The Munk Debates Podcast

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 45

12 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: Athens not Rome had the bigger impact on Western civilization

10 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

“All roads lead to Rome,” goes the saying, and many historians agree. They argue that ancient Roman civilization, which grew into a coloss...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 44

05 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: It’s time to embrace a 4-day work week

02 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

COVID-19 presented a monumental shift in the way people work. Home offices replaced commutes and cubicles, ZOOM calls took over from conference rooms,...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 43

29 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: John Carpenter, not David Cronenberg is the true master of modern horror

28 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Traditional religious holidays are losing ground in a rapidly secularizing world. Halloween, on the other hand, keeps gaining steam.  Decorative ...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 42

22 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: America’s best days are behind it

19 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Falling wages. Failing infrastructure. Soaring public debts. Many believe that America’s future looks anything but bright. Stark ideological and...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 41

15 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: The pandemic has proven UBI’s time has come

13 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

While the conversation around a universal basic income - a government program which provides every adult with regular cash payments - has gained tract...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 40

08 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: To realize humanity’s full potential, requires settling worlds beyond our own

05 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This past year has seen an onslaught of disruptions that call into question our ability to coexist with our environment. The devastating effects of cl...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 39

01 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: The statues must come down

28 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

It has become one of the more divisive topics in today’s culture wars: what to do with the statues of historical figures with controversial past...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 38

24 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: Billionaire philanthropy is bad for society

21 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Philanthropy, the act of giving, the sharing of one's resources is an inscrutable facet of our social compact. But as global economic trends widen the...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 37

17 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: To promote public health, governments should mandate use of COVID-19 vaccines broadly in society

14 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

What began as early summer optimism about the end of the pandemic has turned into frustration, anger, and worry over a steep rise in COVID cases and h...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 36

10 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: Schools that grade students are failing them

08 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

It’s back to school for millions of students this week after a school year of unprecedented disruption and with the traditional grading systems ...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 35

03 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: Meritocracy is killing the middle class

31 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Meritocracy has long been championed as a way of attaining success through hard work and skill; society’s best and brightest are rewarded based ...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 34

27 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: The future of mental health is big data

24 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A Facebook algorithm that tracks posts for suicidal thoughts; an app that monitors the speed of keyboard strokes for signs of depression; a computer p...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 33

20 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: Don’t fear the dominance of Big Tech in society

18 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

While partisan fighting and gridlock has come to characterize most Western governments, one issue has united liberals and conservatives against a comm...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 32

13 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: A secular society is a tolerant society

10 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

First the banning of headscarves in France’s public schools. Then prohibitions against full face coverings and religious worship in public space...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 31

06 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: The time has come to embrace a high-tech/gene enhanced/drug boosted Olympics of sport

03 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Who can forget these memorable moments in sports when reigning world champions lost their titles, medals, and invitations to compete as punishmen...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 30

30 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: Yes you can have fair Olympics with transgender athletes competing against cisgender women

27 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

It’s been 125 years since the modern Olympics were founded in Athens, and this year will see a monumental first for the world’s biggest sp...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 29

23 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: Withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan is a tactical and strategic blunder the US will come to regret

20 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Twenty years and counting. 800 billion dollars spent. Over 2,000 US service members killed. America, Canada and NATO’s longest war is finally co...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 28

16 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free...

14 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

It is the worst humanitarian crisis since the Second World War. Over 300,000 dead in Syria. One and a half million injured or disabled. Four and a hal...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 27

09 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: Critical Race Theory has no place in the classroom

06 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Seemingly out of nowhere Critical Race Theory has become a highly contentious front in a culture war raging in schools across North America, pitting p...

Spring 2021 Munk Dialogue with Irshad Manji: Episode 6

02 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

COVID-19 has fast-forwarded us into a confusing and uncertain future. Nowhere are the accelerating forces of the pandemic more evident than in our dem...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 26

02 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: Religion is a force for good in the world

01 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Is God Great? This week we are airing a special edition of the Munk Debates Podcast—a rebroadcast of a classic debate that launched our series o...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 25

25 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: Canada is a systemically racist country

24 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The murder of four Muslim Canadians in London, Ontario; the discovery of a mass grave containing the remains of 215 children at a former residential s...

Spring 2021 Munk Dialogue with Timothy Snyder: Episode 5

21 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

COVID-19 has fast-forwarded us into a confusing and uncertain future. Nowhere are the accelerating forces of the pandemic more evident than in our dem...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 24

18 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: Today’s China is no place for the Olympics

16 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As if pulling off the world’s signature sporting event in Tokyo this summer during a global pandemic wasn’t challenge enough, the Internat...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 23

11 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: The preponderance of evidence suggests COVID-19 leaked from a laboratory

10 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As COVID-19 spread throughout the world in the spring of 2020, most scientists accepted the pandemic origin story as told by China and supported by th...

Spring 2021 Munk Dialogue with Nesrine Malik: Episode 4

07 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

COVID-19 has fast-forwarded us into a confusing and uncertain future. Nowhere are the accelerating forces of the pandemic more evident than in our dem...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 22

04 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: A one-state solution is the best hope of ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

03 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

It is perhaps the most disputed land on earth, with claims over property rights going back thousands of years. For decades, foreign governments have a...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 21

28 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: The West should isolate, not engage, Putin’s Russia

27 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Vladimir Putin, Russia’s paramount leader for almost two decades, is facing mounting pressure at home and abroad. His ally in Belarus, President...

Spring 2021 Munk Dialogue with Douglas Murray: Episode 3

24 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

COVID-19 has fast-forwarded us into a confusing and uncertain future. Nowhere are the accelerating forces of the pandemic more evident than in our dem...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 20

21 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: We should be very worried about the variants

20 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

B1617, which has plunged India into a catastrophic third wave of COVID-19 and is spreading globally, is the latest “variant of concern&rdqu...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 19

14 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: Beethoven, not Mozart, is the world’s greatest composer

13 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The Fifth Symphony, Ode to Joy, Don Giovanni, the Requiem. These top hits on the 18th century billboard charts are still beloved by millions of people...

Spring 2021 Munk Dialogue with Scott Galloway: Episode 2

10 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

COVID-19 has fast-forwarded us into a confusing and uncertain future. Nowhere are the accelerating forces of the pandemic more evident than in our dem...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 18

07 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: Ageing is a reversible disease

06 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Oxygen therapy to lengthen our telomeres and prolong the life of our chromosomes. Boosting the functioning of our mitochondria with NAD. Stem cell rej...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 17

30 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: Vaccine passports are essential to stopping the spread of COVID-19 and safely reopen our economies

29 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As people around the world begin to contemplate life after COVID-19, governments are trying to figure out how to re-open their economies safely while ...

Spring 2021 Munk Dialogue with Jonathan Haidt: Episode 1

26 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

COVID-19 has fast-forwarded us into a confusing and uncertain future. Nowhere are the accelerating forces of the pandemic more evident than in our dem...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 16

23 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: The mainstream media is dying and that’s OK

22 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Traditional broadcasters, daily newspapers, and monthly magazines are struggling to stay afloat as more people turn to non-traditional sources for the...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 15

16 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: Get ready for a big, long-term surge in inflation

15 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

20 trillion dollars of government stimulus in countries around the world. Interest rates so low there is no incentive to save. And more than half a bi...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 14

09 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: We are not alone in the universe

08 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

K2-18 B, an earth-like planet with water vapour is spotted 111 light years away. An interstellar object christened Oumuamua flies through our sol...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 13

02 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: There is no credible military defence of Taiwan in the face of Chinese aggression

31 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

China’s takeover of Hong Kong, and its increasingly aggressive military manoeuvres in the South China Sea have many wondering whether Taiwa...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 12

26 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: Plato not Aristotle is Ancient Greece’s greatest philosopher

24 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Much of the wisdom that our society today has inherited from ancient Greece draws on the writings and ideas of its two greatest philosophers, Pla...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 11

19 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: To fight this pandemic and the next, vaccines should be free to everyone the world over

17 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We are into the fourth month of the largest global vaccination programme in history with over 335 million COVID-19 jabs administered in 108 count...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 10

12 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: Cancel culture is not a threat to free speech

10 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Musician Ariel Pink is dropped by his label for attending a Trump rally. A top executive at Boeing loses his job because of an article he wrote decade...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 9

05 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: Go Green! Go Nuclear!

03 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Zero emissions by 2050 and at the latest 2060. That has been the rallying cry for many of the world’s largest economies, including the US, UK, J...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 8

26 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Be it resolved: The GameStop frenzy is good for investors and good for financial markets

24 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

By now most people are familiar with the GameStop saga: how a small video game retailer worth less than $1 billion, fuelled by day trader investo...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 7

19 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The program provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and ...

Bari Weiss on speech and open debate

17 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Bari Weiss, journalist and best selling author on the future of speech and open debate in contemporary society, and how we forge common understandings...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 6

12 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. To access the full length episode consider becoming a Munk Member. Membership is free. Simply log o...

Be it resolved: The threat of new COVID-19 variants makes elimination of the virus the only viable, long-term public health strategy to end the pandemic

11 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

B117, N501Y, P1 - these are the labels for new variants of the COVID-19 virus that have led to new waves of infection in the United Kingdom, South Afr...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 5

05 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. To access the full length episode consider becoming a Munk Member. Membership is free. Simply log o...

Be it resolved: The quest for true AI is one of the great existential risks of our time

03 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A novel written by artificial intelligence is shortlisted for a literary prize. Google software beats a human opponent at Go, one of the most complex ...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 4

29 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. To access the full length episode consider becoming a Munk Member. Membership is free. Simply log o...

Be it resolved: Safety and fairness preclude participation of trans athletes in high level women's sport

27 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

For almost a century now the international sporting community has grappled with the question of how to determine who gets to compete in the female spo...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 3

22 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. To access the full length episode consider becoming a Munk Member. Membership is free. Simply log o...

Be it resolved: We are living in a simulation

20 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The Matrix, The Truman Show, and now more recently Westworld. Popular culture has long been captivated by the notion that our lives and the world we i...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 2

15 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. To access the full length episode consider becoming a Munk Member. Membership is free. Simply log o...

Be it resolved: The survival of the Republican Party requires a clear and irrevocable break with Donald Trump

14 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Refusing to concede his loss to Joe Biden in November’s Presidential election. Pressuring the Secretary of State to invalidate Georgia’s v...

Munk Members-Only Pod: Episode 1

10 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a sample of the Munk Members-Only Podcast. The Munk Members Pod provides a focused, half-hour masterclass on current events with Janice Gross ...

Be it resolved: Britain will boom beyond Brexit

06 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

It was a nail-biter, but just days before the UK formally severed its forty-seven-year long membership with the European Union, negotiators finally la...

Anne Applebaum on the future of democracy

30 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Anne Applebaum, Pulitzer-prize winning author and staff writer at The Atlantic, on the future of democracy in an era of populist politics and rising a...

Ian Morris on the past and future of human civilization

23 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Ian Morris, archaeologist, historian, bestselling author and big thinker, joins us to discuss the past and future of human civilization in an era of r...

Be it resolved: It's in America’s interest for Joe Biden to continue Trump’s China policy

16 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Tough talk on China helped Trump win the presidency in 2016 and over the last four years the US has taken a markedly more assertive approach to confro...

Be it resolved: Distance learning is a disaster

09 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

When COVID-19 shut down schools around the world last March, it launched an unprecedented experiment in education with a billion students as part...