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Podcast: Framing is vital for survival

Podcast: Framing is vital for survival

From pandemics, populism and climate change, AI and ISIS, inflation and growing tensions with China and Russia, we are faced with enormous challenges— some of which threaten our existence. In this episode of “How Do We Fix It”, hosts Jim Meigs and Richard Davies discuss how we are all influenced by our personal perspectives and prejudices— our frames— and how we can use mental models to see patterns, solve problems and go beyond a narrow lens of red vs. blue or "us" vs. "them."

This episode’s guests are Kenneth Cukier, deputy executive editor of "The Economist", and Francis de Véricourt, professor of management science at the European School of Management and Technology in Berlin. Both are co-authors of "Framers. Human Advantage in an Age of Technology and Turmoil." This innovative book shows how framing is not just a way to improve decision-making in an age of algorithms and machine learning, but also a matter for survival at a time of upheaval.


Real-world examples of how framers changed the world include: The rapid rise of #MeToo, which went viral on Twitter after the actress Alyssa Milano tweeted a request to her followers: “If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet.” Successful, innovative responses to Covid-19 were made by the governments of New Zealand and Taiwan. Recently, the Federal Reserve was forced to change its inflation frame before beginning a series of interest rate hikes.

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What Chantal Knew

creative image of Chantal

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What Chantal Knew

In 1972, I taught at a Boston prep school where one of my students, Chantal, had been sent from Haiti by her privileged family to complete her secondary education. She was poised, serious, and ambitious. But what I remember most was her fear — and her warning.

"You Americans don't know how lucky you are," she would say, speaking in hushed tones about people who disappeared without warning under Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier's brutal regime. She'd describe how neighbors would simply vanish. Not political activists, just ordinary people who'd said the wrong thing to the wrong person.

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US Canada tariff battle

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Just the Facts: Canada-U.S. Tariff Update- What’s Changed Since March 2025?

The Fulcrum strives to approach news stories with an open mind and skepticism, striving to present our readers with a broad spectrum of viewpoints through diligent research and critical thinking. As best we can, remove personal bias from our reporting and seek a variety of perspectives in both our news gathering and selection of opinion pieces. However, before our readers can analyze varying viewpoints, they must have the facts.

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A tariff is a tax imposed by a government on imports or exports of goods, often used to protect domestic industries or respond to trade disputes.

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