What on Earth is Going on?

"We live in the age of the individual. Every day, we're bombarded with depictions of the beautiful, successful, slim, socially conscious, and extroverted individual that our culture has decided is the perfect self, and we berate ourselves when we don't measure up." So begins the publisher's description of Will Storr's new book, Selfie: How We Became So Self-Obsessed and What It's Doing to Us. It's a fascinating and timely read about the whole notion and history of the self, and how our cherished individualism seems to be getting way out of control.

Ben goes to Calgary to discuss the book with communications professional Jody MacPherson.

About the Book

We are supposed to be slim, prosperous, happy, extroverted and popular. This is our culture's image of the perfect self. We see this person everywhere: in advertising, in the press, all over social media. We're told that to be this person you just have to follow your dreams, that our potential is limitless, that we are the source of our own success.

But this model of the perfect self can be extremely dangerous. People are suffering under the torture of this impossible fantasy. Unprecedented social pressure is leading to increases in depression and suicide. Where does this ideal come from? Why is it so powerful? Is there any way to break its spell?

To answer these questions, Selfie by Will Storr takes us from the shores of Ancient Greece, through the Christian Middle Ages, to the self-esteem evangelists of 1980s California, the rise of narcissism and the selfie generation, and right up to the era of hyper-individualistic neoliberalism in which we live now.

It tells the extraordinary story of the person we all know so intimately – our self.

Learn more about Selfie by Will Storr or follow the guest, Jody MacPherson, on Twitter (@jody_macpherson).

What can we learn from the trials, tribulations and shipwrecks of our collective human past? How does that past shape the human story today? How can we liberate history from its eurocentric roots? And, most importantly, what's the link between history and jazz?

Ben chats with the Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Queen's University, and renowned historian/historiographer, Daniel Woolf.

Read the blog post for this episode.

About the Guest

Dr. Daniel Woolf has been the Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Queen's University since 2009. He continues to teach part-time, and is a specialist in early modern British cultural history and the history of historical thought and writing. Principal Woolf is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, the Royal Society of Canada and the Royal Historical Society. He is the author or editor of numerous books on history and historiography, including the five-volume Oxford History of Historical Writing.

Learn more about Daniel.

Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is going to change everything. From self-driving cars to deliveries to your online retailers that can predict and deliver your order before you make it, businesses are already cashing in on the AI revolution, which will soon be worth trillions. Where are we headed, what are the risks and opportunities, and what is it all going to look like?

Ben chats with Dr. Stephen Thomas, Director of the new one-of-a-kind and first-of-its-kind Master of Management in Artificial Intelligence program at the Smith School of Business, Queen's University.

About the Guest

Dr. Stephen Thomas is the Director of the new Master of Management in Artificial Intelligence program at Queen's University, an exciting first-of-its-kind program at the Smith School of Business. Dr. Thomas once ran a big data startup, and now works extensively in Computer Science where he focuses on databases, data analytics, and natural language processing.

Learn more about Stephen.

There is a pressing need to rethink how we produce, consume and transmit energy, to diversify our energy sources, and to reorder our daily lives as well as the larger structures of our economies. These shifts, whether in the form of self-driving cars or backyard geothermal plants, are coming regardless of climate change – they're happening naturally. But such changes are not just about convenience and leisure. They may transform the way we conceive of our ecology, our society, and our place within it.

Ben chats with forester, geographer and public policy professor Warren Mabee.

Read the blog post for this episode.

About the Guest

Dr. Warren Mabee is, in his own words, a forester who somehow became a geographer. He is a professor and head of the department of geography and planning, as well as a professor of policy studies, at Queen's University in Kingston. He is a Canada Research Chair in Renewable Energy Development and Implementation as well as the Director of the Queen's Institute for Energy and Environmental Policy. His research focuses on the interface between renewable energy policy and technologies, with particular emphasis on wood energy and biofuels.

Learn more about Warren.

Are we on the verge of a trade war, or already in the midst of one? Is NAFTA doomed to the same fate as the Iran Nuclear Deal? What is behind the US president's unprecedented attacks on free trade and the rules-based order that his own country once helped create and champion? Are the motivations purely instinctive, or political, or is there a deeper world-shaping agenda at play?

Joining Ben is Robert Wolfe, expert in international relations and trade and Professor Emeritus of Policy Studies at Queen's University.

About the Guest

Robert Wolfe is Professor Emeritus of Policy Studies at Queen's University, where he is also the lead director of the Annual Queen's Institute on Trade Policy. Before joining Queen's in 1995, Dr. Wolfe was a Canadian foreign service officer for nearly two decades, serving around the world and in Ottawa. His current projects focus on digital trade and how members of the World Trade Organization can use enhanced transparency to encourage institutional learning.

Learn more about Robert or follow him on Twitter (@BobWolfeSPS).

Climate change is real, and we are causing it. At least, that's the consensus among scientists around the world. A tiny handful of academics disagree, and that is a critical feature of science, but does this mean we should debate it as if it were an open question? Part of the reason we seem to so freely and so brazenly challenge those who have done their homework is because we lack the tools to distinguish between fact and fiction. We, as citizens, need to be literate in science in order for the real debates to be had.

Joining Ben for an impassioned conversation is renowned climate scientist Dr. John Smol.

Read the blog post for this episode.

About the Guest

Water pollution, climatic change, declining fisheries – these environmental problems are at the forefront of many people's minds. And so are the dreaded diseases like cancer, asthma, autism, that many experts feel are linked to toxic chemicals in our environment, in particular, our fresh water supplies.

John Smol and his team at the Paleoecological Environmental Assessment and Research Laboratory (PEARL), at Queen's University, go deep below the surface of our lakes and rivers to uncover the secrets of our environmental history, written in the mud and silt.

Professor Smol's work has been informing policy discussions and decisions nationally and internationally for many years, starting with his acclaimed role in the acid rain debates. With the help of the PEARL team, his research has enabled policy makers to make knowledgeable, proactive decisions in areas such as agricultural runoff, clearcutting, protection of fish habitats, and air pollution control.

With a public more concerned and informed about the environment than ever before, PEARL's ongoing discoveries enable governments to be leaders in the stewardship of Canadian natural resources.

No matter how complicated paleolimnology might sound to you, to John, it's all about one simple vision: the more we know about our environment, the better decisions we can make to protect it.

Learn more about John.

Mentioned in this Episode

• A poll from 2018 that shows 1/3 of Canadians don't believe humans and industry cause climate change
• James Powell, a US geologist and author who argues that the acceptance of anthropomorphic climate change in the scientific community is virtually universal
• 27th International Polar Conference (2018)
• A poll from 2017 that shows nearly half of Canadians think science is a "matter of opinion"
• A Short History of Progress, a book by author Ronald Wright based on his 2004 Massey Lectures
• Clip (YouTube) from the television program Newsroom, featuring a climate scientist who has essentially given up

The Quote of the Week

The purpose of education is to replace an empty mind with an open one. - Malcolm Forbes

There's an election coming up in Ontario, and as always, one of the big dividers is taxes. Cut them, raise them, change them, fix them. A lot of the arguments are weary (Doug Ford's PCs want to make gas and beer cheaper; the surging NDP want the wealthy to cough up more cash) -- but some want to change the fundamentals. There is lots of talk about a universal basic income, in a province with the largest real-life study of such a program in the world.

Joining Ben for an analysis of this subject, as well as the deeper issues of redistribution and federalism, is Queen's Emeritus Professor of Economics Robin Boadway.

About the Guest

Dr. Robin Boadway is an Emeritus Professor of Economics at Queen's University. He is one of Canada's foremost thinkers on tax policy, fiscal federalism and redistribution. Dr. Boadway is the author, co-author or editor of 30 books, including From Optimal Tax Theory to Tax Policy: Retrospective and Prospective Views. Dr. Boadway is a long-standing Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada as well as an Officer of the Order of Canada. Recently, he has conducted research into implementing a basic income guarantee, or BIG, similar to a universal basic income, in Canada.

Learn more about Robin.

Part 2 of 2.

For his bicentennial in May 2018, it's a good a time as any to re-evaluate the life, work and ideas of one of the most influential philosophers and economists of the modern era, Karl Marx. Following from last week, we delve deeper into not just Marx's ideas, but how they have evolved and been interpreted over the last century and a half. How has Marxism, let alone communism and socialism, taken off in ways that Marx himself could not have foreseen and, perhaps, would not have wanted. And we ask, what on earth is going on with the human story today when seen through the lenses that Marx provided.

Returning to the program for a second excellent and insightful conversation with Ben is Queen's sociologist Rob Beamish.

About the Guest

Dr. Rob Beamish is a Professor at Queen's University in Kingston. In 1992 he wrote Marx, Method and the Division of Labour. After serving as the head of the Department of Sociology, Professor Beamish has since returned to work on projects related to the development of Marx's ideas. Keep your eyes peeled for when his work hits the shelves – I'm sure it will be worth the read.

Learn more about Rob.

Part 1 of 2.

May 5 was the 200th anniversary of Karl Marx's birth. Over the past few years there has been a surge of interest in the 19th century philosopher and economist, who challenged capitalism and predicted that it would eventually destroy itself. But his diagnosis has turned out to be more accurate, insightful and helpful than his prescriptions. Make no mistake: Marxism may be dead, but Marx is very much alive and kicking. His insight into the way the world works has profoundly influenced academia, economics, government, social programs, the way we study and view history, and yes indeed, capitalism itself. We may not be Marxists anymore. But many of the foundations of our world and the way in which we conceive of it are built from his material.

Joining Ben on the program is Queen's sociologist Rob Beamish, who will return next week to continue the excellent conversation.

About the Guest

Dr. Rob Beamish is a Professor at Queen's University in Kingston. In 1992 he wrote Marx, Method and the Division of Labour. After serving as the head of the Department of Sociology, Professor Beamish has since returned to work on projects related to the development of Marx's ideas. Keep your eyes peeled for when his work hits the shelves – I'm sure it will be worth the read.

Learn more about Rob.

In the Digital Age, the Internet and social media have utterly transformed the way we live and perceive the world, and there is certainly more to come. But when we started upending norms in the media less than a generation ago, we couldn't perceive the consequences which are now becoming apparent. What on earth is going on with fake news, post-truth, and a new relativism in media and the public discourse? How on earth did we get so polarized in our societies and in our politics? What happens when extremism shares space with mainstream thought? Is it getting worse, or are we just incapable of seeing this transformation for what it really is? And what's on the horizon with the Digital Revolution?

Joining Ben is Carlos Prado, editor of America's Post-Truth Phenomenon: When Feelings and Opinions Trump Facts and Evidence.

Read the blog post for this episode.

About the Guest

Professor Emeritus Carlos Prado was born in Guatemala and immigrated to Canada in 1965. He is a professor of philosophy at Queen's University, and has published 15 books on numerous subjects, including the 20th century French philosopher Michel Foucault, assisted dying, the effect of social media, and most recently the whole meaning behind the post-truth era. Dr. Prado was named one of the top ten most influential Canadians and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Learn more about Carlos.