Feb 17, 2025

A wager for the history books gives us a glimpse into our future

John Keeble/Getty Images

Today: What a bet about the price of five metals over time can teach us about resource consumption and human innovation.

Segments From this episode

Scarcity vs. innovation: Revisiting the "scholarly wager of the decade"

by David Brancaccio , Chris Farrell and Nic Perez

Feb 17, 2025

The famous Ehrlich-Simon bet on the value of metals showed that prices fell as supply increased, despite population growth.

Despite massive population growth, inflation-adjusted prices for the mineral nickel are relatively unchanged since 1900. Above, a worker at an Indonesian nickel smelter.

Muchtamir Zaide/AFP via Getty Images

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The Arctic vault built to preserve humanity's data

by Adrienne Murray

Feb 17, 2025

The Arctic World Archive — 300 meters below the permafrost in a demilitarized zone — houses art, music and a copy of the world's open source code.

The Arctic World Archive is ensconced 300 meters below the permafrost in Norway's Svalbard archipelago.

Maja Hitij/Getty Images

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The team

David Brancaccio Host

Leanna Byrne Host, BBC

Kelly Silvera Executive Producer

Meredith Garretson Morbey Senior Producer

Alex Schroeder Producer

Erika Soderstrom Producer

Ariana Rosas Producer

Nic Perez Director/Producer

Dylan Miettinen Digital Producer

John Bruington Media Producer

Jesson Duller Media Producer

Brian Allison Technical Director

James Graham Producer, BBC

Jo Critcher Producer, BBC

Naomi Rainey Producer, BBC

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