Brave New World -- hosted by Vasant Dhar

How much blame should we put on social media for polarizing our society? Perhaps not as much as we tend to do. Joshua A Tucker joins Vasant Dhar in episode 82 of Brave New World to discuss his studies on the effects of social media -- and the algorithms that run them.    Useful resources: 1. Joshua Tucker at  NYU ,  Twitter  and  Google Scholar . 2.  Online searches to evaluate misinformation can...

Smell is the most underrated of our senses -- and it affects  everything . Alex Wiltschko joins  Vasant  Dhar in episode 81 of Brave New World to discuss the role of smell in our lives -- and in this new digital age. Useful resources : 1. Alex Wiltschko on  LinkedIn ,  Google Ventures ,  Google Scholar  and  Twitter . 2.  Osmo . 3.  Perfumes: The A-Z Guide  -- Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez. 4.   Pe...

Given what we know of physics and neuroscience, can there be free will? Kevin Mitchell, a neuroscientist himself, joins  Vasant  Dhar in episode 80 of Brave New World to unpack his argument for the existence of free will. Useful resources 1. Kevin Mitchell on  Amazon ,  Twitter ,  Trinity College ,  Google Scholar ,  his blog  and  his homepage . 2.  Free Agents: How Evolution Gave Us Free Will  -...

Artificial intelligence is transforming society. And therefore politics. Arthur Spirling joins  Vasant  Dhar in episode 79 of Brave New World to share his insights from his twin fields of data science and political science. Useful resources : 1. Arthur Spirling at  Princeton ,  Twitter ,  LinkedIn ,  Google Scholar  and  his own website . 2.  Why open-source generative AI models are an ethical way...

How can we use the insights of behavioral economics to make the world a better place? David Halpern joins Vasant Dhar in episode 78 of Brave New World to share his learnings from running the Behavioral Insight Team for the British government. Useful resources : 1. David Halpern on  Wikipedia  and  the Behavioural Insights Team . 2.  The work of the Behavioral Insights Team . 3.  Inside the Nudge U...

Her film  My Octopus Teacher  won an academy award -- and her insights on nature, and her love for it, go far beyond the film. Pippa Ehrlich joins  Vasant  Dhar in episode 77 of Brave New World to talk about her work and what she has learnt from it. Useful resources : 1. Pippa Ehrich on  Instagram ,  X ,  LinkedIn  and  IMDb .. 2.  My Octopus Teacher  -- Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed. 3.  Peter Sin...

Life on earth is a crazy accident. We have no idea how it arose or whether it will survive. Peter Ward joins Vasant Dhar in episode 76 of Brave New World to chat about the origins of our planet, the many extinctions and resurgences of life, and the future of our species. Useful resources : 1. Peter Ward on  Wikipedia ,  University of Washington  and  Amazon . 2.  Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Un...

He's been a successful entrepreneur and investor, and is highly regarded for his sharp understanding of India. Mohit Satyanand joins  Vasant  Dhar in episode 75 of Brave New World to share his inspiring story -- and to offer a word of caution. Useful resources 1. Mohit Satyanand on  Twitter ,  Instagram  and  IMDb . 2.  Gimme Mo  — Mohit Satyanand's newsletter. 3.  Salaam Baalak Trust . 4.  Aswath...

Why should only human beings be worthy of moral consideration? Would we still eat animals if we had a sense of their mass-produced suffering? Peter Singer joins  Vasant  Dhar in episode 74 of Brave New World to discuss his influential work as a philosopher. Useful resources : 1. Peter Singer at  Britannica ,  Wikipedia ,  Princeton ,  Twitter ,  Instagram ,  Amazon  and  his own website . 2.  Anim...

What is money? How is it created? What is the relationship of governments, central banks, and commercial banks to money? Paul Sheard joins  Vasant  Dhar in episode 73 of Brave New World to cut through the fog. Useful resources: 1.  Understanding QE in the New World  -- Episode 10 of Brave New World (w Paul Sheard). 2.  The Power of Money  -- Paul Sheard. 3.  David Yermack on The Crypto Revolution...

Digital Public Infrastructure sounds like a huge step forward for the world -- till you think about how it empowers the state to oppress the people. Ajay Shah joins  Vasant  Dhar in episode 72 of Brave New World to warn that we are not being wary enough of state coercion when we think of this incredible technology.  Useful resources : 1. Ajay Shah on  Twitter  and  Substack . 2.  In Service of the...

David Sontag joins Vasant Dhar on episode 70 of Brave New World to highlight where and how AI is creating a major transformation in healthcare. We could create a brave new world of individualized and holistic healthcare, where the machine really cares about us and tells us what to do based on knowledge and data. Useful resources 1. David Sontag on  Twitter ,  LinkedIn ,  MIT  and  Google Scholar ....

He was an early dotcom millionaire -- and he repeated his success. He wants to reinvent email, and has radical insights on politics. Rajesh Jain joins  Vasant  Dhar in episode 70 of Brave New World to share his insights on what he has learnt from success -- and failure. Useful resources 1. Rajesh Jain on  LinkedIn ,  Twitter  and  his own website . 2.  Startup to Proficorn  -- Rajesh Jain. 3.  Raj...

She's a business leader, a Grammy-nominated musician and is trying to transform education. Chadrika Tandon joins  Vasant  Dhar in episode 69 of Brave New World to discuss her life, her learning, and why she is still so driven. Useful resources 1. Chandrika Tandon on  Spotify ,  Facebook ,  Instagram ,  Twitter ,  YouTube ,  TikTok ,  LinkedIn ,  Tandon School of Engineering  and  her own website ....

Will big data and scary AI take over the world? Not a chance, says Gary Smith, as he joins  Vasant  Dhar in episode 68 of Brave New World. The human brain is special. Useful resources : 1. Gary Smith on  Twitter ,  Amazon ,  Pomona College ,  Google Scholar  and  his own website . 2.  The AI Delusion  -- Gary Smith. 3.  Distrust: Big Data, Data-Torturing, and the Assault on Science  -- Gary Smith....

Does ChatGPT really understand anything? Or is it faking it? Hell, do  we  understand how it works? Ellie Pavlick joins Vasant Dhar in episode 67 of Brave New World to share her thoughts on where AI has reached -- and where it's going.  Useful resources : 1. Ellie Pavlick at  Brown  and  Google Scholar . 2.  Symbols and grounding in large language models  -- Ellie Pavlick. 3.  Sam Bowman on ChatGP...

Law and social conventions around free speech have evolved with the times, but technology presents new challenges to both. In this new world of social media, how should we think about it? Jameel Jaffer joins Vasant Dhar in episode 66 of Brave New World to share his thoughts on how we can navigate this territory. Useful resources : 1. Jameel Jaffer on  Wikipedia ,  Twitter ,  ACLU ,  Columbia Law S...

In a rich career as a photographer, he's brought his own distinct gaze to every place he's been to. Rick Smolan joins Vasant Dhar in episode 65 of Brave New World to talk about his rich experiences -- and what he's learned from them. Useful resources : 1. Rick Smolan on  Wikipedia ,  Instagram ,  Amazon ,  Ted Talks  and  Against All Odds . 2.  The Good Fight: America's Ongoing Struggle for Justic...

There has never been a better time to be a creator. Amit Varma joins  Vasant  Dhar in episode 64 of Brave New World to discuss his learnings as a podcaster and blogger -- and to explain why AI is not a threat. Useful resources : 1. Amit Varma on  Twitter ,  India Uncut  and  Substack . 2.  The Seen and the Unseen  -- Amit Varma's podcast. 3.  Brave New World  — Episode 203 of The Seen and the Unse...

He has skin in the game as a top banker -- and saw the power of AI long before others did. Piyush Gupta joins  Vasant  Dhar in episode 63 of Brave New World to share his excitement for the present -- and his vision for the future. Useful resources : 1. Piyush Gupta at  DBS Bank ,  LinkedIn ,  Wikipedia  and  Twitter . 2.  Tom Davenport on Artificial Intelligence in Business  -- Episode 56 of Brave...

We live in a world of smell -- and we barely understand it! Dmitry Rinberg joins  Vasant  Dhar in episode 62 of Brave New World to discuss what he has learnt about the neurobiology of smell over the last two decades. Useful resources : 1. Dmitry Rinberg at  NYU ,  Google Scholar ,  LinkedIn ,  Twitter  and  Rinberg Lab .. 2.  Perfume: The Story of a Murderer  -- Patrick Suskind. 3.  A Novel Multig...

One of the great disruptions that shaped the modern world was the way in which technology transformed Wall Street. Marty Fridson joins Vasant Dhar in episode 61 of Brave New World to talk about those good old days -- and these mad new times! Useful resources : 1. Martin Fridson at  Lehman Livian Fridson Advisors ,  Amazon ,  Twitter  and  his own website . 2.  When the Tech Revolution Came to Wall...

ChatGPT is great -- but does it 'understand' what it is telling us? Raphaël Millière joins Vasant Dhar in episode 60 of Brave New World to understand on what's going on inside ChatGPT -- and the larger questions that arise from this. Useful resources : 1. Raphaël Millière on  Google Scholar ,  Twitter ,  LinkedIn ,  Columbia University  and  his own website . 2.  How to Talk to (And About) Artific...

Will it take all our jobs? In what way will it make us better? What do we need to do? Paulo Kaiser joins  Vasant  Dhar in episode 59 of Brave New World to discuss the technology that is changing the world in ways we can't imagine. Bonus material: Wisdom for young professionals just starting out. Useful resources : 1.  Paulo Kaiser on LinkedIn . 2.  Plative . 3.  Sam Bowman on ChatGPT & Controlling...

Artificial intelligence is awesome -- but should we fear it? How can we stay in charge? Sam Bowman joins Vasant Dhar in episode 58 of Brave New World to discuss the Control Problem -- and more.   Also check out : 1. Sam Bowman at  NYU Courant ,  LinkedIn , Twitter  and  Google Scholar . 2.   Measuring Progress on Scalable Oversight for Large Language Models  -- Samuel R Bowman et al. 3.  Herbert S...