Carnegie Council Audio Podcast

What does it mean precisely when German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock says that the Euro-Atlantic community finds itself at "war” with Russia in Ukraine. In this Ethics Article, Senior Fellow Nikolas Gvosdev discusses the technicalities of the West sending aid to Ukraine, the ever-growing risk of escalation, and the oddities of a conflict where all sides are economically connected. To read the article, go to carnegiecouncil.org. 

Leading up to the one-year anniversary of Russia's second invasion of Ukraine, Rachel Ziemba, head of Ziemba Insights and adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, returns to The Doorstep to discuss how the balance of power has shifted across the globe with co-hosts Nick Gvosdev and Tatiana Serafin. How has Russia managed to work sanctions to its advantage and grow its economy in 2022 according to the recent data from the IMF? Which countries are emerging as strategic partners with new supply routes? And if we can't we quit Russia, what does that mean for ending the war in Ukraine? For more, please go to carnegiecouncil.org. 

How can we ensure that the technologies currently being developed are used for the common good, rather than for the benefit of a select few? In this Ethics Article, Senior Fellows Anja Kaspersen and Wendell Wallach write that for effective technology governance to truly materialize, a systemic reset directed at improving the human condition is required. To read the article, please go to carnegiecouncil.org. 

C2G is pleased to announce the launch of its first youth C2GDiscuss, which explores youth perspectives on solar radiation modification (SRM) and its governance in the face of the increasing likelihood that global warming temporarily exceeds (overshoots) the 1.5-2C Paris Agreement limits. Moderated by C2G’s Executive Director Janos Pasztor, a diverse all-youth panel of speakers discuss their perspectives about the risk of overshooting 1.5-2C or even higher levels of global warming and whether they think young people are aware of SRM and the governance challenges it raises. Speakers included: Ineza Grace, global coordinator of the Loss and Damage Youth Coalition and CEO of The Green Protector; Lydia Dai, student in environmental sciences at University College London, Adaptation Working Group facilitator of YOUNGO and regional youth focal point of the United International Federation of Youth (UN1FY); and, John Ferguson, U.S. 2023 Schwarzman Scholar at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China For more, please go to

From racialized notions of subjecthood and civilization in the 18th century to the neoconservatism, neoliberalism, and unilateralism of the 21st century, ideology drives American foreign policy in ways seen and unseen. In Ideology in U.S. Foreign Relations, edited by Ohio State’s Professor Christopher McKnight Nichols, contributors trace the ongoing struggle over competing visions of American democracy. In this virtual event, Professor Nichols speaks with Doorstep co-hosts Tatiana Serafin and Nikolas Gvosdev for a about the ideological landscape of international relations in the United States, from the American Revolution to the war in Ukraine. For more, please go to carnegiecouncil.org. 

Judah Grunstein, editor-in-chief of World Politics Review, joins Doorstep co-hosts Nick Gvosdev and Tatiana Serafin for his annual review of global power shifts. The past 12 months saw economies rapidly pivoting to new markets and technologies as a result of the the Russia-Ukraine War, the protracted shutdown of China and its zero-COVID policy, and other supply chain disruptions. How will this trajectory re-balance power between the Global North and Global South in 2023? Will competition for governance models lead to new ways of managing societies? Can the U.S. effectively engage with the world or will it fall behind? For more, please go to carnegiecouncil.org. 

In this far-reaching Artificial Intelligence & Equality podcast, Weill Cornell's Dr. Joseph Fins discusses with Senior Fellow Wendell Wallach the hype and realities surrounding contemporary neuroscience and neuroethics. He shares insights from his own seminal research on patients who may be mistakenly presumed to be in a vegetative state when they are actually in a minimally conscious state. Indeed, technology may be used to provide these patients with a way to communicate and a modicum of agency. For more, plesae go to carnegiecouncil.org. 

Welcome to the first edition of Ethics Articles. Each week, listeners will have the opportunity to hear an audio version of selected articles from Carnegie Council's team of experts. Today, Carnegie Council President Joel Rosenthal shares his latest column in which he identifies five key trends that will impact ethics and international affairs in 2023. To access a free version of this article and more content from Carnegie Council, please visit carnegiecouncil.org. 

Although pundits and politicians pay close attention to measures like GDP or unemployment, almost no one tracks citizens' wellbeing. Gallup CEO Jon Clifton discusses this "blind spot" in his new book and in this virtual event with Doorstep co-hosts Tatiana Serafin and Nikolas Gvosdev. How did it lead to events like the Arab Spring uprisings or the election of Donald Trump? How can leaders close this important information gap and begin to incorporate wellbeing and happiness indicators? For more, please go to carnegiecouncil.org. 

All Things Have Standing is a course in human psychology and the ethics of artificial intelligence and environmental law inspired by a powerful idea from the audio drama Spark Hunter—that all things have ethical standing. All Things Have Standing is presented by Carnegie Council in collaboration with Fighter Steel Education. Inspired by a futuristic story of a highly advanced AI experiencing existential crisis, All Things Have Standing explores, with leading scholars, AI and environmental ethics, the psychology and philosophy which underlie them, and the extraordinary challenges they raise for the global community. The first three parts, entitled "Our Stories," "Others’ Stories," and "Earth's Stories," were published over the last few weeks. The final part, “Future Stories,” is all available today in seven sections on this podcast. After an introduction from Professor Sheldon Solomon, scholar Wendell Wallach and Professor Shannon Vallor lead an exploration of the ethics of creating, deploying, and living with

In 2021 the Saami Council effectively stopped Harvard University's Stratospheric Controlled Perturbation Experiment (SCoPEx), which aimed to examine the behavior of stratospheric aerosols which could potentially be used to reflect back a portion of incoming sunlight to reduce global warming. In a C2GTalk, Åsa Larsson Blind, vice-president of the Saami Council, explains why she was in opposition, and underlines the importance of including indigenous people in climate governance. Åsa Larsson Blind has been a member of the Saami Council since 2008 and was elected president in the period 2017-2019. She was the first woman elected chair of the National Sámi Association in Sweden 2019-2021, where she also was a board member in 2007-2011. Larsson Blind has been a member of the board of the Indigenous Peoples Secretariat under the Arctic Council and has many years of experience working in Sámi organizations, She lives in Övre Soppero in the Swedish part of Sápmi, is part of a reindeer herding family and holds an MSc

All Things Have Standing is a course in human psychology and the ethics of artificial intelligence and environmental law inspired by a powerful idea from the audio drama Spark Hunter—that all things have ethical standing. All Things Have Standing is presented by Carnegie Council in collaboration with Fighter Steel Education. Inspired by a futuristic story of a highly advanced AI experiencing existential crisis, All Things Have Standing explores, with leading scholars, AI and environmental ethics, the psychology and philosophy which underlie them, and the extraordinary challenges they raise for the global community. The first two parts, entitled our “Our Stories” and “Others’ Stories,” were published in November. The third part, “Earth’s Stories,” is all available today in eight sections on this podcast. After a recap of the previous podcast from Professor Sheldon Smith, scholar and activist Dianne Dillon-Ridgley and legal respondent Kathy Robb discuss the care of our Earth and what that moral and legal landsc

In the final episode of the AI for Information Accessibility podcast, host Ayushi Khemka talks to Dr. Eleni Stroulia and Dr. Martha White, both professors in the Department of Computing Science at the University of Alberta. Stroulia is also the director of the university's AI4Society Signature Area, while White is the PI of the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute. They discussed the issues around AI, IA and gender, exploring both the pedagogical and industrial contexts, shedding light on how to situate gender equity as a guiding principle in AI and the different ways in which gender comes up in a computing science classroom. The conversation concluded with a discussion on the representation problem in AI and allied fields, while holding space for women's experiences in tech at large. The AI4IA podcast series is in association with the Artificial Intelligence for Information Accessibility 2022 Conference, which took place on September 28 to commemorate the International Day for Universal Access to Informati

Throughout the 20th century, European leaders from Stalin to Mussolini, from Gorbachev to Thatcher, and more, have shifted global narratives by sheer force of will. In Personality and Power, British historian Ian Kershaw attempts to understand these rulers and their outsized effect on history. In this virtual event, Doorstep co-hosts Tatiana Serafin and Nikolas Gvosdev speak with Kershaw on the lasting influence of these "builders and destroyers." How do today's leaders—Zelenksyy, Trump, Putin, Xi, etc.—compare? For more, please go to carnegiecouncil.org. 

All Things Have Standing is a course in human psychology and the ethics of artificial intelligence and environmental law inspired by a powerful idea from the audio drama Spark Hunter—that all things have ethical standing. All Things Have Standing is presented by Carnegie Council in collaboration with Fighter Steel Education. Inspired by a futuristic story of a highly advanced AI experiencing existential crisis, All Things Have Standing explores, with leading scholars, AI and environmental ethics, the psychology and philosophy which underlie them, and the extraordinary challenges they raise for the global community. The first part, entitled our “Our Stories,” was published on this podcast feed last week. The second part of this course, “Others’ Stories,” is all available today in six sections on this podcast. Drawing on the work of classical and modern philosophers and inspired by Professor Silvia Benso and the Spark Hunter drama, Professor Chris DiBona presents a fresh way of looking at the people and things

The fragmentation of international environmental governance creates challenges for states looking to create governance for solar radiation modification (SRM), says Dr. Marcos Regis da Silva, executive director of the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) during a C2GTalk. Policymakers in the Americas welcomed a recent IAI meeting which provided more information about SRM, and the state of its governance, to help them take decisions about the best way forward. As IAI's executive director, Regis da Silva is responsible for the provision of strategic advice to high-level policymakers on issues related to global change and their socio-economic impacts. He also provides advice on linkages between the IAI’s scientific agenda and global governance environmental frameworks, especially the Sustainable Development Goals. Previously Regis da Silva held the post of chief, knowledge management and outreach services with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flor

In a crossover collaboration with the national security and foreign policy podcast Rational Security, co-hosts Scott R. Anderson and Alan Z. Rozenshtein, both Lawfare senior editors, join Doorstep co-hosts, Nick Gvosdev and Tatiana Serafin to assess the policy implications of the 2022 midterm elections. With over $16 billion spent on both federal and state races, millions more Americans going to the polls, and ballots still being counted, how are the Democrats and Republicans lining up to promote their respective agendas? Will President Biden be in pole position in upcoming G20 summit and beyond? Or will Republican priorities take over the conversation? For more, please go to carnegiecouncil.org. 

All Things Have Standing is a course in human psychology and the ethics of artificial intelligence and environmental law inspired by a powerful idea from the audio drama Spark Hunter—that all things have ethical standing. All Things Have Standing is presented by Carnegie Council in collaboration with Fighter Steel Education. Inspired by a futuristic story of a highly advanced AI experiencing existential crisis, All Things Have Standing explores, with leading scholars, AI and environmental ethics, the psychology and philosophy which underlie them, and the extraordinary challenges they raise for the global community. This first part, all available on this podcast in six sections, is entitled “Our Stories.” Professor Sheldon Solomon presents a study of our journey as humans, touching on psychology, self-awareness, the animal world, storytelling, and much more. To watch the videos connected to this podcast, please go to Carnegie Council's YouTube channel.  For more information on All Things Have Standing and to l

With less than a week to Election Day, Layla Zaidane, president and CEO of the Millennial Action Project, joins Doorstep co-hosts, Nick Gvosdev and Tatiana Serafin for a preview of changes ahead as young leaders step up to run for office and come out to vote. With a 57 percent increase in the number of Millennial candidates compared to 2020 (about one out of six Congressional candidates nationwide are Millennials) and expectations of higher voter turnout for those 40 and younger, seismic changes are brewing. Are we entering a post-partisan world? Will 2022 be the year that changed not only the U.S. but also the world? For more, please go to carnegiecouncil.org.

In this episode of the AI & Information Accessibility podcast, host Ayushi Khemka discusses issues around AI, law, and social justice with Isabela Ferrari, a federal judge in Brazil, and Dr. Kobi Leins, a member of the AIEI Board of Advisors. They talk about data security, digital access and cyber resilience, specifically in the contexts of Brazil and Australia, while touching upon what interested them to enter the field of AI in the first place. Ferrari and Leins also address the (im)possibilities of having accountable and equitable AI. The AI4IA podcast series is in association with the Artificial Intelligence for Information Accessibility 2022 Conference, which took place on September 28 to commemorate the International Day for Universal Access to Information. The AI4IA Conference and the podcast series are also being hosted in collaboration with AI4Society and the Kule Institute for Advanced Studies, both at the University of Alberta; the Centre for New Economic Diplomacy at the Observer Research Foun