Intelligence Squared

Latest Episodes:

Dickens vs Tolstoy: The Battle Of The Great 19th-century Novelists PART 1 Aug 11, 2023

Show notes

Dickens. Tolstoy. Their names and reputations shake the ground – and so do their books, if you drop one. But whose legacy is more enduring? Whose vision truer and more relevant today? Should you embark on War and Peace or Our Mutual Friend? To battle it out, in 2018 Intelligence Squared brought two celebrated writers, John Mullan for Dickens and Simon Schama for Tolstoy, to our stage. They called on a cast of star actors, including Tom Hiddleston, to bring their arguments to life with readings from the authors’ finest works. The debate was chaired by author, playwright and broadcaster Bonnie Greer. This is the first instalment of a three-part episode.

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Rome’s Golden Age with Tom Holland Aug 11, 2023

Show notes

What was Rome like during its zenith? In July 2023 acclaimed historian and co-host of The Rest Is History podcast Tom Holland came to Intelligence Squared to paint a vivid picture of Rome during the Pax Romana, when Rome was the world’s great superpower. Drawing on his new book Pax: War and Peace in Rome’s Golden Age, Holland described how at its peak the Roman Empire was the wealthiest and most powerful state the world had then seen, stretching from Scotland to Arabia, and containing perhaps a quarter of the human population then alive. Joining Holland in conversation is Hannah Cornwell, Associate Professor of Ancient History at the University of Birmingham and author of Pax and the Politics of Peace: Republic to Principate.

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How to Flex Your Imagination Muscle Aug 08, 2023

Show notes

What is it to imagine exactly? How do we go about it, and why is it so important that we imagine for ourselves? In July 2023 author and Condé Nast Britain managing director Albert Read came to Intelligence Squared to explain that the imagination is not just the preserve of artists and creatives but rather a muscle – an essential faculty of the mind which we can all train and develop throughout our lives. Drawing on his new book The Imagination Muscle, Read explains how the imagination is central to human achievement. In conversation with Times columnist and author of What I Wish I'd Known When I Was Young: The Art and Science of Growing Up, Alice Thomson, the discussion touches on art, music, film, literature, science and entrepreneurship. As technology advances and threatens to take over the creative aspects of our lives, Read's book suggests it is more pressing than ever to harness the power of our imaginations.

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Mariana Mazzucato and Stella Creasy on the Global Economy, PART 2 Aug 07, 2023

Show notes

This is the second part of a two-part interview. Recorded in 2018, economist and author Mariana Mazzucato discusses her book, The Value of Everything, with UK Labour MP Stella Creasy. It's a wide-ranging discussion looking at how real wealth is created in our economy and how we can measure the true worth of both infrastructure and services. Mariana Mazzucato is Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London.

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Mariana Mazzucato and Stella Creasy on the Global Economy, PART 1 Aug 06, 2023

Show notes

In this two-part episode recorded in 2018, economist and author Mariana Mazzucato discusses her book, The Value of Everything, with UK Labour MP Stella Creasy. It's a wide-ranging discussion looking at how real wealth is created in our economy and how we can measure the true worth of both infrastructure and services. Mariana Mazzucato is Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London.

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Eighty Is The New Thirty: A Guide To Getting Older, PART 2 Aug 05, 2023

Show notes

This is the second part of a three-part interview. Join us for more in the following episode. 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.

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Eighty Is The New Thirty: A Guide To Getting Older, PART 1 Aug 04, 2023

Show notes

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.

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Gloria Estefan on the Latin American Dream Aug 03, 2023

Show notes

Gloria Estefan is one of the most successful female singers ever. With more than 120 million records sold worldwide, three Grammy Awards, and a career spanning four decades, she has helped make Latin-flavoured pop music an international success. Estefan is also the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Honor and has her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. From fleeing Cuba as a young child when it fell under Castro’s control, narrowly escaping death in a bus accident aged 32, to marrying her first boyfriend, who was also the founder of her first band Miami Sound Machine, she has lived a remarkable life. In this exclusive live podcast recording of the award-winning How I Found My Voice, presented by Samira Ahmed, Estefan reflected on her path to musical success and fame.

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The Networks of History, with Niall Ferguson Aug 02, 2023

Show notes

Niall Ferguson is the preeminent historian of the ideas that define our time. He has challenged how we think about money, power, civilisation and empires. Now he wants to reimagine history itself. Networks, he explains, are the key to history. The greatest innovators have been ‘superhubs’ of connections. The most powerful states, empires and companies have been those with the most densely networked structures. And the most transformative ideas – from the printing presses that launched the Reformation to the Freemasonry that inspired the American Revolution – have gone viral precisely because of the networks within which they spread. Our host for this conversation is historian, author and broadcaster, Rana Mitter. The audio of this live Intelligence Squared event was recorded in London in 2017.

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The Futureverse: The Risk-Takers, with Simon Reeve and Christina Lamb Jul 31, 2023

Show notes

Not many of us can claim to have hunted with the Bushmen of the Kalahari; been detained for spying by the KGB; or smuggled ourselves over a border into an active war zone under the floorboards of an ambulance. Yet, for our latest guests on the Futureverse, this is all in a day’s work.

The Sunday Times’ Chief Foreign Correspondent Christina Lamb, who has been covering conflict around the globe for over three decades, does not regard herself as a risk taker, though. It was not an attraction to danger that led her to war reporting, but a surprise wedding invitation that landed on her desk in 1987. Similarly, as a teenager, the adventurer and broadcaster Simon Reeve, enjoyed the thrill of cycling down Acton High Street on his BMX, but did not imagine that he would spend his early professional life on the tail of neo-Nazi terrorists in Boston Spa.

In this special episode of the Futureverse, Christina and Simon join Kamal Ahmed for a conversation about their attitudes to risk: what motivates them to take the risks that they do and how they calculate risk on the ground. It is a fascinating insight into what it means to put your life on the line in order to shine light on the darkest corners of the world. It also is a prescient reminder of Y TREE’s core principles: mitigate unnecessary risk – even Simon Reeve will not get in a car without a seat belt – and always set a personal risk level that feels right for you.

The Futureverse is brought to you by Intelligence Squared in partnership with Y TREE. The past is in your head. The future is in your hands. For more information visit y-tree.com/futureverse

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