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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While Justice Sleeps, with ...

06.18.2021

Stacey Abrams is widely considered one of the most prominent political power broker in the United States. She was the first African-American woman to become the House Minority leader in her home state of Georgia and the first African-American woman ...

Intelligence Squared episodes:

06.18.2021 While Justice Sleeps, with Stacey Abrams and Tayari Jones Stacey Abrams is widely considered one of the most prominent political power broker in the United States. She was the first African-American woman to become the House Minority leader in her home state of Georgia and the first African-American woman ...
06.17.2021 Debate: We Must Stop Big Data's Pandemic Power Grab In this week's podcast Nani Jansen Reventlow goes up against Rowena Luk to debate whether bringing big tech closer into our lives during the pandemic has been a welcome innovation or a dangerous power grab. The debate was staged by ...
06.15.2021 Is Meritocracy a Myth? With Adrian Wooldridge and Mark Mardell Join the debate and discuss this episode with fellow listeners on our Multytude conversation here: https://multytudelink.page.link/2u9nK2SP7SH7DCyU7 -- Meritocracy: the idea that people should be advanced according to their talents rather than their status at birth. For much of history this ...
06.11.2021 Gillian Tett on a New Way To Understand Business and Life To explain the power of anthropology to help us better understand the modern world, Financial Times journalist and bestselling author Gillian Tett joined us in this week's episode. Tett has a PhD in anthropology from Cambridge University and outlining the ...
06.08.2021 Framing: A Guide to Thinking in the 21st Century An industrialist looks at a rain forest and sees trees to cut down and sell, while an environmentalist sees the ‘lungs of the planet’. To one person, complying with a mandate to wear a face mask in public during a ...
06.04.2021 Ed Miliband on How To Build a Better World Is the pandemic a wake-up call to build a better world? Ed Miliband, politician and host of the award-winning Reasons to Be Cheerful podcast, thinks so. And in June 2021 he came to Intelligence Squared to discuss the ideas in ...
06.01.2021 Salman Rushdie on Truth, Language and the Power of Stories Salman Rushdie, internationally bestselling author and ‘Best of the Booker’ winner, is a storyteller of the highest order, illuminating truths about our society and culture through his dazzling prose. Best known as a novelist, he is also a compelling essayist ...
05.28.2021 Carlo Rovelli and Philip Pullman on the Science and Stories That Transform Our World Carlo Rovelli is the internationally bestselling theoretical physicist whose many fans include Benedict Cumberbatch, Antony Gormley, Neil Gaiman and Lily Cole. In May 2021 he came to Intelligence Squared to talk about the themes of his new book Helgoland, in ...
05.25.2021 Music in the Age of COVID-19, with David Gray and Rosamund Urwin In this week's episode acclaimed singer/songwriter David Gray speaks to Rosamund Urwin about how music and the arts have fared throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. David had originally planned to spend 2020 embarking on a huge string of 'White Ladder' anniversary ...
05.21.2021 The New Space Race, with Nicholas Schmidle and Helen Czerski When Richard Branson founded Virgin Galactic in 2004, the goal was simple: to offer civilian space travel by the end of the decade. Seventeen years, a dozen delays and one catastrophic rocket crash later, we are on the verge of ...
05.20.2021 Common Ground: How to Democratise Nature Spending a mere two hours a week outside is scientifically proven to lower blood pressure, enhance the immune system and reduce anxiety. Yet, for many communities, nature and the countryside are inaccessible with many city-dwellers struggling to find greenery in ...
05.18.2021 Choices for a Better Now, with Ece Temelkuran and Matthew Taylor Many of us felt it before but 2020 was the year it became undeniable: the status quo is not working. Political discontent is widespread – and for good reason. So what can we do now to change course? In this ...
05.14.2021 The Hidden Language of Trees with Suzanne Simard Trees have memories. They have wisdom. They cooperate in communities of immense complexity, communicating underground through a huge web of fungi, at the centre of which lie the Mother Trees: the mysterious, powerful entities that nurture their kin and sustain ...
05.11.2021 Niall Ferguson on the Politics of Catastrophe Why was the response of the UK and US to the coronavirus pandemic so bungled? How can we be better prepared when the next disaster strikes? These are the questions that historian Niall Ferguson discussed with Rana Mitter in this ...
05.07.2021 Joe Biden: Moderate or Radical? With Evan Osnos and Mark Mardell As we pass Joe Biden's first one hundred days in office as President of the United States, we're joined by The New Yorker's Evan Osnos author of the biography Joe Biden: American Dreamer to discuss who the real Biden is ...
05.04.2021 Mona Eltahawy on the Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls Be angry, ambitious, profane, violent, attention-seeking, lustful, and powerful. These are the “seven necessary sins” that Egyptian writer and activist Mona Eltahawy says women and girls are not supposed to commit – but absolutely should. Eltahawy advocates a muscular, out-loud ...
04.30.2021 Getting into the Doughnut, with Kate Raworth and Matthew Taylor In this week's episode Kate Raworth, Oxford University economist discusses what she calls Doughnut Economics, an idea she came up with to help humanity deal with the challenges we face today: financial crises, extreme wealth inequality and relentless pressure on ...
04.27.2021 The Social Dilemma, with Tristan Harris and Helen Lewis In this week's episode Tristan Harris, star of Netflix hit documentary 'The Social Dilemma' speak to Helen Lewis about the the enormous power technology has in steering human attention and behaviour. They discuss how the business model of Big Tech ...
04.23.2021 Difficult Women, with Helen Lewis and Rosamund Urwin Helen Lewis argues that feminism's success is down to complicated, contradictory, imperfect women, who fought each other as well as fighting for equal rights. Too many of these pioneers have been whitewashed or forgotten in our modern search for feel-good, ...
04.22.2021 Debate: The West Must Engage not Confront China This week's episode features a debate from Intelligence Squared Germany in partnership with the ECFR. Kerry Brown goes up against Anastasia Lin on the question of how the West should engage a more assertive and powerful China. The debate was ...
04.20.2021 Jews Don't Count, with David Baddiel and Armando Iannucci In this week's episode comedian and writer David Baddiel discusses his new book, Jews Don’t Count. He argues that the progressive movement which often prides itself on principles of equality, justice and protecting minorities overlooks these things when it comes ...
04.16.2021 Gene Editing and the Future of the Human Race, with Walter Isaacson and Dr Guddi Singh Walter Isaacson is the bestselling author of Leonardo da Vinci, Einstein and Steve Jobs. His new book is The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing and the Future of the Human Race, a gripping account of how Nobel Prize-winner Jennifer ...
04.13.2021 Amal Clooney, Geoffrey Robertson and Bill Browder on a Plan B for Human Rights Geoffrey Robertson QC is one of Britain’s leading human rights champions. Twenty years ago he helped fuel the global justice movement with his groundbreaking book Crimes Against Humanity. In April 2021, alongside fellow human rights lawyer Amal Clooney and campaigner ...
04.12.2021 Bonus: The Economy and Markets After Covid-19 In this special bonus episode, brought to you in partnership with online trading platform IG, Joshua Mahoney, Senior Markets analyst at IG, speaks to Linda Yueh about how the pandemic has impacted trading and investing. From Netflix to Deliveroo, there ...
04.09.2021 From Bridgerton to Peaky Blinders; Historic Houses in Film & TV with World Monuments Fund Britain In this week's episode international heritage charity World Monuments Fund Britain draws back the curtain to reveal the fascinating work involved when turning historic houses into fictitious screen locations. WMF Britain Executive Director John Darlington talks to actress Nell Hudson ...
04.06.2021 The Handshake: A Gripping History, with Ella Al-Shamahi and Helen Czerski Friends do it, strangers do it and so do chimpanzees - and it's not just deeply embedded in our history and culture, it may even be written in our DNA. The humble handshake, it turns out, has a rich and ...
04.02.2021 Debate: Is The West Fundamentally Racist? The West is rich because the rest is poor. Capitalism is racism. So argues Kehinde Andrews, academic and self-described Black radical, who came to Intelligence Squared on March 29 to set out the ideas in his latest book, The New ...
03.30.2021 Was Jesus A Great Moral Teacher? With Julian Baggini and Mark Mardell Even if we don't believe that Jesus was the son of God, we tend to think he was a great moral teacher. But was he? And how closely do idealised values such as our love of the family, helping the ...
03.26.2021 Debate: The Time Is Right for Scottish Independence Should Scotland be independent? In this week's podcast Alex Massie and Lesley Riddoch go head to head on the question of whether the time has come to break up Britain and for Scotland to go it alone. The debate was ...
03.23.2021 A New Vision for Capitalism, with Anne Case, Angus Deaton and Francine Lacqua Each year hundreds of thousands of Americans die as a result of drug abuse, alcoholism or suicide – and the numbers are rising. This has contributed to a fall in life expectancy in the past three years, reversing a trend ...
03.19.2021 NFT's and Why Blockchain Means Business, with Sheila Warren and Carl Miller In this week's episode we discuss the explosive rise of NFT's as well as the long terms trends in blockchain that will change how we do business and live our lives. The interview is taken from our new podcast Intelligence ...
03.16.2021 The Science of Friendship, with Robin Dunbar and Helen Czerski Robin Dunbar is the world-renowned psychologist and author who famously discovered Dunbar’s number: how our capacity for friendship is limited to around 150 people. In this week's episode he explains why friends matter to us – more than we think. ...
03.12.2021 The Accidental President, with James Fletcher and Mark Mardell In 2016, almost anyone you asked, or any poll you consulted, pointed you to a Hillary Clinton landslide. The Accidental President is a balanced feature documentary that is seeking to answer one question - How the hell did Donald Trump ...
03.11.2021 Intelligence Squared Recommends – Climate Solutions: Is COVID-19 good or bad for the climate? We have a special bonus episode for you today - we wanted to introduce you to a podcast we think you'll really enjoy, called Climate Solutions, from our partners, the European Investment Bank. What would you give up to solve ...
03.08.2021 BONUS: International Women's Day Special with Margaret Atwood, Bernardine Evaristo, Rose McGowan and more For International Women's Day we bring to you a special bonus episode of our award-winning podcast, How I Found My Voice presented by the BBC journalist Samira Ahmed. This episode features clips from some of our favourite female interviewees including ...
03.05.2021 Jon Sopel on Fear and Loathing on the US Campaign Trail In this week's episode BBC North America Editor Jon Sopel takes us behind the scenes of perhaps the most extraordinary election campaign ever in American politics – when a global pandemic threw the country into turmoil and threatened not just ...
03.04.2021 Intelligence Squared Recommends – Change Makers, with Yanis Varoufakis We have a special bonus episode for you today – we wanted to introduce you to a podcast we think you'll really enjoy, called Change Makers. Change Makers presents fresh ideas and inspirational life stories from people with a passion ...
03.02.2021 The Cyber Weapons Arms Race, with Nicole Perlroth and Josh Glancy Zero day: a software bug that allows a hacker to break into your devices and move around undetected. One of the most coveted tools in a spy's arsenal, a zero day has the power to silently spy on your iPhone, ...
02.28.2021 BONUS: Kate Winslet on Titanic, Hollywood and Finding Her Voice This bonus podcast features an episode from another Intelligence Squared podcast called How I Found My Voice. In this episode Hollywood star Kate Winslet speaks to the BBC journalist Samira Ahmed. They speak about her life and career, from discovering ...
02.26.2021 Facebook, Free Speech and the Fight for Digital Democracy, With Marietje Schaake and Carl Miller In this week's episode Marietje Schaake International Director of Policy at Stanford University's Cyber Policy Centre speaks to Carl Miller about Facebook's recent legal battle with Australia, Trump's deplatforming from Twitter and how we can preserve democracy and civil liberties ...
02.23.2021 The New Climate War, with Michael Mann and Clover Hogan In this week's episode renowned climate scientist Michael Mann speaks to Clover Hogan about the thirty-year war to deflect blame and delay action on climate change. They discuss the new tactics and psychological battle to confront the causes of climate ...
02.19.2021 Debate: Big Tech was Right to Deplatform Trump Shortly after a pro Trump mob stormed the Capitol on January 6th - Big Tech unplugged the President. For years he’d used social media to communicate directly with his supporters. Even on the day, as lawmakers in the Capitol scurried ...
02.16.2021 No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram, with Sarah Frier and Linda Yueh In 2010, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger released a photo-sharing app called Instagram, with one simple but irresistible feature: it would make anything you captured look more beautiful. The cofounders cultivated a community of photographers and artisans around the app, ...
02.12.2021 Britain Alone: From Suez to Brexit, with Philip Stephens and Mark Mardell In this week's episode Philip Stephens the Financial Times chief political commentator speaks to Mark Mardell about why Britain is a nation struggling to reconcile its waning power with past glory. Drawing on his new book 'Britain Alone' Stephens argues ...
02.09.2021 The Last Untamed Frontier, with Ian Urbina and Helen Czerski There are few remaining frontiers on our planet. But perhaps the wildest, and least understood, are the world's oceans: too big to police, and under no clear international authority, these immense regions of treacherous water play host to rampant criminality ...
02.05.2021 Bellingcat Founder Eliot Higgins on Navalny, Syria and Skripal In this week's episode Eliot Higgins, founder of Bellingcat, tells the dramatic story of how he went from college dropout to pioneering a new category of reporting that has cracked some of the biggest cases in the world. Drawing from ...
02.02.2021 The Great Decoupling, with Nigel Inkster and Linda Yueh In this week's episode Nigel Inkster argues that growing tension between the USA and China could result in the two superpowers decoupling their technology—with significant consequences for humanity’s future. The episode was hosted by economist and broadcaster Linda Yueh. To ...
01.29.2021 Jim Al-Khalili on The World According to Physics Why does physics matter? What can the study of energy and force, of matter and its motion and behaviour through space and time teach us about the universe and the nature of reality itself? According to Jim Al-Khalili, the renowned ...
01.26.2021 How to Save The Planet, with Mike Berners Lee and Jenny Kleeman Climate change, feeding the world, biodiversity, plastics – the list of environmental concerns seems endless. But which of these is the most pressing and, given the global nature of the challenges we face, what can any of us do as ...
01.22.2021 The Power of Ethics, with Susan Liautaud and Josh Lowe In this week's episode ethics expert Susan Liautaud speaks to journalist and writer about how we can make sense of ethical dilemmas and be more attuned to the ethical dimension of our actions. Drawing on her new book 'The Power ...

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