Where Shall We Meet

Questions, suggestions, or feedback? Send us a message!Our guest this week is Jacinda Ardern. She became the world's youngest female head of government at age 37. Ardern served as Prime Minister of New Zealand from 2017 to 2023, earning global admiration for her empathetic and decisive leadership through crises like the Christchurch attacks and the COVID-19 pandemic. Her trademark “be kind” approach redefined what modern political leadership could look like.In 2025, she released her memoir A Different Kind of Power, reflecting on how empathy can drive real progress. It’s more than a political memoir, it’s a profound insight into how it feels to lead.Since leaving office, Ardern has turned her focus to global initiatives on climate action, online safety, and compassionate leadership. She’s a Senior Fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School, a Distinguished Fellow of Oxford University's Blavatnik School of Government and a Trustee of Prince William’s Earthshot Prize, continuing her work to inspire change on the world stage.She was recently made a Dame Grand Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit — a fitting recognition for a leader whose grace and humanity have left a lasting mark far beyond her time in office.We talk about:A kinder definition of leadershipMedia’s new incentivesChanging the culture of engagementTaking the money out of politicsThe dangerous loss of nuanceCaring is more important than caring about politicsAllowing politicians to change their mindBuying back guns from civiliansLet’s do this!Web: www.whereshallwemeet.xyzTwitter: @whrshallwemeetInstagram: @whrshallwemeet

Questions, suggestions, or feedback? Send us a message!Our guest this week is Kim Stanley Robinson, also know as Stan. He is an American science fiction writer best known for his Mars trilogy of novels. Over his career he has published over 20 books. Many of his novels and stories have ecological, and political themes, featuring scientists as heroes.Robinson has won numerous awards, including the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award for Best Novel, as well as the World Fantasy Award.The Atlantic magazine has called Robinson's work "the gold standard of realistic, and highly literary, science-fiction writing." According to an article in The New Yorker magazine, Robinson is "generally acknowledged as one of the greatest living science-fiction writers." Time magazine named him “the hero of the environment” for his optimistic focus on future possibilities.His most recent novel “The Ministry for the Future” presents a vision for how humanity might unite together to overcome the climate crisis.We talk about:What is science fiction The difference between Utopia and Optopia Being optimistic whilst remaining vigilant Predicting the future What the hell is terraforming Finance as a tool for changing civilisation The current state of American politics Championing scientists If anything is possible, is nothing interesting?If you want to support the podcast please follow us on your favourite podcast apps, rate the show and share it with your friends.You can now message us with feedback and ideas following the link at the top of the episode description.Let’s talk about the future!Web: www.whereshallwemeet.xyzTwitter: @whrshallwemeetInstagram: @whrshallwemeet

Questions, suggestions, or feedback? Send us a message!Our guest this week is Alain de Botton. Alain is a London based writer and psychotherapist. His first book, Essays in Love was published when he was 23 years old and went on to sell two million copies. His books emphasise philosophy's relevance to everyday life. Other bestsellers include How Proust Can Change Your Life (1997), Status Anxiety (2004), and The Architecture of Happiness (2006).He’s written 15 books under his name and many more under The School of Life imprint, which have become bestsellers in 30 countries. He is not just a writer, but also an organizer of ideas and institutions.He founded The School Of Life in 2008, which is dedicated to help people lead more emotionally intelligent lives – through classes, books, games, therapy, films, articles, their app, and their podcast. Their website says, everything they do supports self-knowledge, better relationships, and brings calm to modern life.His public profile emphasises his desire to bridge intellectual ideas into a lived experience.We talk about:2 and a half friends is plenty A more rigorous approach to friendshipDifferent types of friends - from the teasing to the mirco Platonic sleepoversOne way friends Enemies of friendship The bravery of being weird Good substitutes for friendsLet’s make friends!Web: www.whereshallwemeet.xyzTwitter: @whrshallwemeetInstagram: @whrshallwemeet

Rutger Bregman, a Dutch historian and bestselling author known for 'Humankind,' dives into the concept of moral ambition. He advocates for blending utopian visions with practical tactics to drive real change. The conversation explores individual versus societal responsibilities, emphasizing that mere decency isn’t enough. Rutger shares insights on the value of tough love in recruitment and how to create winning coalitions for activism. He also discusses accessible pathways for anyone to engage morally ambitious work, like Moral Ambition Circles and free curricula.

Questions, suggestions, or feedback? Send us a message!Our guest this week is Howard Covington. Howard is a Cambridge graduate in physics and maths. He has been a banker, a co-founder and chief executive of New Star Asset Management, and a trustee of the Science Museum. He’s also been and chair of the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences at the University of Cambridge, The Alan Turing Institute, ClientEarth, and the Scotia Group.He is the incoming chair of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford. Howard is a fellow of the Institute of Physics and an honorary fellow of the Isaac Newton Institute and The Alan Turing Institute.We want to a talk Howard gave recently and were very amazed about how many of his predictions have come to pass and therefore left comforted by his positive predictions of the future.We talk about:A quick history of 540 million yearsLiving in the midst of the third Intelligence ExplosionPrinting meat to eatDark factoriesAre robots part of evolutionHow capitalism drives the race to net zeroThe restoration of the planetLet’s gaze into the future!Web: www.whereshallwemeet.xyzTwitter: @whrshallwemeetInstagram: @whrshallwemeet

Questions, suggestions, or feedback? Send us a message!Paul Bennett is a designer. For 23 years he worked at design and innovation powerhouse IDEO, where he was Chief Creative Officer and then co-CEO. There he was responsible for content excellence across the whole firm, and was active in developing and publishing new thinking in the field of human-centered and design-led innovation.Today, Paul is a Senior Advisor at McKinsey, where he continues to provide creative leadership and cross-pollination of insights and ideas to clients and colleagues on an extended scale by traveling, learning, and working across the globe.Paul has taught and coached students from the Royal College of Art (UK), Stanford University and Columbia Business School. Most recently he has taught on the Masters program at KHiO in Oslo and at Iceland Academy of the Arts in Reykjavík.We talk about:Redesigning deathLosing parentsDigital remains of our livesDeath is a universal market opportunityUsing the full extent of the design space death providesThe pursuit of immortalityEuthanasiaWho matters more the dying or the left behindLet’s design!Web: www.whereshallwemeet.xyzTwitter: @whrshallwemeetInstagram: @whrshallwemeet

Questions, suggestions, or feedback? Send us a message!Dr Carine Minne is Consultant Psychiatrist in Forensic Psychotherapy & Psychoanalysis at England’s High Security Hospital, Broadmoor. She was also based at The Portman Clinic, London for three decades - an out-patient psychotherapy clinic for people suffering from problems of violence and sexual paraphilia - both under the NHS public health service.She chairs the International Psychoanalytic Association Violence Committee and is editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Forensic Psychotherapy. She has published widely and lectures nationally and internationally. Her main focus always remains the rehumanising of the dehumanised. She doesn’t believe in innate evil but in evil acts that are carried out, therefore intervention and treatment is always worthwhile. She is speaking personal experience whilst not representing any of the aforementioned organisations.We talk about:Working as a psychotherapist in a high security prisonWhat creates a violent criminalHow childhood trauma causes disinhibitionInterventions during the first 1000 days of lifeComparing reoffending rates in different countriesThe prison industrial complexAsymmetry of empathy for perpetrators and victimsEducation’s impact on recidivisimLet’s investigate!Web: www.whereshallwemeet.xyzTwitter: @whrshallwemeetInstagram: @whrshallwemeet

Questions, suggestions, or feedback? Send us a message!Our guest today is Anil Seth, Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, where he is also Director of the Sussex Centre for Consciousness Science. He was the founding Editor-in-Chief of Neuroscience of Consciousness Oxford University Press.Anil is a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher (2019-2024), which recognizes the top 0.1% of scientists in the world, by the impact of their publications.N - In 2023, he was awarded the Royal Society’s Michael Faraday Prize, which is ‘awarded annually to the scientist or engineer whose expertise in communicating scientific ideas in lay terms is exemplary’.His 2021 book Being You: A New Science of Consciousness was a Sunday Times Top 10 Bestseller, and was Economist, Guardian and FT Science Book of the Year. Anil edited and co-authored the best-selling 30 Second Brain, and also writes the blog NeuroBanter.We talk about:How to define consciousnessWhat it feels like to be a batAre we at the mercy of our brain chemistryThe concept of interoceptionThe white and gold OR the blue and black dressWe predict ourselves into existenceDoes consciousness need a bodyLet’s get our neurons firing!Web: www.whereshallwemeet.xyzTwitter: @whrshallwemeetInstagram: @whrshallwemeet

Questions, suggestions, or feedback? Send us a message!Our guest today is Laura Clarke. She is the CEO of ClientEarth. She was recognised as one of the most influential climate business leaders globally in Time magazines top 100 climate list. Her background is in diplomacy and environmental advocacy. Laura was British High Commissioner to New Zealand, Governor of the Pitcairn Islands, High Commissioner to Samoa and has an OBE. Laura holds an MA in German and Russian from Cambridge University and a MSc in International Relations from the London School of Economics.ClientEarth uses the law to hold polluting companies and negligent governments to account for the climate and nature crisis. It is one of the most ambitious environmental organisations that works across boarders, systems and sectors using the law to protect life on Earth. ClientEarth works in over 60 countries with around 140 active cases tackling the most pressing environmental challenges. The impact of this charity’s work goes far beyond the cases that they fight in court but sets standards and creates precedents that lead to wider climate compliance.We talk about:Holding governments to climate laws2 million abandoned oil wellsUsing shareholder interests to companies accountableHolding directors personally liable for climate action not takenChina’s proactive stance on climateHow we can use the law as citizensSuing multinational organisations into climate complianceHow 36 companies are responsible for half the world’s total emissionsLet’s go to courtWeb: www.whereshallwemeet.xyzTwitter: @whrshallwemeetInstagram: @whrshallwemeet

Questions, suggestions, or feedback? Send us a message!Our guest today is Sam Harris. Sam is the host of the Making Sense Podcast and an the author of five New York Times best sellers. His books include The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation, The Moral Landscape, Free Will, Lying, Waking Up, and Islam and the Future of Tolerance (with Maajid Nawaz). His writing and public lectures cover a wide range of topics—neuroscience, moral philosophy, religion, meditation practice, human violence, rationality—but generally focus on how a growing understanding of ourselves and the world is changing our sense of how we should live.Sam’s work has been published in more than 20 languages and has been discussed in The New York Times, Time, Scientific American, Nature, Rolling Stone, and many other publications. He has written for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Economist, The Atlantic, Nature, among others. The Making Sense Podcast, which was selected by Apple as one of the “iTunes Best” and has won a Webby Award for best podcast in the Science & Education category.Sam received a degree in philosophy from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA. He has also practiced meditation for more than 30 years and has studied with many Tibetan, Indian, Burmese, and Western meditation teachers, both in the United States and abroad. He has created the Waking Up app for anyone who wants to learn to meditate in a modern, scientific context.We talk about:How failing at meditation is the best approachDissolving concepts that are made up by our mindHow to loose your headHis book the Moral LandscapeMoral absolutes versus moral relativismIs adversity is the only path to growthThe illusory distinction between rationality and emotionsHis book Free WillWhether we really know why we change our mindsHow losing a foot might lead to better podcastsAnd a lot moreLet’s meditate!Web: www.whereshallwemeet.xyzTwitter: @whrshallwemeetInstagram: @whrshallwemeet