Podcasts · Society & Culture

The TED Interview

TED

107 episodes

To get a free copy of the Infectious Generosity book, visit ted.com/generosity

More about the show

Sit down with Head of TED Chris Anderson as he interviews leading thinkers and creators from around the world. The TED Interview is a space for guests to further delve into their groundbreaking work, give us a peek into how they discover and explore fascinating ideas, and, in some cases, even defend their thinking. This season, we’re looking at Infectious Generosity.

Generosity is at the heart of being human. It's how we've co-operated, innovated and grown as a civilization. Following Chris’s book of the same name, this podcast will dive into the idea that through the power of the internet, small acts of thoughtfulness spread to change lives at a scale never experienced before. Welcome to your front-row seat to great conversations with the world’s brightest minds.

And in the spirit of the Infectious Generosity, listeners can receive a free copy of Chris’s book in e-book or audio format. Just visit ted.com/generosity and fill out the short form to receive yours.

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Episodes page 1 of 3

  1. How to solve the world’s biggest problems with Natalie Cargill

    · 41 min

    To get a free copy of the Infectious Generosity book, visit ted.com/generosity What if the world’s biggest problems could be solved with just some simple math? Natalie Cargill, the founder of strategic giving…

  2. How much happiness can 2 million USD buy? with Elizabeth Dunn

    · 52 min

    To get a free copy of the Infectious Generosity book, visit ted.com/generosity How much happiness could be gained if more people had access to wealth? Does the relationship between spending money and happiness change…

  3. Exercising your generosity like a muscle with John M. Sweeney

    · 30 min

    To get a free copy of the Infectious Generosity book, visit ted.com/generosity When John M. Sweeney first read about the old Italian tradition of “café sospeso”, he didn’t know he’d create a viral movement. The simple…

  4. Why true success goes beyond profit with Chobani founder Hamdi Ulukaya

    · 38 min

    To get a free copy of the Infectious Generosity book, visit ted.com/generosity Hamdi Ulukaya, the founder of Chobani (a company with expected valuation in the billions of USD) claims to be an “anti-CEO” of sorts.…

  5. How to use your time and money for good — as effectively as possible — with Will MacAskill

    · 46 min

    To get a free copy of the Infectious Generosity book, visit ted.com/generosity William MacAskill is a moral philosopher and the cofounder of the Effective Altruism Movement, a school of thought that tries to answer…

  6. The healing power of art with Lily Yeh

    · 47 min

    To get a free copy of the Infectious Generosity book, visit ted.com/generosity. From Taiwan to Rwanda, artist Lily Yeh has traveled all over the world in pursuit of more than just aesthetic pleasure — and she’s…

  7. How to fight hatred with curiosity with Daryl Davis

    · 37 min

    To get a free copy of the Infectious Generosity book, visit ted.com/generosity. Daryl Davis is a Black musician and actor who regularly enters white nationalist spaces. That’s because Daryl is determined to understand…

  8. How empathy gets in the way of a better world with Paul Bloom

    · 38 min

    To get a free copy of the Infectious Generosity book, visit ted.com/generosity. It may feel like the world is running low on a seemingly crucial human trait: empathy. But Paul Bloom, a professor of psychology at the…

  9. How kindness went viral with Catherine Barrett

    · 39 min

    To get a free copy of the Infectious Generosity book, visit ted.com/generosity In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, when misinformation and fear was spreading rampantly, one optimistic community was forming... on…

  10. How Bill Gates spends $9 billion a year

    · 50 min

    To get a free copy of the Infectious Generosity book, visit ted.com/generosity. Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft and the co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is one of the top 10 richest people in the…

  11. New season coming March 21: Infectious Generosity

    · 5:38

    The TED Interview is back for a special season. Chris Anderson, Head of TED, returns as host to investigate the ultimate idea worth spreading: Infectious Generosity. Inspired by Chris’s book of the same name, this…

  12. Frances Frei's three pillars of leadership

    · 1 h 00 min

    A professor at Harvard Business School and expert in work culture, Frei goes into companies like WeWork and Uber with the goal of turning toxic environments into healthy, inclusive spaces. She shares why authenticity,…

  13. Introducing Good Sport

    · 3:34

    This week on The TED Interview we’re excited to introduce TED’s newest podcast, Good Sport, hosted by veteran sports producer Jody Avirgan. What can sports teach us about life – and each other? Good Sport brings you…

  14. Our Predictions for 2023 | After Hours

    · 46 min

    Curious about 2023? Youngme, Mihir and Felix from the podcast After Hours are back with their celebrated predictions episode. Who will acquire Spotify? Will Twitter implode? What’s the trend in inflation and energy…

  15. The music of David Byrne’s mind

    · 39 min

    David Byrne views life through many lenses. He’s a musician, author, filmmaker, curator, conservationist, digital music theorist, bicycle advocate, visual artist... the list goes on. But through his many trajectories –…

  16. The hidden gifts of visual thinking with Temple Grandin

    · 32 min

    When she was just 18, scientist, industrial designer, animal behaviorist, and autism activist Temple Grandin created one of her most well-known inventions: the hug machine. Inspired by the squeeze chute–a device that…

  17. Inciting joy with Ross Gay

    · 33 min

    Nearly every day for a year, American poet Ross Gay sat down and wrote about something that delighted him–from carrying a small tomato plant through an airport to playing a pickup basketball game.The result was his…

  18. Randall Munroe answers your wildest questions

    · 34 min

    How many soulmates do you think people have? What if you tried to funnel all the water from Niagara falls through a straw? Do you think it’s possible? if you sold the whole planet for scrap–what parts would be most…

  19. A future without pandemics? with Mark Smolinski

    · 33 min

    In 2011, when medical doctor and epidemiologist Mark Smolinski was working as a science advisor for the blockbuster film “Contagion,” the film ran a campaign that asked communities: “What are you gonna do to prepare…

  20. Atul Gawande on why American healthcare desperately needs innovation

    · 46 min

    Before the COVID-19 pandemic, life expectancy in the United States was 79. Today it’s 76. When compared to other countries like the UK and Japan, where life expectancy is above 80, it’s clear that the U.S. has a lot of…

  21. Linda Villarosa on the hidden toll of racism on health

    · 40 min

    When Linda Villarosa was the health editor of Essence Magazine, she says she had a one-track mind. A former college athlete, Linda grew up, like many of us, thinking about health on an individual level. But after…

  22. Can AI make healthcare human again? with Eric Topol

    · 46 min

    Eric Topol is a leading health expert whose writing and explainers about Covid-19 have helped people better understand the complexities of the global pandemic. As a doctor, author, and one of the most cited researchers…

  23. Ed Yong on how animal senses reveal the world around us

    · 44 min

    Like any animal, humans understand the world through our senses. But unlike other creatures, we can't detect magnetic fields with our bodies, or the flow of water from a fish swimming hundreds of feet in the distance.…

  24. Mark Cuban doesn’t believe in following your passions | ReThinking w/ Adam Grant

    · 45 min

    Mark Cuban has gone from selling garbage bags door-to-door to selling internet companies for billions, acquiring an NBA team, and becoming a beloved “Shark” on Shark Tank. Mark reveals to Adam how he turns problems…

  25. Pete Souza, Reagan and Obama’s White House Photographer | Design Matters

    · 38 min

    Pete Souza has taken some iconic photographs. A former Chief Official White House Photographer for both U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan AND Barack Obama, Pete’s career has taken him from teaching basic photography in…

  26. A brain implant that turns your thoughts into text | Tom Oxley | TED Tech

    · 18 min

    "What if you could control digital devices using just the power of thought? That's the incredible promise behind the Stentrode -- an implantable brain-computer interface that collects and wirelessly transmits…

  27. How do we fix the restaurant tipping system? with Saru Jayaraman

    · 43 min

    How often do you go back and forth over how much to tip at the end of a meal? Depending on the state, in the U.S. that choice could be the difference between a livable income or financial mayhem for the workers who…

  28. Michael Schur on every moral question ever

    · 49 min

    Michael Scott, Leslie Knope, Detective Jake Peralta–television producer and writer Michael Schur has created some of TV’s most beloved sitcom characters on shows like The Office, Parks and Recreation, and The Good…

  29. Aaron Bastani is thinking about automated luxury…communism?

    · 45 min

    With such rampant inequality across the globe, it’s difficult to imagine that in the near future, society could be a place of abundance where everyone has education, healthcare, or housing. But for journalist Aaron…

  30. Juliet Schor wants a four-day work week

    · 38 min

    Before labor unions fought for them, society didn’t have weekends as we know them. In the 13th century, the average male peasants in the UK only worked 135 days a year. In a post-pandemic and increasingly virtual…

  31. DeepMind's Demis Hassabis on the future of AI

    · 49 min

    Demis Hassabis is one of tech's most brilliant minds. A chess-playing child prodigy turned researcher and founder of headline-making AI company DeepMind, Demis is thinking through some of the most revolutionary—and in…

  32. Jennifer Egan on storytelling in a data-hooked world

    · 45 min · S7 E6

    Jennifer Egan is a journalist and writer whose novel “A Visit from the Goon Squad” won both the 2011 Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. Using a unique format—including a whole…

  33. Garry Kasparov on chess, technology and democracy

    · 42 min

    Garry Kasparov is one of the greatest chess players of all time. He was one of the youngest world champions ever, and had a 20-year streak as the world’s top-rated player. But even though he is known as a champion, he…

  34. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein connects history to the stars

    · 48 min

    The way Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, a theoretical physicist, sees it, Harriet Tubman is the Great American Astronomer. Using the North Star, with no formal training, Harriet Tubman led hundreds of enslaved people to…

  35. How to predict the future with Jane McGonigal

    · 43 min

    Future forecaster and game designer Jane McGonigal ran a social simulation game in 2008 that had players dealing with the effects of a respiratory pandemic set to happen in the next decade. She wasn’t literally…

  36. Steven Johnson wants to know how enlightenment happens

    · 55 min

    It’s official, the TED Interview has a new host! In Chris’s last episode as head of the show, he interviews his successor, bestselling science and technology author Steven Johnson. Two self-described intellectual…

  37. Unlocking the mysteries of our brain | David Eagleman

    · 57 min

    The way that our brain perceives the world is profoundly informed by our senses–so what would happen if we could heighten them—or even create a whole NEW sense? In one of his last episodes as host of the show, Chris…

  38. What’s on Elon Musk’s mind?

    · 1 h 07 min

    What will it take to build a future worth being excited about? Elon Musk believes we already have the tools that will help us create one, but we must take bold action to get there. In conversation with head of TED…

  39. The limitless potential of human knowledge | David Deutsch

    · 1 h 04 min

    In an ever expanding world, it can be easy to think of our lives as insignificant. But according to David Deutsch, we all possess one skill that gives each of us infinite reach: our ability to attain knowledge. In the…

  40. The science and ethics of rewriting our DNA | Jennifer Doudna

    · 46 min · S6 E10

    Biochemist Jennifer Doudna won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for pioneering CRISPR, a revolutionary biotech tool that can edit DNA with unprecedented precision and ease. But how exactly does CRISPR work, and what…

  41. Can planting trees really stop climate change? | Thomas Crowther

    · 48 min · S6 E9

    From governments to airlines to your favorite eco-friendly clothing brand, tree-planting campaigns are everywhere. Reforesting the planet has become one of the quickest, easiest and most ubiquitous ways to reduce our…

  42. Bonus: How to give a killer speech | How To!

    · 30 min · S6 E8

    We all have to give a presentation at some point in our lives—on a stage, in a conference room, and, these days, on Zoom. So what makes a good speech? In this episode from How To! science writer David Epstein turns the…

  43. The end of our 50-year stagnation | Tyler Cowen

    · 58 min · S6 E7

    Some believe our world has changed at a rapid pace in recent decades. From the rise of the internet to the proliferation of startups spinning out inventions, it can certainly seem that way. In this episode, though,…

  44. How to turn grit into a lifelong habit | Angela Duckworth

    · 1 h 00 min · S6 E6

    What does it take to persevere and succeed, not just in our careers but in all aspects of our lives? For psychologist Angela Duckworth, the answer can be summed up in one concept: grit. She explains the ingredients in…

  45. What it really takes to make change | Jacqueline Novogratz

    · 1 h 00 min · S6 E5

    From the strikes that transformed the world's view on climate change to the marches that demanded equity and justice for Black lives, there has been a new awakening of people passionate about creating change. As…

  46. How youth gave climate the urgency it needed | Xiye Bastida

    · 45 min · S6 E4

    Before the pandemic struck, young people everywhere abandoned their classrooms and took to the streets. Xiye Bastida was a driving force among these youth climate activists in the U.S. Xiye grew up in Mexico, moved to…

  47. Work is never going back to normal | Simon Sinek

    · 47 min · S6 E3

    Work as we knew it is undergoing seismic shifts as the pandemic in the U.S. wanes. As some businesses reopen, even people lucky enough to work from home face big questions. What lessons do we take from this past year?…

  48. How COVID vaccines are revolutionizing medicine | Adrian Hill

    · 1 h 07 min · S6 E2

    This past year, scientists racing to stop the novel coronavirus delivered vaccines at a pace and scale the world has never seen before. Adrian Hill, director of Oxford University's vaccine research institute, recounts…

  49. The race to build AI that benefits humanity | Sam Altman

    · 1 h 09 min · S6 E1

    In this new season of the TED Interview, conversations with people who make a case for...optimism. Not some blind, hopeful feeling but the conviction that somewhere out there are solutions that, given the right…

  50. A special announcement from TED on climate

    · 1 h 07 min · S5 E9

    Today, we're re-sharing a conversation with Christiana Figueres, because we've got a special update for you from TED. On Saturday, October 10, we'll launch Countdown: an exciting new global initiative to champion and…

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