This program is sponsored by the Covley Foundation based in Los Angeles, California.

The Covley Foundation is dedicated to advancing science for the benefit of humanity.

I'm Alan Alder, and this is Clear In Vivid, conversations about connecting and communicating.

I'm of course really optimistic that COVID is going to force the world to acknowledge

that we have a global problem that requires a global solution.

And once we've got a global solution for COVID, we will then have the model to seek a global solution

for climate change and inequality in these other big problems.

That's why I'm of course really optimistic that this tragedy of COVID may, for the first time,

motivate the world to adopt global approaches to global problems.

That's Jared Diamond, who's found a ray of hope as America and the world deal with the perfect storm of crises.

The pandemic, climate change, depletion of resources and rampant inequality are all on the top burner at the same time.

So who better to talk with than someone who's studied how nations cope with crises or how they don't?

For many years, he's turned out penetrating histories, including the extremely popular book, Guns, Germs and Steel.

His most recent book is upheaval, turning points for nations in crisis.

And it has a fascinating twist.

Using insights he gained from his wife, who's a clinical psychologist, he looks for clues in how individuals deal with crises

to analyze how nations succeed or fail when they deal with crises.

As always, his thinking is stimulating and challenging.

Thank you so much for coming today for being on the show today. I really appreciate it.

It's my pleasure.

You've won the world's attention for decades now in analyzing civilization and how it exists and how it dies and how it thrives.

And the question of crises comes up in your latest work a lot.

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