How Do We Fix It?

Everybody is asking, how did the U.S. and most other nations get the coronavirus pandemic so wrong? Taiwan was a rare exception. Health officials and the democratic government of this island state sprang into action in the final days of 2019, and tried to warn the world of COVID danger.

Despite being just 80 miles from the coast of China and with a huge amount of travel back and forth to the mainland, Taiwan was remarkably well prepared. The outbreak was kept to a minimum. 

"Taiwan knows that it is on its own," says our guest, Samson Ellis, Taipei Bureau Chief at Bloomberg News. "It does not have the backup of the World Health Organization or the World Bank... and that's why Taiwan backs itself up and is very cautious when it comes to issues like this."

This episode looks at how technology, contract tracing, advance planning, and buy in by citizens all contributed to Taiwan's success. Taiwan's exclusion from the WHO, and a bizarre controversy over the agency's leader is also discussed.

Recommendation: Jim is reading the 1971 Annie Dillard Pulitzer-Prize winning novel, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.

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The great Alaskan earthquake on Good Friday, March 27th, 1964, was surprising, and the lessons from the response are helpful in understanding how we respond to the COVID pandemic today.

"The earthquake overwhelmed people the way the strongest emotions do," wrote our guest, Jon Mooallem recently in The New York Times. "It was pure sensation, coming on faster than the intellect's ability to register it." 

A big theme of Jon's new book, "This Is Chance!" is how the citizens of Anchorage almost instantly became "a wave of unofficial first responders." Despite officials' fears of panic, looting and violence, many people rose to the occasion, with countless acts of kindness. The crime rate plummeted, just as it has in recent weeks in New York.

The story also includes a riveting account of the role played by local KENI radio reporter Genie Chance. The personal messages that she passed on from the local police and fire station spread vital information and helped local citizens make sense of the disaster they were living through. 

Recommendations: Jim is listening to the music of singer-songwriter, Jon Prine, who died recently of COVID-19. He also recommends the TV miniseries, "Devs", on FX, written and directed by Alex Garland.

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The coronavirus pandemic has lead many to fear, panic, anger, profound loneliness and isolation. Realizing that we are all in this crisis together, how can we cope in a more hopeful and creative way?

"We need to make a fundamental choice that the only way we get through this is if we act and engage as a community together," says Rich Harwood, President and Founder of The Harwood Institute. His group teaches and coaches people in local communities to move forward by bridging divides and creating a culture of shared responsibility.  

"The more we step forward to take these kind of actions to reduce polarization and connect with one another, the greater sense of control we will begin to feel again over our ability to shape our lives," says Rich.  

The Harwood Institute was called in to help the people of Newtown, Connecticut after the mass shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The group says in its mission statement that "we bring people on the front lines of creating change in communities to challenge conventional assumptions, learn together, inspire one another and strengthen our collective ability to be a force for good." 

Recommendations: Richard is listening to the new podcast by Joe Biden. He's also looking forward to Andrew Yang's forthcoming podcast, "Yang Speaks".

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Why did the U.S. and most other nations around the world do such a poor job of preparing for and reacting to the global COVID-19 pandemic? After all, we had earlier outbreaks, from HIV-AIDS to SARS, MERS, H1N1 and the Ebola virus.

In his widely viewed 2015 Ted Talk, Bill Gates warned that "if anything kills more than ten million people in the next few decades, it's most likely to be a highly infectious virus."  We knew about the danger, but failed to act. 

This episode looks at why humans are so bad at preparing for the future and how we can improve our thinking. Marketing strategist, Mark Earls, has studied behavior change for many years. He's the author of "Herd: How to Change Mass Behavior by Harnessing Our True Nature", and "Copy Copy Copy". Mark is now writing a new book, "Memories of Our Future."

When we plan for what's ahead "we should consider multiple futures", says Mark. This doesn't usually happen, and "we find it much easier to have a simple story about how we got here. We overstate our confidence in the causality."

Recommendations: Jim is now reading "Pacific", by Simon Winchester, a biography of the Pacific Ocean region and its role in the modern world.

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Coronavirus has changed all of our lives. We are in the middle of a massive social experiment. This show is first in a series of episodes that will attempt to make sense of the massive psychological, social, economic and political upheaval the pandemic will have on us all.

We start this week with loving relationships. Social distancing will physically separate us from friends and family members who don't live in our homes, but it will bring us closer to our spouse, partner and children. How will this challenge our loving relationships? To what extent is this crisis an opportunity to draw closer to those we love?

We explore these ideas with Susan Page, a relationship and couples expert. Her Latest book is called “Why Talking Is Not Enough”. She says couples are "going to learn skills of tolerance, acceptance and adapting to each other," especially now while we are in isolation.

In this episode, recorded in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, we also look at how U.S. and Mexican societies differ in how people interact in public and with their families. Susan has lived in Mexico for years and travels extensively in her role as an art collector, gallerist and Director of the highly regarded San Miguel International Writers' Conference and Literary Festival.  

This week's reading recommendation: "Rules of Civility", a novel by Amor Towels.

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Bans on plastic bags and straws and expensive campaigns to recycle plastic waste are popular with voters. They give us a sense that the government is acting to protect the environment.

Our guest, John Tierney, been a columnist for the New York Times and is a contributor to City Journal. He has been studying wastes and recycling for decades.

His conclusion? “Recycling has turned out to be ruinously expensive, while achieving little or no environmental benefit."

John also tells us that “if you think the biggest problem facing the  planet is climate change, you shouldn’t be banning plastic grocery bags and causing greenhouse gas emissions to increase.” He argues that bans are distraction from far larger threats to oceans and rivers, such as street litter, dumping trash in the water, and poor waste controls in developing countries.

Tierney’s views about the environment are controversial. He proudly calls himself a contrarian who says that just because an idea appeals to a lot of people doesn’t mean that it’s wrong.

In our episode, Tierney cites a recent study of plastic bag bans in California in the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management. The research concluded that “the elimination of 40 million pounds of plastic carryout bags is offset by a 12 million pound increase in trash bag purchases.” 

Other reports say that the amount of plastic in the ocean is “a lot worse than we thought”, and “our planet is drowning in plastic pollution.”

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The rapid spread of the coronavirus COVID-19 is a reminder of the vital need for truthful information, co-operation and kindness. Rumors, hype and fear can make a growing crisis much worse than it already is. 

We decided to re-release an episode from 2019 on the case for trust: Why designing systems that are based on trust can improve public safety, and lead to better economic, social, psychological and educational outcomes. 

"We’ve internalized the assumption that humans can’t be trusted, and therefore, that we all need to be constrained and coerced into doing the right thing, pretty much all the time," wrote our guest, technology consultant, futurist and thinker Jerry Michalski.

And yet, there are examples of systems designed from trust that work surprisingly well. 

1. Anyone can edit and make changes to Wikipedia pages. Most of us rely on this open-source online encyclopedia for accurate information. 
2. Micro loans go to people of very limited means, who should be terrible credit risks. But their default rates are lower than for conventional loans. 
3. Netflix has no limit on vacation time and days off. The only guidance to employees that they act ethically and Netflix’s Best Interests. 
4. The international, self-supporting fellowship, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), is also highly successful group that is designed from trust. 

"It turns out that on average people are more trustworthy than we think they are," says Jerry. "Wikipedia has discovered this as have many, many other kinds of services."

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Bernie Sanders is the early frontrunner for the Democratic Presidential nomination. In this episode with economist Emily Chamlee-Wright, we look at why support for socialism is on the rise, and where this ideology comes from. According to recent polls of young Americans, ages 18 to 29, they are more likely to have a positive view of socialism than capitalism.

Despite socialist economic failures in Venezuela, Africa and Eastern Europe, today's promises of free health care, college loan debt forgiveness, mandatory stock ownership for employees, and guaranteed income look increasingly attractive to numbers of voters in the U.S.

"Seriously debating socialism gets us talking about a good society really is and the philosophical, economic and political foundations that underlie it," wrote Emily in The Wall Street Journal.

While believing that "competitive and open markets are the answer", Emily she tells us that the debate over socialism allows us to challenge the flawed system of crony capitalism and discuss fundamental moral questions about how our economy is organized.

Emily Chamlee-Wright is President and CEO of The Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason University.

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It's rare to meet someone who has re-thought some of his deepest convictions. In this episode, we go on a journey with one of America's leading public intellectuals, Jerry Taylor, President and Founder of the Niskanen Center, who describes himself today as a "radical moderate" who has moved away from the libertarianism of his earlier years.

We focus on climate change. Jerry says he used to be a "lukewarmist", but now sees it as an urgent crisis. "The evidence for climate change as a significant, serious problem that requires really aggressive responses has become stronger and stronger over time," he says.

Unlike most think tanks, the Niskanen Center (established in 2015) is not tied to any particular ideology, but prides itself in being pragmatic, and working "to advance an open society by active engagement in the war of ideas."  

An announcement: "How Do We Fix It?" is a member of The Democracy Group, a new network of podcasts about democracy, civic engagement, and civil discourse. Visit democracygroup.org to learn more about member shows and to receive updates about new episodes and playlists.

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Voter turnout is much lower in the U.S. than in many other democracies around the world. In this episode, we look at an innovative initiative to use the internet to boost the number of voters in every election. 

"Our mission" says the non-profit group Democracy Works "is to make voting a simple, seamless experience for all Americans, so that no one misses an election." 

A lot of people want to vote but they forget to do it, or they don't get registered to vote. Democracy Works is a team of software developers, policy wonks and civic organizers who say they are working to upgrade the infrastructure of democracy.

In this episode, we speak with the non-profit group's CEO and co-founder. Seth Flaxman. "At the end of the day, we think every American is going to want a sort of service like a concierge helping them to vote in all the election," says Seth, "even people who say they never miss elections sign up to get the reminders."

This episode is funded with a grant from Solutions Journalism Network as part of "Renewing Democracy", to encourage reporting about how people and institutions are trying to reinvigorate democracy in communities across the country.

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