Intelligence Squared

Jon Lee Anderson is considered one of the great foreign correspondents of our time. Since the late 1980s, his on-the-ground reporting in Afghanistan has provided invaluable insight into decades of conflict and political upheaval. For The New Yorker magazine he covered the US-backed Mujahideen’s insurrection in Kabul, was an eyewitness to the new war launched by the US against the Taliban and their Al-Qaeda allies within days of the 9/11 attacks, and reported on the supposed quick and easy victory of America while Osama bin Laden was still in hiding. 

On February 10, Anderson joins us in person to reflect on his decades-long career, throughout which he has traced the missteps of the US-led war in Afghanistan, now widely regarded as one of the greatest foreign policy failures of the modern era. 

Join us live at the Kiln Theatre and ask your questions in the audience  Q&A.

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Jon Lee Anderson is considered one of the great foreign correspondents of our time. Since the late 1980s, his on-the-ground reporting in Afghanistan has provided invaluable insight into decades of conflict and political upheaval. For The New Yorker magazine he covered the US-backed Mujahideen’s insurrection in Kabul, was an eyewitness to the new war launched by the US against the Taliban and their Al-Qaeda allies within days of the 9/11 attacks, and reported on the supposed quick and easy victory of America while Osama bin Laden was still in hiding. 

On February 10, Anderson joins us in person to reflect on his decades-long career, throughout which he has traced the missteps of the US-led war in Afghanistan, now widely regarded as one of the greatest foreign policy failures of the modern era. 

Join us live at the Kiln Theatre and ask your questions in the audience  Q&A.

---

This is the first instalment of a two-part episode. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full ad free conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more.

For £4.99 per month you'll also receive:

- Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts

- Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series

- 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events 

... 

Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99:

- Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts

- Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series

…

Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access.

…

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This is an episode of The Specialist, your weekly dose of wonder. In The Specialist, explore the significance and journey of an extraordinary work through the eyes of those that know it best.

On today’s episode, Frank Everett, Sotheby's Vice Chairman, Jewelry Americas, discusses the string of faux pearls that belonged to the legendary Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Estimated at $500-$700, it was the power of provenance that drove them to sell for over $200,000. Frank is largely self-taugh and moved through the major jewelry houses before joining Sotheby’s, where his knowledge of the design and history of great period jewels has led him to oversee record-breaking sales. He has his own popular video series - Frank's Files - and a cult following.

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What it might mean – biologically, socially, and philosophically – if death becomes optional?

Humanity has long dreamed about the idea of immortality. And in 2026, many believe that dream could soon become a reality. The world’s most powerful technologists and investors are pouring billions into engineering immortality itself. For these modern-day immortalists, aging is no longer an inevitability – it’s a technical glitch that can be hacked, reversed, or eradicated altogether.

On today’s episode, award-winning broadcaster and academic Aleks Krotoski speaks to host Carl Miller about the moguls, effective altruists, geroscientists and entrepreneurs who are seeking to disrupt death. 

Drawing on Krotoski’s new book The Immortalists, they discuss encounters with radical life extensionists transfusing their teenage son’s blood, transhumanists who want to upload consciousness to the cloud, biohackers flogging AI-powered wellness apps and billionaire kingmakers building brand-new nations.

If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more.

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... 

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Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access.

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What if DNA could be edited as easily as software? What if we could delete disease, redesign organisms, and eventually rewrite ourselves?

In this episode, Adrian Woolfson joins host Güneş Taylor to discuss his book, On the Future of Species. As artificial intelligence fuses with synthetic biology, Woolfson argues that we are beginning to decode the grammar of the genome - learning not just to read life, but to write it.

Today, scientists are still in the scribbling phase, editing microbes and viruses. Tomorrow, we may design entirely new organisms or resurrect lost ones. Evolution would no longer be destiny. It would be a choice.

But who gets to choose? And what happens to ecosystems, and human nature itself when genomes become editable?

If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more.

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... 

Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99:

- Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts

- Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series

…

Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access.

…

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