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What makes something the same object over time, even if all of its parts are replaced?

This might sound like a strange question, but it’s one of the oldest and most interesting puzzles in philosophy. And we still ask similar questions all the time: about identity, technology, artificial intelligence, and ourselves.

If you change over time, your personality, your body, your memories… are you still the same you?

In today’s episode of Thinking in English, we’re going to explore this fascinating idea through one of history’s most famous thought experiments: the Ship of Theseus.

As always, this episode is designed to help you improve your English. I’ll introduce you to useful vocabulary, explain ideas clearly, and make you think more deeply in English.

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What does it really take to become an expert English speaker?

How do some people reach such a high level of fluency, while others seem to struggle for years without much progress? Is it talent? Luck? Or something else?

Recently, I rewatched a fascinating video from one of my favourite YouTube channels, Veritasium, titled “The Four Things It Takes to Be an Expert.” The video looks at the science behind how people become truly skilled at something, whether it's music, sports, or academic subjects.

As I watched, I realised that the ideas in the video are incredibly relevant to English learners.

So, in this episode of Thinking in English, I want to take the four key principles from that Veritasium video and apply them directly to learning English. These principles can help guide your study, improve your skills, and ultimately help you become an expert speaker of the language.

This episode was originally recorded as a Bonus Episode for my Patreon community a year ago... subscribe to Patreon for more great episodes.

Let’s get started!

Veritasium's Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eW6Eagr9XA

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Today we are going to look at an interesting and often controversial idea: Universal Basic Income, or UBI for short.

Let me ask you a question: What if the government gave everyone free money, no strings attached?

No matter who you are, where you work, or how much you earn; just regular payments, every month, guaranteed.

Does this sound too good to be true? Or maybe it sounds like a smart solution to poverty, inequality, and the future of work?

In this episode, we’ll explore the concept of Universal Basic Income, discuss its goals and purpose, look at real-life experiments and trials from around the world, and examine the debate: Is UBI a brilliant idea… or a dangerous one?

Borough by Blue Dot Sessions

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You’re studying every day… but you feel stuck. You forget vocabulary. You hesitate to speak. And you start to wonder…

“Why am I even doing this?”

If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Many English learners experience frustration, boredom, or burnout at some point on their journey.

But what if I told you that philosophy could help?

In this episode of Thinking in English, we’re going to explore practical, powerful lessons from some of history’s greatest thinkers: Stoics, Existentialists, Buddhists, and more. These ideas have helped people cope with life’s biggest challenges… so why not apply them to the challenge of learning English?

Whether you’re feeling unmotivated, overwhelmed, or just tired of forgetting everything you study, this episode is for you!

Borough by Blue Dot Sessions

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Today, we are going to talk about the history of New York city. New York is one of the most famous cities in the world. Its history is interesting and important, and I think also relevant for people learning English.

Why? Because by learning about New York’s history, you can understand more about American culture and language.

You might remember my episode about the history of London. Like London, New York has a long and exciting past. But while London’s history goes back thousands of years, New York’s story is a little more recent, but is

So, in this episode, we will explore how New York grew from a small settlement into the big city it is today.

Borough by Blue Dot Sessions

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Have you ever heard the word immersion?

In language learning, immersion means surrounding yourself with English in your daily life. Instead of only studying from textbooks, you try to listen, read, speak, and think in English as much as possible. It’s a popular and powerful method to improve quickly and naturally.

I first talked about language immersion on this podcast a few years ago. But since then, a lot has changed. Today, in 2025, there are many new tools like ChatGPT and other AI technologies that can help you create an immersive English environment, even from your home.

That’s why I want to revisit this topic. In this episode, I’ll explain what immersion means today, share some updated tips, and show you how to use modern tools and techniques to make your English learning faster and

Borough by Blue Dot Sessions

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Today, I want to talk about a bias that affects how we think about success. It’s called survivorship bias, and it might be the reason you’re feeling discouraged, unmotivated, or frustrated with your English.

We’ll look at what survivorship bias really is, explore some famous examples from history and business, and then dive into how it appears in the world of language learning.

Most importantly, I’ll give you practical advice to avoid this trap and keep moving forward with confidence.

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What is the world's oldest country?

This question is not as easy to answer as you might think. We need to discuss what a country actually is, the differences between empires, civilisations, and countries, and then find a place that fits this definition.

In this episode I want to introduce you all to a country that I think could be considered the oldest in the world. You might disagree with me, but I think it is an interesting story in any case!

Along the way, we will learn some useful vocabulary.

Borough by Blue Dot Sessions

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London is one of the most famous cities in the world. It is the capital of the United Kingdom. It is a financial centre. An entertainment centre. A culture centre. An academic and educational centre.

But how much do you know about the city’s history?

Today, we are going to go on an historical journey from the Roman invasion of the island of Britain 2000 years ago to the modern day.

Hopefully you’ll learn some interesting history and pick up some useful vocabulary along the way!

Borough by Blue Dot Sessions

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What happens when you stop studying English? I’m sure many of you have thought about this before. 

Will your English get worse? Will you still be able to have conversations? And what can you do to prevent this from happening?

Today I want to look in more depth at language attrition (the opposite of language learning), and at the same time demonstrate some incredibly useful English conjunctions. 

This episode will focus on subordinating conjunctions (I also have two other episodes on coordinating conjunctions and paired conjunctions). Subordinating conjunctions allow us to connect sentence clauses together.

Let’s practice using these conjunctions and discuss English learning in today’s episode of Thinking in English Grammar!

TRANSCRIPT - https://thinkinginenglish.blog/2025/06/23/what-happens-when-you-stop-studying-english-subordinating-conjunction-english-grammar-lesson/

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