The Fourth Ambit

I have listened to this countless times in the many years since I found it. Dawson Nichols is such a phenomenal voice actor that I didn’t realize it was all voiced by one person the first time I listened and sometime I forget again. The audio production draws me in every time. The weaving of story elements and set-up for later plots is masterful and engaging. I love this story.

The concept sucked me in immediately, starting with near future tech, which progressively spiraled into more complex, abstract, and mind bending concepts. Possibly the most impressive feat of this story is how it makes complex subjects like computation, AI ethics, and definitions of consciousness easily accessible to the listener - it’s a fantastic philosophical primer for today’s world of connectivity and AI, all while being compelling and easy to listen to. It’s hard to believe this was produced 20 years ago by just one guy.

I am so impressed by the quality of this show!! The story, the acting, the sound scape, the editing. All of it top notch. I can’t believe one guy did all the voices. I’ve heard too many audio drama podcasts where you can tell the actors are recording on their own and not actually talking to another human, then it gets edited together. Sounds totally unrealistic and I never buy it. With this show, even though it’s only the one guy playing all the roles, I still get the feeling actual conversations are happening. Totally pulls me in. Bravo!!

Really enjoyed listening to this - the story and characters are very compelling and like all great sci-fi, there are many thought-provoking moments that relate back to RL (real life). Highly recommend!