Intelligence Squared

By Intelligence SquaredSociety & Culture News Arts News Commentary

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Intelligence Squared episodes

October 19, 2018 Mistaken Identities: The Conflict Over Culture, Class, Gender and Nation with Kwame Anthony Appiah and John Gray
Race, religion and identity are being talked about as never before. While minority groups raise their voices for recognition and inclusion, others feel that their culture is being eroded. In these increasingly febrile times, Intelligence Squared brought together two of the world’s most prominent thinkers to debate the issues that are polarising our society.
Kwame Anthony Appiah, Professor of Philosophy at New York University, unpicked the very notion of identity. He argues that our outdated prejudices taint the way we understand concepts of race, class, nationality and sexuality. Race, he claims, is a fiction based on Victorian-era pseudoscience. Appiah urges us to question and rethink our assumptions in order to build a more tolerant and accepting society. But how helpful is this viewpoint to those who face the reality of racism and feel the brunt of discrimination on a daily basis?
In conversation with Appiah was John Gray, one of Britain’s most provocative and original commentators. In contrast to Appiah, Gray argues that categories like race are not just ‘mistakes’; they come about as the result of concrete political situations which cannot just be wished away by a philosopher in his ivory tower. Gray also contends that liberals who seek to undo traditional notions of identity have become even more dogmatic, intolerant and illiberal than the conservatives whom they criticise. In their hypocrisy, they have created a new hierarchy of identity which privileges ethnicity, gender and sexuality over nation and religion.

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1 hr 3 min
October 12, 2018 Dickens vs Tolstoy: The Battle Of The Great 19th-century Novelists PART 1
Dickens. Tolstoy. Their names and reputations shake the ground – and so do their books, if you drop one. But whose legacy is more enduring? Whose vision truer and more relevant today? Should you embark on War and Peace or Our Mutual Friend? To battle it out, in 2018 Intelligence Squared brought two celebrated writers, John Mullan for Dickens and Simon Schama for Tolstoy, to our stage. They called on a cast of star actors, including Tom Hiddleston, to bring their arguments to life with readings from the authors’ finest works. The debate was chaired by author, playwright and broadcaster Bonnie Greer. This is the first instalment of a three-part episode.
We’d love to hear your feedback and what you think we should talk about next, who we should have on and what our future debates should be.
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38 min
October 05, 2018 Peter Biskind and Helen Lewis on Vampires, Zombies, X-Men and Political Extremism
In this Intelligence Squared podcast we were joined by Peter Biskind, cultural critic and author of The Sky Is Falling, alongside the New Statesman's Helen Lewis, in an examination of how popular culture has fuelled extremism in our politics.

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52 min
September 28, 2018 Tristan Harris and Helen Lewis on how tech has hijacked our brains
In this episode of Intelligence Squared we were joined by Tristan Harris, former design ethicist at Google in conversation with the New Statesman's Helen Lewis, as they discussed the threat that technology poses to society and our minds.

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52 min
September 21, 2018 Mariana Mazzucato and Stella Creasy on Making and Taking in the Global Economy, PART 1
In this two-part episode recorded in 2018, economist and author Mariana Mazzucato discusses her book, The Value of Everything, with UK Labour MP Stella Creasy. It's a wide-ranging discussion looking at how real wealth is created in our economy and how we can measure the true worth of both infrastructure and services. Mariana Mazzucato is Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London.
We’d love to hear your feedback and what you think we should talk about next, who we should have on and what our future debates should be.
Send us an email or voice note with your thoughts to [email protected] or Tweet us @intelligence2.
And if you’d like to get ad-free access to all Intelligence Squared podcasts, including exclusive bonus content, early access to new episodes and much more, become a supporter of Intelligence Squared today for just £4.99, or the equivalent in your local currency .
Just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more.

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30 min
September 14, 2018 Jeremy Corbyn Is Unfit To Be Prime Minister
When Jeremy Corbyn won the Labour leadership he was shrugged off as an unelectable oddball in a scruffy suit who would doom Labour to certain defeat. But last year’s shock election result forces us all to consider the real possibility of a Corbyn-led government – a prospect which has some jumping for joy and others quaking in their boots. Intelligence Squared is bringing together some of Britain’s top political minds to debate whether Corbyn is potentially the saviour of Britain’s downtrodden or a fringe fanatic who is morally unfit to be Prime Minister.
According to his critics, Corbyn leads a dangerous gang of hard-left zealots who cosy up to enemies of the West and are hell-bent on rehashing the disastrous politics of the 1970s. He has turned a blind eye to the antisemitism festering away within the Labour Party and has crafted a foreign policy which would make Putin proud. And when it comes to the economy, his old-school socialist programme of borrowing, tax hikes and renationalisation could be catastrophic. By pulling Labour away from the centre ground, Corbyn has gravely damaged one of Britain’s great political parties. He is a danger to this country, and is not fit to lead it.
That’s the contention of the Corbyn-bashers. But what answers do they have to the crises that have plagued Britain since the 2008 financial crash? Inequality is rampant and wages have been squeezed for a decade, while many millennials struggle to get a foot on the property ladder. Homelessness and food bank usage have hit record highs across Britain, and each winter brings a new NHS crisis. Our current economic model has clearly failed, say the Corbynistas, so why not try something different? Corbynism isn’t the socialism of the 1970s – it’s a whole new set of radical, transformative policies and a vision for social justice that has enthused an entire generation of young people. Give Corbyn a chance, and he’ll build a Britain for the many, not the few.
Arguing for the motion were novelist and journalist Howard Jacobson and Conservative MP Anna Soubry.
Arguing against the motion were Senior Editor at Novara Media Ash Sarkar and Labour MP Chris Williamson.
The debate was chaired by Vice Chancellor of the University of Buckingham Sir Anthony Seldon.

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1 hr 6 min
September 06, 2018 Linda Yueh and Jesse Norman on the Economists That Shaped History
Linda Yueh, renowned economist, broadcaster and author of The Great Economists, in conversation with Jesse Norman, MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire and author of Adam Smith: What He Thought, and Why it Matters, discussed the transformative legacies of history's great economists, from Adam Smith to Karl Marx.

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43 min
August 30, 2018 Tom Baldwin and Nina Schick on How the Information Age Crashed Our Democracy
Tom Baldwin, former Director of Communications for the UK Labour Party under Ed Miliband and author of Ctrl Alt Delete, has spent the best part of three decades at the centre of politics and journalism. In a wide-ranging conversation with Nina Shick, Director of Data and Polling at Rasmussen Global, they explored the toxic relationship between today's politics, the media, and the new information age.

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52 min
August 23, 2018 Tim Marshall in conversation with Catherine Philp on Why We're Living in an Age of Walls
Tim Marshall, renowned journalist and author of Divided, in conversation with the Times diplomatic correspondent Catherine Philp, examine the fault lines that will shape our world for years to come. Walls are going up around the world. Nationalism and identity politics are on the rise once more. What are the causes of this new era of division?

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51 min
August 16, 2018 Jamie Susskind in conversation with Helen Lewis On How Tech Is Transforming Our Politics
Jamie Susskind, author of Future Politics, in conversation with the New Statesman's Helen Lewis, discuss how digital technology will radically transform how we live together, exploring how the very concepts of democracy, liberty, justice and power could be fundamentally changed by tech.

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47 min