HIGHLIGHTS: Johan Norberg

Hi everybody, tune in to this short version of the podcast, which we do every Friday. For the long version, tune in on Wednesdays. Hi everyone, I'm Nikola Tanjen, the CEO of the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund, and today we are exploring one of history's most pressing questions: the rise and the fall of great civilizations. Because there are so many things that we can learn from the past. And today I'm here with Johann Norberg, author of the newly released book which I just loved, called Peak Human, what we can learn from the rise and fall of Golden Ages.

Now, Johan, you have studied Golden Ages throughout history, from ancient Athens to the modern Anglosphere, and that's what we're going to zoom in on today. So Johan, warm welcome. Thank you very much. Let's start with the beginning. What is a golden age?

Yeah, I'm glad you asked. Golden Age is something that's often defined in retrospect afterwards, which is a little bit sad. So it's often subsequent generations who look back at the past and say, wow, they really had something impressive going. Can you never see it while you're in it? Sometimes you do, but it's easier afterwards because it's about a combination of cultural creativity, scientific discovery, technological innovation and economic growth.

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