Episode 2019: Ismar Volic explains how mathematics can save American democracy from the Trump/Biden gerontocratic duopoly
Like all immigrants who fled to the U.S. to escape civil war, Ismar Volic has a deep personal appreciation for American democracy. And Volic - a Bosnian refugee from the Yugoslavian civil war who is now director of the Institute for Mathematics and Democracy at Wellesley College - fears that American democracy has now slipped into existential crisis and might only be fixable with the help of math. Thus Volic’s new book, Making Democracy Count, which explains how mathematics can not only improve voting and representation but can even be used to help fix a gerrymandered electoral map that reduces the value of many American votes to near zero.
Ismar Volić is professor of mathematics and director of the Institute for Mathematics and Democracy at Wellesley College. His work has appeared in publications such as The Hill, Cognoscenti, and Education Week.
Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.
Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe
From Dodgers Top Draft Pick to Harvard Trained Middle Eastern Maven: Does the American Dream Still Exist?
We're Burning 500 Million Years of Earth's History in a Few Decades: So Stop Pretending Recycling Will Save the Planet
The Godfather of Security, Bruce Schneier, Rewires Democracy: How AI Will Transform Our Politics, Government and Citizenship
Here Comes the Sunstein: Cass Sunstein on Why American Liberalism Now Needs Defending More Than Ever
Can We Get To 2125? Humanity's Most Existential Threats Over the Next 100 Years
The Art of a Deal with the Devil: on Faustian Bargains from Shakespeare and Goethe to Thomas Mann and Donald Trump
When the United Nations Actually Mattered: Remembering the Burmese Schoolteacher who Ran the U.N. in its Glory Days
How Evil 'Big Car' Has Killed More People Than World War II
The Double Life of Robert McNamara: How America's 'Best and Brightest' Led the Nation into Vietnam While Knowing the War Was Unwinnable
The World's Worst Bet: How America Gambled Dumbly on Globalization and Lost
Demystify Science and Humanize Scientists: How to Rebuild Scientific Trust in our Angry MAHA Times
From Borges to Brain Scans: How our Minds Invent Reality
The Hypocrisy of Trump's War on Universities: How Wealthy Families Game the College Admission Process