Dani Rodrik, Professor at Harvard Kennedy School and the visionary who predicted the risks of unfettered globalisation, tells us how we need to collectively change course. The old narratives and policies have not aligned with the expectation that all boats would be lifted. New solutions are needed to shore up the middle class and deliver on the promise of shared prosperity. He says that the services sector is the policy answer. It is the rising source of good, green, human, local, gender-beneficial jobs in both advanced and developing economies. Finally, he flags that specific policies need specific knowledge. Yet much of the knowledge we’ve invested in caters to the needs of the richer countries and may skew the decisions in the rest. What is to be done? Find the answers in his discussion with Gabriela Ramos, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences.    

Much guilt for the erosion of public trust in science is laid at the feet of social media. Does data support such fears? Homero Gil de Zuñiga Navajas and Brigitte Huber conducted a 20-country study that looked into this relationship and they say… “it’s complicated”. Social media news use is positively related to trust in science, yet worries about echo chambers and polarization are real. They also say that there is little fake news on social media, but it’s the concentration and effects that are concerning. The majority of fake news hits a small group of people, who are dragged into rabbit holes by algorithms and their own curation of content. But look on the bright side. There is room for everything on social media. Scientists and policy makers need to discern paths to positive outcomes. From using micro-targeting, to banking on users' need for cognition, to tailoring campaigns to personality traits – social media has “tricks”. Are we ready to employ them? Find out in their discussion with UNESCO’s Iulia Sevciuc .

Peter Gluckman, the President of the International Science Council and the former Chief Science Advisor to the Prime Minister of New Zealand, came on to discuss how polarisation has infiltrated science and is tearing up the public trust in it. He says that the acceptance (or rejection) of scientific conclusions has become an ideological badge of identity. Social media only adds to it, overloading the public with (mis)information we are not yet equipped to navigate. There are many solutions, but underneath it all is the fundamental task of restoring civil discourse. We need to be able to talk – in agreement or disagreement – again. Can we do that? Find out in his discussion with Gabriela Ramos, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences. 

Nadia Calviño, Vice-President and Minister for Economy and Digitalization of Spain, talks to us about inequalities, and how our exit from the current crises is through closing the most gaping divides. She says there are solutions, with Spain’s minimum subsistence income being an example of such. She also warns that it is not only the physical world we must be paying close attention to. If unchecked, the fast-emerging economies of data and AI can give rise to new, digital haves and have-nots. We should strive for a humanistic digitalization. How to bring all these about? Find the answers in her discussion with Gabriela Ramos, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences. 

Mark Howden, a Vice Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, talks about trust in climate science. How vital is this trust for our collective policies and climate trajectory? Why have we ended up polarizing and politicising climate science to such levels? Can we de-escalate? Mark has answers. Listen closely to his discussion with UNESCO’s Iulia Sevciuc on these and so much more.