How progress ends: technology, innovation, and the fate of nations
Contributor(s): Dr Carl Benedikt Frey, Professor Jane Gingrich, Professor Michael Storper | How will progress end? In this event, Carl Benedikt Frey – one of the leading scholars of technology and the economy – will discuss his new book, How Progress Ends.
To appreciate why we cannot depend on any AI-fueled great leap forward, Frey offers a remarkable and fascinating journey across the globe, spanning the past 1,000 years, to explain why some societies flourish and others fail in the wake of rapid technological change.
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Technology for the public interest: preventing capture and promoting welfare
Contributor(s): Professor Padmashree Gehl Sampath, Dr Laura Mann | In this lecture, Padmashree Gehl Sampath compares the trajectories of two critical technology-driven sectors, pharmaceuticals and artificial intelligence, to show how weak policy and regulatory oversight can lead to technology capture and reduce the public interest benefits from technological innovation.
Gehl Sampath will propose ways to arrive at new common – regional and global - approaches to promote technology for the public interest.
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The CEO: the rise and fall of Britain's captains of industry
Contributor(s): Dr Michael Aldous, Professor John Turner, Dr Judy Stephenson | The CEOs of Britain's largest companies wield immense power, but we know very little about them. How did they get to the top? Why do they have so much power? Are they really worth that exorbitant salary?
In their book, The CEO: The Rise and Fall of Britain's Captains of Industry, which they will discuss at this event, Michael Aldous and John Turner provide the answers by telling the story of the British CEO over the past century. From gentleman amateurs to professional managers, entrepreneurs, frauds, and fat cats, they reveal the characters who have made it to the top of the corporate ladder, how they got there, and what their rise tells us about British society. They show how the quality of their leadership influences productivity, innovation, economic development and, ultimately, Britain's place in the world. More recently, issues have arisen regarding high CEO pay, poor performance, and a lack of professionalisation and diversity. Are there lessons from history for those who would seek to reform Britain's flagging corporate economy?
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US-Iran relations under Trump 2.0: prospects and challenges
Contributor(s): Dr Dana H. Allin, Dr Anahita Motazed Rad, Dr Sanam Vakil | This event will examine how a second Trump administration might reshape U.S.-Iran relations and regional security—whether through renewed maximum pressure, diplomatic engagement, or military action to contain Iran’s nuclear and military ambitions.
The Middle East that Donald Trump left in 2021 is vastly different from the one he re-enters in 2025. Since October 7, the region’s strategic landscape has shifted dramatically, leaving Iran at its weakest and most isolated position since 1979. Economic turmoil, internal dissent, and regional setbacks—amid mounting U.S. and Israeli pressure—have further exposed Tehran’s vulnerabilities.
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Permission to be queer: the case for liberty
Contributor(s): Professor Deirdre Nansen McCloskey | Join us in welcoming back to LSE, economist Deirdre Nansen McCloskey who will deliver this special lecture.
Fear of the queer, says McCloskey, undermines our liberty every time, from the persecution of heretics and witches down to the demonization of Catholics, gays, immigrants, and trans people.
The ideal of a liberal society has been 'Do anything you want, but don't spook the horses'. Don't damage people physically but otherwise feel free. It's a noble and uniquely modern ideal. No masters. As Richard Rumbolt declared from his scaffold at Edinburgh in 1685, ‘there was no man born marked of God above another, for none comes into the world with a saddle on his back, neither any booted and spurred to ride him'. Such an equality of permission is threatened worldwide-and now even in the first home of our liberties.
The London School of Economics and Political Science public events podcast series is a platform for thought, ideas and lively debate where you can hear from some of the world's leading thinkers. Listen to more than 200 new episodes every year.
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