The Munk Debates Podcast

Munk Members Podcast provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates.   This week’s Munk Member’s podcast focuses on two stories in the news this week. First, what did the nation-wide Rogers blackout tell us about the state of Canada’s digital infrastructure? Add in airport chaos, emergency room shutdown, and soaring inflation and are Canadians living through a summer of national discontent like few in recent history? Second, President Biden is in the Middle East with high profile visits to Israel and Saudi Arabia. What can this increasingly unpopular president expect from his Middle East sojourn as the midterm elections loom at home and prominent Democrats go on the record urging the party to consider a different leader to contest the 2024 election cycle?   This podcast is a project of the Munk Debates, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to fostering civil and substantive public dialogue.   More information at www.munkdebates.com.

 The economic powerhouses in today’s economy are middlemen like Amazon and Walmart, a reality that has been exacerbated in the pandemic. So argues Kathryn Judge, author of the new book, DIRECT: The Rise of the Middleman Economy and the Power of going to the Source. In it, Judge says that we are trading convenience for long (and fragile) supply chains with often unethical sources. She argues a more just and fair economy is within our grasp, if we take small actions to be conscious consumers and go to the source more often. This will not only create a more resilient economy but also help us live more connected and fulfilling lives. QUOTES: “They're changing the rules of the game in ways that protect what they're doing, and it also allows them to take a bigger cut over time that often has blocked innovations that could reduce their power. So part of the challenge is first of all drawing attention to this allows us to say individually like, "Where are we making decisions that don't suit us?"”    Kathryn Judge  The host of the Munk Debates is Rudyard Griffiths - @rudyardg.     Tweet your comments about this episode to @munkdebate or comment on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/munkdebates/   To sign up for a weekly email reminder for this podcast, send an email to podcast@munkdebates.com.     To support civil and substantive debate on the big questions of the day, consider becoming a Munk Member at https://munkdebates.com/membership Members receive access to our 10+ year library of great debates in HD video, a free Munk Debates book, newsletter and ticketing privileges at our live events. This podcast is a project of the Munk Debates, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to fostering civil and substantive public dialogue - https://munkdebates.com/   Senior Producer: Kelly Linehan Editor: Adam Karch  

Munk Members Podcast provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates.   This edition of the Munk Members Podcast features Janice and Rudyard’s recommendations for great summer reads. What are the books you should be including on your reading list for the beach, the cottage and your favourite hammock? Janice and Rudyard share their suggestions for big, meaty non-fiction reads that are going to expand listeners’ thinking on some of the key issues of our time. Also, what is a fun summer book that you shouldn’t miss out on as an indulgence? We have all your summer reading needs covered in this special edition of the Munk Members podcast.   This podcast is a project of the Munk Debates, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to fostering civil and substantive public dialogue.   More information at www.munkdebates.com. Rudyard’s Picks: Geography Is Destiny: Britain and the World, a 10,000 Year History by Ian Morris. 2034: A Novel of the Next World War by Elliot Ackerman and James G. Stavridis All That Is Solid Melts Into Air by Marshall Berman   Janice’s Picks: The American War in Afghanistan: A History by Carter Malkasian Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy by David Chalmers The Magician by Colm Tóibín

Life is full of decisions, big and small.  What to eat for breakfast, what to wear to work, who to ask for advice, where to send your kids to school.  But are any of these decisions truly our own? A growing movement of psychologists, philosophers, and neuroscientists believe that these decisions may feel like a tossup, but in reality are predetermined, merely the firing of neural pathways forged over time that lead to predictable conclusions. Despite how we feel, free will is an illusion. Supporters of this deterministic worldview argue that our choices are no more under our own control than our own biology. The myriad decisions we make over the course of our lives emerge from background causes of which we are unaware and over which we exert no conscious control. But detractors of this worldview argue that free will and the modern understanding of our brains is not mutually exclusive.  They argue that free will exists on a higher order beyond our physical selves, and cannot be reduced to our mere biology. Much of human thought and action cannot be explained at the physical level, but that renders it no less real. Today we ask the question, do we make our choices, or do our choices make us? Arguing for the motion is Christian List, Professor of philosophy and decision theory at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, co-director of the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy, and author of Why Free Will Exists. Arguing against the motion is Gregg Caruso, Professor of philosophy at SUNY Corning, Visiting Fellow at the New College of the Humanities, and author of Just Deserts: Debating Free Will. Christian List: “Free will is the capacity to choose and control our own actions, and common sense suggests that we humans have this capacity”. Gregg Caruso: “Who we are, and what we do is ultimately the result of factors beyond our control”. Sources: Big Think, Closer to Truth The host of the Munk Debates is Rudyard Griffiths - @rudyardg.   Tweet your comments about this episode to @munkdebate or comment on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/munkdebates/ To sign up for a weekly email reminder for this podcast, send an email to podcast@munkdebates.com.   To support civil and substantive debate on the big questions of the day, consider becoming a Munk Member at https://munkdebates.com/membership Members receive access to our 10+ year library of great debates in HD video, a free Munk Debates book, newsletter and ticketing privileges at our live events. This podcast is a project of the Munk Debates, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to fostering civil and substantive public dialogue - https://munkdebates.com/ The Munk Debates podcast is produced by Antica, Canada’s largest private audio production company - https://www.anticaproductions.com/ Executive Producer: Stuart Coxe, CEO Antica Productions Senior Producer: Jacob Lewis Editor: Kieran Lynch Associate Producer: Abhi Raheja

Munk Members Podcast provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates.   This edition of the Munk members podcast marks the half way point of the 2022 calendar year with Janice and Rudyard making their predictions on the major events, people and trends that will shape the reminder of 2022. Will inflation be tamed by December? Is Xi Jing Ping set to assume an unprecedented third term as Chairman of Communist Party of China? Will Europe be able to hold together in the face of soaring energy costs, slowing economy and rising inflation? Did Google actually create a sentient AI and is this big story that will dominate the back half of the year in terms of the emergence of a broader understanding that thinking machines are coming and possibly much sooner than we think? Is a Liberal Party leadership likely to kick off in the autumn with prime minister Trudeau exiting stage left? And, finally, will the Toronto Blue Jay win big in 2022? This podcast is a project of the Munk Debates, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to fostering civil and substantive public dialogue.   More information at www.munkdebates.com.

Episode summary Joseph Nye has been listed as the most influential scholar on American foreign policy and is widely thought of as one of the leading global thinkers of our time. Extremely well-versed in nuclear weapons and nonproliferation, Nye, a former deputy Undersecretary of State and National Security Council Chair, will join us to talk about what role the threat of nuclear weapons has played in the war in Ukraine and what this war might tell us about future conflicts.   QUOTES: “ That Putin has been able to deter the west from going too far, no boots on the ground, no long-range weapons, you're seeing something of a boundary in this conflict. It's not very good for Ukrainians. It's not very good for the world, but it's better than nuclear escalation.”   JOSEPH NYE   The host of the Munk Debates is Rudyard Griffiths - @rudyardg.     Tweet your comments about this episode to @munkdebate or comment on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/munkdebates/   To sign up for a weekly email reminder for this podcast, send an email to podcast@munkdebates.com.     To support civil and substantive debate on the big questions of the day, consider becoming a Munk Member at https://munkdebates.com/membership Members receive access to our 10+ year library of great debates in HD video, a free Munk Debates book, newsletter and ticketing privileges at our live events. This podcast is a project of the Munk Debates, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to fostering civil and substantive public dialogue - https://munkdebates.com/   Senior Producer: Kelly Linehan Editor: Adam Karch

Munk Members Podcast provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates.   This edition of the Munk members podcast features two stories in the news. First, with Russian troops set to capture the strategic city of Severodonetsk in the Donbas region, are we seeing the beginning of the end of the war? What are the chances that Russia will consolidate its positions in the Donbas and southern Ukraine in the coming weeks? Will new NATO weapon systems give the Ukrainian army the opportunity to turn the tables on the plodding but so far effective Russian advance? Second, the Biden Administration is courting some of the lowest approval ratings of any recent presidency heading into crucial mid-term elections. What is the cause of Biden’s sagging popularity? What could it mean for the mid-term elections and what happens after in terms of political and policy gridlock? How should Canada be positioning itself for a period of political instability in the U.S.?   This podcast is a project of the Munk Debates, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to fostering civil and substantive public dialogue.   More information at www.munkdebates.com.

Should billionaires exist? On this episode of the Munk Debates Podcast, the editor of Jacobin Magazine, Bhaskar Sunkara, debates American Enterprise Institute's James Pethokoukis on the motion Be it resolved, a society that allows billionaires to exist is immoral. SOURCES: NBC, CNBC, SXSW, CBS NEWS

This program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates. This week’s Munk Members podcast explores a wild week in financial markets brought on by central banks around the world aggressively raising interest rates to fight surging inflation. Are witnessing more than just a regular market sell off? The last decade and a half saw the normalization of new monetary policy tools by central banks such as ultra low interest rates and fueled record levels of indebtedness on the part of governments, consumers and corporations. The recent surge in inflation and the response by central banks to rapidly raise interest rates looks set to upend this status quo ante with big consequences for the economy, growth and economic inequality. Janice and Rudyard discuss what could come next and the important lessons that policy makers should take away from the economic turmoil effecting everything from equity and bond markets to currencies, housing and crypto. To access the full-length episode, consider becoming a Munk Member. Membership is free. Simply log on to www.munkdebates.com/membership to register. Under your membership profile page, you will find a link to listen to the full-length editions of the Munk Members Podcast. If you like what the Munk Debates is all about, consider becoming a Supporting Member. For as little as $9.99 monthly, you receive unlimited access to our 10+ year library of great debates in HD video, a free Munk Debates book, monthly newsletter, ticketing privileges at our live and online events and a charitable tax receipt (for Canadian residents). To explore your Munk Membership options, visit www.munkdebates.com/membership. This podcast is a project of the Munk Debates, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to fostering civil and substantive public dialogue. More information at www.munkdebates.com.

In 2016, the UK stunned the rest of Europe by voting to leave the European Union. The split was close, 48 per cent of people voted to stay but 52 per cent voted to leave the geopolitical and trade alliance. In his book, Geography is Destiny, Ian Morris argues Brexit should not have come as a surprise. Instead he says, this has been playing out for 10,000 years, when the landmass now known as Britain first became an island. Morris argues that Britain is uniquely positioned due to its proximity to Europe while able to stay insular thanks to the English Channel. This wasn’t always the case. For the first seventy-five hundred years, the British were bit players on the edge of the European stage. But by 1500 CE, advancement of ships and governments of the day turned  Britain into a worldwide power. By 1900, Britain was beginning to see the sun set on its empire thanks to rapid globalization. Now Morris says, the great question facing Britain now is how to keep up with Beijing and is it “chaps or maps” that make a country great.  Joining the Munk Debates for this Dialogue is Ian Morris, author of Geography is Destiny.  QUOTES: “The title of the book is “Geography is Destiny”. That’s because nothing that was said or done during the Brexit debate was in any way new. It was like it was the latest round in an 10,000-year-old argument that we can trace back to the history and archaeology about “what do insularity and proximity mean” and “what do we do with them?” -Ian Morris   The host of the Munk Debates is Rudyard Griffiths - @rudyardg.   Tweet your comments about this episode to @munkdebate or comment on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/munkdebates/ To sign up for a weekly email reminder for this podcast, send an email to podcast@munkdebates.com.   To support civil and substantive debate on the big questions of the day, consider becoming a Munk Member at https://munkdebates.com/membership Members receive access to our 10+ year library of great debates in HD video, a free Munk Debates book, newsletter and ticketing privileges at our live events.This podcast is a project of the Munk Debates, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to fostering civil and substantive public dialogue - https://munkdebates.com/   Senior Producer: Kelly Linehan Editor: Adam Karch