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The Big Think Interview

116 episodes

Intimate interviews with the world’s biggest thinkers.

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All Episodes (116)

A person with glasses and a black blazer is looking directly at the camera against a black background.

Yuval Noah Harari’s guidebook for navigating the age of AI

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75 min

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with

Yuval Noah Harari

The image shows the words "Organizational Friction" in bold white text on a black background with red arrows crossing over them.

Why ‘friction thinkers’ see hidden opportunities first

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7 min

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with

Illustration of two human silhouettes facing each other with neural connections and nodes, featuring the text "BORN AND MADE" on a green background.

6 key abilities of strategic thinkers (you can learn them)

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7 min

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with

Michael D. Watkins

London Business School professor explains how to improve your critical inquiry skills

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6 min

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with

Illustration depicting human evolution from a primate to an early human holding a spear, advancing from left to right.

Everything about civilization is changing. Why aren’t our bodies evolving?

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8 min

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with

Sean B. Carroll

Doomerism won’t fix the planet, but we can

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13 min

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with

Digital illustration of a human brain, displaying vibrant colors transitioning from green to blue and pink, set against a gradient and black background.

Reboot your mind for flow, unanxiousness, and resilience

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26 min

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with

The history of work: 3 experts debunk common myths

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25 min

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with

The lost art of accomplishment without burnout

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6 min

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with

The mind-blowing chaos that underpins the world

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11 min

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with

She studied extreme psychopaths. Here’s what it taught her about human nature

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11 min

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with

Text 'Period Myths' in bold white letters on a black background, surrounded by various-sized red spheres.

Period myths that “just need to die”

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11 min

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with

A mosaic of 36 square tiles, each showing a different fragment of various human faces, combined to create a composite image of diverse facial features.

Yascha Mounk: The rise of the identity ideology—and why I think it spells trouble

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13 min

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with

A gradient bar titled "The Future" shows a range from "Apathy" in red on the left to "Fear" in red on the right, with green in the middle. An arrow points to the green area.

Why apathy and fear are the two most useless positions on AI

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8 min

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with

A person sitting on a bench silhouetted against a colorful sunset sky.

Loneliness: The silent killer, and how to beat it

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24 min

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with

Michael Slepian

A man with short gray hair and a serious expression is looking directly at the camera, wearing a blue shirt against a plain background.

How to make unreasonable hospitality your cutting edge advantage

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6 min

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with

A classical stone bust of a man with a broken top, isolated against a black background.

The masculinity crisis, explained

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11 min

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with

A detailed image contrasting a fiery asteroid on the left with a cool, intricate snowflake on the right against a dark background.

What are the chances of YOU existing? A biologist explains

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11 min

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with

Sean B. Carroll

Sex in 3 places: Your brain, your bedroom, and in society

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25 min

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with

A melting yellow smiley face on a black background.

Happiness poison—and the antidote

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15 min

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with

Robert Waldinger

A woman holding up a picture of a smiling mouth.

Give up on happiness. Go hard at wonder.

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6 min

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with

Mcdonald's mcdonald's mcdonald's mcdonald.

Gary Vee: Rules of billion-dollar brands

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7 min

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with

Gary Vaynerchuk

A blurry image of a man's head.

3 ways to defend your mind against social media distortions

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16 min

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with

A close up of a man with curly hair.

Master your anxiety to unleash your genius, with Jesse Eisenberg

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9 min

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with

Jesse Eisenberg

The cover of colorblind philosophy.

Is race politics poisoning young minds? Coleman Hughes offers his argument.

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37 min

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with

Barbed wire with the word free speech on it.

Building a free speech culture with Greg Lukianoff

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32 min

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with

The ceo playbook on a blue background.

The CEO playbook: 3 critical tips from 1,000 interviews

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5 min

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with

The u s vs itself.

10 biggest world threats of 2024, ranked

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34 min

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with

The future with rays of light in the background.

Debunking doomerism: 4 futurists on why we’re actually not f*cked

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30 min

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with

A man is walking towards a crate with the number 60 on it.

You probably won’t retire when your parents did—here’s why that’s not all bad news

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7 min

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with

Related

Microscopic view of a translucent, spiral-shaped Trichinella spiralis larva within a blue-stained muscle tissue.

What are the consequences of living as a human in an “always on” digital world?

“Part of what’s happening now in the world is tension between organic animals and an inorganic digital system which is increasingly controlling and shaping the entire world.”

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5 min

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with

Yuval Noah Harari

Three people in casual clothing enthusiastically jump in front of a peach-colored wall. One wears a straw hat and a green sash, and another has elephant ears and face paint.

Creativity is essential. Here’s how it can catalyze social justice.

Can creativity really change the world? Creativity Pioneers argue that it can. By using art, culture, and imagination, these innovators are tackling some of the most pressing social issues of […]

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7 min

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with

A bulletin board with newspaper clippings, maps, and strings. The text "THE HIDDEN TRUTH?" is prominently displayed in the center.

Our information pipelines have shifted. They’re fueling conspiracy theories

“The problem with conspiracy theories is they’re not just telling you a story, they’re telling you a really good story. There’s a hidden cabal behind everything that’s happening, there’s a secret pattern that you just have to be smart enough to detect.”

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8 min

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with

Person with long hair, wearing a brown blazer, surrounded by text bubbles labeled "Narrative," "Negativity Bias," and "Confirmation Bias." Arrows connect the bubbles.

A neuroscientist’s guide to building a more positive reality

Meet the ‘brain coach’ who has found a way to flip negative thoughts and actions and use them for good We’re all assigned a label at some point in our […]

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6 min

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with

A person with glasses and a black blazer is looking directly at the camera against a black background.

Yuval Noah Harari’s guidebook for navigating the age of AI

“Why is it that the quality of our information did not improve over thousands of years? Why is it that very sophisticated societies have been as susceptible as stone age tribes to mass delusion and the rise of destructive ideologies?”

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75 min

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with

Yuval Noah Harari