This is The Reason Interview with Nick Gillespie. Today's episode is sponsored by Bank on Yourself.

If you've ever wanted to live in a world of endlessly fascinating conversation about the arts,

science, and philosophy, you're going to love my guest today. She's Anna Gott, and she's the person

behind a membership platform called Interintellect, which hosts hundreds

of online salons a year.

Some of them feature superstars like Harvard psychologist Stephen Pinker, relationship guru Esther

Perel, and economist Tyler Cowen.

But all of them are built around civil yet intense and fun discussions of the most interesting cultural ideas

at play. Interintellect's stated ambition is to reinvent French salon culture for the 21st century,

and the platform is increasingly doing events in real life as well. I talked with Anna about

why she started interintellect, how it grew to have

tens of thousands of participants all over the world, and how her new podcast, The Hope Access,

fits into her vision of a future marked by optimism. We also talk about how her early years in

post-communist Hungary shape her interests and ambitions

and her belief that free and open culture is vital to any flourishing society.

Here is the reason interview with Anna Gott.

Okay, so Anagat, thanks for talking to Reason.

Thanks for having me.

I love Reason, and I always wanted to be reasonable enough to be on your podcast.

Well, that day has come true.

Let's talk about Inter-intellect, which is a rebirth of a French literary salon, according to your website. What is intellect? And, you know, what are you trying to accomplish with it?

Other than being unpronounceable, we're working on that. Every time I go on a podcast where there's a person who speaks for a living and even they can't pronounce it, I know we have the problem and we have to pick it.

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