Understand

Technology is changing our lives at breakneck speed. But what is it doing to what we value?
From friendship and culture to finance and work, Ros Atkins explores how technology is reshaping our ideas of worth. Has making our relationships more frictionless also made them thinner? Can an algorithm tell the difference between what's good and what simply holds our attention? What happens when price comes unstuck from value, or when the technology that makes us more productive also makes our own skills redundant?
Ros looks to previous technological revolutions for clues, from the arrival of the printing press and the Luddite rebellion to the invention of photography and the dot-com crash. And as AI promises to transform everything from creativity and intimacy to science and work, he asks whether this really amounts to a crisis, and whether AI will resolve it, or make it worse.
Producer: Nadia Mehdi
A Tempo+Talker production for BBC Radio 4

Across three episodes, author and mental health academic Nathan Filer explores neurodivergence: what it means, how children live with it, and how adults navigate its impact in work, relationships and everyday life.
Episode three turns to adulthood, asking what it means to receive a diagnosis of autism or ADHD later in life, and why increasing numbers of people are now seeking assessment. Nathan hears from clinicians managing huge waiting lists, alongside adults reflecting on how a diagnosis has shaped their understanding of themselves and their lives.
Through lived experience and expert insight, the programme asks what it would take for more neurodivergent adults to be better understood, better supported and better able to flourish.
Featuring contributions from Pete Wharmby, occuptional therapist Charlie Hobbs, Ian Ensum and Sarah Zohadi from the Bristol Autism Spectrum Service, peer mentor Ben, neurodiversity coach Emma Wee, Matthew Punter; founder of Eden, and Annie and Patricia from Project Art Works in Hastings.
Writer and presenter: Nathan Filer
Producer: Eliza Lomas
Assistant Producer: Robbie Wojciechowski
Editor: Chris Ledgard
Series Development: Nathan Filer, Eliza Lomas, Robbie Wojciechowski

Across three episodes, author and mental health academic Nathan Filer explores neurodivergence: what it means, how children live with it, and how adults navigate its impact in work, relationships and everyday life.
Episode two asks what it means to grow up neurodivergent in a school system under strain. For some children, school can be a place of learning, friendship and support. For others, it can become overwhelming: a world of sensory overload, social confusion, anxiety, burnout and absence.
Through the experiences of children, parents, educators and clinicians, the programme considers what happens when a child is labelled difficult, disruptive or unable to cope – and what changes when adults begin to see distress differently.
From autism and ADHD to school avoidance, SEND provision, sensory integration and the pressure on families and teachers, it asks how education might better meet children where they are.
Featuring contributions from Matthew Punter, Labeebah Islaam, SENDcos Georgina Smith and Stewart Dudgeon, clinical psychologist Naomi Fisher and Occupational Therapist Charlie Hobbs.
Writer and presenter: Nathan Filer
Producer: Eliza Lomas
Assistant Producer: Robbie Wojciechowski
Editor: Chris Ledgard
Series Development: Nathan Filer, Eliza Lomas, Robbie Wojciechowski

Author and mental health academic Nathan Filer explores neurodivergence: what it means, how children live with it, and how adults navigate its impact in work, relationships and everyday life.
Episode one begins with the language of difference: as terms like neurodivergent and neurotypical have moved from activist and specialist spaces into everyday life, they have brought comfort, identity and community, but also confusion.
Through lived experience and expert insight, the programme travels from autism and ADHD to self-diagnosis, TikTok, rejection sensitivity and the limits of labels.
It asks not only what we call one another, but how we listen, understand and care.
Featuring contributions from Labeebah Islaam, academic psychologist Lucy Foulkes, clinical psychologist Naomi Fisher and Alex Partridge, author of Why Does Everybody Hate Me? Living and Loving with Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria.
Writer and presenter: Nathan Filer
Producer: Eliza Lomas
Assistant Producer: Robbie Wojciechowski
Editor: Chris Ledgard
Series Development: Nathan Filer, Eliza Lomas, Robbie Wojciechowski

Nathan Filer explores the complex and shifting terrain of neurodiversity, and what it means to be different. From neurodivergence in childhood, to navigating adulthood.