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Intelligence Squared

How to Think Like a Freak: Learn How to Make Smarter Decisions with the authors of "Freakonomics"

Intelligence Squared

Intelligence Squared

Arts, News, Society & Culture, News Commentary

4.21.1K Ratings

🗓️ 18 May 2017

⏱️ 60 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The books 'Freakonomics' and 'SuperFreakonomics' have been worldwide sensations, selling tens of millions of copies. They have come to stand for challenging conventional wisdom using data rather than emotion. Questions they examine are typically: Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? How much do parents really matter? Why is chemotherapy prescribed so often if it’s so ineffective? Now the books’ two authors, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, have turned what they’ve learned into a readable and practical toolkit for thinking smarter, harder, and different – thinking, that is, like a Freak. On 28th May they came to Intelligence Squared to discuss their new Frequel, 'Think Like a Freak'. By analysing the plans we form and the morals we choose, they showed how their insights can be applied to help us make smarter decisions in our daily lives. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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Welcome to Intelligence Squared, which obviously the title is based on the mathematical concept of taking a figure and raising it to the power of two to produce a substantially larger result or a more impressive result.

0:41.0

So it's a prop we have two people here, Stephen D. Levitt,

0:45.2

economist from the University of Chicago and Stephen J Dubner, journalists from the New York Times,

0:51.2

who a few years ago came together in a spectacularly successful

0:54.6

symbiotic relationship to rival anything in nature.

0:58.4

But which is the crafty clownfish? Which is the poisonous an enemy?

1:03.6

I'll leave you to judge in the course of the evening.

1:06.0

And as we've just been reminded, they together created this freakonomics phenomenon

1:11.2

with their books, freakonomics, super freak comics, and now think like a freak,

1:16.4

which we're going to be concentrating on the scene, but I dare say we can cover all the span of this work.

1:21.8

Anyway, so I'm assuming you all know what this is all about, but just in case I should say that Stephen Leavitt is a free thinking,

1:29.7

or freak thinking economist, teachers at the University of Chicago, and Stephen Dubner, oh I've said this,

1:34.4

I'm a writer and generalist. Anyway, they met when Levitt met Dubner, Dubner met

1:40.4

Dubner, when Dubner was interviewing Levitt for a profile in the New York Times.

1:46.4

So right from the word go, I'm terrificly impressed that you came together in these circumstances.

...

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