42: Reflections on Wisdom in the World after Covid

On Wisdom

Which kind of wisdom will people need to master to overcome major negative societal and/or psychological changes after the pandemic?

In the last episode of the World After Covid miniseries, Igor and Charles share and discuss responses from 57 of the world's leading behavioral and social scientists, collected as part of the World After Covid project. Four final responses are selected, covering themes of big picture focus on what's important, shared humanity, long-term orientation, and political structural change in the midst of the pandemic. Igor reflects on how the immediate context can dramatically influence even experts' forecasts, and Charles is forced to question his cherished belief that people are ultimately good.

Featuring:
Barry Schwartz, Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Swarthmore College and a visiting Professor at the Haas School of Business at Berkeley
Nicholas Christakis, Sterling Professor of Social and Natural Science at Yale University
Anand Menon, Professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs at King’s College London
Michael Bond, Cross-cultural social psychologist with focus on locating Chinese interpersonal processes in a multi-cultural space

Links:

• World After Covid site
• Igor Grossmann's homepage — interactive visualizations and analysis on the World After Covid project
• Expert Predictions of Societal Change: Insights from the World after COVID Project - Grossmann, Twardus, Varnum, Jayawickreme, McLevey (2021, in press)
• Everyone Was Wrong on the Pandemic’s Societal Impact: Foreign Policy - Varnum, Hutcherson, Grossmann (2021)
• Estimating societal effects of COVID-19 - Hutcherson, Sharpinsky, Varnum, Rotella, Wormley, Tay, Grossmann (2021, preprint)
• How Life Could Get Better (or Worse) After COVID (berkeley.edu)
• Words of wisdom: 4 tips from experts on how to endure until the COVID-19 pandemic ends (The Conversation)
• Barry Schwartz Interview — full interview and transcript on the World After Covid site
• Nicholas Christakis Interview — full interview and transcript on the World After Covid site
• Anand Menon Interview — full interview and transcript on the World After Covid site
• Michael Bond Interview — full interview and transcript on the World After Covid site