Malka Older on scripting our way to a safer future

In this episode we explore how we can narrate our way to a safer world with Dr Malka Older, humanitarian, academic and best-selling author of Infomocracy. Just like when reading Malka's novels, this discussion helps us differently about how we structure our lives, our work and our politics. The narratives that guide us have an enormous effect on how we respond to, address and recover from our most profound problems, even including our disasters and emergencies. So in the face of changes in technology and divisive societal trends how can we ensure that our cultural narratives are helping us to be prepared, responsive and resilient? She says, 'As a disaster researcher...we see again and again in personal experience and in literature that if you have no money but you have both community and organisation you are far better off than the other way around, than having a lot of money and a community where people are very divided and hate each other and no organisation in terms of what to do with the money.' As wealthy western democracies are being hit by more and more disasters will we be able to come together to rebuild our divided communities to become more resilient? Or will we continue to think that our money and technology will be enough protect us? The discussion covers everything from how no one in real life reacts like they do in disaster movies, to the incredible importance of hearing all voices from all corners of the world and in all languages (not just the ones that we are familiar with). Malka’s science-fiction political thriller Infomocracy was named one of the best books of 2016 by Kirkus, Book Riot, and the Washington Post, and shortlisted for the 2019 Neukom Institute Literary Arts Award. With the sequels Null States (2017) and State Tectonics (2018), she completed the Centenal Cycle trilogy, a finalist for the Hugo Best Series Award of 2018. Links to her short fiction, poetry, and essays can be found here. Named Senior Fellow for Technology and Risk at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs for 2015, she has more than a decade of field experience in humanitarian aid and development, ranging from field level experience as a Head of Office in Darfur to supporting global programs and agency-wide strategy as a disaster risk reduction technical specialist. She has responded to complex emergencies and natural disasters in Sri Lanka, Uganda, Darfur, Indonesia, Japan, and Mali, in the last three as Team Leader. Her doctoral work on the sociology of organizations at the Institut d’Études Politques de Paris (Sciences Po) explores the dynamics of multi-level governance and disaster response using the cases of Hurricane Katrina and the Japan tsunami of 2011. In September 2024 Malka took on the role of Executive Director of Global Voices. This episode is hosted by Paul Skinner, founder of the MarketingKind community, director of The Agency of the Future and author of The Purpose Upgrade and Collaborative Advantage.