Jordan Peterson in Iceland
In 2018, Gunnlaugur Jónsson and his collaborators organized Jordan Peterson’s first visit to Iceland, bringing one of the most influential contemporary public intellectuals to a small but highly literate and debate-oriented society. The event took place at a moment when Peterson’s lectures and writings were rapidly moving beyond the confines of academia and into global public discourse. For Icelandic audiences, the visit was an occasion for in-depth psychological, philosophical, and moral argument, at a time when public attention was becoming increasingly fragmented.
The response exceeded expectations. The event generated significant public interest, sold out rapidly, and ultimately reached an audience equivalent to roughly 0.5% of the Icelandic population. Attendees were not passive spectators; they engaged attentively and seriously, underscoring the demand for substantive, sustained thought when presented without condescension or dilution.
The outcome was instructive. The 2018 lecture clearly suggested that Iceland’s cultural ecosystem—shaped by literary tradition, civic debate, and intellectual curiosity—remains receptive to demanding ideas. While the event required careful logistical planning, media coordination, and audience management, its significance lay primarily elsewhere. It indicated that serious content could be presented at scale without being simplified, and offered a reference point for what intellectually ambitious public events might look like in Iceland.
Peterson’s second visit in 2022 took place under markedly different conditions. In the intervening years, his public role had intensified, polarized, and globalized. The cultural climate was more fragmented, expectations higher, and risks more visible. Organizing the second event required not only operational experience but also a deeper understanding of how ideas circulate, provoke, and resonate in a digitally saturated public sphere. Once again, the event succeeded in drawing a substantial audience and sustaining focused attention on complex themes. This confirmed that demand for serious, sustained engagement with ideas had not disappeared, though it now requires greater care and contextual awareness.
Paradigm builds directly on this accumulated experience. The lessons learned from hosting Jordan Peterson across different cultural moments and under different pressures inform a broader ambition: to create events that take ideas seriously, treat audiences as intellectually capable, and operate with professional care and preparation. These earlier events were not isolated successes; they were prototypes. Paradigm emerges as the next iteration, transforming experience rooted in individual initiatives into a durable platform for a wide range of thinkers, conversations, and formats.
