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

October 19th, 2023 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
Gretchen Rubin is one of today’s most influential and thought-provoking observers of happiness and human nature. She’s the author of many books, including the blockbuster New York Times bestsellers; Outer Order, Inner Calm; The Four Tendencies; Better Than Before; and The Happiness Project. She has an enormous readership, both in…
19-10-2023 12:15:12
Thought Economics

 

October 19th, 2023 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
Today humanity is reaching new heights of scientific understanding – and appears to be losing its mind. How can a species that doubled its lifespan, sequenced its genome, and developed vaccines for Covid-19 in less than a year produce so much fake news, quack cures, conspiracy theories, and “post-truth” rhetoric?…
19-10-2023 12:15:12
Thought Economics

 

October 19th, 2023 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
We are living through the most prosperous age in human history, but we are hurtling toward destruction. People are more listless, divided, and miserable than ever, and our civilization faces numerous existential threats, any one of which could take us out – whether it’s climate change, a Carrington Event, a…
19-10-2023 12:15:12
Thought Economics

 

October 19th, 2023 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
Digitisation is a massive and massively important trend – one accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic. But despite fervent preaching from the Silicon Valley faithful, it’s not the only kind of competency that matters. Silicon Valley veteran and Stanford lecturer Robert E. Siegel argues that amid the incessant drumbeat of digital…
19-10-2023 12:15:13
Thought Economics

 

October 19th, 2023 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
The challenges societies face today, from inequality to climate change to systemic racism, cannot be solved with yesterday’s toolkit. Solving Public Problems shows how readers can take advantage of digital technology, data, and the collective wisdom of our communities to design and deliver powerful solutions to contemporary problems. In Solving…
19-10-2023 12:15:13
Thought Economics

 

October 19th, 2023 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
Anil Seth’s quest to understand the biological basis of conscious experience is one of the most exciting contributions to twenty-first-century science. What does it mean to “be you”—that is, to have a specific, conscious experience of the world around you and yourself within it? There may be no more elusive…
19-10-2023 12:15:13
Thought Economics

 

October 19th, 2023 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
In 2001, Adam Neumann arrived in New York after five years as a conscript in the Israeli navy. Just over fifteen years later, he had transformed himself into the charismatic CEO of a company worth $47 billion. With his long hair and feel-good mantras, the six-foot-five Neumann looked the part…
19-10-2023 12:15:13
Thought Economics

 

October 19th, 2023 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
Listening, like any other communication skill, can be improved. Ximena Vengoechea has spent her career facilitating hundreds of conversations at Linkedin, Twitter, Pinterest and more. It’s her job to uncover the truth behind how people use- and think- about products and services, and she does that by deploying the art…
19-10-2023 12:15:13
Thought Economics

 

October 19th, 2023 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
In The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain, acclaimed science writer Annie Murphy Paul explodes the myth that the brain is an all-powerful, all-purpose thinking machine that works best in silence and isolation. We are often told that the human brain is an awe-inspiring wonder, but its…
19-10-2023 12:15:14
Thought Economics

 

October 19th, 2023 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
Dr. Robert Cialdini has spent his entire career conducting scientific research on what leads people to say “Yes” to requests. The results of his research, his ensuing articles, and New York Times bestselling books have earned him an acclaimed reputation as a respected scientist and engaging storyteller. His books, including…
19-10-2023 12:15:14
Thought Economics

 

October 19th, 2023 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
Dr. Maya Shankar is Senior Director of Behavioural Economics at Google and is the Creator, Host and Executive Producer of her brilliant new podcast A Slight Change of Plans which explores the question: What exactly happens when we find ourselves on the brink of change? Using her skills as a…
19-10-2023 12:15:14
Thought Economics

 

October 19th, 2023 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
In 2009, a St. Louis glassblowing artist and recovering computer scientist named Jim McKelvey lost a sale because he couldn’t accept American Express cards. Frustrated by the high costs and difficulty of accepting credit card payments, McKelvey joined his friend Jack Dorsey (the cofounder of Twitter) to launch Square, a…
19-10-2023 12:15:14
Thought Economics

 

All Interviews  (563)
In this interview, I speak to James Nestor (author of ‘Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art’) we discuss his extraordinary journey understanding how modern civilisation has forgotten the importance of the most important thing we do, breathing. We discuss the impact that poor breathing has on our health…
In this interview I speak to Professor Bruce Hood, a world-leading psychologist and happiness expert. Grounded in decades of neuroscience, Professor Hood’s recent book The Science of Happiness explores the simple, life-changing discoveries that can really impact our own happiness. In our conversation, we discuss the fundamental nature of happiness,…
Business & Economics  (333)
In this interview I speak to Aravind Srinivas, the CEO of Perplexity, an AI powered answer engine that is transforming the world of search by answering questions conversationally. Perplexity extracts data from lakes including the web, images and video, before applying LLM’s to produce incredibly natural answers to questions, with…
Culture, Society, Sports & Arts  (230)
Health & Medicine  (64)
In this interview, I speak to James Nestor (author of ‘Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art’) we discuss his extraordinary journey understanding how modern civilisation has forgotten the importance of the most important thing we do, breathing. We discuss the impact that poor breathing has on our health…
In this interview I speak to Professor Bruce Hood, a world-leading psychologist and happiness expert. Grounded in decades of neuroscience, Professor Hood’s recent book The Science of Happiness explores the simple, life-changing discoveries that can really impact our own happiness. In our conversation, we discuss the fundamental nature of happiness,…
Nobel Laureates  (20)
Politics & Policy  (155)
To better understand the laws of war & conflict, I speak to Sir Geoffrey Nice KC (Former Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, who led the prosecution of Slobodan Miloševic) and Professor William A Schabas OC (International Criminal & Human Rights Lawyer, who Served on the Truth & Reconciliation Commission…
Science & Technology  (117)
Lawrence Krauss is a renowned theoretical physicist, bestselling author, and celebrated lecturer who has greatly contributed to various areas of physics and cosmology. Krauss's significant scientific contribution includes the 1995 proposal that most of the Universe's energy resides in empty space, confirmed in 1999 and awarded a Nobel Prize in…
Kevin Kelly, a visionary luminary of our digital age, is renowned as the founding executive editor of Wired magazine, a definitive chronicle of the technological revolution, and the author of groundbreaking books like "Out of Control" and "The Inevitable." Known for his prescient insights into technology and its impact on…