From IBM and Microsoft to serving as Chief Business Officer at Google X, Mo Gawdat has spent over three decades at the forefront of technology and innovation. Today, the bestselling author turns his engineer’s mind toward life’s biggest question: how can we live well and meaningfully in an age defined by artificial intelligence?
This monumental 2.5 hour episode, which Mo Islam called “the best I’ve ever shot”, is a journey through life, loss, and the future of humanity.Mo Gawdat opens up about his late son Ali and the lessons that inspired ‘Solve for Happy’, before diving into the decade of disruption ahead: from the rise of AI and autonomous weapons to universal basic income and the impending economic reset.
Together, the two Mo’s explore why Arabs are so misunderstood in the West, how ethical AI must be grounded in love and empathy, and how the Middle East can lead the next wave of innovation.
They challenge the failures of modern education, the grip of the military-industrial complex, and even the mysteries of the space-time continuum, all while searching for meaning in what Mo calls the “legendary level” of modern life.
A very big thanks to Merwas Studios in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for inviting us to shoot in their WORLD CLASS Studios!
00:00 Intro
03:18 IBM, Microsoft & Google X
05:07 Losing Ali: The Moment Everything Changed
09:27 Writing Solve for Happy
11:41 Leaving Google & Launching “1 Billion Happy”
13:35 Living with Loss
17:05 Fate, Life & the Interconnectedness of Everything
23:04 Death as the Opposite of Birth
26:02 The Video Game of Life
31:23 Ali’s Death & Mo’s Purpose
34:53 Redefining Success: Impact over Ego
38:54 Learning, Curiosity & Creation
44:08 Solitude & Silent Retreats
49:01 Meditation Practices
55:13 Mindfulness in Daily Life
57:06 The Loneliness Epidemic
1:01:02 East vs. West: Community vs. Individualism
1:05:10 Surveillance, Privacy & the Illusion of Security
1:08:11 Raising Children in a Broken World
1:11:03 The Collapse of Capitalism & the Rise of AI
1:21:16 China vs. The West
1:24:06 The Illusion of Stock Markets & Institutional Control
1:30:03 War Economics: How Weapons Drive Profit
1:35:19 Humanity’s Awakening & Questioning the System
1:41:08 Reclaiming the Arab Narrative
1:47:27 Building Ethical AI
1:52:18 Entrepreneurship, Self-Reliance & Believing in the Region
2:00:03 Education is Broken
2:07:03 Business vs. Capitalism: Purpose Over Profit
2:10:00 Reclaiming Global Perception
2:17:13 Governance, Fairness & Leadership in the Arab World
2:22:06 Living in Uncertain Times
2:25:17 The Ultimate Video Game of Life
2:26:57 Closing Reflections