Matt Ridley
Author & Columnist. On 2 shows, 2 appearances. The Shows tab opens the full record on each.
authorjournalistscientistpolitician@mattwridley ↗mattridley.co.uk ↗Wikipedia ↗
Matt Ridley is a British author, journalist, and former member of the House of Lords. He is the author of several books on science, evolution, and progress, and previously served as the science editor for The Economist.
2shows
2appearances
45statements
11resolved
7supported
1contradicted
64%fully supported
7said about them ↓ Everything Matt Ridley said on any show that made the record, most notable first. Each card names its show and opens the statement there.
Ridley: The idea that China will overtake the US is outdated
“I think the idea that China is about to overtake the U.S. Is looking out of date, actually.”
Ridley: China's declining economic freedom means it won't lead global prosperity
“China has been relatively free economically, but relative, but very unfree politically in the last few decades. I think that's now changing. I don't think it's very free in either respect. And so I don't see it leading the world in prosperity for an awful lot …”
Ridley: Nations shouldn't worry about IP theft if they stay smarter
“My view on the whole is that you shouldn't worry about it. You should, if necessary, sell the stuff to them, because if you can keep ahead, if you can Use your advantage to be smarter. There's no reason you can't just maintain your advantage indefinitely. You …”
Ridley: UK has the developed world's highest industrial power prices
“The highest industrial electricity prices in the developed world, bar none, second highest domestic electricity prices second to Germany.”
Ridley: Norway drilled 40 North Sea wells last year; UK drilled zero
“Norway has drilled something like 40 new gas and oil wells just in the past 12 months, I think, Britain has drilled zero, but it's the same field.”
Ridley: Brexit Was Right but UK Failed to Capitalize via Deregulation
“We did Brexit. Many people think that was a mistake. I don't. I think it was the right thing to do, but we didn't make, take advantage of it. We didn't say, now we're out in the world, let's deregulate”
Ridley: Infinite Growth in a Finite World Is Possible Through Efficiency
“I'm constantly told you can't have infinite growth in a finite world. Not true. Because growth can consist of doing more with less. So you halve the size of your machine or halve the amount of energy going into it. That is growth.”
Ridley: Human brain expansion may be sexual selection equivalent to peacock's tail
“This could have been sexual selection, not natural selection. Because what do we use our big brains for? We use it to write poetry, and do art, and be funny, and all these kind of things. So we use it for seduction. So there's an argument that this thing is, a…”
Ridley: Chinese entrepreneurs are being absorbed by state-owned enterprises
“You've seen what's happened to a lot of Chinese entrepreneurs, they've been swallowed up by state owned enterprises or partnerships with them.”
Ridley: Governments picking winners leads to losers picking the government
“You've got to be careful that in picking winners, you don't end up with losers picking the government.”
Ridley: West would be better off with classical rationalism than Judeo-Christian tradition
“Well, I'm a bit of an old atheist myself who feels that we'd be better off with the rationalism from the classical world rather than the Judeo-Christian tradition that came after it.”
Ridley: UK policing of 'non-crime hate incidents' is Orwellian
“Complaining to our government about its crackdown on non-crime hate incidents, which is the ridiculous Orwellian term for people who say things on, online that, that lead them to being arrested. You know, criticizing that, as J.D. Vance has done, is the right …”
Ridley: Technology evolves through Darwinian selection, not just intelligent design
“In that sense, they really, you know, the airplane and the boat really have evolved. It's not a metaphor. It's what's actually happening to them.”
Ridley: The first half of the 21st century will center around biotechnology
“By the way, the message of my argument that we had transport innovations in the 20th century, and then in the first half of the 20th century, and communications innovations in the second half, is that the first half of the 21st century may not be all about com…”
Ridley: Government industrial subsidies reward political connections over merit
“Picking winners and saying, I want this technology to be developed by such and such a date has a pretty awful track record and is likely to end up by the losers picking the governments. In other words, you know, the wrong people end up getting the grants and t…”
Ridley: Global Forest Cover Is Increasing Every Year
“We're reforesting the globe. There is more forest cover every year now.”
Ridley: A personal computer pioneer would have emerged without Steve Jobs
“If Steve jobs hadn't existed, there would still have been a hero of the personal computer.”
Ridley: Radio Played a Major Role in the Rise of 20th-Century Dictators
“I personally think that radio played a large part in the rise of the dictators in the 19 twenties. You know, if you look at the degree to which Mussolini and Hitler used radio to, As, you know, a demagogic tool.”
Ridley: Global Populist Waves Show Broad Forces Matter More Than Individual Leaders
“You know, you get, you know, Donald Trump in America, Georgia Maloney in Italy, Nigel Farage in Britain, you know, you get similar characters, not exactly the same, but similar characters emerging at the same time in different places, and that suggests That th…”
Ridley: Humanity will win battles against most pathogens through ingenuity
“Yes, I think on the whole, we will win our battles against most pathogens, because we have so much possibility of ingenuity now, of human ingenuity to help us defeat them.”
Ridley: Without modern communication tools, governments couldn't have imposed COVID lockdowns
“If we didn't have all these social contact tools, then maybe we'd never have locked down. You know, we just couldn't do it. In which case, of course, the epidemic would have been worse. But to some extent, as it were the existence of the video conferencing and…”
Ridley: Communication and Idea Sharing Drive Innovation More Than Individual Genius
“I think what happens is that people share their ideas, exchange their ideas, collaborate, and what really counts is how well people are communicating with each other, not how clever they are as individuals.”
Ridley: America's tolerance of failure gave it an edge over Europe
“One of the great things that America brought to the world of innovation, in my view, is a relative tolerance of failure. Compared with Most European countries. The fact that you've started a business and it went wrong was actually quite often a good thing in t…”
The other half of the tape: Matt Ridley's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 7 times in 3 episodes across the shows. every mention, with the transcript →
Who brings them up most Sahil Lavingia 5Naval Ravikant 1Josh Wolfe 1
Every mention by year
tap a year for its mentions
the Knowledge Project 7
2025 1 mention in 1 episode
2020 5 mentions in 1 episode
2017 1 mention in 1 episode
One line per show, most statements first. The link opens Matt's full record on that show: the calibration, argument clarity, speaking style and every statement made there.
| Show | Role there | Eps | Statements | Record | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KNOWLEDGE PROJECTLEDGER | Author & Columnist | 1 | 29 | 71% 5/7 | full record on the Knowledge Project → |
 AMERICAN OPTIMISTLEDGER | Author & Columnist | 1 | 16 | 50% 2/4 | full record on American Optimist → |