Intelligence Squared

In both time and space, the cosmos is astoundingly vast, and yet is governed by simple, elegant, universal mathematical laws. In this episode we are joined by Brian Greene, theoretical physicist and author of Until The End of Time, in conversation with Tom Whipple, science editor of The Times. They discuss quantum mechanics, consciousness and how life and mind emerged from the chaos of the universe's beginning.  Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How can we protect ourselves from coronavirus? How long will the current situation last? Why has the death rate been so high in Italy? And why have some other countries apparently been more successful at reducing the spread of the virus? This episode is from a live online event that we staged on Friday March 27, and it features science broadcaster Xand Van Tulleken, epidemiologist David Heymann, economist Linda Yueh and disease control expert Bharat Pankhania. Stay tuned for more information about online Intelligence Squared events. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The UK's former Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks appears in this special episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast, recorded remotely while he self-isolates in his home. In an in-depth discussion with the BBC's Ritula Shah, he discusses how our society can restore its sense of morality and the common good during the coronavirus pandemic.  Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been raging for decades, with seemingly no end in sight. In this episode, we are joined by Rashid Khalidi, Palestinian-American historian and Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University. He is the author of a new book, titled The Hundred Years' War On Palestine, and in this episode he appears in conversation with The Guardian's Jonathan Freedland for a challenging examination of his perspective on the conflict.  Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In these incredibly uncertain times, we're exploring the concept of 'radical uncertainty' in this episode with Mervyn King, the former Governor of the Bank of England, alongside renowned economist John Kay and Jesse Norman MP. Mervyn and John are the co-authors of a new book titled Radical Uncertainty: Decision-Making Beyond the Numbers, and in this episode they discuss the most successful - and most short-sighted - methods of dealing with an unknowable future using history, mathematics, economics and philosophy.  Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When was the last time you listened to someone, or someone really listened to you? At work, we’re taught to lead the conversation. On social media, we shape our personal narratives. At parties, we talk over one another. So do our politicians. We’re not listening. And no one is listening to us. This episode features Kate Murphy, the New York Times contributor and bestselling author of You're Not Listening, in conversation with Ros Urwin of the Sunday Times, on the importance of listening to us as a society and as individuals. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We tend to associate old age with deterioration, especially of our mental powers and memory. But today we are seeing a new cohort of the so-called young-old, people in their sixties, seventies and beyond, who are still healthy, active and fully engaged with life. Neuroscientist and bestselling author Daniel Levitin is at the forefront of research to find out how to lead a long and healthy life and in 2020 he came to the Intelligence Squared to share the findings of his book The Changing Mind: A Neuroscientist’s Guide to Ageing Well. Joining Levitin was Camilla Cavendish, award-winning journalist and campaigner, who has travelled the world interviewing leading experts for her book Extra Time: 10 Lessons for an Ageing World. This is the first part of a three-part interview. Join us for more in the following 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.  Send us an email or voice note with your thoughts to podc

Michael Cashman has been an actor, a politician and one of the pioneers of the struggle for LGBT equality in the UK. He is the author of a new book titled One Of Them: From Albert Square to Parliament Square and in this episode of the podcast he was interviewed by Razia Iqbal of the BBC on his fascinating life and career, as well as the stirring history of the British LGBT rights movement. Photo: Nikki Powell Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast we are joined by Helen Lewis, staff writer for the Atlantic, who claims that too many pioneers of women’s rights have been whitewashed or forgotten because society likes its heroines to be cuddly and safe. Lewis believes it’s time to reclaim the history of feminism as a history of difficult women, and on Tuesday February 25 she came to the Intelligence Squared stage to set out the arguments of her new book, Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights. She appeared in conversation with the feminist campaigner Caroline Criado Perez and BBC broadcaster Samira Ahmed.  Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode we are joined by Thant Myint-U, the Burmese historian, former adviser to the President of Myanmar, and author of The Hidden History of Burma: Race, Capitalism, and the Crisis of Democracy in the 21st Century. In this podcast, Thant explores the fascinating history of Myanmar, and how after a promising period of hope following the end of military rule, the country spiralled into horrific intercommunal violence with the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees. Photo credit: Thurein Aung Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Has satire lost its power in this new world of fake news and ‘alternative facts’ - when our leaders lie so blatantly and frequently, and still manage to get away with it? Or is humour a more important tool than ever to hold those in power to account? We were joined by celebrated comedy writer and producer Armando Iannucci, Labour MP Jess Phillips, and satirist and impressionist Jan Ravens to unpack these questions live on stage at the Union chapel in London. The event was chaired by journalist, writer and broadcaster Samira Ahmed. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode we are joined by Christiana Figueres, the former UN Executive Secretary for Climate Change who was one of the key negotiators behind the Paris Climate Agreement and is the co-author of a new book The Future We Choose. In this in-depth conversation with the BBC's Ritula Shah, Figueres gives us serious, practical and empowering advice for how we can stave off the worst and manage the long-term effects of climate change. — 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 podcasts@intelligencesquared.com or Tweet us @intelligence2.  And if you’d like to support our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations, as well as ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content, early access and much more, become a supporter of Intelligence Squared today. Just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Vi

Capitalism is driving us to disaster. Our planet is heading for a terrifying environmental cataclysm – and our economic system is responsible. The defining characteristic of capitalism is perpetual economic growth. And while it has brought us wonderful benefits, including improved health, wealth and opportunities to travel and experience the world, ever-increasing production and consumption – inherent in capitalism – are an existential threat to life on our planet. The more we produce and consume, the more energy we need – and renewables can’t keep pace. Unless we abandon capitalism now, we will inevitably continue to drive up the demand for fossil fuels. According to some scientific predictions, human civilisation could completely collapse by 2050 if we don’t take drastic action to stop climate change now. We must end capitalism before it’s too late.  That’s the view of the anti-capitalist eco-warriors. But while it’s undeniable that capitalism has contributed to our current climate crisis, it has also prov

In this episode we are joined by Andrew McAfee, the co-director of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy and author of More From Less: The Surprising Story of How We Learned to Prosper Using Fewer Resources. In an interview with journalist Hugo Lindgren, McAfee explores his counterintuitive theory of how we’re past the point of 'peak stuff'– because of the collaboration between technology and capitalism, it’ll take fewer resources to make things in the future, and cost less to lead a comfortable life. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode we are joined by Paul Krugman, Nobel prize-winning economist and author of Arguing With Zombies: Economics, Politics and the Fight for a Better Future. In a conversation with economist and broadcaster Linda Yueh, Krugman debunks what he calls ‘zombie economics’ – the great economic misconceptions of our time that just won’t die.  Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is an exploration of social mobility and inequality in contemporary Britain, featuring Hashi Mohamed, author of People Like Us. Hashi came to the UK aged nine, a refugee from the Somali civil war. He attended some of the country's worst schools and was raised exclusively on state benefits. Yet today he is a successful barrister with an Oxford degree. In conversation with the BBC's Razia Iqbal, he looks back at his own experiences and asks what they can tell us about social mobility - or the lack of it - in Britain today. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For the second installment of our Trailblazers series, Intelligence Squared has partnered with gal-dem to bring together a collection of outstanding women – and their letters – to our stage. If you could offer insight and advice to your younger self, what would you say? Oprah Winfrey, when she was 58, wrote these words to her 19-year-old self: ‘Dear beautiful brown-skinned girl… The truth is, he’s intimidated. You don’t know this, though, because you can see yourself only through his eyes. A lesson you will have to learn again and again: to see yourself with your own eyes, to love yourself from your own heart’. Maya Angelou, at the age of 85, had this advice for her 15-year old self: ‘Find some beautiful art and admire it, and realize that that was created by human beings just like you, no more human, no less’. Advice like that has both universal resonance and specific relevance to women of colour. Most people have fallen in love, discovered the power of art and wondered whether they have the capacity to achi

In this episode, we are joined by JJ Sutherland, the business expert and author of The Scrum Fieldbook. In conversation with the journalist Hugo Lindgren, he explores his ideas for how the world of business can be transformed through a set of practices known as Scrum, which focuses on rapid innovation and quick-fire decision-making, and has immediate relevance for every organisation on Earth. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, our panel of top speakers battle it out over whether Brits should be proud or ashamed of their country. Is the phrase 'Great Britain' an oxymoron, or is Britain one of the world's most free, open and tolerant societies, therefore making it the best place to live in the world? Listen to this debate, hear the arguments and make up your mind. Arguing in favour of the motion There's Not Much Great About Britain were Peter Hitchens, columnist for the Mail on Sunday, author and broadcaster; and Will Self, novelist, broadcaster and literary critic. Arguing against the motion were Kate Hoey, former Labour MP for Vauxhall; and Sayeeda Warsi, Conservative member of the House of Lords. The debate was chaired by Anthony Seldon, historian and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Buckingham. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode we are joined by Dan Gretton, the author of I You We Them: Journeys Beyond Evil: The Desk Killer in History and Today. In an interview with Ros Urwin of The Sunday Times, he explores the psychology behind some of the least visible perpetrators of crimes against humanity in history — the banal and bureaucratic ‘desk killers’ who ordered and directed some of the worst atrocities of the last two hundred years. In the second half of the episode Dan Gretton makes reference to a map of the Auschwitz chemical plant, which can be seen here: http://bit.ly/3aNZZc7. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices