something to think about. . .

Speaker(s): Professor Gerd Gigerenzer | Remember the volcanic ash cloud over Iceland? The subprime disaster? What about mad cow disease? Each new crisis makes us worry until we start worrying about the next one. When something goes wrong, we are told that the way to prevent further crises is through better technology, more laws, and bigger bureaucracy. How to protect ourselves from the threat of terrorism? Homeland security, full body scanners, further sacrifice of individual freedom. How to counteract exploding costs in health care? Tax hikes, rationalization, better genetic markers. One idea is absent from these lists: risk-savvy citizens. And there is a reason for that. Many experts have concluded that people are basically hopeless when it comes to risk and, like a child who needs a parent, require continuous “nudging." Against this pessimistic view, I will argue that instead of being the solution, experts are often part of the problem, and that everyone can learn to deal with risk and uncertainty on their own. A democracy needs risk-savvy citizens who cannot be easily frightened into surrendering their money, their welfare, and their liberty. Gerd Gigerenzer is managing director of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, former professor of psychology at the University of Chicago and author of Risk Savvy: How to Make Good Decisions. Wed, 21 May 2014 18:30:00 GMT

Risk Savvy: how to make good decisions [Audio]

Speaker(s): Dr William MacAskill | Should I work for a non-profit organisation in Africa? Or should I go into the City, and try to earn as much as I can to donate to good causes? William MacAskill is a research associate in the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford and is also president of 80,000 Hours ethical career advisory service. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording) Tue, 3 Jun 2014 18:30:00 GMT

On Making a Difference and Choosing a Career [Audio]

Recorded at the New York Public Library. Details, context, and transcript: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2014/06/24/malcolm-gladwell-nypl-interview/

TRANSCRIPT / DETAILS

Malcolm Gladwell on changing your mind

Speaker(s): John Holmwood, Nicholas Gane , Andrew McGettigan | Editor's note: We apologise for the poor quality of these audio podcasts. Some Q&A sessions have been removed. 25 June 2014 is the thirtieth anniversary of the death of Michel Foucault. ‘Governing Academic Life’ marks this anniversary by providing an occasion for academics to reflect on our present situation through our reflections on Foucault’s legacy – which could include critical reflections on that legacy. The focus of the conference, therefore, will be on the form of governmentality that now constitutes our identities and regulates our practices as researchers and teachers. However the event will also create a space for encounters between governmentality scholars and critics of the neoliberal academy whose critiques have different intellectual roots – especially Frankfurt school critical theory, critical political economy; feminism; Bourdieuian analyses of habitus, capital and field; and autonomist Marxism. Wed, 25 Jun 2014 13:30:00 GMT

Governing Academic Life - (Anti-)Social Science, the neoliberal art of government, and higher education - (Anti-) Social … [Audio]

Transcript and background: http://www.brainpickings.org/2014/09/25/william-faulkner-university-of-virginia-recording/

William Faulkner on writing

Speaker(s): Professor Ross Garnaut | Professor Garnaut will look forward to where the global economy is headed across a diverse range of nation-states (using Australia, China, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea as exemplars). The challenges that fertility rates and climate change pose for the global economy will also be considered. Ross Garnaut is an economist whose career has been built around the analysis of and practice of policy connected to development, economic policy and international relations in Australia, Asia and the Pacific. He has held senior roles in universities, business, government and other Australian and international institutions. He is a professorial research fellow in economics at The University of Melbourne. Nicholas Stern is IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government, chair of the Grantham Research Institute and chair of the Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording). Thu, 9 Oct 2014 18:30:00 GMT

Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy in the Twenty First Century [Audio]

Speaker(s): Linda Tirado | Linda Tirado knows from experience what it is to be poor, to struggle to make ends meet. She was working all hours at two jobs - as a food service worker in a chain restaurant and as a voting rights activist at a non-profit organization - to support her young family. She knows what it’s like to have problems you wish you could fix, but no money, energy or resources to fix them, and no hope of getting any. In 2013, an essay on the everyday realities of poverty that Tirado wrote and posted online was read and shared around the world. In Hand to Mouth, she gives a searing, witty and clear-eyed insider account of being poor in the world’s richest nation. She looks at how ordinary people fall or are born into the poverty trap, explains why the poor don’t always behave in the way the middle classes think they should, and makes an urgent call for us all to understand and meet the challenges they face. In this event she will be in conversation with Rowan Harvey (@RowanHarvey1), Women's Rights Advocacy Adviser at Action Aid UK and LSE Governor. Linda Tirado (@KillerMartinis) is married with two children. Until 2014, she was working two jobs, most recently in a chain restaurant and as a voting rights activist for a disability non-profit organisation. She blogs, writes and campaigns on poverty and class issues. Hand to Mouth is her first book. The Department of Social Policy (@LSESocialPolicy) is the longest established in the UK and offers outstanding teaching based on the highest quality empirical research in the field. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).

Hand to Mouth: the truth about being poor in a wealthy world [Audio]

Speaker(s): Ben Hammersley | Editor's note: The question and answer session has been removed from this podcast. Your perception of The Media is probably entirely wrong. This is ok, because everyone’s is. But we’re all wrong in interesting ways, and in this talk, I’ll discuss why, and why that’s important. Ben Hammersley is an author, futurist and technologist, specialising in the effects of the internet and the ubiquitous digital network on the world’s political, cultural and social spheres. He enjoys an international career as a trends and digital guru, explaining complex technological and sociological topics to lay audiences, and as a high-level advisor on these matters to governments and business. Ben is the author of five books, including the acclaimed 64 Things You Need To Know Now For Then, which is a guide to the new concepts of the modern world. He is contributing editor of WIRED Magazine.

Mainstream Media Is Meaningless Nostalgia [Audio]

Speaker(s): Professor Nigel Dodd, Professor Keith Hart | Questions about the nature of money have gained a new urgency in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. Even as many people have less of it, there are more forms and systems of money, from local currencies and social lending to mobile money and Bitcoin. Yet our understanding of what money is—and what it might be—hasn’t kept pace. In The Social Life of Money, Nigel Dodd, one of today’s leading sociologists of money, reformulates the theory of the subject for a postcrisis world in which new kinds of money are proliferating. Nigel Dodd (@nigelbdodd) is Professor of Sociology at LSE and author of The Social Life of Money. Keith Hart is Centennial Professor of Economic Anthropology in the Department of International Development at LSE. Professor Stuart Corbridge is Deputy Director and Provost at LSE. The Department of Sociology at LSE (@LSEsociology) was established in 1904 and remains committed to top quality teaching and leading research and scholarship today. Credits: LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).

The Social Life of Money [Audio]

"When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you will be successful." - Eric Thomas

If you enjoyed this episode, check out the video (with bonus material!) and show notes at www.lewishowes.com/121.

On iTunes

EP 121 When You Want to Succeed As Bad As You Want to Breathe with Eric Thomas

Speaker(s): Professor Jon Paul Faguet, Dr Shirin Madon, Dr Duncan Green, Owen Barder, Yesil Deniz, Dr Bjorn-Soren Gigler, Abha Joshi-Ghani, Leni Wild, Vanessa Herringshaw, Fredrik Galtung, Duncan Edwards | Engaging citizens has a vital role to play in the process of development. It helps to improve transparency and accountability of public policies, to build trust with citizens, to forge consensus around important reforms, and to build the political and public support necessary to sustain them. A number of institutions, including the London School of Economics, have demonstrated their commitment to this important agenda by developing a MOOC - a free, four-week online course on citizen engagement. The Department of International Development hosted a launch event on Thursday 19 March, in which a number of themes related to the MOOC was discussed with a panel of experts.

Engaging Citizens: a game changer for development? [Audio]

Speaker(s): Dr Harry Walker | What would individualism and equality look like if detached from their foundations in a logic of equivalence? Harry Walker is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at LSE. Rita Astuti is Professor of Social Anthropology and Head of the Anthropology Department at LSE. The Department of Anthropology (@LSEAnthropology) is a leading centre for innovative research and teaching committed to both maintaining and renewing the core of the discipline.

Equality Without Equivalence: an anthropology of the common [Audio]

Speaker(s): Shaa Wasmund | Entrepreneur and author of bestsellers Stop Talking, Start Doing and Do Less, Get More, Shaa Wasmund explains how to apply the well-known Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto's 'law of the vital few' to become more productive and happy. This event marks the publication of her latest book Do Less, Get More: How to Work Smart and Live Life Your Way. Shaa Wasmund (@shaawasmund) is one of the UK's most prominent female entrepreneurs and a champion of small businesses. She is the founder and driving force behind Smarta, the UK's leading support platform for small business owners and in 2015 she was awarded an MBE for services to business and entrepreneurship. Shaa is an alumna of the London School of Economics and Political Science. Marta Costas is Director of Grantfair and has a decade of experience helping companies in the Technology, Media and Telecoms (TMT) sector connect with public sector organisations, navigating complex regulatory structures, raising funding for innovative projects and helping to shape public policy. Marta is Chair of LEAG, the LSE Entrepreneur-Alumni Group having graduated from LSE with an MSc in European Social Policy in 2007.

Editor's note: This podcast contains explicit language, please do not download if you may be offended.

How to Apply the 80/20 Rule for Increased Productivity, Happiness and Freedom [Audio]

Speaker(s): Professor Walter W Powell | Civil society is challenged to demonstrate its impact. Network and linguistic analyses of webpages reveal intense struggles among governments, businesses, and nonprofits to define effectiveness. Walter W. Powell is Professor of Education, Sociology, Organizational Behavior, Management Science and Engineering, and Public Policy, Stanford University. Judy Wajcman is Anthony Giddens Professor of Sociology at LSE. The Department of Sociology at LSE (@LSEsociology) was established in 1904 and remains committed to top quality teaching and leading research and scholarship today.

Social Media and Social Change: analyzing debates over valuation [Audio]

Contributor(s): Jeff Clemens, Michael Amior, Denise Baron, Sophie Donszelmann, Chris Gilson | In our first episode, we take a look at the US’ economic recovery and how its benefits might not have been felt by everyone equally.

something to think about. . .

Tshepo Tseleng