您正在收听的是Curiosity Curated。我是Zong。

在我们这个瞬息万变的世界里，能源和地缘政治已深深地交织在一起。各国不仅将能源视为一种资源，还将其视为权力和安全的重要组成部分。这种相互联系体现在三个关键趋势上：大国竞争的重新抬头、全球向清洁能源的转变以及人工智能对电力需求的不断增长。在本季节目中，我们将探讨老牌大国和新兴大国如何驾驭这些不断变化的动态，突出能源资源如何从根本上塑造新兴的全球秩序。

在前两集中，我们看到了美国的页岩革命如何改变了其全球地位，以及俄罗斯以能源为驱动力的地缘政治战略在过去二十年中发生了怎样的重大演变。

在本集节目中，我们将继续揭开丹尼尔-耶金所讲述的这些历史动态，并将重点转移到一个其命运与能源交织在一起的地区：中东。从古老的帝国到现代的冲突，本集将探讨石油、历史和野心的冲突如何不断重绘中东地图，将我们引向一个崭新而不确定的未来。

00:36 本集介绍

02:18 现代中东地图的起源

04:20 地图绘制的复杂因素：阿拉伯起义和贝尔福宣言

06:11 中东石油的崛起及其对其地图绘制的影响

09:19 对《赛克斯-皮科地图》和既定秩序的挑战

11:20 1979年伊朗革命

14:18 伊朗革命震荡，沙特与伊朗之间的竞争

17:42 海湾战争、伊朗核计划和 2015 年《伊朗核协议》（JCPOA）

20:25 21世纪的紧张局势与 "东地中海"油气资源的发现

22:20 中东地区的未来

Sources:

The New Map by Daniel Yergin

The Troubled Energy Transition: How to Find a Pragmatic Path Forward, Daniel Yergin et al, www.foreignaffairs.com

Music:

“Hold On” by Alabama Shakes

“Who Am I” by Dario Lupo

For any feedback, please contact: [email protected]

您正在收听的是Curiosity Curated。我是Zong。

在前几集节目中，我们回顾了由能源驱动的地缘政治巨变。我们看到了美国页岩革命如何将美国从进口国转变为主导生产国，以及俄罗斯如何利用其能源财富重新确立全球影响力。我们探索了中东，那里古老的冲突与世界上最重要的石油储备交织在一起。

在本系列的收尾，我们将探讨所有国家当下面临的一个巨大挑战：能源转型。全世界都在争分夺秒地应对气候变化，但前进的道路并不简单。这是一个雄心与现实、技术突破以及各个国家截然不同优先事项的故事。

在本集中，我们将了解能源转型的真相。我们将再次以丹尼尔-耶金的《新地图》一书及其合著的《外交事务》（Foreign Affairs）一文中关于能源现实主义的见解为指导。

00:36 本集介绍

01:55 双重挑战：气候危机与能源贫困

04:39 关于能源转型的残酷现实

08:04 气候政策与资金

14:04 可再生能源：成就与局限

16:23 待解决的技术突破：储能/电池、核能、氢能、碳捕获

21:46 地缘政治

24:17 未来之路

Sources:

The New Map by Daniel Yergin

The Troubled Energy Transition: How to Find a Pragmatic Path Forward, Daniel Yergin et al, www.foreignaffairs.com

Music:

“Hold On” by Alabama Shakes

“Who Am I” by Dario Lupo

For any feedback, please contact: [email protected]

您正在收听的是Curiosity Curated Shorts，我是Zong。

1996年3月的一天深夜，苹果公司高管Joe O'Sullivan正在进行一场紧张的谈判，目的是出售公司在美国最后几家主要工厂之一。他在Cupertino的老板们希望尽快完成这笔交易。当O'Sullivan提出异议，试图争取更好的谈判条件时，他接到了一通来自老板、令人不寒而栗的电话。电话那头的信息不是威胁，而是冷静地事实陈述，他的老板说："如果交易没有完成，我们所有人周四都将拿不到工资"。苹果公司，这个曾以自己制造电脑为荣的公司，当时正处于"死亡螺旋"之中，距离现金耗尽仅剩几周时间。

这家公司是如何从濒临破产的边缘，转变为打造了全球最复杂、最盈利且在地缘政治上最具影响力的供应链的？

在这一短集中，我们将简要解析苹果制造体系的历史。我们将揭示其成功并非仅仅是为了廉价劳动力而外包到中国。基于Patrick McGee的著作《苹果在中国》的分析，这是一种革命性的方法，苹果成为了其供应商的导师和赞助者，投资了数十亿美元打造了一个如今已无法脱离的生态系统——这一过程也最终帮助了中国电子产业的深度整合。

00:28 本集介绍

02:24 从制造到管理的转变

04:46 苹果中国供应链的演变

09:30 以中国为中心的供应链

11:58 不确定的遗产

Sources:

Apple in China by Patrick McGee

Music:

“Rich” by Mindme

“Who Am I” by Dario Lupo

For any feedback, please contact: [email protected]

You are listening to Curiosity Curated Shorts. I am Zong.

In March of 1996, an Apple executive named Joe O'Sullivan was in a tense, late-night negotiation to sell one of the company’s last major US factories. His bosses in Cupertino wanted the deal done fast. When O'Sullivan pushed back, wanting better terms, he received a chilling phone call from his superior. The message wasn't a threat, but a statement of fact: "if the deal doesn't get done," his boss said, "none of us will get paid on Thursday". Apple, the company that prided itself on building its own computers, was in a "death spiral," just weeks away from running out of cash.

How did this company go from the brink of bankruptcy to creating the most sophisticated, profitable, and geopolitically critical supply chain on the planet?

In this short episode, we deconstruct the history of Apple's manufacturing machine. We'll reveal that its success wasn't simply about "outsourcing to China for cheap labor." Based on the analysis in Patrick McGee's book, Apple in China, it was about a revolutionary approach where Apple became a mentor and patron, investing billions to build an ecosystem it now can't escape—a process that led to the deep consolidation of the electronics industry in China.

00:28 Episode Intro

02:28 The Pivot - From Making to Managing

05:05 Building the Machine - The Evolution of the China Supply Chain

10:23 The Result: A China-Centric Supply Chain

13:18 Conclusion - A Shared and Uncertain Legacy

Sources:

Apple in China by Patrick McGee

Music:

“Rich” by Mindme

“Who Am I” by Dario Lupo

For any feedback, please contact: [email protected]

You are listening to Curiosity Curated. I am Zong.

In recent years, the Arctic has emerged as a focal point of geopolitical interest. Since 2017 and during his first term as US President, Donald J. Trump made several attempts to purchase Greenland from Denmark. Just a few days after taking office in his second term, not so long ago, he renewed these efforts while even suggesting Canada could become the 51st US state. These proposals, while perhaps surprising or even amusing today, highlight a recurring, if often forgotten, interest in the far North.

But why Greenland? Why the Arctic? And why has this seemingly remote region, long imagined as a silent, frozen wilderness, suddenly become more central to global dynamics than ever before?

In this episode, we're embarking on a journey to answer just that. We'll explore the High North not merely as a distant frontier, but as a vibrant and rapidly transforming crossroads where diverse histories, distinct cultures, and complex international relations converge. We will provide a concise history and current status of the Arctic countries – including the U.S. through Alaska, Canada, Iceland, Denmark through Greenland, Norway, Finland, Sweden, and Russia.

We’ll delve into their unique geographies, their deeply intertwined pasts that shape present-day identities, their economic drivers, and their varying approaches to security, commerce, and conflict. Our guide on this journey is a former US diplomat, Mary Thompson-Jones, whose book, “America in the Arctic”, provides a rich history of these nations and their people who live in the Arctic.

This journey will reveal why understanding the historical context is crucial for grasping today's Arctic dynamics, particularly as climate change rapidly reshapes the region, bringing it into an unprecedented new light with both challenges and opportunities.

00:44 Episode Intro

03:10 The Elusive Arctic: Defining A Region

07:00 Beyond the Maps: Geology and Natural Wonders

11:27 The Unseen Driver: Climate Change's Acceleration

13:30 Alaska: The Superlative State, and Its Complex Identity

19:25 Canada: Sovereignty, Identity, and the Northwest Passage

23:35 Greenland and Denmark: From Colonial Past to Independent Future?

31:54 Iceland: Caught Between Three Worlds

36:40 Norway: A Strategic Fulcrum in the North Atlantic

40:35 Finland and Sweden: From Neutrality to NATO's New North

43:15 Russia: Ambition, Challenges, and a Militarized Arctic

46:55 The Arctic's Future - Questions and Interconnections

Sources:

America in the Arctic by Mary Thompson-Jones

Music:

“Ukuarlivarisaa” by John Valther (traditional Greenlandic music)

"Worn" by Cabin Fever Orchestra, played by the CNSO

“Who Am I” by Dario Lupo

For any feedback, please contact: [email protected]

您正在收听的是Curiosity Curated，我是Zong。

近年来，北极已成为地缘政治关注的焦点。自2017年以来，特朗普在其首个美国总统任期内曾多次尝试从丹麦购买格陵兰。就在不久前，他就任第二个任期仅几天后，便重新提出这一计划，甚至暗示加拿大可能成为美国的第51个州。这些提议，尽管在今天看来或许令人惊讶甚至有些滑稽，却凸显了人们对这片遥远北方地区反复出现却常被遗忘的兴趣。

但为什么是格陵兰岛？为什么是北极？为什么这个长期以来被想象为寂静、冰封荒野的遥远地区，突然比以往任何时候都更加成为全球动态的中心？

在本集节目中，我们将踏上一段旅程来回答这个问题。我们将探索这片北方高地，不仅仅将其视为遥远的边疆，而是作为一个充满活力且快速变化的十字路口，在这里多元的历史、独特的文化和复杂的国际关系相互交汇。我们将简要介绍北极国家的历史和当前状况——包括美国的阿拉斯加、加拿大、冰岛、丹麦的格陵兰岛、挪威、芬兰、瑞典和俄罗斯。

我们将深入探讨这些国家独特的地理环境、塑造当今身份的深度交织的历史、经济驱动因素以及它们在安全、商业和冲突方面的不同应对方式。在这段旅程中，我们的向导是前美国外交官玛丽·汤普森-琼斯，她的著作《美国在北极》为我们提供了关于这些国家及其北极居民的丰富历史。

这个探索将揭示为什么理解历史背景对于把握当今北极动态至关重要，尤其是在气候变化迅速重塑该地区的情况下，使其呈现出前所未有的新面貌，既带来挑战，也带来机遇。

00:44 本集介绍

03:07 北极：难以捉摸的定义

06:20 地质与自然奇观

10:21 气候变化的加速

12:22 阿拉斯加：超凡之州及其复杂身份

17:39 加拿大：主权、身份认同与西北航道

21:20 格陵兰与丹麦：从殖民过去走向独立未来？

28:43 冰岛：夹在三个世界之间

32:45 挪威：北大西洋的战略支点

36:15 芬兰和瑞典：从中立国到北约新北方

38:32 俄罗斯：雄心、挑战与军事化北极

41:45 北极的未来

Sources:

America in the Arctic by Mary Thompson-Jones

Music:

“Ukuarlivarisaa” by John Valther (traditional Greenlandic music)

"Worn" by Cabin Fever Orchestra, played by the CNSO

“Who Am I” by Dario Lupo

For any feedback, please contact: [email protected]

You are listening to Curiosity Curated. I am Zong.

We live in an age faced with the dual challenge of technological transformation and the climate crisis. How will AI and the urgent need for sustainable energy reshape our societies and economies? Can we harness these powerful forces to create unprecedented capabilities while averting environmental catastrophe? What will our world look like as we navigate this precarious balance between innovation and ecological limits? These are the grand questions of our time, pushing the boundaries of our imagination and our moral responsibility.

But to truly grasp the potential of such a transformation, we need perspective. Luckily, such a grand transformation is not our first time. Humanity has undergone shifts so vast and fundamental that they have already utterly reshaped our existence in ways our ancestors could never have imagined. We're talking about changes on a scale previously unknown, propelling us from a largely agrarian past to the complex, interconnected present.

This series unravels those colossal shifts – how we live, how we eat, how we power our world, and the profound impact of our actions on the very planet that sustains us. Our guide on this journey is the acclaimed polymath, Vaclav Smil, whose book, Grand Transitions, rigorously unpacks these monumental changes.

In our first episode, we plunge into the most fundamental transitions of all: how humanity itself multiplied across the globe, and how we learned to feed billions.

00:22 Episode Intro

02:34 Generational Contrast

05:58 What is Demographic Transition?

09:40 The Mortality Revolution – Beyond Medicine

11:30 The Fertility Plunge

14:28 Temporary Demographic Dividend, Aging Population

17:15 Urbanization

20:12 Agricultural Transition

22:57 The Haber-Bosch Miracle – Fueling the Green Revolution

25:46 Dietary Transition

28:00 The Paradox of Abundance: Food Waste & Obesity

31:41 Conclusion

Sources:

Grand Transitions by Vaclav Smil

The Troubled Energy Transition: How to Find a Pragmatic Path Forward, Daniel Yergin et al, www.foreignaffairs.com

Energy Transitions: Fundamental in Six Points, Vaclav Smil

Opening Music: Neg Odor One Day by Horse Radio

Closing Music: Who Am I by Dario Lupo

For any feedback, please contact: [email protected]

You are listening to Curiosity Curated. I am Zong.

In our previous episode, we plunged into the foundational shifts that made our modern world: how humanity itself multiplied across the globe, and how we learned to feed billions. We witnessed the dramatic demographic transition from short, precarious lives to unprecedented longevity, and the agricultural revolution that transformed scarcity into abundance for many. These changes set the stage for an entirely new way of living.

But how did we power this dramatic expansion? And as we look to the future, with the urgent need for a low-carbon world, can the energy transition truly be a swift and linear shift away from fossil fuels? Are our expectations aligned with the deep historical patterns of energy change?

As we continue to unravel those historical grand transitions as told by Vaclav Smil, in this episode, we'll explore the historical energy transitions that built our world, and then confront the unforeseen complexities and formidable obstacles facing our current, troubled path to a low-carbon future—a path that challenges many assumptions.

00:22 Episode Intro

02:00 The Ascent of Fire: From Wood to Hydrocarbons

07:30 The Electric Age: Lighting and Powering Everything

12:44 The Economic Miracle: Growth and Re-Invention

19:54 Current Energy Transition: Expectations Reset

21:00 The Scale of Dependence

22:26 The Electrical Surge: Unforeseen Demands

25:13 Costs and Complications: The Trillion-Dollar Challenge

26:49 Energy Insecurity: A Geopolitical Fault Line

29:10 The New Divide: North vs. South

31:20 Fundamentals Realities According to Smil

Sources:

Grand Transitions by Vaclav Smil

The Troubled Energy Transition: How to Find a Pragmatic Path Forward, Daniel Yergin et al, www.foreignaffairs.com

Energy Transitions: Fundamental in Six Points, Vaclav Smil

Opening Music: Neg Odor One Day by Horse Radio

Closing Music: Who Am I by Dario Lupo

For any feedback, please contact: [email protected]

You are listening to Curiosity Curated. I am Zong.

In our journey through "Grand Transitions," we've explored the monumental shifts that reshaped human civilization: from a world of demographic inertia to billions living longer lives, from the struggle to feed ourselves to an age of agricultural abundance, and from animate power to the vast energy and economic transformations of the modern era.

But every one of these profound advancements, every new technology, every material consumed, leaves an indelible mark on our planet. The undeniable truth, as Vaclav Smil points out, is that "the global environment has paid an enormous price for all those admirable quality-of-life gains." He poses a stark question: "We have failed in running our economies in ways that would guarantee long-term preservation of the only biosphere we have."

So, how have we truly reshaped Earth? What are the direct impacts of human activity, and what does the future hold for our shared home? Are we now living in the "Anthropocene," a new geological epoch defined by human impact?

In our final episode, we will confront the direct environmental consequences of our modern civilization, understand the imperative of addressing them, and critically assess the divergent predictions for the future, seeking a path between apocalyptic warnings and unbridled techno-optimism.

00:22 Episode Intro

02:28 Remaking the Land

06:23 Biodiversity Loss

10:18 The Burden of Pollution and Global Cycles

12:46 Anthropogenic Alteration of Nitrogen and Phosphorus Cycles

15:58 Climate Change and Future Choices

21:40 Conclusion

Sources:

Grand Transitions by Vaclav Smil

The Troubled Energy Transition: How to Find a Pragmatic Path Forward, Daniel Yergin et al, www.foreignaffairs.com

Energy Transitions: Fundamental in Six Points, Vaclav Smil

Opening Music: Neg Odor One Day by Horse Radio

Closing Music: Who Am I by Dario Lupo

For any feedback, please contact: [email protected]

您正在收听的是Curiosity Curated，我是Zong。

我们生活在一个面临技术转型和气候危机双重挑战的时代。人工智能和对可持续能源的迫切需求将如何重塑我们的社会和经济？我们能否驾驭这些强大的力量，创造前所未有的能力，同时避免环境灾难？当我们在创新与生态限制之间寻求这种微妙平衡时，我们的世界将会呈现怎样的面貌？这些是我们时代的重大问题，挑战着我们想象力的边界和道德责任的界限。

但要真正理解这种转型的潜力，我们需要更广阔的视角。幸运的是，这样的重大转型并非人类首次经历。我们已经历过如此巨大而根本性的变革，它们彻底重塑了我们的生存方式，以我们的祖先无法想象的方式改变了一切。我们所谈论的是前所未有规模的变化，推动我们从主要农业化的过去迈向复杂、相互关联的现在。

本系列我们将揭示这些巨大的转变——我们如何生活，如何饮食，如何为我们的世界提供能源，以及我们的行为对地球产生的深远影响。在这段旅程中，我们的向导是备受赞誉的博学者瓦茨拉夫·斯米尔，他的著作《大转型》严谨地解析了这些重大变革。

在本集中，我们深入探讨最根本的转型：人类如何在全球范围内迅速增长，以及我们如何学会养活数十亿人口。

00:22 本集介绍

02:22 代际对比

05:13 什么是人口转型？

08:25 死亡率下降

09:54 生育率断崖式下降

12:18 临时人口红利，老龄化社会

14:38 城市化

17:07 农业转型

19:24 哈伯-博施奇迹 – 推动绿色革命

21:43 饮食转型

23:39 富饶的悖论：食物浪费与肥胖

26:40 结语

Sources:

Grand Transitions by Vaclav Smil

The Troubled Energy Transition: How to Find a Pragmatic Path Forward, Daniel Yergin et al, www.foreignaffairs.com

Energy Transitions: Fundamental in Six Points, Vaclav Smil

Opening Music: Neg Odor One Day by Horse Radio

Closing Music: Who Am I by Dario Lupo

For any feedback, please contact: [email protected]