Donald Trump, Boris Johnson and Jair Bolsonaro all exude positivity. But they are what leadership professor David Collinson calls “Prozac leaders” – commanders who believe their own rhetoric that “everything is going well”, even when that seems to be at odds with the reality.

All three men downplayed the dangerous effects of the pandemic, ignored medical advice and then contracted COVID-19. For Collinson, they each articulated “a hyper-optimistic” male bravado, that cast them as strong men and virile leaders who were invulnerable to the virus.

While Collinson traces the origins of Trump’s positivity, politics professor Matthew Flinders takes an even closer look at Johnson. He concludes that the PM’s need to be loved is preventing him from making tough, unpopular decisions.

Elsewhere we examine why AI will not be able to reach its full potential without a physical body and how the thresholds for effective herd immunity could be lower than predicted.

Paul Keaveny

Commissioning Editor

Prime Minister Boris Johnson meets US President Donald Trump at the 74th Session of the UN General Assembly. Stefan Rousseau/PA Archive/PA Images

Donald Trump, Boris Johnson and the dangers of excessive positivity

David Collinson, Lancaster University

'Prozac leaders' believe their own rhetoric that "everything is going well". But this wishful thinking can quickly contaminate organisations, and has been disastrous during the pandemic.

EPSRC prize winning photograph by Alexander James Spence

Why AI can’t ever reach its full potential without a physical body

Mark Lee, Aberystwyth University

How could a software box have a subjective viewpoint of, and in, the physical world that humans inhabit?

blvdone/Shutterstock

Coronavirus: thresholds for effective herd immunity could be lower than predicted – here’s why

Pieter Trapman, Stockholm University

People aren't uniform in how they behave – nor in how they spread disease. At a population level, that makes a difference.

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