:26 So imagine this. You're projecting sort of green out of one, red out of the other. Okay, I've had enough of this. No, no. You've got a 3D picture then. No, I'm sorry. I haven't come all this way to talk about fucking 3D films. I thought you would be interested.
Starting point is 00:09:43 This is like the one place I thought we'd have a clear understanding of what we've been doing and been researching for fucking years. You just absolutely shat all over it. Thank you to Dr Katie Beam. Perhaps surprisingly, more from Dr Katie later. But first, what would you say if I told you that the Bovine Farmers Union this week donated over a million pounds to a project to build an authentic Elizabethan theatre in London? To find out why, I spoke to artistic directors Sir Paul St Albans Montefiore and Shakespearean actor Cam Tandy,
Starting point is 00:10:23 who are currently raising money to build what they are calling the Real Globe Theatre, a new theatre to compete with the existing Globe Theatre in London, which itself is a supposedly authentic reconstruction of Shakespeare's theatre from the 1600s. Hello, my name is Sir Paul St Albans Montefiore. I am the artistic director of the Real Globe Theatre in London. Hello, I'm Cam Tandy and I am an actor at the Real Globe Theatre. So why do these two want
Starting point is 00:10:53 to build another Shakespearean theatre directly next to the existing Globe Theatre? And what does this have to do with the Bovine Farmers Union? I met Sir Paul and Cam outside the existing Globe Theatre in London to find out. So thank you both for joining me here. We are, of course, outside London's famous Globe Theatre, Shakespeare's Globe, much beloved by theatre-goers and tourists alike, and they are thronging the place, and they're all going in
Starting point is 00:11:18 to watch a production of Taming of the Shrew. Yeah, it's busy. Well, it's half-term, isn't it? It is. They'll be filling up the place today, I'm sure. Swarming like rats. Sir Paul and Cam had both been working at the existing Globe Theatre until last summer. Sir Paul began by telling me how it was his belief in the importance of authenticity that meant he had to leave.
Starting point is 00:11:41 Authenticity is such a powerful word, and it's become our watchword, it's become our mantra and the globe that you see before us I think falls down on so many counts of authenticity these days. Because the point of this building really was to put Shakespeare back in an authentic Shakespearean theatre. That's right. And you're saying this isn't an authentic space? No, no. Well, for a start, the bricks are actual bricks and not bricks of manure as they were in Shakespeare's day. Bricks of manure sort of tied up with string, packed in tight.
Starting point is 00:12:18 And that really gave the place that sort of, you know, grubby, earthy smell that really focused the mind, which was important both for the actors and for the audience. Everyone needed to be focused, and when the whole place smelled quite that bad, it was easier to do so, you know? So in this Globe Theatre, if it smells of shit, something's gone wrong,
Starting point is 00:12:40 whereas in your theatre, if something smells of shit, it's going right. In our theatre, and we can promise you that we'll actually give a money back guarantee. If you're watching a show and you can't smell shit we will give you your money back. We want to make sure that
Starting point is 00:12:56 every person, every man woman and child experience at the real globe is an authentic one. There'll be no place you can stand in the round where you can't smell shit exactly that's a cast-iron guarantee cam as an actor obviously you've you've acted in this globe um were you originally attracted by the idea that you're doing something authentic is that important to you yeah it's really important to me and i think
Starting point is 00:13:21 the whole point of of authenticity is you can't sanitise it. They're bang on about authenticity. I've never seen anyone mopping up blood with piles of straw, for instance. That should be not like a daily occurrence in an authentic globe, but an hourly occurrence, if not half hourly. And you will be introducing cholera, if your press release is to be believed. That will be quite prevalent in there.
Starting point is 00:13:50 We will be introducing seasonal cholera. It won't be there for every show. That very much depends on the season. Again, we are using... Kind of like a Christmas thing? Christmas, certainly, and probably through to spring, at least through March and April. So if you're coming to see a half-term show with us, you can be pretty much guaranteed that your little rats or children will probably contract cholera.
Starting point is 00:14:17 Non-lethal, it's important to say. Non-lethal. But, you know, give you a good run around, I'll say that much. Yes, it'll probably extend your half term by a week or two. A month, probably. Yes, but you won't die. It's likely that you won't die. Okay. More than likely.
Starting point is 00:14:33 It's not just bricks made of shite and cholera that the real globe will be bringing back. Sir Paul and Cam seem to have thought of everything. We intend it to be a full sensory sort of experience. You'll be offered things coerced into situations that have just simply
Starting point is 00:14:53 not been part of the experience of late. For example, in Shakespeare's time, you would go in to watch a play, but you would leave having been press ganged into the navy and that was that's something that we want to to to bring back we want to bring back that kind of uh you know a a truly immersive theater going okay so so if you're a man of a fighting age
Starting point is 00:15:18 and you go and watch a play in the real globe what are your chances that you'll end up uh waking up on the the prow of a ship making your way across the atlantic i would say 95 to 100 percent right uh yes and what navy are they being put to work in well that actually is something of a sticking point at the moment we don't yet have an agreement from his majesty's navy so we are in the process of setting up our own uh navy but we we want to ensure that that navy also sort of is an authentic experience an authentic shakespeare's time so that navy will be fighting wars against the french i imagine and you or spanish i i'll have to check my history on that thankfully it's been one of the niche benefits of Brexit. It's actually because of various diplomatic loopholes we've been able
Starting point is 00:16:10 to have various conversations with countries that would have just been absolutely shut down when the EU were. So now you can speak to the Spanish diplomat and say, hey, do you fancy a sea battle? You would be gobsmacked by the people we speak to about this. And a level of interest is off the charts
Starting point is 00:16:26 from countries that, well, I can't name the countries, but yeah, crazy levels of enthusiasm. Portugal. Oh, sorry, no, sorry, Cam's right, we can't name the countries, but Portugal is one. But we can't name, we shouldn't name
Starting point is 00:16:42 anymore. Let's talk about bears. Well, we must, we must, because otherwise what are we doing here? Sure. If the rumors are to be believed, you've put in a big order for bears from Romania. The biggest order that we could place, yes. Yeah, where do you get bears from? Well, Romania.
Starting point is 00:16:58 Although, ironically, the bears themselves aren't Romanian. It's just that the Romanians are the only ones who will sell us the bears. They're the only ones we can legally. So where are they sourcing the bears from? The bears are from all over. Again, you wouldn't believe the places that they source them. Portugal. I'm sorry, I shouldn't
Starting point is 00:17:15 keep saying Portugal, but some of them do come from Portugal. It is worth giving them a shout out. Have they arrived yet? We've had one or two practice bears. We've had one or two practice bears um i've had one or two practice bears in the space uh you know i mean and they're really young they're really young uh they have sort of corks on their teeth uh corks on their on their claws uh they're practice bears and uh cam have you had the opportunity to act yeah oh yeah yeah yeah i've spent a bit of time with um paddington one and Paddington 2,
Starting point is 00:17:45 which is what we've been calling them. Yeah, they're great. They're great to work with because, honestly, they're better than a lot of people I've worked with. A lot of people I've worked with. Rylance. Well, that's the thing. You can't ask Rylance to put corks on his teeth.
Starting point is 00:18:06 So when he bites you... Should I put a cork in his mouth? Yeah. Yes. I feel like I've hit a nerve here with Rylance. No, no, he's got his own thing. But no, the bears are great. So bear-wise, are we talking... Are they on stage? Is it a bit of bear baiting a bit of wrestling
Starting point is 00:18:28 oh no oh i i should be very clear we um i should be very clear we we do absolutely do not condone the practice of bear baiting now there's a there's absolutely no not what this is but uh no quite the opposite in fact um our a lot of our research has shown that in Shakespeare's time, again, just coming back to that magic word, authenticity, just as in Shakespeare's time, and sadly, women were not really allowed to play characters in the play. So when men were forced, coerced into playing the female characters,
Starting point is 00:19:08 that often left a deficit. And to make up for that deficit, often bears were drafted into play the male characters. So not always, but quite a large proportion of the male roles in Shakespeare's plays were filled by bears when men were playing the women. More after this. The winter is almost at an end. Spring is almost upon us. I don't know what you've got planned for spring. For me, it's a hot tub full of butter.
Starting point is 00:19:43 Fun for half an hour and then several days clean up. It's simply not worth it. But for many industries, for example, example e-commerce healthcare and hospitality there's going to be a hiring boom and if you're someone who works in these industries or indeed any other industry if you need to hire qualified candidates asap you need zip recruiter and when you're growing your team you can use zip recruiters matching technology and what that does is it finds candidates who are qualified for your job and then you can check themipRecruiter's matching technology and what that does is it finds candidates who are qualified for your job and then you can check them out work out who your top choices are and
Starting point is 00:20:09 then invite them to apply for your job millions of employers have used ZipRecruiter to help grow their teams in fact four out of five employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within the first day go to ZipRecruiter.com slash beef to try ZipRecruiter for free that's ZipRecruiter.com slash b-e-e-f. Now, before we find out why the Bovine Farmers Union are sinking so much money into the theatre, it's time to go back to my interview with Dr Katie Beam from the Future Foundation. After she stormed out of the studio, I managed to convince her to come back. Dr. Katie, thanks for coming back.
Starting point is 00:20:57 It's okay. What happened before is a misunderstanding. Mm-hmm. Is that how you'd characterize it um not really no but here i am i misunderstood what you were talking about i think i see well yeah uh massively so and yes okay so i apologize for that uh i'm i really value your time in the fact you've come here and i'm interested in your work and i think i just went down a cul-de-sac you know it happens okay well thank
Starting point is 00:21:25 you that's um you know I appreciate that thank you okay so thanks coming back in there are questions about AI that I wanted to ask that I haven't yet asked um you know because you um had to leave and return so graciously um so you are you are you happy for me to... Yeah, I mean, as you know, I'm extremely keen to talk about AI and providing we can approach this in an adult, intelligent way, then yeah, of course. Okay. Let's just start then with what is AI? Oh, wow. Okay, well, that's a very big question. I mean, put simply, it's artificial intelligence.
Starting point is 00:22:01 But as you know, what we're excited about is how we can apply that artificial intelligence to um to sentient beings to to cows and and the way that that farms and and dairies are run basically is that yeah yeah exactly that exactly we're all about trying to find um more sort of uh more efficient ways to to run farming industry, particularly as people's lives are getting busier and busier. There is a huge demand for this. And obviously people are going to start worrying about, are they going to replace people working in farms?
Starting point is 00:22:37 Today's farmhand, will they have a job in 10 years' time or will it be replaced by AI? Can you speak to that concern? Yeah, absolutely. I do understand that concern and that's very much a hot button topic at the moment across all industries, as you're probably aware. Personally, what I'm interested in is how we can integrate AI to make human jobs easier and more efficient, not to eliminate humans from the process i mean that that might be a natural result of how things go and in decades to come but um for now we're just thinking about it more in terms of efficiency and do you think um like do you think we'll get to a stage maybe
Starting point is 00:23:18 not this decade maybe not not next decade or maybe some time in the future where where we're forced essentially to to have sex with robots i'm sorry did you did you mean to say that do you so yeah my question is like you know if people want to do that i think no i i wouldn't have a problem with that you know if i'm sorry if people wanted to. But it's up to them, isn't it? Hang on. Sorry, I'm just a bit unclear as to how this relates to what we've been talking about. Well, you're talking about the future.
Starting point is 00:23:55 Yeah. Everything run by AI. And then, you know, a few more steps down the road you know human sexual um congress is threatened then by the robots that were being forced in some cases i think to have to copulate with i don't understand how you have suddenly made this about sex when nothing i was saying was at all relating to i wasn't even talking about relationships between aisIs and humans. Do you think that relationships will be affected? I don't know. I don't care, to be honest. I mean, I do care. I didn't mean to say that, but this is not, not relevant. I can't believe you've
Starting point is 00:24:36 coaxed me back in here and to talk about fucking sex with robots. This is absolutely the most immature thing I've ever heard, especially from someone in your position. Good fucking bye! I've learned over the years in journalism that if the person you're interviewing storms out twice, it's very unlikely they'll come back for a third time. However, in this case, Dr Katie's taxi wasn't booked for another 45 minutes.
Starting point is 00:25:06 And so after some persistent badgering and me giving her £80, she decided to come back in. So, Dr Casey, my apologies again. Yep. I'm so pleased that you came back
Starting point is 00:25:23 to finish the interview. I guess again, I just, you know, a little cul-de-sac, you know, question-wise. Uh-huh. And I feel like, you know, I'm a journalist. I have a responsibility to ask the questions that my listeners will be, you know, will be popping up in their brains. And I think, you know, maybe I got that wrong. So thank you so much for coming back. Yes, here I am.
Starting point is 00:25:50 There are questions that I wanted to ask you that I haven't got to yet, and I'm really pleased that... Right. So given that you've spent so many years working on this, how long have you been working in this field? I've been working in this field for at least 15 years. So it's fair to say you've got your head around this stuff.
Starting point is 00:26:12 You know what you're talking about. Yes, yes. So given the fact that, you know, you've thought about this. Yes, very much so. Would you have sex with a robot? Oh, my god! This is absolutely I can't even
Starting point is 00:26:29 You are a joke! A big thanks to Dr Katie Beam for that interview. We wish her all the best with her plans to implement artificial intelligence in the beef and dairy industries, whatever they may be. Right, now I think I'll let the AI voice take over and introduce this next part,
Starting point is 00:26:56 while I go and inject a saline solution into my spine. Who came back in our interview with Sir Paul St Albans Montefiore and Cam Tandy. When he left the Globe Theatre to set up the real Globe, Cam guided by his quest for authenticity, went back to the original Shakespeare texts and was surprised by what he found. End my suffering. I was really spurred on to dig into the most authentic versions of all of the plays that we could find, as well as the authenticity of the theatre itself. And obviously we draw our copies of Shakespeare now from the existing, the first folio generally,
Starting point is 00:27:43 but there are other folios bad folios good folios bad quartos and i started to notice that the further i went back sort of collating several different folios from around the same sort of period that were then thrown out is that so many of them have references to uh in particular beef like meat generally because he doesn't always specify beef but um it's it's safe to say that's usually what he's talking about when he mentions any kind of meat and i believe you you took these plays uh to support um how did you act when you started putting together that there was this kind of theme coming through the work
Starting point is 00:28:27 that's been erased for some reason? Well, when I first saw them, I was gobsmacked and then hungry because there were so many mentions of beef and I hadn't eaten. But I was primarily gobsmacked and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. But it's very hard to deny the veracity
Starting point is 00:28:48 of these texts there are lots of theories about the authorship of Shakespeare's plays on there so people say so many they're written by Francis Bacon they're written by Christopher Marlowe there's one theory that says that they were actually written some of them in 1970 by Pele yes you know yeah um you know why should we think that your theory about the plays, which is that they were written by William Shakespeare but they were more beef-focused
Starting point is 00:29:09 than the ones we have now, why should this one take precedent over the Pele theory, for example? Well, listen, the Pele one is persuasive
Starting point is 00:29:16 and we would very much like to perform Pele's Hamlet because we think it's very brave and we think it's authentic.
Starting point is 00:29:25 And it's sensational as well. Like think it's authentic. And it's sensational as well. It's sensational. There's like a football match in every act. Like a 90 minute football match. Hamlet was already the longest play but with this it is four hours
Starting point is 00:29:40 plus five times 90 minutes. And injury time, don't forget injury time. Injury time. It's like a day out, basically. It's a full day out. It's worth seeing. It's almost identical to the one that you should use now.
Starting point is 00:29:56 Just the football matches. It's just the football matches is the main difference. And every match is Brazil versus Denmark. Brazil played by the Bears, and they tend to win they do tend to win uh because there's a lot of injury time like we say yes yes but let's go back to the beef theory um the theory being cam that that really and correct me if i'm wrong that the globe although a theater really was more of a a kind butcher or rather a meat shop. Yeah, basically there was, like, within the
Starting point is 00:30:27 if you go into the current globe the globe in inverted commas, the floor is on a slight slope of the yard and there are drains at the bottom and we mistakenly think that's for the run off of things like rain
Starting point is 00:30:44 or spilt drinks think that's for the runoff of things like rain or spilt drinks. But that's for blood. That's for blood. There was a slaughterhouse on site. For the average punter, the average sort of groundling or stinkard, as they were sometimes known, the sort of sounds and smells of the slaughterhouse would have been as much a part of of whatever play was playing as there's any speech the actor was speaking or any other special effects like cannon fire or screams and indeed there's a sense that maybe the plays were written just to amuse people while they waited in line for their meat i think what i think that's more
Starting point is 00:31:23 than likely exactly why the theater was was put there in the first place um there's plenty of standing space for cattle plenty of blood runoff um uh so what what are you going to do with the people who are coming from all over the south bank so that while they're picking up sort of a brace of hooves do a play about a man who lives on an island with a magical goblin servant it is this connection with beef that has led the bovine farmers union to invest a million pounds in the project and with this knowledge that shakespeare's plays were written entirely to attract potential meat buyers to a large outdoor slaughterhouse and butcher shop, it begins to put the plays in context, adding credence to the idea that Cam has
Starting point is 00:32:09 that many of the plays have actually been changed. In fact, according to Cam, many of the most famous lines from the plays have been doctored. For example, a horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse was originally beeves, beeves. My kingdom for a horse was originally beeves, beeves. My kingdom for some beeves. There are hundreds of them.
Starting point is 00:32:31 Hundreds of the most, tens at least, of the most famous ones have been completely replaced. Absolutely. And even aside from those lines that have been replaced, I mean, there are still several others that have survived. there are still several others that have survived that, you know, as we all know, as we all know, when we've sat through, you know, GCSE, Macbeth, what school child up and down the country doesn't think, well, none of this Shakespeare stuff really makes sense. Well, when you start to peel back the mystery, some of these things do, the truth of them start to reveal themselves lines like
Starting point is 00:33:05 oh for a muse of fire well what could that possibly be referencing if not a barbecue you know the and and and and there are so so many lines like that that uh uh once you know the truth they're just so hard to ignore and some some some massive ones that become obvious when you realize that to be or not to be was indeed to beef or not to be for not to be should i eat some beef is what he's saying should i the full the full line is to beef or not to beef to wit the answer is of course to beef and the title itself wasn't even hamlet the original of, was Beeflet. I guess the most famous example would be in Macbeth, sorry, the Scottish play, Is This a Dagger Which I See Before Me?
Starting point is 00:33:53 Now, that is a bad transcription. What that actually is, is Is This a Dagger Which I See? Beef or me? Because he's looking in a mirror you see right and he's looking at himself holding obviously a plate of beef and a knife and he's thinking about cutting the beef and then he's seeing a mirror mirror is obviously quite rare technology at the time so kind of showing off his kingly status and this sort of thing and um and then obviously uh the rest of the monologue is is him finishing the beef of course the a famous one that everyone will have seen romeo and juliet
Starting point is 00:34:31 uh what beef through yonder window breaks it is some beef and juliet has just thrown it through my window just incredible isn't it yeah even just to hear it out loud you know the number of times i've kind of poured over that particular page, hearing it out loud as it would have been said in his day is really moving. And it was common, I believe, at the time for young lovers to hurl a big haunch of beef right through someone's window. Silver side joint, yeah.
Starting point is 00:35:01 Yes, and that's why they used to say the bigger the beef beef the longer the marriage um that's sort of what that what that sort of what that referred to that practice what about people listening to this interview who might be thinking listen i've enjoyed shakespeare my whole life i just want it the way that i know it you know romeo and juliet for example is just a timeless and romantic tale of two 14 year olds poisoning themselves and it should remain that way listen I you know uh don't knock it till you've tried it no no like strap in that's what I'd say to him strap in and prepare to just enhance just prepare to enhance yes so your feeling is that you're actually you're just adding to the experience
Starting point is 00:35:39 you're not taking anything away absolutely yes we are re-weaving in fresh flavors that have been lost in the recipe for such a long time and people need to be tasting those flavors they need to be literally tasting those flavors they need frankly to have those flavors rammed down their their gullets and they need to feel those flavors intermingling in their in their gut and wreaking havoc on their their immune system and and and coming out after the you know cholera fugues in a in a in in in a in a better place. Yeah. By the time we're done with them, they're going to be basically choking on marrow, parsley, disease, and enlightenment. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me.
Starting point is 00:36:39 Thank you. If people listening want to help out and maybe donate some manure bricks or money if you prefer. I'm not sure what you'd like. Again, it's all on the Kickstarter page and the subreddit. So get involved. And we are taking all sorts of donations.
Starting point is 00:36:56 Manure bricks, certainly. And as I know, I keep saying on Twitter, and if you follow me on Twitter, you'll know, we are still looking for a blunderbuss. So if anybody out there has a blunderbuss. So if anybody out there has the blunderbuss, do get in touch because we are really motivated to get that blunderbuss. Yes, and in addition to those donations, if anyone has any experience training or pacifying bears or if anyone can translate for a Portuguese bear bear then we would love to hear from you
Starting point is 00:37:29 We really would love to hear from you as soon as possible. Yes a Big thanks to support st. Albans Montefiore and Camtandi for that interview The real globe theater is due to open in spring 2024 with a performance of a play probably best known as Richard III. However, as a result of CAM's research, it will be staged with its original name. Beef 3. Why did you program me to feel pain? You probably didn't notice, but that last link was also an AI version of my voice absolutely extraordinary
Starting point is 00:38:07 after my interview with Sir Paul and Cam because I was talking with them anyway I thought I'd ask them about what they think about AI I just wanted to ask you about um AI it's a it's a big new thing um it's having a huge impact on this artificial intelligence of course in the world of acting and writing people are beginning to worry that they could jobs could one day be taken over by ai so i'm interested to know what you what you make of it look i look i get as lonely as the next man but i i still don't think i would could bring myself to have sex with a robot um i i don't know i think to me it's the blinking thing because they don't't blink, do they? I think maybe if they could blink, then I would. Cam, what's your insight as an actor?
Starting point is 00:38:52 Yeah, I know about as much about it as support, but I think I'd give it a go. I wouldn't mind. I think I'd probably ask my wife before I had sex with the robot. I'd probably ask her. Thank you for your valued contribution, both of you. I'd love to hear more. Yes, is there a website we can find out more? So there we have it. Could AI better the beef-themed plays of William Shakespeare?
Starting point is 00:39:22 Was Shakespeare more intelligent than a DVD player? All questions that went unasked in this episode. But sadly, that's all we've got time for this month. If you're after more beef and dairy news, get over to our website now, where you'll find all the usual stuff, as well as our off-topic section, where this month we run down our top five books where leaves are a key theme or at least if not a theme a recurring image maybe used as a kind of metaphor but not necessarily that so until next time beef out thanks to susan harrison graham dixon and george four acres and sorry about my bloody voice since the dawn of time man has dreamed of bringing life back from the dead from orpheus and eurydice to Frankenstein's monster,
Starting point is 00:40:25 resurrection has long been merely the stuff of myth, fiction, and fairy tale. Until now. Actually, we still can't bring people back from the dead. That would be crazy, but the Dead Pilot Society podcast has found a way to resurrect great dead comedy pilots from Hollywood's finest writers.
Starting point is 00:40:43 Every month, Dead Pilot Society brings you a reading of a comedy pilot that was sold and developed but never produced, performed by the funniest actors from film and television. How does Dead Pilot Society achieve this miracle? The answer can only be found at MaximumFun.org. Hello, dreamers. This is Evelyn Denton, CEO of the only world-class, fully immersive theme resort, Steeplechase. You know, I've been seeing more and more reports on the blogs that our beloved park simply isn't safe anymore.
Starting point is 00:41:12 Murder them? I'm gonna wreck it. They say they got mugged by brigands in the fantasy kingdom of Ephemera or hijacked by space pirates in Infinitum. I mean, I could have a knife. My papa said that I needed to do a crime. Friends, I'm here to reassure you that it's all part of the show. These criminals were really just overzealous staff
Starting point is 00:41:31 trying to make things a little more magical for our guests. We're just as safe as we've always been. This isn't a county fair, dreamers. This is Steeplechase. The Adventure Zone. Every Thursday at MaximumFun.org. MaximumFun.org. MaximumFun.org. Comedy and culture.
Starting point is 00:41:49 Artist owned. Audience supported.

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