RGS Presents: The Future of Exploration
Aug 11, 2026 · 1 hr 9 min · 11 segments
Why stories matter more than ever. What happens when exploration is no longer about discovering new places, but about understanding them? In this episode of *The Future of…
Sophy RobertsGuest
Matt PycroftHost
And it's a beautiful segue into where I wanted to go because under the banner of the conversation we're having today, you know, for the RGS, the future of exploration, we're not talking or I'm not talking to you today about stories about exploration.
I think, disagree if you do, that we're talking about storytelling as exploration.
To what extent do you see your storytelling or storytelling in general as a form of exploration?
If I knew the answer before I started, I would have no compulsion to get started in the first place.
Um, there's a poet, Robert Frost, who describes it differently, which I just find this utterly beautiful.
To me, it's not just a question, it's actually a moral question as well, which is, "A poem begins as a lump in the throat." And I think it's the most beautiful, very, um, pertinent, powerful, emotive line to explain why I write, why I think it matters to try and write, and why the act of discovery y- about yourself, about another, about another culture or a piece of history, or whatever it might be, can last and should last over a long period of time.
Because that question requires multiple perspectives and possibilities to, to find some kind of answer.
This desire to create kind of rationalist closure on a question, I think can be reductive of, um, this beautiful space that exists between s- um, you know, like, don't like, swipe left, swipe right.
Um, everything I write is in-- is a counterargument to that, um, polarity, if that makes sense.
So I think discovery is about kind of trying to work things out, not necessarily towards complete closure.
No, but that's fascinating 'cause it's almost closer to philosophy than maths, in that there is no certain answer.
And it's a beautiful segue into where I wanted to go because under the banner of the conversation we're having today, you know, for the RGS, the future of exploration, we're not talking or I'm not talking to you today about stories about exploration.
I think, disagree if you do, that we're talking about storytelling as exploration.
To what extent do you see your storytelling or storytelling in general as a form of exploration?
If I knew the answer before I started, I would have no compulsion to get started in the first place.
Um, there's a poet, Robert Frost, who describes it differently, which I just find this utterly beautiful.
To me, it's not just a question, it's actually a moral question as well, which is, "A poem begins as a lump in the throat." And I think it's the most beautiful, very, um, pertinent, powerful, emotive line to explain why I write, why I think it matters to try and write, and why the act of discovery y- about yourself, about another, about another culture or a piece of history, or whatever it might be, can last and should last over a long period of time.
Because that question requires multiple perspectives and possibilities to, to find some kind of answer.
This desire to create kind of rationalist closure on a question, I think can be reductive of, um, this beautiful space that exists between s- um, you know, like, don't like, swipe left, swipe right.
Um, everything I write is in-- is a counterargument to that, um, polarity, if that makes sense.
So I think discovery is about kind of trying to work things out, not necessarily towards complete closure.
No, but that's fascinating 'cause it's almost closer to philosophy than maths, in that there is no certain answer.
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