Bonnitta Roy discusses transcending limiting thought patterns, embracing complexity, and the potential for good in reimagining our way of thinking. The episode explores the shift from linear to systemic thinking, the role of imagination in challenging norms, and the integration of nature-inspired solutions in problem-solving.

In this podcast, Professor Michael Barnett discusses humanitarian intervention, liberal biases post-Cold War, and the relevance of global governance. The conversation delves into the potential of genocide in Israel, challenges faced by Palestinian refugees, and the need to reconcile human progress with tragedies like World War I. It also explores ethical complexities in global governance shifts and the significance of empowerment in critical theory.

Professor Geoff Mann is Distinguished Professor of Geography at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver BC. Geoff is an award-winning political economist and writer, known as a leading researcher on the historical development and future trajectory of economic governance set against the backdrop of the climate crisis. He is a senior fellow at the Institute for New Economic Thinking and a 2022 recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship award for his contributions to his field. Among many publications, the book Climate Leviathan: A Political Theory of Our Planetary Future (Verso, 2018) (with Joel Wainwright) is a vital referent point for anyone interested in the radical political consequences of climate change. But it is the quite brilliant 2019 article in the Boston Review ‘It Was Not Supposed to End This Way’ and his intriguing claim that ‘the tragedy of liberalism is its inability to narrate the end progress’ which serves as the point of departure for our conversation. In this podcast we talk about the scale and depth of the challenge posed by the Anthropocene, the impossible ‘We’, the tragedy of liberalism, and where we might look for alternative stories to narrate the end of progress, and much, much more. Geoff can be found here: https://www.sfu.ca/geography/about/our-people/profiles/Geoff-Mann.html And tweets @GeoffPMann: https://twitter.com/GeoffPMann We discussed: ‘Markets Won’t Stop Fossil Fuels’, Dissent Magazine, Spring 2023: https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/markets-wont-stop-fossil-fuels/ ‘It Was Not Supposed to End This Way’, Boston Review, 13 August 2019: https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/geoff-mann-it-was-not-supposed-end-way/ Climate Leviathan: A Political Theory of Our Planetary Future (Verso, 2018) (with Joel Wainwright): https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/520-climate-leviathan

Professor David Kennedy is the Manley O. Hudson Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Institute for Global Law and Policy at Harvard Law School. Described by prominent historian Samuel Moyn as “the single most important innovator in international legal thought of the past several decades,” David is renowned for his penetrating and critical analysis of the place of law in global governance. He is the author of numerous books and articles exploring issues of global governance, human rights, development policy and the nature of professional expertise. His most recent book with Harvard University Press, Of Law and the World, is a searching dialogue between himself and close associate and renowned critical legal scholar in his own right, Professor Martti Koskenniemi: https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674290785 In this conversation we talk about a political economy approach to global governance, what international law has got to do with it, experts and lawyers as “governors,” the role of critical scholarship, and much, much more. David can be found here: https://hls.harvard.edu/faculty/david-w-kennedy/ We discussed: A World of Struggle: How Power, Law and Expertise Shape Global Political Economy, Princeton University Press (2016): https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691146782/a-world-of-struggle Interview with David Kennedy, “Global Governance in Crisis Time,” 25 June 2020: https://www.centeronnationalsecurity.org/vital-interests-issue-37-david-kennedy “The mystery of global governance,” Ohio Northern University Law Review, vol. 34 (2008): http://iglp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Kennedy_GlobalGovernance.pdf The Rights of Spring: A Memoir of Innocence Abroad, Princeton University Press (2009): https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691141381/the-rights-of-spring

Dr Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann is Canada Research Chair in International Human Rights and Professor Emeritus at the Department of Political Science and the School of International Policy and Governance (Balsillie School of International Affairs), Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, Canada. A sociologist by training, Professor Howard-Hassmann is widely recognized as a leading interdisciplinary scholar in the field of human rights, named in 2006 the first Distinguished Scholar of Human Rights by the Human Rights Section, American Political Science Association and in 2014 a Distinguished Scholar of Human Rights by the Human Rights Section of the International Studies Association. In this conversation we talk about the universality of human rights, women’s rights, citizenship apartheid, cultural relativism, the limits of philosophy, and much, much more. Rhoda can be found here: https://www.wlu.ca/academics/faculties/faculty-of-arts/faculty-profiles/rhoda-e-howard-hassmann/index.html She blogs at: https://rhodahassmann.blogspot.com/ We discussed: 2018. In Defense of Universal Human Rights: https://www.wiley.com/en-us/In+Defense+of+Universal+Human+Rights-p-9781509513536 2021. ‘A new hope for human rights.’ Journal of Human Rights: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14754835.2021.1920896?journalCode=cjhr20 2021. ‘Human Rights: What Does the Future Hold?’ (by Daniel Braaten). International Studies Review: https://academic.oup.com/isr/article-abstract/23/3/1164/6041199?login=false Image: Frans Francken (II) - Mankind's Eternal Dilemma – The Choice Between Virtue and Vice

In this podcast, Professor Thomas O'Lee discusses complexity theory and political economy, challenging traditional thinking. They explore the relationship between the climate crisis and energy policies, the role of complexity theory in international relations, and the concept of black swan events. The chapter also delves into information entropy, predicting the financial crisis, transitioning to green energy, and the limitations of state intervention.

Professor Sheldon Solomon is the Ross Professor for Interdisciplinary Studies at Skidmore College, New York. Professor Sheldon is one of the true pioneers in the fields of social and evolutionary psychology. Best known for developing terror management theory (TMT), along with Jess Greenberg and Tom Pyszczynski, Sheldon and colleagues have revolutionised our understanding of how humans deal with their own sense of mortality and the often destructive effects of ‘death denial’ on individual and collective behaviour. An engaging speaker and raconteur, in more recent years Sheldon has turned his attention to how death anxiety might be related to the anthropocene and the insatiable appetite of humans for more, whether that be cheap energy or lethal consumption. In this conversation we talk about why death denial is so pervasive, evidence underpinning TMT, death and the Hobbesian imperative in global politics, hope without optimism, Epicurus, Heidegger and much, much more. Solomon can be found here: https://www.skidmore.edu/psychology/faculty/solomon.php We discussed: ‘Death Denial in the Anthropocene’ In the book: K. Zywert & Stephen Quilley (eds.), Health in the Anthropocene: Living Well on a Finite Planet (University of Toronto Press, 2020): https://utorontopress.com/9781487524142/health-in-the-anthropocene/ The Worm at the Core: On The Role of Death in Life (with Jeff Greenberg and Tom Pyszczynski) (Penguin/Random House, 2015): https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/170217/the-worm-at-the-core-by-sheldon-solomon-jeff-greenberg-and-tom-pyszczynski/ Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death (Free Press/Macmillan, 1973): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Denial_of_Death Flight from Death, 2003 documentary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_from_Death

Adrienne Buller is the Director of Research at Common Wealth, an organization focused on promoting democratic ownership to transform how the economy operates and for whom. Adrienne has recently published ‘The Value of a Whale: On the Illusions of Green Capitalism’ (2022), offering a deep dive into the fatal biases that have shaped the response of our governing institutions to climate and environmental breakdown. Tracing the intricate connections between financial power, economic injustice and ecological crisis, she exposes the myopic economism and market-centric thinking presently undermining a future where all life can flourish. Adrienne also has significant experience at the coalface of climate policy advocacy, having served as the Co-Director of the campaign group Labour for a Green New Deal through 2017 and 2018. Adrienne holds an MSc in Global Governance and Ethics from our very own University College London and a Bachelor of Science from McGill University. We discussed ‘The Value of a Whale,’ the flaws in mainstream climate and environmental governance, corporate ‘green growth’ mindsets, the commodification of nature. and much, much more. Adrienne tweets @adribuller: https://twitter.com/adribuller Publications: The Value of a Whale: On the Illusions of Green Capitalism (Manchester University Press, 2022): https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526162632/ Owning the Future: Power and Property in an Age of Crisis (with Matthew Laurence) (Verso Books, 2022): https://www.versobooks.com/books/3981-owning-the-future

Nate Hagens is the Director of The Institute for the Study of Energy & Our Future (ISEOF), an organization focused on educating and preparing society for the coming cultural transition. Allied with leading ecologists, energy experts, politicians and systems thinkers ISEOF assembles road-maps and off-ramps for how human societies can adapt to lower throughput lifestyles. He is the host of the podcast The Great Simplification which explores the systems science underpinning the human predicament, offering analysis and discussion of the environment, ecology, geopolitics and the future implications of the upcoming energy transition. Nate holds a Masters Degree in Finance with Honors from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in Natural Resources from the University of Vermont. He teaches an Honors course, Reality 101, at the University of Minnesota. We discussed peak oil, the calorific value of a barrel of oil, trade-offs between being accurate and being helpful, conspicuous consumption and dopamine hijacking, building a reality-based future and much, much more. More information on Nate and The Great Simplification can be found here: https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/ Nate tweets @NJHagens: https://twitter.com/NJHagens We discussed: Nate’s lecture series Reality 101 (episodes 1-10 available here): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsgxopIZzto&list=PLdHV4AV3ixB0n2OE8ent9k2RsJfomrGpC Nate Hagens and D J White, Reality Blind Vol. 1: Integrating the Systems Science Underpinning Our Collective Futures: https://read.realityblind.world/view/975731937/

Jonathon Keats is an American conceptual artist and experimental philosopher known for creating large-scale thought experiments. He is the author of various books, including You Belong to the Universe: Buckminster Fuller and the Future which sets out to revive the inventor Buckminster Fuller’s (1895-1983) unconventional practice of comprehensive anticipatory design, placing Fuller’s philosophy in a modern context and dispelling much of the mythology surrounding Fuller’s life. As a major influence on this podcast, we were delighted to have a chance to delve deep into the life and work of Buckminster Fuller with Jonathon, a visionary thinker in his own right. Indeed, legendary sci-fi writer Bruce Sterling says of Jonathon: “If he’s one in a billion rather than just a million, he might become the pioneer of a mighty school of twenty­first century scientific art­philosophy. If he’s lucky, he won’t be—but if we’re lucky, he will." We discussed experimental philosophy, thought experiments, Spaceship Earth and Bucky’s “world game,” why absurdity is essential, and why boldly transgressive ideas are so important to revitalizing questions that ultimately concern us all: what is to be valued in life and what kind of future do we want? More information on Jonathon can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathon_Keats We discussed: You Belong to the Universe: Buckminster Fuller and the Future, Oxford University Press, 2016: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/you-belong-to-the-universe-9780199338238?cc=us&lang=en& The Library of the Great Silence: https://www.seti.org/event/seti-live-library-great-silence-and-fermi-paradox The Museum of Future History: https://mofh.net/ The Future Democracies Laboratory: https://projects.cadre.sjsu.edu/democracyproject/ The Plasmodium Consortium: https://sites.hampshire.edu/gallery/the-plasmodium-symposium/