meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen

HIGHLIGHTS: Johan Norberg

In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen

Norges Bank Investment Management

In Good Company, Business, Norges Bank, Nicolai Tangen

4.8 • 186 Ratings

🗓️ 3 October 2025

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We've curated a special 10-minute version of the podcast for those in a hurry.  

 

Here you can listen to the full episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/no/podcast/johan-norberg-analyzing-golden-ages-embracing-openness/id1614211565?i=1000729440811&l=nb


What can the rise and fall of great civilizations teach us about our current moment? Nicolai Tangen explores this timely question with Johan Norberg, renowned author of "Peak Human: What We Can Learn from the Rise and Fall of Golden Ages." Together, they examine the patterns behind history's greatest golden ages—from ancient Athens to the modern Anglosphere—and discuss whether we're witnessing the end of our own. The conversation covers the vital role of openness in driving innovation, why immigration has been crucial to every thriving civilization, the dangers of retreating from globalization, and how "strategic tolerance" can make nations stronger. Johan shares his philosophy on the power of changing one's mind and why sharing ideas openly leads to greater success. As author of multiple influential books on openness and global progress, Johan brings unique insights to understanding our interconnected world.

In Good Company is hosted by Nicolai Tangen, CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management. New full episodes every Wednesday, and don't miss our Highlight episodes every Friday. 

 

The production team for this episode includes Isabelle Karlsson and PLAN-B's Niklas Figenschau Johansen, Sebastian Langvik-Hansen and Pål Huuse. Background research was conducted by Oscar Hjelde.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hi everybody, tune in to this short version of the podcast, which we do every Friday for the long version.

0:06.0

Tune in on Wednesdays.

0:08.0

Hi everyone, I'm Nicola Tangen, the CEO of the Norwegian Southern Wealth Fund.

0:13.0

And today we are exploring one of history's most pressing questions, the rise and a fall of great civilizations.

0:20.0

Because there are so many things that we can learn from the past.

0:23.8

And today I'm here with Johann Norberg, author of the newly released book,

0:27.8

which I just loved, called Peak Human,

0:30.5

what we can learn from the rise and a fall of golden ages.

0:34.4

Now, Johann, you have studied golden ages throughout history from ancient Athens to the modern

0:41.2

anglosphere, and that's what we're going to zoom in on today. So, Johan, warm welcome.

0:46.5

Thank you very much. Let's start with the beginning. What is a golden age?

0:50.8

Yeah, I'm glad you asked. Golden Age is something that's often defined in retrospect afterwards, which is a little bit sad.

0:59.0

So it's often subsequent generations who look back at the past and say, wow, they really had something impressive going.

1:07.0

Can you never see it when you're in it?

1:09.0

Sometimes you do, but it's easier afterwards because it's about a combination of cultural

1:16.6

creativity, scientific discovery, technological innovation and economic growth.

1:23.6

And so it's really a large number of innovations and new discoveries in many different fields

1:28.6

of human experience at the same time.

1:31.3

So the really cool thing here is that we're going to compare what we're seeing today

1:35.3

with what we've seen in the past. Generally speaking, how do golden ages end?

1:40.3

They end when we shift mentality.

1:45.0

Obviously you can see lots of dangerous horsemen of the apocalypse here and there, of famine,

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Norges Bank Investment Management, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Norges Bank Investment Management and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.