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

January 11th, 2010 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL

The industrial revolution created the archetypal businessman, characterized by their ruthless attitude towards commerce. In a controversial paper, Jerry Bergman discusses the Robber Barons’ (a pejorative term used to describe businessmen in America) attitude to workers in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. He describes how, “The robber barons’ lack…

 

December 16th, 2009 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
In this article, we talk to Professor Nick Bostrom, Director of the Future of Humanity Institute at the University of Oxford, discussing the profound changes humanity could experience over coming years including artificial intelligence, machine consciousness, the direction of human evolution, and risks to humanity itself.

 

October 12th, 2009 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
In this article, we have an enlightening talk to a world expert on Bioethics, Professor John Harris (Lord Alliance Professor of Bioethics at The University of Manchester). Professor Harris discusses the philosophy, practicality and laws surrounding bioethics, covering areas including genetics, human engineering, stem cell therapies, assisted suicide, the economics…

 

September 30th, 2009 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
In this article, we talk to Susan Payne, CEO of Emergent Asset Management and discuss Agriculture, a keystone industry for Sub-Saharan Africa, a region which is home to almost a billion people and presents one of the greatest humanitarian challenges and economic opportunities of modern civilisation. In this exclusive interview,…

 

July 16th, 2009 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
In this article, we speak to Kristiina Rintakoski, Executive Director of the Crisis Management Initiative (launched by Nobel Prize winner President Martti Ahtisaari) about global conflict, its relationship with economic inequality, climate change and energy. We talk about the dynamics of conflict and crisis situations, and how organisations like CMI…

 

July 2nd, 2009 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL

In this article, we speak to Jeremy Smith, Chief Strategy Officer at SecondMarket, where over 3,000 participants manage over $1 trillion, participating in the world’s largest centralized, independent marketplace and auction platform for illiquid assets from auction rate securities to private company shares, CDO’s, mortgage and asset backed securities. http://thoughteconomics.blogspot.com/2009/07/investing-and-trading-illiquid-assets.html…

 

June 20th, 2009 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
In this article, we are privileged to speak to Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia and president of Wikia Inc. We speak to Mr. Wales about his latest project, “Wikia” and about how our world is now, and will forever be, remarkably changed by Participatory Culture, Mass-Collaboration and the pace of…

 

December 15th, 2008 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
More than ever before in human history, our countries are linked in a complex economic framework which creates dependencies between all nations. In a privileged interview, Thought Economics speaks to Professor Wim Naudé, (Senior Research Fellow and Project Director of the United Nations University World Institute for Developing Economics Research)…

 

September 24th, 2008 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL

The past 10 days have been “the most dramatic in Wall Street’s 216-year history” seeing Lehman Brothers collapse, AIG fall into critical distress, and the US Federal Reserve creating a c. US$1 Trillion rescue plan to “save the world”. While many investors were caught in this crisis, the leading economists…

 

Explore an archive of more than 3,000 quotes.

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You cannot understand entrepreneurial activity without understanding optimism. Research has shown that optimism and overconfidence in individuals is directly linked to their engagement in entrepreneurial activity.

— Daniel Kahneman
Nobel Prize Winner in Economics for Behavioral Economics Research
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We need to shift our thinking about what government does, and what civil servants do, away from this relentless focus on policy and ideology and onto project management and problem solving.

— Beth Simone Noveck
Chief Innovation Officer of the White House & Open Government Advocate
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Entrepreneurs that do it for greed of money fail. Entrepreneurship isn't about greed, it has nothing to do with that; what matters is personal freedom.

— Kevin O’Leary
Shark Tank investor, businessman, and former Canadian political candidate
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When the hydrogen bomb was first proposed in the early 1950's, the scientific panel in charge of US nuclear research recommended against it, unanimously. They called it a weapon of genocide whose only purpose would be to kill hundreds of thousands of civilians.

— Joseph Cirincione
Nuclear weapons expert and president of the Ploughshares Fund.
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It feels to us that the festival is owned by the people, and me and my Dad are kind-of custodians of it. In that sense, it's a bit like a sailing ship… me and my Dad drive it, but the ship is made of a few hundred people.

— Emily Eavis
Co-organizer of Glastonbury Festival with her father Michael Eavis

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

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