Is Your Life Morally Ambitious Enough?

Conversations with Coleman

The Free Press

Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.5 • 610 Ratings

🗓️ 16 February 2026

⏱️ 70 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Rutger Bregman is a Dutch historian and best-selling author of Utopia for Realists and Humankind: A Hopeful History. In 2019, he went viral for his takedown of billionaires at the World Economic Forum and for a heated exchange with Tucker Carlson. Today, he joins the show to discuss his latest book, Moral Ambition, which he defines as the desire to use your available talents and resources to make the world a better place rather than focus solely on individual wealth. He argues the real question is whether the work you’ve chosen is ambitious enough in moral terms—whether your day-to-day life tackles the big problems facing humankind. He explains why “follow your passion” is often bad advice; why moral breakthroughs tend to come from small, disciplined groups rather than mass appeal; and why moral progress is neither automatic nor inevitable. Go to https://surfshark.com/colemandeal or use code COLEMANDEAL at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	What I've dedicated my life to is revenge.
0:04.7	A brand new drama based on the bestselling novel.
0:07.5	They think they're better than us.
0:08.5	Who do you think you are?
0:09.8	I'm going to prove to them that they're wrong.
0:11.5	She's punishing me.
0:13.0	You destroyed my family.
0:14.3	I will not rest until I've destroyed yours.
0:17.0	A woman of substance on Channel 4 starts tonight at 9.
0:20.4	Welcome to another episode of Conversations with Coleman.
0:23.6	My guest today is Rutger Bregman.
0:26.0	Rutger is a Dutch historian and best-selling author of Utopia for Realists, Human Kind,
0:31.7	and today's topic, Moral Ambition, How to Stop Wasting Your Talent and Start Making a Difference.
0:39.1	This episode is a call to reflect on whether the line of work you have chosen in life is ambitious enough, not in terms of how
0:45.1	much money you make, but in terms of how much good you're doing. Rutger believes that the smartest
0:50.5	and most talented people should be choosing much bigger problems to solve.
0:55.5	In the course of this conversation, we also talk about how cults have changed history,
1:00.3	how the British Empire stamped out slavery around the world, and much more.
1:04.6	So without further ado, Rucker Bregman.
1:18.2	Okay, Rutger Bregman. Thanks so much for coming on my show.
1:19.4	Thanks for having me.
1:27.1	So I remember your book, Utopia for Realists, was a very big deal when I was in college.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

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

Generated transcripts are the property of The Free Press and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.