The Big Think Interview

About The Big Think Interview

Big Think is the leading source of expert-driven, actionable, educational content -- with thousands of videos helping you get smarter, faster. Get actionable lessons from the world’s greatest thinkers & doers. Our experts are either disrupting or leading their respective fields. We aim to help you explore the big ideas and core skills that define knowledge in the 21st century, so you can apply them to the questions and challenges in your own life.

Publisher

Big Think

Category

education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

14 Nov 2024

Latest episode

23 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

1 of 46 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   23 Oct 2026

   Mimetic desire, social contagion, and the fight for your true self | Luke Burgis

   In 1936, a shipyard worker in Hamburg kept his arms folded while hundreds of men around him raised theirs for Hitler. Luke Burgis, author of Wanting and The One in the 99, wants to know what it takes to become that person, and he traces the answer back to the family. Drawing on psychiatrist Murray Bowen’s distinction between the solid self and the pseudo self, Burgis shows how anxiety and opinion pass through groups by contagion, and how our screens have multiplied the crowds we have to stand within.

2. 

   16 Oct 2026

   Pantheism: A third way between religion and atheism | Jack Symes

   For decades, atheists have used one move to dismantle the case for God: swap in an evil one and show that the arguments work just as well. Philosopher Jack Symes was convinced by it, and was 50,000 words into a book defending atheism when he noticed that the exercise kept tipping toward goodness. He threw out the manuscript and started over.

3. 

   9 Oct 2026

   The theory that connects the origin of life to the rise of intelligence | Blaise Aguera

   From von Neumann's blueprint, which predated the discovery of DNA, to viral genes that now help form our memories and placentas, Blaise Agüera y Arcas argues that function defines life more than material does, and that AI belongs in the same story. He explains why he thinks AGI is already here, and gives a blueprint for using AI without sacrificing your own mind.

Inside a recent episode

Young people say their lives feel fake. Here’s why | Arthur Brooks

Published 7 Aug 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] And this is not just because we operate like cavemen. Still today, it's really important that you have motivations, mystery and meaning in your life to want to do things that have significance. And you have to figure out how to actually go and do those things. If you don't have one side, if you can't do the how-to and what, you'll be helpless. You'll be a disaster. But if you don't have the why, you'll be rootless and won't have any idea why you're doing what you're doing, and you'll be depressed and lonely and anxious. Now, of course, what I'm talking about here is that the one side of the brain, one part of the brain, is the why side, is the meaning side. […]

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Spotify

4.8 / 5

114 ratings

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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