Best Dave Berner Podcasts (2025)

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Why ChatGPT ignores you (and how to fix it) 1:14:32

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11h ago1:14:32

1:14:32

Kai Forsyth is the founder of Hall, a platform that monitors and optimizes how businesses appear in AI search results across ChatGPT, Claude, and other conversational AI platforms. After working as a product designer at Atlassian, Intercom, and Dovetail, Kai recognized that traditional SEO was being disrupted by AI-powered search. His team made a c…

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Left school at 14, now he's bootstrapping enterprise software! 1:18:19

7d ago1:18:19

1:18:19

Stephen Dale was handed a "fire warden jacket" and a broken spreadsheet at a UAE startup, tasked with managing vendors spending nearly $1 million annually. Instead of accepting expensive enterprise solutions, he built his own and discovered the massive gap between what startups need and what the market offers. Stephen is the co-founder of Vendor Ap…

1
Don’t Fear The Reaper, with Molly Conisbee 59:35

7d ago59:35

59:35

I'm afraid that you are going to die. Sorry. You can imagine afterlives and amass great hordes of wealth, but you're still made of human stuff, and thus will die. Humanity's inability to get its head around this most inconvenient of truths is probably behind most of the silly pointless stuff we do, from rampant consumption to wars to spaceships to …

1
Why the education system wasn't ready for AI & how I pivoted to consulting 1:05:37

14d ago1:05:37

1:05:37

Ikum Kandola wanted to quit just a few months ago. After his first startup Teachify hit the brutal reality of the education market's resistance to AI, he pivoted hard into consulting, a space where AI actually drives revenue. Now TheAx.ai is helping smaller consultancies compete with the Big Four by productizing their knowledge through AI. Ikum is …

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Revenue day 1: Excel sheet to $1M (solo founder story) 1:02:42

22d ago1:02:42

1:02:42

Former HR executive and psychology lecturer Nikki Tugano reveals how she transformed being fired into building a profitable SaaS company, starting with just an Excel spreadsheet and bootstrapping to $1M in funding. Nikki is the founder and CEO of SeenCulture, a people analytics platform that identifies untapped talent within organizations. With a d…

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Why this startup said no to the world's biggest mining company (and won) 1:17:47

22d ago1:17:47

1:17:47

David Press was down to his last $7,000 with payroll due when a critical enterprise deal saved Risk Talk from collapse. After years of grinding through COVID lockdowns and cancelled flights, he and co-founder Stuart Farquharson built a voice-first safety reporting tool that now serves three of the world's five largest mining companies. David is the…

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MICRO: Optimism Bias 10:49

26d ago10:49

10:49

Thing about humans is, we like to look on the bright side of life. Without optimism, we'd not have evolved out of the trees in the first place. Our species has optimism bias. But we're all different, and some of us are a little bit too wired to be over-optimistic - and vice versa. This has big impacts for the messages we see about climate change. I…

1
Violence, with Peter Schwartzstein 50:06

1M ago50:06

50:06

Climate change sucks, not least when it causes violence - which it does more than you'd think. In a hundred ways it can add stress and trauma to brains already under huge pressure, and when that's all finally a bit much - well, the worse demons of our nature can, and do, come out. Grim. But are we doomed? Does it have to be like that? Can environme…

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MICRO: Laughing Matter 11:06

2M ago11:06

11:06

Comedy opens the mind and helps us cope with the sheer strangeness of being alive. But is climate change a suitable topic for comedy? In this micro episode of Your Brain on Climate, I chat to Stuart Goldsmith - stand-up par excellence and host of the Comedian's Comedian podcast - about what he's learned from trying to to do jokes about the state of…

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Welcome to The More Founders Show 0:56

2M ago0:56

0:56

Welcome to the More Founders Show with Dave! In this introductory episode, Dave sets the stage for an exciting journey into the world of entrepreneurship. Unlike the typical focus on unicorn founders, this show is all about the real, boots-on-the-ground experiences of those who are building their businesses from scratch. Get ready to hear from foun…

1
They F*** You Up, Your Mum & Dad - with Nina Alexandersen and Sophia Cheng 59:57

2M ago59:57

59:57

How should you bring up baby in the age of climate breakdown? Should you tell them what's happening or not? And given how messed up is the planet we're passing on - is it even fair to *have* kids? In a YBOC first this episode is a 3-way chat. Dave meets Nina Alexandersen and Sophia Cheng - respectively someone who became a climate activist through …

1
Somewhere, with Karl Dudman 58:13

3M ago58:13

58:13

We vote in our self interest, right? So how come people living on islands disappearing because of climate change - and they know it - keep voting for Donald Trump? The answer to that goes to the heart of our climate politics. But it also tells us something very important about how different people think about climate change and what should be done …

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MICRO: Kill All Pests 9:24

4M ago9:24

9:24

I'm out in the garden looking for that pile of jobby I found the other day, and it made me think back to my chat in episode 17 with Erica McAlister all about flies (and fleas). Erica is the London Natural History Museum's expert on all things dipeteric (flies) and siphonapteric (fleas), and an extremely funny and nice person too. Reaching for that …

1
Bullsh*t, with Mike Berners-Lee 57:20

5M ago57:20

57:20

An episode all about the subtle art of talking bollocks. We live in a golden age of bullshit. It can seem that our politics is riddled with it. Corporate climate communications are drenched in it. And despite the looming eco-crisis, perhaps our own brains are too. In this episode, Dave meets author Mike Berners-Lee to chew over his new book, A Clim…

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MICRO: You Disgust Me 11:04

5M ago11:04

11:04

In this bite-sized edition we look back at perhaps my favouritest episode ever - episode 9 about disgust, with Yoel Inbar. We all have a gag reflex. But when we find people - like polluters - disgusting, are we feeing *actually* disgusted, or is it just a metaphor? What about how we might feel about things like climate change itself? Does it make u…

1
I Contain Multitudes, with Sarah Stein Lubrano 59:29

5M ago59:29

59:29

An episode all about cognitive dissonance. Ever feel like there are two yous in the same head? The one that cares about the planet, and the one that doesn't act like it does? And that having two yous makes at least one of your yous freak out? You (and you) are not alone. Welcome to cognitive dissonance. As Walt Whitman wrote: you contain multitudes…

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MICRO: Running Up That Hill 9:47

6M ago9:47

9:47

In this YBOC microdose, a hark back to my inspirational chat with ultrarunner and climate activist Damian Hall, who dispensed his wisdom about how to keep up the slog - advice that's as useful for changing the world as it is for running up that hill. Sorting climate change is the definition of a marathon, not a sprint. It particularly feels that wa…

1
Confirmation Bias, with Adam Harris 53:48

7M ago53:48

53:48

Or: why we all hear what we want to hear, and disregard the rest. Confirmation bias is hardwired into human brains, and without it we'd never get through our day. But it doesn't half get us - and the planet - into trouble sometimes. In this episode Dave learns all about confirmation bias from the splendid Professor Adam Harris off of University Col…

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MICRO: The Conservative Lag 9:56

7M ago9:56

9:56

Why is social change so hard - particularly right now? Part of the reason lies in pluralistic ignorance - the social phenomena that helps to explains everything from imposter syndrome to slow progress on climate change. In this micro episode, we explore a nugget of insight from Professor Deborah Prentice - currently vice-Chancellor of Cambridge Uni…

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(Getting Your Head Around) the End of the World, with Laurie Laybourn 1:03:51

8M ago1:03:51

1:03:51

We're reasonably good at imagining what nuclear war would be like (although it'd probably be even worse than that). But it's not the same for most other complicated, really really scary risks. Eg: the UK government is still not taking seriously the risk of another pandemic - and that's despite the fact we LITERALLY JUST HAD ONE, GUYS. And it's the …

1
Stories of Action, with Kris de Meyer 56:22

9M ago56:22

56:22

If you want someone to change their mind, it's best if they persuade themselves. And they're much more likely to do that if they actually *do* something new, rather than just pathetically feeling like they *should*. There's nothing like getting yer metaphorical hands dirty to show you you can do things you never thought you could - from bleeding ra…

1
Common Sense, with Dannagal Young 52:58

10M ago52:58

52:58

Common sense? Ain't nothing common about it. Populists - like Donald Trump - love to appeal to 'common sense', while pushing ideas as contentious as they come. But what does Trump get right about how he talks to people about big ideas - and what can everyone else learn from it? And what does all this mean for how to talk about something as complex …

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The neutrality myth, with Lydia Messling 45:37

11M ago45:37

45:37

Is climate science 'neutral'? Should it be? Are humans even capable of being neutral about anything? In this new-format episode, I dig into accusations that climate scientists risk undermining their work by going on climate marches. Can that really be true? Doesn't the scientific method speak for itself? And is it realistic to expect people to spen…

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Mental heat, with Alessandro Massazza 47:05

12M ago47:05

47:05

When it gets hot, we all get a bit stroppy: think 'shouting at people on the internet' stroppy. But that's only the tip of the (melting) iceberg. Too much heat can trigger or make worse a range of mental health conditions. And what does climate change bring? More heat. So what are the mental health implications of rising global temperatures? Joinin…

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Long Time, with Ella Saltmarshe 51:06

1y ago51:06

51:06

Time. You work on a human timescale, but the planet doesn't. Sometimes we can think long term but mostly real life gets in the way: but the decisions we collectively take will have a huge impact on life on Earth now, and for generations to come. What are the biases that peg us to short term thinking? How can we shift our perspective to the day afte…

1
Luck, with Will Snell and Anita Sangha 46:21

1y ago46:21

46:21

You are so much more lucky than you think, even if you think you're not. Most of us are dead proud of the good things we've done, and we tell ourselves how hard we have worked and how much we deserve it. But unfortunately we don't. This also works the other way round: we are never as much to blame for our 'failures' as we think. Thing is most thing…

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Values Action Gap, with Gail Hochachka 52:28

1y ago52:28

52:28

Well you SAY you care about climate change, but you don't, do you? There's you, driving a car (!!!) or not putting that plastic bottle in the recycling (!!!!!). There's you, saying you value the planet, but acting like you JUST DON'T CARE. You and me and everyone else. The gulf between our values and actions is large you could drive an SUV through …

1
Mindfulness, with Jamie Bristow 58:36

1+ y ago58:36

58:36

Mindfulness: a technique for training your brain to reflect on what it thinks and why. It can help us make smarter decisions, and can even get the House of Commons to stop shouting at each other quite so much. Magic! But can it save the planet? Today's guest is Jamie Bristow, co-founder of the Mindfulness Initiative - an amazing organisation bringi…

1
Conversations, with Alex Evans 51:02

1+ y ago51:02

51:02

Or: how chinwags can save the world. Imagine I could give you a superpower. The ability to make people trust you who currently don't. To help them change their own mind, on their own terms. And to maybe even heal society, perhaps just a little bit. WELL I CAN. It's called 'having a grown up conversation', and it's perhaps the most underrated thing …

1
Success, with Simon Mundie 50:46

1+ y ago50:46

50:46

So much of our silly short lives is spent chasing after trophies or money or glory. Success! But it's never really enough. We just want more trophies and more more money and one day we die and so does everything else, the end. As a culture, we've got success wrong. Today's guest says we should instead see success as learning to lose ourselves in th…

1
Biophilia, with Lauren Hall Ruddell 42:45

1+ y ago42:45

42:45

Frazzled? Go for a walk in the woods. It'll calm you down, fill your nose with lovely smells, and reset your eyes to room temperature. But why? According to today's guest, humans evolved to need to chill out in natural environments. It gives us nice chemicals like serotonin, is good for long term mental health, and generally resets our stress alarm…

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(Dis)trusting Climate Science, with Laur Hesse Fisher 50:58

1+ y ago50:58

50:58

Some people think climate science is made up. This annoys other people. But calling each other dullards is unhelpful, and it misses the deeper questions. What determines who and what we trust, including science? And what can be done to make people and politics - particularly, Lord help us all, American politics - a bit less squabbly about it all? J…

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We, with Jonathan Rowson 43:22

1+ y ago43:22

43:22

WE need to take action on climate change. WE need a revolution. WE need to unite and tackle the problem. Etc. But who is this "we"? Politicians and campaigners love to invoke it. It has powerful rhetorical force. But does this confusing "we" give us any sense of what each of us can actually do? Is it a linguistic problem or something more profound …

1
Behaviour Change, with Lorraine Whitmarsh 48:32

2y ago48:32

48:32

Are we responsible for how we behave? If so, should we feel bad about it? And if the answer to those two is 'yes' and 'yes' respectively, how do we change our behaviour? How much of 'behaviour change' is about nudging or encouraging individuals to change, versus how much is banning bad things and making good things easier and cheaper? And are simpl…

1
Endurance, with Damian Hall 42:38

2y ago42:38

42:38

Try running for a few miles, and then a few miles more, and then several hundred few miles more. That's proper endurance that is, the kind demonstrated regularly by Damian Hall: ultrarunner, climate activist, author, and all-round lovely chap. He's the holder of the men's record for the 268-mile Spine Race, so he knows a thing or two about keeping …

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Liberalism, with Christopher Shaw 43:38

2y ago43:38

43:38

The climate crisis needs all the ideas and imagination it can get. But today's guest says that liberalism - the system many of us live in, which cherishes individual freedom above pretty much all else - is a straitjacket on our imaginations, and our ability to think and act big. If it really is harder to imagine the death of capitalism than the end…

1
Decolonisation, with Ayesha Siddiqi 44:22

2y ago44:22

44:22

Our ideas about climate change are filtered through layers of Stuff, and for us in the West quite a lot of that Stuff is inseparable from being gits to other countries for centuries. We've nabbed land, exploited populations and perhaps most enduringly of all, seen the world as basically being for 'us' to do with as we want. That Stuff dies hard, an…

1
Comedy, with Stuart Goldsmith 52:12

2y ago52:12

52:12

The death of everything: no ROFLing matter. Right? Well probably yes. But can chuckles save the planet? Does laughing at humans being silly confused bags of water help the climate fight or take the heat out of it? And just why is so much climate comedy, well, crap? Joining Dave this episode is a right proper comedy mastermind, Stuart Goldsmith. Stu…

1
Honesty, with Rupert Read 44:48

2+ y ago44:48

44:48

You can't handle the truth! Or maybe you can. But does the truth set us free, or bum us out? Do we all have a duty to say it like we see it - particularly on things we're not seeing clearly enough, like climate change? How much honesty can our flimsy little brains bear? Joining Dave this episode is Dr Rupert Read. He's an academic, author, agitator…

1
Negotiation, with Camilla Born 47:56

2+ y ago47:56

47:56

It's all very well demanding that everything happens NOW, but we're actually going to do - or not - about climate change is all about negotiation. What happens inside those fusty negotiating halls? How does one negotiate well and get what one wants, whether on climate or things more domestic? And does the climate have the time for us to negotiate o…

1
Flies (and Fleas), with Erica McAlister 35:07

2+ y ago35:07

35:07

Yup, buzz-buzz-swat-buggers. Now, I can't guarantee you're going to come out of this one in love with flies (and fleas), but maybe you'll think a wee bit differently about 'em. About what we need to do to our brains to make small buzzing things our chums, not our nemesis. And why needing to do it is pretty dang essential for not wiping out everythi…

1
Bystander Effect, with Gerdien de Vries 45:30

2+ y ago45:30

45:30

Yes you probably WOULD walk by on the other side, wouldn't you, and don't say you wouldn't, because you would. Alas, a trio of brain wirings add up to the so-called Bystander Effect: our tendency to stand in a crowd of people watching someone flail in a canal, hoping it's not us that has to get our frock wet to jump in and save them. In this episod…

1
Foresight, with Adam Bulley 54:04

2+ y ago54:04

54:04

Time travel! No not like Marty McFly, but in our heads. Backwards via memories, albeit imperfectly. And forwards, to make plans for the future and think about all the ways they could go wrong and then make new plans and then etc. Foresight is profoundly human and completely innate to your brain: just try and sit still with your thoughts for a bit, …

1
Metaphor, with Simon Lancaster 52:55

2+ y ago52:55

52:55

All I need to say to you is "Your Brain on Climate is a lovely cake of a podcast" and you'll drool and tell all your friends to subscribe immediately. Or something. No look: our brains LOVE metaphors. We think in stories and our brains like making connections between different ideas to make sense of the world - particularly things we can't always t…

1
Play, with Lucy Hawthorne 43:42

3y ago43:42

43:42

We play when we're kids to try new things and learn how the world works, and when we think no-one's looking we do it as adults too. Play's important for our development and so you should probably do it or you'll turn out a wrong'un. But Dave's guest today says play is also a way to smash the Very Serious Rules of how to think about climate change -…

1
Consciousness, with Anil Seth 52:50

3y ago52:50

52:50

Right then. Everything you perceive - including what climate change is to you - is a construction of your brain. And your brain is winging it. That's the reality of human consciousness, and everything I thought it was is completely wrong. So how do our brains perceive things, like buses? Are there even buses? (Yes, there are buses.) Have our consci…

1
Schadenfreude, with Aaron Balick 42:12

3y ago42:12

42:12

We love it when someone gets what's coming to them - whether it's an individual we know personally and dislike, someone from a group we hate, or someone we just generally think is a wrong'un. That's schadenfreude - literally, "joy damage". Grubby, wonderful feeling. But what does schadenfreude do for us, psychologically? Is it a good and useful thi…

1
(Super)Heroes, with Al Kennedy 35:45

3+ y ago35:45

35:45

When things get scary, we like hero(+ine)s. We kind of automatically create them - like there was always a hero-shaped hole in our stories that was just waiting for someone to pop into. Why? Are we really hardwired to look for heroes? Do they all wear capes? And for something as complex and fiddly and *wibbles hands expansively in the air* as clima…

1
Disgust, with Yoel Inbar 45:22

3+ y ago45:22

45:22

What disgusts you? For starters, I bet, other people's oozings, or rotten meat, or other such things that hint at the Unclean. But you might also say corruption, or pollution. Or a particular politician, or a group of people. Or perhaps... even climate change itself? It's one of our most base, guiding emotional responses to the world, so in this ep…

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Psychogeography, with Philippa Holloway 41:34

3+ y ago41:34

41:34

We are the places we live, and the places we live are us. Places made by oil, coal, and gas, by roads, and by industry. Where the choices we make about what to feel and where to go are shaped by the very things that are at the heart of the climate crisis. Eek. Psychogeography's about turning left when you're supposed to go right. Going into nuclear…