What Could Go Right?

Latest Episodes:

Bridging Our Divides (Bonus) Feb 16, 2022

Show notes

The United States is a country divided, characterized by collapsing levels of trust in our institutions, in our politics, and in each other. How did we get into this mess, and how do we get out? Join The Progress Network for a conversation with TPN Members David Brooks and Theodore R. Johnson, hosted by our founder, Zachary Karabell, centered around this question. They examine ideas for how to bridge our divides at both an individual and collective level.

This conversation was recorded on December 21st, 2020.

What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

The Population Explosion (Bonus) Feb 09, 2022

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Are we on the brink of a population explosion with untold global consequences? On the contrary, a growing number of experts argue that we are headed for a worldwide decline. Hear from Empty Planet authors John Ibbitson and Darrell Bricker on how this could bring with it many benefits as well as surprising disruptions.

This recording was first released on March 5th, 2019.

What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

Our Lonely Century (Bonus) Feb 02, 2022

Show notes

What do university students in Britain and Trump voters in the United States have in common? They're lonely. In fact, Noreena Hertz says, loneliness is the defining feature of this century, thanks to a host of drivers ranging from the technological to the economic. The Progress Network founder Zachary Karabell joins Noreena, an economist and author of The Lonely Century, as she elucidates whether we're really more lonely than we used to be, what has led, pandemic aside, to our current state of hyper-loneliness, and which solutions—individual, governmental, and entrepreneurial—she thinks are the best bet for reconnecting us.

This conversation was recorded in May 2021.

What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

We Are the Outrage Machine (Bonus) Jan 26, 2022

Show notes

It's no secret that social media is politically divisive. What we may not be as aware of is how our own behavior feeds into a positive feedback loop that leaves both sides progressively more outraged and more extreme in their beliefs. What should we be aware of before we like, share, and react to politically inflammatory content online? What techniques do we have at our disposal to improve our online behavior? The Progress Network Member Robert Wright, president of the Nonzero Foundation and a longtime journalist who writes about science, history, politics, and religion, discusses this phenomenon with The Progress Network executive director Emma Varvaloucas and gives his best tips for how to avoid a civil war.

This conversation was recorded before the 2020 presidential election.

What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

The Crypto Dream (Bonus) Jan 19, 2022

Show notes

What are we to make of the social and financial phenomenon of cryptocurrency? Will it spell the democratization of money free from government control, or is it simply a bubble that is going to pop? The Progress Network founder Zachary Karabell sits down with Wences Casares, a technology entrepreneur and one of the early advocates of Bitcoin, who believes that it will prove to be bigger than the Internet.

This recording was first released on January 23rd, 2018.

What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

This Changes Everything: The World-Turning Power of Ideas (Bonus) Jan 12, 2022

Show notes

Ideas start wars and movements, undergird societies and governments, and shape the daily experiences of our personal lives. We ignore or underestimate the power of ideas to our detriment. And yet they can feel slippery to reckon with; difficult to see, tougher still to understand their complex movement through the world.

Join The Progress Network for a wide-ranging discussion on ideas—which ones are significant now, which may be significant in the future, and how we can participate in ideas' power ourselves—with Joan Blades, co-founder of Living Room Conversations and MoveOn.org, and public intellectual Steven Pinker, author of Enlightenment Now and several other books. Zachary Karabell, founder of The Progress Network, moderates.

This conversation was recorded on May 12, 2021.

What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

Rethinking Today's Capitalism (Bonus) Dec 22, 2021

Show notes

At its worst, today’s capitalism is risky, reckless, and rapacious, unmindful of its impact on society and addicted to the motto that more is always more. Surrounded by these conditions, we might forget that it doesn’t have to be this way—today’s capitalism is just one of many capitalisms, and we can choose to swim in new waters instead. Editor-at-large for the Financial Times (US) Gillian Tett and The Progress Network Founder Zachary Karabell discuss.

This conversation was recorded on June 10, 2021.

What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

The Next Wave of Higher Education (Bonus) Dec 15, 2021

Show notes

Is higher education due for a makeover? The pandemic has only accelerated the trends disrupting the traditional model of higher ed. So it’s an opportune time to look ahead and discuss what's coming next, from closing the gap that has opened between elite schools and the rest to the waning of standardized admissions tests to the rise of online and hybrid learning from the fringe to the center. Along the way, of course, we'll be answering the ever-acute question of what it is all supposed to be for.

Join us for a conversation on the future of higher ed with Sylvia M. Burwell, president of American University, Michael Crow, president of Arizona State University, and Scott Galloway, the founder of Section4, a content platform for accessible business education. Zachary Karabell, founder of The Progress Network, moderates.

This conversation was recorded on April 7, 2021.

What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

Maybe We're Not F*cked: Moving the Climate Conversation Forward (Bonus) Dec 08, 2021

Show notes

When we think about our environmental future, it's no wonder that many of us feel an overwhelm bordering on defeat. We've been hearing for years about the damage humanity has done to our world and the coming climate apocalypse, which if you listen to some is now impossible to avert. There's no denying that climate change is a real and significant issue. But is the narrative of climate catastrophism accurate, and is it doing us any good?

Join The Progress Network for a conversation with Ted Nordhaus, cofounder of The Breakthrough Institute, an environmental research center, Bina Venkataraman, author of The Optimist’s Telescope and a former senior climate change advisor in the Obama White House, and Jason E. Bordoff, founding director of the Center on Global Energy at Columbia University, about a more helpful approach to meeting the challenge of climate change. The discussion, moderated by our founder, Zachary Karabell, begins with the premise that planetary doom is not inevitable. It might not even be likely.

This conversation was recorded on March 11, 2021.

What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

Live from Web Summit: An Affordable Internet & Pharmaceutical Psychedelics (Bonus) Dec 01, 2021

Show notes

We're back with part 2 of our Web Summit episode, bringing you conversations with people who are trying to make the world a better place.

Today we talk with Sonia Jorge, Executive Director for Alliance for Affordable Internet and Head of Digital Inclusion Program at Web Foundation, to hear how they are creating the conditions for affordable Internet in countries worldwide and what they have learned along the way. Next, we sit down with Robert Barrow, the CEO of MindMed, a company that researches and develops psychedelic-inspired medicine, about what they see as the future of mental illness and addiction treatment.\

What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

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