Grey Mirror: MIT Media Lab’s Digital Currency Initiative on Technology, Society, and Ethics

Join us on The Rhys Show as we delve into the captivating realm of spatial cognition with renowned psychologist Barbara Tversky. In her groundbreaking book "Mind in Motion: How Action Shapes Thought," Barbara challenges conventional wisdom by revealing the profound influence of movement on human cognition. Discover the intricate relationship between our physical surroundings, actions, and the way we think, create, and communicate. Explore the power of gestures, diagrams, and non-verbal communication in shaping our understanding and creativity. Uncover the implications of spatial cognition for design, collaboration, and effective reasoning. Don't miss this enlightening episode that will expand your perspective and deepen your understanding of the world. Don't forget to support the podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark Full show notes at: www.roote.co/episodes/visual-thinking-and-spatial-cognition-with-barbara-tversky

In this episode, Jennifer Pahlka, a businesswoman and political advisor, joins us to delve into the failures of government in the digital age and how we can drive meaningful change. Her book "Recoding America" provides valuable insights into why government struggles with technology and offers solutions for improvement. Discover the complexities of government computer systems, the gap between policy intentions and outcomes, and strategies for enhancing service delivery. Join us as we explore the need for fundamental changes in the American government. Don't miss out on this enlightening conversation with Jennifer Pahlka! Don't forget to support the podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark Full show notes at: https://www.roote.co/episodes/recoding-america-understanding-government-failure-in-the-digital-age-with-jennifer-pahlka

Join renowned economist Dr. Daron Acemoglu as he explores the intricate relationship between technology, power, and prosperity in this eye-opening episode. Discover why technological progress is not translating into widespread gains, delve into the history of technological advancements, and uncover the potential impact of AI on shared prosperity. Gain valuable insights on innovative approaches to create a more equitable distribution of benefits and learn about the key role of incentives, regulations, and government in shaping a brighter future. Don't miss this engaging conversation that will challenge your perspective on technology's impact on society. Don't forget to support the podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark Full show notes at: www.roote.co/episodes/power-and-progress-with-daron-acemoglu

Join renowned astrophysicist and bestselling author Avi Loeb as he takes us on a mind-bending journey through the cosmos in this captivating episode. Discover the fascinating possibilities of advanced technology created by distant alien civilizations and its potential impact on our growth as a species. Delve into the Galileo project, an ambitious endeavor to track mysterious objects in our solar system, and unravel the profound questions surrounding the existence of aliens and their relationship to concepts like God. Prepare to expand your horizons and explore the frontiers of our universe in this thought-provoking conversation with Dr. Avi Loeb. Full show notes and resources at: www.roote.co/episodes/unraveling-the-mysteries-of-alien-technology-and-objects-in-space-with-avi-loeb Connect with Rhys: https://twitter.com/RhysLindmark https://twitter.com/roote_ https://twitter.com/RhysShow

In this thought-provoking episode, moral philosopher Peter Singer discusses the state of the modern animal rights movement, the urgent need to oppose factory farming, and the ethical obligations we have towards animals and the planet. Join the conversation as we delve into the harsh realities of factory farming, the environmental impact, the power of education, and exciting advancements in cell-based alternatives. Don't miss this eye-opening discussion on creating a more compassionate world. If you want to join an exclusive and enlightening series of live shows featuring Peter Singer on Animal Liberation Now, pls go to: https://thinkinc.org.au/pages/an-evening-with-peter-singer Don't forget to support the podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark Full show notes at: www.roote.co/episodes/animal-liberation-now-exploring-the-ethics-of-animal-rights-with-peter-singer

In this episode, Claire Hughes Johnson, the corporate officer and advisor at Stripe, shares invaluable insights from her latest book "Scaling People: Tactics for Management and Company Building." Join the conversation as Claire talks about her four operating principles, how to respond to inbound demands and manage hypergrowth, and advice for founders focusing on trusting instincts and moving faster. Learn the importance of building self-awareness, improving internal communications, and the difference between management and leadership. Discover how to replicate success, why vulnerability is key, and how to say things that are hard to say, like saying no. Tune in for a deep dive into company building and scaling, led by one of the tech industry's most experienced leaders. GET CLAIRE'S BOOK HERE: https://www.amazon.com/Scaling-People-Tactics-Management-Building/dp/1953953212 Don't forget to support the podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark Full show notes at: www.roote.co/episodes/scaling-people-with-claire-hughes-johnson

In this episode, Freada Kapor Klein shares her expertise on investing in seed-stage tech startups that aim to close gaps of access, opportunity, and outcome for low-income communities and communities of color. As a venture capitalist, philanthropist, and author of "Closing the Equity Gap," Freada offers a comprehensive approach to making the tech industry more diverse and inclusive. She also discusses how investing in these gap-closing startups can lead to a more equitable future while generating profits. Tune in to learn about dispelling myths around investing and marginalized groups and the importance of "distance traveled" entrepreneurs. Don't miss out on this insightful conversation on how to make money by doing good. Full show notes at: www.roote.co/episodes/how-can-you-actually-make-money-while-closing-the-tech-gap-with-freada-kapor-klein Support the podcast on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark. The Rhys Show - Insights from The Frontier https://twitter.com/RhysLindmark helps you become a live player building our solarpunk future. Join our fellowship https://twitter.com/roote_

In this episode, Kevin Kelly, co-founder of Wired and acclaimed author, joins us to discuss his latest book, Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I Wish I'd Known Earlier. Kelly shares his insights on how to become better ancestors and create a better world for ourselves and future generations. His pocket-book with 450 mantras is filled with wisdom snippets he began to write down for his young adult children. Kelly offers guidance on living life the right way, setting ambitious goals, optimizing generosity, cultivating empathy, and creating family traditions and rites of passage. He also talks about memetic refactoring and AI, encouraging listeners to become experts in the field. Join us for this insightful conversation on how to live a better life by incorporating Kelly's snippets of wisdom into your mind. Full show notes at: https://www.roote.co/episodes/becoming-better-ancestors-wisdom-for-progressing-in-life-with-kevin-kelly Connect with Kevin Kelly: Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevin2kelly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevin2kelly/?hl=en Web: https://kk.org/ Wired Web: https://www.wired.com/author/kevin-kelly/ The Rhys Show - Insights from The Frontier https://twitter.com/RhysLindmark helps you become a live player building our solarpunk future. Join our fellowship https://twitter.com/roote_

In this episode, Saffron Huang, technologist and researcher, discusses how to leverage collective intelligence to govern and benefit from transformative technologies such as AI. As the Co-Director at Collective Intelligence Project, Saffron explains how their organization is developing decision-making technologies and processes that expand a group's capacity to construct and cooperate towards shared goals. She shares insights on value elicitation, how to aggregate conflicting values of groups, and how AI can help represent diverse groups. Join us as we explore the transformative technology trilemma and how collective intelligence can help build new institutions that keep up with rapidly evolving technologies. Full show notes at: https://www.roote.co/episodes/how-to-leverage-collective-intelligence-for-transformative-tech-governance-with-saffron-huang The Rhys Show - Insights from The Frontier https://twitter.com/RhysLindmark helps you become a live player building our solarpunk future. Join our fellowship https://twitter.com/roote_

In this episode, Elizabeth Weil, investor, advisor, entrepreneur, super-connector, ultra-marathon runner, and mother of three, talks about her more than two decade experience in the venture capital business and technology companies. We dive deep into her early stages in Twitter as it grew from 50 to 3000 employees, the importance of human elements to scale a business, and her path to venture capital. Elizabeth also discusses her own firm, Scribble Ventures, and how she started it during the tough times of Covid. Listeners can expect to learn how to grow technology startups and venture capital firms, connect startups with fortune 500 companies, the importance of the human component when scaling a business, how founders stand out, and much more. Resources and more at: https://www.roote.co/episodes/how-hypergrowth-startups-are-built-by-human-connection-with-elizabeth-weil The Rhys Show - Insights from The Frontier https://twitter.com/RhysLindmark helps you become a live player building our solarpunk future. Join our fellowship https://twitter.com/roote_

Join investigative reporter and author Christopher Leonard in this thought-provoking episode as he uncovers the dark side of the US Federal Reserve and its policies. Discover how the Fed's massive borrowing through quantitative easing policy has contributed to inflation, widened the wealth gap, and increased the risk system since the Great Recession of 2008. Leonard contextualizes the Fed's history and connects the dots between the easy money environment, the state of capitalism, and the reserve currencies. As the American easy money party comes to an end, get ready to explore the implications of the Fed's actions and what individuals can do in response. Tune in now to discover how the Fed's impact on the economy has jeopardized economic stability and accelerated income inequality. Full show notes at: https://www.roote.co/episodes/the-lords-of-easy-money-with-christopher-leonard Don't forget to support the podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark The Rhys Show - Insights from The Frontier https://twitter.com/RhysLindmark helps you become a live player building our solarpunk future. Join our fellowship https://twitter.com/roote_

In this episode, we sit down with Konrad Kording, a neuroscientist and professor who delves into the intersection of brains, AI, and causality. We explore the evolution of machine learning and delve into a deep learning-based view of the brain. Konrad shares his experiences coding neural networks 20 years ago and how he eventually arrived at the idea of gradient descent. We also discuss deconstraints in both biology and machine learning and how these systems allow for faster progress in AI. Finally, we reflect on the current state of LLMs and explore the potential evolution of physical embodiment in the next few years. Tune in for an insightful conversation with one of the leading voices in neuroscience and AI. Don't forget to support the podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark Full show notes and resources at: https://www.roote.co/episodes

In this episode, Minn Kim, an early-stage investor, talent scout, and community builder, shares her insights on supporting technology talent that enables step changes in human agency. Minn is building Plymouth Street to help extraordinary talent immigrate to the US, she is the founder of Stealth and is the lead at Dialogue, a community and newsletter on accelerating technological, industrial and scientific progress; they bring you perspective and insights by builders, investors and policy makers pushing the frontier forward, and innovate collaboratively. Formerly, she was an investor at Ridge, Bloomberg Beta and On Deck, backing founders as early as possible. During the episode, Minn discusses her perspectives on community building and how it intersects with entrepreneurship. She also provides an overview of Dialogue and how it brings together practitioners who are driving innovation in technology that enables step changes in human agency. Additionally, the episode explores the topic of immigration and its importance in fostering innovation. Minn shares her views on the current state of the US immigration system and how it has collapsed. She talks about how Plymouth is working to make the system better, more transparent, and faster. Don't forget to support the podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark The Rhys Show - Insights from The Frontier https://twitter.com/RhysLindmark helps you become a live player building our solarpunk future. Join our fellowship https://twitter.com/roote_ Full show notes at: https://www.roote.co/episodes

In this episode, Andrés Gómez Emilsson, President and Director of Research at Qualia Research Institute (QRI), delves into the future of consciousness and what it really means. With a professional background in graph theory, statistics, and affective science, Andrés discusses QRI's mission to uncover the mathematical structure of consciousness, covering topics such as the blinding problem, boundary problem, and valence realism. We also explore how AI can become positively conscious and the use of psychedelics in his research program. Andrés is excited to announce QRI's first peer-reviewed paper, "The 'Slicing Problem' for Computational Theories of Consciousness," which has been published in Open Philosophy, and shares that they will soon be releasing a solution to the binding problem and more valence and psychedelic research. Finally, he invites those with substantial meditation or psychedelic experience in technical fields to reach out and grow the network. If you enjoy our content, please consider supporting us on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark. Full show notes at: https://www.roote.co/episodes

In this episode, Vedika Jain, a Partner at Weekend Fund and Co-founder at Signature Block, shares insights on how to make an outsized impact and navigate the venture capital industry in the next 20 years. We delve into Vedika's work with Weekend Fund and Signature Block, and her investment strategy. We also discuss how they are demystifying venture capital, the emergence of new managers forming squads and collectives, and the thriving solo capitalism trend. Weekend Fund is an early-stage startup investment fund, while Signature Block is a newsletter that provides guidance on how to enter the venture capital industry and contribute to its ecosystem. They gather insights from experienced GPs and aim to become the go-to resource for fund managers. We also talk about the importance of pursuing your passion, identifying "rabbit hole diggers" who would be a good fit for venture capital, and how to make a significant impact by focusing on power law rules. If you enjoy our content, please consider supporting us on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark. Connect with us: Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/rhysshow YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5d2HmCVZ_12TRkyRp-I0Mw/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rhyslindmark Connect with Vedika Jain: Twitter: https://twitter.com/vedikaja_in?lang=en Weekend Fund: https://www.weekend.fund/about Signature Block: https://www.signatureblock.co/ Linkedin: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/vedikajain The Rhys Show - Insights from The Frontier https://twitter.com/RhysLindmark helps you become a live player building our solarpunk future. Join our fellowship https://twitter.com/roote_

Mallun Yen, founder of Operator Collective (@OpCo_VC), joins us to talk about the future of startups, venture capital, and the role operators, the people who help, grow, and scale up these companies, play in them. Every job Mallun had gave her the tools and led her to create Operator Collective. But one thing stands out, learning the ability to build communities. And Operator Collective is all about it; a venture fund and dream team community of founders and operator LPs from diverse backgrounds who have built and scaled the world's most successful tech companies. We go over her journey and delve into how collectives work, what operators are and the advantages of teaming up with them when building and growing a company. Operations (and operators) are a crucial piece. Additionally, we compare operators to the classic venture capital model, discuss diversity and gender in operations and analyze the future of startups, how they are built and how they grow. Finally, a little bit of fun. Are tech and diversity underrated or overrated? What do you think? SUPPORT US ON PATREON and get access to exclusive content and resources: https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark Connect with us https://twitter.com/RhysShow https://www.tiktok.com/@rhyslindmark Connect with Mallun Yen https://twitter.com/mallun https://www.linkedin.com/in/mallun/ OperatorCollective - https://www.operatorcollective.com/ Mentioned resources: Scaling People Book - https://www.amazon.com/Scaling-People-Tactics-Management-Building/dp/1953953212 The Rhys Show - Insights from The Frontier https://twitter.com/RhysLindmark helps you become a live player building our solarpunk future. Join our fellowship https://twitter.com/roote_

In this episode Steph Mui, founder and CEO of PIN, talks about how to democratize access to venture capital. Steph Mui is a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, Financial Markets (Algorithmic trading, Statistics and Computer Science, and is a former VC. She is the co-founder of GSB 2020, an investment club seeking to democratize access to early stage investing and the founder and CEO of PIN, (Power in Numbers) a startup innovating the venture capital model through community funds. We talk about Steph's passion in building PIN to make early stage startups more accessible and how to get exposure and access to the top deals in venture capital by joining some of these clubs. We dive deep into the difference between angellist syndicates and investment clubs, the future of VC's; hopefully they will lose power and these communities will gain power, power law, marketing access and why founders must have the ability of storytelling to raise VC. Get access to more. SUPPORT US ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark Connect with Steph Mui: Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephmui PIN Web: https://www.getpin.xyz/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephmui Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/rhysshow YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5d2HmCVZ_12TRkyRp-I0Mw

In this episode Pankaj Jain, founder and managing partner of Saka Ventures, talks about tech in India that is focussed on targeting large global markets. Pankaj has 25 years of international experience that integrates technology, finance, entrepreneurship, venture capital and blockchain. He views business models and startups through a cross-cultural lens coupled with an understanding of global markets. Jain has been an active angel investor as well as an advisor to venture capital funds, startups, governments and foundations. We talk about tech in India, Pankaj's engagement for more than two decades in hedge funds, startups, and venture capital across India, what is happening in India and what will be happening in the future. We dive deep into the Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai markets as well as the UPI “Uniform Payment Interface” and how it enables new kinds of financial tech in India. Additionally we compare India to China and converse about markets that have an eye on India and how building tech products in India then leads to other markets such as Africa, Middle East and Southeast Asia instead of America first. SUPPORT US ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark JOIN OUR DISCORD: https://discord.gg/PDAPkhNxrC Topics: Welcome Pankaj Jain to The Rhys Show!: (00:00:00) Goal for listeners: (00:02:47) Getting started in the Indian startup industry ten years ago: (00:03:12) Understanding Indian tech: (00:10:18) How does Bangalore´s geographic position change whether people live there or not: (00:16:02) About middle decade and tech hubs getting built: (00:18:55) Just back from trip to India: what Pankaj was excited about: (00:29:05) India ten years behind China?: (00:35:18) About global investments: (00:39:47) Underrated & overrated questions about IIT, Bangalore as a tech hub and new markets such as Africa, India and China: (00:45:08) Wrap Up: (00:51:14) Mentioned resources: UPI: https://www.npci.org.in/what-we-do/upi/product-overview IIT: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Institutes_of_Technology Connect with Pankaj Jain: Twitter: https://twitter.com/pjain Saka Ventures Web: https://saka.vc/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pankajjain/

In this episode Pooja Shah, founder and CEO at Tephra Labs, talks about how decentralized human networks can address large-scale problems. Governments and corporations have failed to move the needle against many of humanity's most important challenges and opportunities. Pooja believes that decentralized human networks have the right meta-coordinating structures to do so. These networks can captivate participants from everywhere and grow exponentially, and furthermore, don't rely on a centralized direction-setting as governments and corporations do. We dive deep into the primitive form of human coordination all the way to the present on the internet and what the expectations are for the future. Additionally we converse about why hyper-scale decentralized networks will grow by engaging people as independent workers, rather than employees, about Tephra Labs and it's first product Radius - a decentralized network that connects independent workers and teams to the best projects in web3 - and how Pooja is thinking about coordinating capital, talent and ideas together in Radius' protocol. If you're interested in joining Tephra Labs or Radius, check out their open roles at https://tephra.com/careers. SUPPORT US ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark JOIN OUR DISCORD: https://discord.gg/PDAPkhNxrC Topics: Welcome Pooja Shah to The Rhys Show!: (00:00:00) Goal for listeners: (00:02:18) Where did Pooja's curiosity for human coordination come from: (00:02:38) Core primitives of how we humans coordinate to do the things we do: (00:05:41) Pre web3: How people coordinate in the internet & what does internet enable us to do: (00:10:53) Web3: What is Pooja doing with Radius and Tephra Labs?: (00:16:43) Different levels of coordination scaling from 1 to a million: (00:24:39) Pooja's thoughts on an independent work economy: (00:29:58) About Radius & Radius vs. other work platforms: (00:32:54) Other platforms at team level instead of personal level: (00:38:29) Future: Building a protocol for Radius in terms of ideas, capital and talent: (00:41:57) Underrated & overrated questions about job boards, reputation and the “meme” of human coordination: (00:48:46) Wrap-up: (00:52:12) Mentioned resources: “Flash Teams” Talk by Melissa Valentine & Michael Bernstein: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUqrQxs8SCE Connect with Pooja Shah: Twitter: https://twitter.com/pooja_eth Radius: https://www.radius.space/about Tephra Labs: https://www.tephra.com/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pooja01

In this episode, Patrick Mineault, a recognized AI researcher and neuroscientist, takes us through the field of AI and how it is connected to Neuroscience. He helps us understand the intersection between brain work and AI. He gives us an insight of how neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence interconnect and nourish each other. Patrick provides his perspective about ‘Brain on Demand' which is a concept that states the AI modeling the brain to be able to use it for testing on content, health interventions, and it is expected (in the long term) to be good for humanity. The main idea of neuroAI is to test without resorting to human beings and see the impact things have on us. Join the episode now and learn more about the fantastic world of neuroAI. SUPPORT US ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark JOIN OUR DISCORD: https://discord.gg/PDAPkhNxrC Topics: ● Welcome Patrick Mineault to The Rhys Show! (00:00:00) ● Goal for listeners: (00:02:10) ● History of AI and neuroAI: (00:02:28) ● How neuroAI works and its different architectures: (00:08:30) ● Brain on demand or at service: (00:17:00) ● How close is neuroAI to be used as a brain?: (00:24:06) ● Patrick explains the difference between RNN and CNN: (00:28:17) ● What is the application of the images neuroAI provides? (00:32:45) ● Patrick´s NAI nomenclature plan (00:42:15) Suggested Articles ● AI's Next Frontier: Brains on Demand by Patrick Mineault. https://future.com/applications-ai-models-of-the-brain-aka-neuroai/ ● What's the Endgame of neuroAl by Patrick Mineault. https://xcorr.net/2022/05/18/whats-the-endgame-of-neuroai/ Connect with Patrick Mineault: Personal Web: https://xcorr.net/ Twitter Account: https://twitter.com/patrickmineault

In this episode, evolutionary biochemist, professor and writer Nick Lane joins us to talk about how life evolves from an energy flow perspective. Nick Lane's research is on the way that energy flow has shaped evolution over 4 billion years, using a mixture of theoretical and experimental work to address the origin of life, the evolution of complex cells and downright peculiar behaviour such as sex. We dive deep into the origin of life and early evolution: hydrothermal vents, the krebs cycle which is a cycle of reactions that uses energy to transform inorganic molecules into the building blocks of life and the reverse, and the importance of vents having an electrical charge, co2, hydrogen, and a system that converts gasses. Additionally we talk about the eukaryotic cell and multicellularity in the origin of animals. Dive in! And learn how life evolves from an amazing biochemist perspective! SUPPORT US ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark JOIN OUR DISCORD: https://discord.gg/PDAPkhNxrC Who is Nick Lane? Nick Lane is Professor of Evolutionary Biochemistry in the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment at University College London. He was a founding member of the UCL Consortium for Mitochondrial Research, and is Co-Director of the UCL Centre for Life's Origin and Evolution (CLOE). Lane is the author of five acclaimed books on evolutionary biochemistry. His most recent book is Transformer: The Deep Chemistry of Life and Death. Topics: Welcome Nick Lane to The Rhys Show!: (00:00:00) Goal for listeners: (00:02:14) How Nick thinks about the world before life: (00:02:58) Thoughts about the big bang period between 14 billion and 4 billion years ago from a biochemist lens: (00:07:44) How did life start?: (00:10:39) More about energy is first, krebs cycle is first and metabolism is first: (00:17:56) Biology overtime: how Nick thinks about those 4 billion years to us and how energy plays a role in it: (00:38:10) Wrap-up & about aging and how these electrical charges on membrane rundown: (00:55:26) Nick Lane's books: Oxygen: The molecule that made the world: https://nick-lane.net/books/oxygen-the-molecule-that-made-the-world/ Power, sex, suicide: Mitochondria and the meaning of life: https://nick-lane.net/books/power-sex-suicide-mitochondria-meaning-life/ Life ascending: The ten great inventions of evolution: https://nick-lane.net/books/life-ascending-the-ten-great-inventions-of-evolution/ The vital question. Why is life the way it is?: https://nick-lane.net/books/the-vital-question-why-is-life-the-way-it-is/ Transformer: The deep chemistry of life and death: https://nick-lane.net/books/transformer-the-deep-chemistry-of-life-and-death/ Connect with Nick Lane: Personal Web: https://nick-lane.net/

In this episode, political science professors Jessica Trounstine & Omar Wasow join us to talk about how we can improve housing, build more housing and the history of racial segregation housing. Jessica's work studies the process and quality of representation in American democracy. She is focused on the ways in which formal and informal local political institutions generate inequalities. She has served as a consultant for the U.S. Department of Justice, city governments, and various community organizations; and serves on numerous editorial and foundation boards. Omar's research focuses on race, politics and statistical methods. His paper on the political consequences of the 1960s civil rights movement was published in the American Political Science Review. His co-authored work on estimating causal effects of race was published in the Annual Review of Political Science. We dive deep into the history of redlining of America till present day with the building of coalitions like YIMBY, how the racist past models current land use decisions, how those coalitions might be changing in the future and how we can use them to build bundles of housing that bring coalitions together to build more housing. Dive in! Jessica & Omar share tons of knowledge that will help you understand the history of housing, law and race in time! SUPPORT US ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark JOIN OUR DISCORD: https://discord.gg/PDAPkhNxrC Who is Jessica Trounstine? Jessica is the Foundation Board of Trustees Presidential Chair and a professor of political science at the University of California, Merced. She is the author of two award winning books, Segregation by Design: Local Politics and Inequality in American Cities and Political Monopolies in American Cities: The Rise and Fall of Bosses and Reformers. Who is Omar Wasow? Omar is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at UC Berkeley. He received a PhD in African American Studies, an MA in Government and an MA in Statistics from Harvard University. Previously, he co-founded BlackPlanet.com and the Brooklyn Excelsior Charter School. Topics: Welcome Jessica Trounstine & Omar Wasow to The Rhys Show!: (00:00:00) Goal for listeners: (00:01:50) About mid-twentieth century process of suburbanization in USA and how laws lead to segregation: (00:02:00) About laws that made segregation emerge: (00:06:21) About “Agenda seeding” and what leads to backlash style of thinking: (00:14:37) How to prevent gentrification with new development: (00:22:56) Rent control debate: (00:37:24) Overrated & underrated questions: (00:44:44) Wrap-up: (00:47:23) Mentioned resources: “Segregation by Design: Local Politics and Inequality in American Cities” Book by Jessica Trounstine: https://www.amzn.com/1108454984 “Six Faces of Globalization: Who Wins, Who Loses, and Why It Matters Book by Anthea Roberts & Nicolas Lamp: https://www.amzn.com/0674245954 “Golden Gates: Fighting for Housing in America” Book by Conor Dougherty: https://www.amzn.com/0525560211

In this episode, Shruti Gandhi joins us to talk about how data is being used to generate insights for humanity and the backend infrastructure to power that. Shruti Gandhi is the Founder and Managing Partner of Array Ventures, an early stage venture capital fund that focuses on solving pressing problems in large industries using data, AI, and ML. Shruti has investments in over 60 early stage companies with 6 exits to companies such as Apple, PayPal, ServiceNow, and The We Company. We dive deep into what the world of AI, ML and data look like for the last ten years, what it will look like going into the future and what she is working on today. Furthermore Shruti helps us understand how data aggregation provides insights, how machine learning is being used, big data platforms, and how publicly traded companies fight against these big data platforms and compete against emerging startups. “My life is my message” - Shruti Gandhi If you have technical talent and are planning to do something cool, dive in! This one's for you! SUPPORT US ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark JOIN OUR DISCORD: https://discord.gg/PDAPkhNxrC Who is Shruti Gandhi? Shruti Gandhi is the Founder and Managing Partner of Array Ventures. She has investments in over 60 early stage companies with 6 exits to companies such as Apple, PayPal, ServiceNow, and The We Company and has a strong background in engineering. Topics: Welcome Shruti Gandhi to The Rhys Show!: (00:00:00) Goal for listeners: (00:02:29) What made Shruti find her fire & moment she decided what she wanted: (00:02:42) What Shruti has been working on in the past: Array, AI, ML & data: (00:09:02) Technical backend of Placer.ai: what company was building & how did they leverage data: (00:12:04) Technical backend of Unacast: (00:18:24) Core patterns underneath both platforms: (00:23:51) About data privacy & security: (00:26:53) Why TikTok is in the same category as GAFA: (00:31:16) How publicly traded companies fight against GAFA and compete against emerging startups: (00:33:31) What Shruti looks for in founders & how she likes to support them: (00:44:02) Overrated & underrated questions: (00:45:35) Wrap-up: (00:47:34) Mentioned resources: Placer.ai: https://www.placer.ai/ Unacast: https://www.unacast.com/products/foot-traffic-data Connect with Shruti Gandhi: Twitter: https://twitter.com/atShruti Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shrutigandhi/ Array VC Web: https://array.vc/ Substack: https://substack.com/profile/5304471-shruti-gandhi

In this episode, Sonja Trauss joins us to talk about the YIMBY movement and its overnight success. Sonja helps us understand the history and future of this movement. Frustrated by high rents in San Francisco, Sonja Trauss started taking part in local planning meetings in 2014 to stand up for more house construction and taller buildings. That led her to co-found the YIMBY movement (yes in my backyard) a political action committee, and YIMBY Law, a nonprofit Trauss runs to advocate for development projects in San Francisco that are affordable, inclusive and have multi-family units. What started as a small act of civic virtue has grown into a national movement. We dive deep into the YIMBY movement, all the way back from when it began till actual date, their massive wins around buildings and more abundant housing and the use of law to impel these wins. Dive in! You will learn about the YIMBY movement and how to fight for abundant housing that is affordable, inclusive and sustainable as well! SUPPORT US ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark JOIN OUR DISCORD: https://discord.gg/PDAPkhNxrC Who is Sonja Trauss? Sonja is the Co-Founder of Yes In My Back Yard (YIMBY Action) and YIMBY Law, enforcing state housing law, making housing more affordable and accessible. Legal enforcement arm of YIMBY Action. Topics: Welcome Sonja Trauss to The Rhys Show!: (00:00:00) Goal for listeners: (00:02:43) Catalyzing moment that made Sonja push back against the state & start housing: (00:03:12) Where does Sonja's fire to fight come from: (00:10:29) What YIMBY was like ten years ago: (00:16:14) Coming to the idea that we need abundant housing production and how did the word YIMBY appear: (00:21:00) About “burrowing the owl”: (00:26:04) Actual state of YIMBY movement : (00:27:31) Legal side of YIMBY movement: role judicial plays vs executive or legislative: (00:32:57) PROPE E vs. PROP E: how does Sonja respond to folks that are “more affordable housing people”: (00:40:42) Overrated & underrated questions: (00:45:38) Wrap-up: (00:47:42) Mentioned resources: How Burrowing Owls Lead to Vomiting Anarchists or S.F.'s Housing Crisis Explained Connect with Sonja Trauss: Twitter: https://twitter.com/sonjatrauss Twitter YIMBY Action: https://twitter.com/yimbyaction Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonja-trauss-02002968 IG: https://www.instagram.com/sonjatraussd6/?hl=en FB: https://www.facebook.com/sonjatrauss/ YIMBY web: https://www.yesinmybackyard.org/team

In this episode, Kat Woods joins us to talk about impact for charities over time and how to create incubation ecosystems and angel ecosystems for them. Kat is the co-founder of several entrepreneurial ecosystems in effective altruism. Effective altruism (EA) is a research field and practical community that looks for the best ways to help others, and put them into practice. It is about prioritizing our efforts when doing good, so we can help others as much as we can. We dive deep into the journey all the way from the start of EA where there is no incubation to this new reality where there is charity entrepreneurship incubating fantastic ideas for possible impact in the world. We also talk about how we can create networks of people and capital to allocate it towards impactful things in the world, what Kat means by passive income and the AI Safety community. If you want to make a positive impact in the world, dive in! You will learn how to make a difference by setting up passively-impactful projects that continue to positively affect the world even when you've moved on to other things. SUPPORT US ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark JOIN OUR DISCORD: https://discord.gg/PDAPkhNxrC Who is Kat Woods? Kat Woods has been full-time in EA for 10 years, her entire adult life, and organized one of the first EAGs. Kat is the president and co-founder of Nonlinear, a long termist EA incubator and Superlinear, a platform which hosts competitions to solve X-Risk problems (with some pretty huge prizes). And is a contributor to the intellectual sphere of the community EA Forum Library. She has also co-founded Charity Entrepreneurship, an incubator that has launched 18 Charities so far and Charity Science Health, now Suvita, which has helped vaccinate over 200,000 children, Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/rhysshow YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5d2HmCVZ_12TRkyRp-I0Mw Connect with Kat Woods: Twitter: https://twitter.com/kat__woods Nonlinear.org: https://www.nonlinear.org/about.html

In this episode Jan Voelkel, Ph.D. student in the Department of Sociology at Stanford University and also a member of the Polarization and Social Change Lab, joins us to talk about how to decrease polarization and run mega studies. Jan is the leading author of “The Strengthening Democracy Challenge” a mega study which brought academics, practitioners, and industry experts together in a collective effort to identify effective interventions to improve Americans' commitment to democratic principles of political engagement. If Polarization is a worry, then in this chapter you will find hope. You will learn about the kind of memetic engineering we can do as a society to nudge us towards a less polarized and more positive reality and you will discover a way to do these beautiful mega studies. We talk about polarization, how to decrease polarization, The Strengthening Democracy Challenge mega study, implementing this mega study into social media platforms and partisan animosity vs. support for anti democratic practices. Dive in! You will discover two ads that went viral intending to decrease polarization! SUPPORT US ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark JOIN OUR DISCORD: https://discord.gg/PDAPkhNxrC Who is Jan Voelkel? Jan is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Sociology at Stanford University and also a member of the Polarization and Social Change Lab. Jan studies political persuasion, group conflicts, and meta-science. Jan Voelkel aims to identify the endogenous and exogenous factors that divide ideologically dissimilar groups, design and test interventions that enable more constructive discourse about moral and political issues and examine new ways to increase the reproducibility of scientific findings. Topics: Welcome Jan Voelkel to The Rhys Show!: (00:00:00) The importance of making a better social media ecosystem: (00:02:43) The Strengthening Democracy Challenge: overall setup & lessons learned: (00:03:38) Key patterns of the interventions that worked for people: (00:09:55) Partisan animosity vs. support for anti democratic practices: (00:13:45) Implementing “The Strengthening Democracy challenge” learnings into social media platforms: (00:27:33) An optimal version of what a new feed should look like: (00:32:45) Why are we in this hyperpolarized place & how to escape from it: (00:38:07) From a sociological perspective: what is going on that is making people polarized & decreasing the partisan animosity: (00:43:05) Recommendations for those who want to run mega study: (00:46:25) Overrated or underrated?: (00:52:07) Wrap-up: (00:54:37) Mentioned resources: Heineken ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3a8MdloAAM Political rivals in Utah ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vLo_KJLJgE Connect with Jan Voelkel: PASCL Standford Web: https://www.pascl.stanford.edu/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/jgvoelkel The Strengthening Democracy Challenge: https://www.strengtheningdemocracychallenge.org/

In this episode Kinjal Shah, investor at Blockchain Capital, joins us to talk about where she sees the web3 (the third generation of the evolution of web technologies) system today and where it is headed. Kinjal Shah is a Partner at Blockchain Capital. Kinjal leads Blockchain Capital's research content strategy, conducts investment diligence, and supports their portfolio companies. At Blockchain Capital, she focuses on taking an interdisciplinary approach to investing in the crypto and blockchain ecosystem. In this chapter you will have a clear view of the current state of crypto, how content and value creation are different in Web 3.0, and how it could change the way brands grow and advertise. We talk about the original web and where it struggled, how social tokens work in the Web 3.0 ecosystem, the role of DAOs in the future and some of the missing pieces that are needed to push Web 3.0 in the right direction. You will learn about data availability , labor vs capital, DAOs & how NFTs provide meaning in different ways. Finally, we share some ideas around how to make the world of crypto in general more inclusive to all. Cool founder looking to build things in the crypto world? Dive in! SUPPORT US ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark JOIN OUR DISCORD: https://discord.gg/PDAPkhNxrC Who is Kinjal Shah? Kinjal Shah is an early-stage investor at Blockchain Capital LLC., working with founders building the future of crypto. She is contributing to Komorebi Collective, Ecodao & Des Femmes Magazine, as well as writing in Two Cents by Kinjal & Kinjal.mirror.xyz Kinjal earned her B.S. in Quantitative Economics from Tufts University, with a concentration in Entrepreneurial Studies. Topics: Welcome Kinjal Shah to The Rhys Show!: (00:00:00) Goal for Listeners: (00:01:32) What kicked off Kinjhal's curiosity in her childhood: (00:02:00) Kinjal's perspective on web3 in 2022 and the future: (00:06:04) What Kinjal is more curious about: NFT, DAO or DeFi?: (00:08:10) Social use cases Kinjal is excited by: (00:09:21) Thoughts on crypto enabling more localization vs massive aggregation: (00:11:21) Kinjal's perspective on investing in a “subreddit”: (00:13:28) How communities coordinate their labor: (00:16:38) What the flat structure would look like: (00:18:52) “Crypto twitter” memetic pools Kinjal has been drinking from recently: (00:22:34) Value maze determining what people, DAOs and customers want: (00:25:42) About data availability & how is it connected to blockchains: (00:29:10) Bringing more women in this space: (00:34:23) How to be a nice person in the crypto space & what crypto will look like in the next ten years: (00:37:28) What to focus on to make things right: (00:43:30) Overrated & underrated questions: (00:45:30) Wrap-up: (00:48:00) Mentioned resources: Book Tumblr: https://books.tumblr.com/ Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/ Connect with Kinjal Shah: Two Cents by Kinjal: https://kinjalshah.substack.com/ Blockchain Capital LLC: https://blockchain.capital/ Kinjal.mirror.xyz: https://kinjal.mirror.xyz/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kinjalshah15 Twitter: https://twitter.com/_kinjalbshah

In this episode, professor, researcher and author Anthea Roberts joins us to talk about how to view the world and current debates from different lenses. Anthea specializes in public international law, international trade and investment law, global governance and geoeconomics. She is the co-author of ”Six Faces of Globalization: Who Wins, Who Loses And Why It Matters”, selected as one of the best economic books of 2021. In this book Anthea and her co-author identify six main narratives driving debates in the West about the virtues and vices of economic globalization: the old establishment view that globalization benefits everyone (win–win), the pessimistic belief that it threatens us all with pandemics and climate change (lose–lose), along with various rival accounts that focus on specific winners and losers, from China to America's Rust Belt. “Narratives are stories we tell ourselves to make sense of the world... They are also stories we tell others to influence their understanding of the world.” Anthea proposes to cut through the complexity to reveal what splits us apart and the points of concurrence that could bond us back together and move forward. In this chapter you will have a bigger picture of what is going on in the world and will learn how to see it from different lenses. You will also discover the importance of being a system thinker and how to become one. If you want to learn about multiperspectivism or how to view the global stage in a non dogmatic way, reading Six Faces of Globalization is a MUST! SUPPORT US ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark JOIN OUR DISCORD: https://discord.gg/PDAPkhNxrC Who is Anthea Roberts? Anthea is a Professor at the School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet) at the Australian National University (ANU) and a Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School. She is the co-author of Six Faces of Globalization, selected as one of the Best Books of 2021 by The Financial Times and Fortune Magazine. Topics: Welcome Anthea Roberts to The Rhys Show!: (00:00:00) About Six Faces of Globalization: (00:01:56) Curiosity about multiperspectivism: (00:06:04) Using metaphors to synthesize narratives: (00:09:05) About identity & how can it fit in as a perspective: (00:17:20) How effective altruism, techno utopianism & self transformation fit in 6 faces of globalization: (00:21:07) Internal chinese narratives about globalization: (00:26:00) Competition & coopetition of how narratives succeed: (00:34:31) How to be good at system thinking: (00:42:05) Overrated & underrated questions: (00:46:11) Wrap-up: (00:48:20) Mentioned resources: “The Wizard and the Prophet: Two Remarkable Scientists and Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow's World” book by Charles C. Mann “Images of Organization” Book by Gareth Morgan “Metaphors we believe by” (Blog) by Aaron Z. Lewis Connect with Anthea Roberts: Web: https://www.anthearoberts.com/ Six Faces of Globalization Web: https://www.sixfacesofglobalization.com/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthea-roberts-a8596b142/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/AntheaERoberts Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLoW2GdYY2EHQVLUNYoI74g/playlists

In this episode, physical anthropologist and archaeologist Chris Stringer joins us to explore fossil records and what they tell us about the birth of our species and its staying power on Earth. Chris is known as one of the leading proponents of the “Recent African Origins” hypothesis, which is currently the most widely accepted model for the origin of our species. This hypothesis is that the modern form of Homo sapiens and human behavior had evolved in Africa by at least 150,000 years ago. Around 60,000 years ago, modern humans left Africa, replacing archaic hominins outside of the continent with restricted amounts of interbreeding. We dive deep into the whole story from 7MM years ago to the Neolithic revolution and to us as lone survivors. He talks about the last 500 thousand years when lots of homo species were existing at the same time and the behavioral and cognitive traits that distinguished current Homo sapiens from other anatomically modern humans. Additionally we talk about fossils, what evidence they are providing in regards to human evolution and where they are found. Stringer looks ahead on ideas from a historical fossil perspective and shares the importance of fossil protein that can take us beyond ancient DNA and provide us with more information about how Homo sapiens came to be. SUPPORT US ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark JOIN OUR DISCORD: https://discord.gg/PDAPkhNxrC Who is Chris Stringer? Professor Chris Stringer is a Research Leader in Human Origins at the Natural History Museum of London and is the co-director of the follow-up Pathways to Ancient Britain project. He studied anthropology at University College London and holds a PhD in Anatomical Science, and a DSc in Anatomical Science both from Bristol University. Stringer is author of many scientific papers and books, here are a few to mention: Lone Survivors: How We Came to Be the Only Humans on Earth, Britain: One Million Years of the Human Story & Our Human Story. Stay tuned for his upcoming book! Topics: Welcome Chris Stringer to The Rhys Show!: (00:00:00) Putting in context: understand time period from 7MM years ago through twelve thousand years ago: (00:02:11) The story from 7MM years ago to the Neolithic revolution: (00:03:13) Reason for walking upright: (00:08:03) Transition from Australopithecines to humans: (00:11:30) The story from 2MM years ago: about Homo erectus and Homo luzonensis the dwarf species: (00:15:10) From 2MM years ago to 200 thousand years ago: How did Homo Sapiens emerge and the oldest human dna recovered : (00:20:03) What makes us different in the skeleton compared to other humans: (00:26:12) About Denisovans: Discovery of Homo Longi “Dragon Man” in China: (00:27:42) About Denisovans: discovery of the whole genome of a new kind of human in Siberia and the Neanderthal & Denisovan hybrid: (00:31:15) Behavioral modernity and the beginning of language: (00:35:53) 60000 years ago: what cultural evolution looked like back then and how ideas spread: (00:42:03) Thoughts on gene-culture coevolution: (00:46:38) Looking ahead on ideas from a historical fossil perspective: (00:48:12) Overrated & underrated questions about fire, tools and being in groups: (00:49:42) Wrap-up: (00:51:35) Mentioned resources: Archaeological site of Atapuerca: https://www.britannica.com/place/Atapuerca Story of “Dragon Man” skull discovery in the river Songhua, Harbin, 1933: https://answersingenesis.org/human-evolution/dragon-man-newest-human-cousin/ Connect with Chris Stringer: Web Natural History Museum: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/departments-and-staff/staff-directory/chris-stringer.html Twitter: https://twitter.com/chrisstringer65

In this episode Kanjun Qiu, the CEO and co-founder of Generally Intelligent joins us to chat about replicators, Genes, Memes and “Temes”, talk about what her company does and help us understand the fundamentals of learning across humans and machines. SUPPORT US ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark JOIN OUR DISCORD: https://discord.gg/PDAPkhNxrC Who is Kanjun Qiu? Kanjun Qiu is the CEO and co-founder of Generally Intelligent, an AI research company working directly on human-like general intelligence. Previously she co-founded and was CEO of Sourceress, an AI recruiting company that went through YC and raised $13M. Prior to Sourceress, Kanjun grew Dropbox from 300 to 1500 people as the Chief of Staff after college, and was fortunate to get the equivalent of a business school education along the way. She co-founded and lived at The Archive and co-authored Sew Electric, a book that teaches kids programming using sewable electronics. Kanjun was recognized as the 2020 Forbes 30 Under 30 Featured Honoree in Enterprise Technology. She has a bachelor's and master's degree in computer science and electrical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology , and worked as a graduate researcher at the MIT Media Lab.

In this episode, renowned paleo-anthropologist Dean Falk joins us to talk about how the evolution of our brains led to the emergence of language and how we differ from apes in terms of language and tools. Dean Falk shares her interesting perspective on how language began and the biases we have trying to understand our past from a male and female perspective which helps us acknowledge how humans evolved. A lot was going on 7MM years ago all the way to and through 200/300K years ago. We dive deep into the importance of fossils and what they have revealed, human and chimpanzee common ancestors and the split between the 'human' family tree from the chimpanzees. Additionally we talk about what happened after the split, the Botanic Age and the key role of mothers and babies in the origins of language. Stay tuned! SUPPORT US ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark JOIN OUR DISCORD: https://discord.gg/PDAPkhNxrC Who is Dean Falk? Dean Falk is an American evolutionary anthropologist specialized in paleo-anthropology, academic, research professor and author who is currently writing a book about the emergence and evolution of the earliest human predecessors who lived long before the appearance of the oldest known stone tools (tentatively titled Basket Weaving 101: Hominin Evolution during the Botanic Age). She is the Hale G. Smith Professor of Anthropology and a Distinguished Research Professor at Florida State University. Much of her work focuses on the evolution of the human brain (paleoneurology) and the associated emergence of language, music, art, and science. Topics: Welcome Dean Falk to The Rhys Show!: (00:00:00) Goal for listeners: (00:02:16) What part of early sapiens Dean focuses on: (00:02:50) Answering questions by studying skulls: (00:04:37) 4 decade discussion focusing on lunate sulcus: (00:08:51) About Bipedalism & the split between humans and chimpanzees: (00:10:06) About tools and mothers & babies: two cognitive biases: (00:14:33) The role of women as opposed to stone tools & the Botanic Age: (00:18:21) How does Dean know whether her perspective is true or not: (00:27:11) How did language start & how was it connected to imitation: (00:32:43) What about imitation, spindle neurons or mirror neurons?: (00:39:18) About the evolution of brain size: (00:45:16) How evolution as from early primates applies to the future: (00:49:21) Overrated or underrated questions about fire and the importance of being in groups in human evolution: (00:53:34) Get in touch with Dean: (00:55:35) Dean Falk's books: “Geeks, Genes, and the Evolution of Asperger Syndrome”: https://www.amzn.com/0826356923 “Finding Our Tongues: Mothers, Infants, and the Origins of Language”: https://www.amzn.com/0465002196 Connect with Dean Falk: FSU Department of Anthropology: https://anthro.fsu.edu/faculty-staff/department-faculty/dr-dean-falk Web: https://deanfalk.com/

In this episode, social ecosystem designer, culture hacker, and facilitator Jean M. Russell joins us to talk about how a participatory and cooperative approach instead of a brutal approach enables us to envision and co-create a world of wellbeing and health. As the founder of the thrivability movement and expert on collective thriving, Jean speaks about THRIVABILITY. She believes this word is a gift. It inspires you to wonder what it looks like in your context and make it show up. What comes alive in you? We dive deep into hedonic habituation and how to avoid falling into it, how to emerge to more positive futures, about co-creation and how to break down the “who” the “how” and the “what”, what a positive environment should look like and how to design it, and how to get set on a more participatory path. “Something about thriving speaks to our inner sense of harmony, abundance, greatness, generativity, aliveness, vitality, well being, and right-placement. What would our lives and the sum of our society be like if we said they were thriving?” If you are interested in open-source software or a better social ecosystem design, this chapter is for you! Stay tuned! SUPPORT US ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark JOIN OUR DISCORD: https://discord.gg/PDAPkhNxrC Who is Jean M. Russell? Jean M Russell is a social ecosystem designer, culture hacker, and facilitator. She is the founder of the Thrivability movement and an expert in collective thriving speaking to and with change agents, innovators, builders, and edge-riders around the world. Her work on thrivability, innovation, philanthropy, and cultural shifts has been highlighted in the Economist, Harvard Business Review, Stanford Social Innovation Review, and Worldchanging. Topics: Welcome Jean M. Russell to The Rhys Show!: (00:00:00) What is thrivability?: (00:01:41) How do you give a positive valance term for what animals should experience: (00:04:09) Happiness like short term dopamine versus delight and purpose: (00:05:53) Thrivability as an emergent thing we chat about with others and move towards emergent positive futures: (00:08:03) How should Roote as an org be more participatory about building the wisdom age instead of making it “everybody be wiser”: (00:11:19) Co-creation: an example to breakdown the who and the how: (00:14:26) How Jean views cooperation playing a role vs. competition playing a role: (00:16:07) Lord of the rings has a memetic view of reality. Is there another memetic version to show another view of reality?: (00:19:25) About anarchism & Peter Kropotkin: (00:22:37) Other ways to make a more cooperative lense of society: (00:23:44) Instead of pointing at the bad competition, double down on the good?: (00:26:05) What does a positive environment look like for animals?: (00:31:56) What does a positive environment look like for humans?: (00:34:44) Designing an environment for memes: instead of a brutal one a positive one?: (00:37:54) Breakdown “hands, head and heart” model & how the heart relates: (00:42:41) How to take a more participatory path & wrap-up: (00:47:57) Mentioned resources: “Survival of the Friendliest: Understanding Our Origins and Rediscovering Our Common Humanity” book by Brian Hare & Vanessa Woods: https://www.amzn.com/0399590668 “A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster” book by Rebecca Solnit Peter Kropotkin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Kropotkin “Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution” book by Peter Kropotkin: https://www.amzn.com/0875580246 “Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures” book by Merlin Sheldrake: https://www.amzn.com/0525510311 Connect with Jean M. Russell: Twitter: https://twitter.com/nurturegirl Twitter Thrivable Society: https://twitter.com/Thrivable Web: https://www.jeanmrussell.com/ Thrivable Society Project: https://www.thrivablesociety.org/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JeanMRussell

In this episode, artist and programmer Gene Kogan joins us to talk about new AI-Generated Art and how AI assistants are going to provide us with interfaces to maximize our creativity. Gene is interested in advancing scientific literacy through creativity and play, and building educational spaces which are as open and accessible as possible. Currently, he is leading an open project to create an autonomous artificial artist. We dive deep into different generative AI interfaces such as Dall-E, Midjourney and Abraham the one he is currently working on, other generative models, how to create open-source systems and how they connect to collective intelligence and the environmental niches that AI is going to evolve into. AI assistants progressively are going to become part of our lives. If you are interested in the future of AI, and the environmental niches that it is going to evolve into, Stay tuned! SUPPORT US ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark JOIN OUR DISCORD: https://discord.gg/PDAPkhNxrC Who is Gene Kogan? Gene is an artist and programmer with interests in generative art, collective intelligence, autonomous systems, and computer science. He is a collaborator within numerous open-source software projects, and gives workshops and lectures on topics at the intersection of code and art. Topics: Welcome Gene Kogan to The Rhys Show!: (00:00:00) Goal of this episode for listeners: (00:01:29) Catalyzing moment in childhood that set off curiosity about the world: (00:01:53) What are the next steps with ai in terms of art: (00:04:27) AI generative music & what evolutionary nische will music fall into: (00:08:38) Abraham vs. Dall-E & Midjourney: (00:10:57) What should this autonomous artist agent do or look like in the next 50 years?: (00:12:49) What would make it more autonomous?: (00:17:33) General thoughts about the future of AI assistance: (00:20:44) AI inputters or do we as people need to learn how to be centaurs in better ways: (00:23:31) A new third replicator: are these new computer memes these kemes? : (00:28:35) Other niches that AI is likely to evolve into?: (00:33:32) How these different models work: (00:37:44) Dalle-E & GANs overrated or underrated: (00:40:58) Wrap-up: (00:43:16) Mentioned resources: Dall-E: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DALL-E Midjourney: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midjourney Primaver De Filippi: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primavera_De_Filippi AARON: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AARON All You Need to Know About Coexisting With Living Robots: Dr. Joshua Bongard & Dr. Michael Levin (The Rhys Show): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mkC9nGAos0 Gene's avatars: Mars College: https://mars.college/ BrainDrops: https://braindrops.cloud/ Machine Learning for art (ml4a): https://ml4a.net/ Abraham.ai: https://abraham.ai/ Connect with Gene Kogan: Twitter: https://twitter.com/genekogan Web: https://genekogan.com/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/ekogan19 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/genekogan/ GitHub: https://github.com/genekogan Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/genekogan Medium: https://www.medium.com/@genekogan Tumblr: https://electricdosa.tumblr.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/genekogan1

In this episode, Co-founder and General Partner of 1517 Fund Danielle Strachman joins us to talk about her perspective on the current state of education and the importance of changing it from a students center perspective. Danielle is passionate about progressive education, all the way from homeschooling and giving kids freedom and autonomy to build new things, to backing founders at the earliest stages of their careers and companies. We dive deep into homeschooling, the charter student-led project based learning model, the importance of compassionate connection and non-coercion in learning and how and why we should empower the talent of kids. Furthermore we tackle the venture capital system and how Danielle through 1517 fund focuses on backing founders that are getting their education through starting a business rather than attending university. Stay tuned! SUPPORT US ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark JOIN OUR DISCORD: https://discord.gg/PDAPkhNxrC Who is Danielle Strachman? Danielle is the Co-founder and General Partner of 1517 Fund that backs dropouts, renegade students, and deep tech scientists at the earliest stages. She has worked with homeschoolers, Co-founded Innovations Academy, and was on the founding team of the Thiel Fellowship, a two-year program for young people who want to build new things. Topics: Welcome Danielle Strachman to The Rhys Show!: (00:00:00) Goal of this episode for listeners: (00:01:53) What got Danielle excited about helping young folks?: (00:02:22) What could the educational experience for a student feel like from ages 0 to 18?: (00:09:23) Why are “essential questions” crucial for the process?: (00:17:29) About Innovations Academy K-8 charter school: (00:19:10) Does this student-led project based learning model work for the low income kid?: (00:23:23) What should schools look like in 30 or 50 years from a VC lense: (00:26:16) 1517 VC: investing in teams led by dropouts, deep-tech scientists, and founders working outside of tracked institutions. What Danielle means by dropouts: (00:29:31) About creating an ecosystem where people can help each other overtime and share ideas: (00:42:45) High school and online learning underrated or overrated?: (00:48:25) Mentioned resources: An Ethic of Excellence: Building a Culture of Craftsmanship with Students. Book by Ron Berger: https://www.amzn.com/0325005966 Talent: How to Identify Energizers, Creatives, and Winners Around the World. Book by Tyler Cowen & Daniel Gross: https://www.amzn.com/1250275814 Connect with Danielle Strachman: Twitter: https://twitter.com/DStrachman Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellestrachman/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/danielle.strachman Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dstrachman/

In this episode, researcher, writer, editor and PhD student in psychiatric genetics Saloni Dattani joins us to talk about her view of the world in different movements she tracks and how she does the research process. It is possible to make progress against the huge problems we are all facing in the world by sharing new and underrated ideas of amazing thinkers. Why don't we? Because research and data isn't accessible. Saloni works through different fields making that knowledge accessible and understandable for us all. We dive deep into science communication and how to make it better, what brings Saloni into the research space, how sub communities interact and collaborate, the importance of learning in real time from amazing people on twitter and why we should make use of that in the current academic publishing system. Stay tuned! SUPPORT US ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark JOIN OUR DISCORD: https://discord.gg/PDAPkhNxrC Who is Saloni Dattani? Saloni Dattani is a founding editor of Works in Progress and an editor at Stripe Press. She is also a PhD student in psychiatric genetics at King's College London , science writer, and researcher at Our World in Data. Dattoni is also the founder of a new Substack newsletter called Scientific Discovery. Topics: Welcome Saloni Dattani to The Rhys Show!: (00:00:00) About Saloni & goal of this episode: (00:01:15) Catalyzing moment in childhood that Made Saloni curious and eager to learn: (00:02:06) What influenced Saloni to be so curious: (00:03:54) Evolutionary lense from a memetic perspective & sub communities interacting and collaborating: (00:05:51) About memetic phrases & cheems mindset: (00:08:11) The goal of Saloni's new “Scientific Discovery” weekly newsletter: (00:10:38) 1st newsletter on effective vaccines against respiratory syncytial virus: (00:12:25) Why RSV vaccine is effective according to Saloni: (00:14:17) How mRNA vaccine worked: (00:17:03) What brings you into research spaces and how do you go about it: (00:18:37) How #scicomm should be done in 20 years: (00:23:40) Learning from amazing people on twitter to share: (00:28:42) About Work In Progress: how Saloni does the process, finds the right people and edits: (00:33:47) How can we help with the memeplexes that people fall into in regards to covid reporting: (00:38:13) About Our World In Data: (00:45:04) Are meta science, Twitter and getting a PhD underrated or overrated?: (00:50:48) Mentioned resources: Horrible Science (series of books): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horrible_Science “Evolve or Die (Horrible Science)” book by Phil Gates: https://www.amzn.com/dp/1407105353 Swole Dog vs. cheem: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/swole-doge-vs-cheems Derek Lowe: https://www.science.org/blogs/pipeline Virological: https://virological.org/ Steven Pinker: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Pinker Connect with Saloni Dattani: Twitter: https://twitter.com/salonium Work in Progress: https://www.worksinprogress.co/ Stripe: https://stripe.com/es-us Our World in Data: https://ourworldindata.org/

In this episode, curator of the world's most extensive mind map Jerry Michalski joins us to talk about how we as a society can contribute to the public commons in a positive way and why we must. Jerry shares the mission behind his distinguished idea of creating a second brain! He has been working on this brain map for more than 24 years and has introduced almost 500 THOUSAND THOUGHTS in his brain and keeps it up! We dive deep into how he created this system that gives access to tons of knowledge collected and connected in context, the importance of having a deep curation and scaffolding process, several possible roles for AI in this procedure and why having shared common knowledge is crucial for a better and more just future for us all. “If we could slowly build arguments and add evidence we might govern better” Additionally Jerry shares why lesser accessed links tend to gradually clear out of google search, how to make spam disappear from the internet and all about his dislike about the word “consumer” and designing from trust. SUPPORT US ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark JOIN OUR DISCORD: https://discord.gg/PDAPkhNxrC Who is Jerry Michalski? Curator of The World's Largest Mind Map, Guide to the World in Context, Tech Visionary for 30+ Years, Keynote Speaker & Expert on Trust & Mistrust Jerry is working to curate collected shared memory through captivating ventures. Two to mention: https://openglobalmind.com/ and the world's largest brain published called Jerry's Brain. IF YOU WANT TO HELP BUILD THIS SHARED MEMORY SPACE! DIVE INTO JERRY'S LINKS! Topics: Welcome Jerry Michalski to The Rhys Show!: (00:00:00) What is Jerry's Brain and what exists in it: (00:01:22) Acknowledgement and connecting to a second brain: (00:03:29) About spaced repetition software and Jerry's thoughts on Anki: (00:07:42) What would public epistemic commons look like in 1950s: (00:11:00) The importance of a deep curation and scaffolding process: (00:15:29) Different possible roles for AI in curation and scaffolding process: (00:17:25) Why it is so hard to make spam disappear from the internet: (00:20:05) How Jerry thinks about trust: (00:29:42) Defining trust and how to make it abundant: (00:32:54) Traffic calming as an example of designing from trust: (00:36:34) Catalyzing moment in childhood about curiosity: (00:39:51) How to help Jerry in this SHARED MEMORY SPACE: (00:44:57) The importance of HARD FUN: (00:45:27) Mentioned resources: Duolingo: https://www.duolingo.com/ Anki: https://www.ankiapp.com/ Roamresearch: https://roamresearch.com/ Logseq: https://logseq.com/ GPT-3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPT-3 Hans Monderman: https://www.pps.org/article/hans-monderman Alice Miller: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Miller_(psychologist) Russell L. Ackoff: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_L._Ackoff Connect with Jerry Michalski: Design from trust: https://www.designfromtrust.com/ Web: https://www.jerrymichalski.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/jerrymichalski LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerrymichalski/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jerry.michalski Instagram Sociate: https://www.instagram.com/sociate Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/JerryMichalski

Interested in KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION or how humanities can help us understand the present? Then this episode is for you! In today's chapter, Dean of Arts and Humanities Hollis Robbins joins us to talk about the extraordinary way in which she views the world. We dive deep into how to scaffold students' learning, how knowledge production works, and how the humanities of the 19th century can inform the present and the future of technology. Furthermore Hollis shares her thoughts about organizational systems, how society systematizes information, frameworks for organizing knowledge and mapping the 19th century into the 21st century. SUPPORT US ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark JOIN OUR DISCORD: https://discord.gg/PDAPkhNxrC Who is Hollis Robbins? Hollis is a Dean, Professor with a long standing academic focus on 19th century African American history and literature; film and film music; poetry and artificial Intelligence. Hollis writes about leadership in higher education, and is author and editor of several books. She will be joining the University of Utah as Dean of Humanities on July 1. Topics: Welcome Hollis Robbins to The Rhys Show!: (00:00:00) Key things that we can learn from the 19th century to apply to today: (00:02:23) 19th century a function of globalization or a function of industrial revolution?: (00:05:12) Standardization process in the 19th century: (00:06:20) About present fragmentation process and restandardization both in technology and culture: (00:10:36) About being on the same page with the current thing: (00:16:10) Should we realign around better kind of agreements that we have on internet?: (00:18:42) What Hollis thinks the new agreements should be: (00:25:51) Providing structures on how to help people navigate the future: (00:31:55) Pushing forward towards a scaffolding: (00:38:55) About memory app as an anti oblivion frame: (00:40:53) The purpose of attending weekly a clubhouse with Sci-Fi authors: (00:44:12) Utopic science fiction books that show us what a positiver world looks like in the near term: (00:47:50) Why Anecdotal?: (00:50:44) Mentioned resources: Tweetscape: https://www.roote.co/tweetscape/vision AnkiApp, Memory App: https://apps.ankiweb.net/ Andy Matuschak: https://andymatuschak.org/ Clubhouse Sci-fi talk: https://www.clubhouse.com/@anecdotal The Martian, book by Andy Weir: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martian_(Weir_novel) Severance Series: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severance_(TV_series) Moby-Dick, book by Herman Melville: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moby-Dick Uncle Tom's Cabin, book by Harriet Beecher Stowe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Tom%27s_Cabin Connect with Hollis Robbins: Twitter: https://twitter.com/anecdotal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hollis-robbins-12642898/

In this episode, historian, scholar of Russian history, professor emeritus and author David Christian joins us once again to talk about his new book Future Stories, a guide with a big-history perspective that helps us get prepared for the future. David Christian is the creator of Big History, a holistic and interdisciplinary approach that encompasses the history of human existence on a broad scale, from the Big Bang up to the present and the future. We dive deep into crucial patterns and processes that underlie everything and help us understand how to think about the future, what actions we must take to make this world a better place, as well as how and why we must collaborate better, improve our communication and share information better. If we connect the study of the past with the study of the future, we can start to imagine what the world will look like in the future and collaboratively look for solutions to the huge challenges ahead of us. I highly recommend Future Stories, it's a mind blower! SUPPORT US ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark JOIN OUR DISCORD: https://discord.gg/PDAPkhNxrC Who is David Christian? David Christian is a Professor Emeritus at Macquarie University, where he was formerly a Distinguished Professor of History and the director of the Big History Institute. He co-founded the Big History Project with Bill Gates, his Coursera MOOCs are popular around the world, and he is co-creator of the Macquarie University Big History School. He is an author of numerous books amongst which are the bestseller Origin Story and his recent book Future Stories. Topics: Welcome David Christian to The Rhys Show!: (00:00:00) What unique angle does David as a historian bring to thinking about the future?: (00:03:44) Patterns & processes from the past to predict the future: (00:06:15) Future Stories, part 1: How scientists & living organisms think about the future: (00:12:18) Future Stories, part 2: How existing organisms already think about managing the future: (00:16:48) Learning from multicellular organisms how we should manage the future : (00:22:25) Future Stories, part 3: How humans think of the future: (00:00:00) Making the collective learning process for good: (00:33:31) Future Stories, part 4: How to imagine the future: (00:39:38) How to do the politics right and reach the goals we have: (00:46:43) Connect with David Christian: Twitter: https://twitter.com/davidgchristian Facebook Big History Project: https://www.facebook.com/OERProject Web Big History Project: https://www.bighistoryproject.com/home

In this episode, architectural designer and public policy professional Annie Fryman joins us to talk about how to create abundant housing, the housing policies she led to address the California housing shortage by increasing housing supply, and how she managed permitting time to go down from 8 1/2 years to 60 days. Currently, Annie is the Director of Cities at Abodu, a Bay Area based company that builds affordable and high-quality accessory dwelling units in California and Washington. We dive deep into her work at Abodu implementing some of the laws she made helping people push through housing, the role of prefab, modular & manufactured ADUs (Accessory Dwelling Units) and why she switched from the world of policies to startups. Roote has a civic abundance project which is creating infrastructure and coordination to help all cities thrive. There is a civic dashboard that we are trying out framing towards abundant housing . Learn about our project here: https://www.roote.co/civic-abundance SUPPORT US ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark JOIN OUR DISCORD: https://discord.gg/PDAPkhNxrC Who is Annie Fryman? Annie Fryman is the Director of Cities at Abodu. Formerly she led housing, land use, and transportation policy for California Senator Scott Wiener (successful legislator on housing affordability in the United States). She was the policy staffer designing, writing, and negotiating Senate Bills 35 and 828, and continues to advise public, non-profit, and private sector partners on their use and implementation. Annie has also worked as an academic researcher at Stanford University focusing on the social and economic fabric of vibrant Black neighborhoods during Jim Crow. Annie studied Architectural Design in the Civil Engineering program as an undergraduate at Stanford University and is frequently called in as a guest lecturer for undergraduate and graduate level courses in law, design, and public policy. Topics: Welcome Annie Fryman to The Rhys Show!: (00:00:00) Roote's civic abundance project: (00:02:23) What a city should look like around housing according to Annie: (00:03:04) Walkable cities with six story buildings with retail on the bottom: (00:06:19) Senate Bills & if they create more housing: (00:13:57) Zoning and housing quota law: (00:27:03) Abodu, making ADUs & switching from policies to startups: (00:39:02) Where Annie got her agency from: (00:51:52) Connect with Annie Fryman: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annie-fryman-59974961/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/anniefryman Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ann.fryman Abodu Web: https://www.abodu.com/

Rhys was a guest at The Index Show with host Alex Kehaya. A great conversation about the Web3 ecosystem, why capitalism needs marriage counseling, and the evolution of society. SUPPORT US ON PATREON: www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark JOIN OUR DISCORD: discord.gg/PDAPkhNxrC

In this episode, investor, journalist, philanthropist, and amateur cosmonaut Esther Dyson joins us to talk about the importance of moving from short-term self interest to long-term shared interest. Esther is the executive founding soul behind Wellville. She talks about this ten-year project and the five US communities participating to improve their own health and wellbeing while inspiring other communities to do the same. We converse about the importance of shifting from a “we” centered way of thinking to one that invests in the success of the whole and we talk about the problem of addiction, how it relates to short term thinking, how it creates competition as opposed to collaboration within a community and how it affects both personal life as well as business growth. Furthermore, we dive into how to build something sustainable and the story behind ICANN. SUPPORT US ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark JOIN OUR DISCORD: https://discord.gg/PDAPkhNxrC Who is Esther Dyson? Esther is the chairman of EDventure Holdings and is the executive founder of Wellville, a 10 - year nonprofit project dedicated to demonstrating the value of long-term investment in health and equity. Esther is an active angel investor, best-selling author, board member and advisor concentrating on emerging markets and technologies, new space and health. She sits on the boards of 23andMe and is an investor in Crohnology, Eligible API, Keas, Omada Health, Sleepio, and StartUp Health, among others. For 6 months, Esther lived outside Moscow, Russia, training as a backup cosmonaut. She has a BA in economics from Harvard University, and a completion certificate in space medicine and space plumbing from Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. Topics: Welcome Esther Dyson to The Rhys Show!: (00:00:00) About this century being the turning point & the governance system: (01:49) The problem of having a “WE” centered world: (04:19) About the metaphor of addiction & how it shows up in different fields: (08:14) Short term aspiration versus long term aspiration: (12:57) About Wellville helping five communities to build their own fishing school: (18:05) The approach of collaborating & complementing one another: (21:38) Sustainability within nonprofits: (31:43) The ICANN story: (34:20) Words of advice to the audience: (38:13) Mentioned resources: ICANN: https://www.icann.org/ “The Gardener and the Carpenter: What the New Science of Child Development Tells Us About the Relationship Between Parents and Children” book by Alison Gopnik: https://www.amzn.com/B01ARRWPUS Connect with Esther Dyson: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/estherdyson/ Wellville Web: https://wellville.net/about/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/edyson?lang=en Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/esther.dyson Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/estherdyson/

In this episode, theoretical neuroscientist and authority on brain imaging Karl Friston, helps us understand his Free Energy Principle (FEP) for how life works and evolves. We tackle this theory from five different perspectives to gain a deeper understanding; all the way from RNA and primordial soup to the future and safety of artificial intelligence. The Free Energy Principle describes with mathematical precision how the brain conserves energy by minimizing surprise. Life at every scale of organization, from single cells to the human brain, is driven by the same universal imperative. This idea has a very great influence and affects the way we work and organize ourselves socially. But how does this abstract principle translate into our everyday lives? The brain is continuously engaged in an act of interpretation called active inference that explains how we actively forage in the world for evidence that best satisfies our expectations. Active inference is a corollary of the FEP and is the process through which we build models of our environment that we update with evidence we actively collect. Those familiar with statistics will recognize this description of the brain as particularly Bayesian. SUPPORT US ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark JOIN OUR DISCORD: https://discord.gg/PDAPkhNxrC Who is Karl Friston? Karl Friston is a theoretical neuroscientist and authority on brain imaging. He is a Professor at Institute of Neurology, University College London and, Wellcome Trust Principal Fellow and Scientific Director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging Prof. Friston gained a reputation as the main proponent of the free energy principle, active inference and predictive coding theory, and is the inventor of statistical parametric mapping, voxel-based morphometry and dynamic causal modeling. “Karl Friston's free energy principle might be the most all-encompassing idea since Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection” Topics: Welcome Karl Friston to The Rhys Show: (00:00) What is FEP / active inference* & how does it apply in our daily life?: (01:39) Understanding Free Energy Principle from 5 different perspectives: (04:26) Information pre replicators / FEP pre sentient life: (00:00) Distinction between animate & inanimate kinds / Predictive capacity / Markov blanket: (12:40) Inanimate things that can exist based off of the law of physics: (18:23) FEP compared to the principles of natural selection & evolution: (24:11) RNA replicating in primordial soup; RNA a model of its environment?: (29:59) About the brain / mutual predictability: (37:19) Kind of information a bayesian brain can encode: (46:21) How free energy applies to social systems: (54:27) Cristianity a sense of a generative model: (01:02:57) How free energy applies with machines and AI / AI safety & generative models that include us: (01:06:17)

In this episode our guest is Noor Siddiqui, founder and CEO of Orchid. Noor explains her mission behind Orchid helping couples achieve parenthood and healthy babies through genetic risk and single cell testing. We dive deep into the history of reproductive technology. Noor takes us along the journey from old days where birth control was obscene and controversial, to modern days with ultra high resolution genetic testing systems for couples, advanced embryo screening for families going through IVF and single cell sequencing. Understanding genetic risk impacts your lifestyle, your choices and can change the course of any possible diseases. Testing before your child is conceived gives you the best chance of mitigating risk. Couples can safely reduce their future children's genetic risk for the most common diseases and avoid suffering from similar conditions they have dealt with during their own lives. SUPPORT US ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark JOIN OUR DISCORD: https://discord.gg/PDAPkhNxrC Who is Noor Siddiqui? Noor Siddiqui is the Founder and CEO at Orchid, a reproductive technology company which measures genetic predisposition to disease helping families have healthier babies. Before Orchid, she founded Remedy, a digital health company that helped doctors get instant answers from specialists. Noor received an M.S/B.S in Computer Science from Stanford, taught a class there on Reproductive Technology, and did AI and genomics research with Anshul Kundaje and Sebastian Thrun. Topics we touch: Welcome Noor Siddiqui to The Rhys Show: (00:00) Throughline that connects Noor's work / From Thiel fellowship to biotech: (02:50) Learning about interests & becoming more sincere to them: (04:07) Hyper about Orchid: (05:41) A teenager wanting to make “baby making” better : (07:10) Gene therapy vs. IVF/Alzheimer & different perspectives: (13:13) Couple report/method & sequencing tool : (18:06) How Orchid works: (21:24) Associations that are being done: (23:28) Embryo report/screening, how IVF works & sequencing : (26:36) Initial PCR amplification with lots of cells vs with only 5 cells: (33:20) Mentioned resources: Thiel Fellowship: https://thielfellowship.org/ Illumina: https://www.illumina.com/ Connect with Noor Siddiqui: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/noorsiddiqui/ Web “Noor Siddiqui”: https://noorsiddiqui.com/about/ Twitter “Noor Siddiqui”: https://twitter.com/noor_siddiqui_ Web “Orchid”: https://www.orchidhealth.com/ Twitter “Orchid”: https://twitter.com/orchidinc

CRISPR stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats and it is a genome editing technology that allows scientists to cut DNA with precision and insert or delete DNA to correct unwanted mutations. In this episode I talk with Melinda Kliegman about this tool that was discovered ten years ago and how it can benefit humanity by healing genetic disease, by enabling a sustainable agriculture to ensure food security, by helping achieve a carbon-neutral economy to sustain the environment, and making it accessible and affordable to all. IGI tries to align genome-engineering innovations with societal values. Public education, sharing resources and guiding the ethical use of genome engineering are meant to serve the public so it is crucial that as many people as possible engage in CRISPR, genome editing, and the ethical implications of genetic engineering dialogues. This informs scientists ongoing work and helps them with accurate decision making. Furthermore we talk about regulations and policies in CRISPR technology and how important they are for responsible use. Who is Melinda Kliegman? Melinda (Belisle) Kliegman has a Ph.D. in Biology from Stanford University. She is the Public Impact Director at Innovative Genomics Institute, a non-profit academic partnership between UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco that supports collaborative research driven by the real possibility of using genome engineering to treat human diseases and end hunger. Formerly she worked at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She also served as a science advisor to the Foreign Agricultural Service. Topics we touch: Welcome Melinda Kliegman to The Rhys Show: (00:00) Transition from biotech to public policy: (01:52) IGI's work in human health, climate & genome engineering: (04:27) CRISPR - Inserting or deleting DNA to correct unwanted mutations: (07:13) Making CRISPR more affordable: (10:01) CRISPR cost per-base-pair compared to genome sequencing & synthesis: (13:15) Education system around CRISPR & its impacts: (15:30) IGI's work in climate: (17:52) CRISPR - Working with plants: (19:17) Advancing genome engineering: (20:54) Biggest opportunity & biggest challenge with CRISPR: (24:23) Optimus future in regards to societal engagement: (27:46) Regulations & law around CRISPR technology: (31:17) What the biosphere will look like in 25 years by changing genes: (38:11) Advice to those who want to lead in a disciplinary career like Melinda: (42:16) Ranking in order of importance - sequencing, genome editing vs synthesis and CRISPR: (44:19) Learn more about CRISPR & IGI: (45:52) Mentioned resources: Jillian Banfield: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jillian_Banfield Connect with Melinda Kliegman: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melinda-kliegman/ Web “Innovative Genomics Institute”, IGI: https://innovativegenomics.org/about-us/ Twitter “Innovative Genomics Institute”: https://twitter.com/igisci

Not long ago a machine designed by a computer and constructed of living cells was something crazy to imagine. Not anymore. In this episode I talk with Josh Bongard and Mike Levin about how this is becoming a reality. There are lots of physical possibilities for how animals and robots can coexist but we have only explored a small part of the morphology design space. Life began on Earth at least 3.5 to 4 billion years ago, and it has been evolving ever since. The diversity of life on Earth today is the result of evolution that occurs by natural selection. But, in the next 100 plus years there won't just be plants, animals and humans from natural selection, there will also be computational designed organisms from AI. Computational designed organisms are living machines inspired by the designs and capabilities of biology and computing. These “biobots” are a new form of artificial intelligence. We also talk about The Institute for Computationally Designed Organisms doing things to create other things, all what is possible and how it can change the world. Furthermore we dive into Xenobots, the first living robots they have built which are able to reproduce. They have repurposed living cells from frog embryos and assembled them into entirely new life-forms that can move toward a target. This discovery may be meaningful for the future of medicine, the environment and even life itself. Who are Joshua Bongard & Michael Levin? Dr. Joshua Bongard is the Veinott Professor of Computer Science at the University of Vermont and the director of the Morphology, Evolution & Cognition Laboratory. His work involves computational approaches to the automated design and manufacture of soft-, evolved-, and crowdsourced robots, as well as computer-designed organisms. Dr. Michael Levin is a developmental and synthetic biologist; the Vannevar Bush Professor of Biology at Tufts University, where he directs the Allen Discovery Research Center, and associate faculty at Harvard University's Wyss Institute. Levin and his colleagues use developmental biophysics, cognitive science, and computational modeling approaches to understand tissue plasticity, especially focused on bioelectrical information processing in non-neural cell networks. Both Josh and Mike are co-directors of the Institute for Computationally Designed Organisms. Topics we touch: Welcome Josh & Michael to The Rhys Show: (00:00) Through line that ties all of Josh's work together: (02:24) Through line that ties all of Mike's work together: (02:55) Josh (computational side) & Mike (biology side) collaborating together: (04:35) The impact of synthetic biology on society in the next decades. Xenobots & ICDO Institution?: (07:01) How does Xenobot fit into the vision of synthetic morphology?: (11:03) What is a Xenobot - an organism designed by AI?: (14:06) Pronunciation & meaning of “xeno”bots: (17:50) Getting Xenobots to do things: (18:23) Biochemical/bio electrical signaling - Making things do different things: (23:01) About perverse instantiation: (26:09) How is the biosphere going to change in the next couple of decades according to Mike: (30:18) Rewriting the biosphere according to Josh: (35:10) About morpho space - what is scary and safe in the morpho space: (36:55) Advice from Michael: (42:44) Advice from Josh: (44:58) Connect with Josh Bongard & Mike Levin: Josh Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKCmKOwVkoAh2NDp0T-Ovng Josh Twitter: https://twitter.com/DoctorJosh Josh Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Bongard About Mike: https://allencenter.tufts.edu/our-team/michael-levin/ Mike Twitter: https://twitter.com/drmichaellevin Website “The Institute for Computationally Designed Organisms (ICDO)”: https://icdorgs.org/ CDOs: https://cdorgs.github.io/code

Genetic Screening is a DNA tool that predicts traits, including height, physical appearance, IQ and illnesses such as heart disease, cancer and many more which are known to be heritable. The genetic component is spread over thousands of DNA regions. In the past decade, extensive genetic databases can screen for these traits. Through analyzing genes, it is possible to calculate polygenic risk scores, which give a person's plausibility of getting some kind of disease or having a certain trait. In this episode, Stephen and I talk about genetic screening and how embryo screening fits into this risk forecasting. Couples who are undergoing IVF treatment, have access now to information that gives them another option to pick the healthiest embryo. Stephen believes this tool will create some inequality in the short term but equality in the long term. We dive deep into how genes are going to be changing in the next ten or fifteen years. With rapid advances in genome sequencing, genetic analysis and precision gene editing, within the next ten years embryo selection and genetic engineering could be used to optimize the intelligence of future generations, disable target genes, correct harmful mutations, and change the activity of specific genes in plants and animals, including humans. We also talk about cancel culture. Stephen was canceled at Michigan State University for touching a thin-skinned subject. There are genetic markers for almost everything. He was engaged with genetics and finding differences between people from different regions. As bioregions are associated with race, that unfortunately connected genetic markers to racism. Stephen shares his intelligible and fundamented perspective about this. Furthermore we talk about how important it is to have access to information to be able to make better choices and the importance of understanding and solving problems where the real casualties are. Who is Stephen Hsu? Steve is a professor of theoretical physics and professor of computational mathematics, science, and engineering at Michigan State University, professor of theoretical physics at the University of Oregon and scientific advisor at BGI. Previously senior vice-president for research and innovation at Michigan State University. Founder of Genomic Prediction, a company that creates advanced genetic screening technology for IVF, SafeWeb, an internet security startup acquired by Symantec in 2003, Othram, a forensic application of DNA sequencing and Robot Genius, Inc., a security software startup. Topics we touch: Welcome Stephen to The Rhys Show: (00:00) Thread line that connects all of Steve's work: (00:51) How his work connects to public debate: (01:32) Science & computers changing genes in the biosphere in the next 200 years: (03:06) Choosing the best embryo - How Genomic Prediction, Inc. works: (09:18) The inequality side of genetic screening: (18:52) Creating a future increasing everyone's IQ: (24:37) Long term consequences & Hsu biotech perspective: (26:53) IVF gametogenesis: (30:47) Twitter mob attack: (33:00) Blog posts that got Hsu labeled as a racist: (43:12) Get in touch with Steve Hsu:(49:26) Connect with Stephen Hsu: About Steve: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevehsu/ Website “Genomic Prediction”: https://www.lifeview.com/about Facebook “Genomic Prediction”: https://www.facebook.com/GenomicPrediction/ Blog “Information Processing”: https://infoproc.blogspot.com/ Podcast “ManifoldOne”: https://www.manifold1.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/hsu_steve?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor Twitter mobs: https://infoproc.blogspot.com/2020/06/twitter-attacks-and-defense-of.html

Alta is a Professor Emerita of Law and Bioethics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She's been focused on bioethics for a few decades across government, academia, and industry. She was featured in the Netflix documentary on CRISPR, Human Nature. https://law.wisc.edu/profiles/racharo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alta_Charo https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark https://www.roote.co/

Alan Durning is the founder and executive director of Sightline Institute, a think-tank for sustainability in the Pacific Northwest. We chat about how to make housing abundant. https://www.sightline.org/2021/02/25/the-contradiction-at-the-heart-of-housing-policy/ patreon.com/rhyslindmark www.roote.co/

Tamim Ansary is an Afghan-American author and public speaker. He is the author of the excellent books Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes and Games Without Rules: The Often Interrupted History of Afghanistan. We chat about the Muslim view of history and how that informs our understanding of the US pull out from Afghanistan. https://patreon.com/rhyslindmark https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13394802-destiny-disrupted https://www.roote.co/

Susan Blackmore is a Visiting Professor at the University of Plymouth who researches consciousness, memes, and anomalous experiences. She wrote the excellent book, The Meme Machine. Sue, thanks for being on the show and welcome! We chat about genes, memes, and the third replicator, tremes. https://www.susanblackmore.uk/ https://twitter.com/RhysLindmark https://patreon.com/rhyslindmark https://www.roote.co/

César Hidalgo is a Chilean-Spanish-American scholar in economic complexity, data visualization, and applied artificial intelligence. He's written some great books that we chat about today like Why Information Grows and How Humans Judge Machines. https://cesarhidalgo.com/ https://twitter.com/cesifoti https://twitter.com/RhysLindmark https://www.roote.co/ https://patreon.com/rhyslindmark Chapters: 00:00 Intro 2:10 How to represent ideas visually 5:45 What makes something a great visualization? 7:30 What is the through-line of your work? 10:30 How the printing press changed who can be famous 13:20 What messages are optimized for the internet? 16:30 Using the internet for governance 22:10 What are new network-native institutions? 26:55 How Humans Judge Machines? 31:20 Judging institutions on intentions vs. outcomes 36:30 How do humans judge machines on Haidt's moral foundations? 41:20 How did you give the book away for free as a pdf? 46:00 Connecting the physics of information to the geography of knowledge 51:30 Check out Center for Collective Learning