The Munk Debates Podcast

Steven Pinker joins us for a thought-provoking, members-only discussion on how sectarian solidarity and our pursuit of self-interest has led to the demise of objectivity, truth, and collective rationality.  QUOTES: STEVEN PINKER “The most pervasive and robust cognitive bias is the one in which people steer their reasoning toward a conclusion that is one of the sacred values of their own tribe.” 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/ Executive Producer: Rudyard Griffiths Senior Producer: Ricki Gurwitz Editor: Reza Dahya

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The 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 focuses on the big geopolitical story of the moment, the growing risk of a military invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the potential for a sweeping U.S. and NATO response. How did this week’s high stakes negotiations end up? Are we closer to war now than before talks started? What are the potential off-ramps for Russia and America to defuse the conflict? And if there is an invasion what are risks for all sides in the first major hot war in Europe in a generation? 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 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 you 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.

2020 was a deadly year for North America’s substance abusers. Over 6,000 Canadians and 93,000 Americans died from opioid related deaths, a significant increase from 2019. And while cannabis recently became legal in Canada and parts of the US, many believe that the only way to solve the current crisis is by legalizing all drugs, especially opiates. Supporters say legalization will reduce crime, free up police resources, and generate millions in tax revenue that can be used to rehabilitate addicts instead of punishing them. Regulating drug sales would make them safer to administer and thus curb overdose rates. Legalization would also solve existing racial disparities in drug enforcement that unfairly target and imprison black men compared to their white counterparts. In a free society, they argue, adults should be free to do what they choose provided their actions are not causing harm to others. Critics of legalization are raising red flags. Increasing access to drugs and normalizing their use will increase the abuse and addiction associated with these powerful opiates. We would see a substantial rise in consumption, the decay of our moral fabric, and a rise in health care costs needed to treat deadly addictions. And finally, critics point out, one need to look no further than America’s deadly opioid crisis to see that legalization will not curb addiction or death. Indeed, they argue, it will do just the opposite. Arguing in favour of the motion is Canadian Liberal Member of Parliament Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Arguing against the motion is Theodore Dalrymple, English cultural critic, retired prison physician and psychiatrist, and Dietrich Weissman Fellow of the Manhattan Institute QUOTES: NATHANIEL ERSKINE-SMITH “From drugs to sex work to assisted dying, there are so many different examples where when we push something underground, the problems get so much worse. THEODORE DALRYMPLE “The current American opioid crisis started with perfectly legal prescription by incompetent, naïve, or corrupt doctors influenced by dishonest promotion.” Sources:  CNBC, BNN, CHEK News, PBS, NBC, ABC, Newsy 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: Ricki Gurwitz Editor: Reza Dahya

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The 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 episode of the Munk Members podcast explores the Canadian province of Ontario’s deepening Omicron crisis and what it says about the state and future of the pandemic. Ontario has the unique distinction of being one of the most locked down jurisdictions in the developed world since the pandemic began in March 2020. Business, schools and civil liberties have been suspended on multiple occasions lasting months. The latest fourth lockdown has resurfaced deep vulnerabilities in the province’s healthcare system which seems immune from twenty plus months of remedial action and billions in public spending. Why is this happening? What can be done about it? What are the lessons the rest of the developed world can draw from Ontario’s outlier experience of the pandemic and its pernicious effects on every aspect of life in the province? Janice and Rudyard discuss it all. 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 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 you 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.

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

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The 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. The last Munk Member’s podcast for 2022 pulls out the crystal ball, polishes it to a fine gloss and make a series of bold prediction about the events and issues that will shape the year head. Will Russia invade Ukraine? Is Iran likely to go nuclear and unveil an atomic weapon? Is a universal vaccine for COVID in the cards that would finally put an end to the pandemic? And, how will cyber weapons and cyber warfare shape international relations and global security in 2022? Janice and Rudyard discuss it all. 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 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 you 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.

Has #MeToo gone too far? On this episode of the Munk Debates Podcast recorded in June 2020, Harvey Weinstein’s attorney, Donna Rotunno, and Jane Manning, a former sex crimes prosecutor, argue the motion Be it resolved the #MeToo movement has gone too far. SOURCES: MSNBC, Global News, thedailybeast, ABC News, CBSN

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The 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. The penultimate Munk Member’s podcast for 2021 looks back at the year that was to reflect on what we have learned over the last twelve months. What can we take away from 2021 that can help us better understand the world as we know and experience it today? Are there new attitudes, analyses or a key or two insights that we can pull forward into 2022 to help us prepare for the year ahead to become better informed and ready to take on the challenges of this remarkable moment we are all living through? 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 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 you 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.

Russia has moved more than 100,000 troops close to disputed areas in Ukraine, setting up fears of a new Russian military intervention following their invasion of Crimea in 2014. US officials have responded by threatening Putin both with economic sanctions and the cancellation of a planned gas pipeline to Europe. Some security experts believe that the west must do more to defend Ukraine; standing by and allowing Russia to invade the country sends a message to other aggressive powers like China that their attacks on smaller countries like Taiwan will be met with similar weak responses. Geopolitically, an independent Ukraine creates an important buffer between Russia and Central Europe and prevents military buildup in the region. Others argue that the US has no business in Ukraine. A string of failed military interventions overseas has left thousands of Americans dead and foreigners scrambling to deal with the mess left behind. Russia also has every right to feel threatened by western attempts to defend border territories and NATO’s alliances with border states. Furthermore, now is not the time to start a fight with Putin when conflicts are escalating with China and Iran. Russia’s fight is with Ukraine. The west, isolationists argue, need to stay out of this fight and away from this conflict. Arguing for the motion is Dov Zakheim, senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a former US Under Secretary of Defense in the administration of George W. Bush. Arguing against the motion is is Anatol Lieven, senior fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and the author of Ukraine & Russia: A Fraternal Rivalry QUOTES: DOV ZAKHEIM “If Mr Putin is allowed to invade Ukraine, then everybody else is going to notice it. It will weaken the NATO alliance and the Chinese will see that perhaps we, the Americans, really are a paper tiger” ANATOL LIEVEN “If you try to defend everywhere, you end up defending nowhere, which is what America risks vis-a-vis China, when it comes to Ukraine” Sources:  NBC, DW, CNBC, BBC, MSNBC, France 24 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: Ricki Gurwitz Editor: Reza Dahya Associate Producer: Abhi Raheja

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The 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 two issues in the news. First, its official…the world is now bracing for a massive surge in COVID cases brought about by the Omicron variant. Why is it that twenty months into this crisis are we still responding to the virus with the threat of mass school closures? Are we fine as a society for children to bear the brunt of the Omicron wave while mass sporting events continue along with restaurant dining and unvaccinated workers going into long-term care homes? What does this say about our collective values if we once again deny children their right to education in the weeks and months to come? Second, in swing states across America, Trump supporters are winning local elections for key positions that oversee voting processes and policy. How at risk is America’s democratic infrastructure from a partisan take over? If this is happening, what does it mean for the midterm elections and 2024? And how can a democracy like America work if the machinery of elections themselves are explicitly partisan and politicized? 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 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 you 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.