This is the second instalment of a three-part discussion. Michael Lewis is the renowned author of bestselling nonfiction hits including Moneyball, The Big Short, Flash Boys and Liar’s Poker. His latest is his most anticipated book to date: Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon, a gripping, real-time narrative chronicling the enigmatic protagonist behind one of the most catastrophic financial meltdowns of the 21st century. This character is Sam Bankman-Fried, who became the world’s yo...
Oct 30, 2023•32 min•Season 1Ep. 1064
Michael Lewis is the renowned author of bestselling nonfiction hits including Moneyball, The Big Short, Flash Boys and Liar’s Poker. His latest is his most anticipated book to date: Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon, a gripping, real-time narrative chronicling the enigmatic protagonist behind one of the most catastrophic financial meltdowns of the 21st century. This character is Sam Bankman-Fried, who became the world’s youngest billionaire before his thirtieth birthday. And Lewi...
Oct 28, 2023•33 min•Season 1Ep. 1063
America is at a crossroads. It is a time of moral reckoning, an opportunity for the nation to choose whether it will become a genuinely multiracial democracy. That’s the view of Eddie Glaude, African American scholar and author of the New York Times bestseller, Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons For Our Own. He believes that Baldwin, the great novelist and essayist who bore witness to American racial strife in the mid-20th century, is a man for our times and that we can ...
Oct 27, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 1062
There isn't one narrative that fits all around AI. In this episode Carl Miller looks at how the future of artificial intelligence will be one beset by bias, whether that's a recruitment algorithm preferring men to women, racial bias in law and policing, or the failures of facial recognition technology to truly see diversity in an objective light. Featuring Judy Wajcman, Principal Investigator of the Women in Data Science and AI project at The Alan Turing Institute; Henry Ajder, Generative AI &am...
Oct 26, 2023•11 min•Season 1Ep. 1061
Oliver Burkeman is the anti-self-help author that everyone interested in self-help should read. He encourages us to embrace uncertainty and imperfection in a world obsessed with self-improvement and relentless goal-setting. For over ten years he wrote the popular ‘This Column Will Change Your Life’ column for The Guardian and his latest book, Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management For Mortals, was a huge bestseller on both sides of the Atlantic. Sarah Wilson is the founder of the global ‘I Quit Su...
Oct 25, 2023•38 min•Season 1Ep. 1060
This is the second instalment a two-part discussion. Bestselling author, historian and broadcaster Simon Schama discusses Foreign Bodies, his new epic history of vulnerable humanity caught between the terror of contagion and the ingenuity of science. Produced in partnership with the British Library, the talk looks at how the narrative of cities and countries engulfed by panic and death, desperate for vaccines but fearful of what inoculation may bring, is one we have seen before in the past as we...
Oct 22, 2023•51 min•Season 1Ep. 1059
For this first episode of a two-part discussion, bestselling author, historian and broadcaster Simon Schama discusses Foreign Bodies, his new epic history of vulnerable humanity caught between the terror of contagion and the ingenuity of science. Produced in partnership with the British Library, the talk looks at how the narrative of cities and countries engulfed by panic and death, desperate for vaccines but fearful of what inoculation may bring, is one we have seen before in the past as well a...
Oct 21, 2023•44 min•Season 1Ep. 1058
Annabelle Hirsch’s recent book is A History of Women in 101 Objects; a selective exploration through the past, both ancient and modern, looking at items found across millennia ranging from cave paintings from 20,000 BC to a ring owned by Kim Kardashian, which contribute to women's history. Hirsch is joined in conversation by the journalist, crime podcaster and screenwriter Poppy Damon, who is co-creator of Murderabilia – a podcast about the collection of true crime objects – from Audible. We’d l...
Oct 20, 2023•37 min•Season 1Ep. 1057
We revisit POWER TRIP, Intelligence Squared's new podcast investigating the past and future of AI. Carl Miller asks who will win and who will lose, as AI's capabilities begin to threaten jobs and livelihoods. Through the agricultural revolution, the industrial revolution, automation and globalisation, the workplace has been on the frontlines of changes across wider society. Featuring Kenneth Cukkier, Deputy Executive Editor at The Economist; James Bessen, economist and technologist at Boston Uni...
Oct 17, 2023•21 min•Season 1Ep. 1056
Anyone who follows the news cycle knows that between conflict and pandemics, the looming threat of the climate crisis, powerful AI and not to mention political scaremongering and moral panics, we’re never short of things to feel fearful of. Cultural historian Robert Peckham's recent book is: Fear: An Alternative History of the World. In it, he argues that fear is one of the main driving forces of human history, while also tracing the politics of fear from the outbreak of bubonic plague in the 14...
Oct 16, 2023•40 min•Season 1Ep. 1055
The Labour MP Wes Streeting reveals his childhood struggle with poverty and the inspirational figures who set him on the path to university and politics in this discussion with BBC Radio 4 broadcaster Justin Webb. Streeting grew up in London’s East End and is now the UK’s shadow health secretary. He explains how the influence of his mother and two grandfathers had a lasting impact on his outlook and how an innate sense of optimism has allowed him to get to where he is today, as told in his recen...
Oct 14, 2023•33 min•Season 1Ep. 1054
This is an episode of Tides of Transformation: An Oil Story, a brand new podcast from Intelligence Squared. In this episode, Gavin Bridge from Durham University and James Marriott of Platform London and the co-author of Crude Britannia: How Big Oil Shaped a Nation are joined by former CEO of the Net Zero Technology Centre Colette Cohen OBE and former trade union organiser Jake Molloy for a conversation about the evolution of the oil sector in Britain and the different components that comprise it...
Oct 13, 2023•43 min•Season 1Ep. 1053
When did you first hear of GPT, Claude, DALL-E or Bard? Feels like a while ago, right? In barely over a year AI has permeated our conversations, our places of work and it feels omnipresent in the culture. It also threatens to make some of the pillars of our society redundant. Join researcher and author Carl Miller for POWER TRIP, a brand new podcast from Intelligence Squared, to see where that journey is leading us. Want the future right now? Become a supporter of Intelligence Squared to get all...
Oct 12, 2023•37 min•Season 1Ep. 1052
We revisit a debate from 2021 between the former Greek finance minister, economist and author Yanis Varoufakis, and Gillian Tett, the Financial Times columnist, anthropologist, and author. The two gathered to debate: Can We Fix Capitalism? Our chair was Politico's Anne McElvoy, who at time of recording was senior editor at The Economist. Gillian Tett is also Provost of Kings College at Cambridge University and a sought after voice whose smart insights can help put the often complex worlds of fin...
Oct 11, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 1051
This is the second instalment of our two-part debate, with George Monbiot, Guardian columnist, environmental campaigner and author of Regenesis: Feeding the World without Devouring the Planet, arguing for the motion We Should All Go Vegan. Patrick Holden, Founder and chief executive of the Sustainable Food Trust, argues against it. Our chair is Alice Thomson, Columnist and interviewer at The Times. Livestock farming contributes 14.5% of human-produced greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Farm ani...
Oct 08, 2023•27 min•Season 1Ep. 1050
In this two-part debate, George Monbiot, Guardian columnist, environmental campaigner and author of Regenesis: Feeding the World without Devouring the Planet, argues for the motion We Should All Go Vegan. Patrick Holden, Founder and chief executive of the Sustainable Food Trust, argues against it. Our chair is Alice Thomson, Columnist and interviewer at The Times. Livestock farming contributes 14.5% of human-produced greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Farm animals belch out massive amounts of m...
Oct 07, 2023•42 min•Season 1Ep. 1049
Until recently, the Murdoch's formed the most powerful media and political force in America. Now their empire is cracking up and crashing down. Michael Wolff the acclaimed author of a trilogy of books about the the chaotic Trump presidency and the biographer of Rupert Murdoch comes to Intelligence Squared to discuss this real life Succession with Justin Webb. The episode was produced and edited by Conor Boyle Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
Oct 06, 2023•28 min•Season 1Ep. 1047
Tomiwa Owolade is a rising star of literary and cultural criticism in the UK. His first book is This Is Not America: Why Black Lives in Britain Matter. In this discussion, Owolade joins commentator Inaya Folarin Iman to argue that too much of the debate around race in Britain today is viewed through the prism of American ideas and history – models that don’t reflect the challenges and achievements of the increasingly diverse Black British population. We’d love to hear your feedback and what you ...
Oct 03, 2023•36 min•Season 1Ep. 1045
Mark Galeotti is one of the world’s leading experts on modern Russia and is the author of books such as Putin’s Wars: From Chechnya to Ukraine and The Weaponisation of Everything: A Field Guide to the New Way of War. In conversation with Intelligence Squared's Conor Boyle, he explains how the recent death of the Wagner mercenary Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin means that Russian President Vladimir Putin is losing powerful allies and those willing to carry out Russia's military agenda. How long ca...
Oct 01, 2023•31 min•Season 1Ep. 1043
Philosopher Susan Neiman and cultural critic Thomas Chatterton Williams take part in a challenging conversation on the themes of Neiman’s new book Left is Not Woke. The book sets out what Neiman sees as the dangerous consequences of conflating ‘wokeism’ with the Left, arguing that this confusion threatens the core principles that have guided progressive movements for centuries. 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...
Sep 30, 2023•32 min•Season 1Ep. 1041
Philip Gold is one of the world's leading researchers of depressive illness. Since 1974, he has worked at the National Institute of Health, where he has served as Chief of Neuroendocrine Research, and Senior Investigator in the National Institute of Mental Health Intramural Research Program, and Chief of the Section on Neuroendocrinology. For this episode, he joins science communicator and Postdoctoral fellow at The Francis Crick Institute, Dr Güneş Taylor, in conversation to talk about his life...
Sep 28, 2023•32 min•Season 1Ep. 1039
Bestselling author and activist Naomi Klein goes down the rabbit hole in pursuit of her doppelganger – another well-known writer with a name similar to hers but whose views couldn’t be more different from her own. She finds herself returning again and again to a place she calls Mirror World, where conspiracy theorists, anti-vaxxers and wellness influencers make common cause with far-right propagandists and demagogues. In conversation with journalist Ruchira Sharma, Klein sheds light on our own c...
Sep 26, 2023•33 min•Season 1Ep. 1037
This the second instalment of our three-part episode. Mustafa Suleyman is the ultimate AI insider. As co-founder of DeepMind and Inflection AI, he is one of the pioneers of the artificial intelligence revolution, potentially the single greatest accelerant of progress in history. His new book The Coming Wave: Technology, Power and the Twenty-First Century’s Greatest Dilemma, asks questions about whether society is prepared for such rapid change. In the first of a three-part conversation for this ...
Sep 24, 2023•32 min•Season 1Ep. 1035
Mustafa Suleyman is the ultimate AI insider. As co-founder of DeepMind and Inflection AI, he is one of the pioneers of the artificial intelligence revolution, potentially the single greatest accelerant of progress in history. His new book The Coming Wave: Technology, Power and the Twenty-First Century’s Greatest Dilemma, asks questions about whether society is prepared for such rapid change. In the first of a three-part conversation for this episode of Intelligence Squared, Suleyman joined Zanny...
Sep 23, 2023•36 min•Season 1Ep. 1034
John Gray is one of the UK’s most important and influential political thinkers. Sceptical of ideas about progress and the perfectibility of human nature, he is an arch critic of liberalism, believing that history moves in cycles rather than inexorably towards a better future. For this episode of Intelligence Squared he is joined by David Runciman, a political scientist known for his clear analysis of modern political complexities. Together they explore the themes of Gray’s new book The New Levia...
Sep 21, 2023•37 min•Season 1Ep. 1032
Do you ever turn away from the news in despair? Do you scroll through social media and come away feeling angry, frustrated and fearful? Have you given up on the idea that a level of sanity might ever be restored to our politics? If so, acclaimed political commentator Rafael Behr's new book might be for you, Politics: A Survivor’s Guide: How to Stay Engaged without Getting Enraged. In conversation with fellow political journalist Jonathan Freedland, Behr discusses how social media is impacting co...
Sep 20, 2023•38 min•Season 1Ep. 1030
Award-winning journalist Oliver Franklin-Wallis has spent the last number of years investigating the global waste industry. In June 2023 he came to Intelligence Squared to tell us the truth about Britain’s overflowing sewers and hollowed-out mining towns, the mountainous landfills of New Delhi, Ghana’s flooded second-hand markets and what it all means for the future. Joining him to discuss the book is Dr Güneş Taylor, science communicator and Postdoctoral fellow at The Francis Crick Institute. W...
Sep 17, 2023•40 min•Season 1Ep. 1028
We tend to think of these uplands as ‘wild’ and ‘natural’. But in fact, as the rewilders point out, they are entirely man-made, the result of clearances by man to make way for millions of sheep whose grazing over the last 200 years has rendered the land bare. Sheep farming, once a major source of Britain’s wealth, is now largely uneconomic and depends on billions of pounds of subsidies. But where rewilding is taking place, in Britain and in Europe, a boom in tourism is providing a more sustainab...
Sep 16, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 1027
In this straight-talking podcast brought to you by Intelligence Squared, Chris Hirst cuts through the bullsh*t and gets to the heart of modern leadership. For this episode, Chris speaks to theatre director Sir Nicholas Hytner. Previously Artistic Director of the National Theatre, his major successes include Miss Saigon, The History Boys, and One Man, Two Guvnors. Under Hytner’s leadership, the National Theatre innovated with Sunday openings, live cinema broadcasts of plays around the world, and ...
Sep 14, 2023•41 min•Season 1Ep. 1026
Accelerated by a pandemic, global conflict and rapid technological change, extremist ideas are becoming more widespread: QAnon proponents run for U.S. Congress, neo-fascists win elections in Europe and hyper-partisan commentators spread dangerous myths to millions online. Julia Ebner is a researcher specialising in far-right extremism, reciprocal radicalisation, conspiracy myths and terrorism prevention. Her new book is Going Mainstream: How Extremists Are Taking Over. She joins our host Carl Mi...
Sep 12, 2023•36 min•Season 1Ep. 1025
