How Do We Fix It?

Myths are widely seen as little more than lies. We're constantly told by experts in media and society that myths are for debunking and even ridicule. Yet despite clear evidence frequently presented by doctors, journalists and scientists, many of us believe in legends and myths.    In this episode of "How Do We Fix It?", we explore the power of myths and legends: Why they are essential in...

What does it mean to be a winner? Is it simply about “crushing it” or hitting your targets at work? Do you always have to come first? In this episode, we get a new definition of winning and success from former British Olympic rower, Cath Bishop , who competed in three Olympics and won a silver medal. Today Cath works in leadership development and has spent years thinking deeply about what it means...

Elon Musk is the richest person in the world and the most interesting business leader of his time.  Disruptive and innovative, Musk has already revolutionized two giant industries— autos and aerospace.  His planned purchase of Twitter  will turn him into a power player in a third: social media. In this episode we look at what Elon Musk and his team achieved with SpaceX and...

All too often political movements are defined by their opponents. That is especially true for libertarians who are often labeled as uncaring— far more concerned with the individual than society. In this episode, we get a mostly positive view of what libertarians stand for and also why they oppose both the populist domination of the Republican Party and the leftward tilt by Democrats. Our guest&nbs...

How did the Republican Party go from being dominated by Ronald Reagan in the 80s to the movement of Trump? What are the deep tensions between grassroots Republicans and Conservative elites who used to be in charge? Six months before the 2022 midterm election, why would liberals and progressives stand to benefit from understanding exactly why conservatives win so many races?  We grap...

Partisanship is up, trust is down and social media encourages us to believe we're right and everyone else is either ignorant, stupid or evil. But avoiding difficult conversations with those we disagree with is a big reason why our nation is so bitterly divided. Journalist Mónica Guzmán set out to discover what was blinding us and learned that the best tool we have we're not using: Our ow...

Reform advocates are full of good intentions and worthy goals— from ending hunger to improving access to healthcare and limiting the impacts of climate change. But good intentions are not the same as good results.  The efficient delivery of services is important for all citizens. In this episode, we look at how to design technology that makes the government smarter, much more effici...

Our brains are prediction machines: How we frame everyday tasks and challenges of our lives can have a profound impact on their outcomes. In this episode, we learn about new discoveries in science that reveal the many ways our expectations shape our experience. Author and science writer  David Robson  is our guest. His latest book, " The Expectation Effect " cites findings from well...

Russia's invasion of Ukraine made Europe's energy dependence painfully clear. "We are supporting and actually financing the war by purchasing oil and gas and other fossil fuels from Russia,"  Finland's Prime Minister  Sanna Marin  bluntly put it . Fossil fuel energy is vital for Russia's economy, accounting for almost half of its exports. One-third of Europe's oil and as much as 40%...

Democracies around the world are under threat from populist movements, demagogues, and dogmatic extremists who use disinformation, conspiracy theories, cancel culture, and shaming to weaponize social media and challenge our ability to distinguish truth from falsehood. Most recently, the Russian government has used lies and fake news to justify its attempted land grab in Ukraine. In " The Constitut...

Shock, surprises, and suffering are the most immediate results of all wars. Russia's brutal, yet deeply flawed invasion of Ukraine has profound implications for the West, global democracy, and the future of Europe and Russia. We hear the perspectives of two prominent thinkers, Jane Lytvynenko and Robert Kagen. Richard and Jim also share their analysis of the unexpected early outcomes of...

The war in Ukraine and the global response to Russia's invasion are dominating the news. But missing in much of the coverage is a sense of the country and its people. In this historic moment, we hear a riveting account of the country's recent political awakening and why Ukrainians are prepared to resist and fight. In the past century, Ukraine suffered massively during two world wars,&nbs...

The invasion of Ukraine is a shocking reminder of what's at stake for democracies around the world. This moment is a stunning reminder of the vital importance of what we so often take for granted— personal freedoms and the rule of law. Despite well-advertised flaws, our constitutional system of governance is infinitely preferable to dictatorships or thuggish autocraci...

Partisan  gerrymandering — where one party gains an unfair advantage by redrawing political maps to favor its candidates— is  unpopular with voters , but widespread in many states. We examine why this process devalues democracy, and how data science is being used across the country to expose many of the most egregious examples, and help voters advocate for fair and transparent redis...

Best-selling author  Daniel Pink  admits he's pedaling against the wind. His new book, " The Power of Regret " takes on the longstanding and deeply ingrained doctrine that paying attention to our regrets is foolish. In this episode, we ask him why this notion is wrong. "No regrets" is the name or theme of countless books and popular songs. Bob Dylan, Angelina Jolie, and Ruth Bader G...

Two years of coronavirus have made the growing loneliness crisis even worse— with greater social isolation causing personal pain and mental and physical illnesses. "Even before the global pandemic introduced us to terms like social distancing, loneliness was becoming the defining condition of the twenty-first century. But it's also one we have the power to reverse," says our podcast guest, economi...

Across the board— from  voter access  to questions of  race and gender , and views of the economy— the gap between Republicans and Democrats has grown wider in recent years. According to recent polling, a rising share of Americans say that having political conversations with those they disagree with is “ stressful and frustrating ”. Political polarization and the recent actions of p...

What is the point of an education? Is it to learn skills that will help you get ahead in the workplace, or is it to acquire knowledge and to think more deeply about your place in the world? In this episode we hear from an educator who thinks that the great books— Plato, Aquinas, Shakespeare for example— aren’t just for a few well-off students at elite colleges, but for everybody. And he says...

Earth's global average temperature in 2021 was the sixth warmest on record, according to  two new reports  issued this week by U.S. Government agencies. Scientists at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies report that collectively the past eight years were the warmest since modern record keeping began in 1880. The research adds to overwhelming evidence of climate chang...

Our first episode of 2022 is all about a constructive response to the calamitous events of one year ago: The January 6th riot at the U.S. Capitol. On January 5th, a coalition of organizations, led by  Ideos Institute , will host the first annual  National Day of Dialogue . We discuss this invitation to all Americans to push back against deep divides. We also explore the need fo...

The Forever Pandemic, Omicron, Build Back Better, Biden, Putin, China, What's Trump got up his sleeve? The media gave these stories ad nauseum coverage in 2021, often marching in lockstep and suffering from a painful lack of imagination about what should be the big news of the day. But what about underreported stories: The important news that most of us missed? Richard and Jim...

Gerrymandering, low turnout elections, negative campaign ads, and increased polarization are all part of the flawed, fractured U.S. political system. Here we examine the case for constructive changes to how candidates for public office are elected. Our guest,  Rob Richie , has been the leader of the non-profit advocacy group, FairVote, since co-founding the organization in 1992. He has been i...

The huge difference between slogans and solutions is a key theme of this episode. While demands to “de-fund the police” or replace entire police departments with something new might sound good in theory, these ambitious experiments in public safety may backfire. Our guest is Minneapolis civil rights lawyer and activist  Nekima Levy Armstrong . Her recent  New York Times op-ed — “Black Vo...

A crucial step in preventing the next global pandemic will be knowing where this one came from. Did SARS-CoV-2— the virus that causes Covid-19— jump from animals to humans, or was the outbreak the result of a lab leak? The world still doesn’t know the answer.   This episode is part two of our wide-ranging interview with  Alina Chan , a postdoctoral scientist who co-wrote an  ex...

Two years after the known human case of COVID-19, the mystery of the origin of SARS-CoV-2 remains unresolved.  Did the virus emerge from an animal in nature, or could it have accidentally leaked from a research lab in Wuhan, China? Shockingly, the world appears to be no closer to knowing the crucial answer. In this first of two episodes, we get a brief explanation of the growin...