#268 It's So Hard To Change Our Minds: Eleanor Gordon-Smith

Most people reject facts that cause them discomfort or don't line up with their view of the world. All too often emotion, not reason, informs our beliefs. Despite social media claims that #factsmatter, it's surprisingly difficult to use rational arguments to change minds.

"It's surprising how much we still put faith in rational argument," says our guest, Australian writer and philosopher, Eleanor Gordon-Smith. In this summer re-run episode from November, 2019, we take a fun, fascinating journey to the limits of human reason. Eleanor's book "Stop Being Reasonable. How We Really Change Our Minds," includes personal stories of successful persuasion that illustrate what most of us get wrong about rationality she says. Her latest book is, Illogical Stories: how to change minds in an unreasonable world.

The book and our podcast begin with Eleanor interviewing men who catcalled her in the street and made obscene gestures. Did she convince these guys to change their behavior? Find out what happened...

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#261 Generation Z. The Future of U.S. Democracy: Civics Unplugged

America's four most powerful political leaders--President Trump, former Vice President Joe Biden, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell-- are all in their mid-to-late seventies.

In this episode, we hear from four 16 to 18 year-olds about the future of American democracy, and why they're committed to working for positive change.

Zoe Jenkins, Emmy Cho, Thanasi Dilos, and Noor Mryan are among the 200 inaugural fellows of the new non-partisan, youth-led movement, Civics Unplugged. On July 4th, 2020, they are signing the Civics 2030 Declaration, part of a decade-long campaign to create a better world.

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#260 The World's Best Healthcare Systems: Ezekiel Emanuel

The U.S. spends far more money on healthcare than any other nation, but has the most confirmed COVID-19 cases. The lax response to the coronavirus crisis exposed many weaknesses in the system, which was less prepared for a pandemic than other nations.

In this episode, we look at what can be learned from other systems around the world. Our guest is the well-known oncologist, bioethicist, and healthcare expert, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, author of the new book, "Which Country Has the World's Best Healthcare?"

"Every country feels that their healthcare costs are high. Ours are stratospheric," Dr. Emanuel tells us. "Our drug costs are way higher than any other country, but every country is feeling pressure from drug costs."

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#254: COVID Surprise: 7 Unexpected Changes. Jim and Richard

The Coronavirus pandemic is the 21st century's biggest crisis to date: Worse than either 9/11 or the great recession. Jim and Richard discuss seven surprising things that we didn't know when the lockdowns began in March.

From the economy, politics and education to the deeply uneven impacts on people in different jobs and regions, we discuss the rapidly changing nature of the pandemic and its vast disruption to our world.

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#253: Democracy Group Special Episode. Democracy Reform

How will the COVID-19 pandemic change our democracy? Will we become more less divided? We discuss the challenges and opportunities of the current crisis with four podcasters who are all our colleagues in The Democracy Group podcast network.

Juleyka Lantigua-Williams, Cara Ong Whaley, Mila Atmos and Lee Drutman join Richard to talk about barriers to voting, civic engagement and equal access to the democratic system. They look at what the current crisis means for advocates of democracy reform.

Jim and Richard also discuss findings of this bonus episode produced for the Democracy Works network that deals with the response to the pandemic.

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