Intelligence Squared

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Intelligence Squared is the world’s leading forum for debate and intelligent discussion. Live and online we take you to the heart of the issues that matter, in the company of some of the world’s sharpest minds and most exciting orators. Join the debate at www.intelligencesquared.com and download our weekly podcast every Friday.

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BJ Fogg on Redesigning Habi...

01.24.2020

BJ Fogg is a pioneering research psychologist and founder of the iconic Behavior Design Lab at Stanford which has taught everyone from the founders of Instagram to the leading technology ethicist Tristan Harris. In this episode Fogg speaks to Carl ...

Intelligence Squared episodes:

01.24.2020 BJ Fogg on Redesigning Habits and Human Behaviour BJ Fogg is a pioneering research psychologist and founder of the iconic Behavior Design Lab at Stanford which has taught everyone from the founders of Instagram to the leading technology ethicist Tristan Harris. In this episode Fogg speaks to Carl ...
01.21.2020 The Philosophy of Polar Exploration, with Erling Kagge and Razia Iqbal Erling Kagge, author of Philosophy for Polar Explorers, was the first man in history to reach all of the Earth's poles by foot – the North, the South, and the summit of Everest. In this interview with the BBC’s Razia ...
01.17.2020 There Is No Planet B, with Mike Berners-Lee and Matthew Taylor In this episode we were joined by Mike Berners-Lee, the climate change expert and author of There Is No Planet B: A Handbook For The Make Or Break Years. He was interviewed by Matthew Taylor of the RSA in a ...
01.14.2020 Former UK Labour Deputy Leader Tom Watson Discusses How He Beat Obesity, and the Long Road Ahead for Labour In this episode we were joined by Tom Watson, the Deputy Leader of the UK Labour Party who only recently stood down at last year's general election. He is now the author of a new book Downsizing: How I Lost ...
01.10.2020 The Wonders of Nanotechnology, with Sonia Contera and Tom Whipple In this episode we were joined by Sonia Contera, Professor of Biological Physics at the University of Oxford and the author of Nano Comes to Life: How Nanotechnology Is Transforming Medicine and the Future of Biology. In a wide-ranging conversation ...
01.07.2020 Fighting Back Against Big Tech, with Rana Foroohar and Ros Urwin In this episode we were joined by Rana Foroohar, FT global business columnist and author of Don't Be Evil: The Case Against Big Tech, alongside Ros Urwin of the Sunday Times. According to Foroohar, Silicon Valley has lost its soul, ...
01.03.2020 Old World vs New World: The Great Wine Debate, with Oz Clarke and Jancis Robinson France, Italy, Spain, Germany: these are the ancient Old World wine-growing regions of Europe, where continuity and history reign supreme. California, Australia, South Africa and Chile: these are some of the New World areas, where technology and science trump tradition. ...
12.31.2019 Privacy in an Age of Surveillance, with James Bennet and Jamie Bartlett In this episode we were joined by The New York Times' editorial page editor James Bennet, to discuss the The New York Times' fascinating new editorial project, The Privacy Project. James was interviewed on the project by tech journalist Jamie ...
12.27.2019 The Education of an Idealist, with Samantha Power and Helen Lewis In this episode we were joined by Samantha Power, the former United States Ambassador to the United Nations under President Obama from 2013 to 2017 and author of a new book The Education of an Idealist. She was interviewed on ...
12.24.2019 The West Should Make Amends With Putin Is it high time for a rapprochement with Putin? As the transatlantic alliance flounders and Britain wallows in Brexit psychodrama, Europe can no longer afford to keep Russian relations strained. In fact, a detente is now a geopolitical necessity. Containment ...
12.20.2019 HOLIDAY BONUS: The Year in Review As 2019 comes to a close, the Intelligence Squared team look back at some of their highlights from the year, both on the Intelligence Squared stage and on the podcast. They feature clips from big in conversation events with the ...
12.17.2019 Chris Wylie on Whistleblowing the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal This episode features an interview from How I Found My Voice, another podcast by Intelligence Squared. Presented by the prominent BBC journalist Samira Ahmed, the podcast explores how some of the world's greatest artists and thinkers became such compelling – ...
12.13.2019 Intelligent Times: Willem Dafoe on Adventure, Artistry and a Life in the Movies Intelligent Times is a live event series collaboration between The New York Times and Intelligence Squared, bringing together leading New York Times journalists and thought leaders to discuss the key issues facing the globe today. Willem Dafoe is internationally respected ...
12.10.2019 Learning to Speak Machine, with John Maeda and Ros Urwin John Maeda is one of the world's preeminent interdisciplinary thinkers on technology and design, and the author of How to Speak Machine. In this episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast, in conversation with Ros Urwin he explores a set of ...
12.06.2019 Conquerors and Liberators: War Leaders Who Shaped Our World Managing a successful Premier League football team or a major company takes extraordinary fortitude and foresight. But try leading a nation of millions – and then persuading them to follow you into war, with all the pain and sacrifice that ...
12.03.2019 Ken Clarke: The Big Beast of British Politics After 49 years as a Conservative MP, Ken Clarke will be stepping down at the UK general election on December 12. In this episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast – staged just ten days before the election – Clarke came ...
11.29.2019 Yanis Varoufakis and Brian Eno on Money, Power and a Call for Radical Change The liberal order is under threat. Increasing inequality, the rise of far-right nationalism and the climate emergency pose unprecedented challenges. It’s time for some radical thinking. In November 2019 Intelligence Squared brought to its stage two of the world’s great ...
11.26.2019 Richard Branson: How I Found My Voice This is an episode from the second series of How I Found My Voice, a podcast from Intelligence Squared. Presented by the prominent BBC journalist Samira Ahmed, the podcast explores how some of the world's greatest artists and thinkers became ...
11.22.2019 P.J. O’Rourke and Lionel Shriver on the Battle for the White House This episode was from one of our live Intelligence Squared events, featuring satirist P. J. O’Rourke and bestselling author Lionel Shriver. They joined us for a night of withering satire, relentless ridicule and sharp political insight in a discussion chaired ...
11.19.2019 Naomi Klein on Climate Change, Extinction Rebellion & the case for a Green New Deal This is an episode from the second series of How I Found My Voice, a podcast from Intelligence Squared. Presented by the prominent BBC journalist Samira Ahmed, the podcast explores how some of the world's greatest artists and thinkers became ...
11.15.2019 Intelligent Times: Dean Baquet and Simon Schama on Trump, Politics and The Future of News Earlier this week we were joined by executive editor of The New York Times Dean Baquet and historian Sir Simon Schama for an examination of the role of the media in today’s increasingly polarised politics. Baquet is the first African-American ...
11.12.2019 The Survival of Democracy in Eastern Europe, with Ivan Krastev, Timothy Garton Ash and Brian Klaas In November 1989, 30 years ago this month, the collapse of the Berlin Wall ushered in a new era of democracy in Eastern Europe. But today, with populist strongmen like Orban in Hungary and Kaczyński in Poland on the rise, ...
11.08.2019 The Poetry Pharmacy Returns with William Sieghart and Sarah Dunant William Sieghart’s The Poetry Pharmacy: Tried-and-True Prescriptions for the Heart, Mind and Soul was one of the publishing sensations of the past few years. Anyone who came to the event Intelligence Squared built around it – when Jeanette Winterson, Helena ...
11.05.2019 How I Found My Voice: Michael Palin This is an episode from the second series of How I Found My Voice, a podcast from Intelligence Squared. Presented by the prominent BBC journalist Samira Ahmed, the podcast explores how some of the world's greatest artists and thinkers became ...
11.01.2019 Intelligent Times: Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey on Breaking the Harvey Weinstein Story Intelligent Times is a live event series collaboration between The New York Times and Intelligence Squared, bringing together leading New York Times journalists and thought leaders to discuss the key issues facing the globe today. On October 5th 2017, The ...
10.29.2019 The Gendered Brain Myth, with Daphna Joel and Rosamund Urwin In this episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast we were joined by the Israeli neuroscientist Daphna Joel, author of Gender Mosaic: Beyond the Myth of the Male and Female Brain. In conversation with Ros Urwin of The Sunday Times, she ...
10.25.2019 John Humphrys: The Terrier of Today, in conversation with Justin Webb Earlier this month, as John Humphrys stepped down after 32 years at Today and published a long-awaited memoir, A Day Like Today, he came to the Intelligence Squared stage to give an exclusive, behind-the-scenes account of his extraordinary career. Turning ...
10.22.2019 The Battle Over Gender, Race and Identity with Douglas Murray and Anne McElvoy In this episode we were joined by the conservative thinker Douglas Murray, whose new book The Madness of Crowds examines this century's most divisive issues: sexuality, gender, technology and race. He was interviewed on his ideas by Anne McElvoy, Senior ...
10.18.2019 Trailblazers: Women Leading the Way Women of colour have to navigate a world of work where they are often discriminated against because of their race as well as their gender. But despite the challenges, they are increasingly making their way to the top and carving ...
10.15.2019 The Underworld of the High Seas, with Ian Urbina and Razia Iqbal In this episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast we were joined by the renowned investigative journalist Ian Urbina, who has a new book titled The Outlaw Ocean: Journeys Across the Last Untamed Frontier. In a conversation with the BBC's Razia ...
10.11.2019 Speeches and Letters That Changed The World, With Simon Sebag Montefiore and Kate Mosse At the 2019 Cliveden Literary Festival, Intelligence Squared brought together historian Simon Sebag Montefiore and novelist Kate Mosse to discuss some of the speeches and letters in Sebag’s latest books Voices of History and Written in History. Bringing it all ...
10.08.2019 The Social Media Addiction-Machine, with Richard Seymour and Jamie Bartlett In this week's episode we were joined by Richard Seymour, the Marxist intellectual and author of The Twittering Machine, a book which uses psychoanalytic reflection and insights from users, developers, and security experts to examine the dystopian consequences of our ...
10.04.2019 The West Should Pay Reparations For Slavery This week's podcast was a live debate on the motion 'The West Should Pay Reparations For Slavery'. Should there be a broad programme of reparations – not just financial compensation, but acknowledgement of the crimes committed and the lasting damage ...
10.01.2019 Satire, Boris and Brexit with Ian McEwan and Razia Iqbal In this week’s episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast we were joined by the acclaimed novelist Ian McEwan. He was interviewed by the BBC’s Razia Iqbal to discuss his new satirical novella The Cockroach, in which a man wakes up ...
09.27.2019 Parliament’s War of Words: Women in Power, with Mary Beard, Rachel Reeves and Sandip Verma With tensions running high this week in the U.K. Houses of Parliament over Brexit and allegations about PM Boris Johnson's use of inflammatory language, Intelligence Squared staged an event with Labour MP Rachel Reeves, Conservative member of the House of ...
09.24.2019 How I Found My Voice: Benjamin Zephaniah This is an episode from a new podcast strand launched by Intelligence Squared called How I Found My Voice. Presented by the prominent BBC journalist Samira Ahmed, the podcast explores how some of the world's greatest artists and thinkers became ...
09.20.2019 The Mindfulness Myth, with Ronald Purser and Helen Lewis Mindfulness – the psychological practice of bringing one's attention to the present moment through meditation – has gone mainstream. It has been enthusiastically co-opted by Silicon Valley and other large corporations as well as schools, governments and even the U.S. ...
09.17.2019 How I Found My Voice: Elif Shafak This is an episode from a new podcast strand launched by Intelligence Squared called How I Found My Voice. Presented by the prominent BBC journalist Samira Ahmed, the podcast explores how some of the world's greatest artists and thinkers became ...
09.13.2019 An Evening With Salman Rushdie Salman Rushdie is one of the world’s greatest storytellers. He came to the Intelligence Squared stage to discuss his career, his life and his new novel Quichotte with the BBC’s Razia Iqbal. The book is a wild ride through modern ...
09.10.2019 How I Found My Voice: Lyse Doucet This is an episode from a new podcast strand launched by Intelligence Squared called How I Found My Voice. Presented by the prominent BBC journalist Samira Ahmed, the podcast explores how some of the world's greatest artists and thinkers became ...
09.06.2019 The Politics of Video Games, with Pete Etchells and Ros Urwin Are video games harmful to society? Recently the World Health Organisation classified 'gaming disorder' as a clinical mental health disorder and a danger to public health. But how real is the threat of video game addiction, and what about the ...
09.02.2019 How I Found My Voice: Philip Pullman This is an episode from a new podcast strand launched by Intelligence Squared called How I Found My Voice. Presented by the prominent BBC journalist Samira Ahmed, the podcast explores how some of the world's greatest artists and thinkers became ...
08.30.2019 The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, with Shoshana Zuboff and Rosamund Urwin We live in an age of "surveillance capitalism" - where technologies that were meant to liberate us have deepened inequality and stoked divisions. Big tech companies gather our information online and sell it to the highest bidder, and entire industries ...
08.27.2019 How I Found My Voice: Mark Millar This is an episode from a new podcast strand launched by Intelligence Squared called How I Found My Voice. Presented by the prominent BBC journalist Samira Ahmed, the podcast explores how some of the world's greatest artists and thinkers became ...
08.23.2019 Ibram X. Kendi and Razia Iqbal on How To Be An Antiracist What's the difference between being merely non-racist and being an antiracist? And what will it take to completely uproot racism from our societies, institutions and our own selves? In this episode were were joined by Ibram X. Kendi, the founding ...
08.16.2019 Michael Pollan and Xand Van Tulleken on the New Science of Psychedelics In this episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast we were joined by the acclaimed food writer Michael Pollan, whose most recent book How To Change Your Mind is a deep dive into the world of psychedelic drugs and what they ...
08.09.2019 Nessa Carey and Xand Van Tulleken on How Gene Editing Will Rewrite Our Futures In this week's episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast we were joined by Nessa Carey, the molecular biologist and author of Hacking The Code Of Life. She was interviewed by the doctor and TV presenter Xand Van Tulleken in a ...
08.02.2019 Chris Hirst and Helen Lewis on No Bullsht Leadership In this week's episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast we were joined by Chris Hirst, Global CEO for the advertising company Havas Creative Network and author of No Bullsht Leadership: Why the World Needs More Everyday Leaders and Why That ...
07.26.2019 Mark Galeotti and Edward Lucas on what the West gets wrong about Putin In this episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast we were joined by Mark Galeotti, Russia expert and author of We Need to Talk About Putin. He was interviewed by Edward Lucas of The Times in an in-depth examination of the ...
07.19.2019 Paul Mason and Jesse Norman on a Revolutionary Defence of Humanity In this week's episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast, the left-wing economics journalist Paul Mason was interviewed by the Conservative MP Jesse Norman. They discussed Mason's vision for a utopian future, which he sets out in his new book Clear ...

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