PODCAST · society
The Next Big Idea
by Next Big Idea Club
The Next Big Idea is a weekly series of in-depth interviews with the world’s leading thinkers. Join hosts Rufus Griscom and Caleb Bissinger — along with our curators, Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, Susan Cain, and Daniel Pink — for conversations that might just change the way you see the world. New episodes every Monday and Thursday. For ad inquiries, please reach out to: Network+[email protected]
Episodes
-
The Modern Science of Ancient Wisdom
June Cohen has spent her career shaping the future, from bringing TED Talks online to launching Masters of Scale. But she has come to believe that some of the best solutions to what ails us today lie in our distant past. Our ancestors developed extraordinarily sophisticated social technologies —...
-
How to Become the Most Interesting Person You Know
We all carry around invisible lists, private ledgers of disappointment — the talents we wish we had, the hobbies we’d like to take up, the passion projects we keep meaning to kickstart. Ravi Gupta has one of those lists, and nine years ago, the ex-Obama staffer decided to do something about it.…
more -
Feel the AGI: Kevin Roose on the Strange, Intoxicating Race to Superintelligence
What’s really fueling the race to build superintelligence? Science? Idealism? Money? Try spite. “These guys hate each other,” says Kevin Roose. “It’s grudges all the way down.” Those rivalries, it turns out, have pushed AI forward faster than any of them thinks is wise. Kevin would know. Until...
-
Daniel Pink and Angela Duckworth on Friction-Maxxing, Becoming a Mentor Magnet and the Problem with Solo Striving
Our curator Daniel Pink recently sat down with Angela Duckworth to chat about her new book, Situated: Find the People and Places That Bring Out Your Best. Although we just had Angela on the show, we couldn’t resist sharing this conversation too. It’s live. It’s loose. And it covers a lot of…
more -
The One Word That Explains Progress
Martin Seligman founded the positive psychology movement. Now, at 84, he’s shaking up the field all over again. He’s got a new book out. It’s called Agency. And in it, he says, he’s trying to “found a new field.” It’s called psychohistory. “I'm after the rigorous possibility that we can use the...
-
Angela Duckworth Now Thinks "Grit" Wasn't the Whole Story
Ten years ago, Angela Duckworth became one of the world’s most influential psychologists by making the case for grit. Though talent matters, she argued, it’s passion and perseverance that turn potential into achievement. Now she’s back with a new book called Situated that complicates that…
more -
AI Has Gone Rogue. Here’s What We Should Do About It.
"This Is Really Bad." That's the not-so-comforting headline of Stephen Witt's mega-viral New York Times essay about a dawning realization among Silicon Valley researchers that "AI may no longer be entirely within human control." The piece is a sobering account of the rogue-AI incidents that have...
-
You Don't Have Free Will. That's Good News.
Do we have free will? Do we have a choice in what we do? Philosophers and theologians have debated these questions for centuries; Robert Sapolsky answered them when he was 14. Free will, he concluded, simply does not exist. Robert is now in his sixties. He has degrees from Harvard and Rockefeller...
-
The Art of Fighting
We’ve gotten very good at cutting people off. But have we forgotten how to work through our differences? In The Art of Fighting, bestselling author and conflict resolution expert Priya Parker challenges the idea that disagreement is a sign of a broken relationship. She argues that avoiding...
-
Is America a ‘Country of Lords’?
America was founded on a radical promise: all people are created equal. But for 250 years, some of the country’s most powerful thinkers have been arguing the opposite. In Country of Lords, historian Kim Phillips-Fein traces the largely forgotten intellectual tradition that has defended hierarchy,...
-
A Storytelling Masterclass with Will Storr
Will Storr is the author of the dazzling books The Science of Storytelling and A Story Is a Deal, and in this episode, he tells us everything he knows about humanity’s greatest invention: story. More than just entertainment, Will argues, story is what we do and who we are. It’s how we make sense…
more -
What Can Henry David Thoreau Teach Us About Work?
Henry David Thoreau was a philosopher, poet, and pencil-maker. He was a great resigner and, above all, a superb writer whose masterpiece, "Walden," is considered by many to be America's first environmentalist manifesto. But John Kaag has a different view. "Thoreau's attempt to 'get back to...
-
How French Philosophy Wired Modern Thinking
How did a group of notoriously difficult French philosophers become intellectual rock stars on American college campuses — and how much do their ideas matter today? In The Frenchmen, writer and editor Emily Eakin traces the unlikely rise of French theory and the thinkers who transformed how a...
-
A Nobel Prize Winner’s Plan to Save Democracy
Democracy is in the dumps. OK, that's a bit dramatic. But it's definitely not working as well as it used to. Good thing Daron Acemoglu — Nobel laureate, MIT Institute Professor, and one of the world's most-cited economists — has a plan to fix it. Today on the show, he explains why liberal…
more -
How to Unlock the Creativity You Already Have
What if creativity isn’t a talent you’re born with, but a muscle you’ve simply stopped using? In Daily Creative, Blythe Harris and Mallory May make the case that everyone is creative — even the people convinced they can’t draw, paint, write, or make anything “good.” The real problem is that...
-
Caroline Webb on the Leadership Skills AI Can’t Replace
Want to be a better leader? Start by doing less. In her new book, Leadership Intelligence, Caroline Webb shows how smart delegation, ruthless prioritization, and the right time management techniques can help you make better decisions. In this episode, Caroline and Rufus discuss how to be a better...
-
Can Democracy Survive the AI Revolution?
Today, we're revisiting Rufus's conversation with Yuval Noah Harari about his book Nexus. It's Harari at his best — a soaring overview of human history that turns, almost imperceptibly, into a gripping argument about the world we are building right now. The questions he raises about how AI…
more -
Your Mind Is a Propagandist
Your brain is a master storyteller. The problem? It’s also an unreliable narrator. We like to think our beliefs are built on facts, logic, and careful reasoning. But psychologist and author Owen Fitzpatrick argues that the process often works in reverse: we decide what feels true, then search for...
-
The Bedazzling Mystery of Why We’re Here
We’ve had many bracing thinkers on this show, but Sara Walker might take the cake. A physicist and astrobiologist at Arizona State University, her book Life as No One Knows It: The Physics of Life's Emergence is a thrilling exploration of life's origins and the search for it across the cosmos.…
more -
How to Lead a More Gratifying Life
We’ve optimized nearly every part of modern life. So why does it feel like we’re missing the experience of actually living it? In The Small Stuff, Ian Bogost argues that our obsession with happiness, productivity, and efficiency has stripped everyday life of something essential: gratification…
more -
Best Of: Adam Grant on the Science of Achieving Greater Things
We live in a world that worships talent, a world that cheers natural athletes, exalts child prodigies, and venerates virtuosos. But admiring people who are blessed with innate abilities can lead us to underestimate the range of skills that we can learn and how good we can become. As Adam Grant...
-
Are Robots About to Change Everything?
We've spent the last few years watching AI transform the digital world. Now it's coming for the physical one. Humanoid robots are leaving the lab and entering homes, factories, and workplaces. But are we witnessing another ChatGPT moment, or are these machines still years away from becoming truly...
-
You Can Just Do Things
Why do some people seem to create opportunities wherever they go while others spend years waiting for the right break? According to Cate Hall — lawyer turned poker player turned drug addict turned CEO of a $3B foundation — the difference isn't luck. It's the ability to question assumptions…
more -
The Lost Art of Asking Questions
In the age of AI, endless information, and instant certainty, philosopher Lani Watson argues that questions — not answers — are humanity's greatest intellectual advantage. Today, she explains why curiosity is a biological superpower, why schools unintentionally teach us to stop questioning, and…
more -
Sorry, Skeptics — AI Is Not a Bubble
First, a few numbers. This year Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta will spend more than $700 billion building AI infrastructure. There are 1,500 data centers in development across the country. AI-linked stocks make up at least 40% of the S&P 500. These are the kinds of numbers that make some...
-
Why Creating Beats Consuming | Mark Pincus (Part 2)
Most people think success comes from having an original idea. Mark Pincus thinks that's one of the most expensive mistakes you can make. After building one of the most successful gaming companies in history, he believes the best products rarely begin as completely new ideas. Instead, they start...
-
Living at the Speed of Play
Podcasting is lousy with guests who peddle advice about starting businesses, building careers, and living full lives. Few of these gurus have actually accomplished anything. Fewer still have advice that comes anywhere close to revelatory. Mark Pincus is the rare exception. The founder of 10...
-
How to Be a Super Ager
For years, cardiologist Eric Topol hunted for the rarest people in America: those over 80 who had never been sick. When he finally found 1,400 of them, he made a shocking discovery. It wasn't their genes. These "super agers" were often the last ones standing in families where everyone else died...
-
What If Saving the Planet Could Be Fun?
Despite decades of urgency and alarm, progress on climate change has felt frustratingly slow. What if we've been going about it all wrong? Elizabeth Dunn and Jiaying "JZ" Zhao think there's a missing ingredient in the conversation: joy. In their new book, Leave the Lights On, Liz and JZ draw on...
-
How to Live a Long and Useful Life
Publisher, scientist, humorist, diplomat — Benjamin Franklin was America's first polymath. Today, with help from Eric Weiner, we revisit Franklin's life, searching for tips about how to be healthy, wealthy, and wise. This episode first aired in July 2024. 🎥 The Next Big Idea is now on YouTube!…
more -
As America Turns 250, Are You in the Mood to Celebrate?
"We’re entering our 250th birthday, and we’re not quite in the mood for a birthday party. We’ve been tearing ourselves apart." That's what Walter Isaacson told Rufus when they sat down last year. But, he says, it doesn't have to be that way. "Let's use this birthday party as a chance to try to…
more -
THE GOD TEST (Part 2): Can Humanity Pass the Cosmic Reckoning?
On Thursday, Rufus and Robert Wright (The God Test) talked about AI as a new stage in the evolution of intelligence — and about the very human traits already showing up in our machines: empathy, deception, power-seeking, seduction. Today, they ask the harder question: what happens when these...
-
THE GOD TEST (Part 1): Are You Ready for Superintelligence?
Does the logic of human destiny now lead to artificial intelligence? Are we creating a higher form of intelligence in our own image? And, if so, what kind of image is that? These are the questions celebrated author Robert Wright asks in his new book, The God Test, which was published this week.…
more -
You Have 72 Free Hours a Week. How Do You Want to Spend Them?
Most of us swear we have no free time. But the week is 168 hours long. Subtract a 40-hour job and eight hours of sleep a night, and you're left with 72 hours. So where do they go? Today, Laura Vanderkam, author of the new book Big Time, shares her system for reclaiming her free time, including…
more -
Are You Playing Someone Else’s Game?
GPAs. Citations. Step counts. Likes. We love a good metric, don't we? It tells you exactly where you stand, no arguing. Mention a 4.0 to a high schooler and they'll know exactly what you mean. Tell a fellow Fitbit-wearer you just hit 10,000 and they'll nod approvingly. But that clarity has a…
more -
This World Cup Is Messy. Watch It Anyway.
The World Cup kicked off over the weekend, and so far the mood is meh. Fans are fuming over sell-your-kidney ticket prices, frightened by reports that ICE may target matches, tailgates, and sports bars, and generally feeling down on this quadrennial celebration. We wanted to know: Is there any…
more -
The Case for AI Optimism with Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler
Nearly half of all Americans believe AI is bad for humanity. Peter Diamandis is not one of them. On his podcast, Moonshots, and in his new book, We Are as Gods, co-written with the inimitable Steven Kotler, he makes the case that artificial intelligence is already ushering in a world of abundance…
more -
Best Of: The Power of Thinking Outside Your Brain
Modern life has not been easy on our brains. Average IQ scores rose steadily throughout the last century. Now they appear to be leveling off. The problem, according to neuroscientists, may be that we have reached our neurobiological limits. Our brains simply can’t work any harder. Luckily…
more -
Want to Be Happier? Try Talking to Strangers.
Nicholas Epley is a mind reader. But he doesn’t have ESP or practice hypnosis. He's not telepathic or clairvoyant. Sure, you could ask him to read your fortune, but you'd be better off with a Magic 8 Ball. When we say Nick is a mind reader, what we mean is he studies mind reading at the…
more -
Best Of: Gretchen Rubin’s Guide to Getting Out of Your Head and Into the World
What do your five senses — sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch — have to do with happiness? According to Gretchen Rubin, a great deal. The world around us, she says, has the potential to dazzle, to entertain, to trigger a state of rapture. If only we pay attention. Today on the show, she shares...
-
The Case for Speechmaking in the Age of Doomscrolling
America's a funny place. It's not a country with a fixed geographic or religious identity. We don't have a common story of divine creation. "What we have," writes Ben Rhodes in his new book, All We Say, "are words." The words of the founding documents, yes — but also "the words of speeches…
more -
Best Of: Stop Chasing More. Start Embracing Your Limits.
In his mega-bestseller Four Thousand Weeks, Oliver Burkeman showed that the finitude of life “isn’t a reason for unremitting despair, or for living in an anxiety-fueled panic about making the most of your limited time. It’s a cause for relief.” In his follow-up book, Meditations for Mortals, he...
-
When Will AI Empty Your Dishwasher? (with Nicholas Thompson)
Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic and host of "The Most Interesting Thing in AI," joins Rufus and Caleb to explain why the machines may master our minds long before they master our muscles — and what that gap tells us about where AI is headed. Along the way: why human podcasters still beat…
more -
Best Of: An Epicurean Guide to the Good Life
The Greek philosopher Epicurus made a rather bold claim over two thousand years ago. The key to life, he said, is simple: pursue pleasure and avoid pain. Around this maxim he developed a school of philosophy, Epicureanism, which promised its adherents that if they took care of their basic needs,...
-
What if Uncertainty Isn’t Such a Bad Thing?
You can run from uncertainty, but you can’t hide. The thing to do, says Simone Stolzoff, to develop comfort with ambiguity and build tolerance for the unknown. His new book is How to Not Know: The Value of Uncertainty in a World that Demands Answers. Granola ➡️ If meetings are eating up your day,...
-
You Can Grow Your Brain. Here’s How.
In the last 20 years, there has been a dramatic change in our understanding of neuroplasticity — the brain’s capacity to grow new neurons. In the last five years, we’ve learned that your hippocampus, the part of your brain responsible for learning and memory, can get bigger at any age. Majid...
-
Turning Constraints Into Breakthroughs with David Epstein
Is freedom overrated? In his new book, Inside the Box, David Epstein argues that constraints, limits and obstacles are what stimulate creativity, innovation, collaboration and personal contentment. 📦 Get David’s new book delivered straight to your door by joining the Next Big Idea Club! Learn…
more -
You're in the Hospitality Business (Whether You Know It or Not)
For the last three years, Will Guidara has been on the road talking about unreasonable hospitality. He's met financiers and prison wardens, educators and athletes, Fortune 500 executives and small business owners. They kept asking the same question: "I get how this works in a restaurant, but how…
more -
We're Still Thinking About This Conversation with Will Guidara
In September 2023, Will Guidara told us the story of how he used two words to turn a middling brasserie into the best restaurant in the world. Those two words? Unreasonable hospitality. We're running that episode again today because, well, it's one of our all-time favorites. And because Will is...
-
Here’s Our Favorite Book of the Season
Every few months, we pick one book with the power to change how you see the world. Then we build an experience around it: author conversations, reading guides, key insights, and a community of people who love talking about ideas. In this episode, we reveal our latest pick. And stick around for a...
We're indexing this podcast's transcripts for the first time — this can take a minute or two. We'll show results as soon as they're ready.
No matches for "" in this podcast's transcripts.
No topics indexed yet for this podcast.
Loading reviews...
ABOUT THIS SHOW
The Next Big Idea is a weekly series of in-depth interviews with the world’s leading thinkers. Join hosts Rufus Griscom and Caleb Bissinger — along with our curators, Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, Susan Cain, and Daniel Pink — for conversations that might just change the way you see the world. New episodes every Monday and Thursday.
For ad inquiries, please reach out to: Network+[email protected]
HOSTED BY
Next Big Idea Club
Loading similar podcasts...
Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Next Big Idea have?
The Next Big Idea currently has 381 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Next Big Idea about?
The Next Big Idea is a weekly series of in-depth interviews with the world’s leading thinkers. Join hosts Rufus Griscom and Caleb Bissinger — along with our curators, Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, Susan Cain, and Daniel Pink — for conversations that might just change the way you see the world. New...
How often does The Next Big Idea release new episodes?
The Next Big Idea publishes regularly with 381 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to The Next Big Idea?
You can listen to The Next Big Idea on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Next Big Idea?
The Next Big Idea is created and hosted by Next Big Idea Club.
URL copied to clipboard!