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The Next Big Idea

Latest episodes

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Jul 28, 2022 • 41min

Finding Stillness With Ryan Holiday

Here’s another episode from our archives that we love: Rufus’s 2020 interview with Ryan Holiday, the author of “Stillness Is the Key,” who shared his tips for slowing down, calming your mind, and accessing the tranquility deep inside.
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Jul 21, 2022 • 1h 12min

Amanda Little on the Fate of Food

Today we’re bringing you a timely — and tasty — episode from our archives. Science journalist Amanda Little tells Rufus that the biggest threat posed by climate change is the collapse of our food systems. Provisions we love, like coffee and wine, are losing their flavor. And crops we rely on, like corn and soy, are getting harder to grow. If we don’t change our agricultural practices, we won’t be able to feed the globe’s swelling population. But don’t lose hope. Amanda says that if we can combine the wisdom of traditional farming practices with radical advances in agricultural technology, we might be able to create a healthier, more sustainable, and perhaps even more delicious future.
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Jul 14, 2022 • 1h 29min

John Colapinto on the Power and Beauty of the Human Voice

Today, we are revisiting one of our favorite episodes: an interview with New Yorker staff writer John Colapinto. In his brilliant book, "This Is the Voice," John says that while opposable thumbs are handy, the voice is our species' greatest attribute. We rely on it to communicate and collaborate, woo our mates and protect our children, win wars and make podcasts. John would know. A vocal injury changed his relationship with his instrument and set him on a path to better understand what his voice means to him — and what the voice means to humanity.
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Jul 7, 2022 • 1h 14min

THE ESSENTIALS: Our Favorite Moments From Season 4

We laughed. We cried. We learned.As our fourth season draws to a close, we thought we'd share the moments we're still talking about at Next Big Idea Club HQ.Further Listening:• REGRETS: Daniel Pink Has a Few (And So Should You)• VOICE: You Are What You Speak• EXTENDED MIND: Want to Get Smarter? Try Thinking Outside of Your Brain• FUN: How to Have More of It• FEELING & KNOWING: Unlocking the Secrets of Consciousness• REALITY+: Are We Living in a Simulation?• DRUNK: Can Alcohol Make You More Creative, Sociable, and Attractive?• DAWN OF EVERYTHING: The True History of Humanity• LAZINESS: There's No Such Thing • DOPAMINE NATION: Why the Modern World Puts Us All at Risk for Addiction• BITTERSWEET: Susan Cain on the Beauty of Sorrow and Longing• THE BOMBER MAFIA: Malcolm Gladwell on Warfare, Audiobooks, and the Future of Storytelling
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Jun 30, 2022 • 1h 3min

BICYCLES: Are They the Future of Transportation?

Jody Rosen is a contributing writer at the New York Times Magazine and a bike nut who has just published a rousing (and sometimes arousing) book called “Two Wheels Good: The History and Mystery of the Bicycle.” Today, he takes us on a rollicking ride through the two-wheeled revolution, revealing the surprising ways bicycles have shaped the world in which we live.This and That:» Download the Next Big Idea app» Learn more about Transportation Alternatives» Check out the plans to build pedestrian and cycling bridges in NYC
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Jun 23, 2022 • 1h 10min

BIG DATA: Cracking the Codes of Love, Happiness and Success

“You can make better life decisions. Big Data can help you.” So begins “Don’t Trust Your Gut,” a new book by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz. Seth, a former Google data scientist, has mined massive data sets in order to answer some of life’s most vexing questions: “What predicts a happy marriage?” and “How do you get rich?” and “What really makes us happy?” The answers may surprise you.Download the Next Big Idea app today at nextbigideaclub.com/app/
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Jun 16, 2022 • 58min

Susan Cain & Daniel Pink: Writing, Longing, and the Search for Meaning

What do we lose when we avoid sorrow and chase empty delights, when we mask our pain and feign cheerfulness, when we profess to have no regrets and insist on turning every frown upside down? Those questions are at the heart of two new books by our curators Susan Cain (“Bittersweet”) and Daniel Pink (“The Power of Regret”). Today on the show, they sit down with Rufus to swap notes on the writing process, share what they’ve learned from each other, and imagine what the world might look like if we all learned how to embrace negative emotions.Show Notes:» Check out our previous interviews with Susan and Dan» Use the code PODCAST20 at nextbigideaclub.com for 20% off an express membership
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Jun 9, 2022 • 55min

RELATIONSHIPS: Why Everything You Know About Them Is (Mostly) Wrong

Eric Barker is not a people person. “Getting me to write a relationship book,” he says, “is like asking Godzilla to improve the infrastructure in your city.” But he did it anyway. Guided by leading social psychologists, Eric went on a journey to understand what he was getting wrong about relationships — and what he could do to turn things around. The result is “Plays Well With Others,” a guide to friendship, intimacy, loneliness, and belonging that our curator Daniel Pink says will “revitalize your life.”THIS AND THAT:Check out Eric’s blog, “Barking Up the Wrong Tree”Try out Arthur Aron’s intimacy building questionsDownload the Next Big Idea app
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Jun 2, 2022 • 51min

How To Be a Grown-Up

In this special episode, Daniel Pink delivers a commencement address, Stanford-dean-turned-bestselling-author Julie Lythcott-Haims shares her manual for being an adult, and Arthur C. Brooks provides his roadmap for finding success, happiness, and purpose in the second half of life.Next Big Idea App:Download our app today at www.nextbigideaclub.com/app
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May 26, 2022 • 1h 12min

IMAGINABLE: How Anyone Can Predict the Future (Yes, Even You)

In January 2020, when the coronavirus started making headlines around the world, Jane McGonigal’s inbox was flooded with emails from Silicon Valley execs, government officials, and non-profit leaders. They all had the same question: “Jane, didn’t you run a simulation of a respiratory pandemic?”Yes, she had. All the way back in 2010.Jane is a game designer. She builds simulations that help players imagine the unimaginable. And in 2010, she invited nearly 20,000 people to immerse themselves in a future world besieged by a global pandemic. “How would you change your habits?” she asked. “What social interactions would you avoid? Can you work from home?”A decade later, when COVID went from nascent threat to full-blown crisis, Jane started hearing from folks who had participated in the simulation. “I’m not freaking out,” one of them said with relief. “I already worked through the panic and anxiety when we imagined it ten years ago.”According to the latest research in psychology and neuroscience, we can all learn to make the shift from panic to poise by training our brains to think about the unthinkable. But what does that training look like? In her new book, “Imaginable” — and on today’s episode — Jane shares evidence-based techniques you can use to see the future coming.URGENT OPTIMISTS:Want to participate in one of Jane's Simulations? Visit urgentoptimists.orgNEXT BIG IDEA CLUB:Want to hear hundreds of authors summarize their books in just 12 minutes? Download The Next Big Idea app today at nextbigideaclub.com/app

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