Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL Interviews the world's leading thinkers, and the people shaping the century.

600+
Interviews
3,000+
Quotes
1m+
Readers
15+
Years
Nobel
Laureates & World Leaders
The London Consensus: Chile’s Former Finance Minister Andrés Velasco on Why Ideas — Not Interests — Shape the World

April 8th, 2026 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
In this interview, I speak to Professor Andrés Velasco — Dean of LSE’s School of Public Policy, Chile’s former Finance Minister, and co-editor of The London Consensus. He argues that ideas, not interests, drive policy and makes the case for principles over prescriptions, wellbeing beyond GDP, narrative as a tool…

 

Poisonous People: Psychopathy, Narcissism, Manipulation, and Sadism — How to Resist Them and Improve Your Life

March 27th, 2026 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
In this interview I speak to Dr Leanne ten Brinke - an award-winning psychologist and associate professor at the University of British Columbia, where she directs the Truth and Trust Lab. Drawing on more than two decades of research into the dark tetrad — psychopathy, narcissism, Machiavellianism, and sadism —…

 

From Feature Engineering to Superintelligence: Richard Socher on the Next Frontier of AI

March 27th, 2026 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
In this interview I speak to Dr. Richard Socher — pioneer of neural NLP, inventor of widely used word vectors, and founder of You.com. He discusses his journey from contrarian Stanford researcher to building AI-powered search infrastructure, his vision for recursive self-improvement as the path to superintelligence, and his philosophy…

 

Nir Eyal: Why Belief — Not Talent, Effort, or Strategy — Is the Real Driver of Human Performance

March 26th, 2026 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
You know what to do. So why aren’t you doing it? In this interview, I speak to NYT bestselling author Nir Eyal — the man who wrote the book on habits, then the book on focus — argues the missing variable isn’t discipline or strategy. It’s belief. And belief, it…

 

Nature’s Last Dance: Natalie Kyriacou on Extinction, Wonder, and Why Hope Is Non-Negotiable

March 23rd, 2026 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
Award-winning environmentalist Natalie Kyriacou OAM, author of Nature’s Last Dance, challenges our most fundamental assumptions about human intelligence, progress, and our relationship with nature — making a compelling case that wonder, storytelling, community, and active hope are our most powerful tools in the race against extinction.

 

Paul Collier on Regional Inequality and Economic Recovery

February 3rd, 2026 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
World-renowned development economist Paul Collier has spent his life working in neglected communities. In this interview, we discuss his new book Left Behind, where he offers his candid diagnosis of why some regions and countries are falling further behind, and a new vision for how they can catch up. In…

 

Ben Lamm on De-Extinction & Species Restoration

December 17th, 2025 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
In this interview I speak to Ben Lamm, the Co-Founder and CEO Of Colossal Biosciences (the world’s first de-extinction company) which he founded alongside world-renowned geneticist and serial biotech entrepreneur George Church, Ph.D. Colossal are the first business to apply CRISPR technology for the purposes of species de-extinction and work…

 

The New Science of Love & Connection | Paul Eastwick

December 16th, 2025 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
In this interview, I speak to Professor Paul Eastwick, Professor of Psychology at UC Davis, where he serves as head of the Social-Personality Psychology program and director of the Attraction and Relationships Research Laboratory. He has published over one hundred scientific articles and chapters, and his research has been featured…

 

Superintelligent AI Mathematician: Carina Hong, Axiom

December 12th, 2025 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
Axiom is an AI company on a mission to build a self-improving, superintelligent reasoner, starting with an AI mathematician. The company launched out of stealth in 2024 with $64 million in seed funding at a $300 million valuation led by B Capital.  The Axiom team includes renowned AI and mathematics experts…

 

Explore an archive of more than 3,000 quotes.

“

To me, a great leader should be empathetic, authentic, entrepreneurial, creative, ethical and lead from the front.

— Guy Hands
Terra Firma Capital founder; acquired EMI Records in 2007
“

I still believe that nuclear is the greatest risk we face as a society today.

— Martin E. Hellman
Co-inventor of Public-Key Cryptography & Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange
“

Not all financial contracts are created equal. We should not assume that there is one single benchmark for all types of financial transactions. There are certain transactions that should be based on market rates, and others which call for the kind of benchmark that LIBOR provides.

— Andrew Lo
MIT Finance Professor & Pioneer of Quantitative Finance & Behavioral Economics
“

Women account for a mere 0.5% of recorded history.

“

We are no longer sovereign-islands protected by fortified walls and arbitrary map-lines- we are an interconnected global family who depend on each other in incredibly profound ways.

Browse all quotes →

Long-form Interviews with the World's Leading Thinkers — Thought Economics

The Wisdom Series

Ten in-depth articles distilling insights from over 550 interviews with the world's leading thinkers, creators, and changemakers.

The Wisdom of Leadership The Wisdom of Entrepreneurship The Wisdom of Creativity The Wisdom of Technology The Wisdom of Meaning The Wisdom of the Mind The Wisdom of Justice The Wisdom of Science The Wisdom of Geopolitics The Wisdom of Health
Explore the Wisdom Series →