Speakers
The first glimpse of our speaker lineup already boasts former national leaders, pioneering physicists, Nobel Laureates and the world's most renowned public thinkers - and there's much, much more to come!
The first glimpse of our speaker lineup already boasts former national leaders, pioneering physicists, Nobel Laureates and the world's most renowned public thinkers - and there's much, much more to come!
“See you, either in Hell, or in Communism.”
Slavoj Žižek infamously said “Humanity is OK, but 99% of people are boring idiots” — Žižek himself is certainly neither boring nor an idiot. Žižek is arguably the most provocative philosopher of our times. Foreign Policy named Žižek a Top 100 Global Thinker "for giving voice to an era of absurdity”. With never a dull moment, Žižek breathes new life into Marxism, Hegel, psychoanalysis, philosophy, politics, film and culture.
Žižek is the author of more than 50 books, including most recently Against Progress. He is a senior researcher at the University of Ljubljana's Department of Philosophy.
“There is something inexplicably touching about all Žižek's mischievous bombast” — The Guardian
"The world has far too much morality.”
Steven Pinker, joining us from America via Zoom, is a cognitive psychologist, linguist, best-selling author, and one of the world’s most influential public intellectuals. He is the Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. He is well known for his defense of the Enlightenment and moral progress.
Pinker has been named as one of Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World Today.” He is the author of Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters and Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress.
“Pinker is right. Not just a bit right, but completely, utterly, incontrovertibly right.” — The Daily Mail
“Writers should be entitled to write from any perspective, race, gender, or background they choose.”
Lionel Shriver is an award winning author and provocative voice in contemporary literature, unafraid to tackle contentious subjects with unflinching honesty. Her acclaimed novel, We Need to Talk About Kevin, delves into the complexities of motherhood and moral responsibility, which earned her the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2005.
Shriver's fearless exploration of societal norms and the individual psyche makes her one of the most compelling figures in modern literature.
"Unafraid to confront uncomfortable truths." — The New York Times
"Democracy is not just about voting every few years; it’s about people having real control over their lives."
Jeremy Corbyn is a British politician and current independent MP who served as the Labour party's leader from 2015 to 2020. Representing the constituency of Islington North since 1983, he was a vocal backbencher with a reputation of voting against his party until he was elected leader with the largest party membership for a generation. He contested the 2017 general election and won 40% of the vote, the largest Labour share since 2001.
Since he has been expelled from the Labour party, Jeremy has gone on to win his Islington seat as an independent. His views place him firmly on the progressive left where he is staunchly anti-war, anti-austerity, pro nationalisation and pro-Palestine.
"His time in the Labour Party may be over, but Corbynmania lives on." — Irish Times
“That’s what science does. At the end there’s a result based on maths and logic. If one is equal to one, we can all agree on that. Maths don’t lie.”
Claudia de Rham is a Swiss theoretical physicist working at the interface of gravity, cosmology and particle physics. She is based at Imperial College London. Professor de Rham is well known for her groundbreaking research into the theory of massive gravity, a radical theory that contends the graviton has a nonzero mass, thereby explaining the expansion of the universe without the need for dark energy.
She was one of the UK finalists in the Physical Sciences and Engineering category of the Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists in 2018 for revitalizing the theory of massive gravity, and won the award in 2020.
"De Rham has pioneered a radical theory that could hold the key to why the universe is expanding faster and faster and explain the nature of dark energy." — Hannah Devlin
Explore Debates!
"Quantum mechanics makes absolutely no sense."
Roger Penrose is a world-renowned mathematician, mathematical physicist, philosopher of science and Nobel Laureate in Physics. He is best known for his work on general relativity and black holes. He also shared the Wolf Prize for Physics with Stephen Hawking for his work on black holes. Additionally, he is the author of The Road to Reality, Cycles of Time and Shadows of the Mind.
Penrose is also a physics and philosophy populariser making appearances on the BBC, Closer to Truth and the Joe Rogan Experience.
"Sir Roger Penrose’s research has had a profound impact on human understanding of the universe and of the fundamental laws of physics that govern the universe." — Stephen Hawking Foundation
"All this chaos. It's part of who I am."
Jordan Stephens is a British artist, actor, and mental health advocate, best known as one-half of the chart-topping hip-hop duo Rizzle Kicks. The group succeeded with hits like “Down with the Trumpets” and performed at major festivals, including Glastonbury.
Beyond music, Stephens is an advocate for men’s mental health, speaking openly about emotional well-being and challenging traditional notions of masculinity. He has also acted in TV series such as Glue, Catastrophe, and Feel Good, and films like Rogue One and Teen Spirit. His latest book, Avoidance, Drugs, Heartbreak explores the struggles of a young man rising to fame.
"An energetic and unguarded memoir" — The Guardian on Avoidance, Drugs and Heartbreak."
"You cannot tax your way out of a crisis."
Richard Tice is a British businessman and politician, best known for his leadership of Reform UK, formerly the Brexit Party prior to Nigel Farage. A prominent advocate for Brexit, Tice played a key role in the campaign for the UK's departure from the European Union and was elected to Parliament in 2024. Since founding the Brexit party in 2018, Tice has been at the heart of a political movement that has upended politics going from 2% vote share in 2019 to 14.3% in 2024.
Prior to politics, he was the CEO of a housing development company in London. He later went on to author reports for think tanks into education policy and donate to the eurosceptic wing of the Conservative party. Using his considerable influence, he has helped to propel Euroscepticism to the forefront of UK politics.
"Thatcher was the motivation for my entire political career. I hated everything she stood for."
Nicola Sturgeon is the former First Minister of Scotland and leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP). She remains a prominent political figure, despite stepping down from her leadership roles in 2023. She has been at the forefront of Scottish politics since 2004 when she first ran to be leader of the SNP.
Sturgeon's tenure as First Minister was marked by her strong advocacy for Scottish independence and her focus on social policies, including healthcare and education reforms. Her leadership saw the SNP achieve significant electoral successes, making inroads into areas previously dominated by the Labour party.
"Nicola Sturgeon has been at the forefront of not just Scottish but UK politics for over two decades. She’s served with dedication and passion." — Keir Starmer
"My reason for writing... was the conviction that the economy is too important to leave to the economists.”
Yanis Varoufakis is a Greek economist, academic, and politician who rose to international prominence in 2015 as Greece's Minister of Finance. His outspoken criticism of the European Union's economics and confrontational style nearly caused Greece to leave the Euro. He has since become leader of the DiEM25 party, which seeks to reform the EU from within.
Yanis has a storied career as an academic and public intellectual. He has held academic positions at the Universities of Cambridge, East Anglia, Sydney, Glasgow, Athens, Austin and Stockholm. He has since written several bestselling books around popular economics, with hist most recent book Technofeudalism outlining how capitalism has been replaced with a modern version of feudalism.
"Varoufakis is a remarkable combination of analyst and dreamer." — Financial Times
“There is something wrong if an instance of free will exists only until there is a decrease in our ignorance.”
Robert Sapolsky is a distinguished American neuroscientist, primatologist, and author, serving as a Professor of Biology, Neurology, and Neurosurgery at Stanford University. His pioneering research includes gene therapy, neuron death and, from his time living among baboons in East Africa, effects of stress on health. Sapolsky's ability to inspire and engage has led him to be one of the most popular science communicators of our time, reaching millions worldwide.
Sapolsky is the author of numerous books including Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst and more recently Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will where he challenges conventional notions of free will, arguing that human behavior is entirely determined by biology and environment.
"Robert Sapolsky is one of the best scientist-writers of our time." — Oliver Sacks
"Justice must always be based on the truth, not on narratives that seek to exploit tragedy for political ends."
Inaya Folarin Iman is a British political commentator, writer, and the founder of the Equiano Project, an initiative promoting free speech, open dialogue, and a more inclusive approach to discussions about race and identity. Recently, she has focused on challenging the dominance of identity politics in public discourse and advocating for policies rooted in shared humanity rather than divisive rhetoric.
Her work at the Equiano Project emphasizes the need for critical reflection on how society addresses complex issues like racial inequality and multiculturalism. She argues for open debate on topics often constrained by political correctness, such as integration and cultural identity. She was a regular presenter on GB news and is also a regular writer for Spiked Online, The Telegraph, and Daily Mail.
"Here, on the edge of what we know, in contact with the ocean of the unknown, shines the mystery and beauty of the world. And it's breathtaking."
Carlo Rovelli, joining us via zoom from America, is an Italian theoretical physicist who works mainly in the field of Quantum Gravity. Carlo studied at the Universities of Bologna, Padova, Rome, Trieste and Yale, and is currently Emeritus Professor at the Centre de Physique Theorique of Marseille in France. His popular science book Seven Briefs Lessons on Physics has been translated into 41 languages and sold over one million copies. He was named one of the 100 most influential thinkers in 2019 by Foreign Policy magazine.
Rovelli's interests extend to philosophy, religion and politics. His experience as an activist also formed his belief that science should be an act of learned rebellion that puts into question received knowledge.
"Rovelli is wonderfully human, gentle and witty ... he is as much philosopher and poet as he is a scientist." — Irish Times
"Creating a sense of co-existence and community is about forging a shared identity which...I think this will necessarily begin with quite a profound reform of education."
Dr Myriam François is a trailblazing journalist, filmmaker and writer. A former columnist at the New Statesman and a familiar face on the BBC, Channel 4, and Al Jazeera, Myriam has since founded mpwr productions, an independent documentary production company which seeks to platform minority voices.
François recently released her documentary directorial debut, ‘Finding Alaa’, to critical acclaim. The film was selected for the BAFTA longlist and shortlisted for the 2021 Whickers Awards and the Cannes MIPDOC 2022. Myriam was nominated as one of only 14 “filmmakers to watch” in 2021 by One World Media.
Gad Saad is Professor of Marketing at Concordia University and former holder of the Concordia University Research Chair in Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences and Darwinian Consumption. In 2024-2025, Saad is a Visiting Professor and Global Ambassador at Northwood University. Saad was appointed Newsmaker of the Week of Concordia University in five consecutive years and is the co-recipient of the 2015 President’s Media Outreach Award-Research Communicator of the Year, which goes to the professor at Concordia University whose research receives the greatest amount of global media coverage.
Professor Saad has pioneered the use of evolutionary psychology in marketing and consumer behavior. In addition to his scientific work, Dr. Saad is a leading public intellectual who often writes and speaks about idea pathogens that are destroying logic, science, reason, and common sense. His Psychology Today blog (Homo Consumericus) and YouTube channel (THE SAAD TRUTH) have garnered 7.2+ million and 37.7+ million total views respectively. He is the author of the international best-seller, The Parasitic Mind, and the forthcoming Suicidal Empathy.
"This presumption of American decline has been a serious mistake of Putin’s."
Malcolm Rifkind is a renowned British politician who served in the cabinets of both Margaret Thatcher and John Major, most famously in the roles of Foreign and Defense Secretary. Most recently he chaired the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament, working closely with the CIA and MI6. A minister for eighteen years, he has seen longer uninterrupted service than anyone since the early nineteenth century.
He is currently banned from Russia by President Putin, due to the robustness of his response against the Kremlin’s aggression in Ukraine. In recent years he has been appointed a visiting professor of war at King's College London and a Distinguished Fellow at the RSUI.
"Malcolm Rifkind was in the top rank of twentieth-century politicians. Few saw events at closer quarters." — John Major
'"The focus on all forms of trauma except economic exploitation has helped to disguise the problem at the heart of neoliberalism."
Catherine Liu is a professor of Film and Media Studies at the University of California, Irvine, renowned for her incisive critiques of contemporary cultural and political dynamics. Her scholarly work delves into the intersections of critical theory, political economy, and cultural criticism.
Liu's publications include Virtue Hoarders: The Case Against the Professional Managerial Class (2021), a polemical examination of the class's role in perpetuating economic and social inequalities, and The American Idyll: Academic Anti-Elitism as Cultural Critique (2011), which explores the complexities of anti-elitism in American cultural politics.
'"Love is a gross exaggeration of the difference between one person and everybody else.”
Paul Bloom is a Canadian-American psychologist, bestselling author and celebrated speaker. He is the Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor Emeritus of psychology and cognitive science at Yale University and Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto.
Bloom has written widely on human nature, including morality, pleasure, and religion. He won the Klaus J. Jacobs Research Prize for his investigations into how children develop a sense of morality. In his widely-read book Against Empathy, he argues for rational thinking rather than empathy for making moral decisions.
"One of the leading figures in the study of how the mind works." — Steven Pinker
“Tories must not forget there is more to life than money.”
Jesse Norman is a distinguished British politician, author, and academic, recognized for his profound contributions to political thought and public service. Serving as the Member of Parliament for Hereford and South Herefordshire since 2010, he has held various ministerial roles, including Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Minister of State for Transport. Currently, he serves as Shadow Leader of the House of Commons.
An esteemed scholar, Norman is a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. He has authored influential works such as Edmund Burke: The Visionary Who Invented Modern Politics and Adam Smith: What He Thought, and Why It Matters.
“Mr Norman is David Cameron’s philosopher-in-chief.” - The Times
"I could do Shakespeare forever."
Michelle Terry is an Olivier Award-winning actress working extensively in theatre, TV, and radio. She is currently the Artistic Director of Shakespeare's Globe, where she has gained critical acclaim for her modern interpretations of Shakespeare's plays.
Notable productions of Terry's include a 2018 gender-fluid production of Hamlet and a 2024 production of Richard III in which she was cast as the lead. In television, she is known for writing and starring in the Sky One series The Café, as well as for her appearances in Extras, Law & Order: UK, and Reunited.
"I'm not sure it's possible to see Michelle Terry on a stage without falling a little in love with her." — Financial Times
“If a love encounter is like a good joke, then what is love in its duration and temporality-what is, as we say, a love that lasts?”
Alenka Zupančič is a Lacanian philosopher and social theorist. She is a professor at The European Graduate School and at the University of Nova Gorica. Zupančič is one of the most prominent members of the “Ljubljana school of psychoanalysis.” She is also a renowned Nietzsche scholar.
Key elements of Zupančič’s work focus on the relations between sexuality, ontology and the unconscious and the idea of the self and the Real.
“If Zupancic’s book does not become a classic work of reference, the only conclusion will be that our academia is caught in an obscure desire to self-destruct.”—Slavoj Žižek
'"Journalism is about following the facts…whatever allegation is made, there must be concrete evidence."
Aaron Maté is an independent journalist, author, and commentator known for his analysis of international relations, U.S. foreign policy, and media coverage of geopolitics. He has contributed to various outlets, including The Nation, RealClearPolitics, and Grayzone News, where he serves as a senior writer.
Maté is recognised for his scepticism of mainstream narratives in geopolitics, particularly concerning U.S. military interventions and allegations of foreign interference. He is vocal about the importance of evidence-based journalism and has been a leading critic of the Russiagate narrative. Aaron Maté advocates for journalism that prioritises accountability, challenges state and corporate propaganda, and gives voice to marginalised perspectives.
"Imagining humans can control superintelligent AI is a little like imagining that an ant can control the outcome of an NFL football game being played around it."
Roman Yampolskiy is a professor and computer scientist at the University of Louisville who specialises in artificial intelligence, AI safety, digital forensics and behavioural biometrics. Yampolskiy has published two decades worth of journal articles and books and his work has been recognised worldwide by science magazines, news and popular podcasts, inlcuding the BBC and New Scientist.
Yampolskiy is the author of multiple books and his most recent works AI: Unexplainable, Unpredictable, Uncontrollable and Artificial Superintelligence: a Futuristic Approach are deep dives into the world of AI safety. In 2023, Yampolskiy was one of many AI experts to sign an open letter titled Pause Giant AI Experiments alongside tech CEOs Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak.
"[AI: Unexplainable, Unpredictable, Uncontrollable] is a captivating and thought-provoking book about the most pressing issue of our time" — Prof. Max Tegmark, MIT
"We don’t actually have definitive proof that [inflation] is truly what happened... It is by no means a done and dusted theory."
Jo Dunkley is a distinguished British astrophysicist and Professor of Physics at Princeton University, working on major international projects including the Atacama Cosmology Telescope and Simons Observatory, which focus on measuring the cosmic microwave background (CMB)—the earliest observable light in the universe. Her contributions have been recognised with numerous accolades, such as the Maxwell Medal, the Rosalind Franklin Award, and the New Horizons Prize and has recently been elected a fellow of the Royal Society.
Dunkley's recent research works on uncovering evidence of "inflation" in our early universe. This research works to also help us understand the big 'tensions' in cosmology and improve our understanding of dark matter.
“All for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind.”
Elizabeth Anderson is the Max Mendel Shaye Professor of Public Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Michigan. She specialises in moral, social and political philosophy, as well as feminist theory and the philosophy of economics and the social sciences.
Anderson is also a MacArthur Fellow, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Fellow of the British Academy. She designed and was the first Director of the Program in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the University of Michigan. She is the author of Value in Ethics and Economics, The Imperative of Integration and, most recently, Hijacked: How Neoliberalism Turned the Work Ethic against Workers and How Workers Can Take It Back.
"Anderson may be the philosopher best suited to this awkward moment in American life." — The New Yorker
''Merit is a sham."
Daniel Markovits is the Guido Calabresi Professor of Law at Yale Law School and the Founding Director of the Center for the Study of Private Law. His writings have appeared in Science, The American Economic Review, The Yale Law Journal, PNAS, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time, and The Atlantic. In 2021, Prospect Magazine named him to its list of the world’s top 50 thinkers.
His best-selling book, "The Meritocracy Trap: How America's Foundational Myth Feeds Inequality, Dismantles the Middle Class, and Devours the Elite", has sparked a significant discussion about the problems inherent in meritocratic societies.
"This book flips your world upside down" — The Times, Book of the Year
"It is a good principle to assume that everyone you meet knows something important that you don't."
David Goodhart is a journalist, author, and policy analyst renowned for his incisive explorations of politics and society. He founded Prospect magazine in 1995, serving as its editor until 2010, and later directed the think tank Demos.
His notable works include The Road to Somewhere, which examines societal divisions, and Head, Hand, Heart, analysing the valuation of different forms of work. Goodhart's insights have significantly influenced contemporary debates on immigration, identity, and social cohesion.
"Goodhart offers the best and most complete explanation I've seen for why things seem to be coming apart in so many countries at the same time." — Jonathan Haidt
"No one looking at the vast extent of the universe and the completely random location of homo sapiens within it could seriously maintain it was intentionally created for us.”
One of the world's foremost philosophers of physics, Tim Maudlin is Professor of Philosophy at NYU and Founder and Director of the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics. He is a member of the "Foundational Questions Institute" of the Académie Internationale de Philosophie des Sciences and is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship.
The influence of Maudlin's research in the foundations of physics, metaphysics, and logic cannot be overstated. He has reinvigorated our understanding of quantum mechanics as pointing to the counterintuitive idea of non-locality, what Einstein called "spooky action at a distance." Maudlin warns that we should be wary of physical theories that contradict our direct impression of reality, especially when it comes to the nature of time.
“To make his case, he’s had to reinvent geometry.” — Wired
'“Every woman lives with the constant tinnitus hum of low-level sexism.”
Catherine Mayer is a writer, activist and the co-founder and President of the Women's Equality Party. She started her career in journalism at The Economist. She then went on to be FOCUS's London-based correspondent. She later joined TIME as a senior editor, becoming the London Bureau Chief, the Europe Editor and, finally, Editor at Large.
She was the founding Executive Director of the think tank Datum Future and has also co-founded the Primadonna Festival, which debuted in 2019. She is the author of Attack of the 50ft Women, Amortality: The Pleasures and Perils of Living Agelessly and Charles: The Heart of A King, a political biography of the King Charles that made headlines across the world in 2015. Her upcoming works include TIME/LIFE, her first novel, and Send Them Victorious: Royal women, their battles and why we should care.
"Smart, upbeat and brimming with fortitude." — The Observer
“If we only stick to our own echo chambers, wherever they are on the political spectrum, we change nothing and increase polarisation and mistrust.”
Thangam Debbonaire was Labour Member of Parliament for Bristol West 2015 – 2024 and a member of Keir’s Shadow Cabinet, serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and Shadow Leader of the House of Commons. She was previously Shadow Brexit Minister and Labour whip.
A former professional cellist, she is now a happy amateur in a string quartet. Thangam’s current strategic advisory work includes arts and cultural diplomacy, tech and AI and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. She likes to take on controversial topics such as corporate donations, cultural reparations, migration, identity, and the future of democracy.
"Thangam has a refreshing, independent outlook." — Elaine Robinson
"Unlike the theological hell, the hell of Physics, Quantum Mechanics, is willing to offer us some precious gifts for those things we abandon."
Avshalom Elitzur is deemed by many to be an intellectual force in Physics and Philosophy. Having left school at 16 to work as a Lab technician he presented an unpublished paper on Quantum Mechanics at Temple University where he was invited to Tel Aviv University to complete a doctoral thesis on the subject.
He is a senior lecturer in the Israeli Institute for Advanced Research working on Physics and Philosophy, where his work on the Elitzur–Vaidman bomb-testing problem in quantum mechanics inspired Roger Penrose in his book Shadows of Mind.
"When Galileo invented the telescope, people didn't want to look through it...people [now] refuse to look at certain theories [too]."
Ivette Fuentes is a Professor of Quantum Physics at the University of Southampton and Emmy Fellow at Keble College, University of Oxford. Her work considers fundamental quantum mechanics, quantum optics and their interplay with general relativity. Fuentes' work has appeared in New Scientist, she has spoken at New Scientist Live and she participated in a BBC series Magic Numbers with Hannah Fry. Fuentes is a close collaborator of Roger Penrose.
Fuentes' work tests theories of quantum gravity by developing much of the under-researched experimental input and quantum technology at scales where quantum and relativistic effects coexist.
"I lost count of how many pioneering ideas [Ivette has given] with actual practical conesquences in the near term"— Curt Jaimungal
"Philosophers are the ultimate experts in a post-truth world."
Steve Fuller is a professor of sociology at the University of Warwick. He is the founder of the research program of social epistemology. It is the name of a quarterly journal he founded with Taylor & Francis in 1987, as well as the first of his twenty-five books.
Fuller is renowned for his work on the 'post-truth' condition, which inspired his 2018 book Post-Truth: Knowledge as a Power Game. His other books include Humanity 2.0, Kuhn vs Popper, and Back to the University's Future.
"Fuller is a tall and invariably animated figure." ― The Guardian
"Optimism research teaches us that we should expect the best and have a contingency plan for the worst."
Paul Dolan is Professor of Behavioural Science at the LSE. His main research interests are human behaviour and happiness, and the relationships between them, particularly as they apply to policy.
Dolan is author of the Sunday Times bestselling books Happiness by Design and Happy Ever After. His most recent work is Beliefism: How to Stop Hating the People We Disagree With. He is also the host and creator of the hit Duck / Rabbit podcast about the problems of polarisation in our society, and is the founder of the Lifetime Wellbeing Cooperative.
"Brilliant, wise, humane, scientific, and kind" — Cass R. Sunstein
"Engineering really has the power to change our futures."
Dr Shini Somara is an award-winning media broadcaster and a highly accomplaished British mechanical engineer specialising in Computational Fluid Dyanmics.
In her mission to bring complex science, technology and engineering to everyone, Dr Somara has published 6 childrens STEM books and runs a podcast for Women in STEM. Her passion, knowledge and fascination for innovation has led to multiple TV appearances as an engineering expert on Sky, Discovery, The Science Channel, UKTV, Yesterday Channels. She is a TEDX Speaker and hosted Crash Course's hit YouTube series on Physics and Engineering, collectively garnering over 60 million views.
"Inspiring and inclusive." - BookTrust
Lucy Allais is a philosopher at Johns Hopkins University and the University of the Witwatersrand, renowned for her work on Immanuel Kant. Her writing spans ethics, metaphysics, and political philosophy, and in recent years, she has drawn on her Kant scholarship to mount a defence of libertarian free will.
Allais is the author of Manifest Reality: Kant's Idealism and His Realism.
"Manifest Reality should be a focal point for the discussion of Kant's idealism for years to come." ― Colin Marshall, Critique
There are no deeper explanations than those that science provides.'
Alex Rosenberg is a novelist and philosopher, renowned for his work in the philosophy of biology and the philosophy of economics. He is one of the most prominent defenders of physical reductionism, and his radical stances have earned him the moniker "The Mad Dog Naturalist."
His writing has appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times and Salon. His novels include The Girl From Krakow and Autumn in Oxford, and his books of philosophy include The Atheist's Guide to Reality and How History Gets Things Wrong.
"...The Atheist’s Guide is the work of a well-informed and imaginative philosopher." — New York Times Book Review
"Anger is temporary madness: the Stoics knew how to curb it."
Massimo Pigliucci is an Italian-American philosopher and biologist specializing in evolutionary biology and the philosophy of science. He holds doctorates in genetics from the University of Ferrara, evolutionary biology from the University of Connecticut, and philosophy from the University of Tennessee.
Currently, Pigliucci is the K.D. Irani Professor of Philosophy at the City College of New York, where his work focuses on the interface between science and philosophy, the nature of pseudoscience, and practical philosophy. An advocate of Stoicism, he authored "How to Be a Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life," offering guidance on applying Stoic principles today. Pigliucci contributes to public discourse through his blog, podcast, and columns in publications like Philosophy Now.
'Pigliucci makes a good case for Stoicism and living stoically' — Daily Telegraph
"Dating is not an A-level English literature exam; you don’t need to analyse anyone’s text messages as if they are metaphor-laden, sparkling prose."
Rachel Thompson is an author and journalist specialising in sex, dating, and relationships. Rachel is the Features Editor at Mashable. She has also written for GQ, The Guardian, British Glamour, Stylist, ELLE, The Telegraph, and many more publications.
Her second nonfiction book, The Love Fix: Reclaiming Intimacy in a Disconnected World, investigates the challenges at the heart of modern dating culture. Her first book was Rough: How Violence Has Found Its Way Into the Bedroom And What We Can Do About It. Stylist named it "2021's most important book about sex."
"The best sex and dating writer since Candace Bushnell." — Gigi Engle
"We are at the beginning of history. We have a responsibility not to mess things up."
Anders Sandberg is a Swedish researcher, futurist, and transhumanist renowned for his work on human enhancement and future technologies. Holding a PhD in computational neuroscience from Stockholm University, he served as a senior research fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute and the Oxford Martin School at the University of Oxford.
Sandberg's research encompasses societal and ethical implications of emerging technologies, cognitive enhancement, and existential risks. He co-authored the influential paper "Dissolving the Fermi Paradox," suggesting a high likelihood that humanity is alone in the observable universe. A prominent voice in public debates on neuroscience and ethics, Sandberg advocates for responsible technological advancement to secure a prosperous future.
"He might just be the most interesting academic at Oxford"" — Robert Wiblin and Keiran Harris."
"We can never compromise on compromise."
Sophie Scott-Brown is an intellectual historian with research interests in modern European political thought, Anarchism and the history of education. She is a lecturer in Philosophy at the University of East Anglia and former
director at the Europaeum Institute at the University of Oxford.
She is the author of The Histories of Raphael Samuel: A Portrait of a People’s Historian (2017) and Colin Ward and the Art of Everyday Anarchy (2022).
Claudia Canavan is Health and Wellness Director at Women’s Health UK and Men’s Health UK, where she specialises in mind, drugs, hormones and feelings. Previously, she was Health Editor at Women’s Health and founded HuffPost UK’s sustainable living vertical, before that she has also held staff roles at Red and Esquire magazines.
Her writing has explored the complexities of the ‘psychedelic renaissance’, how the wellness bubble burst, the potential for lucid dreaming to serve as a PTSD therapy and what the rise of platonic life partnerships says about modern culture.
Emily Herring is a writer based in Paris. She received her PhD in the history and philosophy of science from the University of Leeds, and her writing has appeared in Aeon and the Times Literary Supplement. She is the author of Herald of a Restless World: How Henri Bergson Brought Philosophy to the People.
"Herring's account is intellectual history at its finest" The New Criterion
'“The line between imagination and reality is just not so solid.”
Nadine Dijkstra is a Senior Research Fellow at the Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, UCL. Her research in Imaging Neuroscience explores how the brain generates mental images and differentiates them from actual perception. Utilizing neuroimaging, psychophysics, machine learning, and computational modeling, Dijkstra addresses fundamental questions about the overlap between perception and imagery.
Recently, Dijkstra has been leading the Imagine Reality Lab at UCL's Department of Imaging Neuroscience, focusing on the intersection of imagination and reality. Dijkstra's 2023 paper in Nature Communications showed the brain evaluates images against a 'reality threshold' to distinguish between images and perception. Her work also investigates how changes in these neural processes could impact mental health.
“They’ve done a great job...of taking an issue that philosophers have been debating about for centuries and defining models with predictable outcomes.” — Thomas Naselaris
"The existence of things is conditional on the existence of processes."
John Dupre is Professor of Philosophy and Director of Egenis, The Centre for the Study of Life Sciences, at the University of Exeter. He has formerly held posts at Oxford, Birkbeck College, London, and Stanford. He has wide-ranging interests in the philosophy of biology and naturalistic, empirically grounded metaphysics. In 2023, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society.
Dupre advocates a pluralistic model of science as opposed to the common notion of reductionism. While reductionism of this sort is a common position among scientists and philosophers, Dupré suggests that such reduction is not possible as the world has an inherently pluralistic structure.
"Original, lucid and confident, without being eccentric, polemical or arrogant" - John Ziman
"My idea of hell would be to live somewhere comfortable where no one ever talked about anything serious."
Isabel Hilton is a trailblazing journalist, broadcaster and expert on all things international relations. Hilton boasts a highly accomplished career in national and international media, having reported from China, South Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East for the BBC, The Sunday Times, the Independent and the Guardian.
Hilton is a particularly formidable authority on China, with her extensive expertise beguiling enough to draw misfounded accusations of espionage. In 2006, she founded Chinadialogue, a fully bilingual not-for-profit newsroom dedicated to sparking intelligent discourse and fostering a global understanding of China's environmental challenges.
"Lively and vastly entertaining..." — Boston Sunday Globe
'"I care about good people who live virtuous lives, who engage in the world — who are rational."
Yaron Brook is an Israeli-American entrepreneur, writer, activist, and political scientist. He is currently chairman of the board of the Ayn Rand Institute where he can be heard weekly on The Yaron Brook Show, which airs live on the BlogTalkRadio podcast. He is also a frequent guest on national radio and television programs including C-SPAN and CNBC.
Brook is coauthor, with Don Watkins, of the national best-seller Free Market Revolution: How Ayn Rand's Ideas Can End Big Government and Equal Is Unfair: America's Misguided Fight Against Income Inequality.
"At LAST the voice of reason breaks through the prejudices and presumptions and outright misrepresentations." — Mark Pellegrino
'"The future is made by the things we imagine today."
Güneş Taylor is an award-winning geneticist and pioneer of public engagement in her field. She is a training fellow at the Francis Crick Institute where her research predominantly focuses on the genetic formation of ovaries and testes. Both "an incredible science communicator" and a scientist herself, she has become a distinguished HowtheLightGetsIn host, sharing the stage with Slavoj Zizek, Richard Dawkins, Yuval Noah Harari, and more.
Güneş has debated the implications of genome editing on the Guardian's podcast Science Weekly, the UK's longest-running science podcast with the episode doing "exceptionally well" according to Guardian producer Max Sanderson. In 2018, Güneş was awarded the Crick Public Engagement Prize for her efforts in the public communication of science.
"Güneş has performed a significant service to disseminating the work within her field." — Anastasia de Waal
Eric Kaufmann is Professor of Politics at The University of Buckingham and Director of the Centre for Heterodox Social Science. He directs Buckingham’s new MA in the Politics of Cultural Conflict and PhD in Cultural Politics as well as its open online course on Woke: the Origins, Dynamics and Implications of an Elite Ideology.
He is the author of Taboo: How Making Race Sacred Produced a Cultural Revolution, Whiteshift: Immigration, Populism and the Future of White Majorities. In addition to 45 peer-reviewed articles, he has written for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Times of London, Newsweek, National Review, New Statesman, Financial Times, Unherd and other outlets.
“I love philosophy but it shouldn’t be just for the elite. We should all be asking these questions.”
Joanna Kavenna is an award-winning writer. A seasoned traveller, she was born in the UK, but has lived in the US, France, Germany, Scandinavia and the Baltic states. Her travels led to her first book, The Ice Museum, which details her experience travelling in the remote North. In 2013, she was named as one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists.
Her latest book, Zed, is a blistering, satirical novel about life under a global media and tech corporation that knows exactly what we think, what we want, and what we do - before we do.
"Wonderful, impossible, dynamic." — Observer
“Everything begins only to end. The moment you were born you began to die. That's how it is with everything.”
Janne Teller is a critically acclaimed writer of novels, essays, and short stories. Teller’s work explores existential themes and ethical questions of life and civilization. Her novel Nothing has been adapted for film.
Teller has received many literary awards including the Drassow’s Prize for literary works towards peace and human understanding and her work has been translated into over 25 languages. Before she began writing full-time, Janne studied macroeconomics and worked as a conflict advisor for the EU and UN, mostly in Africa.
“A beautifully poetic writer.” —The Telegraph
"I lost count of how many pioneering ideas [Ivette has given] with actual practical conesquences in the near term"— Curt Jaimungal
"The UK may not be as poor as Mississippi, but without London it is."
John Burn Murdoch is a columnist and the chief data reporter for the Financial Times. He is an internet celebrity for his use of data to cut through stories and help people understand the world around them.
His work visualising the coronavirus was widely credited with helping people understand the early stages of the pandemic.He writes the weekly Data Points column, where he uses statistics and graphics to dig into the most pressing issues of the day, covering everything from the economy to climate change, social issues and healthcare.
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