This is the 4th of 5 episodes of our pandemic project. Here we talk about "Utopia", working towards an ideal society and working on becoming the best versions of ourselves. We summarize here some of the things we've learned from some books and podcasts, and we listen to some clips from our two hour zoom chat with some friends who I think are social game changers back home.

Our guests:
1.) Maria Isabel Garcia, is the curator of the Mind Museum, the chair of the World Wildlife Fund Philippines and the Executive director of The Asia Pacific Network of Science & Technology Centres (ASPAC). ASPAC is an association of science centres, museums and related organisations, with a regional focus on the Asia Pacific region. She also writes a weekly column at Rappler and recently wrote about The gifts of quarantine.

2.) Marvin Lagonera, is a graduate student taking Sustainable Urban Development at Oxford University. He is the founder and executive director of Behaviorale. It is a "mission-driven think-and-do-tank that harnesses breakthroughs in behavioural economics to serve communities in the global south improve people's lives and protect the planet". You can read more about him in this article and watch his chat with Pecier on Nudging for Science Communication.

3.) Reinabelle Reyes, is a rock star scientist, science communicator, a data scientist and currently now an Associate Professor at the National Institute of Physics at UP Diliman. She is also the host of Science Says which is a TV show showing on the Knowledge Channel. Reina graduated with a degree in astrophysics from Princeton University and made some waves after she published a paper in Nature where she proved Einstein right on a cosmic scale. Her work together with colleagues from Princeton confirmed that Einstein's theory of general relativity holds true even beyond our solar system.

References:
Books
1.) Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
2.) Stumbling on Happiness by Dan Gilbert
3.) Why Buddhism is True by Robert Wright
4.) Utopia for Realists by Rutger Bregman

Podcasts and Talks
1.) Burn Out and How to Complete the Stress Cycle - Brené Brown with Emily and Amelia Nagoski
2.) Designing our lives - Ted Radio Hour with Debbie Millman