Wild with Sarah Wilson

Zak Stein (Harvard philosopher of education, AI + kids expert) is worried that we are not raising and educating our kids for the kind of wobbly, harsh future they will be inheriting. Zak is a Harvard philosopher of education and co-founder of the Centre for World Philosophy and Religion. He is also the co-founder of the Civilisation Research Institute and the Consilience Project, and the author of Education in a Time Between Worlds.I asked Zak to join me to answer the kinds of questions parents and teachers everywhere are asking. What kind of education matters now? Is it about being keyed into AI or radically rejecting it? What should young people be studying at college/university if entry-level jobs are now being wiped? Should we be pushing success or adaptability onto kids? What should be done with the social media bans?SHOW NOTESLearn more about Zak's work here.Get your copy of Education in a Time Between Worlds: Essays on the Future of Schools, Technology, and SocietyIf you want more ideas about raising kids amid…all of this…you might enjoy this chat with Anya Kamenetz: AMA: How do I parent in the face of so much existential crisis?--Watch on YouTube or SubstackIf you need to know a bit more about me… head to my "about" pageFor more such conversations, subscribe to my Substack newsletter, it’s where I interact the most!Let’s connect on Instagram

Michael Muthukrishna (behavioural scientist, cultural evolution researcher) has a unified “theory of everyone” that says we evolved as a species, surviving crises and collapses, through cooperative norms that made sure inequality did not blow out, in conditions of energy abundance.Michael is Professor of Economic Psychology at New York University (NYU) and the London School of Economics, co-founder of London School of Artificial Intelligence (LSAI), technical director of The Database of Religious History and co-founder of the London School of Artificial Intelligence (LSAI). He’s also the author of A Theory of Everyone: The New Science of Who We Are, How We Got Here, and Where We Are Going, and in this episode I ask how everyone – humanity – can survive this multi-crisis pile-up when energy is running out. The answer is…complex.Show NotesGet your copy of A Theory of Everyone: The New Science of Who We Are, How We Got Here, and Where We Are GoingLearn more about Michael’s work here and his video trailer hereYou can catch up on my episode about Moloch I mentioned: LIV BOEREE: Explaining Moloch, the mysterious game theory force breaking the world (plus a fix!)And these episodes on how we’re fundamentally more cooperative than we tend to get told might be of interest, too.ADAM MASTROIANNI: Do we need to make the world great (and kinder) again?RUTGER BREGMAN: Author of Humankind on how to trust each other--Watch on YouTube or SubstackIf you need to know a bit more about me… head to my "about" pageFor more such conversations, subscribe to my Substack newsletter, it’s where I interact the most!Let’s connect on Instagram

Ece Temelkuran (fascism expert, political exile, journalist) first began reporting on the global slide into fascism as a journalist witnessing it happen in her home country, Turkey. In 2016, she was forced into exile and went on to write the bestselling book How to Lose a Country: The 7 Steps From Democracy to Authoritarianism that warned the rest of the world just how close it was to the same perilous descent. In her new book, Nation of Strangers, Rebuilding Home in the 21st Century, Ece argues we are entering “an age of survival” and that we are all about to become exiles of sorts, “unhomed” from our sense of belonging to the world as authoritarianism rips us from our sense of collective meaning as humans. Pivoting her focus to how we can best move through this moment, she says we need to turn to those who’ve already been exiled (the immigrants, the refugees, the victims of fascism) to learn how to rebuild our “what comes next”.This is a fascinating thesis and Ece, who lives nomadically between Berlin and Greece, gives us a very raw and vulnerable take on it.About EceEce Temelkuran is an award-winning Turkish novelist, political thinker, and public speaker. Her work has appeared in publications including The Guardian, The New York Times, Le Monde, El País, New Statesman, and Der Spiegel.Show Notes Get your copy of How to Lose a Country: The 7 Steps From Democracy to Authoritarianism and Nation of Strangers, Rebuilding Home in the 21st CenturyYou can connect with Ece on Instagram here and on X here.--Watch on YouTube or SubstackIf you need to know a bit more about me… head to my "about" pageFor more such conversations, subscribe to my Substack newsletter, it’s where I interact the most!Let’s connect on Instagram

Dr Sheldon Solomon (psychologist, founder of terror management theory) has spent 45 years proving that our fear of death is responsible for the structures of civilisation, such as religion, education, our moral laws, myths, consumerism, distraction technologies etc. Such structures keep us from being (fatally) overwhelmed by the uniquely human awareness that we will die one day. But what happens in a moment like this one, when so much death and annihilation looms? Well, our seductive death-denial efforts can drag us either way – into a tribal, fascist, self-destructive descent, or toward radical compassion and a life-affirming future. In this episode, I ask Sheldon to tell me how we (all of us here) can use his terror management theory to urgently steer things to the latter. This chat goes into juicy, philosophical territory but emerges with beautifully tangible answers for everyone in the “collapse aware” space. It’s a fun one!*Hint: yes, it would appear we can!About SheldonSheldon Solomon is a professor of psychology at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York. Solomon is best known for co-developing “terror management theory” and is the co-author of Wake of 9/11: The Psychology of Terror and The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life. Sheldon is also an American Psychological Society Fellow. Show notesYou can get hold of Wake of 9/11: The Psychology of Terror and The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life hereYou might also like to listen to this Wild episode with “death walker” Stephen Jenkinson, which also goes into some of the themes in this chat.--Watch on YouTube or SubstackIf you need to know a bit more about me… head to my "about" pageFor more such conversations, subscribe to my Substack newsletter, it’s where I interact the most!Let’s connect on Instagram

Audrey Tang (“civic hacker", Taiwan’s Cyber Ambassador-at-Large, polymath) is one of the world’s most influential thinkers and she has a vision for pro-social AI that is exciting leaders around the world. Audrey became Taiwan’s former Digital Minister after she hacked the government to turn around a trade deal with China. The result was so ridiculously effective that, instead of arresting her, they gave her a gig in the government! During her 8-year tenure, she engaged almost half the country in co-creating democratic policies through technology. The upshot? Trust in the government went from 9% to a peak of 91% during the pandemic.I’ve asked Audrey to join us to answer this wild question that burns for many of us:Is it still possible to save AI – and ourselves - from technofascist doom? Which is to ask, can we wrestle AI off the tech bros and turn it all around to make it a force for good? And if so, how? And what would it look like?About AudreyAudrey Tang is an activist hacker and was the first Digital Minister of Taiwan (and the world’s first transgender government minister), instrumental in shaping Taiwan's internationally acclaimed COVID-19 response and in safeguarding the 2024 presidential and legislative elections from foreign cyber interference. She’s been named one of TIME's "100 Most Influential People in AI" (2023), is now Taiwan’s cyber Ambassador-at-large and has just published a book, Plurality: The Future of Collaborative Technology and DemocracyShow Notes Here’s the link to Audrey’s short film titled Good Enough Ancestor, and you can read about Civic AI — 6-Pack of Care here.You can get hold of her book Plurality: The Future of Collaborative Technology and Democracy here. ---Watch on YouTube or SubstackIf you need to know a bit more about me… head to my "about" pageFor more such conversations, subscribe to my Substack newsletter, it’s where I interact the most!Let’s connect on Instagram

Samantha Sweetwater (systems thinker, Gaian futurist, expert facilitator) draws on complexity science, deep ecology, indigenous wisdom, and 30+ years of experience guiding embodied transformation to help humans navigate civilizational transition. She joins me to talk us through how we can best emerge our way out of the current fiasco and toward the world we’d like to create, what it might look like and what we might want to start doing – or being – to be part of it all. We cover how to use our dreams, our intuition, psychedelics, “the local news" as well as the place of AI and technology in this emergent transition we’re in.This is a beautiful, emotional and real conversation that launches “series 2” of Wild in which we’ll be exploring “the what comes next” - the “new world” - that we will take the place of the “old” self-destructing, tech-addled, carbon-based, linear world order that’s on its way out.About SamanthaSamantha is a systems thinker, executive coach, wisdom teacher, and founder of One Life Circle. She pioneered the conscious dance movement, built a global community of practice, and has been initiated into indigenous lineages of Africa, Latin America, and Turtle Island. Her recently published book True Human: Reimagining Ourselves at the End of the World tackles exactly what we're speaking of here.Show notesIn this episode, we mention previous Wild chats with collapsed academic Luke Kemp and Adam MastroianniSamantha’s new book is called True Human: Reimagining Ourselves at the End of the World---Watch on YouTube or SubstackIf you need to know a bit more about me… head to my "about" pageFor more such conversations, subscribe to my Substack newsletter, it’s where I interact the most!Let’s connect on Instagram

After a long-ish hiatus, we’re returning with a fresh series of Wild. This second series will be taking a slightly new direction and is now “watchable” on YouTube and Substack.There will be no fancy studios, no professional gear…Sarah will be getting straight to the important, “life-generating” conversations that steer us through the coming challenging years and decades of what is now understood of complex systems' collapse. Please hit “follow” or “subscribe” on whatever platform you’re now on so you don’t miss an episode and share the link with, say, at least a dozen of your friends and family.Catch up on the Wild conversation with these previous episodes:IAIN MCGILCHRIST: Our “wretchedness” is a left-brain issueGAYA HERRINGTON: Complete global collapse by 2040? The prediction is “right on track”VANESSA ANDREOTTI: And now we have hospice modernityLUKE KEMP: Will our global civilisation go the way of the Roman Empire?----Watch on YouTube or SubstackIf you need to know a bit more about me… head to my "about" pageFor more such conversations, subscribe to my Substack newsletter, it’s where I interact the most!Let’s connect on Instagram 

As many of us move into the holiday season and slower days, I wanted to reshare this conversation with Iain McGilchrist. It’s a spacious, illuminating exploration of how we’ve come to live as we do — and a reminder that meaning and beauty are still available to us, even when solutions feel out of reach.Dr Iain McGilchrist (neuroscientist, psychiatrist, polymath, author of The Master and His Emissary) devised a thesis that sets out how the two sides of our brains can affect the way we both interact and create the world. The left hemisphere is a narrow, extractive, problem-solving “machine” that divides and conquers things, fails to see our part in the world and to fathom beauty, awe and responsibility. Our civilisation, Iain says, has become ruled by a left-brain mentality, which is killing us and leaving us “wretched”; we need to put the right side back in charge!  Iain is an associate of Green Templeton College in Oxford and a fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Royal Society of Arts. His 2009 book Master and his Emissary became a cult read and the recent follow-up, The Matter with Things took him 12 years to write (and is 600,000 words long!).In this chat, we cover why societies start out creative, happy and flourishing (right-brained!) but switch left and destructive as they expand; the secret to living a well and happy life and how to find meaning and beauty in a world we possibly can’t “fix” (in the left-brain sense of the word).  SHOW NOTESLearn more about Iain's work via his website and watch his videos here.Buy Master and his Emissary and The Matter with Things here.Listen to Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor's Wild episode.--If you need to know a bit more about me… head to my "about" pageFor more such conversations, subscribe to my Substack newsletter, it’s where I interact the most!Get your copy of my book, This One Wild and Precious LifeLet’s connect on Instagram and WeAre8

As many of us head into the holiday season — travelling, slowing down, or looking for something good to listen to — I wanted to reshare this conversation with Martha Beck. It’s a thoughtful, generous discussion about anxiety as a guide rather than a problem, and one I have a feeling will land right now.Dr. Martha Beck (author; “best-known life coach in America”) is about to release a book on anxiety. The international best-selling author – who holds three Harvard degrees in social science and was described by Oprah as “one of the smartest women I know” – specialises in helping people find meaning and integrity in their lives.In this episode, Sarah and Martha reconnect after 15 years to discuss their takes on the role of anxiety in our lives, and how it can be used to create purpose and direction (tune in to hear about the time Martha “bent a spoon with her mind” for Sarah!). They also share tangible techniques for using creativity to switch out of anxious spirals. Martha’s book, Beyond Anxiety: Curiosity, Creativity, and Finding Your Life’s Purpose, is available now.SHOW NOTESOrder your copy of Beyond Anxiety: Curiosity, Creativity, and Finding Your Life's PurposeHere’s the newspaper column I wrote about my first meeting with Martha in 2010I refer to previous podcasts with Dr Jill Bolte Taylor and Iain McGilchrist, and another on the role of creativity with Ian LeslieYou can read more about Martha's work here and connect on IG here--If you need to know a bit more about me… head to my "about" pageFor more such conversations, subscribe to my Substack newsletter, it’s where I interact the most!Get your copy of my book, This One Wild and Precious LifeLet’s connect on Instagram