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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1276
Roberto Saviano on the War Against Organised Crime
Roberto Saviano made a rare appearance in the UK in July 2015 when he came to the Intelligence Squared stage. In conversation with Intelligence Squared's very own Robert Collins, Saviano talked about his life in hiding and his beginnings as a repo...
48 min
1277
John Gray and Adam Phillips in conversation on ...
Political philosopher John Gray and psychotherapist and essayist Adam Phillips came to the Intelligence Squared stage in 2011 to discuss themes of science and immortality. Can we in the 21st century claim to be no longer gripped by the hope that someho...
60 min
1278
Digital Summit Highlights: 'London's Star Tech ...
This week's episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast features two sessions from our recent Digital Summit with Vanity Fair.
In the first session, 'Who are we on the web?' we examined how deeply the internet is affecting us as human b...
53 min
1279
Churchill was more a liability than an asset to...
Does the fact that Winston Churchill is routinely cited as Britain’s greatest hero say more about us than it does about him? Yes, he warned us of the need to face down Hitler when others were urging appeasement and yes, he gave a good speech. But what ...
55 min
1280
Digital Summit Highlights: 'The Hopes of the Pi...
This week's episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast features two sessions from our recent Digital Summit with Vanity Fair.
In the first session, 'This is For Everyone: The hopes of the pioneers', we explored the hopes and memories o...
48 min
1281
Angela Merkel is destroying Europe
The stakes couldn’t be higher, as Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras seeks a new agreement on a bailout and German chancellor Angela Merkel refuses any talks before this Sunday’s referendum. What will happen is anyone’s guess, but for anyone looking f...
47 min
1282
The West should get out of bed with the House O...
Have we no morals? We know that the Saudis created the monster that is Islamic terrorism, allegedly spending some $100 billion on exporting fanatical Wahhabism to other Muslim nations around the world. We know about the public beheadings and floggings,...
46 min
1283
The internet is a failed utopia
This week's podcast comes from the closing session of our recent Digital Summit with Vanity Fair. See intelligencesquared.com for more information about the summit.
To many the hopes we had for the internet when it first emerged have been smashed...
52 min
1284
Faramerz Dabhoiwala on the Origins of Sex
Rising star historian Faramerz Dabhoiwala came to the Intelligence Squared stage in February 2012 to describe how the permissive society arrived in Western Europe, not in the 1960s as we like to think, but between 1600 and 1800. It began in England and...
56 min
1285
David Brooks on the Road to Character
On May 26th 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-preoc...
59 min
1286
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
1287
Spotlight On Piketty
In this rare appearance in London, French economist Thomas Piketty appeared centre stage for Intelligence Squared, along with a panel of experts, to debate his findings of his book 'Capital in the 21st Century', an analysis of the causes and ...
57 min
1288
Post-Election Dissection
On May 12th, before the dust had settled on the General Election, Intelligence Squared hosted a post-election dissection with pundits and politicians of all persuasions. They battled it out over what the outcome means for the future of British politics...
59 min
1289
Simon Sebag Montefiore on Jerusalem
Jerusalem. How did this small, remote town became the Holy City, the desire of every empire, and the key to Middle East peace? In this dazzling talk from February 2011, Simon Sebag Montefiore revealed the ever-changing city through its many incarnation...
60 min
1290
The World Needs Religion Even if it Doesn't Nee...
God is dead and man has no need of the myths and false consolation that religion offers. That’s the battle-cry of Richard Dawkins and other tough-minded critics of religion. And yet millions cling to their faith, finding value and meaning in the concep...
59 min
1291
The Future of Parliamentary Democracy
In the wake of the MPs’ expenses scandal (May-June 2009), we brought a panel of politicians and journalists to the Intelligence Squared stage to discuss the state of democracy in Britain – is the system rotten to the core, or was the expenses scandal s...
66 min
1292
Can art be taught to the Facebook generation?
We were joined at the Saatchi Gallery in July 2009 by Turner Prize-winning artists Grayson Perry and Antony Gormley; author, philosopher and television presenter Alain de Botton; design critic, author and columnist Stephen Bayley and founder of the cha...
60 min
1293
Debate: Burgundy vs Bordeaux
35 min
1294
The Extreme Present: An Evening of Self-Help fo...
Shumon Basar, writer, thinker and cultural critic, Douglas Coupland, the renowned author of 'Generation X', and Hans Ulrich Obrist, one of the world’s best-known curators, joined forces for a special event with Intelligence Squared to explore...
59 min
1295
The Art World is a Boys' Club
Botticelli's Venus. Warhol's Marilyn. Chen Yifei’s Beauties.
Historically, the creation of art has been largely the preserve of men. And not a lot has changed. In recent years, the top 100 highest grossing living artists at auction were me...
60 min
1296
Muhammad Yunus on a new kind of capitalism
‘Making money is a happiness. And that’s a great incentive. Making other people happy is a super-happiness.’
These are the words of Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Bangladeshi economist world-famous for starting the microfinance movement...
60 min
1297
Be afraid, be very afraid: the robots are comin...
They are coming to an office near you: job-gobbling robots that can do your work better and more cheaply than you can. One in three jobs could be taken over by a computer or a robot in the next 20 years. Most at risk are less skilled workers such as ma...
58 min
1298
Rembrandt Vs Vermeer: The Titans of Dutch Painting
Rembrandt van Rijn is the best known of all the Dutch masters. His range was vast, from landscapes to portraits to Biblical scenes; he revolutionised every medium he handled, from oil paintings to etchings and drawings. His vision encompassed every ele...
60 min
1299
Money can grow on trees: what's good for nature...
Capitalists don’t care about the environment. Industry, agriculture and commerce have long exploited nature’s resources. The pursuit of profit pays scant regard to the underlying cost of using up the planet’s capital.That’s the familiar story that we...
60 min
1300
Keep 'em off the streets and behind bars: tough...
Lock them up. That’s the way we’ve always dealt with offenders. Criminals deserve to be put away for their crimes. Prison works because it keeps those criminals out of circulation, and acts as society’s most effective deterrent. Rehabilitation is all w...
60 min