The Munk Debates Podcast

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 features a live taping of podcast held in Toronto, Canada on September 16. Janice and Rudyard discuss the upcoming Canadian federal election, the changing of the guard in Europe with Merkel’s exit from politics and why western government are increasingly struggling with one of the their most basic tasks: the competent delivery of public programs and services. A note to our non-Canadian listeners: this episodes is heavy on Canadian politics due to our upcoming election. The podcast will return to its usual format next week. 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.

What began as early summer optimism about the end of the pandemic has turned into frustration, anger, and worry over a steep rise in COVID cases and hospitalizations. Many are pointing the finger at the unvaccinated, accusing them of selfish and risky behaviour that puts everyone else’s lives, and livelihoods, at risk. Hospital ICUs are filling up again, health care workers are being forced back to the frontline, and taxpayers are expected to foot the bill for those who refused the shot. Some schools are being required to go online again, and many businesses will not be able to recover. With only 61% of US adults fully vaccinated, the virus will be able to circulate, and we run the risk of developing a new breed of vaccine-resistant strains. Some medical practitioners are calling on the government to step in: if individuals refuse to do their part and get the shot, mandates must be introduced to force them to do so. Others argue that draconian edicts such as vaccine mandates harm public health. Not only will they erode trust and increase vaccine hesitancy, but they could also court unnecessary risks for youth and children. Young people are far less likely to develop serious health complications from COVID and therefore should not be required to take vaccines whose potential effects have not been studied over the longer term. And finally, mandating shots in wealthy countries indirectly denies protection for older, more vulnerable populations in the developing world. Everyone should be given the ability to choose what they put in their body, else we become a nation where our basic freedoms play second fiddle to public health. Arguing for the motion is Paul Offit, Professor of Vaccinology and Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Arguing against the motion is Martin Kulldorff, biostatistician, epidemiologist and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. QUOTES: PAUL OFFIT “This is a contagious disease, and it is not your right to spread this disease to others and cause harm... we have to compel people to do the right thing because they seem not to want to do the right thing on their own.”  MARTIN KULLDORFF “If we want to have long-term trust in public health, we cannot use coercion and mandates. We have to use education and mutual trust.” Sources:  ABC, NBC, CBC, FOX 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: 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. This week’s Munk Members only podcast, featuring Janice Gross Stein and Rudyard Griffiths, focuses on three stories in the news this week: why was last night’s federal election debate in Canada such a disaster? What can we do to actually organise debates that work for voters? How are we to read the smoke signals the Taliban are sending to the international community with the announcement of a hardline governing cabinet? And, what does Angela Merkel’s political exit from stage left mean for the future of Europe? We 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.

It’s back to school for millions of students this week after a school year of unprecedented disruption and with the traditional grading systems and report card one of the main casualties. But some educators say this past year’s abandonment of letter grades and grade point averages has been a good thing and is key to reforming the education system. They say that for decades research has shown that traditional grading systems decrease student learning by shifting their attention from deep learning to how to play and win at the game of school. Giving out grades reduces student interest in knowledge for its own sake as well as the desire to take on challenges. Rather than providing a fair and helpful snapshot of a student’s progress, grades only succeed in capturing the inequity and bias that afflicts our education systems. Supporters of traditional grading approaches respond that grades, especially when paired with individualized comments, provide a valuable feedback tool that is fundamental to a successful education system. Grades that are based on clearly defined learning goals address the problem of teacher bias and provide an honest answer to the key question on every student’s mind: how am I doing? Grades also communicate this important information to parents and to higher learning establishments with limited enrolment. Most importantly grades reward effort, a key pillar for a fair and just education system and the broader society it feeds. Arguing for the motion is Alfie Kohn, an education lecturer and author of many books on parenting and education including Punished by Rewards and The Schools Our Children Deserve. Arguing against the motion is Tom Guskey, a Professor Emeritus at the University of Kentucky’s College of Education, and an international expert on student assessment. He has also published many books, most recently Get Set, Go! Creating Successful Grading and Reporting Systems and What We Know About Grading: What Works, What Doesn't, and What's Next.  Sources: City News, King 5, First Coast News, ABC 10 News, ASCD, CBC, CESA 2 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: Christina Campbell Editor: Kieran Lynch Associate Producer: Abhi Raheja Researcher: Eden Pollock

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 only podcast focuses three stories in the news: now that the Afghan withdrawal is complete will the West forget the people of Afghanistan? What do we owe our Afghan allies who remain trapped in the country? Why is there no discussion of foreign policy in the Canadian election. Are we really this provincial as a country? And, the Chinese government cracks down on online tutors and video gaming. What is behind Beijing’s new found animosity towards Big Tech? 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.

Meritocracy has long been championed as a way of attaining success through hard work and skill; society’s best and brightest are rewarded based on their performance, not their background. But some people have started to poke holes in this theory, arguing that meritocracy, as it exists today, is an illusion. Critics argue this foundational principle has been co-opted by society’s elite, allowing them to transfer social status and wealth to their children by limiting the competition they face whether it's attaining higher education or gaining lucrative employment. The faux meritocracy of the 21st century is exacerbating inequality and diminishing opportunities for middle and lower class families and youth. While not perfect, others argue that meritocracy is the best system we have for conferring society’s resources on individuals thereby rewarding human talent. Meritocracy has transformed over a century or more Western societies mostly for the better, giving the poor and middle class a chance at upward mobility and including women and other historically disadvantaged groups in the collective pursuit of individual success. Social mobility is stalling not because of meritocracy, but due to institutions’ failure to complete the meritocratic revolution and fully embrace its core principles and ideas. Arguing for the motion is Daniel Markovits, Professor of Law at Yale Law School and author of The Meritocracy Trap. Arguing against the motion is Adrian Wooldridge, political editor of the Economist and author The Aristocracy of Talent. QUOTES: DANIEL MARKOVITS “Meritocracy has restructured education in such a way that having rich parents is almost a necessary condition for getting the kind of education that you need to get ahead.” ADRIAN WOODLRIDGE “Inequality between the upper and middle class is widening due to a lack of meritocracy. And the best solution to the problem is more meritocracy, not less meritocracy.” Sources: CNN, HBO, The Institute of Art and Ideas, Fox News, CNN 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: 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. This week’s Munk Members podcast focuses exclusively on the crisis unfolding in Afghanistan. What will be the immediate repercussions of the botched evacuation by Western powers of their citizens and only a limited number of Afghan allies? How big is the security threat of a Taliban governed Afghanistan for the region and the West? What does the handling of this crisis say about the state of elites in the world’s major powers? Are they still capable of competently managing international affairs and protecting their national interests? And finally, what are the knock on effects of the Afghanistan evacuation on the federal election currently underway in Canada? Will this crisis impact how Canadians’ vote in September? 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.

A Facebook algorithm that tracks posts for suicidal thoughts; an app that monitors the speed of keyboard strokes for signs of depression; a computer program that analyzes our facial expressions and tone of voice when we FaceTime. These are a few of the thousands of algorithms tracking our mental health that some experts say could revolutionize how we diagnose and treat mental illness. They say that our 24/7 use of digital devices is generating a goldmine of information about our mental state that must be accessible to mental health practitioners if psychiatric medicine is to operate like a scientific discipline in the 21st century. Instagram posts, text logs, Google searches, and GPS data, and not psychiatrists’ observations and intuitions based on conversation, offer the detail and time stamped precision we need to generate tailored and effective treatments to the millions of individuals who desperately need help in the post pandemic world. Critics say the problems with this big data approach go far beyond the obvious privacy issues that come with outsourcing mental health monitoring to digital monopolies like Google and Apple. The push for mental health algorithms reflects a reductive view of human emotions that undermines the strengths of the traditionally human centred field of psychiatric medicine. Diagnoses based on dialogue between two individuals and grounded in intuition and empathy will always be better than machine intelligence at drawing out the personal histories that explain trauma and generate helpful treatment. Engaging machines to address the mental health crisis is nothing but a quick fix solution that only helps the deeply underresourced health systems of our world today. Arguing for the motion is Daniel Barron, Medical Director of the Interventional Pain Psychiatry Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He is on the faculty at Harvard Medical School and the author of the recently published book Reading Our Minds: The Rise of Big-Data Psychiatry. Arguing against the motion is Gerhard Gründer, Professor of Psychiatry and Head of the Department for Molecular Neuroimaging at the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim, Germany. He is the author of How Do We Want to Live? Sources: CBSDFW, CBS Boston, The Doctors Company 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: Christina Campbell Editor: Kieran Lynch Producer: Nicole Edwards 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 focuses on the unfolding crisis in Afghanistan. What should Western powers do next to have a chance to get their citizens and Afghan allies out of Kabul? Is there a possible deal that could be reached with the Taliban to avert bloodshed? And what does this crisis say about the state and future of America’s engagement with the world? Specifically, what lessons should we be drawing from a failed twenty year war and botched evacuation? We wrap the show with details on our live show taping in September. 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.

While partisan fighting and gridlock has come to characterize most Western governments, one issue has united liberals and conservatives against a common foe: the rise of Big Tech. Anti-trust experts warn that Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft have become too powerful, too fast. They control our data, our discourse, and our politics. Their unmatched power is a threat to innovation and market competition. For the sake of democracy and dynamism, their days of unlimited expansion, privacy violations, and corporate acquisitions must come to an end. It is past time to regulate these internet giants. The CEOs of these tech companies, however, are fighting back. Zuckerberg, Bezos, Pichai, et al argue that they have become an easy scapegoat for the pitfalls of a digital revolution no one could have expected. Far from achieving a monopoly over the industry, these companies face stiff competition from big players in the space and emerging disruptors. Furthermore, the negative associations with these companies has overshadowed the very real benefits they have brought to the public; Google, Facebook, Youtube and Amazon have provided revolutionary and life-changing opportunities around the globe. These digital giants have transformed the world into a more inter-connected, transparent, and democratic space for all of its users, uplifting entire communities with just the push of a few buttons. We must embrace, not fear, the rise of big tech and its dominance in society. Arguing for the motion is Robby Soave, senior editor at Reason and the author of Tech Panic: Why We Shouldn't Fear Facebook and the Future Arguing against the motion is Taylor Owen, Beaverbrook Chair in Media, Ethics and Democracy at McGill University and the host of The Big Tech podcast QUOTES: ROBBY SOAVE “I don't fear the dominance of Big Tech in society. However, I do fear the dominance of government in society, particularly any effort it might undertake to fix some of big tech’s reported problems” TAYLOR OWEN “We have a set of social harms and economic harms that aren't being self-regulated because of market concentration. We have a failed market that's leading to social and economic harms.” Sources: Yahoo Finance, NBC, CNBC, FOX Business 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: Kieran Lynch Associate Producer: Abhi Raheja