It’s not that simple

What is “vetting”? How does it work? Why is it so important to the quality of public service and government? To answer these questions, Pedro Pinto

With many years of experience working in the United States’ government, Mastromonaco served as White House Deputy Chief of Staff for operations in the

In this episode, Mastromonaco describes what the vetting process consists of, specifically in the United States. She discusses the purpose of the vetting process, as well as it standards. Mastromonaco also looks at how political polarization and the modern media environment have weakened the public strength of the vetting process. She also addresses the challenges of conducting an efficient vetting investigation. Mastromonaco examines the lack of vetting in countries like Portugal and how a thorough vetting process can lead to finding the best people for any given public position. Finally, she explains how lying about one’s past may be more disqualifying for the person being vetted than telling the truth about the person is being asked about, in a conversation well worth listening to.

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Other references in Portuguese:

For the first-time live in Portugal, the historian and writer Yuval Noah Harari, author of «Sapiens» and «Homo Deus», reflects on the advances of humanity, its major threats, and the way in which artificial intelligence must be regulated to prevent it from becoming a «T-Rex» that will destroy humanity as we know it. 

In this interview, with the journalist Pedro Pinto, Harari addresses issues such as the preservation of liberal democracy, the confrontation with artificial intelligence, the balance between human humility and the definition of the future of life on Earth, in addition to the possibilities of conflict and peace between the West and China. 

A talk recorded 'live on tape' at Estufa Fria, in Lisbon, Portugal on May 2023.

Is democracy dying? What challenges do democracies around the world face nowadays? How can they overcome such challenges? To answer these questions, Pedro Pinto interviews Daniel Ziblatt in this episode of “It’s Not That Simple”, a podcast by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation.

An expert on democracy, Ziblatt is Eaton Professor of Government at Harvard University and is director of the Transformations of Democracy research unit at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center in Berlin, Germany. His three books include How_Democracies_Die (Crown, 2018), co-authored with Steve Levitsky), a New York Times best-seller, translated into twenty-two languages. He is also the author of Conservative Parties and the Birth of Democracy (Cambridge University Press, 2017), an account of Europe's historical democratization, which won the American Political Science Association's 2018 Woodrow Wilson Prize for the best book in government and international relations and American Sociological Association's 2018 Barrington Moore Prize. In recent years he has been a fellow or visiting professor at the European University Institute (Florence, Italy), Center for Advanced Study (Stanford), Max Planck Institute (Cologne), University of Munich, and the Ecole Normale Superieure (Paris).

In this episode, Ziblatt identifies the warning signs of when a democracy is being threatened, not by a coup, but by authoritarian politicians “chipping away” at its foundations from within. He also gives examples of countries where democracy is in good health. Ziblatt then looks at the impact of the Russian

More on this topic:  

• How Democracies Die, Daniel Ziblatt (with Steven Levitsky), 2018

• Conservative Parties and the Birth of Democracy, Daniel Ziblatt, 2017

• Daniel Ziblatt on "The Causes of Populism and the Problem of Cultural Majority Rights"

• Daniel Ziblatt (with Alper Yagci and Muharrem Aytug Sasmaz) on “"How Voters Respond to Presidential Assaults on Checks and Balances: Evidence from a Survey Experiment in Turkey"

• Daniel Ziblatt (with Rachel Riedl, Dan Slater, and Joseph Wong) on "Authoritarian-Led Democratization"

• A piece about the book “How Democracies Die”

• An interview with Daniel Ziblatt about the state of American democracy

• Podcast It’s Not That Simple, “Political Polarization”, with Ezra Klein

• Podcast It’s Not That Simple, “Elections”, with Nate Silver

• Podcast It’s Not That Simple, “(I)liberal Democracy”, with Catherine de Vries

• An interview with historian Timothy Snyder about democracy

Other references in Portuguese:  

• Podcast [IN] Pertinente “Estará ameaçada a democracia?” with Pedro Vieira and Raquel Vaz Pinto

• Essay of the Foundation “A Qualidade da Democracia em Portugal”, by Conceição Pequito Teixeira, 2018

• “Instituições e qualidade da democracia: cultura política na Europa do Sul”, a study by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation, coordinated by Tiago Fernandes

What is happiness? Can it be studied? Are there steps we can all take in order to become happy? To answer these questions, Pedro Pinto interviews Laurie Santos in this episode of “It’s Not That Simple”, a podcast by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation.

An expert on the science of happiness, Santos is the Chandrika and Ranjan Tandon Professor of Psychology and Head of Silliman College at Yale University. In addition to her work on the evolutionary origins of human cognition, Laurie is an expert on the ways in which our minds lie to us about what makes us happy. Her Yale course, Psychology and the Good Life, teaches students how the science of psychology can provide important hints about how to make wiser choices and live a life that’s happier and more fulfilling. The class became Yale’s most popular course in over 300 years, with almost one out of four students enrolled. Her course has been featured in the New York Times, NBC Nightly News, The Today Show, GQ Magazine, Slate and O! Magazine. The online version of the class—The Science of Well-Being on Coursera.org—has attracted more than 4 million learners from around the world. A winner of numerous awards both for her science and teaching, she was recently voted as one of Popular Science Magazine’s “Brilliant 10” young minds, and was named in Time Magazine as a “Leading Campus Celebrity.” Her podcast, The Happiness Lab, is a top-3 Apple podcast which has attracted 85+ million downloads since its launch.

In this episode, Santos talks about her Yale course on Psychology and the Good Life and why it has become so popular. Santos also explains what the research on happiness tells us about what people who report being happy have done to get there. Santos then discusses how often the things we tend to think will make us happy end up not making us happy at all. She also looks at the impact of the Covid epidemic and technology on our age’s mental health crisis and points out the value of social connection – and fun – for our happiness. Finally, Santos explains how important “negative” emotions like sadness, anger or frustration are for our ability to be happy, in a conversation well worth listening to.

More on this topic

• The online version of Santos’ Yale course

• The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos, her podcast

• A series of interviews with Laurie Santos

• A New York Times story on Santos’ Yale course

Other references in Portuguese

• Podcast [IN] Pertinente “O que é a felicidade” with Ana Markl and Rui Costa Lopes

• Podcast [IN] Pertinente “Felicidade liga com Economia?” with Hugo van der Ding and Joana Pais

• Podcast [IN] Pertinente “Somos iguais aos de antes?” with Ana Markl and Miguel Chaves

• “Felicidade e bem-estar: a importância dos outros”, na interview with neuroscientist Julianne Holt-Lunstad

What will the economy of the future look like? How can we prepare for it? What impact is technology having on work and the job market? Are we heading towards a world without work? To answer these questions, Pedro Pinto interviews Daniel Susskind in this episode of “It’s Not That Simple”, a podcast by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation.

An expert on the impact of technology, particularly artificial intelligence, on work and society, Daniel Susskind is a Research Professor of Economics at King’s College London, and a Senior Research Associate at the Institute for Ethics in AI at Oxford University. He is the the author of the book A World Without Work, described by The New York Times as "required reading for any potential presidential candidate thinking about the economy of the future”, co-author of the best-selling book, The Future of the Professions. His TED Talk, on the future of work, has been viewed more than 1.6 million times. Previously, Susskind worked in the British Government – as a policy adviser in the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit, as a policy analyst in the Policy Unit in 10 Downing Street, and as a senior policy adviser in the Cabinet Office. He was a Kennedy Scholar at Harvard University.

In this episode, Susskind discusses how the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the role of technology in the various kinds of work we do. He looks at how technological progress will impact the lives of people who depend on paid work for their income, and considers how many people could be displaced or left behind by the economy of the future. He also examines how a world with less work available to a larger number of people will affect them emotionally and not just financially. Finally, Susskind discusses what kinds of jobs and careers will be open to future generations, and what skills and capabilities they will require of them, in a conversation well worth listening to.

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What is political polarization? Has social media contributed to its growth? What about Donald Trump? And where does this growing polarization leave “the center” of the political spectrum? To answer these questions, Pedro Pinto interviews Ezra Klein in this episode of “It’s Not That Simple”, a podcast by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation.

A perceptive observer of American politics and society, Ezra Klein is a columnist on the New York Times opinion page, host of the award-winning “Ezra Klein Show” podcast, and author of the bestselling book, “Why We’re Polarized.” Before that, he was the founder, editor-in-chief, and then editor-at-large of Vox, the explanatory news platform, which has won a bevy of awards and now reaches more than 50 million people each month. He was also a creator and executive producer of its hit Netflix show, “Explained.” Prior to starting Vox, Klein founded and led The Washington Post’s Wonkblog. He is also a columnist for Bloomberg News and a regular contributor/policy analyst for MSNBC. The Economist named him one of the “Minds of the Moment.” In 2011, TIME named his blog one of the 25 best financial blogs and the Society of American Business Editors and Writers named Klein as their 2011 Opinion Columnist of the Year. In 2012, GQ named him to their 50 Most Powerful People in Washington list and Esquire named him to their 79 Things We Can All Agree On list saying, “Ezra Klein gives economics columnists a good name.”

In this episode, Klein comments on the growing political polarization in the United States of America, what explains it and its impact on the country. He argues that a more fragmented media landscape has contributed to the disappearance of a common ground for what people believe to be true. He also looks at how social media has turned what was an already polarized political landscape into a more extreme, radicalized one. Klein also tries to understand why political figures like Trump, Modri or Silvio Berlusconi have had success all around the world. Finally, Klein examines how the erosion of the political “center” is both a product and a cause of growing political polarization, in a conversation well worth listening to.

More on this topic

• Why We’re Polarized, Ezra Klein, 2020

• Ezra Klein’s columns in The New York Times

• The Ezra Klein Show archive

• Ezra Klein on “Why We’re Polarized”

•Ezra Klein on “roots of America's democracy problem”

• Ezra Klein on “American media's effect on democracy”

• Ezra Klein talks with Pippa Norris about the reasons why “the far right is thriving around the globe”

• Ezra Klein talks with Sean Illing about “how TV, Twitter and TikTok shape our brains — and our politics”

• Ezra Klein talks with Patrick Deneen about the “post-liberal right”

How long can human beings live? Will it become increasingly normal for one to live up to 100 years? What impact will aging have in our societies? To answer these questions, Pedro Pinto interviews Andrew J. Scott in this episode of “It’s Not That Simple”, a podcast by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation.

An expert on longevity and aging society, Andrew J. Scott is Professor of Economics at London Business School, having previously held positions at Oxford University, the London School of Economics and Harvard University. He was Managing Editor for the Royal Economic Society’s Economic Journal and Non-Executive Director for the UK’s Financial Services Authority (2009-2013). He is currently on the advisory board of the UK’s Office for Budget Responsibility, the Cabinet Office Honours Committee (Science and Technology), co-founder of The Longevity Forum, a member of the WEF council on Healthy Ageing and Longevity and a consulting scholar at Stanford University’s Center on Longevity. Scott is also the recipient of an ESRC grant for researching the economic longevity dividend.

In this episode, Scott discusses how we have been able to increase our life expectancy so much in the last few decades. He considers how living longer is “a good thing”, but also the challenges it nevertheless poses. He addresses how governments and companies can deal with some of these challenges. Finally, Scott examines how in order to change the way people age and improve their quality of life at an older age, we must change and improve the way we live when they’re younger, in a conversation well worth listening to.

More on this topic

• The 100-Year Life: Living and Working in an Age of Longevity, Andrew J. Scott and Linda Gratton, 2016

• The New Long Life: A Framework for Flourishing in a Changing World, Andrew J. Scott and Linda Gratton, 2016

• Andrew J. Scott on living a 100 year life 

• Andrew J. Scott on “The Economics of a Longevity Dividend” 

• Andrew J. Scott on how to prepare for a longer life 

• Andrew J. Scott’s blog 

Other references in Portuguese

• Essay of the Foundation “O Envelhecimento da Sociedade Portuguesa” by Maria João Valente Rosa 

• Essay of the Foundation “Envelhecimento e políticas de saúde”, by Teresa Rodrigues 

• “Dinâmicas demográficas e envelhecimento”, a study by Mário Leston Bandeira for the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation 

• “Processos de Envelhecimento em Portugal”, a study by Manuel Villaverde Cabral for the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation 

• “Envelhecimento Activo em Portugal”, a study by Manuel Villaverde Cabral and Pedro Moura Ferreira for the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation 

• “Genética, stress crónico e envelhecimento”, a conference held by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation 

What makes people migrate? How does climate change drive mass migration in today’s world? How serious is this problem? How serious will it become in the future? To answer these questions, Pedro Pinto interviews Abrahm Lustgarten in this episode of “It’s Not That Simple”, a podcast by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation.

An author and investigative reporter, Abrahm Lustgarten’s work for ProPublica and The New York Times Magazine has been focused on climate change and our response to a rapidly changing environment. His recent investigations include a three-part series on global climate migration, an examination of the global palm oil trade, the climate drivers behind pandemics, and how climate change is driving global water scarcity. His 2015 series examining the causes of water scarcity in the American West, “Killing the Colorado,” was a finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for national reporting and received the top honor from the National Academy of Sciences. 

His earlier investigation into the environmental and economic consequences of fracking received the George Polk award for environmental reporting, the National Press Foundation award for best energy writing, a Sigma Delta Chi award and was honored as finalist for the Goldsmith Prize. He is also a 2022 Emerson Collective Fellow at New America, and a recipient of grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to supporting his forthcoming book about climate-driven migration. He teaches a course on narrative writing about climate change at the University of California, Berkeley.

In this episode, Lustgarten discusses how climate change can impact social issues which in turn can impact political circumstances and drive to mass migration events. He looks at the growing number of areas of the planet that are or are likely to become uninhabitable and considers the political impact of being a destination of mass migration. He also examines why climate change is something that can be hard for people to fully understand or accept. Finally, he discusses what we can and have to do to mitigate climate change and its consequences, in a conversation well worth listening to. 

More on this topic

• China’s Great Train: Beijing's Drive West and the Campaign to Remake Tibet, Abrahm Lustgarten, 2008

• Run to Failure: BP and the Making of the Deepwater Horizon Disaster, Abrahm Lustgarten, 2012

• Abrahm Lustgarten’s award-winning story on “The Water Crisis in the West”

https://www.propublica.org/series/killing-the-colorado

• Abrahm Lustgarten’s ProPublica stories

https://www.propublica.org/people/abrahm-lustgarten 

• A series of stories by Abrahm Lustgarten published in The New York Times Magazine

https://www.newamerica.org/our-people/abrahm-lustgarten/

• Abrahm Lustgarten on “The Great Climate Migration”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ6QoCDcEzg

• Abrahm Lustgarten on how “The Great Climate Migration Has Begun”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvaI9nxSKAw

• Podcast It’s Not That Simple “Climate Change”, with Bill McKibben

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDIIzdst6Fo

Other references in Portuguese

• Essay of the Foundation “Alterações Climáticas” by Filipe Duarte Santos

https://www.ffms.pt/publicacoes/detalhe/5409/alteracoes-climaticas

• Essay of the Foundation “Riscos Globais e Biodiversidade” by Maria Amélia Martins-Loução

https://www.ffms.pt/publicacoes/detalhe/5682/riscos-globais-e-biodiversidade

• Podcast [IN] Pertinente “Alterações Climáticas: Ainda vamos a tempo?” with Johan Rockström

https://www.ffms.pt/conferencias/detalhe/5799/alteracoes-climaticas-ainda-vamos-a-tempo-uma-entrevista-a-johan-rockstrom

• Podcast Da Capa à Contracapa “Como responder aos desafios das alterações climáticas?” with  Filipe Duarte Santos

What is climate change? How is it affect our planet? What consequences does it have on our lives? And must we – and can we – do soften them? To answer these questions, Pedro Pinto interviews Bill McKibben in this episode of “It’s Not That Simple”, a podcast by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation.

An expert on climate change, Bill McKibben is a founder of Third Act, which organizes people over the age of 60 for action on climate and justice. His 1989 book The End of Nature is regarded as the first book for a general audience about climate change, and has appeared in 24 languages. He’s gone on to write 20 books, and his work appears regularly in periodicals from the New Yorker to Rolling Stone. He serves as the Schumann Distinguished Scholar in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College, as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and he has won the Gandhi Peace Prize as well as honorary degrees from 20 colleges and universities. He was awarded the Right Livelihood Award, sometimes called the alternative Nobel, in the Swedish Parliament. Foreign Policy named him to its inaugural list of the world’s 100 most important global thinkers. McKibben helped found 350.org, the first global grassroots climate campaign, which has organized protests on every continent, including Antarctica, for climate action. He played a leading role in launching the opposition to big oil pipeline projects like Keystone XL, and the fossil fuel divestment campaign. In 2014, biologists credited his career by naming a new species of woodland gnat—Megophthalmidia mckibbeni–in his honor.

In this episode, McKibben discusses the current condition of our planet. He also considers the role of governments and private companies in fighting climate change and its consequences, and looks at what powers like China and the United States are doing – and not doing – to address these issues. He also examines how the lobbying power of the fossil fuel industry interest groups have made the climate crisis worse. Finally, he discusses how the falling prices if renewable sources of energy give us some cause for optimism, in a conversation well worth listening to. 

More on this topic

• The End of Nature, Bill McKibben, 1989

• Fight Global Warming Now, Bill McKibben, 2007

• Eaarth, Bill McKibben, 2011

• The Global Warming Reader, Bill McKibben, 2011

• Bill McKibben on how climate change is “the greatest challenge humans have ever faced”

https://www.npr.org/2019/04/16/713829853/climate-change-is-greatest-challenge-humans-have-ever-faced-author-says?t=1660062740657

• Bill McKibben on “What We've Learned About Climate Change in the Last 30 Years”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dfm6mfU5uko

• Bill McKibben on “Fossil Fuel Divestment”

https://www.pbs.org/wnet/amanpour-and-company/video/bill-mckibben-discusses-fossil-fuel-divestment/

Other references in Portuguese

• Essay of the Foundation “Alterações Climáticas” by Filipe Duarte Santos

https://www.ffms.pt/publicacoes/detalhe/5409/alteracoes-climaticas

• Essay of the Foundation “Riscos Globais e Biodiversidade” by Maria Amélia Martins-Loução

https://www.ffms.pt/publicacoes/detalhe/5682/riscos-globais-e-biodiversidade

• Essay of the Foundation “Os Incêndios Florestais em Portugal” by António Bento-Gonçalves

https://www.ffms.pt/publicacoes/detalhe/5205/os-incendios-florestais-em-portugal

• Podcast [IN] Pertinente “Alterações Climáticas: Ainda vamos a tempo?” with Johan Rockström

https://www.ffms.pt/conferencias/detalhe/5799/alteracoes-climaticas-ainda-vamos-a-tempo-uma-entrevista-a-johan-rockstrom

• Podcast Da Capa à Contracapa “Como responder aos desafios das alterações climáticas?” with  Filipe Duarte Santos e António Costa Silva

https://www.ffms.pt/podcasts/da-capa-a-contracap

How old is the Universe? How was it born? How will it end? Why are we here? What is a black hole and what do they do? To answer these questions, Pedro Pinto interviews Vítor Cardoso in this episode of “It’s Not That Simple”, a podcast by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation.

 A renowned astrophysicist, Vítor Cardoso is Chair of the Physics Department at Instituto Superior Técnico, and Villum Investigator and DNRF Chair at the Niels Bohr Institute. He received his PhD in Physics in 2003 at Instituto Superior Técnico and did post-doctoral research in Saint Louis, Missouri and Oxford, Mississippi in the United States. His research interests focus on gravitational waves and black holes and the physics of space, and he is a pioneer in black hole spectroscopy. He is the author of a book and more than 200 articles published in international journals. His research has been distinguished three times by the European Research Council. In 2015, he was awarded the Order of Santiago D'Espada by the Portuguese President, for his contributions to science.

 In this episode, Vítor Cardoso explains what astrophysics is and what his work in this field entails. Namely, describes how this kind of research necessitates a lot of international cooperation, and also how it forces a person to “struggle with their own limitations as a scientist”. He also addresses the importance of the images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope and how much we learned about Space in the last few decades. He discusses why Space research and exploration matters, and the possibility of having human beings living in other planets. Finally, Vítor Cardoso looks at the likelihood of extraterrestrial life, in a conversation well worth listening to. 

More on this topic

• Superradiance: New Frontiers in Black Hole Physics, Vitor Cardoso, Richard Brito and Paolo Pani, 2020

• “Tests for the existence of black holes through gravitational wave echoes” an article by Vítor Cardoso (with Paolo Pani) published in Nature

• A conversation about the Cosmos between Vítor Cardoso and fellow astrophysicists Michio Kaku and Carlo Rovelli, hosted by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation

• Vítor Cardoso on black holes

• Vítor Cardoso on “black holes as engines of discovery”

Other references in Portuguese

• Podcast [IN] Pertinente “Os buracos negros têm cabelo?” with Joana Marques and Vítor Cardoso

• Podcast [IN] Pertinente “Porque queremos tanto descobrir o céu?” with Joana Marques and Vítor Cardoso

• Podcast Da Capa à Contracapa “O que sabemos sobre o Universo?” with Francisco Lobo and Paulo Crawford

• Essay of the Foundation “Portugal e o Espaço” by Manuel Paiva

• “Olhos nos Espaço”, a conference held by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation