140. Martin Amis (writer) – The Spooky Art
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24 Mar 201849min
139. Neil Gaiman (writer) – And Then it Gets Darker
Adult life, with all its schedules and responsibilities, can turn into a kind of library of locked boxes. The ones we open every day sit on a shelf at eye level, their keys clipped to a carabiner at o...
17 Mar 201857min
138. Steven Pinker (Cognitive Scientist) – The Defeat of Defeatism
I admit it. I confess. I’ve got a touch of what my guest today calls “progressophobia”. Ever since Charles Dickens got hold of me back in middle school, and William Blake after that, I’ve been a littl...
10 Mar 201836min
137. Amy Chua (author, attorney) – U.S. & Them
I don’t know about you, but for me, middle school was horrible. I arrived at an all-male school in a still very homophobic era as a small, nervous, Michael Jackson fanatic. Don’t worry - I’m going som...
3 Mar 201847min
136. Michio Kaku (physicist) – Timid Monkeys on Mars
Back in the old days, if your species was faced with an existential threat, you were stuck hoping for some advantageous mutation. Maybe an extra fin or a slightly more sophisticated eyeball. Outwittin...
24 Feb 201851min
135. Niall Ferguson (historian) – The Ghost of Future Past
Every time he sees a triangle these days, my 10-year-old son points and says “Gasp! the illuminati!” This is a meme he and all his friends absorbed from YouTube. It’s interesting that several centu...
17 Feb 201845min
134. Jacob Sager Weinstein (children's author) – Imaginary Histories, Possible Futures
Once upon a time, there was a rabbit. No...Not a rabbit. Lewis Carroll already did that… How about an Amazonian river dolphin. Ok. once upon a time there was an Amazonian river dolphin who wondered ab...
10 Feb 201856min
133. Jeremy Bailenson (VR expert) – Through the Looking Glass
How do you know that you’re really where you are right now? I mean, where are you getting this sense of place from? A bunch of data from at least some of your five senses enters your brain where it’s ...
3 Feb 201849min
