Latest Interviews
Showing 1–12 of 12 transcripts.
Clear all filters- The Economist28 min
Of peanuts and principles: Jimmy Carter dies
Jimmy Carter, Rosie Bloor, Jason Palmer, John Prudhoe, Tom Standage, Tim Cross
This episode analyzes the complex legacy of Jimmy Carter by contrasting his troubled presidency with his transformative post-White House humanitarian work, while forecasting a volatile 2025 shaped by Donald Trump's potential return and disruptive forces like solar storms and AI adoption. The discussion further dissects Elon Musk's ideologically driven leadership through recommendations of science fiction and biographies that reveal his fixation on existential threats and multi-planetary colonization. Collectively, these segments offer a multidimensional view of historical reflection, future geopolitical unpredictability, and the personal philosophies driving modern technological power.
- The Economist17 min
The World Ahead 2024: five stories to watch out for
The 2024 global landscape is defined by simultaneous high-stakes political shifts, including the historic U.S. and Taiwanese elections that could alter cross-strait security and U.S. foreign policy trajectories. Concurrently, the eVTOL industry aims to launch commercial pilot services during the Paris Olympics while facing regulatory hurdles that prioritize safety over autonomy. Furthermore, the BRICS bloc is expanding to challenge the U.S.-led order through new financial mechanisms, even as AI regulation pivots toward addressing immediate algorithmic harms and industrial decarbonization accelerates via new thermal technologies.
- The Economist7 min
Are artificial wombs the future?
Sonna, Professor Frans van de Vosse, Juliet von Haren, Tom Standage
Led by Professor Frans van de Vosse, a twenty-nine-member European team is engineering the world's first clinically approved artificial womb to prevent mortality among infants born at twenty-four weeks gestation. This initiative utilizes silicone models and an umbilical reattachment protocol to simulate maternal conditions, allowing premature babies to develop for four weeks in a liquid environment until reaching twenty-eight weeks. Although experts project a minimum decade-long timeline for clinical deployment due to technical challenges like blood coagulation, the system is designed strictly as a life-saving bridge rather than a method for full extra-uterine growth.
- The Economist20 min
The World Ahead 2023: five stories to watch out for
Tom Standage, John Lubecki, Silvia Wardrobes, Inotye Ogbebo
India surpassed China to become the world's most populous nation in April 2023, presenting a potential demographic dividend that relies on resolving structural issues like low female labor participation and inadequate worker training. Simultaneously, the global medical and financial sectors face significant shifts as three psychedelic drugs advance toward regulatory approval for mental health conditions while the Bank of Japan's unconventional monetary policy creates risks for worldwide market stability. Major developments in 2023 also include the fashion industry's pivot toward circular economy practices to reduce textile waste and a surge in international efforts to repatriate colonial artifacts, such as the Benin bronzes and the Koh-i-Noor diamond.
- The Economist14 min
The cost of health care: how to make it affordable
Experts analyze how nations like Thailand and Rwanda established universal healthcare systems by leveraging public financing mechanisms such as taxes and community-based insurance to cover the vast majority of their populations. These case studies demonstrate that prioritizing primary care and strategic fund allocation allows lower-income countries to achieve outcomes comparable to wealthy nations while providing critical financial protection against catastrophic medical expenses. The presentation further argues that universal health coverage is essential for economic stability and pandemic resilience, transforming health services from a privilege of ability to pay into a foundational public good.
- The Economist21 min
How will businesses use the metaverse?
The metaverse has evolved from a sci-fi concept into a multi-billion dollar industry driven by corporate investments from entities like Meta and NVIDIA, while industrial leaders such as ILM and Lockheed Martin leverage virtual production and digital twin technologies to revolutionize film, manufacturing, and military operations. Despite massive capital flows totaling over $120 billion in early 2022, the ecosystem faces a critical hurdle in establishing universal interoperability standards like Pixar's Universal Scene Description to connect disparate virtual worlds. As platforms like Roblox demonstrate the potential for decentralized economic creation, the technology continues to mature through advancements in real-time rendering and computing power, promising to reshape global interaction while replicating existing societal challenges.
- The Economist15 min
Why Belgium is now the cocaine capital of Europe
The Port of Antwerp has become Europe's primary cocaine trafficking hub, handling 40% of EU seizures in 2020 as Balkan criminal groups exploit high-volume business models to bypass a 2% physical inspection rate. Despite recent major seizures and the arrest of high-ranking officials linked to widespread corruption, law enforcement intercepts only 10% of shipments while cartel profits and market prices remain stable due to the trade's high profit margins and adaptable logistics. Experts now warn that without resource expansion or a strategic shift toward decriminalization, Belgium faces the risk of becoming a "narco state" within a decade as criminal networks outmaneuver traditional interdiction efforts.
- The Economist13 min
Climate change: can money stop deforestation?
Andrew Mitchell, Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, Tom Standage
Global deforestation continues to accelerate due to economic incentives that favor land clearance over conservation, as evidenced by the collapse of Costa Rica's forest coverage from 75% to 21% between 1940 and 1987. Costa Rica subsequently reversed this trend by implementing a Payments for Environmental Services (PES) scheme funded by fuel and water levies, which raised forest cover to over 50% while sustaining a 4.2% annual GDP growth. Despite these successes, the unregulated global carbon market and trillions in harmful agricultural subsidies remain major barriers, necessitating a fundamental economic shift that values standing forests higher than industrial profits to address the climate crisis.
- The Economist11 min
Incels: how online extremism is changing
Homeland Security and researchers highlight a critical surge in online extremist violence, noting that fluid digital ecosystems are accelerating the fusion of ideologies like misogyny and far-right radicalism. Despite this trend manifesting in numerous fatal attacks and a 59% rise in mass murder code words, law enforcement strategies remain struggling to adapt to these rapidly evolving subcultures. Experts urge a shift toward treating these acts as monitorable patterns and implementing large-scale digital interventions, such as Moonshot's redirect methods, to counter the increasing threat before it escalates further.
- The Economist15 min
How the Mexican cartels are making profits now
Over 100,000 annual fatalities in the United States are now driven by a synthetic opioid crisis where Mexican cartels have shifted production to decentralized, low-tech mobile labs that operate with gig-economy efficiency. This transformation has replaced traditional organized crime conglomerates with approximately 200 semi-autonomous groups that source cheap precursor chemicals from China to manufacture potent fentanyl at minimal cost. The resulting market shift has seen synthetic drug seizures surpass cocaine and heroin in 2021, as these criminal networks diversify revenue through high-value, low-volume trafficking to middle-class consumers.
- The Economist12 min
How AI can make health care better
Elaine Manor, Dr Keane, Dr Kira Oberne, Patricia Walker, Dr Blackman, Tom Standage
Driven by a critical global shortage of medical specialists and surging vision impairment rates, this event explores how artificial intelligence accelerates diagnostics while simultaneously confronting significant data privacy controversies and algorithmic "black box" risks. Speakers including Dr. Keane, Dr. Kira Oberne, and researchers from the University of Leeds detail innovative solutions such as privacy-preserving switchboard architectures, clinician-developed biomarkers, and ultra-efficient virtual trials that reduce testing costs by over 99% compared to traditional methods. The discussion projects a transition toward AI 2.0 systems that integrate deep physiological knowledge to fundamentally reshape healthcare delivery, promising an eightfold market growth by 2027 if developers and clinicians can successfully navigate emerging accountability frameworks.
- The Economist18 min
The World in 2021: five stories to watch out for
The event outlines a convergence of critical global shifts, including a widespread deterioration of democratic institutions in 80 nations alongside accelerating electric vehicle production and China's emergence as the world's largest cinema market by 2021. Concurrently, major economies like the US, EU, and China are preparing for the COP26 summit to enforce stricter emissions targets, while NASA advances planetary defense capabilities with the DART asteroid-mission launch. These developments collectively highlight a pivotal year defined by geopolitical constraints, industrial electrification, and evolving scientific strategies for space and climate security.