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 making sense of life. Bestselling author of " The Swerve ", " The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve " and other book...
May 27, 2022•24 min•Ep. 353
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 to be successful in life. Her new book is “ The Long Win: The Search for a Better Way to Succeed ”....
May 20, 2022•28 min•Ep. 352
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 share part of our 2121 interview with journalist Eric Berger , senior space editor at the science and tech news site, Ars Techn...
May 13, 2022•30 min•Ep. 351
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 Nick Gillespie is editor at large of Reason Magazine , which has the motto "free minds and free markets...
May 06, 2022•33 min•Ep. 350
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 grapple with these questions and many more in this episode of "How Do We Fix It?" Our guest is conservative intellectual...
Apr 29, 2022•33 min•Ep. 349
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 own curiosity. In this episode we learn about her personal story as the loving liberal daughter of Mexican immig...
Apr 15, 2022•31 min•Ep. 348
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 efficient, and even friendlier. Amanda Renteria is CEO of Code for America , a non-profit group that uses coding and other...
Apr 08, 2022•31 min•Ep. 347
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-over 400 "robust experiments" and takes readers on a tour of cutting-edge research that uncovers new techniques to i...
Apr 01, 2022•32 min•Ep. 346
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% of natural gas imports come from Russia. In this episode, we discuss how the war in Ukraine is changing the debate ov...
Mar 25, 2022•33 min•Ep. 345
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 Constitution of Knowledge : A Defense of Truth", best-selling author, journalist, and public intellectual, Jo...
Mar 18, 2022•27 min•Ep. 344
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. This episode has extracts from an interview with Robert Kagan , a senior fellow at the Brookings Inst...
Mar 11, 2022•29 min•Ep. 343
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, Nazi occupation , famine , and the Chernobyl disaster . Eight years ago, during the " Revolution of Dignity ", Uk...
Mar 04, 2022•43 min•Ep. 342
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 autocracies. In this episode, we share a conversation that touches on the relationship between voters and those who represent them, and wha...
Feb 25, 2022•27 min•Ep. 341
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 redistricting. Every decade, legislators across the country come up with maps for state and congressional districts. The l...
Feb 18, 2022•28 min•Ep. 340
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 Ginsberg all advised us to live without regrets. "We think that it's courageous to say I have no regrets, but it's not...
Feb 11, 2022•32 min•Ep. 339
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, economist Noreena Hertz . Numerous surveys have found that reported cases of loneliness have jumped in rece...
Feb 04, 2022•27 min•Ep. 338
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 party leaders have prevented compromise and resolution of critical problems. We discuss five personal ways to reduce po...
Jan 28, 2022•30 min•Ep. 337
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 encountering these thinkers when he was a poor immigrant teenager from the Dominican Republic literally c...
Jan 21, 2022•32 min•Ep. 336
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 change. This episode looks at the role played by carbon-free nuclear power in providing one solution to the growing climate crisis. ...
Jan 14, 2022•26 min•Ep. 335
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 for hard talk and getting into our discomfort zones. “As a nation, we have largely lost our ability to have hard conversatio...
Jan 03, 2022•31 min•Ep. 334
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 share their gripes, observations, hopes and insights about the media, science, the environment and global affairs. Our c...
Dec 23, 2021•28 min•Ep. 333
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 involved in helping to develop and implement: Ranked Choice Voting in several states and more than 20 citie...
Dec 17, 2021•27 min•Ep. 332
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 Voters Want Better Policing, Not Posturing by Progressives”— was written after the defeat of a November ballot ini...
Dec 10, 2021•29 min•Ep. 331
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 explosive online paper in May 2020. She argued that scientists and governments should investigate whether a virus from a labor...
Dec 03, 2021•24 min•Ep. 330
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 growing controversy from our co-host, Jim Meigs, who has written about allegations of a scientific cover-up. Molecular biologis...
Nov 24, 2021•29 min•Ep. 329
"This book is a message from autistic people to their parents, friends, teachers, coworkers and doctors showing what life is like on the spectrum," writes our guest, author Eric Garcia in We're Not Broken . "It’s also my love letter to autistic people. For too long, we have been forced to navigate a world where all the road signs are written in another language.” Garcia, who is autistic, is a senior Washington correspondent for The Independent . He has worked as a writer and reporter covering po...
Nov 19, 2021•26 min•Ep. 328
Not long ago, most of us embraced social media as a life-changing opportunity to connect with friends and family all across the world. Today, public opinion, including members of Congress from both parties, has turned far more negative. Facebook, Twitter, Google, YouTube, and other tech giants are accused of corrupting our democracy, spreading disinformation, and fanning the flames of hatred. Our guest is Robby Soave , a libertarian author and journalist who is a senior editor for Reason and the...
Nov 12, 2021•35 min•Ep. 327
As world leaders discuss the planet's future at COP26 in Glasgow, climate change remains a massive challenge and a source of fierce debate. While two-thirds of Americans think that the government should be doing more, it's tempting to throw our hands up in despair and think: "There's nothing I can do." Climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe begs to differ. She says the most important thing is to talk about it—and she wants to teach us how. In this episode, we discuss her hopeful, passionate case for...
Nov 05, 2021•30 min•Ep. 326
Many millions of Americans are heading back to work — in person — for the first time since the pandemic hit. During this time of remote meetings and working from home, many of us learned new skills, and perhaps, forgot our old ways to work and successfully collaborate with colleagues. This episode is a timely and very personal reminder of how to make meetings better and develop stronger, more productive relationships with those we work and live with. We learn about the crucial differences betwee...
Oct 29, 2021•27 min•Ep. 325
From local school board elections to state legislatures, an impassioned nationwide debate has erupted over allegations that Critical Race Theory (CRT) is being taught in public schools. Anti-CRT bills have been passed in more than two dozen Republican-led states. What do we mean by Critical Race Theory? What are these laws aiming to accomplish? How will they affect schools in the US? We share a lively discussion from "Banished", a new podcast series, hosted by Amna Khalid, a history professor at...
Oct 15, 2021•27 min•Ep. 324
