December 12, 2019 9:01 pm

Neil deGrasse Tyson Investigates Tough Love and Geopolitics with Susan Rice

What does it mean to give “tough love”? And how do you give “tough love” on a global scale while also being President Obama’s National Security Advisor? On this week’s episode of StarTalk Radio, Neil deGrasse Tyson sits down with Ambassador Susan Rice, PhD, to try and answer those very questions. In-studio, Neil is joined by comic co-host Chuck Nice and neuroscientist Heather Berlin, PhD.

Susan Rice has been in the realm of geopolitics for a long time. In her new book, Tough Love: My Story of the Things Worth Fighting For, she takes us inside the elite circle of those who make tough decisions on a global scale. And on this episode of StarTalk, we explore Susan’s journey of how she got where she is today.

You’ll hear about Susan’s upbringing and the “tough love” that was used in her family. Heather gives us the neurological breakdown of “mental toughness” and how it develops. Susan shares how playing tennis and basketball helped her develop her mental toughness. We explore stress and why a little stress can go a long way.

Find out more about Susan’s time serving as National Security Advisor. She tells us about her turbulent first few months in office and how she handled making decisions that would impact people worldwide. Heather helps us understand the upsides and downsides of compartmentalizing your brain. We discuss how different behaviors and attitudes are found in different cultures and why translating those behaviors can sometimes be difficult.

Ponder the future of national security. We welcome Stephen Garcia, Chief Information Security Officer at the cybersecurity company ConsenSys, who sheds light on what warfare might look like in the future. You’ll learn about the weaponization of information. Lastly, you’ll hear why the media should take more responsibility to decrease the spread of disinformation.

WARNING: This episode contains strong adult language, discussions of suicide and mental health, and other adult topics.

Please join us tomorrow night for Tough Love and Geopolitics, with Susan Rice at 7pm ET right here on our website, as well as on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, SoundCloud, Spotify, Stitcher, and TuneIn. If you’re a StarTalk+ Patron or an All-Access subscriber, you can watch or listen to this episode ad-free at 7pm, too.

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!
-Ian Mullen