Intelligence Squared

Dickens vs Tolstoy: The Battle Of The Great 19th-century Novelists PART 1

12 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Dickens. Tolstoy. Their names and reputations shake the ground – and so do their books, if you drop one. But whose legacy is more enduring? Whose vi...

Peter Biskind and Helen Lewis on Vampires, Zombies, X-Men and Political Extremism

05 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In this Intelligence Squared podcast we were joined by Peter Biskind, cultural critic and author of The Sky Is Falling, alongside the New Statesman'...

Tristan Harris and Helen Lewis on how tech has hijacked our brains

28 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of Intelligence Squared we were joined by Tristan Harris, former design ethicist at Google in conversation with the New Statesman's He...

Mariana Mazzucato and Stella Creasy on Making and Taking in the Global Economy, PART 1

21 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In this two-part episode recorded in 2018, economist and author Mariana Mazzucato discusses her book, The Value of Everything, with UK Labour MP Stell...

Jeremy Corbyn Is Unfit To Be Prime Minister

14 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

When Jeremy Corbyn won the Labour leadership he was shrugged off as an unelectable oddball in a scruffy suit who would doom Labour to certain defeat. ...

Linda Yueh and Jesse Norman on the Economists That Shaped History

06 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Linda Yueh, renowned economist, broadcaster and author of The Great Economists, in conversation with Jesse Norman, MP for Hereford and South Herefo...

Tom Baldwin and Nina Schick on How the Information Age Crashed Our Democracy

30 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Tom Baldwin, former Director of Communications for the UK Labour Party under Ed Miliband and author of Ctrl Alt Delete, has spent the best part of th...

Tim Marshall in conversation with Catherine Philp on Why We're Living in an Age of Walls

23 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Tim Marshall, renowned journalist and author of Divided, in conversation with the Times diplomatic correspondent Catherine Philp, examine the faul...

Jamie Susskind in conversation with Helen Lewis On How Tech Is Transforming Our Politics

16 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Jamie Susskind, author of Future Politics, in conversation with the New Statesman's Helen Lewis, discuss how digital technology will radically transf...

James Bloodworth in conversation with Matthew Taylor on the Gig Economy and the Reality of Low-Wage Work

09 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Journalist James Bloodworth spent six months working undercover across Britain, taking on some of the country's most gruelling and menial jobs for his...

Tom Whipple in Conversation With Rosamund Urwin on Why Gender Still Matters

02 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Referencing the latest research on the science of sexuality, Tom Whipple talks about dating apps, Love Island, the relative testicle size of bonobos a...

Blockchain: Quantum leap forward or digital snake oil?

27 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Blockchain, the technology on which Bitcoin is based, has gone mainstream. Evangelists describe it as a thrilling and versatile foundation that will r...

The Rise of the Smart City: Urban Wonderland or Fool’s Paradise?

20 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

More humans than ever before live in cities. Technology is now being rolled out across the world’s urban areas, making day-to-day city living more p...

The Battle for the Countryside: Britain Should Rewild its Uplands

12 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

This event was recorded on the 10th of July 2018 in London SPEAKERS FOR THE MOTION: Mark Cocker - Author and naturalist and George Monbiot - Guardian ...

Mary Beard on Women and Power, with Miriam González and Laurie Penny

05 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Mary Beard is Britain’s best known classicist. Widely admired for her scholarship and popular television programmes about the ancient world, she is...

James Comey in Conversation with Emily Maitlis on Speaking Truth To Power

29 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

When President Trump sacked James Comey as FBI Director in May last year, he ignited a political firestorm with huge implications for American democra...

The World Should Recognise Jerusalem As Israel’s Capital

22 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Many of Israel's supporters, including Donald Trump, claim Jerusalem should be recognised as the country's capital city. After all, it has been the Je...

Anshel Pfeffer in conversation with Catherine Philp on Netanyahu and The Future of Israel

14 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

This week's Intelligence Squared podcast features Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz journalist and author of Bibi - The Turbulent Life And Times Of Benjamin...

The Threat From Russia: Can Putin Be Stopped?

07 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Is Vladimir Putin the most powerful – and dangerous – man in the world? With Putin in the Kremlin, we have returned to an era where former Russian...

The Disunited States: Is the Trump presidency causing irreparable damage to America?

31 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

America has never seen anything like this. Time and again, Donald Trump has attacked the very fabric of US democracy. He has called the press ‘the e...

Jordan Peterson on Gender, Patriarchy and the Slide Towards Tyranny

23 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In May 2018, we recorded a special episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast in London. Jordan Peterson, author of 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to...

Revere or Remove? The Battle Over Statues, Heritage and History

17 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Statues and memorials to famous figures of the past adorn our towns and cities but what should be done when some of these figures have come to be seen...

The nuclear deal with Iran won't make the world a safer place

10 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

For this week's episode we're revisiting our debate from November 2015, "The nuclear deal with Iran won't make the world a safer place". Alan Dersho...

Send Them Back: The Parthenon Marbles Should be Returned to Athens

04 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

What’s all this nonsense about sending the Parthenon Marbles back to Greece? If Lord Elgin hadn’t rescued them from the Parthenon in Athens and pr...

Jamie Bartlett in conversation with Helen Lewis on how the internet is threatening our freedoms

27 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

This week's Intelligence Squared podcast features Jamie Bartlett, tech journalist and author of The People vs Tech in conversation with the New Stat...

Rembrandt Vs Vermeer: The Titans of Dutch Painting

20 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

(For a list of all paintings referenced by Simon Schama and Tracy Chevalier in this debate please go to: https://www.intelligencesquared.com/events/re...

Psychiatrists & the pharma industry are to blame for the current ‘epidemic’ of mental disorders

13 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Drug pushers. We tend to associate them with the bleak underworld of criminality. But some would argue that there’s another class of drug pushers, j...

Hilton Als and Afua Hirsch on Race, Gender and Identity

06 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In March 2018, we recorded a special episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast at the Acast studio in east London. Pulitzer prize winning writer and...

Stop Brexit

30 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

It’s time we came to to our senses. Brexit is a disaster and must be stopped. Leave campaigners promised our exit from the European Union would hera...

If You Believe You Are a Citizen of the World, You Are A Citizen of Nowhere

23 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

When Theresa May uttered these words at the Tory party conference in 2016, there was uproar. May was targeting the liberal establishment, who flit bus...

Disruption Ahead: Will Future Transport Systems Benefit Society Or Drive It Apart?

16 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

A transport revolution in our cities is under way. Ride-sharing schemes, driverless cars and electric vehicles look set to bring us all kinds of benef...

The Power of Poetry, with William Sieghart, Jeanette Winterson and Helena Bonham Carter

09 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Poetry is the perfect medication against some of life’s challenges, so William Sieghart has found. In this accessible and warming exchange, from tea...

Western Parents Don't Know How to Bring Up Their Children

02 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Why are there so many Chinese maths and music prodigies? Because Chinese mothers believe schoolwork and music practice come first, that an A-minus is ...

The Left has right on its side

23 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Letís be honest. Itís the political Left that has societyís best interests at heart, that works for the good of all. It has always been the Left th...

James Rhodes And Armando Iannucci on the Transformative Power of Music

16 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Armando Iannucci and James Rhodes met on the Intelligence Squared stage to discuss the transcendent power of music, using the concert grand at Cadogan...

Ten Years On: The Financial Crisis and the State of Modern Capitalism

09 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

It’s been ten years since we saw suddenly unemployed Lehman Brothers bankers carrying their possessions out of their offices in boxes; since whole n...

Karen Armstrong on Religion and the History of Violence

02 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Karen Armstrong has written over 16 books on faith and the major religions, studying what Islam, Judaism and Christianity have in common, and how our ...

Brian Cox and Alice Roberts on the Incredible Unlikeliness of Human Existence

26 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Who are we? Why are we here? Are we alone in the universe? How did we become the creatures that we are? How might we further evolve? These are some of...

Break Up The Tech Giants

19 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

It is time to call the tech companies to account. In the space of just ten years, Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft have become the bigges...

Caitlyn Jenner on Identity and Self-Realisation

12 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

This week's episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast was recorded in a studio in London's Soho. We were joined by Caitlyn Jenner, the world's most ...

David Brooks on the Road to Character

05 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In May 2015, New York Times columnist David Brooks came to the Intelligence Squared stage to share the insights of his latest book, 'The Road to Chara...

Inside The Head Of Terry Gilliam

29 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Terry Gilliam is one of the most multifaceted, visionary talents alive. He first found fame as a member of Monty Python, the surreal comedy troupe tha...

Joseph Stiglitz on the Great Divide

22 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Inequality is an increasing problem in the Western world, leaving everyone – the rich as well as the poor – worse off. The dream of a socially mob...

Stephen Fry and Friends on the Life, Loves and Hates of Christopher Hitchens

15 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In this historic event, Stephen Fry and other friends of Christopher Hitchens came together to celebrate the life and work of this great writer, icono...

Words that Changed The World, with Jeremy Irons and Carey Mulligan

08 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

To celebrate some of the most influential and impactful speeches ever made, we invited Barack Obama’s director of speechwriting, Cody Keenan and Ton...

Brave New World vs Ninety Eighty-Four

01 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Dystopian books and films are in the zeitgeist. Reflecting the often dark mood of our times, Intelligence Squared are staging a contest between two of...

Michael Lewis On How Behavioural Economics Changed The World

24 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Michael Lewis is one of the most successful non-fiction authors alive. He has been acclaimed as a genius by Malcolm Gladwell and as the best current ...

Jaron Lanier on the Future of Our Digital Lives

17 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Jaron Lanier is one of the foremost digital visionaries of our times. One of Silicon Valley’s key early innovators, this dreadlocked digital prophet...

Neville Chamberlain did the right thing: Appeasement of Hitler was the best policy for the British government in the 1930s

10 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

If ever a politician got a bum rap it’s Neville Chamberlain. He has gone down in history as the British prime minster whose policy of appeasement in...

Me, My Selfie and I: Self-Expression in the Digital Age

03 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

We are living in the age of selfie mania. Everyone from the Pope to Obama has appeared in one. In the past, only a handful of people were able to prop...

Warfare: The New Rules - The Cyber Threat to States, Businesses and All of Us

26 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

We are at war: cyberwar. Cyber attacks are becoming the weapon of choice for states, terrorists and criminal organisations. Through the fragile, inter...

Oslo: Can We Bring Peace Between Enemies?

19 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

On October 17th Intelligence Squared staged a pre-theatre discussion, ‘Can We Bring Peace Between Enemies?’ before a performance of the award-winn...

Randall Munroe with Marcus du Sautoy on Making the Complicated Simple

05 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

On 2nd October, Intelligence Squared brought together two of the world’s best-loved masters of explaining and popularising science, who lifted the l...

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on hitting refresh and seizing the opportunity of the digital revolution

28 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Satya Nadella is one of the world’s most inspirational business leaders, as much a humanist as a technologist and executive. On September 28th, he c...

Napoleon the Great? A debate with Andrew Roberts, Adam Zamoyski and Jeremy Paxman

21 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

How should we remember Napoleon, the man of obscure Corsican birth who rose to become emperor of the French and briefly master of Europe? In 2014, as ...

The Great Realignment: Britain's Political Identity Crisis

14 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Is Britain facing an identity crisis? The traditional dividing lines of left and right seem to be dissolving into new political tribes – metropolita...

Sam Harris on the Science of Good and Evil

07 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Where do our ideas about morality and meaning come from? Most people - from religious extremists to secular scientists - would agree on one point: tha...

Is London too rich to be interesting?

31 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

It used to be so easy. You left university, came to London and got yourself a flatshare in one of the cheaper areas: Notting Hill, Maida Vale or Highg...

Atheism is the new Fundamentalism, with Richard Dawkins and Richard Harries

24 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Does God exist? Has atheism replaced religion as the new faith of the secular age? Are today's atheists as blinkered and dogmatic as they claim religi...

The Allied bombing of German cities in World War II was unjustifiable

10 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

No one doubts the bravery of the thousands of men who flew and died in Bomber Command. The death rate was an appalling 44%. And yet until the opening ...

Britain Should Not Have Fought in the First World War

04 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

The First World War is not called the Great War for nothing. It was the single most decisive event in modern history, as well as one of the bloodiest:...

Marina Abramović on art, performance, time and nothingness

27 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Marina Abramović is one of the most celebrated performance artists in the world. Over a career spanning four decades she has pioneered performance as...

The EU is Failing Europe's Citizens

20 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In the eyes of pro-Europeans, the founding of the EU after WWII secured peace across the continent for decades. But one needn’t look further than Br...

Francis Fukuyama with David Runciman - Democracy: Even the Best Ideas Can Fail

13 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In September 2014, Professor Francis Fukuyama came to the Intelligence Squared stage to square up with one of Britain’s most brilliant political thi...

Naomi Klein on Donald Trump and the new shock politics

06 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Earlier this week we recorded a special episode of the Intelligence Squared podcast at the Acast studio in east London. We were joined by author and a...

Sheryl Sandberg, Malala Yousafzai and Adam Grant on Facing Adversity, Building Resilience And Finding Joy

29 Jun 2017

Contributed by Lukas

‘I learned about the depths of sadness and the brutality of loss. But I also learned that when life sucks you under, you can kick against the bottom...

Daniel Dennett on Tools To Transform Our Thinking

22 Jun 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Daniel Dennett is one of the world's most original and provocative thinkers. A philosopher and cognitive scientist, he is known as one of the 'Four Ho...

It's time to bring Russia in from the cold: Rapprochement is in the West's best interests

15 Jun 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Is it in the West’s interests to bring Russia in from the cold? Or should we be on our guard against an ascendant, belligerent country on Europe’s...

Europe on the Edge

08 Jun 2017

Contributed by Lukas

What’s happening to Europe? The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was seen as a triumph for liberal democracy. True, the ‘end of history’ narrativ...

Can innovation transform London into a carbon neutral city?

01 Jun 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Could London be the first carbon neutral city? Listen to this exciting debate hosted by Intelligence Squared. Gadget guru Jason Bradbury is the chair,...

Fake News: The Facts

25 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

There are lies, damn lies, and then there’s fake news. Manipulating the facts for political gain is as old as politics itself, but due to the rise o...

How to Think Like a Freak: Learn How to Make Smarter Decisions with the authors of "Freakonomics"

18 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

The books 'Freakonomics' and 'SuperFreakonomics' have been worldwide sensations, selling tens of millions of copies. They have come to stand for chall...

Between You and I The English Language Is Going To The Dogs

11 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Speaking and writing correct English are the hallmarks of an intelligent person. No one who cares about language wants to be caught splitting an infin...

An Evening with Slavoj Žižek

04 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Radical philosopher, polymath, film star, cult icon, and author of over 30 books, Slavoj Žižek is one of the most controversial and leading contempo...

Trump is Making America Great Again

27 Apr 2017

Contributed by Lukas

As Donald Trump approaches the first 100 days of his presidency, things couldn’t be worse. His administration has been more gaffe-prone, incompetent...

Anne-Marie Slaughter on Our Hyper-Networked World

20 Apr 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Anne-Marie Slaughter is one of the world’s top foreign policy thinkers, admired by influential global leaders such as Joe Biden, Condoleeza Rice and...

Has the Political Establishment Failed America?

13 Apr 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Has the political establishment failed America? Whether they voted for Trump or Sanders or none of the above, millions of Americans say the answer is ...

Whose Prosperity? How Can We Build Inclusive and Sustainable Economies?

06 Apr 2017

Contributed by Lukas

A debate on the eve of the Second PAGE Ministerial Conference (http://bit.ly/2jhYyaX). Filmed at the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Cons...

Social Media is Killing Art

30 Mar 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Social media is like fast food – rapidly consumed for instant gratification. No wonder social media demeans art. Artworks that instantly seduce onli...

Niall Ferguson On The Six Killer Apps Of Western Civilisation

24 Mar 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Niall Ferguson is the most brilliant British historian of his generation. In this talk from February 2011, based on his book 'Civilisation: The West a...

Don’t give them what they want: Terrorists should be starved of the oxygen of publicity

17 Mar 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Why do they do it? Again and again, after every attack, our media react by giving the terrorists exactly what they want – maximum publicity. Of cour...

Feminism Is For Everyone

10 Mar 2017

Contributed by Lukas

A year ago, you could have been forgiven for thinking that gender equality was on an unstoppable trajectory. America stood poised to elect its first f...

Jeffrey Sachs on America and a New World Order

03 Mar 2017

Contributed by Lukas

'America first!' Donald Trump hammered out this message over and again in his inauguration speech a week ago today. He promised tariffs, a crackdown o...

Daniel Dennett on the Evolution of the Mind, Consciousness and AI

24 Feb 2017

Contributed by Lukas

How come there are conscious minds? How do language and culture evolve? Should we still teach children things which computers can do better? Will our ...

The Bittersweet Truth About What We Eat

17 Feb 2017

Contributed by Lukas

What should we be eating to live a long and healthy life? How is it that some people can eat absolutely anything and stay slim, while others on a ‘h...

Steven Pinker on Good Writing, with Ian McEwan

10 Feb 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Steven Pinker is one of the world’s leading authorities on language, mind and human nature. A professor of psychology at Harvard, he is the bestsell...

Thomas Friedman on Thriving in the Age of Acceleration

27 Jan 2017

Contributed by Lukas

He has been called ‘the most influential columnist in America’, and is read by everyone from small-business owners to President Obama. As a star c...

The New Optimism, with Matt Ridley, Johan Norberg, David Runciman and Laura Kuenssberg

20 Jan 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Are you an optimist or a pessimist? And why should it matter? After what for many of us has been an annus horribilis in 2016, pessimists seem to have ...

Steven Pinker on The Better Angels of Our Nature

13 Jan 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In 2011, we welcomed world renowned American cognitive scientist Steven Pinker to the Intelligence Squared stage. He argued that, contrary to popular ...

The Hand that Rocks the Cradle Cannot Rock the Boardroom

06 Jan 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Is it a myth that women can have it all, all of the time? Or do the rising numbers of female executives in Hong Kong and around the world suggest othe...

William Gibson on 'Zero History', with Cory Doctorow

30 Dec 2016

Contributed by Lukas

On 5th October 2010, Intelligence Squared paired author William Gibson with popular blogger and science fiction writer Cory Doctorow in a wide-ranging...

Dan Pink on the Science of Buoyancy

23 Dec 2016

Contributed by Lukas

It happens to all of us every day. You get rejected. Your customer doesn’t buy. Your boss doesn’t agree. Your crush doesn’t say yes. In this pro...

Tim Harford on the Importance of Being Messy

16 Dec 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Have the forces of tidiness marched too far? Would we all benefit from being a bit messy? That’s the big question that the FT’s star economist Tim...

Trump: An American Tragedy?

09 Dec 2016

Contributed by Lukas

It’s one month since we woke up to the shock news that the next president of the United States will be Donald Trump, and the whole world is trying t...

The Rise of Populism and the Backlash Against the Elites, with Jonathan Haidt and Nick Clegg

25 Nov 2016

Contributed by Lukas

What is going on in the Western democracies? From Britain’s vote for Brexit, to Donald Trump’s election victory in America and the growth of popul...

No Backsliding On Brexit: Britain Should Prioritise Controlling Its Borders Over Staying In The European Single Market

18 Nov 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Intelligence Squared brought out the big guns for our debate on what a post-referendum deal between Britain and the EU should look like. Douglas Carsw...

One size doesn’t fit all: Democracy is not always the best form of government

11 Nov 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried. So said Winston Churchill and who would disagree? One man, one v...

Let Them Eat Meat: There is Nothing Wrong With Rearing and Killing Animals for Human Consumption

04 Nov 2016

Contributed by Lukas

This event took place on the 31st of October at the Royal Institution in London. CHAIR: Afua Hirsch - Writer and broadcaster SPEAKERS FOR THE MOTION: ...

An Anatomy Of Truth: Conversations on Truth-Telling

27 Oct 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Not everyone tells the truth. ‘Read my lips: no new taxes.’ ‘This isn’t going to hurt.’ ‘I see no ships, my lord.’ ‘Of course I love y...

Pornography is Good For Us: Without it We Would Be a Far More Repressed Society

20 Oct 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Hooray for porn! What would we be without it? Bored, repressed, frustrated. Porn allows the timid to indulge fantasies they’d never live out in real...