Podcast appearances and mentions of schmidt futures

Syed K. Jamal Founder & CEO Board Member Ford Fellow Executive Producer WTIA Alum Measures what matters On a mission to transform education with creative economy Sponsors The Jason Cavness experience is brought to you by Breeze Docs. Request for Proposals AKA RFPs, can be very challenging for Small & Medium-sized Businesses. Breeze Docs, the RFP response platform of choice for SMBs across North America, uses AI to help companies quickly complete RFPs, security questionnaires, and other important business documents.  If you'd like to start winning more RFPs and reduce completion times by up to 80 percent, visit breezedocs.ai to book a demo. By mentioning the Jason Cavness Experience, you will qualify for a free upgrade from Breeze Solo to Breeze AI+ valued at $6,000. Follow the Breeze at www.breezedocs.ai Sign up for free upgrade here  https://www.breezedocs.ai/rfp-response-software-jason-caveness CavnessHR: Seattle's Got Tech Sign up to demo your tech and win prizes for being the best tech  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdBV98Am90oAoP08vWaS870Uk7Zp7WVDCwF6PALwlJf5NgmWw/viewform?usp=header Go to www.thejasoncavnessexperience.com for the podcast on your favorite platforms Syed's Bio Syed is an Indian-American entrepreneur and strategic advisor, focused on empowering young people to make informed career decisions and fostering meaningful cross-cultural collaborations. As the Chairman of the Tacoma-Kochi Friendship City Committee, he leads efforts to strengthen film and educational partnerships between India and the United States. An executive producer at 222 Pictures and a trained filmmaker (Mass Communication Research Center, Jamia, New Delhi), Syed serves on the Board of Advisors for The Way Home: Journey of Family and Faith, a documentary exploring the resilience of three generations of Tibetan women striving to preserve their cultural heritage. Syed is also on the board of Tasveer, the only Oscar-qualifying South Asian Film Festival in the world. In this role, he is excited to build film institute partnerships to inspire and engage young people through film production and storytelling. With a dynamic career spanning media, higher education, and nonprofits in both India and the US, Syed brings a unique blend of creative vision and strategic expertise. He actively volunteers with the World Trade Center Tacoma as its India Ambassador, serves on the Board of Directors of the World Affairs Council of Tacoma, and mentors aspiring entrepreneurs through Bridge for Billions.  Additionally, he curates transformative impact projects for Collegey.com and evaluates student initiatives for Rise, a prestigious global talent program by Schmidt Futures and the Rhodes Trust. As a leader in organizational strategy, Syed drives innovation, builds high-impact partnerships, and ensures measurable client outcomes. His professional journey includes pivotal roles in media, academia, and international education, underpinned by his personal experience as an International Ford Foundation Fellow pursuing graduate studies in international affairs. This global perspective informs his vision for initiatives like Collegey and Branta, both of which aim to inspire and support the next generation of changemakers. In 2011, Syed joined the Fulbright Commission to advance the US Department of State's public diplomacy efforts through EducationUSA.  As Communications Manager, he led groundbreaking digital outreach campaigns, cultivated strategic partnerships, and conducted recruitment programs and workshops in collaboration with US Foreign Service Officers. Since transitioning from EducationUSA, Syed has consulted for leading youth and higher education organizations across India/South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. In 2015, he founded Branta, a consulting firm that bridges global education and youth networks in the US and youth-centered initiatives in emerging markets. Syed's expertise lies at the intersection of the creative economy, public diplomacy, social entrepreneurship, and impact-driven programming. His passion for fostering global citizenship, project-based learning, and cross-cultural innovation continues to shape his contributions to the education and creative economy sectors.  We talk about the following and other items Syed's Background and Journey The Importance of Poetry and Nature Biking and Favorite Poets Cultural Differences in Poetry Empowering Youth in Career Decisions The Future of Higher Education The Role of College Tacoma's Transformation and Strengths The Creative Economy in Tacoma The Role of Nonprofits in Tacoma Becoming a Filmmaker The Power of Camera Angles in Filmmaking The Impact of Lighting on Perception Changes in the Filmmaking Industry The Evolution of Storytelling Humanizing Homelessness The Role of South Asian Film Festivals The Importance of Social Capital Religious and Cultural Practices in India The World Trade Center and International Trade I nnovation and Creativity Immigrating to the United States The Cost of Private Education The Value of Public Schools The Impact of Socioeconomic Disparities Originality and Courage in Creativity India-Pakistan Relations Introducing Grid City Studio Building Tacoma as a Creative Hub Engaging the Community  Syed's Social Media LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/skjamal/ Personal Website: https://www.gobranta.com/ceofounder Syed's Advice   I am not very good at giving advice. I would say just, think about your story a lot. You have a story. Don't underestimate your story. Your story is a collective story of your parents, your neighborhood, your neighbors, your books. It's all part of your story, so don't underestimate your story. Please tell your story, talk about yourself, talk about, the environment you grew up in, things that bothers you. Talk about it. It matters a lot when we talk about our personal things. A lot of people, a lot of time people shy away, they avoid talking about themselves because they think it's showing off.  I don't think it's showing off. You are at your most authentic self when you just talk about your story as your story. So please don't underestimate your stories. We might pick up one of your stories and make a movie out of it.

Renaissance Philanthropy — in my opinion, the most exciting S&T philanthropic venture in the US — is getting a one-year check-in. Kumar Garg first appeared on the show right before I went on paternity leave, and now we're back for round two. Before founding Renaissance Philanthropy, Kumar worked in the Obama Office of Science and Technology Policy and spent time at Schmidt Futures. We discuss… How Renaissance ⁠catalyzed⁠ over $200 million in philanthropic funding in its first year, The goals of the organization and how it has responded to Trump's S&T funding cuts, What sets Renaissance apart from traditional philanthropic organizations, and lessons for China-focused research foundations, AI applications in education, from tutoring to dyslexia screening, Donor psychology, “portfolio regret,” and how to build trust within a philanthropic network. Thanks to ElevenLabs for sponsoring this episode. Check out the ElevenReader text-to-speech app here. Outro music: Mercy, Mercy, Mercy - Cannonball Adderley (YouTube Link) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Renaissance Philanthropy — in my opinion, the most exciting S&T philanthropic venture in the US — is getting a one-year check-in. Kumar Garg first appeared on the show right before I went on paternity leave, and now we're back for round two. Before founding Renaissance Philanthropy, Kumar worked in the Obama Office of Science and Technology Policy and spent time at Schmidt Futures. We discuss… How Renaissance ⁠catalyzed⁠ over $200 million in philanthropic funding in its first year, The goals of the organization and how it has responded to Trump's S&T funding cuts, What sets Renaissance apart from traditional philanthropic organizations, and lessons for China-focused research foundations, AI applications in education, from tutoring to dyslexia screening, Donor psychology, “portfolio regret,” and how to build trust within a philanthropic network. Thanks to ElevenLabs for sponsoring this episode. Check out the ElevenReader text-to-speech app here. Outro music: Mercy, Mercy, Mercy - Cannonball Adderley (YouTube Link) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Erin sits down with NCITE researcher Evan Perkoski, Ph.D., to discuss his team's research on terrorist recruitment trends. They also discuss his upcoming project, funded by Schmidt Futures, which will study how AI is impacting all aspects of terrorist organizations, including their marketing, financial, and training operations. Perkoski is an associate professor and director of undergraduate studies of political science at the University of Connecticut. Check out the NCITE team's recruitment research here: https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1117&context=ncitereportsresearch

Tom Kalil is the CEO of Renaissance Philanthropy. He also served in the White House for two presidents (under Obama and Clinton); where he helped establish incentive prizes in government through challenge.gov; in addition to dozens of science and tech program. More recently Tom served as the Chief Innovation Officer at Schmidt Futures, where he helped launch Convergent Research. Matt Clancy is an economist and a research fellow at Open Philanthropy. He writes ‘New Things Under the Sun', which is a living literature review on academic research about science and innovation. We talked about: What is ‘influence without authority'? Should public funders sponsor more innovation prizes? Can policy entrepreneurship be taught formally? Why isn't ultra-wealthy philanthropy much more ambitious? What's the optimistic case for increasing US state capacity? What was it like being principal staffer to Gordon Moore? What is Renaissance Philanthropy? You can get in touch through our website or on Twitter. Consider leaving us an honest review wherever you're listening to this — it's the best way to support the show. Thanks for listening!

In this episode of Trending in Education, Kumar Garg, President of Renaissance Philanthropy, rejoins host Mike Palmer for his second appearance after first appearing in the Spring of 2021. The conversation delves into Garg's evolution from Schmidt Futures to launching Renaissance Philanthropy, and their work at the intersection of AI and learning science. We discuss the historical underfunding of education R&D compared to other sectors and explore the immense potential of AI in transforming learning experiences. The conversation covers the Learning Engineering Virtual Institute, the importance of interdisciplinary expertise, recent research with the Walton Family Foundation, and future ambitions for integrating cutting-edge technology into education. We also reference Renaissance's Pattern Language for High Impact Philanthropic Giving. Subscribe where you get your podcasts. Video versions now available on Youtube and Spotify. TIMESYAMPS 00:00 Welcome and Introduction 00:38 Kumar Garg's Journey and Renaissance Philanthropy 02:39 The Intersection of AI and Learning Science 05:45 Building "Bilingual" Teams for Educational Innovation 06:55 Renaissance's Bold Goals and Partnerships 08:44 Recent Initiatives and Future Directions 13:09 Challenges and Opportunities in AI for Education 27:34 The Importance of Trust and Equity in Educational Technology 33:22 Conclusion and Call to Action

To discuss America's comparative advantages in national competition and the structural forces that drive (and limit) innovation, ChinaTalk interviewed Kumar Garg.  Formerly an Obama official in the Office of Science and Technology Policy, Kumar spent several years at Schmidt Futures focusing on science and technology philanthropy. He has been a mentor and cheerleader for ChinaTalk over the years, and he is the president of the newly established Renaissance Philanthropy. We discuss: The inspiration behind Renaissance Philanthropy and its focus on mid-scale, field-transforming ideas Strategies for identifying underexplored, high-impact projects — including weather forecasting, carbon sequestration, and datasets on neurocognition Structural challenges for R&D funding at the level of government and universities The role of focused research organizations like OpenAI in accelerating progress and understanding long-term drivers of productivity A wide angle-view of US-China competition and strategic innovation The underresearched importance of alliance management. Outtro music: Song 1 - If ye love me - Thomas Tallis and the Cambridge Singers (Youtube Link) Song 2 - Recercare (I) - Francesco Spinacino and Robert Meunier (Youtube Link) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

To discuss America's comparative advantages in national competition and the structural forces that drive (and limit) innovation, ChinaTalk interviewed Kumar Garg.  Formerly an Obama official in the Office of Science and Technology Policy, Kumar spent several years at Schmidt Futures focusing on science and technology philanthropy. He has been a mentor and cheerleader for ChinaTalk over the years, and he is the president of the newly established Renaissance Philanthropy. We discuss: The inspiration behind Renaissance Philanthropy and its focus on mid-scale, field-transforming ideas Strategies for identifying underexplored, high-impact projects — including weather forecasting, carbon sequestration, and datasets on neurocognition Structural challenges for R&D funding at the level of government and universities The role of focused research organizations like OpenAI in accelerating progress and understanding long-term drivers of productivity A wide angle-view of US-China competition and strategic innovation The underresearched importance of alliance management. Outtro music: Song 1 - If ye love me - Thomas Tallis and the Cambridge Singers (Youtube Link) Song 2 - Recercare (I) - Francesco Spinacino and Robert Meunier (Youtube Link) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Moments to Movements, we delve into the impact of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly focusing on SDG #4: Quality Education. Our guests, Nathan Baek and Mohammad Shehadat, share their experiences and insights as young leaders dedicated to creating meaningful change in the realm of education.You'll learn about:Nathan Baek's journey as the founder of the Microphone Initiative, where he specializes in teaching the SDGs, combating age-based discrimination, and giving youth a voice on a global stage.Mohammad Shehadat's unique perspective as a peacebuilding and youth activist, shaped by his experiences as a Syrian refugee. Mohammad discusses the challenges faced by asylum seekers in accessing education and how he is using his platform to advocate for education as a tool for peace and development.Discover more about Nathan and Mohammad and their impactful work:Follow Nathan Baek on LinkedIn, and learn more about Microphone Initiative by visiting their website. Nathan was also selected as a Rise Global Winner in 2022 for his work in Quality Education. You can learn more about Rise, an initiative of Schmidt Futures and the Rhodes Trust, here. You can learn more about Mohammad Shehadat in the three article links below.How Mohammad is helping Syrian refugees resume their education & gain new skills | UNESCOFrom Syrian refugee to global youth leader: The inspiring story of Mohammad Shehadat | UNESCOIntersectional Peacebuilding: An interview with Mohammad Shehadat | UNOYMoments to Movements is presented by Peace First.It was produced and edited by Ernesto Chavezvaldivia. Researched with help from Nadia Posada.

In this conversation, Puja Mehra talks to Dr. Shruti Rajagopalan about the historical context of the 1991 Economic Liberalisation of India. She illustrates how the economy in india worked through the manufacture of a bicycle and goes on to explain the impact of those economic reforms, the careful planning that went into it, the people who brought it to fruition, the political turmoil at the time and much more.About Dr. Shruti Rajagopalan: Dr. Shruti Rajagopalan is a Senior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, where she leads the Indian Political Economy Program and Emergent Ventures India. She is also a Fellow at the Classical Liberal Institute at NYU School of Law and an Innovation Fellow with Schmidt Futures. Dr. Rajagopalan's research interests include law and economics, public choice theory, and constitutional economics, with her work published in various academic journals and media outlets such as The New York Times, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Project Syndicate, Bloomberg, Real Clear Politics, Mint, The Hindu: Business Line, and The Indian Express. She hosts the Ideas of India podcast and writes the Get Down and Shruti substack on Indian political economy and culture.SHOW NOTES(01:04) Interview starts(03:57) The humble bicycle(06:49) The license stack for starting a bike shop(13:32) License convolution(19:37) Wartime controls led to central planning(22:44) How would License Raj unravel(25:17) How the 1991 political crisis came to be(27:57) Finance ministers of the time(30:14) The Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi and it consequences(34:15) The team that liberalised India(36:09) The Devaluation of the Rupee(39:22) Fixing Imports and Exports(41:53) The Careful Planning of the Economic Reforms(47:50) The Advantage of Small Firms(50:46) FDIs and foreign expertise(54:10) The far reaching impacts of the Economic Reforms(58:02) The Case Study of India as a blueprint for Economic ReformsFor more of our coverage check out thecore.inSubscribe to our NewsletterFollow us on:Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Linkedin | Youtube

On Episode 7 of "Practical History" I chat with Nick Cohen of the philanthropic organization Schmidt Futures. Nick's graduate training in history has helped him run the company's programs designed to identify and support the world's top talent in science and tech, and to harness their superpowers for the public good. Nick shares how he has translated the insights from his MA thesis to design and evaluate the international programs he manages, why he sees science and culture as inseparable, and what he found most exciting—and surprising—about working on a team that helped the journalist Fareed Zakaria research his forthcoming book, The Age of Revolutions. We also talk about why history departments should go beyond acknowledging non-academic career pathways for their students and celebrate those pathways instead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

On Episode 7 of "Practical History" I chat with Nick Cohen of the philanthropic organization Schmidt Futures. Nick's graduate training in history has helped him run the company's programs designed to identify and support the world's top talent in science and tech, and to harness their superpowers for the public good. Nick shares how he has translated the insights from his MA thesis to design and evaluate the international programs he manages, why he sees science and culture as inseparable, and what he found most exciting—and surprising—about working on a team that helped the journalist Fareed Zakaria research his forthcoming book, The Age of Revolutions. We also talk about why history departments should go beyond acknowledging non-academic career pathways for their students and celebrate those pathways instead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Britt Wray is a science communicator and the author of two books. Her latest is Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Anxiety, which is a national bestseller. Dr. Wray is also the director of CIRCLE (Community-minded Interventions for Resilience, Climate Leadership, and Emotional wellbeing) at Stanford Psychiatry, a research and action initiative in the Stanford School of Medicine. Her first book, the Rise of the Necrofauna: The Science, Ethics, and Risks of De-Extinction was named a best book of 2017 by the New Yorker. She most recently is a top award winner of the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communications, which was bestowed upon her by the National Academies in partnership with Schmidt Futures.Climate change evokes a myriad of emotions unique to each individual. It can stir outrage in some, sadness in others, a sense of helplessness for some, and dread for the future in others. There is no universally right or wrong reaction, as our responses are shaped by our distinct relationships with the world and the diverse circumstances in which we live. The perception of climate change varies; for some, it may feel abstract, while for others, the impacts are undeniably profound and far-reaching.But as Dr. Wray points out, we know that climate change as we are experiencing it is anthropogenic, meaning it's the result of human behavior. And yet so little has been studied about the human behavioral response to climate change. How do we individually and collectively feel about climate change, and what do those feelings drive us to do? This is the sweet spot of Britt's work.In this episode, we cover: An overview of Dr. Wray's research on climate distressHer work as the Director of CIRCLE (Community-minded Interventions for Resilience, Climate Leadership, and Emotional Wellbeing) at Stanford PsychiatryAn overview of climate anxiety and its impact on peopleThe concept of solastalgia and broken record, record breakingThe importance of community and social connections in addressing climate anxietyThe need for evaluation and evidence-based interventions for climate anxietyIncluding behavioralists and psychologists when addressing climate changeThe potential role of guilt in motivating action on climate changeThe impact of climate change on reproductive decisions and parentingDr. Wray's book and newsletterThe importance of open and vulnerable conversations about climate changeEpisode recorded on Jan 29, 2024 (Published on Feb 26, 2024) Get connected with MCJ: Jason Jacobs X / LinkedInCody Simms X / LinkedInMCJ Podcast / Collective / YouTube*If you liked this episode, please consider giving us a review! You can also reach us via email at content@mcjcollective.com, where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Lydia Logan is the Vice President of Global Education and Workforce Development, Corporate Social Responsibility at IBM, where she leads IBM's community and university skilling initiatives that create more inclusive and effective schools and workforces. Her programs help fulfill IBM's pledges to skill 30 million people worldwide by 2030, and to train two million learners in AI through 2026, particularly those from historically underresourced, underserved, and underrepresented communities. She also develops and manages strategic global partnerships with IBM's clients, non-profit organizations, government, and content and curriculum developers that relate to education and career readiness. For this role, she applies her decades of leadership and programmatic expertise in the realms of philanthropy, education, public policy, and economic development. These experiences inform the strategic development and execution of acclaimed global career readiness programs, particularly IBM SkillsBuild.   Prior to IBM, Lydia successfully spearheaded education initiatives while serving in senior leadership roles at Verizon, the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, and Kimsey Foundation.In addition, she was VP and executive director of the Institute for a Competitive Workforce at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where she led national policy and program initiatives to improve education and workforce development.Earlier in her career, she led Chiefs for Change, a national membership organization of Chief State School Officers.Recommended Resources:IBM SkillsBuildPrincipled Instructions Are All You Need for Questioning LLaMA-1/2, GPT-3.5/4 by John BaileyTools Competition by Schmidt Futures

Nonprofitnewsfeed.com   Nonprofit Sector Confronts International Aid Challenges and Navigates Donor Dynamics In this week's episode of the Nonprofit News Feed by Whole Whale, hosts George and Nick delve into pressing issues within the nonprofit world, including the complexities of the USAID food program, philanthropic trends in New York City, and the unpredictable nature of billionaire-backed philanthropy. USAID Food Aid Under Scrutiny The episode kicks off with a critical look at the U.S. international food aid program. An NPR investigation revealed that Catholic Relief Services discovered rotting grain intended for Haiti, spotlighting inefficiencies in non-emergency food aid delivery. Current legislation requires non-emergency aid from USAID to be sourced from U.S. suppliers, but experts argue for more regional and direct cash assistance approaches. The Biden administration is pushing for reforms in the upcoming farm bill to address these stringent restrictions, highlighting the tension between international development professionals and American farmers. Wealthy Donors Pulling Back in NYC The conversation shifts to New York City, where wealthy donors are reportedly hesitating to contribute to the city's escalating problems, including homelessness and the migrant crisis. Mayor Eric Adams' emphasis on the severity of these issues without federal aid is speculated to be discouraging donors, underscoring the need for hopeful messaging to inspire philanthropic investment. The hosts reflect on the importance of nonprofits in the city and the potential impact of donor withdrawal on their operations. Schmidt Futures: A Cautionary Tale of Philanthropic Instability The episode also examines the case of Schmidt Futures, the philanthropic arm of former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, as reported by Forbes. The organization's sudden program shifts and leadership changes exemplify the volatility that can arise when nonprofits rely heavily on individual billionaire donors. The hosts discuss the broader implications for the sector and the necessity of recognizing these dependencies as potential risks. GLAAD's Emmy Recognition for LGBTQ+ Advocacy Ending on a positive note, the hosts celebrate GLAAD's recognition at the Emmys for its advocacy work in the LGBTQ+ community. Amidst challenging times for trans rights, the Academy's accolade highlights the influence of media representation and GLAAD's critical role in shaping narratives. Closing Thought: The Power of Nonprofits in Shaping Narratives The episode concludes with a reflection on the power of nonprofits, not only in addressing immediate needs but also in influencing societal perspectives through storytelling and media consultation. The joke shared between the hosts adds a light-hearted touch, reinforcing the community spirit that underpins the nonprofit sector. In Summary: This episode underscores the complex relationship between policy, philanthropy, and nonprofit impact, offering a nuanced perspective on current challenges and the evolving landscape of aid and donor engagement.

Nonprofitnewsfeed.com   Nonprofit Sector Confronts International Aid Challenges and Navigates Donor Dynamics In this week's episode of the Nonprofit News Feed by Whole Whale, hosts George and Nick delve into pressing issues within the nonprofit world, including the complexities of the USAID food program, philanthropic trends in New York City, and the unpredictable nature of billionaire-backed philanthropy. USAID Food Aid Under Scrutiny The episode kicks off with a critical look at the U.S. international food aid program. An NPR investigation revealed that Catholic Relief Services discovered rotting grain intended for Haiti, spotlighting inefficiencies in non-emergency food aid delivery. Current legislation requires non-emergency aid from USAID to be sourced from U.S. suppliers, but experts argue for more regional and direct cash assistance approaches. The Biden administration is pushing for reforms in the upcoming farm bill to address these stringent restrictions, highlighting the tension between international development professionals and American farmers. Wealthy Donors Pulling Back in NYC The conversation shifts to New York City, where wealthy donors are reportedly hesitating to contribute to the city's escalating problems, including homelessness and the migrant crisis. Mayor Eric Adams' emphasis on the severity of these issues without federal aid is speculated to be discouraging donors, underscoring the need for hopeful messaging to inspire philanthropic investment. The hosts reflect on the importance of nonprofits in the city and the potential impact of donor withdrawal on their operations. Schmidt Futures: A Cautionary Tale of Philanthropic Instability The episode also examines the case of Schmidt Futures, the philanthropic arm of former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, as reported by Forbes. The organization's sudden program shifts and leadership changes exemplify the volatility that can arise when nonprofits rely heavily on individual billionaire donors. The hosts discuss the broader implications for the sector and the necessity of recognizing these dependencies as potential risks. GLAAD's Emmy Recognition for LGBTQ+ Advocacy Ending on a positive note, the hosts celebrate GLAAD's recognition at the Emmys for its advocacy work in the LGBTQ+ community. Amidst challenging times for trans rights, the Academy's accolade highlights the influence of media representation and GLAAD's critical role in shaping narratives. Closing Thought: The Power of Nonprofits in Shaping Narratives The episode concludes with a reflection on the power of nonprofits, not only in addressing immediate needs but also in influencing societal perspectives through storytelling and media consultation. The joke shared between the hosts adds a light-hearted touch, reinforcing the community spirit that underpins the nonprofit sector. In Summary: This episode underscores the complex relationship between policy, philanthropy, and nonprofit impact, offering a nuanced perspective on current challenges and the evolving landscape of aid and donor engagement.

Sydney Skybetter sits down with choreorobotics innovator, Dr. Catie Cuan. They discuss her personal and professional trajectory, and try to answer the question: why dance with a robot? About Catie: An engineer, researcher, and artist, Dr. Catie Cuan is a pioneer in the nascent field of ‘choreorobotics' and works at the intersection of artificial intelligence, human-robot interaction, and art.  She is currently a Postdoc in Computer Science at Stanford University. Catie recently defended her PhD in robotics via the Mechanical Engineering department at Stanford, where she also completed a Master's of Science in Mechanical Engineering. The title of her PhD thesis is “Compelling Robot Behaviors through Supervised Learning and Choreorobotics”, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health, Google, and Stanford University. During her PhD, she led the first multi-robot machine learning project at Everyday Robots (Google X) and Robotics at Google (now a part of Google Deepmind). She has held artistic residencies at the Smithsonian, Everyday Robots (Google X), TED, and ThoughtWorks Arts. Catie is a prolific robot choreographer, having created works with nearly a dozen different robots, from a massive ABB IRB 6700 industrial robot to a tabletop IDEO + Moooi robot. Catie is also a 2023 International Strategy Forum (ISF) fellow at Schmidt Futures and the former co-founder of caali, an embodied media company. Read the transcript, and find more resources in our archive: https://www.are.na/choreographicinterfaces/dwr-ep-6-irl-a-conversation-with-choreoroboticist-catie-cuan Like, subscribe, and review here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dances-with-robots/id1715669152  What We Discuss with Catie (Timestamps): 0:00:15: Introduction to Dr. Catie Cuan 0:02:23: Catie's PhD thesis on supervised learning for compelling robot behaviors. 0:03:19: How Catie balanced her dance career with her work in tech. 0:05:35: The skepticism and terror of bringing dance into a STEM environment. 0:06:20: Navigating elite STEM environments as a woman of color. 0:07:41: The history of dance and robotics at Stanford University 0:11:56: Contrasts between STEM and embodied practices. 0:12:44: Catie's relationship with the CRCI community. 0:13:30: The importance of artists in contemplating the meaning of new technologies. 0:14:31: Challenges of creating a complex dance performance with robots. 0:16:24: Lack of templates for realizing installation, performance, and robotics research. 0:19:58: Safety considerations and rules for performing with robots. 0:20:51: Why Boston Dynamics Spot robots and their expressive capabilities. 0:23:32: Contemplating the ethical implications of robot applications. 0:25:27: The future of Choreo Robotics and the importance of imagination. 0:26:00: Dance's role in depicting a universe of creativity and joy. 0:27:35: Choreographers are essential for successful deployment of robots. 0:28:26: Robot dances becoming more prevalent in various contexts. 0:30:04: Dance is essential to culture and human identity. 0:31:20: Dancing with robots is not a novel concept. 0:32:00: Show credits & thanks The Dances with Robots Team Host: Sydney Skybetter Co-Host & Executive Producer: Ariane Michaud Archivist and Web Designer: Kate Gow Podcasting Consultant: Megan Hall Accessibility Consultant: Laurel Lawson Music: Kamala Sankaram Audio Production Consultant: Jim Moses Assistant Editor: Andrew Zukoski Student Associate: Rishika Kartik About CRCI The Conference for Research on Choreographic Interfaces (CRCI) explores the braid of choreography, computation and surveillance through an interdisciplinary lens. Find out more at www.choreographicinterfaces.org Brown University's Department of Theatre Arts & Performance Studies' Conference for Research on Choreographic Interfaces thanks the Marshall Woods Lectureships Foundation of Fine Arts, the Brown Arts Institute, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for their generous support of this project. The Brown Arts Institute and the Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies are part of the Perelman Arts District.  

David Shacklette is the Product Manager for the Harvard Skills Lab, a Schmidt Futures funded research initiative and startup that designs performance-based assessment tools that can be used by universities, businesses, and individuals to provide a clearer picture of the foundational skills (sometimes called “soft skills”) required for individuals and teams to succeed in the labor market. Prior to joining the Skills Lab, David has held product roles at Fortune Magazine, where most notably he launched and scaled Fortune's first education vertical (fortune.com/education) in partnership with 2U, and has previously held a variety of operational and leadership roles in venture capital and early-stage startups in the Bay Area. David holds a Master's degree in Symbolic Systems from Stanford University, where he focused on topics in the fields of Educational Neuroscience and AI.Recommended Resources:https://www.skillslab.dev/game-libraryForked Lightning by David DemingGet ready to explore the future of education! Join Edtech Insiders for a virtual conference featuring 30+ of the top voices shaping the future of Al + Education. A full day of keynote speakers, panel discussions, and networking!Register now here: AI+EDU Virtual Conference

Tier two (R2) research and smaller institutions, including two-year, minority-serving, and tribal colleges, can now build solid research infrastructures and perform groundbreaking discoveries through research enterprises on the same scale as larger R1 and flagship universities. In this episode of Changing Higher Ed®, Drumm speaks with Sethuraman Panchanathan, Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF). They discuss how his organization helps democratize ideas in higher education, enabling all colleges and universities to solve real-world problems and revitalize their communities. The NSF achieves this through programs like the Nationally Transformative Equity and Diversity (GRANTED) and Enabling Partnership to Increase Innovation Capacity (EPIIC). Dr. Panch also discusses NSF's mission and vision. He talks about its recent $44 million program that helps fund projects across the US. Additionally, Drumm refers to another NSF program as "a tech transfer on steroids." Moreover, they explore what smaller institutions with few resources need to do to start conducting research.   Podcast Highlights NSF's Regional Innovation Engines is a $44 million investment that partners with communities to utilize regional potentials like the Hazleton pilot converting hemp into carbon-negative building materials through collaboration with Penn State University and community colleges. The cross-cutting TIP Directorate pulls discoveries into the industry, creating impactful solutions by fostering partnerships and bringing back new ideas to address real-world problems. GRANTED and EPIIC programs support the growth of research infrastructure and capacity at national and minority-serving institutions, enhancing access to resources and regional innovation ecosystems. NSF's strategic focus includes research, education, partnerships, and research infrastructures, with initiatives like BP Innovate, EDU Racial Equity in STEM, and the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program to promote inclusion and quality in STEM education.   NSF partners with organizations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Schmidt Futures, and the Walton Family Foundation to improve the quality of US STEM education for all students. GRANTED provides investment in research infrastructure, and institutions can reach out to the program coordinator to present competitive ideas and connect with successful participating institutions.    Read the transcript →   About Our Podcast Guest The Honorable Sethuraman Panchanathan is the 15th director of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), nominated by the President in 2019 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2020. With over three decades of experience, he is a leader in science, engineering, and education. Before joining NSF, Panchanathan served as the executive vice president of the Arizona State University (ASU) Knowledge Enterprise, where he significantly advanced research innovation and strategic partnerships. His scientific contributions have earned him numerous awards, including Honorary Doctorates and the IEEE-USA Public Service Award. Panchanathan's leadership extends to various interagency councils and committees, including the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee. He is also known for his extensive publication record and mentorship of over 150 graduate students, postdocs, and research scientists. Panchanathan is a fellow of multiple prestigious academies and societies, including the National Academy of Inventors and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is married to Sarada "Soumya" Panchanathan, an academic pediatrician and informatician, and they have two adult children, Amritha and Roshan.   About the Host  Dr. Drumm McNaughton, the host of Changing Higher Ed®, is a consultant to higher ed institutions in governance, accreditation, strategy and change, and mergers. To learn more about his services and other thought leadership pieces, visit his firm's website: https://changinghighered.com/.   The Change Leader's Social Media Links   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drdrumm/ Twitter: @thechangeldr Email: podcast@changinghighered.com   #ChangingHigherEd #HigherEdResearch #HigherEdPodcast

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Who Was the Funder that Counterfactually Resulted in LEEP Starting?, published by Joey on July 4, 2023 on The Effective Altruism Forum. Lead Exposure Elimination Project (LEEP) is an outstanding Charity Entrepreneurship-incubated charity recognized externally for its impactful work by RP, Founders Pledge, Schmidt Futures, and Open Philanthropy. It's one of the clearest cases of new charities having a profound impact on the world. However, everything is clear in hindsight; it now seems obvious that this was a great idea and team to fund, but who funded LEEP at the earliest stage? Before any of the aforementioned bodies would have considered or looked at them, who provided funding when $60k made the difference between launching and not existing? The CE Seed Network, so far, has been a rather well-kept secret. They are the first people to see each new batch of CE-incubated charities and make a decision on whether and how much to support them. A handful of donors supported LEEP in its earliest days, culminating in the excellent charity we see today. Some of them donated anonymously, never seeking credit or the limelight, just quietly making a significant impact. Others engaged deeply and regularly with the team, eventually becoming trusted board members. Historically, the Seed Network has been a small group (~30) of primarily E2G-focused EAs, invited by the CE team or alumni from the CE program to join. However, now we are opening it up for expressions of interest for those who might want to join in future rounds. Our charity production has doubled (from 5 to 10 charities a year) and although our Seed Network has grown, there is still room for more members to join to support our next batches of charities. We have now created a website to describe how it works. On that website, there's an application form for those who might be a good fit to be a member in the future. It's not a great fit for everyone as it focuses on the CE (near-termist) cause areas and donors who could donate over $10k a year to new charities and can make a decision on whether and whom to fund with how much in a short period of time when we send out the newest project proposals (~9 days). But for those who fit, we think it's one of the most impactful ways to donate. Thanks for listening. To help us out with The Nonlinear Library or to learn more, please visit nonlinear.org

Lead Exposure Elimination Project (LEEP) is an outstanding Charity Entrepreneurship-incubated charity recognized externally for its impactful work by RP, Founders Pledge, Schmidt Futures, and Open Philanthropy. It's one of the clearest cases of new charities having a profound impact on the world. However, everything is clear in hindsight; it now seems obvious that this was a great idea and team to fund, but who funded LEEP at the earliest stage? Before any of the aforementioned bodies would have considered or looked at them, who provided funding when $60k made the difference between launching and not existing? The CE Seed Network, so far, has been a rather well-kept secret. They are the first people to see each new batch of CE-incubated charities and make a decision on whether and how much to support them. A handful of donors supported LEEP in its earliest days, culminating in the excellent charity we see today. Some of them donated anonymously, never seeking credit or the limelight, just quietly making a significant impact. Others engaged deeply and regularly with the team, eventually becoming trusted board members. Historically, the Seed Network has been a small group (~30) of primarily E2G-focused EAs, invited by the CE team or alumni from the CE program to join. However, now we are opening it up for expressions of interest for those who might want to join in future rounds. Our charity production has doubled (from 5 to 10 charities a year) and although our Seed Network has grown, there is still room for more members to join to support our next batches of charities. We have now created a website to describe how it works. On that website, there's an application form for those who might be a good fit to be a member in the future. It's not a great fit for everyone as it focuses on the CE (near-termist) cause areas and donors who could donate over $10k a year to new charities and can make a decision on whether and whom to fund with how much in a short period of time when we send out the newest project proposals (~9 days). But for those who fit, we think it's one of the most impactful ways to donate.--- First published: July 4th, 2023 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/t6JzBxtrXjLRufE8o/who-was-the-funder-that-counterfactually-resulted-in-leep --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. Share feedback on this narration.

This post is a summary of some of my work as a field strategy consultant at Schmidt Futures' Act 2 program, where I spoke with over a hundred experts and did a deep dive into antimicrobial resistance to find impactful investment opportunities within the cause area. The full report can be accessed here.Antimicrobials, the medicines we use to fight infections, have played a foundational role in improving the length and quality of human life since penicillin and other antimicrobials were first developed in the early and mid 20th century.Antimicrobial resistance, or AMR, occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites evolve resistance to antimicrobials. As a result, antimicrobial medicine such as antibiotics and antifungals become ineffective and unable to fight infections in the body.AMR is responsible for millions of deaths each year, more than HIV or malaria (ARC 2022). The AMR Visualisation Tool, produced by Oxford University and IHME, visualises IHME data which finds that 1.27 million deaths per year are attributable to bacterial resistance and 4.95 million deaths per year are associated with bacterial resistance, as shown below.Source:https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/W93Pt7xch7eyrkZ7f/cause-area-report-antimicrobial-resistanceNarrated for the Effective Altruism Forum by TYPE III AUDIO.Share feedback on this narration.

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: [Linkpost] Longtermists Are Pushing a New Cold War With China, published by Mohammad Ismam Huda on May 27, 2023 on The Effective Altruism Forum. Jacob Davis, a writer for the socialist political magazine Jacobin, raises an interesting concern about how current longermist initiatives in AI Safety are in his assessment escalating tensions between the US and China. This highlights a conundrum for the Effective Altruism movement which seeks to advance both AI Safety and avoid a great power conflict between the US and China. This is not the first time this conundrum has been raised which has been explored on the forum previously by Stephen Clare. The key points Davis asserts are that: Longtermists have been key players in President Biden's choice last October to place heavy controls on semiconductor exports. Key longtermist figures advancing export controls and hawkish policies against China include former Google CEO Eric Schmidt (through Schmidt Futures and the longtermist political fund Future Forward PAC), former congressional candidate and FHI researcher Carrick Flynn, as well as other longtermists in key positions at Gerogetown Center for Security and Emerging Technology and the RAND Corporation. Export controls have failed to limit China's AI research, but have wrought havoc on global supply chains and seen as protectionist in some circles. I hope this linkpost opens up a debate about the merits and weaknesses of current strategies and views in longtermist circles. Thanks for listening. To help us out with The Nonlinear Library or to learn more, please visit nonlinear.org.

In this episode, Radar podcast host Steven Van Belleghem and his #nexxworks friends Peter Hinssen, Pascal Coppens, Julie Vens - De Vos and Laurence Van Elegem discuss generative AI's data problem, private company versions of ChatGPT, Drake, Grimes, Twitter, TikTok, Walmart versus Amazon, Schmidt Futures and AI investment strategies, our Never Normal Tour with Mediafin in New York (guided by nexxworks Founder Peter Hinssen and General Editor at 'De Tijd' Isabel Albers), the human energy crisis, Apple's new high-yield savings account with a whopping 4.15% interest rate, its Buy Now Pay Later services, the return of (travel in) China, the EV price war, Chinese EV car company BYD successes, CATL's next-generation sodium-ion battery, youth unemployment in China, inflation going down in China, why some companies are looking for old steel warships, the power of proximity, the end of Buzzfeed news and much, much more. Shownotes: You can check the Amazon and Walmart chart Julie was talking about here. The website haveibeentrained.com allows artists to opt-in or opt-out of AI training. Here is the link to the website with the latest AI hits. www.heygen.com is where you can upload an avatar of yourself and create a video. ai.syllaby.io will help you write a script for your video. Here is Steven and Pascal's video about Tesla and BYD. Check our awesome Never Normal Tour with Mediafin in New York here. Enjoy! For more inspiration about business and technology, go to nexxworks.com. Want to learn more about our learning and inspiration programs? Visit https://www.nexxworks.com/experiences/upcoming-experiences.

On this podcast, we strive to connect fascinating and successful people to the next generation. But today, I'd like to change it up a bit and, in partnership with the Rise initiative, highlight some of the fascinating and successful people of my generation.Throughout the past few weeks, I've been talking with winners of the Rise Challenge from various years. For the finale of this trilogy, I'll be speaking with Tony Wang. For his Rise project, Tony developed an AI tool to address pharmaceutical monopolization.Rise is a program that finds promising young people and provides "opportunity for life as they work to serve others." An initiative of Schmidt Futures and the Rhodes Trust, Rise is the anchor program of a $1 billion commitment from Eric and Wendy Schmidt to find and support global talent.Topics:How Tony tackled the monopolization of healthcare research by addressing anti-biotic resistanceThe process: How did you build this?How to break down large projects into manageable piecesWhat is the future of this project?"What books have had an impact on you?""What advice do you have for other young people?"Tony Wang is a Chinese-American advocate living in the United States. Tony hopes to democratize medical research and create equality in healthcare, especially by addressing AI bias. For his Rise project, Tony developed an AI tool to address pharmaceutical monopolization, for which he was named an International Science & Engineering Fair (ISEF) Finalist. Tony hopes to create sustainable, ethical AI systems to fight for marginalized groups, especially racial minorities and the LGBTQIA+ community.Socials! -Lessons from Interesting People substack: https://taylorbledsoe.substack.com/Website: https://www.aimingforthemoon.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aiming4moon/Twitter: https://twitter.com/Aiming4MoonFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/aiming4moonTaylor's Blog: https://www.taylorgbledsoe.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6 

Google doesn't tell its employees how to innovate; it manages their inventive chaos. Their secret? Mix free-flowing ideas with disciplined decision-making. In this week's All Star Episode, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt shares his strategies to manage chaos. CEO of Google from 2001-2015, and now the co-founder of Schmidt Futures, Schmidt reveals the hidden secret in Google's famous “20% time” policy, their approach to hiring smart creatives, and the parallels between leading Google and piloting small airplanes. Plus, the decision he made to support a crazy idea that he was certain would bankrupt the company“ALL STAR EPISODES” are filled with the transformative, unconventional wisdom that you've come to know from Masters of Scale. Have an idea for an All Star Episode from our library? Let us know at hello@mastersofscale.com.Read a transcript of this episode: https://mastersofscale.com/Subscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter at http://eepurl.com/dlirtXSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this podcast, we strive to connect fascinating and successful people to the next generation. But today and throughout March, I'd like to change it up a bit and, in partnership with the Rise initiative, highlight some of the fascinating and successful people of my generation. Throughout this month, I'll be talking with three of the winners of the Rise Challenge from various years. For part two of this trilogy, I'll be speaking with Rishabh "Rishi" Ambavanekar. For his Rise project, he built a low-cost, brain-computer interface (BCI) to help stroke victims communicate via translation of their inner dialogue. Rise is a program that finds promising young people and provides "opportunity for life as they work to serve others." An initiative of Schmidt Futures and the Rhodes Trust, Rise is the anchor program of a $1 billion commitment from Eric and Wendy Schmidt to find and support global talent.Topics:How overcoming OCD and his dad's TIA inspired Rishi to build an inner speech translator for stroke victimsHow to research and learn material outside your comfort zoneHow to deal with the "dauntingness" of new topicsUtilizing “inner speech” to build brain-computer interface (BCI)The future of his projectAdvice to other young innovators tackling intimidating projects"What books and media have inspired you?""What advice do you have for other young people?"Rishi Ambavanekar is an inventor and scientist from the US. After overcoming OCD, he grew passionate about neuroscience. Upon learning about his father's transient ischemic attack (TIA), he decided to focus on supporting stroke recovery. For his Rise project, he built a low-cost, brain-computer interface (BCI) to help stroke victims communicate via translation of their inner dialogue. Rishi is also proud to be named a 2022 ISEF finalist, FTC innovation award semifinalist, and an avid app developer. In the future, he plans to pursue a PH.D. and start a business.Socials! -Lessons from Interesting People substack: https://taylorbledsoe.substack.com/Website: https://www.aimingforthemoon.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aiming4moon/Twitter: https://twitter.com/Aiming4MoonFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/aiming4moonTaylor's Blog: https://www.taylorgbledsoe.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6 

ISF IN FOCUS: The International Strategy Forum, a program of Schmidt Futures, bets early on the next generation of problem solvers with extraordinary potential in geopolitics, innovation, and public leadership to strengthen progress and security amid technological innovation and a changing world order. In this episode, ISF Director Helen Zhang introduces the program at its first-ever Global Summit, which brought together 117 rising leaders from North America, Africa, Asia, and Europe. We discuss how ISF and its network of fellows are tackling some of the hardest problems in science, society, and around the world.

On this podcast, we strive to connect fascinating and successful people to the next generation. But today and throughout March, I'd like to change it up a bit and, in partnership with the Rise initiative, highlight some of the fascinating and successful people of my generation. Throughout this month, I'll be talking with three of the winners of the Rise Challenge from various years. To begin this trilogy, I'll be speaking with Hawi ‘Annette' Odhiamno in honor of international women's day. For her Rise project, she built on an existing project, designing a prototype for a water system to support farming in Kenya. Rise is a program that finds promising young people and provides opportunity for life as they work to serve others. An initiative of Schmidt Futures and the Rhodes Trust, Rise is the anchor program of a $1 billion commitment from Eric and Wendy Schmidt to find and support global talent.Topics:Hawi's project: creating sustainable agriculture for farmers in KenyaHow to learn material outside of your comfort zoneHow Hawi created an instruction manual in both English and SwahiliThe future of her project"What skills did you gain?"How to balance projects and high schoolHawi's advice to other young innovators"What books have had an impact on you?""What advice do you have for teenagers?"From Kenya, Hawi works at the intersection of technology and agriculture. For her Rise project, she built on an existing project, designing a prototype for a water system to support farming in Kenya. Her model uses only recycled materials, and she has involved farmers themselves in its design. She also created instruction booklets for the rural farmers in both English and Swahili (for accessibility). In the future, she hopes to study International Relations and Chinese to create sustainable relations within countries in East Africa.Socials! -Lessons from Interesting People substack: https://taylorbledsoe.substack.com/Website: https://www.aimingforthemoon.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aiming4moon/Twitter: https://twitter.com/Aiming4MoonFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/aiming4moonTaylor's Blog: https://www.taylorgbledsoe.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6 

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: After launch. How are CE charities progressing?, published by Ula Zarosa on March 6, 2023 on The Effective Altruism Forum. TL;DR: Charity Entrepreneurship have helped to kick-start 23 impact-focused nonprofits in four years. We believe that starting more effective charities is the most impactful thing we can do. Our charities have surpassed expectations, and in this post we provide an update on their progress and achievements to date. About CE At Charity Entrepreneurship (CE) we launch high-impact nonprofits by connecting entrepreneurs with the effective ideas, training and funding needed to launch and succeed. We provide: Seed grants (ranging from $50,000 to $200,000 per project) In-depth research reports with promising charity ideas Two months of intensive training Co-founder matching (this is particularly important) Stipends Co-working space in London Ongoing connection to the CE Community (~100 founders, funders and mentors) (Applications are now open to our 2023/2024 programs, apply by March 12, 2023).We estimate that on average: 40% of our charities reach or exceed the cost-effectiveness of the strongest charities in their fields (e.g., GiveWell/ACE recommended). 40% are in a steady state. This means they are having impact, but not at the GiveWell-recommendation level yet, or their cost-effectiveness is currently less clear-cut (all new charities start in this category for their first year). 20% have already shut down or might in the future. General update To date, our CE Seed Network has provided our charities with $1.88 million in launch grants. Based on the updates provided by our charities in Jan 2023, we estimate that: 1. They have meaningfully reached over 15 million people, and have the potential to soon reach up to 2.5 billion animals annually with their programs. For example: Suvita: Reached 600,000 families with vaccination reminders, 50,000 families reached by immunization ambassadors, and 95,000 women with pregnancy care reminders 14,000 additional children vaccinated Fish Welfare Initiative: 1.14 million fish potentially helped through welfare improvements 1.4 million shrimp potentially helped Family Empowerment Media: 15 million listeners reached in Nigeria In the period overlapping with the campaign in Kano state (5.6 million people reached) the contraceptive uptake in the region increased by 75%, which corresponds to 250,000 new contraceptive users and an estimated 200 fewer maternal deaths related to unwanted pregnancies Lead Exposure Elimination Project: Policy changes implemented in Malawi alone are expected to reach 215,000 children. LEEP has launched 9 further paint programs, which they estimate will have a similar impact on average Shrimp Welfare Project: The program with MER Seafood (now in progress) can reach up to 125 million shrimp/year. Additional collaborations could reach >2.5 billion shrimp per annum 2. They have fundraised over $22.5 million USD from grantmakers like GiveWell, Open Philanthropy, Mulago, Schmidt Futures, Animal Charity Evaluators, Grand Challenges Canada, and EA Animal Welfare Fund, amongst others. 3. If implemented at scale, they can reach impressive cost-effectiveness. For example: Family Empowerment Media: the intervention can potentially be 22x more effective than cash transfers from GiveDirectly (estimated by the team, 26x estimated by Founders Pledge) Fish Welfare Initiative: 1.3 fish or 2 shrimp potentially helped per $1 (estimated by the team, ACE assessed FWI cost-effectiveness as high to very high) Shrimp Welfare Project: approximately 625 shrimp potentially helped per $1 (estimated by the team) Suvita: when delivered at scale, effectiveness is at a similar range to GiveWell's top charities (estimated by external organizations, e.g. Founders Pledge, data on this will be available later this year) Giving G...

Welcome to Future in Focus, a podcast from Schmidt Futures. We're launching this series with five conversations featuring Schmidt Futures' International Strategy Forum and eight of our fellows from around the world. Working on five continents at the frontlines of today's most pressing challenges, these fellows are charting the future of technology, innovation, democracy, and security. Tune into the series to learn more about their work, and follow Schmidt Futures at www.schmidtfutures.com.

It was only three decades ago that astronomers first discovered planets outside our solar system. Since then, astrophysicists have found more of these "exoplanets" — including some Earth-like worlds that exist in their star's habitable zone. Today, astronomy has moved far beyond pointing a lens at the night sky, so I've brought on Gioia Rau to describe her work on exoplanets, as well as how AI and recent declines in launch costs will change astronomy.Gioia is an astrophysicist and program scientist at Schmidt Futures. Previous to joining Schmidt Futures, Gioia was a research scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.In This Episode* NASA's exoplanet discoveries (1:19)* Innovation in telescopes and astronomy (5:57)* The near future for astronomy (16:02)* Americans' enthusiasm for space (22:04)Below is an edited transcript of our conversation.NASA's exoplanet discoveriesJames Pethokoukis: When I hear that there's been a discovery, that NASA has discovered an Earth-sized world inside the habitable zone of its star, I think, are there people there? Is there intelligent life there? When you hear that, what do you think? What strikes you? What are the implications you draw? What do you want know more of?Gioia Rau: That's a great question. As a scientist, I have many questions after this discovery. I would like to … discover which other molecules are in there. I would like to understand better what the size of this planet [is], what is its atmosphere and its surroundings. But as a human, as a person, and also as a scientist, it completely blows my mind. I'm so excited by the multiple discoveries. The James Webb Space Telescope is great to understand the atmosphere of these exoplanets, but what really kept us going from zero to 5,300—where we are now in terms of how many exoplanets have been confirmed—is first Kepler and then TESS.What is TESS?TESS is another telescope of NASA. It has discovered many, many exoplanets. It has scanned both atmospheres of the sky. And actually, at NASA, my group has used TESS with light curves … [and a] neural network, and so through artificial intelligence we were able to discover 181 new planet candidates. Those are incredible machines. Let's say TESS is our searcher, but then to really understand what is in there, what's the composition of this planet, we need …How many Earth-like, in a very broad sense, worlds have we found that are in habitable zones?That's a very good question, and I don't have the number on the top of my head, but those are just a bunch.At some point we had discovered none. And it wasn't that long ago that we probably had not discovered any of these?Right. The difficulty is in defining what is Earth-like. There are multiple meanings of this. One is the distance from the parent star that is similar to the distance between the Earth and our own sun. So this is called a “habitable zone.” But another measure of Earth-like is the size of the planet, or the fact that it's rocky versus gaseous. Definitely, TESS is the telescope that has helped us a lot with such discoveries.And even before we had found any of these, I imagine there was considerable speculation that obviously they had to exist, there had to be all kinds of planets outside our solar system. But we had not discovered them. And yet, I imagine it's been a pretty wonderful run we've had from going from pure speculation to beginning to analyze what these planets, whether they're Earth-sized or not, what other worlds are like.Absolutely, and it's just about 30 years, 33 years, that we've known that, actually, other planets, exoplanets—which by definition are planets outside our own solar system­­­­­­—exist. Before it was, as you mentioned, just a speculation. But the first ever planet was discovered around 33 years ago. And so since then, really our revolution began. And, actually, these two scientists that co-authored and discovered the first exoplanet have just recently been awarded the Nobel Prize.Innovation in telescopes and astronomyIt might seem to some people that NASA hasn't really done much since the Apollo program. But there's a lot more to space science than crewed missions. It seems to me like NASA's doing a whole lot of things right now.Absolutely. The time we are living now is a time of revolution for so many aspects in space exploration. Not only human exploration, which of course during the Apollo time peaked, and now hopefully also with the Artemis mission, named after the sister of Apollo in Greek mythology, is coming. But the James Webb Space Telescope, which is really a marvel of engineering. We never before have thought that we could put a telescope inside the rocket like an origami and then deploy it in the atmosphere. And we are discovering with Webb so many different things about the universe. Our early universe: Webb is basically a machine to look back in time. With its infrared vision, we will be able to look back over 13.5 billion years. But also with Webb we can discover galaxies over time, again, with the infrared sensitivity. So to discover even the earliest and faintest galaxies. We can discover the life cycle of the stars, as in the infrared, Webb which is able to look through the dust clouds which are otherwise opaque to the visible light. But also we are, as we mentioned before, able to see the atmosphere of these exoplanets, and so understand if in there there are building blocks of life elsewhere in the universe, but also understand how our own solar system was formed.Currently, we're learning about exoplanets through astronomy. We aren't sending probes. Are we nearing the point where there isn't much we can learn without getting closer to these worlds? Or can you imagine further innovations which would allow us to learn a lot more about an exoplanet without sending something there?This is a great question. We had Hubble in the past, the Hubble Space Telescope, through Kepler and TESS, now with James Webb and in the future with the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, we will be able to understand so many different aspects of the “zoology” of this planet, so to say, but also on the composition of the atmosphere and so on. And so basically up to now, [there are] five principle methods to discover exoplanets. For example, one of those is transit, the method that Kepler and TESS use; but another one is gravitational microlensing, which the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will use.Now, what is that?Gravitational microlensing is basically an observational effect that was predicted in 1936 by Einstein using the theory of general relativity. But this effect was never actually proved up to now in space. Basically when one star in the sky passes near or in front of another, then the light rays of the background star become basically bent due to the gravitational force, the gravitational attraction of the foreground star. And so this star then is actually acting as a virtual magnifying glass or a lens, and so it amplifies the brightness of the background source star. And so we refer to the foreground star as a lens star, and if the lens star harbors a planetary system, so an exoplanetary system, then those planets can actually also act as lenses, and so each of these planets will be producing a sharp division in the brightness of the source. And so we discovered the presence of each of the planets in this way, and we are able to measure also its mass and separation from the star. And this technique also tells us how common Earth-like planets are. This is a great method for Earth-like planets and has guided also the design of this future space mission, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.What would you like to be able to find out about an exoplanet, that you currently can't, but you think you might be able to 10 years from now or 20 years from now?There are several aspects that are currently unknown, probably what we need the most, that the Roman space telescope will also help us understand—Roman will be launched in May, 2027, according to the forecast, and it'll be operational a few months after—but basically Roman will have a wide field instrument that will bring us a panoramic view, a wide field of view, that is 200 times larger than Hubble Space Telescope in the infrared. It will also combine the power of imaging and spectroscopy, and so in this way, we will uncover thousands of exoplanets beyond our own solar system. We will have basically a sense of the “zoology” of the exoplanets, but also, we will have in the future, hopefully, much higher resolution of spectroscopy which will really [help us] understand what molecules are there beyond what JWST is able to tell us. And also if there is water, if we can go there, considering that many of these planets are not that far away, I mean in an astronomical point of view, right? They are just a dozen or hundreds of light years away, which is not that far away.How did you get involved in this to begin with? As a kid were you a space nut, you loved reading about it or watching documentaries? What got you interested in the field?Since I was a little kid, I was literally dreaming about space. I was very curious about everything about science in general. But something about space was extremely fascinating for me. This feeling of looking at the universe and feeling small in comparison of the immensity of the cosmos, dreaming of exploration while watching the space shuttle launches in the ‘90s. And also, you know, this question that we are still trying to uncover: What is out there? How does the universe work? How did we get here? Those were all fascinating to me as a kid. And yes, since I [was] very little kid, I wanted to work for NASA. I even wrote NASA a letter when I was about age eight. I wanted to attend their summer camp—obviously from my accent, I was not born in the US, so unfortunately at the time, it was precluded for foreigners to attend their summer camps. But they wrote me back. They were like, “Study and one day you'll come back here.” And so I didn't give up.And just explain a little bit about the thrust of your work now at Schmidt Futures.At Schmidt Futures we do several things for astronomy in general and for space. Fascination of space, of course, drove me to do research. Like very hands-on research. And then of course, I evolved and I started to lead research groups and to have my own students and interns and so on, which I love. I love to mentor young students and get them inspired to do science. But then also I like this more managerial or programmatic aspect, at Schmidt Futures we are really forging what the future of astronomy and astrophysics will be in the next five­­, 10 years and beyond. And so this has been extremely thrilling to me.The near future for astronomyYou were talking about how this is kind of a revolutionary period in space science. How important in this period, and let's say over the next decade, are two things? (1) Artificial intelligence to help process all this data, and (2) the fact that it's getting cheaper to put probes in space and put telescopes in space. I imagine those costs are going to continue to come down.Absolutely. I believe that the future of astronomy and astrophysics in general will be about an accelerated timeline and about cutting, drastically, costs. And so this is where also I really want to focus, especially for future of astrophysics. Concerning artificial intelligence and its use in astronomy, this is truly revolutionizing how we do astronomy. NASA is doing a lot in this sense. As I mentioned earlier, through AI we discovered a bunch of new planet candidates. But AI in general is revolutionizing astronomy in many ways from understanding cosmology to understanding the shape of galaxies and how they form. And I'm noticing more and more AI-based applications to the exploration of astronomical data. And so this is definitely, I believe, the future of astronomy. In a decade or so there will be more AI-based applications to analyze astronomical data than manual ones.I know there's ideas about putting a variety of telescopes on the Moon. And there's all this concern lately about our sky being cluttered with satellites, and a lot of astronomers are complaining about the Elon Musk Starlink, that it's obscuring views. But I would imagine that putting some kind of telescope—and radio telescopes, I imagine a variety of them—that would be helpful, right? Putting them on the Moon as opposed to having them on Earth?Oh yeah, absolutely. Actually, I believe that the future of [ground]-based astronomy, as we call it, versus space-based—“space-based” are all the telescopes that [orbit] around earth or in space …, versus [ground]-based are the telescope that we build on Earth—but the future of space-based astronomy is actually from the Moon and also beyond the Moon. In particular, for the radio wavelength domain, our radio telescope on the far side of the Moon will have tremendous advantages compared to Earth-based and also Earth-orbiting telescopes. For example, such a telescope could observe the universe at wavelengths greater than 10 meters, which are reflected actually by Earth's ionosphere and so are up to now completely, largely unexplored by humans. But also the Moon acts as a physical shield that isolates the lunar surface telescope from any radio interferences or noises from the Earth-based sources, from the ionosphere and from Earth-orbiting satellites, and also from the sun's radio noise, during the lunar night. And so, such a radio lunar-based telescope will enable tremendous scientific discoveries, for example, in the field of cosmology, by observing the early universe in this range of 10- to 50-meter wavelength span, which has been unexplored completely by humans to date.Is there any film that you think portrays what you do at all realistically? If the answer is no, what space, science-fiction movies do you find inspirational? I'm guessing maybe Contact, but maybe there are some others?Exactly. Contact inspired me when I was growing up for several reasons. I started during the holiday—but I didn't have the time to finish it—to watch Don't Look Up. But I watched the first half an hour, and I have to say that Leonardo DiCaprio was very much into the professor type. And so all the dynamics that happened had a scientific but also a bureaucratic level, so to say. But since we are talking about movies, a movie that I love, and it's really inspirational for very many points of view, is Interstellar. Many scientists will say that it's a movie that is completely wrong and so forth. When I watch a movie, I like to watch a movie as a person detached from my scientific point of view, just because it's a movie and it's fiction. Many movies are completely untrue for several aspects, so why are we going to investigate how physically true it is? It's a movie, right? We need to enjoy it.Americans' enthusiasm for spaceWhen you're traveling and you tell people what you do, I imagine people are pretty enthusiastic, because my theory is that people are super interested if we popularize and we let people know what actually is happening. There's been a lot happening other than Moon landings over the past half century, and maybe a lot more happening over the next 10 or 20 years.Absolutely, yeah. I completely agree with you. When I travel and I get to speak with people and “What do you do?” I say I'm an astrophysicist. It blows their mind just because people don't have any idea about actually what we do. They think that we look through a telescope. That's part of what we do in the free time, maybe. But the reality is way beyond that. I believe space is such a source of huge inspiration for mankind, for all of us. And so it's definitely on us, the scientists, astrophysicists, to be a great outreach source, to be great communicators, to make space and science in general more accessible and comprehensible to society and to all people. This will benefit the knowledge of all, but also it'll benefit science as a return of making it more accessible, more comprehensible.When was the last time that you looked into the IP of a physical telescope? Was it 20 years ago? Was it yesterday?Fun fact: for my nephews, the sons of my brother—they're twins—for their birthday I gave them a small, few inches refractor Newtonian telescope, and so now that they went off to college, they were like, “Hey aunt, you want it?” And I was like, “Are you sure? Because I will say yes.” And so with our very young daughter we've looked at it very recently, so it was not that so long ago. That's why I say it's something that we do in our free time, and many astrophysicists have this passion also to have more telescopes or to be astrophotographers, because this is a passion of many of us. In general, coming back to what you said before, and why space is important and why the US, with all the problems that are in the world, why we should actually invest in space and use this money there and not on other problems: First of all, I hope it was clear that all of this space can be very inspiring for young kids and to motivate them, but also for adults to look at the beauty of our universe, and also as a reminder to us all to be humble. We are just one extremely small piece in the huge cosmic puzzle of the universe. But also there are so many other benefits of space exploration: [NASA's impact on the US economy], how when we apply ourselves to the challenges of space exploration, we make discoveries that can help the world in many ways. For example, studying how food grows in orbit or on Mars might yield insight into growing food in extreme conditions on Earth or when climate change will hit even harder.Also, now the budget is not that expensive. It's only about 0.5 percent of the total federal budget. It's even smaller than for other nations. And also a cosmic perspective can also give us insight on the importance of protecting our own planet's sustainability and so encouraging investments and efforts then. And not to mention, of course, that studying space may one day save us all. And so we have to explore space to find and study asteroids and comets in our cosmic neighborhoods to defend our own Earth and to understand that, actually, Earth is unique in its habitability up to now. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fasterplease.substack.com/subscribe

What is a "policy entrepreneur"? Can people become policy entrepreneurs if they're not already a political office holder? Aside from literally speaking to the POTUS, what are some ways that policy entrepreneurs can make progress on their goals? Why is it so hard for some people to articulate actionable plans that would accomplish their goals? What is market shaping? Why do some government departments have no budget for R&D?Tom Kalil is Chief Innovation Officer at Schmidt Futures. In this role, Tom leads initiatives to harness technology for societal challenges, improve science policy, and identify and pursue 21st century moonshots. Prior to Schmidt Futures, Tom served in the White House for two Presidents (Obama and Clinton), helping to design and launch national science and technology initiatives in areas such as nanotechnology, the BRAIN initiative, data science, materials by design, robotics, commercial space, high-speed networks, access to capital for startups, high-skill immigration, STEM education, learning technology, startup ecosystems, and the federal use of incentive prizes. Follow him on Twitter at @tkalil2050.

What is a "policy entrepreneur"? Can people become policy entrepreneurs if they're not already a political office holder? Aside from literally speaking to the POTUS, what are some ways that policy entrepreneurs can make progress on their goals? Why is it so hard for some people to articulate actionable plans that would accomplish their goals? What is market shaping? Why do some government departments have no budget for R&D?Tom Kalil is Chief Innovation Officer at Schmidt Futures. In this role, Tom leads initiatives to harness technology for societal challenges, improve science policy, and identify and pursue 21st century moonshots. Prior to Schmidt Futures, Tom served in the White House for two Presidents (Obama and Clinton), helping to design and launch national science and technology initiatives in areas such as nanotechnology, the BRAIN initiative, data science, materials by design, robotics, commercial space, high-speed networks, access to capital for startups, high-skill immigration, STEM education, learning technology, startup ecosystems, and the federal use of incentive prizes. Follow him on Twitter at @tkalil2050.[Read more]

This podcast episode is from an informational webinar hosted by the Naturalistic Decision Making Association on December 15th, 2022. The webinar outlines the purpose and parameters of CTA in E/Affect, a challenge sponsored by Schmidt Futures to strengthen the case for Cognitive Task Analysis in the workplace. What is Cognitive Task Analysis? CTA is a toolkit used by psychologists, researchers, and instructional designers to understand how high-performing professionals make complex decisions. The deep insights revealed through CTA can be used to design training programs that help novices achieve proficiency at a rapid pace. Two-Stage Program The grant will support a year-long project carried out in two stages. Stage 1: CTA in Effect [DEADLINE: February 15th, 2023] The first stage will solicit case studies of CTA's ROI and award $10,000 in total prize money to the most compelling submissions. Stage 2: CTA in Affect [To take place throughout 2023] The second stage will identify high-value areas of opportunity for CTA-based training programs. An Invitation to Partners & Practitioners Are you an experienced CTA practitioner? Do you represent a company that would like to learn more about how CTA can preserve institutional knowledge and accelerate training? If the answer to either question is yes, this podcast and the challenge it describes will be of value to you. Learn more about Naturalistic Decision Making and Cognitive Task Analysis at NaturalisticDecisionMaking.org. Thank you to Schmidt Futures for their generous sponsorship of this initiative and support of the NDMA and its mission. Learn more about their work at SchmidtFutures.com.

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: [Link-post] Politico: "Ex-Google boss helps fund dozens of jobs in Biden's administration", published by Pranay K on December 24, 2022 on The Effective Altruism Forum. Politico article from Thursday December 22, 2022: "Ex-Google boss helps fund dozens of jobs in Biden's administration" 1. Summary: In three sentences: "Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google who has long sought influence over White House science policy, is helping to fund the salaries of more than two dozen officials in the Biden administration under the auspices of an outside group, the Federation of American Scientists." It is worth noting that Schmidt Futures (Schmidt's philanthropic ventures) does not directly fund these officials' salaries: Schmidt Futures provides < 30% to the Federation of American Scientists' "Day One fund" which funds these officials' salaries. Eric Schmidt seems to me to have called for the US government to aggressively invest in AI development. Some more context: Eric Schmidt chaired the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence from 2018-2021, in which the commision called on the US government to spend $40 billion on AI development. Schmidt Futures (Schmidt's philanthropic ventures) funds < 30% of the contributions to the Day One Project, a project within the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), which (among other things) provides the salaries of "FAS fellows" who hold "more than two dozen officials in the Biden administration" (from the main Politico article being discussed in this post). This includes 2 staffers in the Office of Science and Technology Policy (a different Politico article). The FAS is a "nonprofit global policy think tank with the stated intent of using science and scientific analysis to attempt to make the world more secure" (Wikipedia). The Day One project was started to recruit people to fill "key science and technology positions in the executive branch" (from the main Politico article). 2. My question: Are Schmidt's projects harmfully advancing AI capabilities research? I've seen discussion among the EA community about how OpenAI and Anthropic may be harmfully advancing AI capabilities research. (The best discussion that comes to mind is this recent Scott Alexander post about ChatGPT; if anyone knows any other resources discussing this hypothesis - for or against - please comment below). I have not seen much discussion about Eric Schmidt's harmful or beneficial contributions to AI development in the US government. What do people think about this? Is this something that should concern us? 3. Some more excerpts from the article about AI “Schmidt is clearly trying to influence AI policy to a disproportionate degree of any person I can think of,” said Alex Engler, a fellow at the Brookings Institution who specializes in AI policy. “We've seen a dramatic increase in investment toward advancing AI capacity in government and not much in limiting its harmful use.” Schmidt's collaboration with FAS [Federation of American Scientists] is only a part of his broader advocacy for the U.S. government to invest more in technology and particularly in AI, positions he advanced as chair of the federal National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence from 2018 to 2021. The commission's final report recommended that the government spend $40 billion to “expand and democratize federal AI research and development” and suggested more may be needed. “If anything, this report underplays the investments America will need to make,” the report stated. “Other countries have made AI a national project. The United States has not yet, as a nation, systematically explored its scope, studied its implications, or begun the process of reconciling with it,” they wrote. “If the United States and its allies recoil before the implications of these capabilities and halt...

Jason Berkenfeld joins The Great Battlefield podcast to talk about his career in tech and politics and his role at Schmidt Futures where they are searching for up and coming leaders and helping to support them.

As the boundaries of the virtual world continue to shift, how can organizations work together to design a metaverse that's enriching and welcoming for all? New technology has the potential to reshape how businesses interact with the world, but it's time for leaders to commit to a responsible metaverse – one that's built on the core principles of ethics, safety and inclusivity. In this episode, we'll speak with Jessica Lindl, Vice President of Social Impact at Unity Technologies; Denise Zheng, Global Lead for Responsible Metaverse at Accenture; and Eli Sugarman, Fellow at Schmidt Futures. 

Tom Kalil is Chief Innovation Officer at Schmidt Futures. In this role, Tom leads initiatives to harness technology for societal challenges, improve science policy, and identify and pursue 21st-century moonshots.Session summary: Tom Kalil | Foresight Fellows Career Counseling - Foresight InstituteThe Foresight Institute is a research organization and non-profit that supports the beneficial development of high-impact technologies. Since our founding in 1987 on a vision of guiding powerful technologies, we have continued to evolve into a many-armed organization that focuses on several fields of science and technology that are too ambitious for legacy institutions to support.Allison Duettmann is the president and CEO of Foresight Institute. She directs the Intelligent Cooperation, Molecular Machines, Biotech & Health Extension, Neurotech, and Space Programs, Fellowships, Prizes, and Tech Trees, and shares this work with the public. She founded Existentialhope.com, co-edited Superintelligence: Coordination & Strategy, co-authored Gaming the Future, and co-initiated The Longevity Prize. Apply to Foresight's virtual salons and in person workshops here!We are entirely funded by your donations. If you enjoy what we do please consider donating through our donation page.Visit our website for more content, or join us here:TwitterFacebookLinkedInEvery word ever spoken on this podcast is now AI-searchable using Fathom.fm, a search engine for podcasts.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: AI Governance Needs Technical Work, published by Mauricio on September 5, 2022 on The Effective Altruism Forum. Summary and introduction People who want to improve the trajectory of AI sometimes think their options for object-level work are (i) technical safety work and (ii) non-technical governance work. But that list misses things; another group of arguably promising options is technical work in AI governance, i.e. technical work that mainly boosts AI governance interventions. This post provides a brief overview of some ways to do this work—what they are, why they might be valuable, and what you can do if you're interested. I discuss: Engineering technical levers to make AI coordination/regulation enforceable (through hardware engineering, software/ML engineering, and heat/electromagnetism-related engineering) Information security Forecasting AI development Technical standards development Grantmaking or management to get others to do the above well Advising on the above Other work Acknowledgements Thanks to Lennart Heim, Jamie Bernardi, Luke Muehlhauser, Gabriel Mukobi, Girish Sastry, and an employee at Schmidt Futures for their feedback on this post. Mistakes are my own. This post is mostly informed by various conversations with AI governance researchers, as well as earlier writings on specific kinds of technical work in AI governance. Context What I mean by “technical work in AI governance” I'm talking about work that: Is technical (e.g. hardware/ML engineering) or draws heavily on technical expertise; and Contributes to AI's trajectory mainly by improving the chances that AI governance interventions succeed[1] (as opposed to by making progress on technical safety problems or building up the communities concerned with these problems). Neglectedness As of writing, there are (by one involved expert's estimate) ~8-15 full-time equivalents doing this work with a focus on especially large-scale AI risks.[2] Personal fit For you to have a strong personal fit for this type of work, technical skills are useful, of course (including but not necessarily in ML), and interest in the intersection of technical work and governance interventions presumably makes this work more exciting for someone. Also, whatever it takes to make progress on mostly uncharted problems in a tiny sub-field[3] is probably pretty important for this work now, since that's the current nature of these fields. That might change in a few years. (But that doesn't necessarily mean you should wait; time's ticking, someone has to do this early-stage thinking, and maybe it could be you.) What I'm not saying I'm of course not saying this is the only or main type of work that's needed. (Still, it does seem particularly promising for technically skilled people, especially under the debatable assumption that governance interventions tend to be more high-leverage than direct work on technical safety problems.) Types of technical work in AI governance Engineering technical levers to make AI coordination/regulation enforceable To help ensure AI goes well, we may need good coordination and/or regulation.[4] To bring about good coordination/regulation on AI, we need politically acceptable methods of enforcing them (i.e. catching and penalizing/stopping violators).[5] And to design politically acceptable methods of enforcement, we need various kinds of engineers, as discussed in the next several sections.[6] Hardware engineering for enabling AI coordination/regulation To help enforce AI coordination/regulation, it might be possible to create certain on-chip devices for AI-specialized chips or other devices at data centers. As a non-exhaustive list of speculative examples: Devices on network switches that identify especially large training runs could be helpful. They could help enforce regulations that apply only to trai...

Welcome to a new series that spotlights individuals within the Stephen M. Kellen Term Member Program. Drawing on the enormous amount of talent and expertise within the Council's Term Member Program, this series features a term member in conversation with a fellow term member discussing their career path, how they got to where they are, the challenges they have faced along the way, and the current work they are doing. We hope this regular series will provide an opportunity for Council term members to better engage and learn from one another, draw upon shared experiences within the group, and connect across geographies. This installment in this series features third-year term member Asha Castleberry-Hernandez, senior advisor in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs at the U.S. Department of State and major in the U.S. Army Reserve, in conversation with second-year term member Brian Mateo, associate dean of civic engagement for Bard College. For those of you who do not know her yet, Asha is a distinguished national security expert whose career includes serving as the Kuwait desk officer at U.S. Army Central, working on security cooperation with the Office of Military Cooperation and the Kuwait Ministry of Defense, and senior key leadership engagement officer for Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Kuwait. During the Obama administration, Asha served at the U.S. Mission at the United Nations working peacekeeping operations in Africa. In 2020, Asha ran as a Democratic candidate for Congress in New York District 17. In addition to her work in government, she is a founder of Diversity in National Security Network, board member of Women of Color Advancing Peace, Security, and Conflict Transformation, and international strategy fellow with Schmidt Futures.

Synopsis: In this special episode, The Straits Times' foreign editor Bhagyashree Garekar speaks with Mr Eric Schmidt, the former Google chairman who started the philanthropic initiative Schmidt Futures. Mr Schmidt, 67, was chief executive of Google (2001-11) and executive chairman of the firm and its successor Alphabet (2011-17). The billionaire now runs Schmidt Futures, a New York-based philanthropic organisation that he co-founded with his wife in 2017 with the ambitious idea of building "a network of the sharpest minds on earth to solve hard problems in science and society". He was in Singapore last week for his foundation's Asia-focused initiative, which included the S. Rajaratnam Endowment Dialogue jointly presented by his foundation, Temasek Foundation, the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies and The Straits Times. Highlights (click/tap above): 01:08 Why the US should win the technology rivalry with China 02:43 Schmidt on how the US needs to lead in semi conductors, artificial intelligence, synthetic biology, and why Singapore is the perfect partner because of its knowledge economy 05:08 Ensuring artificial intelligence is not abused, or used for evil 06:50 Schmidt Futures funding programmes to resolve problems in AI now, and why China and the West are not ready to debate uncomfortable issues Produced by: Bhagyashree Garekar (bhagya@sph.com.sg) & ST Video Edited by: ST Video and Penelope Lee Subscribe to the Asian Insider Podcast channel and rate us on your favourite audio apps: Channel: https://str.sg/JWa7 Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/JWa8 Google Podcasts: https://str.sg/wQsB  Spotify: https://str.sg/JWaX SPH Awedio app: https://www.awedio.sg/ Website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts Feedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg Read Bhagyashree Garekar's stories: https://str.sg/whNo Register for Asian Insider newsletter: https://str.sg/stnewsletters --- Discover ST's special edition podcasts: Singapore's War On Covid: https://str.sg/wsfD The Unsolved Mysteries of South-east Asia Embed: https://str.sg/ws76 Stop Scams: https://str.sg/wnBi --- Discover more ST podcast series: In Your Opinion Podcast: https://str.sg/w7Qt SG Extra Podcast: https://str.sg/wX8w  Asian Insider Podcast: https://str.sg/JWa7 Green Pulse Podcast: https://str.sg/JWaf Health Check Podcast: https://str.sg/JWaN #PopVultures Podcast: https://str.sg/JWad ST Sports Talk Podcast: https://str.sg/JWRE Bookmark This! Podcast: https://str.sg/JWas Lunch With Sumiko Podcast: https://str.sg/J6hQ Discover BT Podcasts: https://bt.sg/pcPL Follow our shows then, if you like short, practical podcasts! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Synopsis: In this special episode, The Straits Times' foreign editor Bhagyashree Garekar speaks with Mr Eric Schmidt, the former Google chairman who started the philanthropic initiative Schmidt Futures. Mr Schmidt, 67, was chief executive of Google (2001-11) and executive chairman of the firm and its successor Alphabet (2011-17). The billionaire now runs Schmidt Futures, a New York-based philanthropic organisation that he co-founded with his wife in 2017 with the ambitious idea of building "a network of the sharpest minds on earth to solve hard problems in science and society". He was in Singapore last week for his foundation's Asia-focused initiative, which included the S. Rajaratnam Endowment Dialogue jointly presented by his foundation, Temasek Foundation, the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies and The Straits Times. Highlights (click/tap above): 01:08 Why the US should win the technology rivalry with China 02:43 Schmidt on how the US needs to lead in semi conductors, artificial intelligence, synthetic biology, and why Singapore is the perfect partner because of its knowledge economy 05:08 Ensuring artificial intelligence is not abused, or used for evil 06:50 Schmidt Futures funding programmes to resolve problems in AI now, and why China and the West are not ready to debate uncomfortable issues Produced by: Bhagyashree Garekar (bhagya@sph.com.sg) & ST Video Edited by: ST Video and Penelope Lee Subscribe to the Asian Insider Podcast channel and rate us on your favourite audio apps: Channel: https://str.sg/JWa7 Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/JWa8 Google Podcasts: https://str.sg/wQsB  Spotify: https://str.sg/JWaX SPH Awedio app: https://www.awedio.sg/ Website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts Feedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg Read Bhagyashree Garekar's stories: https://str.sg/whNo Register for Asian Insider newsletter: https://str.sg/stnewsletters --- Discover ST's special edition podcasts: Singapore's War On Covid: https://str.sg/wsfD The Unsolved Mysteries of South-east Asia Embed: https://str.sg/ws76 Stop Scams: https://str.sg/wnBi --- Discover more ST podcast series: In Your Opinion Podcast: https://str.sg/w7Qt SG Extra Podcast: https://str.sg/wX8w  Asian Insider Podcast: https://str.sg/JWa7 Green Pulse Podcast: https://str.sg/JWaf Health Check Podcast: https://str.sg/JWaN #PopVultures Podcast: https://str.sg/JWad ST Sports Talk Podcast: https://str.sg/JWRE Bookmark This! Podcast: https://str.sg/JWas Lunch With Sumiko Podcast: https://str.sg/J6hQ Discover BT Podcasts: https://bt.sg/pcPL Follow our shows then, if you like short, practical podcasts! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Synopsis: In this special episode, The Straits Times' foreign editor Bhagyashree Garekar speaks with Mr Eric Schmidt, the former Google chairman who started the philanthropic initiative Schmidt Futures. Mr Schmidt, 67, was chief executive of Google (2001-11) and executive chairman of the firm and its successor Alphabet (2011-17). The billionaire now runs Schmidt Futures, a New York-based philanthropic organisation that he co-founded with his wife in 2017 with the ambitious idea of building "a network of the sharpest minds on earth to solve hard problems in science and society". He was in Singapore last week for his foundation's Asia-focused initiative, which included the S. Rajaratnam Endowment Dialogue jointly presented by his foundation, Temasek Foundation, the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies and The Straits Times. Highlights (click/tap above): 01:08 Why the US should win the technology rivalry with China 02:43 Schmidt on how the US needs to lead in semi conductors, artificial intelligence, synthetic biology, and why Singapore is the perfect partner because of its knowledge economy 05:08 Ensuring artificial intelligence is not abused, or used for evil 06:50 Schmidt Futures funding programmes to resolve problems in AI now, and why China and the West are not ready to debate uncomfortable issues Produced by: Bhagyashree Garekar (bhagya@sph.com.sg) & ST Video Edited by: ST Video  Subscribe to the Asian Insider Podcast channel and rate us on your favourite audio apps: Channel: https://str.sg/JWa7 Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/JWa8 Google Podcasts: https://str.sg/wQsB  Spotify: https://str.sg/JWaX SPH Awedio app: https://www.awedio.sg/ Websites:  https://www.moneyfm893.sg/ http://str.sg/stpodcasts Feedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg Read Bhagyashree Garekar's stories: https://str.sg/whNo Register for Asian Insider newsletter: https://str.sg/stnewsletters --- Discover ST's special edition podcasts: Singapore's War On Covid: https://str.sg/wuJa The Unsolved Mysteries of South-east Asia: https://str.sg/wuZ2 Stop Scams: https://str.sg/wuZB Invisible Asia: https://str.sg/wuZn --- Discover more ST podcast series: Asian Insider: https://str.sg/JWa7 Green Pulse: https://str.sg/JWaf Health Check: https://str.sg/JWaN In Your Opinion: https://str.sg/w7Qt Your Money & Career: https://str.sg/wB2m SG Extra: https://str.sg/wukR #PopVultures: https://str.sg/JWad ST Sports Talk: https://str.sg/JWRE Bookmark This!: https://str.sg/JWas Lunch With Sumiko: https://str.sg/J6hQ Discover ST Podcasts: http://str.sg/stpodcasts Discover BT Podcasts: https://bt.sg/pcPL Follow our shows then, if you like short, practical podcasts! #STAsianInsiderSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris speaks with Eric Schmidt about the ways artificial intelligence is shifting the foundations of human knowledge and posing questions of existential risk. Eric Schmidt is a technologist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He joined Google in 2001 where he served as chief executive officer and chairman from 2001 to 2011, and as executive chairman and technical advisor thereafter. Under his leadership, Google dramatically scaled its infrastructure and diversified its product offerings while maintaining a culture of innovation. In 2017, he co-founded Schmidt Futures, a philanthropic initiative that bets early on exceptional people making the world better. He serves as chair of The Broad Institute, and formerly served as chair of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence. He is the host of Reimagine with Eric Schmidt, a podcast exploring how society can build a brighter future after the COVID-19 pandemic. Most recently, he is the co-author of The Age of AI: And Our Human Future. Website: https://ericschmidt.com/ Twitter: @ericschmidt Learning how to train your mind is the single greatest investment you can make in life. That’s why Sam Harris created the Waking Up app. From rational mindfulness practice to lessons on some of life’s most important topics, join Sam as he demystifies the practice of meditation and explores the theory behind it.

Robert Esposito spent the first eight years of his career as a litigator at the law firms Morrison & Foerster and Bryan Cave in San Francisco, focusing on intellectual property, consumer protection, and business disputes. In 2018, on the verge of GDPR's enforcement date, Robert made the jump in-house as a product counsel at Facebook, where he helped launch social good products and programs. Later, Robert joined Pandora Media, where he led the development of Pandora's privacy program and worked on digital entertainment services. Robert currently serves as Senior Legal Counsel, Technology and Product Counsel at Hillspire, LLC, which advises a number of initiatives such as Schmidt Futures, which partners with leaders in the public and private sectors to help scale promising new ideas in science, technology, and society. In the past decade, in-house legal departments, primarily at large technology companies, began creating a new role called "product counsel." The product counsel role is amorphous. Most in-house lawyers don't know what product counsel do, let alone the product, engineering, and marketing teams they're meant to serve. Join Robert Esposito, law firm litigator turned in-house product counsel to learn about this "new" type of attorney and how to become one.

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Research Help Needed for 1Day/IFP “Operation Warp Speed 2.0” Project, published by joshcmorrison on April 14, 2022 on The Effective Altruism Forum. 1Day Sooner and the Institute for Progress are working on a Schmidt Futures-funded project to develop a lobbying campaign for an “Operation Warp Speed 2.0” to create universal coronavirus vaccines. Beyond this pandemic, we want this to create precedent and infrastructure for the broader use of “advanced market commitments” to accelerate development and deployment of vaccines and antibiotics, which would have major longtermist and disease burden benefits. Because of the scale and complexity of the policy we're envisioning, we need help with research. If you're reading this and have 5-10 hours a week over the next 4-6 weeks, we could use your help (and can pay for your time). Why Warp Speed 2.0? Pandemic preparedness and vaccine development for neglected diseases are each seriously underfunded. The GOP is likely to win at least one house of Congress this November and tends to be averse to large government spending. But Operation Warp Speed's success and connection to President Trump give it a unique attraction to a GOP audience. Moreover the advanced purchase commitment framework it utilized (of guaranteeing large purchases of effective vaccines) creates a market-friendly framework that could be supported by conservatives in the U.S. and elsewhere. Beyond the benefits of developing a financing model with potential bipartisan support capable of efficiently funding effective altruist goals, successfully creating a universal coronavirus vaccine would serve as proof of concept for the 100 day prototype vaccine strategy aimed at developing universal vaccines ahead of time to pathogens with pandemic potential. Thus both the campaign's object-level goal (accelerating coronavirus vaccines) and meta-goal (expanding the long-term use of advanced market commitments) have major EA benefits beyond reducing COVID disease burden. What Help Is Needed? Time is of the essence to introduce a strong bill and launch a campaign quickly, but the scale and complexity of the policy (along with its multiple moving parts) make the research needed fairly involved and time consuming. At the same time, we think the key questions we've identified are independent enough from each other that they can be broken into discrete tasks where progress is possible with work on a part-time basis. Basically, we're trying an experiment to emulate the research process at the beginning of 1Day Sooner when our organization relied on a number of EAs to provide research help on challenge trials and eventually produce this piece (as well as a great deal of background knowledge crucial to our informing the public and advocating for effective policy). That work was done almost entirely on a volunteer basis but research assistance on this project would be compensated (typically in the $30-$50/hr range depending on experience). How Can I Get Involved? Email josh@1daysooner.org, reference this post, and include a paragraph about your background and time availability. Also indicate one or two research questions in the agenda below that you might be interested in exploring. We're going to aim to host a kickoff session for people who'll be working on this some time Thursday April 21st, so you should hear from me before then. I have no idea how many will respond so won't know in advance how selective we'll be (if at all). What Questions Need to Be Answered? Here's the current research agenda we'll be working on: Modeling, Quantifying, and Forecasting Impact of Pan-Sarbecovirus Vaccines: Create informal model of impact of potential future COVID-19 disease burden scenarios in the U.S. and globally (currently led by Eric Mannes with supervision by Witold Wiecek, Rachel Glennerster, an...

In this week's episode, Kumar Garg, Vice President, Partnerships at Schmidt Futures, discusses how to bring your science to life through crisp descriptions, engaging visuals, and related communication techniques. We discuss: - How Kumar's first job out of college (deputy communication manager on presidential candidate Howard Dean's campaign in New Hampshire) taught him about the value and principles of strong communications - Lessons from Kumar's earlier experiences in communications that were particularly useful as he helped shape science and technology policy priorities for the Obama Administration for nearly 8 years in the White House - Some of the common disconnects, in terms of lack of understanding, different ways of communicating, misperceptions, etc., Kumar noticed as he interacted with scientists at the highest levels - Effective remedies for bridging communications gaps, whether through recalibrating communications or by other means - Kumar's current work at Schmidt Futures in the middle of many major science and policy issues, now from a different vantage point - Advice Kumar has for listeners thinking about a career in science policy but who are unsure where and how to start - As Kumar worked with scientists during his time in the White House and now at Schmidt Futures, particular skills and attributes he's found certain scientists possess that set them apart - help them be more effective - in the policymaking world - As Kumar looks towards the future, what emerging trends he sees (or would like to see and is working to advance) in terms of scientists getting involved in policymaking or in the communication of scientific information to general audiences

Dana Chermesh is the founder and CEO of inCitu, an Augmented-Reality-powered civic engagement app that democratizes city planning. Dana is an architect from Tel-Aviv, Israel, and an alumna of NYU Masters program in Urban Data Science (2018). During her career as an architect, she specialized in urban renewal and developed a passion for leveraging technology, data and innovation to form smarter, more resilient, and more just cities and city processes. In 2019 Dana co-founded *inCitu*, to bring together data and discourse with the aid of augmented reality helping citizens see the future of their cities. inCitu was incubated inside Eric Schmidt's social impact venture fund.In this conversation, we discuss Dana's deep love and appreciation for cities and urban development. We talk about her goal of developing viable, dynamic, data-driven tools to empower residents and leaders to better deal with 21-century urban challenges. She feels driven by a mission that feels bigger than herself or the company.We go on to discuss Dana's experience at Schmidt Futures, her perspective on the concept of the “metaverse”, and founding a company while being the mother of young children.You can find all of the show notes at thearshow.com.

Hugo speaks with Jim Savage, the Director of Data Science at Schmidt Futures, about the need for data science in executive training and decision, what data scientists can learn from economists, the perils of "data for good", and why you should always be integrating your loss function over your posterior. Jim and Hugo talk about what data science is and isn't capable of, what can actually deliver value, and what people really enjoy doing: the intersection in this Venn diagram is where we need to focus energy and it may not be quite what you think it is! They then dive into Jim's thoughts on what he dubs Executive Data Science. You may be aware of the slicing of the data science and machine learning spaces into descriptive analytics, predictive analytics, and prescriptive analytics but, being the thought surgeon that he is, Jim proposes a different slicing into (1) tool building OR data science as a product, (2) tools to automate and augment parts of us, and (3) what Jim calls Executive Data Science. Jim and Hugo also talk about decision theory, the woeful state of causal inference techniques in contemporary data science, and what techniques it would behoove us all to import from econometrics and economics, more generally. If that's not enough, they talk about the importance of thinking through the data generating process and things that can go wrong if you don't. In terms of allowing your data work to inform your decision making, thery also discuss Jim's maxim “ALWAYS BE INTEGRATING YOUR LOSS FUNCTION OVER YOUR POSTERIOR” Last but definitively not least, as Jim has worked in the data for good space for much of his career, they talk about what this actually means, with particular reference to fast.ai founder & QUT professor of practice Rachel Thomas' blog post called “Doing Data Science for Social Good, Responsibly” (https://www.fast.ai/2021/11/23/data-for-good/). Rachel's post takes as its starting point the following words of Sarah Hooker, a researcher at Google Brain: "Data for good" is an imprecise term that says little about who we serve, the tools used, or the goals. Being more precise can help us be more accountable & have a greater positive impact. And Jim and I discuss his work in the light of these foundational considerations. Links Jim on twitter (https://twitter.com/abiylfoyp/) What Is Causal Inference?An Introduction for Data Scientists (https://www.oreilly.com/radar/what-is-causal-inference/) by Hugo Bowne-Anderson and Mike Loukides Jim's must-watch Data Council talk on Productizing Structural Models (https://www.datacouncil.ai/talks/productizing-structural-models)

D(g)B welcomes Tony Woods, the Director and Head of Talent for Schmidt Futures - the philanthropic initiative created by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. He recruits engineers, authors, Ph.D. scientists, program administrators, etc and has helped pilot a program to source talent for critical government roles in the tech space, and created partnerships to elevate the talent of young people around the world. And there's SO much more to Tony, like how he was impacted by "don't ask, don't tell" and his newest endeavor with the Quad Fellowship in the Biden Whitehouse.   Tony's top traits of leaders who do DEI well are curiosity, empathy, and brave conversations - you know we love those! Episodes mentioned: Anthony Hayes Lisa Fain    

Making its own news this week, Dartmouth expands its longstanding need-blind admissions policy to include international students. Lee Coffin explores the far-reaching impact of this change with Greg Manne, who oversaw international admissions for Dartmouth before taking a new job as manager of selection and outreach for Rise, an initiative of Schmidt Futures and the Rhodes Trust, which provides lifelong benefits, including scholarships and mentorships, to promising young people working to solve pressing problems around the world.

Doing something that you look forward to, that beautiful thing that you wake up and dream about. That is what I call success. -Jenn Uche Welcome to the inspiring story of Jenn Uche, a 17 year old high school senior who has been chosen as a 2021 Global Rise Winner. This 1 billion dollar philanthropic venture was created and funded by Google co-founder, Eric Schmidt and his wife Wendy and is a collaboration between Schmidt Futures and the Rhodes Trust. To find out more, just go to: www.risefortheworld.com. Talented young people from around the world, between the ages of 15-17 are chosen through a series of essays, submissions and virtual interviews. What is unique about this scholarship is that it is for life and is valued at about $500,000 per student winner. An investment is made early on in the intelligence of these kids to become innovators, leaders, points of light for the next generation. 50,000 teens from 170 countries competed for this award, each one addressing how they would work to solve a particular problem. Jenn was 1 of 100 brilliant students to receive this honor. A student at the Montrose School in Medfield, MA where the mantra is: “where girls are called to greatness”, Jenn she is no stranger to struggle and adversity. She remains hopeful and determined “coming out the other side, like a diamond” and describing herself as a story lover, smile connoisseur, a writer and a visionary. I couldn't wait to bring my recording equipment to Jenn's school to capture the story of a 17 year old woman who is wise beyond her years and destined for greatness. #risefortheworld #empoweringwomen #womensupportingwomen

In Episode 218 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Eric Schmidt and Daniel Huttenlocher. Eric is co-founder of Schmidt Futures and the former CEO & Chairman of Google and Daniel is the inaugural dean of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing. They are the co-authors, along with Henry Kissinger, of a phenomenal new book titled, “The Age of AI And Our Human Future,” which explores how Artificial Intelligence is transforming human society—and what it means for all of us. Eric and Dan spend the first hour discussing the technical dimensions of artificial intelligence—what it is and how it works—as well as how it will continue to shape and transform our social and physical realities. The second half of the conversation focuses on the national security dimensions of artificial intelligence, as well as the profound philosophical challenges that it poses for humanity, specifically our need to find meaning in a world where machines will provide answers to more and more questions but without the ability, in many cases, to provide us with a rational or methodology by which they arrived at those answer. For those of you who are interested in the field of blockchain and DLT-enabled applications and smart contracts, Demetri had a chance to ask Eric about where he thinks these technologies fit in an AI future, what the main hurdles are going to be, and what some of the interesting projects in the space are. You can access the second part of this episode, as well as the transcript and rundown to this week's conversation through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our premium feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts Subscribe to our mailing list through the Hidden Forces Website Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe & Support the Podcast at https://patreon.com/hiddenforces Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 11/08/2021

Eric Schmidt, Co-Founder of Schmidt Futures and former Google CEO and Chairman, discusses his book “The Age of AI: And Our Human Future.” Hosts: Tim Stenovec and Katie Greifeld. Producer: Paul Brennan. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

Eric Schmidt, Co-Founder of Schmidt Futures and former Google CEO and Chairman, discusses his book “The Age of AI: And Our Human Future.” Hosts: Tim Stenovec and Katie Greifeld. Producer: Paul Brennan. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

Eric Schmidt — The Promises and Perils of AI, The Future of Warfare, Profound Revolutions on the Horizon, and Exploring The Meaning of Life | Brought to you by ShipStation shipping software, ButcherBox premium meats delivered to your door, and Pique Tea premium tea crystals (pu'er, etc.). More on all three below.Eric Schmidt (@ericschmidt) is a technologist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He joined Google in 2001, helping the company grow from a Silicon Valley startup to a global technological leader. He served as chief executive officer and chairman from 2001 to 2011 and as executive chairman and technical advisor thereafter. Under his leadership, Google dramatically scaled its infrastructure and diversified its product offerings while maintaining a culture of innovation. In 2017, he co-founded Schmidt Futures, a philanthropic initiative that bets early on exceptional people making the world better.He serves as chair of the Broad Institute and formerly served as chair of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence. He is the host of Reimagine with Eric Schmidt, a podcast exploring how society can build a brighter future after the COVID-19 pandemic. With co-authors Henry A. Kissinger and Daniel Huttenlocher, Eric has a new book out titled The Age of AI: And Our Human Future.Please enjoy!This episode is brought to you by ButcherBox! ButcherBox makes it easy for you to get high-quality, humanely raised meat that you can trust. They deliver delicious, 100% grass-fed, grass-finished beef; free-range organic chicken; heritage-breed pork, and wild-caught seafood directly to your door.Skip the lines for your Thanksgiving turkey. This holiday, ButcherBox is proud to give new members a free turkey. Go to ButcherBox.com/Tim to receive a free 10–14 pound turkey in your first box.*This episode is also brought to you by Pique Tea! I first learned about Pique through my friends Dr. Peter Attia and Kevin Rose, and now Pique's fermented pu'er tea crystals have become my daily go-to. I often kickstart my mornings with their Pu'er Green Tea and Pu'er Black Tea, and I alternate between the two. Their crystals are cold-extracted, using only wild-harvested leaves from 250-year-old tea trees. Plus, they triple toxin screen for heavy metals, pesticides, and toxic mold—contaminants commonly found in tea. I also use the crystals for iced tea, which saves a ton of time and hassle.Pique is offering 15% off of their pu'er teas, exclusively to my listeners. Simply visit PiqueTea.com/Tim, and the discount will be automatically applied. They also offer a 30-day satisfaction guarantee, so your purchase is completely risk free. Just go to PiqueTea.com/Tim to learn more.*This episode is also brought to you by ShipStation. Do you sell stuff online? Then you know what a pain the shipping process is. ShipStation was created to make your life easier. Whether you're selling on eBay, Amazon, Shopify, or over 100 other popular selling channels, ShipStation lets you access all of your orders from one simple dashboard, and it works with all of the major shipping carriers, locally and globally, including FedEx, UPS, and USPS. Tim Ferriss Show listeners get to try ShipStation free for 60 days by using promo code TIM. There's no risk, and you can start your free trial without even entering your credit card info. Just visit ShipStation.com, click on the microphone at the top of the homepage, and type in TIM!If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!*For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast.Sign up for Tim's email newsletter (“5-Bullet Friday”) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Discover Tim's books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss YouTube: youtube.com/timferrissPast guests on The Tim Ferriss Show include Jerry Seinfeld, Hugh Jackman, Dr. Jane Goodall, LeBron James, Kevin Hart, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jamie Foxx, Matthew McConaughey, Esther Perel, Elizabeth Gilbert, Terry Crews, Sia, Yuval Noah Harari, Malcolm Gladwell, Madeleine Albright, Cheryl Strayed, Jim Collins, Mary Karr, Maria Popova, Sam Harris, Michael Phelps, Bob Iger, Edward Norton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Neil Strauss, Ken Burns, Maria Sharapova, Marc Andreessen, Neil Gaiman, Neil de Grasse Tyson, Jocko Willink, Daniel Ek, Kelly Slater, Dr. Peter Attia, Seth Godin, Howard Marks, Dr. Brené Brown, Eric Schmidt, Michael Lewis, Joe Gebbia, Michael Pollan, Dr. Jordan Peterson, Vince Vaughn, Brian Koppelman, Ramit Sethi, Dax Shepard, Tony Robbins, Jim Dethmer, Dan Harris, Ray Dalio, Naval Ravikant, Vitalik Buterin, Elizabeth Lesser, Amanda Palmer, Katie Haun, Sir Richard Branson, Chuck Palahniuk, Arianna Huffington, Reid Hoffman, Bill Burr, Whitney Cummings, Rick Rubin, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Darren Aronofsky, and many more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of Work in Progress, my guest is Rachel Korberg, executive director and co-founder of the Families and Workers Fund (FWF), a coalition of now more than 20 philanthropic groups working together to build an equitable economic recovery and create jobs that enable upward mobility. The Families and Workers Fund was started last year in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic with the goal of helping ease the financial pain being suffered by low-wage workers—those who lost their jobs and those who had to continue working despite the risk to their health because they needed the money to survive. "We know that before the pandemic, 40% of people in the United States did not earn enough money to afford the basics of rent, childcare, food. People were already in a very precarious position," says Korberg. "And then the layoffs hit hardest among people who were already at the bottom of the labor market. In 2020, nearly half of the lowest paid workers lost their jobs. Those jobs were people who worked in restaurants, people who worked in big box retail, people who worked in hospitality. The effects were really far- and wide-reaching, but they were clustered in people who were already earning the least, who are either in poverty wage jobs or just above it." FWF was created to get money into the hands of those who needed it quickly. Korberg—then a program officer at the Ford Foundation—co-founded it with Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation and Eric Braverman, CEO of Schmidt Futures, both of whom remain on as co-chairs of the Fund. That initial coalition grew in short order. "It was really a sleeves rolled up group. We pooled about $10 million over the course of 2020, and rather than do cash transfers directly— which we didn't think was the right role for us—we supported nearly 30 grassroots groups and worker networks that were already in long-term, authentic, trusting relationships with the hardest hit workers and families. And we supported them in doing cash transfer efforts. "For some of them, they had already done work like this in the past, but for a lot, this was a new muscle that they were building and it was really exciting. There's this really virtuous cycle of beyond just the payment. It's also an opportunity to join up around advocacy, community building, and training opportunities." And that's what they've done. Refocusing the Mission Korberg says that while the Fund started as a rapid response to people in need, the organizers quickly realized that it was an unprecedented opportunity to build a more equitable economy, that is why is still exists, and that is why it has evolved. Rather than being a one-time $10 million emergency response fund, today it's a $51 million coalition of about 20 diverse philanthropies with the twin goals of funding job pathways that enable economic security and mobility and repairing the unemployment benefits system. "The confluence of three forces—essential workers, equity, and unprecedented public investment in (job creation)—really come together to create this huge opportunity to reimagine our labor market and economic systems and to go big on ultimately advancing good jobs and delivering a more effective and equitable social safety net," Korberg tells me. She says FWF sees two main strategies in advancing good jobs. "Building ladders into upwardly mobile jobs—and that's usually a train in place model—and then we see approaches that are more about growing the pie of good jobs. So, maybe starting with a job that might not pay very well, that might not have great benefits, and look at what are the different set of incentives or shifts that we can catalyze to make this a better job. For example, rather than only reskilling home health care aides to become x-ray technicians, how can we also make home health care aides a job that pays better and that is a good job and that many people are called to that work and to care work?

America's Place in the World: National Security & Leading From the Front with General John Kelly, Retired U.S. Marine Corps General & 28th White House Chief of Staff. General H.R. Mcmaster, Retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General & 26th United States National Security Advisor. Michele Flournoy, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, WestExec Advisors. Richard Fontaine, Chief Executive Officer, Center for a New American Security.Moderated by Zoe Weinberg, Fellow, Schmidt Futures.SALT New York is a global thought leadership and networking forum at the intersection of finance, technology and public policy. Over the course of three days, leading investors, creators and thinkers will take the stage in support of SALT's mission: empowering big ideas.——————————————————————Watch this video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SALTTube/videosFor podcast transcripts and show notes, visit https://www.salt.org/Developed, created and produced by SALT Venture Group, LLC.#SALTNY

On the final episode of season 1 we sit down for an incredible conversation with Jason Wang. Jason shares openly about growing up in poverty, in a neighbourhood where he was exposed to drugs and violence from a very young age. He shares about being subjected to abuse as a child, and about the impact that all of these things had on his life and trajectory. It's easy to see how the result of it all was an aggravated robbery charge that left 15 year old Jason with a 12 year prison sentence.  What is so remarkable about Jason and his story is his resilience and determination throughout his life. Ultimately, this has led him to become entrepreneur in residence for Schmidt Futures. He has created and leads Freeworld, an organization with a mission of bringing high wage careers to millions of returning citizens across America so they can live fulfilling positive lives, prison-free. For more information on Jason: Check out: Freeword Twitter: @JasonWaang For more information on the Field: Instagram: @the.field.podcast Website: thefieldpodcast.com Support the show on Patreon And if you enjoyed this episode, be sure to rate, review, and subscribe!

How do Roombas illustrate the promise and peril of translational research? Which valley of death is really the worst valley of death? And how can woolly mammoths save the planet from climate change?   To discuss, I have on: Andrew Sosanya, Policy Analyst for the Day One Project Adam Marblestone of Schmidt Futures (his policy proposal: https://www.dayoneproject.org/post/focused-research-organizations-to-accelerate-science-technology-and-medicine, his blog https://longitudinal.blog/, geo-engineering https://longitudinal.blog/co2-series-part-3-other-interventions/) Orin Hoffman at The Engine (his policy proposal: https://www.engine.xyz/news-item/a-unified-government-vc-approach-to-crossing-the-valleys-of-death/) Please consider supporting ChinaTalk at https://glow.fm/chinatalk/ Outtro Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIh4GFUKaSE  Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How do Roombas illustrate the promise and peril of translational research? Which valley of death is really the worst valley of death? And how can woolly mammoths save the planet from climate change?   To discuss, I have on: Andrew Sosanya, Policy Analyst for the Day One Project Adam Marblestone of Schmidt Futures (his policy proposal: https://www.dayoneproject.org/post/focused-research-organizations-to-accelerate-science-technology-and-medicine, his blog https://longitudinal.blog/, geo-engineering https://longitudinal.blog/co2-series-part-3-other-interventions/) Orin Hoffman at The Engine (his policy proposal: https://www.engine.xyz/news-item/a-unified-government-vc-approach-to-crossing-the-valleys-of-death/) Please consider supporting ChinaTalk at https://glow.fm/chinatalk/ Outtro Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIh4GFUKaSE 

Today I'm speaking with Tom Kalil. Tom is Chief Innovation Officer at Schmidt Futures, where he leads projects to harness technology for social impact, improve science policy, and identify and pursue 21st-century moonshots. Tom has previously spent more than a decade in the White House, helping to design and launch national science and technology initiatives in areas such as nanotech, data science, commercial space, and many more. Although I had about a hundred more questions to ask Tom, we cover lots of ground from how to build moonshot cultures to the role of the generalist and the relationship between tech and policy. => Shownotes

On this episode, we hear from Mari Silbey, director of partnerships and outreach at US Ignite, as well as Alex Wyglinski and Casey Canfield, engineering professors and co-leads on a broadband deployment project in Clinton County, Missouri. The deployment, which will use RF-over-fiber to serve a rural community, was selected to receive grant funding through Project Overcome, a $2.7 million joint effort spearheaded by the National Science Foundation and US Ignite – with additional financing from Schmidt Futures – to fund novel broadband projects and find new solutions to closing the digital divide. We discuss more about Project Overcome, as well as details and plans for this specific deployment in Clinton County, Missouri, and the complexities of choosing the right technologies and outreach methods to service rural communities.

Kumar Garg is the Managing Director of Schmidt Futures, a venture facility for public benefit that recently cosponsored the Futures Forum on Learning Tools Competition with Citadel. Kumar joins our host, Mike Palmer, to talk about the winners of the tools competition who were recently announced and to provide his insights and perspectives on learning engineering as well as trends in educational technology and computational thinking. Kumar begins by sharing his origin story which includes an eight-year run in the Obama administration heading up its efforts to grow and develop STEM education in the US. From there we explore the idea of learning engineering which combines insights in computer science, computational thinking, and big data with emerging insights in learning science to create scalable breakthrough innovations in education. Kumar walks through the structure and design of the competition and reflects on the benefits of connecting entrepreneurial innovation with academic research and scientific methods to unlock learning innovation at scale. From there, we discuss Rising on Air and UPchieve as case studies of the types of programs that emerged from the competition before concluding with Kumar's thoughts on the importance of R&D and infrastructure funding to drive the next generation of the learning ecosystem. It's an insightful and far-reaching conversation about the future of Ed Tech that you won't want to miss. If you're enjoying what you're hearing, subscribe to Trending in Education wherever you listen to your podcasts and check us out at TrendinginEducation.com

Kumar Garg, managing director and head of partnerships at Schmidt Futures and the former leader of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, discusses a host of initiatives designed to strengthen STEM career pathways. He also breaks down some big ideas in education like learning engineering and educator researchers, and explains why these concepts are more important than ever before. In the course of the discussion, Garg also touches on OER policy, learning R&D and how we might improve education research. 

Prof. Oded Rechavi, professor at the Department of Neurobiology at Tel Aviv University. His lab challenges basic dogmas regarding inheritance and evolution, using simple powerful genetic model organisms. Oded is very active over social media, mostly Twitter, and brings the new media twist towards communicating science and the life of a scientist. Among other things, he organized the first Twitter scientific conference "WOODSTOCK.BIO" He brings great fresh views on the new era of social communication and its integration and value to academics. He is the recipient of many breakthroughs and prestigious awards including the first BLAVATNIK AWARDS FOR YOUNG SCIENTISTS in Israel and he is the first laureate of the Schmidt Futures $2.5M award, which is awarded to exceptional people and helps them achieve more for others by applying advanced science and technology thoughtfully and by working together across fields. Oded's lab website https://www.odedrechavilab.com/ Oded Twitter: Oded Rechavi

Eric Schmidt Will Lead 15-Member Commission and Use What the State Has Learned During COVID-19 Pandemic, Combined with New Technologies, to Improve Telehealth and Broadband Systems Across the State Outlines Results of New Hospitalization Data to Further Reduce Number of New Hospitalizations per Day JetBlue is Donating 100,000 Pairs of Round-Trip Flights for Medical Personnel and Nurses Confirms 2,786 Additional Coronavirus Cases in New York State - Bringing Statewide Total to 323,978; New Cases in 45 Counties

A Case Study of Subnational Coordination in a Crisis: The U.S. National Governors Association and COVID-19Whether on climate change, migration, or humanitarian response, subnational coordination has become an increasingly important feature of responses to crisis across the world in the 21st century. Subnational (provincial, state and municipal) governments are described by McKinsey as "crisis nerve centers" - highly agile, coordinated bodies that can bring together stakeholders and mobilize civil society in support of central government - or in some cases, to compensate for the lack of leadership from central government.Each country's experience of the COVID-19 pandemic has to some extent been shaped by this subnational response. This response has been shaped in turn by that country's history, political system and current political reality. While France's response has been coordinated strongly from Paris, the measures taken in the UK and particularly in Germany, Italy and Spain have been more decentralized, with varying degrees of success. In Turkey, one of the countries currently on the steepest upward curve of cases, the subnational response has evolved from "cooperation to competition to and finally confrontation." In China, local officials in Wuhan were blamed by Beijing for the crisis, and found little support from other regional governments.The response in the United States, which now has the highest number of cases in the world, is particularly unique. Since the earliest days of this mounting crisis, governors have helmed efforts to control the spread of the virus and safeguard public health. As infection rates rise and mitigation measures take their inevitable toll on the economy, the National Governors Association (NGA) has mobilized to provide its members with an unprecedented level of continuous assistance, with a focus on disseminating updated information from the federal government and virtually convening state officials to identify urgent needs and communicate effective practices. These efforts are being led by the NGA Center for Best Practices, a non-profit, 501c(3) devoted to identifying and sharing best practices in state public policy for the nation's governors.This webinar will look at the United States as a case study of subnational coordination in response to crisis. Join us for a discussion with Timothy Blute, Director of the NGA Center for Best Practices, and Tom Kalil, Chief Innovation Officer at Schmidt Futures, to learn more about this pivotal and unprecedented subnational coordination in response to the COVID-19 crisis. Please click here for a funding brief with more details on the NGA's COVID-19 response to date.