With growing evidence that we are living in a computer simulation – and a pretty glitchy, off-brand simulation at that – and the approaching watershed of the AI singularity looming like a weirdly pixelated cumulo-nimbus on the horizon, BBC Radio 4 stalwart and veteran of a quarter century of stand-up comedy, Simon Evans is squinting at an uncertain future, and revisiting the blue remembered hills of his youth.

The analogue world of hitch-hiking, pub bets, and hedge porn. Of being able to get properly lost. And also pondering the great thinkers and mystics of the past who had, it seems, the same doubts and misgivings about "reality", back when an adjustable sandal passed for cutting-edge tech.

NB: Any similarity of doll in package to Patrick Stewart is coincidental. No refunds.