She's been called the voice of her generation. The future of journalism. A style icon. A muse. Oh, and she's still in high school.Tavi Gevinson has gone from bedroom blogger to founder and editor-in-chief of website and print series, Rookie, in just a few years. Rookie attracted over one million views within a week of launching, and has featured contributors such as Lena Dunham, Thom Yorke, Joss Whedon, Malcolm Gladwell, and Sarah Silverman.Watch this inspiring talk as Tavi discusses adversity, the creative process, her outlook on life, and the value of being a 'fangirl.' Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our economy is based on a model of constant growth - growth in production, growth in consumption, and growth in population. Economic growth has provided rising standards of living in the West, and has seen millions in China and India lifted out of poverty. But this model was disrupted in many countries by the global financial crisis. Will things settle down with growth resuming, or will our economies bump up against a wall of finite resources? And if they do, what will this mean the global balance of power?Richard Heinberg is an American journalist, educator, and author of 10 books, including 'The End of Growth.' Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Recorded in 2011 and the beginning of the Arab Spring, Mona Eltahawy reflects on the hunger for freedom and democracy unleashed within Arab populations living under dictatorship. This is considered alongside questions about whether  Saudi Arabia's oil makes western support for freedom and democracy melt away, and whether the west can't afford to prefer Arab democrats to Arab dictators. Mona Eltahawy is an award-winning columnist and international public speaker, renowned for her commentary on the 'Arab Spring'. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For over two decades, Michael Pollan has been opening our eyes to what we put in our body through books like 'Food Rules,' 'In Defense of Food,' and 'The Omnivore's Dilemma.' In this conversation with Rebecca Huntley, Pollan explores the ethical bonds that connect our bodies, farms and food to reveal what our food system has become and just how badly we need to fix it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From our systems of government to our most intimate relationships, the idea that we determine our own thoughts and actions is fundamental. But neuroscience and psychology have begun to unravel the illusion of free will. What does this mean for our cherished notions of political and social freedom and our focus on individual choice and responsibility? Join philospher and neuroscientist Sam Harris, one of the celebrated "four horsemen of new atheism," as he tried to convince you that free will is a delusion, and that accepting the delusion is important for society. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alan Ball is the wildly dark and inventine midn behind television's 'Six Feet Under' and 'True Blood,' as well as the critically acclaimed film 'American Beauty.' In one of his first ever solo public events, the Academy and Emmy Award-winning writer/producer/director/playwright is joined by Wil Anderson in a discussion of the origins and philosophy of Ball's work and outlook on life. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“It doesn't take remarkable insight to suggest that the defining idea of the coming decade will be the Internet,” says Peter Singer. The compression of time and space enabled by digital technologies is overhauling our traditional understanding of everything from community, identity, sexuality, and information accessibility. While the technology has brought huge advantages, there are still ethical questions that need to be addressed around piracy, censorship, and the place of outlets such as Wikileaks.Once labelled the most dangerous man in the world, Singer is one of the world's leading philosophers and author of books such as 'Animal Liberation' and 'Wired for War.' Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our lust for cheap animal protein and the intensification of factory farming make the torture and degradation of living creatures an integral part of our diet. To keep on enjoying those hamburgers and chicken wings, we lie to ourselves about what is happening in our names. Even as we claim the superiority of the human to the animal, we enjoy the prerogatives of the supreme predator and remain willfully blind to their consequences. What does being human mean under these circumstances?Jonathan Safran Foer is an author best known for his novels 'Everything Is Illuminated' and 'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close' and his latest nonfiction work, 'Eating Animals.' Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the late 90's, political theorists, economists and politicians were talking confidently about the end of history and the undisputed triumph of liberal "democratic" capitalism. Communism was written off as dead and buried. But after 9/11, the GFC, the Arab Spring, and the protests spreading over Europe, the ideological gloss of capitalism may be beginning to fade. If the alternative is Putin's muscular Tsarism or China's authoritarian capitalism, then renovating the idea of communism may matter profoundly.For philosophical rock star and brilliant iconoclast Slavoj Žižek, it is something that we should demand, no matter how impossible it seems. The only true utopia today is that things can go on indefinitely the way they are. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Has our invention and mastery of increasingly powerful technology turned humans into gods? From the destructive potential inherent in nuclear technology to the understanding of the building blocks of life represented by the sequencing of the human genome, our technologies have given us the power to create and destroy at a human and planetary scale. Futurist and filmmaker Jason Silva considers the responsibility inherent in this power, and the role these technological human-gods in our understanding of the world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.