The Next Big Idea

The Case for Effective Altruism

08 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Effective altruism — the brand of philanthropy where you try to do the most good for the greatest number of people with the resources you have — h...

Laziness Does Not Exist

01 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today, social psychologist Devon Price makes the intriguing and ultimately hopeful case that laziness is a myth, a lie, a pernicious trap with no othe...

ALCOHOL: The Good, the Bad, and the Bubbly

25 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Humans have been imbibing for thousands of years. What has drinking contributed to society? What is it doing to our health? Guests: Edward Slingerland...

Living for Pleasure

22 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Over 2,000 years ago, Epicurus, a Greek philosopher, made a simple yet bold claim. The key to the good life, he said, is to pursue pleasure and avoid ...

PROBABILITY: How a 250-Year-Old Theorem Still Explains the World

18 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Back in the 1700s, in a spa town outside of London, Thomas Bayes, a Presbyterian minister and amateur mathematician, invented a formula that lets you ...

GOOD ENERGY (Part 2): Casey Means on How to Supercharge Your Diet

11 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

So you want to eat healthy. But how do you actually go about doing that? Today, Casey Means — Stanford-trained physician, founder of Levels, and aut...

GOOD ENERGY (Part 1): How to Feel Incredible, Avoid Disease, and Age Well

08 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Bad news: 93% of Americans are metabolically unhealthy. Their bodies struggle to convert food into the energy their cells need. And this fuel shortage...

BEN FRANKLIN: A Founder's Formula for a Long and Useful Life

04 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Publisher, scientist, humorist, diplomat — Benjamin Franklin was America's first polymath. Today, with help from Eric Weiner, we revisit Franklin's ...

Bill Gates Says Superhuman AI May Be Closer Than You Think

27 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Where is AI headed, and how quickly will it get there? Should we be early adopters or keep our distance? Will it make our lives better or put us out o...

FRICTION: How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier (with Adam Grant & Bob Sutton)

20 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today, Adam Grant and Bob Sutton, two legends of organizational psychology, discuss Bob’s new book, “The Friction Project: How Smart Leaders Make ...

INFERNAL MACHINE: Dynamite, Anarchy and the Future of Creativity

13 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Steven Johnson returns! He's with us today to talk about his new book, "The Infernal Machine: A True Story of Dynamite, Terror, and the Rise of the Mo...

UNCERTAINTY: The Surprising Power of Being Unsure

06 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Could embracing uncertainty be the key to thriving in our age of unpredictability? That's the premise of Maggie Jackson's new book, "Uncertain: The Wi...

SAL KHAN: How AI Will Revolutionize the Way We Learn

30 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

AI is coming for education. According to our guest today, Sal Khan, that's a good thing. Sal is the founder of Khan Academy, which has provided free e...

AFTERLIFE: Sebastian Junger’s Journey to the Edge and Back

23 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On a June night several years ago, Sebastian Junger, bestselling author of "The Perfect Storm" and co-director of the Oscar-nominated documentary "Res...

FUNNER: How Language Evolves and Why It Matters

16 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

You may think the English language is static, solid, set in its ways. But the language of Shakespeare has changed quite a bit since the Bard's day. So...

DEMON OF UNREST: Why the Civil War Matters Today (with Erik Larson)

09 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Erik Larson is probably the most successful popular historian working today. His books, which include “The Devil in the White City” and “The Spl...

ALGEBRA OF WEALTH: Scott Galloway’s Formula for Financial Success

02 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Scott Galloway is a podcaster, bestselling author, and professor of marketing at NYU. He's irreverent, cocky, brutally honest, and surprisingly humble...

WHY WE REMEMBER: The New Science of Improving Your Memory

25 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

"The only things that are important in life," declared the French filmmaker Jean Renoir, "are the things you remember." But what do we remember and wh...

SLOW PRODUCTIVITY: Can We Get More Done by Doing Less?

18 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What if doing less is the secret to achieving more? That's the counterintuitive argument at the heart of productivity guru Cal Newport's new book, "Sl...

MAGICAL OVERTHINKING: Why Modern Life Is Making Us More Irrational

11 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Raise your hand if you've ever belittled a stranger online, made a decision based on astrology, or, heaven forbid, fallen for a conspiracy theory. No?...

Everything Paul Bloom Knows About Psychology

04 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In “Psych: The Story of the Human Mind,” Paul Bloom, a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto, lays out, in his words, “basically ...

GET THE PICTURE: Why Bother With Art?

28 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For a long time, Bianca Bosker was not on speaking terms with art. “Going to galleries and museums,” she says on today’s show, “reliably made ...

LOOK AGAIN: How to See Your Life With Fresh Eyes

21 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Do you ever feel like your life has become a film loop of the familiar? Maybe you sympathize with the elegiac poet Logan Roy, who said, "Nothing taste...

GENEROSITY: How Simple Acts of Kindness Can Change the World

14 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Lots of things go viral on the internet: dumb memes, cat videos, one-pan meals, and celebrity gossip. Why not kindness? That’s the delightful questi...

BURN BOOK: Kara Swisher Takes on Big Tech

07 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Kara Swisher has been called “pioneering” (the New York Times), “Silicon Valley’s top pundit” (Wired), and “so shrill at this point that o...

SUPERCOMMUNICATORS: How to Connect With Anyone

29 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

According to Merriam-Webster, the word “conversation” has 36 synonyms, ranging from the alliterative (”confabulation”) to the arcane (”persi...

MIDLIFE: Once a Crisis, Now an Opportunity

22 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Growing old gets a bad rap, and it's not hard to see why. Your hair thins and your waist thickens. The shot clock ticks down on your career, and you r...

RADICAL CANDOR: Why Compassionate Honesty Is a Gift

15 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Honesty may be the best policy, but that doesn’t make giving honest feedback any easier. That’s why Kim Scott, a veteran of Google and Apple, wrot...

BLOCKCHAIN: Why Chris Dixon Still Thinks It Matters

08 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Seventy-two billion dollars. That, according to the Grifter Counter™, is the amount of money that's been swallowed up by crypto and blockchain scams...

BIG BETS: A Practical Guide to Changing the World

01 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When Rajiv Shah was in his late 20s and didn’t know what to do with his life, he got a job at a fledgling nonprofit, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foun...

CLIMATE OPTIMISM: Can We Still Build a Sustainable World?

25 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A few weeks ago, USA Today ran a story with the headline "It's over: 2023 was Earth's hottest year, experts say." But is it really over? Hannah Ritchi...

FREE WILL: Are We Better Off Without It?

18 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 answ...

ATOMIC HABITS: James Clear’s Ultimate Guide to Building Good Habits (and Breaking Bad Ones)

11 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Forming a new habit is tough. Sticking with it is even tougher. That’s probably why someone buys a copy of James Clear’s 2018 book “Atomic Habit...

THE GOOD LIFE: Lessons From the World's Longest Study of Happiness

04 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What makes us happy? Researchers at Harvard have been trying to solve that riddle for 85 years. Now, they think they’ve found the answer. Marc Schul...

How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization (2021)

28 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Do we have alcohol to thank for civilization? The answer, according to Edward Slingerland’s new book, “Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled ...

Rory Stewart on Politics, Ambition, and Making a Difference

21 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Rory Stewart may be the most interesting person you’ve never heard of. He’s an adventurer, writer, politician, and nonprofit leader. He walked acr...

PSYCHOLOGY OF MONEY: Timeless Lessons from Morgan Housel

14 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We may live in an ever-evolving world, but some things never change. The power of a good story. The miracle of compound interest. The cold, hard fact ...

EVE: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution

07 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The female body has been neglected in anthropological narratives, minimized in the archeological record, and excluded from modern-day clinical trials....

THE FAMILY OUTING: Secrets, Memory, and Living Authentically

30 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This week, journalist and podcaster Jessi Hempel joins us to discuss her recent memoir, “The Family Outing,” which tells the remarkable story of h...

Mastering the Art of Difficult Conversations (with Anna Sale)

23 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A lot of us run away from tough conversations. Anna Sale runs toward them. For nearly a decade, as the host of the podcast “Death, Sex & Money,” s...

ACHIEVEMENT CULTURE: What It’s Doing to Our Kids—and to Us

16 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It's no secret that we live in a ferociously competitive world. But what is the drive to always be the best doing to our kids? That's what journalist ...

FAILURE: The Science of Learning From Your Mistakes

09 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Failure is inevitable. How we respond to it makes all the difference. Today, Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson joins us to discuss the c...

HOW TO KNOW A PERSON: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply (with David Brooks)

02 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For the past four years, New York Times columnist and acclaimed author David Brooks has been trying to learn the skills that go into seeing others, un...

HIDDEN POTENTIAL: Adam Grant on the Science of Achieving Greater Things

26 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We live in a world that worships talent, a world that cheers natural athletes, exalts child prodigies, and venerates virtuosos. But admiring people wh...

FACIAL RECOGNITION: A Secretive Startup's Quest to End Privacy as We Know It

19 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When tech journalist Kashmir Hill got a tip about a mysterious app, Clearview AI, that claimed it could identify anyone based on just one photo, she w...

Daniel Pink and Brian Lowery Aren’t Sure That You Exist

12 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Daniel Pink is going through an existential crisis. The culprit? A new book by Stanford professor Brian Lowery. --- If you want to attend our November...

Susan Cain on the Power of the Bittersweet (2022)

05 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Have you ever been brought to tears by a TV commercial? Do you relish rainy days? Are your favorite songs sad ones? If you answered yes to any of thes...

HUMAN COMPATIBLE: Can We Control Artificial Intelligence?

28 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Stuart Russell wrote the book on artificial intelligence. Literally. Today, he sits down with Rufus to discuss the promise — and potential peril —...

UNREASONABLE HOSPITALITY: The Power of Giving People More Than They Expect

21 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When he was 26, Will Guidara took the helm of a middling brasserie in New York City called Eleven Madison Park. A decade later, it was named the best ...

ELON MUSK: Walter Isaacson on the World’s Most Polarizing Person

14 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Two years ago, Walter Isaacson, the legendary biographer who has written books about Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, and Leonardo da V...

CHANGE: How to Excel When Everything Is in Flux

07 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We go through at least thirty-six major changes in the course of our adulthoods. And yet adapting to those changes is really, really hard. Why is that...

DREAM TOWN: Shaker Heights and the Quest for Racial Equity

31 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the 1950s, Shaker Heights, Ohio, became a national model for housing integration. In the 1970s, it was known as a crown jewel in the national move ...

PERENNIALS: How to Thrive in a Post-Generational Society

24 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Increasing longevity and the explosion of technology are reshaping the world. What will it mean for your education, your career, and your life? • Ma...

ULTRA-PROCESSED: What Fake Food Is Doing to Our Health

17 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Ultra-processed food makes up 60 percent of the American diet. Though to call it food is a stretch. Because it is not, strictly speaking, food at all....

How to Succeed by Quitting (2022)

10 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In “Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away,” cognitive scientist turned professional poker player turned bestselling author Annie Duke says ...

Why the Modern World Puts Us All at Risk for Addiction (2021)

03 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In “Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence,” Dr. Anna Lembke says today’s superabundance of pleasurable stimuli makes us all ...

WORK: Henry David Thoreau on Making a Meaningful Living

27 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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...

RISE AND SHINE: How to Have the Perfect Morning

20 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Research has shown that how you spend your morning can have a significant impact on the rest of your day. If you start off feeling anxious and frazzle...

Artificial Intelligence Meets Virtual Worlds: The Future of Sentience

13 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The two hottest topics in tech right now are the rise of generative AI and, with Apple’s recent push into spatial computing, the mainstreaming of au...

You Should Have More Fun This Summer. Here’s Why.

06 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Are we all so busy doom-scrolling and binge-watching that we’ve forgotten how to have fun? Real fun. Tingly-all-over, natural-high, I-hope-this-neve...

PARKING: How It Explains the World

29 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For decades, urban planners have blanketed our cities with the cheap and convenient car storage known as parking. They've swapped sidewalks for strip ...

OUTLIVE (Part 2): How to Optimize Your Diet, Sleep, and Emotional Health

22 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Dr. Peter Attia, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller "Outlive," is back to share cutting-edge tips for improving your sleep, nutrition, and emo...

OUTLIVE (Part 1): Peter Attia’s Guide to the Science of Longevity

15 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Peter Attia had a problem. It was 2006. He'd recently graduated from Stanford's medical school and was completing a prestigious surgical residency at ...

THE WAGER: David Grann Tells a Tale of Shipwreck and Mutiny

08 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

David Grann is a staff writer at The New Yorker and the acclaimed author of "The Lost City of Z" and "Killers of the Flower Moon." In his new book, th...

THE REAL WORK: Adam Gopnik on the Mystery of Mastery

01 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A few years ago, Adam Gopnik, a longtime writer for The New Yorker and three-time winner of the National Magazine Award, started thinking about all th...

JOY OF MOVEMENT: How Exercise Can Help You Find Happiness and Connection

25 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Pay a visit to your local gym, observe the grimacing patrons as they pound the treadmill or march in place on the StairMaster, and you might conclude ...

BREAKTHROUGH: How to Get Unstuck and Achieve Anything

18 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

"To be alive is to battle stuckness." So declares NYU professor Adam Alter in his new book, "Anatomy of a Breakthrough: How to Get Unstuck When It Mat...

EXCELLENT ADVICE: Life Lessons From Wired Co-Founder Kevin Kelly

11 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Kevin Kelly has made a career out of looking to the future. He helped pioneer online social networking all the way back in the 1980s, and he co-founde...

SELFLESS: Why “You” Are a Social Creation

04 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

You are not autonomous. You are not an island unto yourself. You, my friend, are a social construct. The “self” you haul around — that yammering...

The Next Big Idea Club Presents — "Immortality: A User's Guide"

02 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What if you could live forever? Okay, maybe not forever, but for a long, long time — like to 150. First of all, is that even possible? And second, w...

Steven Johnson & Michael Specter on the Future of Life

27 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Last month, longtime New Yorker staff writer Michael Specter released a brand new audiobook with our friends at Pushkin. It’s called “Higher Anima...

You Need a Bedtime (from The Next Big Idea Daily)

25 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What if we told you that every day, in just a few minutes, you could get a master class in better, smarter living from the world's best writers? Sound...

SENSES: Gretchen Rubin’s Guide to Getting Out of Your Head and Into the World

20 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What do your five senses — sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch — have to do with happiness? According to Gretchen Rubin, a great deal. The wor...

PSYCH: The Story of the Human Mind

13 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In his expansive new book, "Psych: The Story of the Human Mind," Paul Bloom, a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto, lays out, in his ...

PREPPY: The Surprising Origins of American Style

06 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

How did Oxford shirts, cashmere sweaters, and chinos become staples of American fashion? How did a style born on Ivy League campuses make its way into...

SUCCESSION: The True Story Behind the Hit Show

30 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

So "Succession" is back. The Emmy Award-winning series returned to HBO for its fourth and final season last Sunday. The show, if you haven't seen it, ...

ABOLISH POVERTY: Matthew Desmond on How We Can Do It

23 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

RUFUS GRISCOM: Could you share with us your broader mission and how your new book, “Poverty, by America,” supports that mission? MATTHEW DESMOND: ...

READING: Are We Forgetting How To Do It?

16 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Maryanne Wolf is a professor at UCLA and the renowned author of "Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain" and "Reader, Come H...

David Chalmers Thinks We May Be Living in a Simulation (and He’s OK With It)

09 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Last year, Rufus sat down with philosopher David Chalmers to talk about the allure of virtual reality, whether robots will ever achieve consciousness,...

Is AI Moving Too Fast? A Conversation With Kevin Roose

02 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When Kevin Roose, a tech columnist at the New York Times, demoed an AI-powered version of Microsoft's search engine last month, he was blown away. "I'...

LIFE IS SHORT: The Upside of Death

23 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Life without death, says philosopher Dean Rickles, is like playing tennis without a net. In his new book, “Life Is Short: An Appropriately Brief Gui...

MUSIC: What the Songs You Love Say About You

16 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this special episode, Susan Rogers, a record producer turned cognitive neuroscientist, and Daniel Levitin, author of “This Is Your Brain on Music...

AI: The Origin Story

09 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Imagine a world where AI is everywhere — where self-driving cars roam the streets and chatbots can do your homework. Oh, wait. That world already ex...

Not Finished Is Not Failure (from The Next Big Idea Daily)

06 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Doing is more important than being done. That’s the provocative argument at the heart of a new book by artist and entrepreneur Becky Blades, “Star...

CELLS: Siddhartha Mukherjee on the Breakthroughs That Are Revolutionizing Medicine

02 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Siddhartha Mukherjee is an oncologist, professor, researcher, and biotech entrepreneur. He’s also a writer, and a fine one at that. His first book, ...

Introducing: The Next Big Idea Daily

30 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Great news, folks. We just launched a new podcast! It's called The Next Big Idea Daily. Tune in Monday through Friday for quick master classes in bett...

PLEASURE: An Epicurean Guide to the Good Life

26 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Greek philosopher Epicurus made a rather bold claim over two thousand years ago. The key to life, he said, was simple: pursue pleasure and avoid p...

POWER FAILURE: What Happened to GE? (with Malcolm Gladwell & William Cohan)

19 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

General Electric used to be the most valuable company in the world; now it's practically irrelevant. What happened? Today on the show, we're going to ...

DIET: The New Science of Healthy Eating

12 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

“Our food decisions,” writes Dr. Tim Spector in his new book, Food for Life, “are the single most important modifiable factor in preventing comm...

How to Develop Your Passions and Avoid Burnout (with Atul Gawande and Adam Grant)

05 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Renowned surgeon Atul Gawande spends his days in the operating theater and his nights writing articles for The New Yorker and bestselling books like B...

FEELINGS: The Secret Power of Embracing Emotions at Work

29 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Today, in a special bonus episode, we bring you a live conversation between Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy, authors of “No Hard Feelings: The Se...

SAPIENS: Yuval Noah Harari on Our Past, Present, and Future

22 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Yuval Noah Harari is a historian and philosopher whose books — "Sapiens," "Homo Deus," "21 Lessons for the 21st Century," and most recently "Unstopp...

ANALOG: Let’s Build a More Human World

15 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

“The future is digital,” they said. Then the pandemic came along and forced that digital future on us. We traded offices for Zooms, gyms for Pelot...

SLEEP: How Understanding Your Body’s Clock Can Revolutionize Your Health

08 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Sleep can enhance your creativity, lift your spirits, improve your sense of humor, and amplify your sociability. So why do so many of us struggle to g...

ANIMALS: They’re Smarter Than You Think

01 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Alexandra Horowitz takes us inside the mind of a puppy. James Bridle introduces us to slime mold that can outwit the best human engineers. Justin Greg...

HUMOR: The Case for Navigating Life on the Precipice of a Smile

24 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Humor is no laughing matter. It inspires innovation, strengthens relationships, disarms tension, and makes you look smart. Seriously. Stanford profess...

GOOD ARGUMENTS: Adam Grant and Champion Debater Bo Seo on the Craft of Persuasion

17 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When Bo Seo was 8 years old, his family moved from Korea to Australia. He did not speak a world of English. At school, to deflect attention from his i...

NEURODIVERSITY: Why No Two Brains Are Alike

10 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

There's no such thing as a "normal" brain. And according to Dr. Chantel Prat, a neuroscientist at the University of Washington, that's a very good thi...

STATUS: Does Our Need for It Explain ... Everything?

03 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

“Life is a game. There’s no way to understand the human world without first understanding this. Everyone alive is playing a game whose hidden rule...

Bittersweet: An Audio E-Course by Susan Cain

27 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Next Big Idea presents an audio masterclass from bestselling author Susan Cain. Drawing on her latest book, "Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing M...