What Could Go Right?

Is change possible? Can democracy be renovated to serve the constituency better? And what does this mean for the 2024 election? Political theorist at Harvard University and founder and president of Partners in Democracy, Danielle Allen, joins us to talk about how democracy is (or isn't) addressing our most urgent concerns. Plus, LGBTQ support skyrockets worldwide and a Supreme Court ruling on gerrymandering. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

Did anyone "win" the debt ceiling debate? Where is the economy headed, long-term? And what breakthroughs can be used to build a better world? James Pethokoukis, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he specializes in US economic policy, joins us to share his perspective on a brighter future. Plus, bacteria-fighting AI and tracking social progress. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

What's the nature of the universe? What is life? And what do we talk about when we talk about science? We're joined by Professor Sara Walker, an astrobiologist and theoretical physicist with research interests in the origins of life, artificial life, and detection of life on other worlds, to see how the way we think about the world informs the rest of our being. Plus, Indonesia's growing economy, US job satisfaction, and an update on mapping the human genome. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

What road is hyperpartisanship taking us down? Can we learn from our history? And is the current state of American politics worse than ever before? Today, we talk with CNN's senior political analyst and author of "Lincoln and the Fight for Peace," John Avlon, to discuss how the past can inform our understanding of and response to current political conditions. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

What is the human side of war? Investigative journalist Tim Mak joins us from Kyiv to share an update on Ukraine's spring counteroffensive, what life is like in a war-torn country, and what he has learned about resilience and mental health covering his first war. Plus, electric vehicles' growth is explosive, and a battery breakthrough that could make electric passenger aircraft possible. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

Is drug use always harmful? How does empathy play a role in addiction? Could it be more beneficial to approach drug use as a public health issue rather than a criminal one? In this episode, we speak with Maia Szalavitz, an award-winning journalist and author, about the potential benefits of harm reduction for addiction treatment and addressing larger societal issues. Plus, we take a look at smart guns and serial killers. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

Is technology moving us forward or backward? What is the human cost of progress? And is artificial intelligence making people more divided, or can it help us find common ground? Comedian, commentator, and author Baratunde Thurston joins us to talk about how technology and humanity are sometimes at odds and sometimes companions. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

Is China the US's perennial enemy? How do the complexities of China's political landscape affect global affairs? And is conflict over Taiwan inevitable? In today's episode, we explore these questions with Jessica Chen Weiss, a Cornell professor and author specializing in Chinese foreign policy and nationalism. Plus, we learn about Uzbekistan's change in domestic violence criminality and have an update on malaria vaccinations. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

Are the tides shifting in Africa? What direction is the continent's progress toward good governance headed? And how should we understand competing international interests and investment there? Ebenezer Obadare, a Douglas Dillon senior fellow for Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, joins us to examine Nigeria's contentious election as well as China's, Russia's, and the US's involvement in Africa. Plus, we look at changes in airport security, US unemployment, and inflation. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

Is the struggle of boys and men a partisan issue? And how have recent economic and social changes influenced the classroom, the workplace, and the family? Brookings Institution scholar Richard V. Reeves joins us to tackle the complex crisis of boyhood and manhood. Plus, we look at the US's renewable power industry and discuss Malaysia's death penalty change. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

How have regional dynamics shifted in an increasingly globalizing world? And what is going on in Latin America and Mexico, and how will it affect the United States? Today we talk with Shannon O'Neil, vice president, deputy director of studies, and senior fellow for Latin America Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, as well as the author of the book "The Globalization Myth: Why Regions Matter." Plus, we take a look at medicine, drug, and vaccine breakthroughs from around the world. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

How does change actually occur? And what are the best tactics for bringing large coalitions together? Hosts of Democracy-ish, Danielle Moodie and Wajahat Ali, discuss the balance between angry revolution and individual hope, and what ultimately gets people on board with a movement. Plus, we take a look at the World Happiness Report and the college enrollment drop. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

Are we as divided as we think we are? Is it possible to move out of our political and news silos? And is there a way to re-establish trust in the media? Isaac Saul, the founder of Tangle News, shares his effort to offer truly bipartisan journalism. Plus, what's going on with Silicon Valley Bank, fentanyl test strips, and declassified Covid information? What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

Has the American Dream changed? Is a side hustle the answer to income inequality? And is self-reliance the all-important north star we have been led to believe it is? Today, author, journalist, and Executive Director of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, Alissa Quart, asserts that at the heart of our distress is a misplaced belief in our independence and the conviction that we must rely on ourselves alone. Plus, a look at women's rights worldwide and a rise in guaranteed paid paternity leave. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

What's with Biden's, Trump's, and Pence's classified documents? Why is everything secret in the first place? And what is this costing democracy? Matthew J. Connelly, professor of international and global history at Columbia University, principal investigator at History Lab, and author of the book "The Declassification Engine," looks at the consequence of unchecked governmental power and the effect it has on citizens. Plus, Human Rights Watch's good news for kids and open source farming. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

Are we actually a "United" States? Has the US lived up to the promise of inclusivity, freedom, equality, and opportunity for everyone? And where can we go from here? Peniel E. Joseph, professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs and the history department in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Austin, joins us to ask these questions and point to the successful building of a multiracial democracy. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

What incentivizes human behavior? How many of our problems come from a lack of cash? And how does shame work as a motivator? Join us and Rutger Bregman, author of “Humankind” and “Utopia for Realists,” to talk about balancing a critical eye with the conviction that the world can be improved upon. Plus, we look at the new billions being spent to fight HIV and malaria abroad, Kenya’s Right to Disconnect, and therapeutic psilocybin use in Australia. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

What's going on with "the economy"? Is now the best time to be in love in all of human history? Should we be worried about the global state of democracy? "What Could Go Right?" hosts Zachary Karabell, founder of The Progress Network, and Emma Varvaloucas, executive director of The Progress Network, take a look at the world as it currently is and as it could be in 2023. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

Is there a shift in momentum around the climate crisis? Will we ever hit our environmental goals? How has gatekeeping and bias informed our news? Plus, we talk with Editor-at-Large for The Boston Globe and former Senior Advisor for Climate Change Innovation in the Obama White House, Bina Venkataraman. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

Are we in an ebb of liberalism worldwide, or are recent events like the protests in Iran a sign of pushback? What would a "John Locke" movement for Islam look like? We’re joined by Mustafa Akyol, senior fellow at the Cato Institute’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, whose work examines the intersection of religion, culture, and government. Plus, the first GMO aimed at solving a public health issue, social media's surprisingly positive effects on American teens, and the new paradigm for gay marriage in the US. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

What does crypto mean for the future of banking? Why isn’t there an “Uber” for healthcare? Is negative economic growth necessarily bad? Today we’re joined by Avik Roy, President of the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, to explore these questions. Plus, Sierra Leone pushes for change, Congress passes a “Bombshell” bill, and the 8 billionth person is born. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

Are Americans truly done with "angertainment" and toxic politicians? Is democracy safe? Where does the United States go from here? Founding Editor at Large of Semafor and former Editor at Large of “The Hill” and “The Atlantic” Steve Clemons joins us to react to the midterm results and analyze their impact. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

Will the COP27 conference strengthen action against global warming? Is democracy really on the ballot? And as crime remains a concern for many Americans, what's really going on? Join Zachary Karabell and Emma Varvaloucas as they examine what's happening today. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

Is the world’s energy situation as bad as we think? What’s going on with student debt relief? And why aren’t we paying more attention to Iran? We’re joined by Reza Aslan, leading expert in world religions, writer, and professor, to talk about the current, and former, Iranian struggles for freedom. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

Social media sensation and former high school government and law teacher Sharon McMahon joins us to discuss the need for a better understanding of how the government works. Plus, what to expect for the midterms, the latest on gerrymandering, and an encouraging trend in US military mental health programs. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

How is NASA propelling us into the future? Who is next to legalize same-sex marriage? Plus, we hear from the editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur magazine, Jason Feifer, about how to embrace change without waiting for a crisis to push us forward. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

Has anything changed since #metoo started? When is Indigenous Peoples Day? What's the deal with guaranteed income? Plus, maybe the world is doing better than we thought. Authors of the book "Superabundance," Gale L. Pooley and Marian L. Tupy, argue that we are capable of more progress the more the world's population grows. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

Is Italy returning to fascism? Are we closer to a cure for cancer? And why is the violent crime rate climbing in the US? Economist Jennifer Doleac talks us though her research on the economics of crime and discrimination. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

How has the experiment to legalize marijuana gone? Do schoolchildren need more sleep? Why is California suddenly doing all the things? Plus, bans to usher in a future of electric cars, bail reform, and tackling homelessness with Senate Majority Leader Emeritus Robert Hertzberg. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

What's the impact of the new malaria vaccine with "world-changing" potential? Was there a lack of scrutiny over the worldwide Covid vaccine rollouts? Is there an update on the UN's Sustainable Development Goals? Plus, we talk with Congressman Eric Swalwell and Jeff Colyer, former Governor of Kansas, about the process, practicalities, and hope for a bipartisan future. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

Will space travel and exploration be left to the 'billionaire boys club'? Executive Director of the Inter Astra group and 26-year Marine Corps veteran Ché Bolden shares with us his views on the future of space. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

After a string of heartbreaking news in the United States, are we doomed to fear, anger, and a descent into gridlocked politics? Today, Judge Victoria Pratt, an advocate for reforming the criminal justice system, and Lauren Leader, the cofounder and CEO of All In Together, discuss America's biggest challenges and how each have enacted change in large, complex systems. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

How can we live with people who are different from us? Eboo Patel, founder and president of Interfaith America and former faith adviser to President Barack Obama, believes that interfaith living is essential to our collective well-being in an ethnically, racially, and ideologically diverse democracy. And in the United States, we actually do it quite well already. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

Web3 is seen by many as the future of the internet. Others understand the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) as the first step to a robot takeover. Where's the balance between these two reactions? This week, AI expert, CEO of ADDO AI, and a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Media, Entertainment, and Culture Ayesha Khanna joins us to wade through the hype around cryptocurrency, decentralized finance, robots, and more and talk through global leadership on new tech rollouts. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

How do we grapple with the most challenging issues surrounding race, political division, equality, and more? Theodore R. Johnson, author, senior fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, and retired commander in the US Navy, joins us to make a compelling case for a national solidarity necessary to mitigate racism and fulfill the American Promise. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

Is philanthropy helpful? Looking at the giving data during the pandemic as well as the billionaire class philanthropy trends and small-dollar individual political donations, what are the pros and cons of philanthropy? Joining us in this conversation are Rachel Pritzker, founder and president of the Pritzker Innovation Fund, and David Callahan, founder and editor of Inside Philanthropy, to talk through some of the advantages and disadvantages we see in today's giving economy. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

Are we in an unprecedented era of military peace on the seas? Gregg Easterbrook, a prolific author and a writer and editor at The Atlantic for over 40 years, shares how the Navy, innovation, space travel, and prosperity go hand in hand. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

Are we moving "out of the pandemic phase" of COVID-19? Today we talk with the Director of the Human Nature Lab at Yale University, Nicholas Christakis, and Special Advisor to the Director General of the World Health Organization, Ezekiel Emanuel, about what we've learned over the past two years and where we can go from here. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

What's coming next? We sit down with a modern renaissance man, economist, and podcaster Tyler Cowen to participate in what he calls his greatest pleasure: information extraction. We pick his brain on everything from mRNA to housing bubbles to literature. "The world," he tells us, "has never been more optimistic than it is now." What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been framed as a global inflection point. It may or may not be in actuality, but it is certainly a moment that challenges our assumptions of how we view the current world order and opens questions about what the next one would best look like. Anne-Marie Slaughter, CEO of New America and a Professor Emerita of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University, joins us to discuss what is happening now in Ukraine and where the future of defense is going. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

What is happiness, and why does it feel so difficult to find? The path to purpose, meaning, love, and contentment is actually no mystery, says Harvard University social scientist Arthur C. Brooks. He shares the research for how to invest in a thriving “happiness 401k.” What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

Work ain’t what it used to be—just ask the millions of Americans who are part of the “Great Resignation.” Venture capitalist and head of Bloomberg Beta, Roy Bahat, is looking to shape work for the better, from new forms of labor organizing to remote-friendly tech. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

Is progress still possible? We believe so, and we're not alone. Jason Crawford, founder of The Roots of Progress, sits down with us to talk about the possibilities of the future and makes a case for optimism in the face of pessimistic predictions about tomorrow. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

It might seem counterintuitive to ask in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, but is humanity winning the fight against infectious disease? Charles Kenny, Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development, says we are. But we must continue availing ourselves of the solutions that have led to this progress if that answer is to stay. In this interview, Kenny speaks with The Progress Network Executive Director Emma Varvaloucas about his new book, The Plague Cycle, outlining the immense headway humanity has already made in flattening "the plague cycle" and what we need to keep doing it, talks about the beneficial ripple effects of our triumph over infectious disease, and sets our current pandemic experiences in the context of history. This conversation was recorded on January 19th, 2021. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

The United States is a country divided, characterized by collapsing levels of trust in our institutions, in our politics, and in each other. How did we get into this mess, and how do we get out? Join The Progress Network for a conversation with TPN Members David Brooks and Theodore R. Johnson, hosted by our founder, Zachary Karabell, centered around this question. They examine ideas for how to bridge our divides at both an individual and collective level. This conversation was recorded on December 21st, 2020. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

Are we on the brink of a population explosion with untold global consequences? On the contrary, a growing number of experts argue that we are headed for a worldwide decline. Hear from Empty Planet authors John Ibbitson and Darrell Bricker on how this could bring with it many benefits as well as surprising disruptions. This recording was first released on March 5th, 2019. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

What do university students in Britain and Trump voters in the United States have in common? They're lonely. In fact, Noreena Hertz says, loneliness is the defining feature of this century, thanks to a host of drivers ranging from the technological to the economic. The Progress Network founder Zachary Karabell joins Noreena, an economist and author of The Lonely Century, as she elucidates whether we're really more lonely than we used to be, what has led, pandemic aside, to our current state of hyper-loneliness, and which solutions—individual, governmental, and entrepreneurial—she thinks are the best bet for reconnecting us. This conversation was recorded in May 2021. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

It's no secret that social media is politically divisive. What we may not be as aware of is how our own behavior feeds into a positive feedback loop that leaves both sides progressively more outraged and more extreme in their beliefs. What should we be aware of before we like, share, and react to politically inflammatory content online? What techniques do we have at our disposal to improve our online behavior? The Progress Network Member Robert Wright, president of the Nonzero Foundation and a longtime journalist who writes about science, history, politics, and religion, discusses this phenomenon with The Progress Network executive director Emma Varvaloucas and gives his best tips for how to avoid a civil war. This conversation was recorded before the 2020 presidential election. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

What are we to make of the social and financial phenomenon of cryptocurrency? Will it spell the democratization of money free from government control, or is it simply a bubble that is going to pop? The Progress Network founder Zachary Karabell sits down with Wences Casares, a technology entrepreneur and one of the early advocates of Bitcoin, who believes that it will prove to be bigger than the Internet. This recording was first released on January 23rd, 2018. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.

Ideas start wars and movements, undergird societies and governments, and shape the daily experiences of our personal lives. We ignore or underestimate the power of ideas to our detriment. And yet they can feel slippery to reckon with; difficult to see, tougher still to understand their complex movement through the world. Join The Progress Network for a wide-ranging discussion on ideas—which ones are significant now, which may be significant in the future, and how we can participate in ideas' power ourselves—with Joan Blades, co-founder of Living Room Conversations and MoveOn.org, and public intellectual Steven Pinker, author of Enlightenment Now and several other books. Zachary Karabell, founder of The Progress Network, moderates. This conversation was recorded on May 12, 2021. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.