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The Big Think Interview

120 episodes

Intimate interviews with the world’s biggest thinkers.

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All Episodes (120)

Close-up view of a marble sculpture's lower face, showing a smile with detailed lips and chin against a dark background.

The philosophy of happiness, explained in 10 minutes

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11 min

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with

Aerial view of a large cargo ship with multicolored containers navigating through deep blue ocean waters.

The basics of post-COVID monetary policy, explained by an economist

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11 min

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with

Joseph Politano

Close-up image of a human iris featuring vibrant blue and yellow hues with a dark pupil in the center.

The mystery at the heart of consciousness

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10 min

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with

A man with short, grayish hair, wearing a dark blazer and black shirt, stares directly at the camera against a black background.

Sam Harris: Your mind is all you have. Is yours working?

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10 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

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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

Related

Image of Earth set against a black background with the text "A Volatile World" in large white letters.

Why does it feel like the world is falling apart?

“We’ve engineered a volatile world where Starbucks is completely unchanging from year to year, but democracies are collapsing and rivers are drying up.”

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11 min

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with

Close-up view of a marble sculpture's lower face, showing a smile with detailed lips and chin against a dark background.

The philosophy of happiness, explained in 10 minutes

“If we’re to be happy at all, it has to be found outside of this notion of pleasure. We have to step beyond hedonia. But the problem is that we risk going too far.”

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11 min

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with

A pink brain shaped like a heart with rays emanating from it against a black background.

Emotional intelligence: The 4 domains of high performance

“Self-awareness, it’s the least visible part of emotional intelligence, but we find in our research that people low in self-awareness are unable to develop strengths very well in other parts of emotional intelligence.”

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8 min

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with

A hand clasps an older, wrinkled hand against a black background, symbolizing care and support.

Our population is aging, here’s how to care for it correctly

Americans are getting older, and so are traditional healthcare methods. CEO of Northwell Health Michael Dowling shares his take on how we can develop the best care for our elderly loved ones.

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4 min

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with

Michael Dowling

A man in a suit looks upward with a surprised expression. There is a fiery effect in the foreground. Buildings and people are visible in the background.

How your brain works in an emergency, in 9 minutes

“Humans, like most mammals, tend to shut down in really frightening situations for which they have no training or prior experience. Researchers call it negative panic. People do nothing. They shut down.”

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9 min

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with