The Next Big Idea Wondery

Neuroscientist, philosopher, podcaster, author, meditation guru, and unabashed atheist Sam Harris is one of our best-known — and most controversial — public intellectuals. In this bonus episode, he and Rufus talk about consciousness, free will, morality, and people’s stubborn insistence on being irrational.

You have to play with the hand you’re dealt. At least that’s what we’re always told. But is it really true? How much of what we achieve in life is the product of our pluck and guile, and how much is just dumb luck? To find out, New Yorker writer Maria Konnikova dropped everything and joined the pro poker tour. The lessons were not what she expected.

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You may have heard about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which sees human development as a sort of a pyramid, with survival needs at the bottom, social and emotional needs in the middle, and “self-actualization” at the top. Psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman thinks we can do better. Instead of striving to become our best selves, we can strive to connect with the world beyond ourselves — to truly transcend.

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The Great Courses Plus - Get FREE access to the entire library at thegreatcoursesplus.com/bigidea.

The Next Big Idea - Visit https://www.nextbigideaclub.com/podcast and use the code FREE3 for a three-month pass.

Our society is built on the assumption that we’re all a broken stoplight away from reverting to our animal selves. It’s what we’ve come to call “realism.” Historian Rutger Bregman thinks that kind of realism is, well, unrealistic. And not because we can learn to be better, but because deep down, we already are.

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Great Courses Plus — thegreatcoursesplus.com/bigidea

The Next Big Idea Club — Visit https://www.nextbigideaclub.com/podcast and use the code FREE3 for a three-month pass.

Birds do it, bees do it, even fishes in the seas do it. So why do we have such a hard time when people migrate from one place to another? Science writer Sonia Shah presents the evidence that migration is central to the human story -- and it just might save us from what’s coming next.




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Great Courses Plus — thegreatcoursesplus.com/bigidea

The Next Big Idea Club — Visit https://www.nextbigideaclub.com/podcast and use the code FREE3 for a three-month pass.

We do it 25,000 times a day, but most of us rarely give breathing a thought. Author James Nestor says we’re missing out on one of the most powerful pathways to health and happiness. He leads Rufus through the ins and outs of intentional breathing, revealing its potential to clear our minds, heal our bodies, and help us achieve incredible things. 




Support us by supporting our sponsors!

The Next Big Idea Club — Visit https://www.nextbigideaclub.com/podcast and use the code FREE3 for a three-month pass.