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It’s no secret that the biggest gains in the growing global economy are reaped by the extremely wealthy. And from philanthropy to tech initiatives, plenty of the world’s billionaires claim to have solutions to combat the escalating inequality. But while members of the winning class might believe their own arguments, the US writer Anand Giridharadas says they’re a naive fantasy: regardless of good intentions, those with power cannot elevate others unless they also give up something. In this animated excerpt from a lecture at the Royal Society of Arts in London, Giridharadas explains why, even if so-called ‘win-win solutions’ might sometimes apply in commerce and trade, they don’t make society more equal.
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The ancient world
What wine vessels reveal about politics and luxury in ancient Athens and Persia
16 minutes
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Art
David Goldblatt captured the contradictions of apartheid in stark black and white
15 minutes
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Thinkers and theories
Is simulation theory a way to shirk responsibility for the world we’ve created?
13 minutes
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Family life
In Rwanda, Sébastien finds traces of personal history in the wake of national tragedy
21 minutes
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Dance and theatre
Leaf through Shakespeare’s First Folio for a riveting journey into theatre history
13 minutes
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Architecture
Modern architecture should embrace – not ignore or repel – the nonhuman world
8 minutes
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Nations and empires
The strange tale of how mangoes became hallowed objects in Maoist China
6 minutes
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Ecology and environmental sciences
In an ancient English rainforest, John creates charcoal and cultivates growth
12 minutes
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Information and communication
Mapping data visualisation’s meteoric rise from Victorian London to today
6 minutes