Vis a Vis

Vis a Vis

By Vis a VisSociety & CultureNewsSciencePolitics
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Vis a Vis episodes

  • Writing Colonial History
    As many economists, political scientists, and policy makers reflect on growing economic inequalities dividing world populations today, a question often arises: how did we get here? Why is it that such significant wealth gaps grew over the years, both within countries and among different regions of the world? Many experts turn to history for answers,…
    56 min
  • Research at École Polytechnique
    85 years ago, Louis Leprince Ringuet created the first research lab at École Polytechnique – a physics lab dedicated to research on the atom, cosmic rays and subatomic particles. Today, École Polytechnique boasts 23 research centers staffed by 1600 researchers in fields as diverse as mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, economics, and social sciences. Most recently,…
    31 min
  • Understanding Russia: The French Connection
    Winston Churchill famously said: “Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” Today, almost four years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, many people, throughout the world, are baffled by the long-term goals of the Russian regime and by its internal workings. Historically, France provided a successful model for understanding Russia. Much of…
    42 min
  • The Rest is Silence
    One of the mottos of the Enlightenment was “sapere aude”: Dare to know. With this motto, Enlightenment thinkers like Diderot, Voltaire, and Rousseau rejected fanaticism, conventional thinking, and, in many cases, the authority of the Church, submission to religious principles and belief in the afterlife. As they faced death, therefore, it seemed natural that these…
    41 min
  • Research at Sciences Po
    Over the last few decades, Sciences Po has significantly increased its footprint in research, becoming one of the world’s leading institutions in social science research. The Sciences Po ecosystem is structured around five disciplines: law, economics, history, political science, and sociology. Research priorities include: the analysis of social policy; economic transformations; social inequalities; environmental transition;…
    37 min
  • Women’s Rights Today
    Thirty years ago, the Beijing Declaration charted a path to achieve gender equality worldwide. Since then, some progress was achieved. Girls are surpassing boys in school completion, women are gaining seats in parliament, and nearly 100 countries have scrapped discriminatory laws. But poverty, hunger, conflict, climate change, and backlash against women rights are eroding progress…
    53 min
  • Mending The Living World – a Conversation with Corine Pelluchon
    Debates about climate change and the environment often focus, understandably, on risk evaluation, mitigation, and adaptation. Important research is dedicated to technical innovations like carbon capture or renewable energy; adaptive strategies to protect biodiversity; or financial solutions to bolster sustainable investment. This work is important, of course. But in order to get to the root…
    35 min
  • News from the Extreme Universe
    In 2027, we will be celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Big Bang theory, first proposed by the Belgivan priest and astronomer Georges Lemaître. In the last 100 years, our knowledge and understanding of the universe has been radically transformed. Back in 1917, Einstein still believed in a static universe. Then came Edwin Hubble, who demonstrated,…
    45 min
  • The Era of Impostures: Beyond Identity and Polarization
    Politics, today, seems to be divided by ideology, as much as it is by identity. Our political leanings are determined, not only by our particular vision of the common good, but by who we are, where we come from, and the groups we belong to. One way to understand the degree to which identity shapes…
    32 min
  • Can Responsible AI Make Humans More Responsible?
    By all accounts, the AI revolution is upon us and, although we know it will transform our world, its long-term impact – on jobs, on education, on privacy, on our political life – can only be surmised with some degree of prudence. While applications of artificial intelligence in the worlds of transport, communications, and medicine…
    22 min

About Vis a Vis

From the publisher's feed

"Vis a Vis" is a new podcast produced by the Alliance Program at Columbia University. "Vis a Vis" will feature conversations that challenge our understanding of key global, economic and social issues…