The Next Big Idea

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 everything I know about the mind.? And when he says ?everything,? he means it. Where does consciousness come from? Does IQ matter? What makes us happy? Was Sigmund Freud a madman? The answers to these questions (and more) are all in Paul?s book ? and in this episode. An edited version of Rufus?s interview with Paul first aired in April 2023. Today, we?re bringing you their entire conversation. Check out Paul's newsletter here THE NEXT BIG IDEA CLUB We all know that reading is the best investment we can make in ourselves, but figuring out what to read ? well, that?s another matter. Which is why we started the Next Big Idea Club. We get the best new books ? as chosen by our friends Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, Susan Cain, and Daniel Pink ? into the hands of curious people ? like you! Join us today at nextbigideaclub.com

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 me feel like I was at least two tattoos and a master?s degree away from figuring out what was going on.? What did art snobs know that she didn?t? Determined to find out, Bianca disowned her normal life and ventured into the underbelly of the art world. She worked at a gallery, as an artist?s assistant, and even as a museum guard. She read the latest research to understand why scientists believe art is as ?necessary as food or sex.? And in the end, she learned how to look, really look, at art ? a skill she?s now going to share with you. Book: "Get the Picture: A Mind-Bending Journey Among the Inspired Artists and Obsessive Art Fiends Who Taught Me How to See" Guest: Bianca Bosker Host: Caleb Bissinger *THE NEXT BIG IDEA CLUB* We all know that reading is the best investment we can make in ourselves, but figuring out what to read ? well, that?s another matter. Which is why we started the Next Big Idea Club. We get the best new books ? as chosen by our friends Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, Susan Cain, and Daniel Pink ? into the hands of curious people ? like you! Join us today at nextbigideaclub.com

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 tastes like it used to, does it? Nothing's the same as it was." What lit you up on Monday barely sparks your interest by the weekend. But don't worry, there's nothing wrong with you. You're just experiencing what scientists call habituation, a fancy word for a phenomenon we all face. And the good news is that there's something you can do about it, methods and tools you can use to disrupt familiar patterns, jostle your needle out of its well-worn groove, and refresh the way you see and connect with the people, places, and things in your life. This process is called dishabituation ? or, if you prefer, re-sparkling ? and neuroscientist Tali Sharot is on the show today to teach you how to do it. Book: "Look Again: The Power of Noticing What Was Always There" Guest: Tali Sharot Host: Michael Kovnat **THE NEXT BIG IDEA CLUB** We all know that reading is the best investment we can make in ourselves, but figuring out what to read ? well, that?s another matter. Which is why we started the Next Big Idea Club. We get the best new books ? as chosen by our friends Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, Susan Cain, and Daniel Pink ? into the hands of curious people ? like you! Join us today at nextbigideaclub.com

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 question Chris Anderson, the head of TED, asks in his new book, ?Infectious Generosity: The Ultimate Idea Worth Spreading.? He joins Rufus to talk about what he?s learned running the world?s most famous conference, why we?re hardwired to give back, and the small actions we can all take to be a little more generous. Host: Rufus Griscom Guest: Chris Anderson *THE NEXT BIG IDEA CLUB* We all know that reading is the best investment we can make in ourselves, but figuring out what to read ? well, that?s another matter. Which is why we started the Next Big Idea Club. We get the best new books ? as chosen by our friends Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, Susan Cain, and Daniel Pink ? into the hands of curious people ? like you! Join us today at nextbigideaclub.com

Kara Swisher has been called ?pioneering? (the New York Times), ?Silicon Valley?s top pundit? (Wired), and ?so shrill at this point that only dogs can hear her? (Elon Musk). Thanks to the bad-cop interviews she conducts on her hit podcasts ? and, before that, at the can?t-miss tech conferences she co-founded ? the world?s most powerful people revere and fear her in equal measure. Now she?s out with a memoir called ?Burn Book: A Tech Love Story.? It?s a smart, dishy, acerbically funny page-turner about how a young reporter with a cellphone the size of a briefcase became one of the most influential tech critics of the day. Host: Caleb Bissinger Guest: Kara Swisher *THE NEXT BIG IDEA CLUB* We all know that reading is the best investment we can make in ourselves, but figuring out what to read ? well, that?s another matter. Which is why we started the Next Big Idea Club. We get the best new books ? as chosen by our friends Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, Susan Cain, and Daniel Pink ? into the hands of curious people ? like you! Join us today at nextbigideaclub.com

According to Merriam-Webster, the word ?conversation? has 36 synonyms, ranging from the alliterative (?confabulation?) to the arcane (?persiflage?). Why the linguistic profusion? Because conversing is a fundamental part ? maybe the fundamental part ? of being human. We chat with our families, friends, strangers, and co-workers, and we communicate in phone calls, text messages, emails, and, occasionally, postcards. When these tête-à-têtes go well, it is oddly thrilling; we become better versions of ourselves ? warmer and wiser, funnier, and consistently insightful. Best of all, a good dialogue is a direct route to connection. ?The bond of all companionship,? wrote Oscar Wilde, ?whether in marriage or in friendship, is conversation.? But when a conversation goes poorly, when it stays on the surface (?what do you do for a living??) or devolves into a sputtering mess of misunderstanding (?you?re overreacting!?), we don?t feel the invigorating pulse of connection. What we feel, instead, is the emotional equivalent of a busy signal. So, this hour, we?re asking: how can we have better conversations? And to help answer that question, we?re joined by Charles Duhigg, a Pulitzer Prize?winning journalist and the bestselling author of ?The Power of Habit? and now ?Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection.? Charles, as you?ll hear, is something of supercommunicator himself, a lithe storyteller who?s as well-versed in evolutionary biology as he is in the latest psychology, and after studying the art and science of communication for the last few years, he?s concluded that anyone can become a great conversationalist. You just have to master a few simple skills. Tune in to find out what they are. Host: Rufus Griscom Guest: Charles Duhigg Book: ?Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection? *THE NEXT BIG IDEA CLUB* We all know that reading is the best investment we can make in ourselves, but figuring out what to read ? well, that?s another matter. Which is why we started the Next Big Idea Club. We get the best new books ? as chosen by our curators (Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, Susan Cain, and Daniel Pink) ? into the hands of curious people. Like you! Join us today at nextbigideaclub.com

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 realize, much to your dismay, that your youthful dreams of greatness ? patents, prizes, and periodicals with your face on the cover ? are unlikely to come true before the buzzer. And what do you see up ahead? A road sign. "Highway Ends. Last Exit: Retirement. One Mile." Retirement. Just a polite word for purposelessness. That's the cynic's view of aging, anyway. But does it have to be that way? Not according to Chip Conley ("Learning to Love Midlife"). He says midlife can be a period of renewal, hope, joy, and connection. If you're open to it. Are you?

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, wrote ?Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity.? It?s a life-saving guide for anyone who?s ever had to dole out difficult but important feedback. Which means all of us.

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 and crashes. It's an enormous sum ? but one that may not surprise you if you've kept up with the news. Bitcoin lost more than 60% of its value in 2022. FTX, once the world's third-largest crypto exchange, collapsed, and its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, was later found guilty on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy. And it's not just crypto that has seen dark days. Remember NFTs? They were once touted as a revolutionary new form of digital ownership made possible by the blockchain. Today, however, 95% of them have lost all of their value. That's right. All of it. So it would seem like a suboptimal time to publish a book arguing that "blockchains and the software movement around them ? typically called crypto or web3 ? provide the only plausible path to sustaining the original vision of the internet as an open platform that incentivizes creativity and entrepreneurship." But that's precisely what Chris Dixon, founder of a16z crypto, has done with "Read Write Own: Building the Next Era of the Internet." Chris, who spoke with Rufus in a live taping of this show last week, says that while blockchains have been "maligned and associated with grift, casino culture, and fraud," they are tools that can be used for good. Today on the show, he makes that case.

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 Foundation. Before he knew it, he was a driving force behind a global vaccination program that immunized 900 million children and saved 16 million lives. At 36, he became the administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), managing a $20 billion budget, overseeing a staff of 10,000, and leading the U.S. response to global humanitarian crises. Today, as president of the Rockefeller Foundation, he?s finding innovative solutions to mitigate climate change and end energy poverty. What connects these experiences? At every step, Raj maintained a big bet mentality. What is a big bet? ?A concerted effort to fundamentally solve a single, pressing problem in your community or our world. Big bets require setting profound, seemingly unachievable goals and believing they are achievable.? In this episode, he shares his methodology for creating large-scale change and making the world a better place. Host: Rufus Griscom Guest: Rajiv Shah Book: Big Bets: How Large-Scale Change Really Happens

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 Ritchie, a data scientist at the University of Oxford, doesn't think so. In her new book, "Not the End of the World," she says that if we zoom out and look at the data, "we can see something truly radical, game-changing and life-giving: humanity is in a truly unique position to build a sustainable world." She's on the show today to tell us why she's urgently optimistic about our planet's future, what smart people get wrong about climate change, and the most effective ways to lower your carbon footprint. Host: Caleb Bissinger Guest: Hannah Ritchie You can learn more about Our World in Data here, and check out Hannah's newsletter, Sustainability by Numbers. Want to come to our event in New York City on Jan. 31? Buy a ticket here. As a listener of this show, you can get 20% off a Next Big Idea Club membership. Just use the code PODCAST at nextbigideaclub.com

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 mid-sixties. He has degrees from Harvard and Rockefeller University; he won a MacArthur ?genius? award; and he?s a professor at Stanford, where he holds joint appointments in biology, neurology, and neurosurgery. But despite how much time has passed and how long his CV has grown, he never lost his youthful fascination with free will ? or our lack thereof ? so he decided to write a book about it. It?s called ?Determined,? and in addition to assembling a formidable case against free will, Robert makes the intriguing argument that if we can abandon our illusion of volition, we can build a more humane world. Support the show by becoming a Next Big Idea Club member. (Use code PODCAST for 20% off.) We?re hosting a live taping in New York City on January 31st. Come on by! We?d love to meet you. You can learn more here.

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 Habits? every 11 seconds. James breaks down the science of habit formation into simple, actionable steps anyone can take ? even you. Today on the show, he talks Rufus through the four laws of behavior change, explains how small improvements compound over time to produce remarkable results, and offers easy tips you can use now to kick bad habits and adopt good ones.

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 Schulz, associate director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, joins to tell us more.

Do we have alcohol to thank for civilization? The answer, according to Edward Slingerland?s new book, ?Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization,? is a resounding yes. Edward, who?s a professor at the University of British Columbia and self-proclaimed ?philosophical hedonist,? says that far from being an evolutionary fluke, our taste for alcohol is an evolutionary advantage ? one that we?ve relied on for millennia to help us lead more social, creative, and pleasurable lives. (This episode first aired in July 2021.)

Rory Stewart may be the most interesting person you?ve never heard of. He?s an adventurer, writer, politician, and nonprofit leader. He walked across Afghanistan ? alone ? in the months after 9/11 and wrote a book about the experience that the New York Times called a ?flat-out masterpiece?; he then served as a deputy governor in Iraq, held a chair at Harvard, and was elected to British Parliament. Now he?s out with a new memoir called ?How Not to Be a Politician.? It?s a funny, candid, and somewhat shocking chronicle of the decade he spent in office. It?s also a book about why our political system feels so broken and what we can do to repair it. Host: Caleb Bissinger Guest: Rory Stewart ? To learn more about GiveDirectly, visit givedirectly.org

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 that money can?t buy happiness. This is the deceptively simple premise of ?Same as Ever? by Morgan Housel. If we can master the behaviors that never change, we?ll be ready to handle whatever the future throws at us. On today?s show, Morgan sits down with Rufus to share some of the timeless lessons from his new book as well as enduring wisdom from his last, ?The Psychology of Money.? Host: Rufus Griscom Guest: Morgan Housel ? Support our show by joining the Next Big Idea Club. Visit nextbigideaclub.com to learn more, and use the code PODCAST for a 20% discount

The female body has been neglected in anthropological narratives, minimized in the archeological record, and excluded from modern-day clinical trials. But what if that weren?t the case? How would the scientific story of humanity change if we made women the protagonists? Cat Bohannon first asked herself that question a decade ago, and her surprising answers can now be found in a New York Times bestselling book called ?Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution.? ? Want to support our show? Sign up for a Next Big Idea Club membership at www.nextbigideaclub.com and use code PODCAST for 20% off

This week, journalist and podcaster Jessi Hempel joins us to discuss her recent memoir, ?The Family Outing,? which tells the remarkable story of how every member of her immediate family came out: Jessi and her father as gay, her sister as bisexual, her brother as transgender, and her mother as the survivor of a traumatic encounter with a man who may have been a serial killer. It?s a dramatic setup, to be sure, but as the book unfolds, it grows into something else ? a powerful and thought-provoking meditation on what it means to live authentically.

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,? she has been having searching conversations about ?the things we think about a lot and need to talk about more.? Today, Anna reminds us ? with her trademark warmth, curiosity, and candor ? how to have those difficult conversations. (This episode originally aired in July 2021.) --- ? Looking for a holiday gift for the most curious person in your life? How about a Next Big Idea Club membership! Use the code GIFT75 at www.nextbigideaclub.com for $75 off a gift subscription.

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 Jennifer Breheny Wallace wanted to know when she set out to write her new book, "Never Enough." The kids, she discovered, are not alright. Teenagers are battling burnout, depression, and anxiety at alarming rates. How did we let this happen, and what can we do to fix it? To answer these vexing but vital questions, we invited Jennifer to chat with Daniel Markovits. He's the author of "The Meritocracy Trap" and a professor at Yale Law School, where he's seen toxic achievement culture up close. In this episode, recorded live at Betaworks in New York City, Jennifer, Daniel, and Rufus discuss why our kids are under such unrelenting pressure, what we can do to give them some relief, and the potential role of new technologies, like AI, in creating positive solutions. --- Host: Rufus Griscom Guests: Jennifer Breheny Wallace & Daniel Markovits ? Click here to hear Daniel's previous appearance on the show. ? Want the best non-fiction books of the year delivered to your doorstep? Sign up for a Next Big Idea Club subscription at nextbigideaclub.com, and use the code PODCAST to get 20% off and a free copy of Adam Grant's new book, "Hidden Potential"!

Failure is inevitable. How we respond to it makes all the difference. Today, Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson joins us to discuss the critical distinction between destructive failures and intelligent mistakes that drive innovation.

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, understanding others, making other people feel respected, valued, and safe. Such social skills may sound trifling, but mastering them, David believes, could help us all make better decisions, enhance our creativity, and maybe even repair our nation?s fraying social fabric. ? David's new book is How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen ? Learn more about Weave: The Social Fabric Project at weavers.org ? Sign up for a Next Big Idea Club membership today and get 20% off when you use the code PODCAST

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 explains in his new book, ?Hidden Potential,? growth is not about the genius you possess ? it?s about the character you develop. Adam joins us today to talk about developing the character skills, motivational tools, and learning systems that can help ordinary people achieve extraordinary things. ? Want 20% off a Next Big Idea Club membership? Sign up today at nextbigideaclub.com and use the code PODCAST

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 was skeptical. But when she found out the app was for real, she quickly realized it could lead to a dystopian future where privacy is a thing of the past. Guest: Kashmir Hill Book: "Your Face Belongs to Us: A Secretive Startup's Quest to End Privacy as We Know It" Host: Panio Gianopoulos

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 1st event with Daniel Markovits and Jennifer Breheny Wallace, head to our Eventbrite page. And if you want early invitations to upcoming events, sign up for one of our new Next Big Idea Club memberships.

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 these questions, then you, dear listener, know the power of the bittersweet. It?s a feeling, an emotion, a way of being that Susan Cain explored in her #1 New York Times bestseller ?Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole.? She spoke with Rufus about the book in April 2022, and it remains one of our favorite conversations ? certainly one of the most moving ? so today we?re sharing it again. We hope it gives you goosebumps.

Stuart Russell wrote the book on artificial intelligence. Literally. Today, he sits down with Rufus to discuss the promise ? and potential peril ? of the technology he's been studying for the past 40 years. --- Book: ?Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control? Host: Rufus Griscom Guest: Stuart Russell

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 restaurant in the world. How did he pull off this unprecedented transformation? By practicing unreasonable hospitality. Host: Caleb Bissinger Guest: Will Guidara Book: "Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect"

Two years ago, Walter Isaacson, the legendary biographer who has written books about Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, and Leonardo da Vinci, began shadowing Elon Musk. "I started off with a guy who was one of the most popular people on the planet," Isaacson says, "and ended up with a guy who's the most controversial." Today on the show, Isaacson unpacks those controversies.

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? Health and science writer Brad Stulberg says it's because our model for change is broken. Luckily, he's here to fix it. Guest: Brad Stulberg Book: "Master of Change: How to Excel When Everything Is Changing ? Including You" Host: Caleb Bissinger

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 to racially integrate schools. So why is its school system now struggling to close a yawning racial achievement gap? Guest: Laura Meckler Book: ?Dream Town: Shaker Heights and the Quest for Racial Equity? Host: Caleb Bissinger ? Download the Next Big Idea app: nextbigideaclub.com/app

Increasing longevity and the explosion of technology are reshaping the world. What will it mean for your education, your career, and your life? ? Mauro Guillén?s new book is ?The Perennials: The Megatrends Creating a Postgenerational Society? ? Download The Next Big Idea app at nextbigideaclub.com/app

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. It is an industrially produced edible substance. And it?s killing us. That is the nauseating conclusion Chris van Tulleken reaches in his new book, ?Ultra-Processed People: The Science Behind Food That Isn?t Food.? Today, he explains how big businesses have corrupted our diets and what we can do to stop them from causing further harm.

In ?Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away,? cognitive scientist turned professional poker player turned bestselling author Annie Duke says mastering the art of quitting is the key to making smart decisions. (This episode originally aired in October 2022.) Host: Rufus Griscom Guest: Annie Duke Executive Producer: Caleb Bissinger ? Want to check out the video e-course Annie made for ?Quit?? Download The Next Big Idea app!

In ?Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence,? Dr. Anna Lembke says today?s superabundance of pleasurable stimuli makes us all vulnerable to overindulgence. But don?t lose hope. Anna, the medical director of addiction medicine at Stanford, says that by understanding how modern stimulants ? from Instagram to masturbation machines ? prey on our primitive brains, we can find ways to overcome the unhealthy dependencies that prevent us from leading balanced lives. (This episode originally aired in December 2021.) Host: Rufus Griscom Guest: Anna Lembke Executive Producer: Caleb Bissinger The Next Big Idea is produced in partnership with LinkedIn Presents

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 nature,'" he and co-author Jonathan Van Belle write in their new book, "Henry at Work: Thoreau on Making a Living," was an "attempt to get away from the capitalist rat race." By resigning from that race, Thoreau was, in a sense, reclaiming life?he was making a conscious choice about what to respect and where to tap meaning. "The abiding message of 'Walden,'" according to John and Jonathan, is that "the frenetic busyness of modern life should never be confused with the essential business of living." Today on the show, John Kaag and our producer Caleb Bissinger explore Thoreau's life and career, and they come away with surprising lessons about why we work and how we can make it more meaningful?how we can, in Thoreau's words, "live deliberately." If you have questions, comments, or ideas for future guests, email us at [email protected] Guest: John Kaag Book: "Henry at Work: Thoreau on Making a Living" Host: Caleb Bissinger The Next Big Idea is produced in partnership with LinkedIn Presents

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 frazzled, chances are you'll end the day feeling the same way. But if you use the first hour after waking up to boost your mental, emotional, and physical well-being, you can set yourself up for a productive and memorable day. Today, Rufus learns how to craft the perfect morning routine from Toby and Kate Oliver, the authors of "Rise and Shine: How to Transform Your Life, Morning by Morning." --- P.S. Need more big ideas in your life? Download the Next Big Idea app and subscribe to our weekly newsletter!

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 augmented reality. Will silicon-based machines develop sentience? Will human experience extend into virtual worlds? These distinct technologies may eventually blend to spawn a surprising future, as our ?real? world becomes digitally enhanced and our machines behave increasingly like humans. Today, a provocative discussion with some big (human) thinkers: Steven Johnson, visiting scholar at Google Labs and author of ?Extra Life,? ?Where Good Ideas Come from,? and ?How We Got to Now?; philosopher and cognitive scientist David Chalmers, author of ?The Conscious Mind? and ?Reality+?; and Betaworks founder and AI investor John Borthwick. ? Want to learn more about our executive membership? Email [email protected] ? ?David Chalmers Thinks We May Be Living in a Simulation (and He?s OK With It)? ? ?Steven Johnson & Michael Specter on the Future of Life?

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-never-ends fun. Catherine Price thinks so. But don?t despair. Her latest book, ?The Power of Fun,? is jam-packed with research-backed hacks for finding meaning, forging connections, improving your health, and living life to the fullest. All while having a darn good time. (This episode first aired in May 2022.)

For decades, urban planners have blanketed our cities with the cheap and convenient car storage known as parking. They've swapped sidewalks for strip malls and bulldozed bright, inviting storefronts to make room for dark, urine-scented parking garages. In some downtowns, more land is now devoted to parking than buildings. Parking profligacy has left us with cities that are polluted and hostile to pedestrians; they're also increasingly unaffordable because legally required parking can drive up the cost of residential construction by 25 percent. In "Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World," journalist Henry Grabar dares to imagine a future in which we knock parking off its pedestal by enacting new laws, adopting new attitudes, and embracing new technologies (like e-bikes and autonomous cars) that make our cities greener, friendlier, safer, and more fun.

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 emotional health. (If you missed the first part of our interview with Peter, you can listen to it here.) P.S. ? Pickup a copy of "Immortality: A User's Guide" by Steven Johnson at nextbigideaclub.supportingcast.fm ? Check out our interviews with Tim Spector and Russell Foster ? We're hosting a live taping of the show on June 28th in New York City, featuring Rufus in conversation with Steven Johnson, David Chalmers, and John Borthwick. You can learn more and buy tickets at betaworks.com/event/ai-consciousness

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 Johns Hopkins, but instead of celebrating his success, he was tormented by frustrations. The medical establishment, it seemed to him, was stubbornly resistant to change and innovation; doctors could easily diagnose the maladies that kill most of us ? heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer's, and type 2 diabetes ? but they struggled to help their patients avoid those diagnoses in the first place. Peter believed there had to be another approach. He was convinced it was possible to practice a cutting-edge form of medicine that didn't just manage diseases but tried to prevent them. So he embarked on a journey to figure out how to do it. Now, nearly two decades later, he's compiled everything he learned on that journey in a book, the #1 New York Times bestseller "Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity." It's a comprehensive guide to exercise, nutrition, sleep, and mental health that'll help you live better for longer. Peter Attia is the founder of Early Medicine and host of "The Drive." (This is part one of a two-part episode. Check back next Thursday for the second installment.) P.S. We're hosting a live event in New York City on June 28th! Rufus will take the stage with Steven Johnson, David Chalmers, and John Borthwick to discuss the rise of generative AI and the mainstreaming of augmented reality. Learn more at betaworks.com/event/ai-consciousness

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, the #1 New York Times bestseller "The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder," he tells the story of an 18th-century British warship that crashed on a godforsaken island off the coast of Patagonia. Stranded and starving, the men descended into murderous anarchy. Years later, when a handful of the survivors returned to England, their heroes' welcome was quickly swamped by questions about what really happened on the island. Host: Caleb Bissinger Guest: David Grann

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 the things he wasn't good at. He couldn't dance the foxtrot or bake a brioche. Well into his 50s, he still had no idea how to drive a car. To make matters worse, when he looked around, he saw people who could do these things ? often with great skill. How, he wondered, did they do it? How do any of us get good at the things we're good at? And how do some of us become next-level masters? To answer those questions, Adam set out to master the skills he lacked, and he has written up the results in a profound little book, "The Real Work: On the Mystery of Mastery."

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 that exercise is no fun. But it doesn?t have to be that way, according to Kelly McGonigal, who lectures at Stanford, teaches dance classes, and wrote ?The Joy of Movement: How Exercise Helps Us Find Happiness, Hope, Connection, and Courage.? Today, she explains how exercise ? of all kinds and in all doses ? can strengthen your mind, elevate your mood, and deepen your social connections.

"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 Matters Most." Adam has spent years studying why we get stuck ? in dead-end jobs and creative cul-de-sacs ? and, crucially, how to go from inertia to success. --- What if Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, Susan Cain, and Daniel Pink hand-picked the eight best books of the year and delivered them to your doorstep? We know that sounds too good to be true, but it's precisely what you'll get when you sign up for a hardcover subscription to The Next Big Idea Club!

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-founded Wired, the magazine devoted to digital technology, when the internet was still an infant. But in his new book, ?Excellent Advice for Living,? he looks backward. It?s a collection of 450 bits of wisdom he wishes he?d known when he was young. Things like ?Being enthusiastic is worth 25 IQ points? and ?That thing that made you weird as a kid could make you great as an adult?if you don?t lose it.? Today on the show he shares his best advice for building careers, nurturing relationships, solving problems, and finding satisfaction. He also explains why he?s more optimistic than ever about technology (yes, even AI). P.S. Have you checked out our new audiobook, "Immortality: A User's Guide" by Steven Johnson? Download it today by visiting nextbigideaclub.supportingcast.fm

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 voice in your head ? was entirely shaped by your relationships and social interactions. That may be upsetting for "you" to hear. But our guest today, Brian Lowery, prefers to see it as pleasantly humbling because if you can learn to let go of the idea that you have an essential self, you can embrace a more expansive view of who you are and who you can be. Brian Lowery is a professor of organizational behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. His new book is ?Selfless: The Social Creation of ?You.?? --- ? We just released an original audiobook written and read by Steven Johnson. It's called "Immortality: A User's Guide," and you can download it now!

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, what would that mean for your family, your career, the planet? These are the vexing questions acclaimed science writer Steven Johnson answers in his new audiobook, "Immortality: A User's Guide." Here's the elevator pitch: we may be on the cusp of a revolution in the science of aging, and we are not prepared for the consequences. Steven's project is the first in a series we're calling Next Big Idea Originals. These are short (i.e., as long as a movie) audiobooks written by the best authors we know and enhanced with archival footage, scintillating interviews, beautiful sound design, and original music. If you want to hear "Immortality: A User's Guide" in its entirety, you can download The Next Big Idea app, or you can purchase the audiobook directly from us (and play it in your favorite podcast app) by visiting nextbigideaclub.supportingcast.fm