MacArthur winner Sendhil Mullainathan uses the lens of behavioral economics to study a tricky set of social problems — those we know how to solve, but don’t. We know how to reduce child deaths due to diarrhea, how to prevent diabetes-related blindness and how to implement solar-cell technology … yet somehow, we don’t or can’t. [...]

Bill Gates unveils his vision for the world’s energy future, describing the need for “miracles” to avoid planetary catastrophe and explaining why he’s backing a dramatically different type of nuclear reactor. The necessary goal? Zero carbon emissions globally by 2050.

Using examples from vacations to colonoscopies, Nobel laureate and founder of behavioral economics Daniel Kahneman reveals how our “experiencing selves” and our “remembering selves” perceive happiness differently. This new insight has profound implications for economics, public policy — and our own self-awareness.

Episode 01

Episode 02

Episode 03

Episode 04

Episode 05

Episode 06

Episode 07

Episode 08

Episode 09

Episode 10

Episode 11

Episode 12

Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice — and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.

Part 2

You don’t have to be crazy to live in Buenos Aires, but it helps! Hence a popular radio talk-show run by asylum inmates.

Bill Gates hopes to solve some of the world’s biggest problems using a new kind of philanthropy. In a passionate and, yes, funny 18 minutes, he asks us to consider two big questions and how we might answer them.

One man’s story reveals the social and psychological barriers that so many low-income African-American men face in the context of prison and release .

<object width=”425″ height=”344″><param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/0xuFnP5N2uA&hl=en_US&fs=1&”></param><param name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”></param><param name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always”></param><embed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/0xuFnP5N2uA&hl=en_US&fs=1&” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowscriptaccess=”always” allowfullscreen=”true” width=”425″ height=”344″></embed></object>
Performed at the very first Page Meets Stage pairing at the Bowery Poetry Club on November 12, 2005

A Love Story for Humanity: Romance of Volcano and Ocean©
Adapted, performed, and produced by Denise Valentine, Storyteller. Based on ancient Hawaiian folklore about the volcano goddess Pele, inspired by a version of the same title in the Storyteller’s Goddess, by Carolyn McVickar Edwards. Music tracks by Todd Porter.