Sonia and Simon

He’s been called the next Elon Musk. Who is Casey Handmer? Casey Handmer is an Australian-born founder who moved to the United States 16 years ago and is now the founder of Terraform Industries. Terraform’s mission is to make cheap synthetic oil and gas from sunlight and air. The company takes cheap solar power and turns it into natural gas and methanol, a building block for petrol, diesel and ker...

What if AI isn’t humanity’s rival but its descendant? Economist and futurist Robin Hanson explains how artificial intelligence could inherit our ideas, behaviours and culture, eventually becoming something very different from us. Robin challenges the fear that AI will take everyone’s jobs overnight, explaining why widespread replacement may still be decades away and what we should be paying attent...

What makes Elon Musk capable of building companies that attempt what others consider impossible? Eric Jorgenson, author of The Book of Elon and The Almanack of Naval Ravikant, has spent years distilling the ideas, philosophies and mental models of some of the world's most influential thinkers. Eric breaks down the principles behind Elon Musk's approach to success from thinking from first p...

What happens when the gap between rich and poor becomes too wide? What will happen to society if AI takes our jobs? And are we forgetting the very real threat of nuclear war? Branko Milanović is one of the world’s leading economists on inequality, he unpacks the forces reshaping our world, from the concentration of wealth and the political instability it can create, to the long-term consequences o...

What if everything you know about negotiation is wrong?  ⁨ Chris Voss former FBI lead international kidnapping negotiator and author of Never Split the Difference, reveals the psychological tactics used to negotiate with kidnappers, defuse high-stakes situations and influence human behaviour. We Discuss: The FBI negotiation tactics you can use in everyday life Why “no” can be the beginning of a be...

Why are so many people earning good money but still struggling to build wealth? Half of Australian workers say they’re living paycheque to paycheque even as wages continue to rise. Investment expert and author Ben Carlson unpack where our money is going and what it actually takes to build wealth over the long term. He reveals the biggest mistakes people make with money, why humans are so bad at in...

What if aliens almost certainly exist and humans could one day live forever? Theoretical physicist Dr Michio Kaku has spent seven decades searching for the single equation that could explain everything in existence. He takes us to the edge of what we know about the universe and what could be possible next. We Discuss: Why Michio believes there is almost certainly life beyond Earth What UFOs can an...

What happens when we become obsessed with understanding ourselves? Jemma Sbeg is the creator of The Psychology of Your 20s, one of the world’s biggest psychology podcasts, and author of Person in Progress. Her work has helped millions of people navigate relationships, career, identity, money, loneliness and the uncertainty of being in your 20s. But in 2026, something has changed. We have more psyc...

What if the life you’ve built isn’t actually the life that’s right for you? Dr James Hollis is a Jungian analyst, author and teacher who has spent decades exploring the unconscious forces that shape how we live, love, work and understand ourselves. He has written more than 20 books, including the bestselling Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life, The Middle Passage and Under Saturn’s Shadow....

Could this be the first generation with a lower IQ than their parents? As AI becomes increasingly embedded in how we work, learn and think, are we becoming more capable or are we slowly outsourcing the very skills that make us intelligent? Professor Joel Pearson is a neuroscientist, psychologist, author and the world’s first Neuro Futurist. He is Director of the Future Minds Lab and Deputy Directo...

What actually makes us happy, and why do some things we think will make us happier fail to deliver? Sonja Lyubomirsky is one of the world’s leading researchers on the science of happiness. A professor of psychology at the University of California, Riverside, her research has transformed how we understand what makes people happier. Her latest book, How to Feel Loved: The Five Mindsets That Get You...

Why do smart, loving people keep having the same fights? Why does intimacy disappear? And why do so many men struggle to stay emotionally connected? Terry Real is one of the world’s leading relationship therapists and the founder of Relational Life Therapy. His work challenges the traditional rules of relationships, masculinity and couples therapy. We get into why the messages boys and men receive...

What if the biggest warning signs of a recession are already here and we’re not paying attention? Mark Zandi is one of America’s most respected economists and the Chief Economist of Moody’s Analytics. He’s spent decades analysing the economy, financial markets, housing, jobs and the forces that drive the next economic cycle. We discuss: - Whether a recession is actually coming - What happens to in...

What if the biggest thing holding back your career or business isn't your product… it's that nobody knows who you are? Caleb Ralston is a personal branding strategist, content creator, and entrepreneur who has helped some of the world's most influential founders build their online presence. Having worked alongside industry leaders like Gary Vaynerchuk and Alex Hormozi, Caleb has seen f...

Why are some people able to overcome adversity while others struggle to bounce back? Hugh van Cuylenburg is the founder of The Resilience Project, bestselling author, and one of Australia’s leading voices on mental wellbeing and resilience. Hugh shares the science behind building resilience and the practical tools we can use to handle life’s challenges, improve our relationships, and create a more...

Most people think they're one pay rise away from financial freedom. Graeme Holm says they're wrong. Graeme Holm is a mortgage broker, financial educator and founder of Infinity Group, where he's helped thousands of Australians take control of their money and get ahead financially. He breaks down why so many people stay stuck in the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle, even on high incomes; and...

Democracy feels like something we can take for granted, but few people are talking about how quickly it can unravel from the inside. Around the world, authoritarianism is on the rise, not through invasions or coups, but through the slow erosion of institutions, elections, and truth itself. It's a pattern that has repeated across countries and decades, and one that's now playing out closer...

AI is changing everything, but few people are talking about the infrastructure making it possible. As artificial intelligence accelerates, data centres are becoming one of the world's most critical assets. They power every AI model, every search, every chatbot, and every breakthrough. But they also face enormous challenges around energy, efficiency, and scalability. Antonia Collings is the CEO...

The Man Who Sold AI to the World: On Why Ordinary People Win the Most. Most people talk about AI like it's something happening to us. Zack Kass thinks that's exactly the wrong way to see it. Zack spent years at OpenAI as one of the key architects of its go-to-market strategy, the person responsible for taking the most transformative technology in human history and bringing it to the world....

What happens when the technology powering today's AI gets left behind? We sat down with John Martinis, Nobel Prize-winning physicist, the man behind Google's quantum supremacy milestone, and co-founder of Qolab to find out what's actually coming next. This isn't theoretical. Quantum computing is already threatening the encryption protecting your money, your data, and the internet a...

Why are humans obsessed with serial killers, disasters, and true crime? Dr. Coltan Scrivner is one of the world's leading researchers on morbid curiosity. We unpack the psychology behind our darkest fascinations: why millions binge true crime content, why women consume more of it than men, and whether our obsession with death and danger is a flaw or an evolutionary advantage. If you've eve...

What if the most important skill of your life is one nobody ever taught you? Daniel Goleman is the psychologist and bestselling author who introduced emotional intelligence to the world. In this episode, he gets practical breaking down the four domains of EQ, why our kids are losing emotional skills to screens, and what it really takes to lead, connect, and thrive in a rapidly changing world. We D...

What's really happening to sex, intimacy, and relationships in the age of smartphones, porn, and AI companions? Dr. Nicole McNichols is a sex educator, researcher, and professor whose work focuses on helping people have more satisfying, fulfilling sex lives. In this episode, she breaks down what science actually says about desire, pleasure, and intimacy; and why so many people are struggling in si...

Most relationships don't end because of one big betrayal. They die slowly through small moments of disconnection. Drs. John and Julie Gottman are the world's leading relationship researchers, having studied couples for over 40 years, publishing more than 200 academic journal articles and 46 books. They are the co-founders of The Gottman Institute and the renowned Love Lab. In this episode,...

Most people believe they’re clear on what they want in a partner. Science says they’re not even close. Paul Eastwick, one of the world’s leading relationship scientists, breaks down what decades of research actually reveal about attraction, dating, and long-term compatibility. We Discuss: Why your “type” is a poor predictor of real attraction The disconnect between preference and behaviour in dati...