The following is a conversation with Neil Ferguson, one of the great historians of our time,

at times controversial and always brilliant, whether you agree with him or not.

He's an author of 16 books on topics covering the history of money, power, war, pandemics,

and empire.

Previously at Harvard, currently at Stanford, and today launching a new university here in

Austin, Texas called the University of Austin, a new institution built from the ground up

to encourage open inquiry and discourse by both thinkers and doers, from philosophers

and historians to scientists and engineers, embracing debate, dissent, and self-examination,

free to speak, to disagree, to think, to explore truly novel ideas.

The advisory board includes Stephen Pinker, Jonathan Height, and many other amazing people,

with one exception, me.

I was graciously invited to be on the advisory board, which I accepted, in the hope of doing

my small part in helping build the future of education and open discourse, especially

in the fields of artificial intelligence, robotics, and computing.

We spend the first hour of this conversation talking about this new university, before

switching to talking about some of the darkest moments in human history, and what they reveal

about human nature.

And now a quick few seconds summary of the sponsors.

Check them out in the description.

It's the best way to support this podcast.

First is Prisoner Wine, My Wine of Choice.

Second is Stripe, a payment platform.

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