It takes 100 nuclear bombs to cause a nuclear winter. We currently have 12,200. That's enough for 122 apocalypses even though we only have 1 civilization to apocalypse. Meanwhile everyone you love is or is scheduled to be tortured and murdered by terrible diseases.

This excess mass murder capacity is ultimately a clerical error in 193 spreadsheets: the national budgets that determine what humanity does with trillions of dollars every year.

In each episode, a guest is inaugurated as President of an imaginary company called Earth Optimization Services, a subsidiary of Universe Optimization Services. Their mandate is to minimize suffering, end war and disease, and maximize humanity’s health and prosperity. This is measured using two numbers: median healthy life expectancy and median after-tax, inflation-adjusted income.

The President identifies what humanity is getting wrong, decides what should be done instead, and gives their instructions.

Then they start the next link in the chain by appointing two successors: one person with a better idea and one person with more power to make it happen. We ask for direct introductions and follow every branch.

Every President creates the next two Presidents. Every idea leads to a potentially better idea. Every introduction moves us closer to someone with enough authority, money, or influence to change the spreadsheets.

We keep following the chain until we find the best ideas, reach the people capable of implementing them, and discover whether a show can actually end war and disease.