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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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Nature and landscape
‘A culture is no better than its woods’ – what our trees reveal about us, by W H Auden
5 minutes
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Social psychology
What happened when a crypto scam swept over a sleepy town in the Caucasus
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Engineering
Can monumental ‘ice stupas’ help remote Himalayan villages survive?
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Fairness and equality
There’s a dirty side to clean energy in the metal-rich mountains of South Africa
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Fairness and equality
‘To my old master’ – a freed slave answers the request to return to his old plantation
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Animals and humans
Villagers struggle to keep their beloved, endangered ape population afloat
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Fairness and equality
Visit the small Texas community that lives in the shadow of SpaceX launches
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Film and visual culture
A lush animated opus evokes the frenzied pace of modern life
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Anthropology
Does Mogi’s future lie with her horses on the Mongolian steppe, or in the city?
16 minutes