Episodes
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We live in a world where uncertainty is inevitable. How should we deal with what we don’t know? And what role do chance, luck and coincidence play in our lives?
Cambridge statistician and beloved broadcaster David Spiegelhalter has spent his career dissecting data in order to understand risks and assess the chances of what might happen in the future.
In this episode of the podcast, recorded live in London with live examples with the audience, he guides us through the principles of probability, showing how it can help us think more analytically about everything from medical advice to pandemics and climate change forecasts, and explores how we can update our beliefs about the future in the face of constantly changing experience.
Tune in to find why we can be so confident that two properly shuffled packs of cards have never been in the exact same order, what it means to be mathematically lucky, and how a classroom of people will result in a shared birthday in this essential guide to navigating uncertainty while also having the humility to admit what we do not know.
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How do you balance kindness and competence in the workplace? How can you get the success you deserve, earn credit for your accomplishments, and navigate complex office politics without antagonising your colleagues?
Over decades of research, behavioural scientist Alison Fragale encountered these recurring questions from high-powered and early-career women alike, determining that many women’s workplace issues boil down to the perception of others. Now she joins us to share her insights, offering actionable strategies that can help women elevate their esteem, all while remaining authentic to themselves.
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Missing episodes?
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“With just 26 letters, you can create any conceivable universe.” - Alan Moore
With the rise of new technology, from artificial intelligence to virtual reality, what power remains in our more ancient forms of storytelling? Modern-day alchemist Alan Moore who transmuted comic books into literary gold joins Robin Ince to explore the enduring power of prose and the unique magic that written stories bring. To celebrate the release of Alan's new book The Great When which marks the beginning of his Long London series, Alan and Robin delve into the wonder of words, the power of art, and the enduring magic of prose fiction.
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Long gone are the days when pigeons relayed our messages; now we have a flood of information at all times, from social media to artificial intelligence, all weaving narratives that shape our lives. But the rise of these new modes of information technology has the power to spread misinformation, challenge independent thought, and even threaten democracy.
Bestselling author of Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari joins Robin Ince to explore how humanity can navigate these new networks, and asks, in this constant deluge of information and misinformation, where can we find real knowledge and truth?
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Best-known for her journey trekking across the Australian desert, Robyn Davidson joins us to reveal a new expedition, this time into the past. From the lush tropics of Malabar to the loneliness of London, Robyn shares an illuminating portrait of her childhood, the loss of her mother, her journey as a writer, and the strange and wondrous persistence of memory.
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Aged 27, Rebecca F. Kuang is already a New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling, multiple-prize winning author of five novels, a graduate of both Oxford and Cambridge, and currently finding time to squeeze in finishing a doctorate at Yale while writing three more novels she has already sold.
Now Rebecca reveals her own literary journey, and how her global sensation Yellowface strikes a deeply personal chord. From the art of crafting villains to loving one's characters, from waiting for hours at empty signings to rising to the heights of literary stardom, from newfound freedom to the insecurities that plague even the best of us, Rebecca Kuang reveals her extraordinary life to date.
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Since the dawn of humanity monsters have loomed large in our collective imagination. But why do frightening beasts hold such a powerful grip on us?
Natalie Lawrence has always loved monsters. Her passion that took her all the way to Cambridge, where she completed a phD in the history of early modern monsters that informs her new book, Enchanted Creatures. Now she joins us on the podcast to delight your adult brain and inner child alike. When does an animal become a monster? Why should anyone still care about monsters in the modern world, when so many of our favourite myths are fully debunked and true enchantment is hard to come by? Are robots and dinosaurs monsters, or something different? Discover the answer to all these questions and more in this journey through thousands of years of natural – and unnatural – history…
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In the last five centuries, humankind has brought change to every inch of the Earth, in a story of environment and empire, of genocide and ecocide, of the expansion of human freedom and its costs. Asking whether humanity can now summon the collective wisdom to save itself, Professor Sunil Amrith joins the podcast to share a history of environmentalism from the perspective of social justice.
Arguing for an empathetic approach to climate usage, Professor Amrith shares why environmentalism is ill-suited to headlines, and reveals the human stories that can compel us to take action. Tune in to understand why it will be the artists, not the technocrats, who determine what happens next.
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Harvard Professor and Ukrainian-born historian Serhii Plokhy joins the podcast to reveal the resilience and courage of the Ukrainian workers held hostage inside Chernobyl under Russian occupation. As hours stretched into weeks of hostility with no help from the outside world, the crew members' critical decisions alone prevented another nuclear catastrophe reminiscent of the disaster three decades earlier. In a wider warning to the world, Serhii Plokhy uncovers just how unprepared we are to deal with acts of nuclear terrorism.
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Soon after announcing his first campaign for presidency, Donald J. Trump declared that life “had not been easy for me”, delivering a campaign narrative around his business acumen based on his journey from talented upstart to a multi-billionaire. This narrative was a lie.
Drawing on access to twenty years’ worth of Trump’s confidential tax information, business records and interviews with Trump insiders, reporters Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig won a Pulitzer Prize for the investigations into Trump’s finances – and the deceptions at the core of his claims of business success.
In this episode, Buettner and Craig share insights from the school playground to the set of The Apprentice as well as never-before-seen financial records and intelligence on the relationship with his father Fred Trump, all belying the public image that took Trump all the way to the White House, and demonstrated that a lie will become truth if it is told often enough.
Can a man who has squandered fortune on money-losing businesses continue to be saved by blind luck in the future?And can Trumpism survive beyond Trump? Tune in to find out.
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Traumatic experiences leave their imprint on the body as well as the mind, but they need not define us. Fusing insights from thirty years at the cutting-edge of neuroscience, and with the weight of decades of experience as an active therapist, Dr van der Kolk reveals the power of our relationships – whether the intimacy of the home or in our wider communities – to both hurt and heal.
In this episode, recorded live in London, Dr van der Kolk explores trauma, abuse and suicidality to reveal new approaches to recovery that move away from talking and drug therapies to heal mind, brain and body.
Tune in for a deep dive into some of the most staggering new research in the field.
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Since the dawn of humanity, our sense of ourselves has been shaped by things that seem human - or nearly human - but are not. From sacrificial animals to household pets, ancient gods to future technologies like robots and AI, human ethics was, is and will continue to be profoundly influenced by its relationship with intelligences other than our own. What moral responsibility do we have toward the prey that we hunt and the machines that clean our homes? Why did medieval Europeans put pigs and cats on trial, and what can the Delphic Oracle tell us about ChatGPT? Anthropologist Webb Keane takes us beyond the boundaries of the human world in this episode to answer these questions and more.
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Ambitious yet anxious? Harvard-trained clinical psychologist Dr Mary E. Anderson joined us with an actionable guide to maintaining your edge all while reducing stress and finding happiness along your journey. From understanding thoughts and behaviours that might be causing obstacles for you, such as negative forecasting and perfectionism, to building sustainable habits that can help you thrive, Dr Anderson reveals that success doesn't have to come at the expense of your wellbeing.
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In our turbulent times, how do we grapple with our past? Are we capable of grappling with Britain's imperial history without whitewashing? David Olusoga and Alan Lester believe that the truth matters; it matters far too greatly to be hijacked by apologists and racists. They joined us in conversation to reveal the truth about the British Empire and fight back against those who smear the integrity of professional historians; together, they reveal a new way forward in understanding the history of the nation that is honest, open, and not warped by contemporary politics.
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Psychotherapist and Sunday Times bestselling author Anna Mathur joins the podcast to debunk traditional strategies to manage common worries and introduce her new approach to overcoming the ten fundamental, uncomfortable truths in life: acceptance.
Drawing upon her experience as a therapist as well as her own personal journey of grief, and training as a therapist alongside her mother, she dives into topics that many of us are afraid to face. In the episode Anna proposes that joy and heartbreak will always coexist, and that we are not built to thrive alone.
Tune in to learn how to accept rather than avoid the worries with a stranglehold on your life, and discover who you are without worry and doubt.
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Longtime listeners will remember the artist and folklorist Amy Jeffs from her episode exploring the medieval wilderness; her latest book Saints returns to the medieval world to explore the lives and legends of European saints -- from men raised by wolves to women communing with flocks of birds. She joined us in conversation with the author and critic Sam Leith, whose new book The Haunted Wood is a history of and reflection upon children's literature from Aesop to the modern day. Their dialogue is a must-listen for anyone of any age willing to be enchanted by the power of storytelling.
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Oliver Burkeman’s global bestseller Four Thousand Weeks was a reflection upon our brief time on earth that changed lives and inspired thousands. Now armed with a meadow of playful metaphors to illustrate his philosophy, he joins the podcast to offer us a crash course in how to make the most of our lives without giving into the cult of self-help.
Sharing his cynicism of society’s overemphasis on hyperproductivity, which has held us hostage to a ‘daily productivity deficit’, Oliver shows that ‘done not perfect’ is always better. Tune in to discover why letting things happen rather than making them happen could increase your productivity, and why realising that things are worse than you imagined can be the liberating force your life needs.
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Barrack and Michele Obama loved Rumaan Alam's apocalyptic third novel, Leave the World Behind, so much they helped turn it into a wildly successful Netflix movie. That novel anticipated and captured the feel of life in the COVID pandemic with uncanny accuracy, and Rumaan's new book is no less attuned to the way we live now.
Entitlement is the story of Brooke, a young, ambitious Black New Yorker who finds herself in the employ of ageing billionaire-philanthropist Asher Jaffee - with unpredictable and profound consequences. Does money inevitably corrupt everyone who comes within its orbit? Is philanthropy just self-interested PR by the super-rich or a genuine force for good? How far would you go to fix your life, climb the ladder, and ascend to the upper echelons of the establishment? Rumaan joined us on the podcast to dissect all of these questions - without offering any easy answers.
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Nate Silver's remarkable career has seen him conquer many seemingly unrelated worlds: professional poker, sports journalism, and the political forecasting that made him a star of US politics. He joined us on stage in London to reveal the ideas that glue these together - an idea that helps to explain how power, business, and politics really work.
There is a new paradigm of power with global importance. This power belongs to a new class of professional risk-takers – including VCs, gamblers, tech moguls like Elon Musk and Sam Altman, and crypto-kings like Sam Bankman-Fried. This class, which Silver calls “The River”, drives progress: but these individuals can also cause chaos and deepen disparity. And despite plenty of bad press, the risk-takers are winning against their counterparts in government, academia and the media…
As a professional risk taker and member of 'The River' himself, Nate Silver joined award-winning presenter Jeremy Vine to uncover how this new class is changing the landscape of politics, power, and technology as we know it.
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Many of us wrestle with daunting life-choice questions from time to time: what should I be aiming for? Am I being ambitious enough? Has an excess of ambition led me astray?
Stefan Stern has dedicated a lifetime to answering these questions. The FT's former management columnist, a think-tank director, and now a professor at Cass Business School, Stefan joins the podcast to investigate how ambition and success work together through the unlikely icon of Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth. Whether your looking for a change of direction or emphasis on how to move forward, this meditation on the complex nature of ambition is for you.
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