Big Think interviewed an array of luminaries in a variety of fields this week, including several world leaders and giants in the arts.

Bolivian President Evo Morales, in New York for United Nations week, sat down with us for half an hour to talk about the Obama administration's drug policies, his friendship with Cuba's Fidel Castro, and why the entire world will soon reject capitalism and embrace communitarian socialism.  He also compared the element lithium to a a beautiful woman ("much sought after and pursued, especially in Bolivia"), and talked about why it's not a contradiction that he espouses environmentalism while his country's economy increasingly depends on extraction of gas and minerals.

Former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO and Presidential Nominee General Wesley Clark stopped by the offices to talk about some of the ways in which the United States' long struggle in Iraq could be considered a victory, the importance of Pakistan's fate to the War in Afghanistan, and China's ambitions to build to a navy that will rival that of the United States. Conflict around the world is just one of many reasons the United States needs to cut its dependence on foreign oil by implementing a portfolio of renewable energy solutions. As a Co-chair of Growth Energy,  General Clark is a staunch supporter of ethanol, but he isn't naive about the fact the a cleaner, less fossil-fuel-dependent-America may also rest on our ability to adopt new forms of electric cars, many of which will be released this Fall.

Literary giantess Margaret Atwood made an appearance at the Big Think offices, toting a turnip disguised as a cabbage and a wide brim hat made of recycled cardboard, newspaper, and paper bags. During the interview we discussed why writers and audiences are fascinated by apocalyptic and dystopic fiction, like her most recent book The Year of the Flood. Atwood, who comes from a family of scientists, also discussed with us the neurology of reading, which may have evolved from the need for hunters to track their prey by interpreting their tracks. She also talked to us about how she managed to amass 85,000 twitter followers and how twitter and e-books are reshaping how we produce and consume media.

Novelist Jonathan Lethem stopped by for an interview in the midst of a move to California, where he will take up a teaching position formerly held by David Foster Wallace at Pomona College. Lethem, an avid fan and sometimes writer of detective fiction, gave us a primer on film noir. He also talked about how technology has created an alternate virtual reality that is inextricable from our "real," non-virtual life, something he explored in his most recent novel "Chronic City."