#208 – Elizabeth Cox on the case that TV shows, movies, and novels can improve the world

#208 – Elizabeth Cox on the case that TV shows, movies, and novels can improve the world

"I think stories are the way we shift the Overton window — so widen the range of things that are acceptable for policy and palatable to the public. Almost by definition, a lot of things that are going to be really important and shape the future are not in the Overton window, because they sound weird and off-putting and very futuristic. But I think stories are the best way to bring them in." — Elizabeth Cox

In today’s episode, Keiran Harris speaks with Elizabeth Cox — founder of the independent production company Should We Studio — about the case that storytelling can improve the world.

Links to learn more, highlights, and full transcript.

They cover:

  • How TV shows and movies compare to novels, short stories, and creative nonfiction if you’re trying to do good.
  • The existing empirical evidence for the impact of storytelling.
  • Their competing takes on the merits of thinking carefully about target audiences.
  • Whether stories can really change minds on deeply entrenched issues, or whether writers need to have more modest goals.
  • Whether humans will stay relevant as creative writers with the rise of powerful AI models.
  • Whether you can do more good with an overtly educational show vs other approaches.
  • Elizabeth’s experience with making her new five-part animated show Ada — including why she chose the topics of civilisational collapse, kidney donations, artificial wombs, AI, and gene drives.
  • The pros and cons of animation as a medium.
  • Career advice for creative writers.
  • Keiran’s idea for a longtermist Christmas movie.
  • And plenty more.

Check out Ada on YouTube!

Material you might want to check out before listening:

Chapters:

  • Cold open (00:00:00)
  • Luisa's intro (00:01:04)
  • The interview begins (00:02:52)
  • Is storytelling really a high-impact career option? (00:03:26)
  • Empirical evidence of the impact of storytelling (00:06:51)
  • How storytelling can inform us (00:16:25)
  • How long will humans stay relevant as creative writers? (00:21:54)
  • Ada (00:33:05)
  • Debating the merits of thinking about target audiences (00:38:03)
  • Ada vs other approaches to impact-focused storytelling (00:48:18)
  • Why animation (01:01:06)
  • One Billion Christmases (01:04:54)
  • How storytelling can humanise (01:09:34)
  • But can storytelling actually change strongly held opinions? (01:13:26)
  • Novels and short stories (01:18:38)
  • Creative nonfiction (01:25:06)
  • Other promising ways of storytelling (01:30:53)
  • How did Ada actually get made? (01:33:23)
  • The hardest part of the process for Elizabeth (01:48:28)
  • Elizabeth’s hopes and dreams for Ada (01:53:10)
  • Designing Ada with an eye toward impact (01:59:16)
  • Alternative topics for Ada (02:05:33)
  • Deciding on the best way to get Ada in front of people (02:07:12)
  • Career advice for creative writers (02:11:31)
  • Wikipedia book spoilers (02:17:05)
  • Luisa's outro (02:20:42)


Producer: Keiran Harris
Audio engineering: Ben Cordell, Milo McGuire, Simon Monsour, and Dominic Armstrong
Content editing: Luisa Rodriguez, Katy Moore, and Keiran Harris
Transcriptions: Katy Moore

Avsnitt(318)

#35 Classic episode - Tara Mac Aulay on the audacity to fix the world without asking permission

#35 Classic episode - Tara Mac Aulay on the audacity to fix the world without asking permission

Rebroadcast: this episode was originally released in June 2018. How broken is the world? How inefficient is a typical organisation? Looking at Tara Mac Aulay’s life, the answer seems to be ‘very’. A...

10 Jan 20221h 23min

#67 Classic episode – David Chalmers on the nature and ethics of consciousness

#67 Classic episode – David Chalmers on the nature and ethics of consciousness

Rebroadcast: this episode was originally released in December 2019. What is it like to be you right now? You're seeing this text on the screen, smelling the coffee next to you, and feeling the warmth...

3 Jan 20224h 42min

#59 Classic episode - Cass Sunstein on how change happens, and why it's so often abrupt & unpredictable

#59 Classic episode - Cass Sunstein on how change happens, and why it's so often abrupt & unpredictable

Rebroadcast: this episode was originally released in June 2019. It can often feel hopeless to be an activist seeking social change on an obscure issue where most people seem opposed or at best indiff...

27 Dec 20211h 43min

#119 – Andrew Yang on our very long-term future, and other topics most politicians won’t touch

#119 – Andrew Yang on our very long-term future, and other topics most politicians won’t touch

Andrew Yang — past presidential candidate, founder of the Forward Party, and leader of the 'Yang Gang' — is kind of a big deal, but is particularly popular among listeners to The 80,000 Hours Podcast....

20 Dec 20211h 25min

#118 – Jaime Yassif on safeguarding bioscience to prevent catastrophic lab accidents and bioweapons development

#118 – Jaime Yassif on safeguarding bioscience to prevent catastrophic lab accidents and bioweapons development

If a rich country were really committed to pursuing an active biological weapons program, there’s not much we could do to stop them. With enough money and persistence, they’d be able to buy equipment,...

13 Dec 20212h 15min

#117 – David Denkenberger on using paper mills and seaweed to feed everyone in a catastrophe, ft Sahil Shah

#117 – David Denkenberger on using paper mills and seaweed to feed everyone in a catastrophe, ft Sahil Shah

If there's a nuclear war followed by nuclear winter, and the sun is blocked out for years, most of us are going to starve, right? Well, currently, probably we would, because humanity hasn't done much ...

29 Nov 20213h 8min

#116 – Luisa Rodriguez on why global catastrophes seem unlikely to kill us all

#116 – Luisa Rodriguez on why global catastrophes seem unlikely to kill us all

If modern human civilisation collapsed — as a result of nuclear war, severe climate change, or a much worse pandemic than COVID-19 — billions of people might die.That's terrible enough to contemplate....

19 Nov 20213h 45min

#115 – David Wallace on the many-worlds theory of quantum mechanics and its implications

#115 – David Wallace on the many-worlds theory of quantum mechanics and its implications

Quantum mechanics — our best theory of atoms, molecules, and the subatomic particles that make them up — underpins most of modern physics. But there are varying interpretations of what it means, all o...

12 Nov 20213h 9min

Populärt inom Utbildning

historiepodden-se
rss-bara-en-till-om-missbruk-medberoende-2
det-skaver
alska-oss
nu-blir-det-historia
harrisons-dramatiska-historia
sektledare
johannes-hansen-podcast
rss-sjalsligt-avkladd
allt-du-velat-veta
not-fanny-anymore
roda-vita-rosen
i-vantan-pa-katastrofen
rikatillsammans-om-privatekonomi-rikedom-i-livet
rss-max-tant-med-max-villman
sa-in-i-sjalen
rss-viktmedicinpodden
rss-om-vi-ska-vara-arliga
rss-basta-livet
efterlevandepodden