Intelligence Squared

Hype has a dark side. It can mislead, distract and blinker us from seeing what is actually going on. In this episode we are joined by Gemma Milne, tech journalist and author of Smoke and Mirrors: How Hype Obscures the Future and How to See Past It, in conversation with Carl Miller of the think tank Demos.  Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

14 Apr 202056min

The coronavirus pandemic threatens to remake the world's political systems. But how exactly? In the third in a new series of interactive events from Intelligence Squared - Coronavirus: Your Questions Answered - we brought together a panel of leading commentators in a free live online event to examine how the crisis will affect politics around the world. Does the pandemic hail the return of big government? Will it prove to us that the globalised economy has gone too far, leaving us with dangerously overstretched supply chains? And will populist leaders be strengthened by the sense that the already dispossessed will be worst affected by the pandemic? Or will the indiscriminate nature of the virus help foster a new era of social and international solidarity? Addressing these questions were Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and political commentator Anne Applebaum, author and journalist David Goodhart and political commentator and writer Paul Mason. Chairing the proceedings and taking questions from our live audience was BBC presenter Ritula Shah. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

10 Apr 20201h 11min

It all started in 1979. According to Kim Ghattas, the former BBC journalist and author of Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran and the Rivalry That Unravelled the Middle East, this was the pivotal year that kickstarted a forty-year rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia, plunging the Middle East in turmoil. In this episode of the podcast, she examined this fascinating period of history with UCL political scientist Brian Klaas. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

7 Apr 202041min

In both time and space, the cosmos is astoundingly vast, and yet is governed by simple, elegant, universal mathematical laws. In this episode we are joined by Brian Greene, theoretical physicist and author of Until The End of Time, in conversation with Tom Whipple, science editor of The Times. They discuss quantum mechanics, consciousness and how life and mind emerged from the chaos of the universe's beginning.  Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

3 Apr 202043min

How can we protect ourselves from coronavirus? How long will the current situation last? Why has the death rate been so high in Italy? And why have some other countries apparently been more successful at reducing the spread of the virus? This episode is from a live online event that we staged on Friday March 27, and it features science broadcaster Xand Van Tulleken, epidemiologist David Heymann, economist Linda Yueh and disease control expert Bharat Pankhania. Stay tuned for more information about online Intelligence Squared events. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

31 Mars 20201h 12min

The UK's former Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks appears in this special episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast, recorded remotely while he self-isolates in his home. In an in-depth discussion with the BBC's Ritula Shah, he discusses how our society can restore its sense of morality and the common good during the coronavirus pandemic.  Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

27 Mars 202049min

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been raging for decades, with seemingly no end in sight. In this episode, we are joined by Rashid Khalidi, Palestinian-American historian and Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University. He is the author of a new book, titled The Hundred Years' War On Palestine, and in this episode he appears in conversation with The Guardian's Jonathan Freedland for a challenging examination of his perspective on the conflict.  Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

24 Mars 20201h 8min

In these incredibly uncertain times, we're exploring the concept of 'radical uncertainty' in this episode with Mervyn King, the former Governor of the Bank of England, alongside renowned economist John Kay and Jesse Norman MP. Mervyn and John are the co-authors of a new book titled Radical Uncertainty: Decision-Making Beyond the Numbers, and in this episode they discuss the most successful - and most short-sighted - methods of dealing with an unknowable future using history, mathematics, economics and philosophy.  Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

20 Mars 202055min