The first in a series of public lectures by everyone’s favourite Dutch historian and Weekly Filet regular Rutger Bregman. In his trademark populist-optimist style, he delivers a scathing critique of progressive elites and of Europe’s failure to fill the moral vacuum left by a United States gone MAGA. The polar opposites between which the future is shaped, Bregman argues, are not left versus right, but rather courage versus cowardice.

The separation of mental and physical has long shaped how we think about health and treatment. What if this mind/body split is not only outdated – but dangerously misleading? Edward Bullmore is both a psychiatrist and neuroscientist, an expert in both the mind and the brain, the mental and the physical. Very interesting conversation.

A long essay on how two of this century’s biggest challenges facing humanity are interconnected (by the number 2!). And an exploration of the question whether we are at the very beginning or towards the very end of the human story.

It feels only apt that I keep you in suspense about why I think you should listen to this.

A short and to the point assessment of this year’s UN climate conference in Brazil, and an answer to the one question that matters: «Does the final outcome help shift investments, change understanding of risk, and strengthen the sense of inevitability around the net zero transition?»

Vox’s annual Future Perfect list if always a great place to discover inspiring people that make you feel a little bit more hopeful about the future. This year’s theme is: meet the heroes keeping global progress alive.

It’s one of the biggest success stories of history, and few people are aware of it: Over the past 35 years, on average 115,000 people left extreme poverty behind – per day. Then again, among those who knew about this progress, few might be aware that the trend is about to reverse. What’s going on?

As more and more people grow disillusioned by Trump and are ready to cut ties, keep Rebecca Solnit in mind: «You can disagree about almost everything, and a lot of it is moral issues, but if there’s no room for people to change their minds, learn, shift, improve, then there’s no room for your coalition to grow.»

«What makes you annoying to other people is not the thing you’re worried makes you unloveable, but whatever traits or behaviors or knee-jerk ways of operating you’ve developed to correct for said worry.» Thanks for the food for thought. Unfortunately, I now have annoya-paranoia.

This made me laugh, and taught me something. Elliot Kalan, former head writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, on «joke farming», his method of creating jokes without the need for a stroke of genius.