Carl Sagan: "I don’t want to believe. I want to know." | Sasha Sagan

How to maximize wins and minimize losses, explained by four experts on game theory. Game theory is a useful tool for decision-making in situations where the outcome depends on multiple parties. It provides a systematic way to analyze the interdependence of individuals or organizations and their potential strategies. Not only does game theory help you identify the optimal strategy for achieving your goals, it can also help you avoid the sunk-cost fallacy — the tendency to persist in an endeavor because of the resources you've already invested. By taking into account the potential actions and responses of other players, game theory allows you to minimize your losses and make informed choices that lead to better outcomes. Whether you're negotiating a business deal or making investment decisions, game theory can be a valuable asset in helping you make smarter choices and achieve your objectives ------------------------------------------------- Chapters:- 0:00 What is game theory? 1:08 War: Learn from Reagan and Gorbachev 2:58 Poker: The sunk cost fallacy 5:56 Zero-sum games: The minimax strategy --------------------------------------------------------------------- Listen To This Next: Adam Grant's #1 phrase to unlock potential The science of super longevity Beat anxiety with the most addictive experience on Earth ------------------ Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Member Get exclusive access to full interviews, early access to new releases, Big Think merch and more ►Get Big Think+ for Business Guide, inspire and accelerate leaders at all levels of your company with the biggest minds in business About Kevin Zollman: Kevin Zollman is an associate professor in the Department of Philosophy at Carnegie Mellon University. He is also an associate fellow at the Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh, visiting professor at the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy (part of Ludwig-Maximilians Universität), and an associate editor of the journal Philosophy of Science. About Annie Duke: Annie Duke has leveraged her expertise in the science of smart decision making to excel at pursuits as varied as championship poker to public speaking. For two decades, Annie was one of the top poker players in the world. In 2004, she bested a field of 234 players to win her first World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet. The same year, she triumphed in the $2 million winner-take-all, invitation-only WSOP Tournament of Champions. In 2010, she won the prestigious NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. Prior to becoming a professional poker player, Annie was awarded the National Science Foundation Fellowship. Thanks to this fellowship, she studied Cognitive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. About Liv Boeree: Olivia "Liv" Boeree is a poker player, TV presenter and model from England who won the 2010 European Poker Tour in Sanremo. Born in Kent, Boeree studied at Ashford School before going on to earn a First Class Honours degree in Physics with Astrophysics at the University of Manchester. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Discover Big Think | Smarter Faster™ Your top destination for expert-driven, educational content. Featuring thousands of episodes and insights from renowned figures like Bill Clinton to Bill Nye, Big Think accelerates your learning by delving into the pivotal concepts and essential skills shaping knowledge in the 21st century... Unlock Knowledge, Faster With Insights from the World's Leading Minds Remember to Follow the Podcast and Enable Notifications If you found this episode valuable, Share It Leave a 5-Star Review! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How America Got Divorced from Reality: Christian Utopias, Anti-Elitism, Media Circus ------------------------------------------------------ Since a boat of religious fanatics with buckles on their hats hit the shores near Plymouth Rock and claimed that this was their utopia, America has always been a little bit crazy. It's this kind of wide-eyed "anything can happen if you believe" mentality that, at its best, can produce incredible art. But at its worst, it can be cruel and conspiratorial. We live in a country where people refuse to believe vaccination can help you and where a White House is spinning "alternative — but Kurt Andersen is here to say that this is nothing now. At the time of the Civil War, society had become split by two sides that refused to listen to each other. Back then, the political and social divide is stoked by a hyperbolic partisan media where anyone could publish whatever they wanted in a pamphlet without fact-checking. Sound familiar? It definitely should. Kurt's latest book is appropriately titled Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire. ----------------------------------------------------------- KURT ANDERSEN: Kurt Andersen, host of Studio 360 on NPR, is a journalist and the author of the novels Hey Day, Turn of the Century, The Real Thing, and his latest non-fiction book Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History. He has written and produced prime-time network television programs and pilots for NBC and ABC, and co-authored Loose Lips, an off-Broadway theatrical revue that had long runs in New York and Los Angeles. He is a regular columnist for New York Magazine, and contributes frequently to Vanity Fair. He is also a founder of Very Short List. Andersen began his career in journalism at NBC's Today program and at Time, where he was an award-winning writer on politics and criminal justice and for eight years the magazine's architecture and design critic. Returning to Time in 1993 as editor-at-large, he wrote a weekly column on culture. And from 1996 through 1999 he was a staff writer and columnist for The New Yorker. He was a co-founder of Inside.com, editorial director of Colors magazine, and editor-in-chief of both New York and Spy magazines, the latter of which he also co-founded. From 2004 through 2008 he wrote a column called "The Imperial City" for New York (one of which is included in The Best American Magazine Writing 2008). In 2008 Forbes. com named him one of The 25 Most Influential Liberals in the U.S. Media. Anderson graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College, and is a member of the boards of trustees of the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, the Pratt Institute, and is currently Visionary in Residence at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. He lives with his family in New York City. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why we keep giving power to the wrong people, according to political scientist and associate professor Brian Klaas. Brian Klaas, a political scientist and associate professor at University College London, argues that while the popular phrase "power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely" is true to a certain extent, the real problem lies in broken systems that attract and promote the wrong kind of people. In his research, Klaas has found that people who crave power are more likely to self-select into positions of power, resulting in a slate of leaders who are not representative of the general population. He believes that the solution is to design systems that attract better people. Klaas challenges the notion that the people in power are entirely to blame and instead reflects on why society is drawn toward abusive leaders. ----------------------------------------------------- What is the purpose of a cost-benefit evaluation in project management? Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Member Get exclusive access to full interviews, early access to new releases, Big Think merch and more ►Get Big Think+ for Business Guide, inspire and accelerate leaders at all levels of your company with the biggest minds in business Listen To This Next: Adam Grant's #1 phrase to unlock potential The science of super longevity Beat anxiety with the most addictive experience on Earth ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapters:- 0:00 Why the wrong people are in charge 1:32 Is corruption universal? 2:11 Martin McFife, the HOA president from hell 3:28 Self-selection bias 4:14 Why we can’t resist “strongmen” 6:26 Expelling the worst of the worst ------------------ About Brian Klaas: Associate Professor of Global Politics at University College London, Contributing Writer for The Atlantic, author of Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How It Changes Us, and Creator/Host of the award-winning Power Corrupts podcast. ------------------ About Big Think | Smarter Faster™ ► Big Think The leading source of expert-driven, educational content. With thousands of videos, featuring experts ranging from Bill Clinton to Bill Nye, Big Think helps you get smarter, faster by exploring the big ideas and core skills that define knowledge in the 21st century. ► Big Think+ Make your business smarter, faster: https://bigthink.com/plus/ Get Smarter, Faster With Interviews From The Worlds Biggest Thinkers. ------------------ Discover Big Think | Smarter Faster™ Your top destination for expert-driven, educational content. Featuring thousands of episodes and insights from renowned figures like Bill Clinton to Bill Nye, Big Think accelerates your learning by delving into the pivotal concepts and essential skills shaping knowledge in the 21st century... Unlock Knowledge, Faster With Insights from the World's Leading Minds Remember to Follow the Podcast and Enable Notifications If you found this episode valuable, Share It Leave a 5-Star Review! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

About the sponsor: If you're ready to transform your business' operations, go to https://www.odoo.com/bigthink to start a free 14-day trial, no credit card required. About the video: Is human overpopulation alarmist hype with disturbing consequences? Oxford data scientist Hannah Ritchie debunks the overpopulation myth. Up next, Psychologist debunks 8 myths of mass scale ►   • Psychologist debunks 8 myths of mass ...   A widespread concern with overpopulation became prominent in the 1960s and the 1970s, when scholars wondered how we could produce enough food for a rapidly growing global population. Brought to the fore with the publication of the book, "The Population Bomb," by Paul R. Ehrlich in 1968, it seemed that the only way to solve this problem was to discourage people from having more children. This concern hinged on the assumption that the world population would continue to grow exponentially, but it hasn't. While the global population is still growing, in fact it's growing at a much slower rate, as global population growth rates peaked decades ago and have halved since then. So is this concern completely unfounded? What can future population projections tell us? Data scientist Hannah Ritchie explains why. chapters: 00:00: The overpopulation concern 02:01: Global population growth rates 02:28: The fall in global fertility rates 03:06: Amount of food produced per person 03:50: Per capita CO2 emissions 04:17: The underpopulation concern ------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Member Get exclusive access to full interviews, early access to new releases, Big Think merch and more ►Get Big Think+ for Business Guide, inspire and accelerate leaders at all levels of your company with the biggest minds in business ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Hannah Ritchie: Hannah Ritchie is a data scientist and science communicator focused on the largest problems that shape our world, and how to solve them. Ritchie's work focuses on environmental sustainability, including climate change, energy, food and agriculture, biodiversity, air pollution and deforestation. Ritchie is a Deputy Editor and Lead Researcher at Our World in Data, and a researcher at the Oxford Martin Programme in Global Development, at the University of Oxford. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wharton professor Ethan Mollick explains why “co-intelligence” may be the future of AI. Ethan Mollick, professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and author of "Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI," explores the impact of AI on our work, creative endeavors, and overall lives. AI is reshaping our understanding of humanity and intelligence, evolving from simple prediction tools to sophisticated large language models, but how do we keep it from dooming us all? Should we be more afraid of it, or are we actually in control? Mollick proposes four most likely predictions of our future with AI – As Good As It Gets, Slow Growth, Exponential Growth, and The Machine God – and explains the likelihood and potential results of each one. Mollick stresses the importance of using AI as a supplemental tool to enhance your performance, not as something that will replace you entirely. According to Mollick, AI is here to stay, and it’s up to us to decide how it is used now, and in generations to come. Our choices today will shape the trajectory of AI and determine whether it becomes a force for good or a source of existential risk. ------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Member Get exclusive access to full interviews, early access to new releases, Big Think merch and more ►Get Big Think+ for Business Guide, inspire and accelerate leaders at all levels of your company with the biggest minds in business -------------------------------------------------- About Ethan Mollick: Ethan Mollick is a professor of management at Wharton, specializing in entrepreneurship and innovation. His research has been featured in various publications, including Forbes, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. He is the creator of numerous educational games on a variety of topics. He lives and teaches in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Subscribe to Ethan’s Substack ► https://substack.com/@oneusefulthing Purchase his most recent book, Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI ► https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This interview is an episode from @The-Well, our publication about ideas that inspire a life well-lived, created with the @JohnTempletonFoundation. A very few creative individuals, often labeled “geniuses,” have had a profound and lasting impact on science, culture, and society. Sure, we admire the achievements and legacy of this lofty few, but it’s a puzzle to determine what, precisely, launched these specific innovators into the stratosphere. The simplest answer is that the root of genius is raw ability. Yet, decades of research indicate otherwise. As network scientist Albert-László Barabási tells us, exceptional talent or intellectual prowess is no guarantee of exceptional achievement. And exceptional achievement is, in turn, no guarantee of recognition. Even a significant breakthrough doesn’t ensure that an individual ultimately will be labeled a genius. So what truly makes a genius? And what separates ordinary geniuses — those who have accomplished remarkable feats and are often compared to their peers, like Stephen Hawking — from peerless geniuses, who are considered alone in the significance of their achievements, such as Albert Einstein? Working with Alexander Gates and Qing Ke at the Network Science Institute at Northeastern University, Barabási catalogued the publishing history of nearly six million scientists to answer these questions. And the data they gleaned might just predict which genius will be our generation’s Einstein. Listen To This Next: Adam Grant's #1 phrase to unlock potential The science of super longevity Beat anxiety with the most addictive experience on Earth ------------------------------------------ Chapters: 0:00 Genius worshippers 1:18 Ordinary vs. peerless genius 3:47 Was Einstein right about the age of genius? 5:35 The ‘Q-factor’ of scientific success ------------------------------------------------------ About Albert-László Barabási: Albert-László Barabási is a network scientist, fascinated with a wide range of topics, from unveiling the structure of the brain and treating diseases using network medicine to the emergence of success in art and how science really works. His research has helped unveil the hidden order behind various complex systems using the quantitative tools of network science, a research field that he pioneered, and has led to the discovery of scale-free networks, helping explain the emergence of many natural, technological, and social networks. -------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think:- ►Become a Big Think Member Get exclusive access to full interviews, early access to new releases, Big Think merch and more ►Get Big Think+ for Business Guide, inspire and accelerate leaders at all levels of your company with the biggest minds in business ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Discover Big Think | Smarter Faster™ Your top destination for expert-driven, educational content. Featuring thousands of episodes and insights from renowned figures like Bill Clinton to Bill Nye, Big Think accelerates your learning by delving into the pivotal concepts and essential skills shaping knowledge in the 21st century... Unlock Knowledge, Faster With Insights from the World's Leading Minds Remember to Follow the Podcast and Enable Notifications If you found this episode valuable, Share It Leave a 5-Star Review! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This interview is an episode from ‪@The-Well‬, our publication about ideas that inspire a life well-lived, created with the ‪@JohnTempletonFoundation‬. Watch more from Robert Hazen ►   • The missing law of nature, and how we...   According to leading mineralogist Bob Hazen, minerals may hold the key for discovering if we actually are alone in the universe. He highlights how Earth's dramatic increase in mineral diversity—from 2000 to over 6000 types—aligned with the emergence of life, which drastically altered our planet's atmosphere and chemical processes. Knowing this, scientists can now look for specific clues in minerals as they study other planets. If another planet, such as Mars, were to have similar biosignatures, it could be a clear indicator that it harbored life at some point in time. This method would not only help us discover if life existed on other planets, but, depending on the specific similarities, could tell us how closely this life resembled our own, and could prove how unique humanity truly is. ------------------------------------------------------- About Robert Hazen: Robert Hazen is a renowned American mineralogist and geologist, known for his pioneering work in mineral evolution and mineral ecology. He is a Senior Staff Scientist at the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory and a Professor of Earth Sciences at George Mason University. Hazen has written over 400 articles and 25 books, contributing research as a profound leader in mineral evolution and mineral ecology. His studies delve into the complex interactions between minerals and life, contributing to our understanding of Earth’s history and the potential for life on other planets. Hazen is also a passionate educator and science communicator. ----------------------------------- About The Well Do we inhabit a multiverse? Do we have free will? What is love? Is evolution directional? There are no simple answers to life’s biggest questions, and that’s why they’re the questions occupying the world’s brightest minds. Together, let's learn from them. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think:- ►Become a Big Think Member Get exclusive access to full interviews, early access to new releases, Big Think merch and more ►Get Big Think+ for Business Guide, inspire and accelerate leaders at all levels of your company with the biggest minds in business ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do humans have souls, or are we just particles? Physicist Sabine Hossenfelder explains. Have you ever considered the possibility of transferring your consciousness into a computer? Sabine Hossenfelder, a German theoretical physicist, believes that this may one day be possible. According to Hossenfelder, the fundamental laws of physics as described in the standard model of particle physics can explain everything in the universe, including human consciousness. She suggests that we are simply a collection of elementary particles, but it is the arrangement of these particles that gives us our unique qualities and abilities. As such, it may be possible to capture and transfer all the information about the arrangement of particles in the body in order to transfer a person's consciousness into a computer. So, could we one day upload our consciousness and exist within a machine? It's an intriguing possibility. Listen To This Next: Adam Grant's #1 phrase to unlock potential The science of super longevity Beat anxiety with the most addictive experience on Earth- --------------------------------------------------------------- About Sabine Hossenfelder: Sabine Hossenfelder is a physicist, author, and creator of "Science Without the Gobbledygook". She currently works at the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy in Germany. ----------------------------------------- About Big Think | Smarter Faster™ ► Big Think The leading source of expert-driven, educational content. With thousands of videos, featuring experts ranging from Bill Clinton to Bill Nye, Big Think helps you get smarter, faster by exploring the big ideas and core skills that define knowledge in the 21st century. ------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think:- ►Become a Big Think Member Get exclusive access to full interviews, early access to new releases, Big Think merch and more ►Get Big Think+ for Business Guide, inspire and accelerate leaders at all levels of your company with the biggest minds in business --------------------------- Discover Big Think | Smarter Faster™ Your top destination for expert-driven, educational content. Featuring thousands of episodes and insights from renowned figures like Bill Clinton to Bill Nye, Big Think accelerates your learning by delving into the pivotal concepts and essential skills shaping knowledge in the 21st century... Unlock Knowledge, Faster With Insights from the World's Leading Minds Remember to Follow the Podcast and Enable Notifications If you found this episode valuable, Share It Leave a 5-Star Review! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who will lead humanity in the Metaverse? Roblox and Minecraft gamers. The Metaverse seems to be originating from a relatively small segment of the economy: consumer leisure. As such, it’s no surprise that gaming companies are at the forefront of designing the Metaverse. Some experts argue this is positive for consumers because — unlike enterprise, SaaS, tech, or productivity companies — gaming companies design experiences to make us feel good, not to get us to do something. ----------------------------------------------------------- About Matthew Ball: Matthew Ball is the CEO of Epyllion, a diversified holding company which makes angel investments, provides advisory services, and produces television, films, and video games. Ball is also a Venture Partner at Makers Fund, Senior Advisor to KKR, Senior Advisor to McKinsey & Company, and sits on the board of numerous start-ups. His first book, “The Metaverse and How it Will Revolutionize Everything”, was published in July 2022 and became an instant national and international bestseller. Ball is also an “Occasional Contributor” to The Economist, holds bylines at Bloomberg, The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and wrote the August 8, 2022 cover story for Time Magazine. ---------------------------------------------- About Big Think | Smarter Faster™ ► Big Think The leading source of expert-driven, educational content. With thousands of videos, featuring experts ranging from Bill Clinton to Bill Nye, Big Think helps you get smarter, faster by exploring the big ideas and core skills that define knowledge in the 21st century. Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Member Get exclusive access to full interviews, early access to new releases, Big Think merch and more ►Get Big Think+ for Business Guide, inspire and accelerate leaders at all levels of your company with the biggest minds in business Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Good culture is more than just liking each other. Here’s the key way to build great culture at work. Up Next ► Adam Bryant: The importance of culture in the workplace   • Adam Bryant: The Importance of Cultur...   Even the most empathetic and enlightened leader in the world can foster an “unintended toxic culture” — a culture in which people are working around each other and not with each other. As a leader, you want to undergo a radical self-examination to make sure that you are not promoting a difficult culture in your work environment. This means when you think about work culture, don't just think about employees liking each other, think about the actual traits and qualities that you need to get business done. -------------------------------------------- About Alisa Cohn: Alisa Cohn is an Executive Coach who has worked with C-suite executives at prominent startups (such as Venmo, Etsy, Draft Kings, The Wirecutter, Mack Weldon, and Tory Burch) and Fortune 500 companies (including Dell, IBM, Microsoft, Google, Pfizer, Calvin Klein and The New York Times.) She is the author From Start-up to Grown-up, and the creator and host of a podcast of the same name. A frequent keynoter, Inc. Magazine named Alisa one of the top 100 leadership speakers, and she was named the Top Startup Coach in the World at the Thinkers50/Marshall Goldsmith Global Coaches Awards and the #1 Global Guru for Startups. She is the executive coach for Cornell’s New York City tech incubator, and she has coached leaders from around the world, including the first female minister of the transition state of Afghanistan and the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. She has guest lectured at Harvard, Cornell, The Naval War College and Henley Business School. Her articles have appeared in HBR, Inc, and Forbes, and she's been featured as an expert on BBC World News, Bloomberg TV, and in the NY Times and Wall Street Journal. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices