Shows
The Bigger PictureEp. 24 - David Schapiro: The Booming Field of Insuretech & How Silicon-Valley Cowboys are Rethinking Old-School InsuranceIn today’s episode, I spoke with David Schapiro, an expert in the insurtech space, who combines his silicon valley cowboy past with the old-school culture of the insurance industry.David explains why we’re seeing the emergence of a great number of tech companies within the insurance space, and why this is just the tip of the iceberg. David has been involved in companies such as ClickSoftware, PLANCK, BoughtByMany, Sayata Labs, and Earnix.We spoke about David’s experience in this space, his insights about insurtech specifically and entrepreneurship more generally, and about the track record...
2022-02-2052 min
The Bigger PictureEp. 22 - Prof. James Pennebaker: Writing Therapy, What the Words We Use Say About Us, and the Power of PronounsIn today’s episode, I spoke with Prof. James Pennebaker, a social psychology professor from UT Austin. Needless to say, within the psychology community, Pennebaker is a well known name. James is a pioneer in the field of writing therapy, where he has explored how writing about a past trauma can help people recover, as well as how the language we use can indicate the state of our mental health. He then went on to explore how people use language differently. For instance, how gender and personality can affect the language we use. One o...
2022-01-161h 10
The Bigger PictureEp. 23 - Micha Kaufman: On Founding Fiverr & Revolutionizing the Gig EconomyIn today’s conversation, I spoke with Micha Kaufman, founder and CEO of Fiverr. Fiverr has completely revolutionized the gig economy, making freelance work accessible for people all over the world. Fiverr simplifies the process of connecting freelancers with their customers, which allows freelancers to truly make a living from their work, and provides easy access for businesses large and small to highly skilled individuals. We spoke about where the idea for Fiverr came from, how the company looked in its early days, and what it took to make the Fiverr dream a reality. Mic...
2022-01-0243 min
The Bigger PictureEp. 21 - Tara Stiles: How To Feel Better With Strala YogaIn today’s episode, I spoke with Tara Stiles, the founder of Strala Yoga, a revolutionary approach to being, moving, and healing. Strala Yoga is not like other styles of yoga. Strala combines the principles of tai-chi with yoga and delivers an easy-going flow, that allows you to sync with your breath, tune inwards, really listen to your body, and ultimately, to become good friends with yourself. Finally, there’s a style of yoga that really feels like you. In Strala, the focus isn’t on getting the alignment of the pose just...
2021-12-221h 24
The Bigger PictureEp. 20 - Yuval Tal: The Psychology of EntrepreneurshipDo you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur? A conversation with Yuval Tal, Founder & President of Payoneer and Managing Partner at Team8 Fintech. Yuval and I spoke about the ins and outs of entrepreneurship. The good, the bad, and the ugly.Yuval shared his lessons and insights from his entrepreneurial journey, and what kind of personality makes for a successful entrepreneur.
2021-12-081h 00
The Bigger PictureEp. 19 - Irvin Yalom: On Life, Love, & ExistenceA very special episode with a very special person!In today' s episode I spoke with Irvin Yalom, the author of best-selling books such as When Nietzsche Wept and Love's Executioner, the father of existential psychotherapy and a pioneer in the field of group theory. We spoke about his latest book, A Matter of Death and Life, which he co-authored with his late wife, Marylin Yalom. Marylin and Irvin weave together a beautiful and touching tale of true love, old age, and a life well-lived. Click here for their latest book: A M...
2021-12-0742 min
The Bigger PictureEp. 18 - Simon Baron-Cohen: How Autism Drives Human InnovationProf. Simon Baron-Cohen and I discussed his new book, Pattern Seekers, and how autism has been a driving force for innovation throughout human history. We spoke about the difference between the Systemizing Mechanism and the Empathy Circuit, and how there is a big overlap between individuals with autism and those who are hyper-systemizers. Simon explained how, for most of human history, the true innovators and inventors were individuals who were curious, focused, and constantly trying to understand the systems that govern our world.Check out his latest book The Pattern Seekers: https://www.am...
2021-12-071h 03
The Bigger PictureEp. 17 - Prof. David Buss: On His New Book "When Men Behave Badly" & Taking an Evolutionary Look at Human SexualityIn today’s episode, I spoke with Prof. David Buss, an evolutionary psychologist from UT Austin, about his latest book - When Men Behave Badly: The Hidden Roots of Sexual Deception, Harassment, and Assault. This conversation was incredibly enlightening. David employs an evolutionary framework to better understand the dynamics of human mating. What I love about the evolutionary approach is that it allows us to really understand the motives of our actions and why we behave the way we do. Evolutionary psychology lets us look at human emotion, cognition, and behavior through a historic lens. And...
2021-11-171h 47
The Bigger PictureEp. 16 - Prof. Sam Gosling: What Your Room Says About Your Personality, and How Physical Spaces Affect Our PsychologyIn today’s episode, I spoke with Prof. Sam Gosling, a personality researcher from UT Austin. To start with - we should first ask ourselves - what is personality? There are endless theories and frameworks that try to describe, explain, and predict a person’s characteristic nature - as well as many different approaches to studying and measuring an individual’s personality.In this episode, Sam gave us his take on what personality actually means and explained the different levels of analysis that we should pay attention to when venturing into this field. Throughout his career, Sam has st...
2021-10-131h 06
The Bigger PictureEp. 15 - Prof. Bernard Berofsky: Having Free-Will in a Somewhat Determined World, A Compatibilist's ViewIn today’s episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with Prof. Bernard Berofsky, an Emeritus Professor of Philosophy from Columbia University, who in his career has explored topics such as free-will, determinism, liberation, autonomy, and creativity. Bernard is an exceptional philosophical thinker, and his devotion to the pursuit of knowledge and truth is an inspiring one. This conversation was a deep dive into the mind of an analytical philosopher. In some parts, we explored the deeper philosophical arguments around these ideas, and in others we spoke about how they can be related and applied to our eve...
2021-09-302h 03
The Bigger PictureEp. 14 - Prof. Ran Barkai: The Life of Prehistoric Man, Cave Paintings, & Altered States of ConsciousnessIn today’s episode, I got to speak to Prof. Ran Barkai, an archeologist from Tel Aviv university. Archeology is a fascinating field that provides us with a very real, physical, sensory connection with our past. By uncovering certain objects, remnants, and markings left behind by prehistoric man, we can paint a picture of what the life of our early ancestors was really like. Each new discovery adds to this tapestry of history, and the new technological advancements we have today help make our estimations of the past even more accurate. One of the exciting discoveries that Ran...
2021-09-121h 20
The Bigger PictureEp. 13 - Prof. Nicholas Dirks: Science for the Public Good, the Future of Innovation, and Uniting the Humanities and the SciencesHow can scientific innovations transform society? What can learning about different cultures teach us about ourselves? What can learning about our past teach us about our future? And what do we truly need in order to drive scientific progress?In today’s episode, I spoke with Prof. Nicholas Dirks, the President of the New York Academy of Sciences, former Chancellor of UC Berkeley, and former dean of the Humanities at Columbia university. Nicholas started his academic journey in history and anthropology, having been fascinated with Eastern cultures, especially India, from a young age. Throughout his career, Nick has...
2021-08-122h 05
The Bigger PictureEp. 12 - Prof. Reuven Dar: A New Outlook on OCD, How It Differs from OCPD, and Why Internal Awareness MattersIn today’s episode, I spoke with Prof. Reuven Dar, a clinical psychologist and researcher, who studies OCD. Ruvi and his colleagues have developed a model that approaches OCD in a different way from the mainstream consensus. They’ve come up with a framework for OCD called “Seeking Proxies for Internal States”. The idea behind this is that individuals suffering from OCD have a harder time accessing their own internal states. And in order to deal with this, they seek proxies, or things that are external to them, in order to gauge what exactly their internal states are. This...
2021-08-011h 01
The Bigger PictureEp. 11 - Prof. Leo Corry: The Evolution of Science, Science & Religion, and the Importance of the HumanitiesIn today's episode, I spoke with Prof. Leo Corry, a historian and philosopher of mathematics and science, and the former dean of the Humanities at Tel Aviv university. Leo has studied mathematics, history, and philosophy, and has such an extensive mapping of the history and evolution of science and mathematics, as well as how different cultural and social movements worked together and created the environment that made certain technological advancements and progressions in humanity’s understanding of the world. We spoke at length about the philosophy of science, how we need to stay humble in the face of...
2021-07-261h 18
The Bigger PictureEp. 10 - Dr. Yulia Golland: Synchronizing with Others, Social Neuroscience, and the Individual & the CollectiveWhat does it really mean to be on the same wavelength with someone? Is there any truth to these kinds of metaphors? Dr. Yulia Golland shows that on a certain level - yes there is.Dr. Yulia Golland is a social neuroscientist who studies interpersonal synchrony. In other words, she studies how people get in-sync with one another. Human beings are inherently social creatures, and we are constantly shaping and being shaped by our social environments. A lot of this communication happens verbally, but the majority of it happens below our conscious radar, on levels that we...
2021-07-1359 min
The Bigger PictureEp. 9 - Dr. Elran Haber: The Microbiome, Computational Biology, & Integrating Business and ScienceDid you know we have trillions of bacteria, yeast, and virus cells living within us? How does this "microbiome" affect our health and well-being? Today we spoke about the microbiome with Dr. Elran Haber, who is the CEO of Biomica, an emerging biopharmaceutical company developing innovative microbiome-based therapeutics for the treatment of immune-mediated and infectious diseases, with a specific focus on immuno-oncology and GI related disorders. Their company is composed of an A-Team of brilliant scientists from Israel and from around the world. Elran and I spoke about the microbiome at large, what it is, why it’s a fa...
2021-06-2045 min
The Bigger PictureEp. 8 - Nir Minerbi & Amir Naveh: Quantum Computing, Founding a Start-Up, & Work-Life BalanceNir Minerbi and Amir Naveh are two of the founders of a quantum computing company called Classiq. So it turns out, quantum computing is a thing. Quantum computing is an exciting new approach that integrates computers as we know them today with the principles of quantum physics. An important distinction between the classic Newtonian physics and quantum physics is that, in Newtonian physics, things are considered causal, meaning, one thing causes the other. So if we have complete knowledge of the past, that means that we can compute the future, and vice versa. But in qu...
2021-05-281h 09
The Bigger PictureEp. 7 - Dr. Orly Flakowicz Idan: Psycholinguistics, How Language Shapes Thought, and the Magical Power of WordsHow do words shape our thoughts and our reality? How can changing one word dramatically impact people's opinions? What really is the importance of being precise in your speech?Orly studies psycholinguistics, which is the meeting place between psychology and linguistic studies. In particular, she researches how language can affect our attitudes, emotions, and responses. We spoke about the research she’s done in the field of conflict resolution and negotiations, where she and her colleagues have shown that different wordings, often very subtle, can have a substantial impact on how we perceive different texts and messages....
2021-05-161h 23
The Bigger PictureEp. 6 - Prof. Danny Hamiel: How to Build Resilience & Making Psychology ScalableWhat makes some people resilient, and others not? How can we make psychology scalable? Prof. Danny Hamiel is a clinical psychologist by trade and a researcher. Danny's bigger picture is to promote well-being on a larger scale. He is the head of the Cognitive-Behavioral unit in the Tel-Aviv university mental health center and is the director of the unit for school interventions at the Cohen-Harris Center for Resilience, which has been chosen by the Israeli Ministry of Education as the national program for school interventions to promote resilience and help children deal with daily stressors and to c...
2021-05-161h 19
The Bigger PictureEp. 5 - Prof. Eilon Solan: Game Theory & Emergent EthicsHow are game theory, math, and values related? In this episode, we spoke about Game Theory and its different applications in real life with Prof. Eilon Solan from Tel Aviv University. Eilon holds a PhD in Mathematics from the Hebrew university. Besides his fascination with math, Eilon is also a fan of sci-fi and he authored two science fiction books in Hebrew.One of the topics we spoke about is the exciting idea of emergent ethics arising out of game theory models. One of the things that we discover after investigating different models of game theory is...
2021-05-1652 min
The Bigger PictureEp. 4 - Prof. Gilad Hirschberger: Political Psychology & Existential ThreatsHow can insights from political psychology help us improve the debate between the right and the left? In this episode we spoke with Prof. Gilad Hirschberger, an experimental social and political psychologist who studies collective threats and their relevance to group survival concerns and to intergroup relations. Based on a multidimensional existential threat (MET) model that he developed, he studies how the shadow of past threats, such as the Holocaust, and the specter of threats looming in the future can influence attitudes, behaviors, and cognitions.In our conversation, we spoke about how his MET model can provide us w...
2021-03-2159 min
The Bigger PictureEp. 3 - Prof. Daniel Levy: Neuroscience and the Philosophy of Free Will & DeterminismHave you ever asked yourself, "Do I really have free-will? Or is everything that happens already pre-determined"? If so, you're in luck.In this episode we spoke with Prof. Daniel Levy, a cognitive neuroscientist and the dean of the school of Psychology at IDC. Daniel's research focuses on understanding the processes of the human mind, specifically on different aspects of memory and attention. Notably, Daniel began his explorations of psychology through the humanities and the study of philosophy, leading to much exploration around the philosophy of consciousness and free-will. He received his Ph.D. in cognitive psychology...
2021-03-2156 min
The Bigger PictureEp. 2 - Dr. Guy Hochman: Behavioral Economics, Rational Decision Making, & Moral BehaviorAre we rational? Are we as moral as we think we are? Can we really trust ourselves to make rational ethical decisions? In this episode, we have Dr. Guy Hochman, who is a senior lecturer and the head of the MA program in Behavioral Economics at Reichman University.Guy received his PhD in organizational psychology from the Technion university and then went on to complete his post-doctorate at Duke University under the supervision of Prof. Dan Ariely. His research focuses on heuristics and biases, behavioral economics, pro-social and anti-social behavior, and the cognitive processes that underlie decision ma...
2021-03-2158 min
The Bigger PictureEp. 1 - Prof. Shimon Schocken: Computers, Education, & Building a UniversityIn this episode, we spoke with Prof. Shimon Shocken, the founding dean of the school of Computer Science at Reichman University.After being a tenured professor at NYU for 10 years, Shimon came back to Israel to take part in building a new academic institution from scratch. Over the years, Shimon was also a visiting professor at Harvard and Stanford, and served as chairman of the Computer Science Curriculum committee of Israel's Ministry of Education from 2009 to 2012. Shimon is a passionate educator, and has developed revolutionary courses such as NandtoTetris and Matific, which we spoke about in this episode.
2021-03-2153 min