Intelligence Squared
Intelligence Squared is the home of lively debate and deep-dive discussion. Follow Intelligence Squared wherever you get your podcasts and enjoy four regular episodes per week taking you to the heart of the issues that matter in the company of the world’s great minds. 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.
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1201
The Left has right on its side
Letís be honest. Itís the political Left that has societyís best interests at heart, that works for the good of all. It has always been the Left that has struggled to protect the weak from the strong, that has fought for workersí rights, for sexual and...
60 min
1202
James Rhodes And Armando Iannucci on the Transf...
In February 2018 Intelligence Squared brought Armando Iannucci and James Rhodes to our stage to discuss the transcendent power of music. Rhodes is known as the wild man of concert pianists. His approach to the piano is raw an...
61 min
1203
Ten Years On: The Financial Crisis and the Stat...
It’s been ten years since we saw suddenly unemployed Lehman Brothers bankers carrying their possessions out of their offices in boxes; since whole neighbourhoods in suburban America turned into empty ghost towns; since the British and American governme...
60 min
1204
Karen Armstrong on Religion and the History of ...
Karen Armstrong has written over 16 books on faith and the major religions, studying what Islam, Judaism and Christianity have in common, and how our faiths have shaped world history and drive current events.She came to the Intelligence Squared stag...
59 min
1205
Brian Cox and Alice Roberts on the Incredible U...
Who are we? Why are we here? Are we alone in the universe? How did we become the creatures that we are? How might we further evolve?These are some of the big questions that Brian Cox and Alice Roberts tackled when they came to the Intelligence Squar...
59 min
1206
Break Up The Tech Giants
It is time to call the tech companies to account. In the space of just ten years, Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft have become the biggest companies on the planet and have accrued a level of power that threatens us all. They control our da...
60 min
1207
Caitlyn Jenner on Identity and Self-Realisation
This week's episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast was recorded in a studio in London's Soho. We were joined by Caitlyn Jenner, the world's most famous transgender woman, as she talked with the Guardian's Jonathan Freedland abo...
57 min
1208
David Brooks on the Road to Character
In May 2015, New York Times columnist David Brooks came to the Intelligence Squared stage to share the insights of his latest book, 'The Road to Character'. Brooks argued that today’s ‘Big Me’ culture is making us increasingly self-preoccupie...
59 min
1209
Inside The Head Of Terry Gilliam
Terry Gilliam is one of the most multifaceted, visionary talents alive. He first found fame as a member of Monty Python, the surreal comedy troupe that has had a cult following since its inception in 1969 right up to today. Had Gilliam stopped there, h...
60 min
1210
Joseph Stiglitz on the Great Divide
Inequality is an increasing problem in the Western world, leaving everyone – the rich as well as the poor – worse off. The dream of a socially mobile society is becoming an ever more unachievable myth. That’s the view of Nobel Prize-winning economist J...
59 min
1211
Stephen Fry and Friends on the Life, Loves and ...
In this historic event, Stephen Fry and other friends of Christopher Hitchens came together to celebrate the life and work of this great writer, iconoclast and debater. Fry was joined on stage at the Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall by Richa...
45 min
1212
Words that Changed The World, with Jeremy Irons...
For 15 years, Intelligence Squared has vigorously championed the spoken word. The finest speakers from across the globe have come to our stage — to argue, to move, to persuade and change minds. Their speeches epitomise the vital role that public speaki...
98 min
1213
Brave New World vs Ninety Eighty-Four
Dystopian books and films are in the zeitgeist. Reflecting the often dark mood of our times, Intelligence Squared are staging a contest between two of the greatest dystopian novels, Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four. E...
91 min
1214
Michael Lewis On How Behavioural Economics Chan...
Michael Lewis is one of the most successful non-fiction authors alive. He has been acclaimed as a genius by Malcolm Gladwell and as the best current writer in America by Tom Wolfe. In a series of titles that have sold 9 million copies worldwid...
63 min
1215
Jaron Lanier on the Future of Our Digital Lives
Jaron Lanier is one of the foremost digital visionaries of our times. One of Silicon Valley’s key early innovators, this dreadlocked digital prophet has been dubbed the ‘father of virtual reality’ and named as one of Time’s 100 most influenti...
57 min
1216
Neville Chamberlain did the right thing: Appeas...
If ever a politician got a bum rap it’s Neville Chamberlain. He has gone down in history as the British prime minster whose policy of appeasement in the 1930s allowed the Nazis to flourish unopposed. He has never been forgiven for ceding part of Czecho...
60 min
1217
Me, My Selfie and I: Self-Expression in the Dig...
We are living in the age of selfie mania. Everyone from the Pope to Obama has appeared in one. In the past, only a handful of people were able to propagate their own images, whether it was artists like Rembrandt or Van Gogh painting self-portraits, soc...
58 min
1218
Warfare: The New Rules - The Cyber Threat to St...
We are at war: cyberwar. Cyber attacks are becoming the weapon of choice for states, terrorists and criminal organisations. Through the fragile, interconnected structure of the web, anything can be hacked – from national infrastructure to an...
60 min
1219
Oslo: Can We Bring Peace Between Enemies?
On October Intelligence Squared staged a pre-theatre discussion, ‘Can We Bring Peace Between Enemies?’ before a performance of the award-winning play Oslo. The play is a political thriller which tells the true story of two maverick Norwegian diplomats...
56 min
1220
Randall Munroe with Marcus du Sautoy on Making ...
On 2nd October, Intelligence Squared brought together two of the world’s best-loved masters of explaining and popularising science, who lifted the lid on the technology we love and on the cutting edge of current scientific research.Randall Munroe is...
59 min
1221
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on hitting refresh ...
Satya Nadella is one of the world’s most inspirational business leaders, as much a humanist as a technologist and executive. On September 28th, he comes to the Intelligence Squared stage to discuss his personal journey from a childhood in India to beco...
60 min
1222
Napoleon the Great? A debate with Andrew Robert...
How should we remember Napoleon, the man of obscure Corsican birth who rose to become emperor of the French and briefly master of Europe?In 2014, as the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo approached, Intelligence Squared brought together two...
59 min
1223
The Great Realignment: Britain's Political Iden...
Is Britain facing an identity crisis? The traditional dividing lines of left and right seem to be dissolving into new political tribes – metropolitan liberals versus the culturally rooted working classes, graduates versus the uneducated, the young...
60 min
1224
Sam Harris on the Science of Good and Evil
Where do our ideas about morality and meaning come from? Most people - from religious extremists to secular scientists - would agree on one point: that science has nothing to say on the subject of human values. Indeed, science's failure to explain...
59 min
1225
Is London too rich to be interesting?
It used to be so easy. You left university, came to London and got yourself a flatshare in one of the cheaper areas: Notting Hill, Maida Vale or Highgate. Living was cheap and if it took you a while to find out what you really wanted to do with your...
60 min