Shows / The Next Big Idea
The Next Big Idea
The Next Big Idea is a weekly series of in-depth interviews with the world’s leading thinkers. Join hosts Rufus Griscom and Caleb Bissinger — along with our curators, Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, Susan Cain, and Daniel Pink — for conversations that might just change the way you see the world. New episodes every Monday and Thursday. For ad inquiries, please reach out to: Network+NBI@yapmedia.com
Episodes
- The Next Big Idea
Danny Meyer on "What Could Possibly Go Right"
What does it take to turn a money-losing hot dog cart into a global empire? Surprisingly, it starts with how you treat your employees. Danny Meyer, the…
- The Next Big Idea
Best Of: Stop Wasting Your Talent and Start Making a Difference
What if everything we've been told about having a successful career is wrong? Rutger Bregman thinks most of us are wasting our working lives and argues we…
- The Next Big Idea
Musk, Bezos, and the Battle to Control Space
For the last few years, the global space race has been dominated by two billionaires: Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. They’ve launched thousands of satellites…
- The Next Big Idea
The Modern Science of Ancient Wisdom
June Cohen has spent her career shaping the future, from bringing TED Talks online to launching Masters of Scale. But she has come to believe that some of the…
- The Next Big Idea
How to Become the Most Interesting Person You Know
We all carry around invisible lists, private ledgers of disappointment — the talents we wish we had, the hobbies we’d like to take up, the passion projects we…
- The Next Big Idea
Feel the AGI: Kevin Roose on the Strange, Intoxicating Race to Superintelligence
What’s really fueling the race to build superintelligence? Science? Idealism? Money? Try spite. “These guys hate each other,” says Kevin Roose. “It’s grudges…
- The Next Big Idea
Daniel Pink and Angela Duckworth on Friction-Maxxing, Becoming a Mentor Magnet and the Problem with Solo Striving
Our curator Daniel Pink recently sat down with Angela Duckworth to chat about her new book, Situated: Find the People and Places That Bring Out Your Best…
- The Next Big Idea
The One Word That Explains Progress
Martin Seligman founded the positive psychology movement. Now, at 84, he’s shaking up the field all over again. He’s got a new book out. It’s called Agency…
- The Next Big Idea
Angela Duckworth Now Thinks "Grit" Wasn't the Whole Story
Ten years ago, Angela Duckworth became one of the world’s most influential psychologists by making the case for grit. Though talent matters, she argued, it’s…
- The Next Big Idea
AI Has Gone Rogue. Here’s What We Should Do About It.
"This Is Really Bad." That's the not-so-comforting headline of Stephen Witt's mega-viral New York Times essay about a dawning realization among Silicon Valley…
- The Next Big Idea
You Don't Have Free Will. That's Good News.
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…
- The Next Big Idea
The Art of Fighting
We’ve gotten very good at cutting people off. But have we forgotten how to work through our differences? In The Art of Fighting, bestselling author and…
- The Next Big Idea
Is America a ‘Country of Lords’?
America was founded on a radical promise: all people are created equal. But for 250 years, some of the country’s most powerful thinkers have been arguing the…
- The Next Big Idea
A Storytelling Masterclass with Will Storr
Will Storr is the author of the dazzling books The Science of Storytelling and A Story Is a Deal, and in this episode, he tells us everything he knows about…
- The Next Big Idea
What Can Henry David Thoreau Teach Us About Work?
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…
- The Next Big Idea
How French Philosophy Wired Modern Thinking
How did a group of notoriously difficult French philosophers become intellectual rock stars on American college campuses — and how much do their ideas matter…
- The Next Big Idea
A Nobel Prize Winner’s Plan to Save Democracy
Democracy is in the dumps. OK, that's a bit dramatic. But it's definitely not working as well as it used to. Good thing Daron Acemoglu — Nobel laureate, MIT…
- The Next Big Idea
How to Unlock the Creativity You Already Have
What if creativity isn’t a talent you’re born with, but a muscle you’ve simply stopped using? In Daily Creative, Blythe Harris and Mallory May make the case…
- The Next Big Idea
Caroline Webb on the Leadership Skills AI Can’t Replace
Want to be a better leader? Start by doing less. In her new book, Leadership Intelligence, Caroline Webb shows how smart delegation, ruthless prioritization…
- The Next Big Idea
Can Democracy Survive the AI Revolution?
Today, we're revisiting Rufus's conversation with Yuval Noah Harari about his book Nexus. It's Harari at his best — a soaring overview of human history that…
- The Next Big Idea
Your Mind Is a Propagandist
Your brain is a master storyteller. The problem? It’s also an unreliable narrator. We like to think our beliefs are built on facts, logic, and careful…
- The Next Big Idea
The Bedazzling Mystery of Why We’re Here
We’ve had many bracing thinkers on this show, but Sara Walker might take the cake. A physicist and astrobiologist at Arizona State University, her book Life as…
- The Next Big Idea
How to Lead a More Gratifying Life
We’ve optimized nearly every part of modern life. So why does it feel like we’re missing the experience of actually living it? In The Small Stuff, Ian Bogost…
- The Next Big Idea
Best Of: Adam Grant on the Science of Achieving Greater Things
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…
- The Next Big Idea
Are Robots About to Change Everything?
We've spent the last few years watching AI transform the digital world. Now it's coming for the physical one. Humanoid robots are leaving the lab and entering…
- The Next Big Idea
You Can Just Do Things
Why do some people seem to create opportunities wherever they go while others spend years waiting for the right break? According to Cate Hall — lawyer turned…
- The Next Big Idea
The Lost Art of Asking Questions
In the age of AI, endless information, and instant certainty, philosopher Lani Watson argues that questions — not answers — are humanity's greatest…
- The Next Big Idea
Sorry, Skeptics — AI Is Not a Bubble
First, a few numbers. This year Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta will spend more than $700 billion building AI infrastructure. There are 1,500 data…
- The Next Big Idea
Why Creating Beats Consuming | Mark Pincus (Part 2)
Most people think success comes from having an original idea. Mark Pincus thinks that's one of the most expensive mistakes you can make. After building one of…
- The Next Big Idea
Living at the Speed of Play
Podcasting is lousy with guests who peddle advice about starting businesses, building careers, and living full lives. Few of these gurus have actually…
- The Next Big Idea
How to Be a Super Ager
For years, cardiologist Eric Topol hunted for the rarest people in America: those over 80 who had never been sick. When he finally found 1,400 of them, he made…
- The Next Big Idea
What If Saving the Planet Could Be Fun?
Despite decades of urgency and alarm, progress on climate change has felt frustratingly slow. What if we've been going about it all wrong? Elizabeth Dunn and…
- The Next Big Idea
How to Live a Long and Useful Life
Publisher, scientist, humorist, diplomat — Benjamin Franklin was America's first polymath. Today, with help from Eric Weiner, we revisit Franklin's life…
- The Next Big Idea
As America Turns 250, Are You in the Mood to Celebrate?
"We’re entering our 250th birthday, and we’re not quite in the mood for a birthday party. We’ve been tearing ourselves apart." That's what Walter Isaacson told…
- The Next Big Idea
THE GOD TEST (Part 2): Can Humanity Pass the Cosmic Reckoning?
On Thursday, Rufus and Robert Wright (The God Test) talked about AI as a new stage in the evolution of intelligence — and about the very human traits already…
- The Next Big Idea
THE GOD TEST (Part 1): Are You Ready for Superintelligence?
Does the logic of human destiny now lead to artificial intelligence? Are we creating a higher form of intelligence in our own image? And, if so, what kind of…
- The Next Big Idea
You Have 72 Free Hours a Week. How Do You Want to Spend Them?
Most of us swear we have no free time. But the week is 168 hours long. Subtract a 40-hour job and eight hours of sleep a night, and you're left with 72 hours…
- The Next Big Idea
Are You Playing Someone Else’s Game?
GPAs. Citations. Step counts. Likes. We love a good metric, don't we? It tells you exactly where you stand, no arguing. Mention a 4.0 to a high schooler and…
- The Next Big Idea
This World Cup Is Messy. Watch It Anyway.
The World Cup kicked off over the weekend, and so far the mood is meh. Fans are fuming over sell-your-kidney ticket prices, frightened by reports that ICE may…
- The Next Big Idea
The Case for AI Optimism with Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler
Nearly half of all Americans believe AI is bad for humanity. Peter Diamandis is not one of them. On his podcast, Moonshots, and in his new book, We Are as…
- The Next Big Idea
Best Of: The Power of Thinking Outside Your Brain
Modern life has not been easy on our brains. Average IQ scores rose steadily throughout the last century. Now they appear to be leveling off. The problem…
- The Next Big Idea
Want to Be Happier? Try Talking to Strangers.
Nicholas Epley is a mind reader. But he doesn’t have ESP or practice hypnosis. He's not telepathic or clairvoyant. Sure, you could ask him to read your…
- The Next Big Idea
Best Of: Gretchen Rubin’s Guide to Getting Out of Your Head and Into the World
What do your five senses — sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch — have to do with happiness? According to Gretchen Rubin, a great deal. The world around us…
- The Next Big Idea
The Case for Speechmaking in the Age of Doomscrolling
America's a funny place. It's not a country with a fixed geographic or religious identity. We don't have a common story of divine creation. "What we have,"…
- The Next Big Idea
Best Of: Stop Chasing More. Start Embracing Your Limits.
In his mega-bestseller Four Thousand Weeks, Oliver Burkeman showed that the finitude of life “isn’t a reason for unremitting despair, or for living in an…
- The Next Big Idea
When Will AI Empty Your Dishwasher? (with Nicholas Thompson)
Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic and host of "The Most Interesting Thing in AI," joins Rufus and Caleb to explain why the machines may master our minds…
- The Next Big Idea
Best Of: An Epicurean Guide to the Good Life
The Greek philosopher Epicurus made a rather bold claim over two thousand years ago. The key to life, he said, is simple: pursue pleasure and avoid pain…
- The Next Big Idea
What if Uncertainty Isn’t Such a Bad Thing?
You can run from uncertainty, but you can’t hide. The thing to do, says Simone Stolzoff, to develop comfort with ambiguity and build tolerance for the unknown…
- The Next Big Idea
You Can Grow Your Brain. Here’s How.
In the last 20 years, there has been a dramatic change in our understanding of neuroplasticity — the brain’s capacity to grow new neurons. In the last five…
- The Next Big Idea
Turning Constraints Into Breakthroughs with David Epstein
Is freedom overrated? In his new book, Inside the Box, David Epstein argues that constraints, limits and obstacles are what stimulate creativity, innovation…
- The Next Big Idea
You're in the Hospitality Business (Whether You Know It or Not)
For the last three years, Will Guidara has been on the road talking about unreasonable hospitality. He's met financiers and prison wardens, educators and…
- The Next Big Idea
We're Still Thinking About This Conversation with Will Guidara
In September 2023, Will Guidara told us the story of how he used two words to turn a middling brasserie into the best restaurant in the world. Those two words?…
- The Next Big Idea
Here’s Our Favorite Book of the Season
Every few months, we pick one book with the power to change how you see the world. Then we build an experience around it: author conversations, reading guides…
- The Next Big Idea
“Beliefs Are Tools, Not Truths”
What's standing between you and your goals? Focus? Discipline? Motivation? Nir Eyal points the finger somewhere else. Your beliefs. In his new book, Beyond…
- The Next Big Idea
The History and Future of Apple
In celebration of Apple's 50th birthday, we're probing the company's past and peering into its future with David Pogue — former New York Times tech columnist…
- The Next Big Idea
Best Of: Tony Fadell’s Guide to Building Products, Startups and Careers
Tony Fadell led the teams that created the iPod, iPhone, and Nest Thermostat. In his book Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making, he shares…
- The Next Big Idea
Demis Hassabis Wants to Build AGI. Should We Trust Him?
When journalist Sebastian Mallaby approached Demis Hassabis, Google's AI chief and a man with a lifelong mission to build superintelligence, about writing his…
- The Next Big Idea
Patrick Radden Keefe on a Double Life, a Gilded City and a Mysterious Death
In 2023, Patrick Radden Keefe met a man who told him, "I might have a story for you." When you're Patrick — New Yorker staff writer, author of "some of the…
- The Next Big Idea
How to Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay
It’s a big, bad, scary, lonely world out there. Lucky for us, Jenny Lawson — aka the Bloggess — has collected more than a hundred tricks and tools that have…
- The Next Big Idea
Best Of: The New Science of Improving Your Memory
The French filmmaker Jean Renoir said, "The only things that are important in life are the things you remember." But what do you remember and why? That's the…