Gladstone’s Steven Finkbeiner shares how Gladstone’s AI-powered microscope is racing to cure neurodegenerative disease.

Imagine a scientist that never sleeps, runs thousands of experiments at once, and learns from every success and failure in real-time. It’s not a person—it’s a microscope. Scientist Steven Finkbeiner, M.D., Ph.D., of San Francisco’s Gladstone Institutes, introduces us to a mind-boggling new reality: a “thinking microscope” powered by autonomous AI. By looking beyond the limits of human imagination, this machine is mapping out how diseases such as Alzheimer’s and ALS unfold, and discovering how to reverse them. 

Join us to learn how this revolutionary leap in technology is radically accelerating the timeline for curing the world’s most devastating diseases. Come witness how going beyond human imagination might be the key to unlocking the world’s most anticipated medical breakthroughs.

A Health & Medicine Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums.

Organizer: Robert Lee Kilpatrick 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Introduction: Cole Thomason-Redus, co-chair of the Arts Forum, Commonwealth Club World Affairs

Film: Flicka: A Love Letter 

Frederica “Flicka” von Stade has built an extraordinary legacy that reaches far beyond her celebrated opera career. In the documentary Flicka: A Love Letter, audiences follow her journey from one of the world’s most beloved mezzo-sopranos to a devoted mentor, educator and humanitarian. Through interviews and archival footage, colleagues, friends and family illuminate not only her artistry and musical brilliance but also the warmth, generosity and deep compassion that have defined her life and work, including her enduring commitment to bringing music to underserved communities.

In Conversation: Following the screening, Chanticleer President & General Director Philip Wilder will lead a conversation with Frederica von Stade and director/producer Brian Staufenbiel in anticipation of her receiving the Kathleen G. Henschel Award on October 1.

In association with San Francisco Chanticleer.

Organizer: Cole Thomason-Redus 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sinclair Lewis is said to have predicted, “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross.” Democratic congressman Jared Huffman says he witnessed something eerily like that vision on January 6, 2021, and it was his wake-up call to the shocking power of Christian nationalism.
He explores this topic I his new book No Prophets, in which he argues that Christian nationalism is now America’s most dangerous political movement. Huffman uncovers the landscape of this movement―who they are, what they want, and how they plan to get it―and argues that it has destabilized our nation more than most recognize. Blending deep research with untold stories from inside our government, he takes a look at how this violent confederation of religious extremists is undermining science, education, foreign policy, and the very architecture of our democracy. But he says it’s not too late.
Join us to hear Huffman’s take on what he says is an existential threat to our democracy, and hear how he urges us to reclaim the values core to our secular republic.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While most Americans think of a truck or a sedan when they hear “electric vehicle,” a quiet revolution is happening in other countries on two and three wheels. In China and India, the electric vehicles doing the most to push out oil aren't cars – they're scooters, mopeds, motorcycles and the three-wheeled rickshaws and tuk-tuks that move people and packages through some of the world's busiest cities.

According to BloombergNEF’s EV Outlook report, 46% of global sales of two- and three-wheelers were electric last year. Collectively, they’re ⁠displacing more oil⁠ than cars. Electric delivery vehicles are also starting to show up in bigger U.S. cities. How might even greater adoption of “other” EV types benefit decarbonization? 

Guests:

Aleksandra O'Donovan, Head of Electrified Transport, BloombergNEF 

Samhita Shiledar, Principal, RMI

David Zipper, Contributing Writer, Bloomberg; Co-host, Look Both Ways

Highlights:

00:00 Introduction

02:37 Aleksandra O'Donovan on the BNEF 2026 EV Outlook

03:54 Aleksandra O'Donovan on adoption of electric two and three wheelers

08:40 Aleksandra O'Donovan on oil displacement from two and three wheelers 

13:23 Aleksandra O'Donovan on what electric vehicle adoption means for emissions

18:36 Samhita Shiledar on the difference between US and Indian transportation

20:47 Samhita Shiledar on the reality of switching to electric vehicles for drivers

26:25 Samhita Shiledar on how the transition to EVs affects riders and consumers

33:04 Samhita Shiledar on the future of electric two and three wheelers

35:50 David Zipper on “car bloat” 

41:37 David Zipper on what e-bike adoption rates in the US say about demand

47:47 David Zipper on golf cart adoption

For show notes, transcripts and related links, visit ⁠our episode page⁠ at ClimateOne.org

***

***

Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on ⁠Patreon⁠, you’ll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. ⁠Sign up today⁠.

***

Ad sales by ⁠Multitude⁠. Contact them for ad inquiries at ⁠multitude.productions/ads⁠

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“... reading it made me so hopeful and excited that I've been telling everyone I know about it. This is not just a book for MBAs or people who work in business. It's for anyone who has wondered, 'Is capitalism fixable?'"
—Ari Shapiro

What if the most radical idea in business is that purpose is the best tool for unlocking long-term growth? And what if the secret to sustaining your organization’s integrity is readily available if you look in the right places?

In his new book Incorruptible, a New York Times and USA Today best seller, Eric Ries reveals the hidden forces that he says cause even great organizations to drift from their original reason for being. Then he shows how to design businesses that can withstand that pressure. Drawing on two decades of work with founders, CEOs and investors, he exposes the flaws that make companies vulnerable to short-term thinking. He offers a blueprint for “mission-controlled” organizations that can grow, prosper, and endure without losing their soul.

Incorruptible has received advance praise from Dan Heath, Mark Cuban, Frances Frei, Kim Scott, Bob Sutton, and many others, including LinkedIn Co-founder Reid Hoffman, who says "Incorruptible is a must-read for any founder, board member, investor, or consumer who cares about protecting entrepreneurship, innovation, and the productive power of capitalism from the dangers of short-term thinking—and for anyone who recognizes the importance of trustworthy and enduring institutions for a thriving democracy."

Using lessons gleaned from generations-old retailers and manufacturers to recently founded tech sector stars, Ries reframes the ethical longevity of business as a practical design problem. He provides every builder—founder, executive, investor or citizen—“a playbook to help avoid the inevitable pitfalls” (according to Mark Cuban) and the tools to create enterprises that uplift rather than exploit. He explores positive case studies such as Cost Plus Drugs, Costco, Hershey’s, Khan Academy, REI and others; he also delves into cautionary tales from Cadbury, J. Crew, Gateway, The Limited, Polaroid, Sears and Whole Foods.

Scott Cook, who will be in conversation with Ries, has been a prominent supporter of Incorruptibleand has publicly praised it as required reading for founders, CEOs and investors, noting “If you're a founder, a CEO planning an IPO, an investor seeking epic outcomes—stop now and read Eric's book. It will change your life. Eric unveils the unspoken truths on how to build a legendary success … and keep it successful. When will it be seen as founder malpractice to not have read this book?" 

Success alone will not protect what matters most; Ries says only incorruptible design can. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since the passage of Proposition E in 2024, San Francisco has expanded its use of technology in public safety, including drones, automated license plate readers, and the city’s new Real Time Investigations Center. As these tools become part of everyday policing, they’ve prompted conversations about how the city can pursue safer streets while protecting privacy and civil liberties.

How should new technologies be evaluated and overseen? What transparency and accountability measures make sense? And what can San Francisco’s experience teach other cities considering similar approaches?

Join us for a thoughtful conversation about technology, public safety and civil liberties—and what responsible innovation looks like in practice.

Featuring:

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Silicon Valley says it is “moving fast and breaking things,” the world interprets the chaos as a necessary cost of innovation. In his new book, The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy, Gil Durán argues that something far more sinister is at work: a decades-long campaign to replace elected governments with corporate rule.
Durán chronicles what he calls the “tech-authoritarian movement” from its early days in San Francisco politics to its current moment on the international stage, exploring the wild and dystopian ambition of the technocrats at its center, and offering his road map to resistance.
Drawing on insider political experience and new investigations, he traces this ideology from its philosophical roots in The Sovereign Individual by James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg. He introduces its modern apostles—Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen, Balaji Srinivasan and Elon Musk—and argues that the promise of technological liberation has transformed into a global movement for digital feudalism, powered by cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence, and the algorithmic propaganda of social media.
Durán explains the origins, strategies and ambitions of Silicon Valley’s “war on democracy.” Join us as Durán will be in conversation with acclaimed author and former Daily Beast columnist Wajahat Ali, editor of the “Left Hook” Substack. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us as we explore the worldwide phenomenon behind the revival of Homer’s 3000-year-old story, the kaleidoscopic and hallucinogenic return of Odysseus to Ithaka, the Greek island that has become an icon for home itself.

There is the immense beauty of the poem itself and the historical importance of Homer’s accomplishment, but what does the story mean to us now, how can it help illuminate the chaos of our lives today? Composed by the Poet Known as Homer, around 650 BC, it was based on a story about the Trojan War that was already hundreds of years old. Since then, the story about the hallucinogenic adventures of Odysseus, his son Telemachus, and wife Penelope have cast a spell over cultures around the world, haunting poets, playwrights and philosophers, and taunting the efforts of archaeologists, linguists and now filmmakers to render it in modern terms.

Our conversation will explore the myriad life lessons of Homer’s masterpiece that have inspired readers, listeners and now viewers for millennia, with a focus on the central theme of the nostoi, the return stories of ancient Greek soldiers, adventurers, philosophers and scientists coming home, and the wider question of what home meant to the ancients—and what home means to us now, the most rootless people in recorded history.

Along the way, we will have an animated exchange about the wide range of translations, from Alexander Pope, T. E. Lawrence, and E. V. Rieu, to Richard Lattimore, Emily Wilson and Daniel Mendelosohn. Finally, we will playfully review the myriad movie versions, from George Melies’ four-minute version in 1905, to the 1956 Ulysses with Kirk Douglas, and the freshly minted Odyssey helmed by Christopher Nolan.  

Finally, there is the surprising realization that it is five female characters (Penelope, Athena, Calypso, Circe and Nausicaa) who helped guide Odysseus homeward, and the centuries-long influence on art, literature and cinema. Join us for a celebration of the soul-saving power of this ancient Greek tale, which sings of the aftermath of a savage war and the restoration of our hero’s home, all the while insisting on need to say “yes” to life. 

About the Speaker

Phil Cousineau is the author of The Wisdom of the Odyssey and over 40 other books, including the bestselling The Art of Pilgrimage, and The Hero’s Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work. Cousineau is a writer, teacher, filmmaker, storyteller and cultural historian, who has consulted on mythology and story for major studios, including Warner Brothers., Pixar and Lucasfilm, and has led mythology travel programs to Greece for more than three decades. Cousineau has been featured on NPR, CNN International, the BBC, the Smithsonian and Discovery channels, and was the host of PBS and Link-TV’s "Global Spirit." He lives in San Francisco. Visit him online.

Valerie Andrews is the founder of the digital magazine and podcast "Reinventing Home," the author of Our Story of Home: Tales of Longing and Belonging, and A Passion for This Earth: Toward a New Partnership of Man, Woman and Nature, and the editor of Sanctuary: The Inner Life of Home. Her articles have appeared in Jung Journal: Culture and Psyche, Intuition magazine, Esquire, Vogue, and The Sun. She has moved—or rather been unmoored—33 times and understands the wandering Odysseus. The Bay Area has been her home since 1990.

A Grownups Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums.

Organizer: Denise M. Michaud 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There were 61 candidates on California’s June primary ballot for governor, but the race is now down to two: Republican Steve Hilton and Democrat Xavier Becerra. 

Hilton is a former Fox News commentator and political advisor. He was endorsed by President Trump and promises to “restore the California Dream” by cutting government spending, reducing taxes and energy prices, and slashing regulations. 

Join us as Hilton delivers a speech outlining his vision for the state and sits down for a conversation with KQED’s Scott Shafer.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Protest is the ultimate in equal-opportunity political action. As Annie Leonard, former executive director of Greenpeace USA says, “Making change is like laying a stone path across the garden. Peaceful protest may be every 4th or 8th or 200th stone; it helps us get where we want to go but also we need a lot of other stones too.” Leonard explores the history of protests in her book “Protest: Respect It. Defend It. Use It.” 

And while protest is the loudest and most visible tool, it’s only one of many ways to take action. Through community building, civic engagement, elected office, corporate boardrooms, churches and nonprofit agencies, there are countless paths to exercising power and promoting positive change. In this episode we hear from three leaders working in three different arenas, all toward the same goal.

Guests:

Annie Leonard, Environmental Activist, Author of “Protest: Respect It, Defend It, Use It”

Danielle Lee, Founder, Climate Action Club 

James Coleman, City Councilor, South San Francisco

Highlights:

00:00 – Introduction

03:55 – Annie Leonard shares the story of the Section 504 sit-ins protest in San Francisco

06:30 – Different ways protest can be effective

08:30 – Leonard on why she puts her body on the line (gets arrested) during protests

16:00 – Leonard on the lawsuit Energy Transfer brought against Greenpeace USA over Standing Rock protests

22:00 – Protecting, defending, and using the right to protest 

26:00 – Danielle Lee on organizing younger people around climate and environment 

30:30 – Systemic versus personal action

37:00 – James Coleman on the decision to run for office as a tool for effective change

41:00 – Impact of local government 

46:30 – How change actually happens

For show notes and related links, visit our ⁠episode page⁠ at ClimateOne.org

***

Join Climate One for a town hall event on September 28 at 6 p.m. on navigating AI, climate, and the future of democracy. How do we ensure that AI and data centers serve the public good? How does a democracy function when AI is distorting our sense of shared truths? Tickets available at ⁠climateone.org/events⁠ 

***

Also: We’ll be having an electric conversation on October 14 at 6 p.m. between PG&E CEO Patti Poppe and California State Senator Scott Wiener about energy affordability, outages, and whether cities like San Francisco are ready to break up with the investor owned utility model. Tickets available at ⁠climateone.org/events⁠ 

***

Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on ⁠Patreon⁠, you’ll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. ⁠Sign up today⁠.

***

Ad sales by ⁠Multitude⁠. Contact them for ad inquiries at ⁠multitude.productions/ads⁠

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices