The Collators – Details, episodes & analysis

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The Collators

Mark Lockwood, Howard Atkin

Society & Culture

Science

Frequency: 1 episode/10d. Total Eps: 34

Dive into the philosophy and practice of analysis and information sharing, with insights from leaders in tech, academia, intelligence and beyond on how they make sense of the world. Hosts Mark and Howard draw on experience in intelligence, law enforcement and academia to unpack the ideas and methods that shape understanding. Thoughtful but accessible, it's a podcast for anyone who wants to sharpen their thinking in a complex, fast-changing world.

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https://thecollators.com
20 shares
https://thecollators.com/s1e6
2 shares
https://thecollators.com/s1e7
2 shares

https://www.youtube.com/@thecollators
2 shares

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RSS feed quality

Good

Score global : 73%

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Can everything that counts, be counted? Qualitative and quantitative analysis explored

Season 1 · Episode 12

Monday, November 10, 2025 • Duration 44:49

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 judgement?

Shownotes, transcript and more available from https://thecollators.com

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Challenge Everything - AI, Raves and Nuclear Subs - Interview with Mike Hawkes, digital inventor.

Season 1 · Episode 11

Wednesday, November 19, 2025 • Duration 01:37:51

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.

Shownotes, transcript and more at https://thecollators.com

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OMG, TMI - How much information is too much?

Season 1 · Episode 2

Wednesday, November 19, 2025 • Duration 47:02

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.

Visit us at https://thecollators.com

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An appeal for information

Season 1 · Episode 1

Sunday, August 17, 2025 • Duration 50:38

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.

Visit us at https://thecollators.com

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Who are The Collators?

Season 1

Sunday, August 17, 2025 • Duration 14:41

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…

Visit us at https://thecollators.com

Shownotes, transcript and links here

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The CIA, Rebel Alliance and pandas - An inteview with Carmen Medina

Season 1 · Episode 10

Saturday, October 25, 2025 • Duration 01:31:25

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.

Together, they explore:

- What it means to think critically inside large institutions.
- How bias and diversity of thought shape intelligence work.
- The tension between secrecy, sharing, and truth.
- Why categorisation, curiosity, and dissent are vital to good analysis.
- The impact of AI and automation on human judgement.

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.

Transcript and more at https://thecollators.com

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Patterns and Trends - What is a Pattern?

Season 1 · Episode 9

Saturday, October 25, 2025 • Duration 59:49

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.

Shownotes and more available from https://thecollators.com

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One house; Many rooms - What is analysis?

Season 1 · Episode 8

Thursday, October 9, 2025 • Duration 01:19:37

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. What does it mean to analyse? Where did modern analytical thinking come from? And why do so many disciplines: intelligence, academia, business use the same word but mean entirely different things? Shownotes and more available from https://thecollators.com/s1e8 Follow us on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@thecollators

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Virtually Real - What is real?

Season 1 · Episode 7

Monday, November 24, 2025 • Duration 47:07

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.

Transcript, shownotes and more are available from https://thecollators.com/s1e7

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Proof Positive - What is evidence?

Season 1 · Episode 6

Sunday, September 21, 2025 • Duration 01:14:34

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? Not just in the courts, but in real life too?

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.

Transcript, shownotes and more are available from https://thecollators.com/s1e6

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The Collators – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

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The Collators – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

Other7

Youtube1

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Similar podcasts and content

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Other7

Youtube1

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