Let’s Make The World Wildly Better: Rutger Bregman On Moral Ambition

When I study the great moral pioneers of the past, I don't read biographies of people who were very relaxed. They were working their ass off. We think that follow your passion is probably the worst career advice ever invented in the history of humanity. Let's not just check our privilege, let's use it to make a massive difference. If you can achieve your goals in your own lifetime, then I think you're not thinking big enough. And this is a movement that's way bigger than us. So we're in the midst of the holiday season, and so many of us are trying to get our heads around what we're gonna do differently in 2026. And in thinking about this, I think what I wanna do is offer you something to think about, something I've said many times before, but bears repeating around this time of year. And that is this, we are all far more capable than we permit ourselves to believe. Each and every one of us is in possession of a reservoir of potential we've barely begun to tap that is just begging to be expressed into reality. And I say this as somebody for whom hopefulness comes hard. I am hardwired to dismiss these kinds of optimistic proclamations as pretty much nothing more than pure Pollyanna drivel. But at the same time, I actually know for a fact that this statement is true. I've experienced it myself, and, I have witnessed it many, many times as true in others as well. So basically, what I'm saying is that I need to be constantly reminded that transformation is our birthright. And all of us possess the agency to change for the better. And the impending new year is really just this opportunity to ritualize this fact and render it into reality. So to set our minds right, I can think of nobody better than Rutger Bregman to help us consider what's possible both for ourselves and the broader world, and as somebody who can help us incite the expression of our interchange agent in the interest of our future betterment. And I say this because Rucker is a guy who dreams big, and today, he brings to the table a big call to action, asking us to use what we have, whether it's our privilege or our resources or, most importantly, our human capital to take on the world's most pressing challenges. What we need what the world needs is more moral ambition, which is the title of Rutgers' new book and the topic of today's conversation. Rucker, for those unaware, is one of the most compelling moral philosophers and public intellectuals working today, a Dutch historian and author who has a talent for clearly diagnosing the crisis of meaning that so many of us feel, which he marries with a refreshing pragmatism for charting a more fulfilling life path forward in service to a better world. And so to put a finer point on it, Rucker …