Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

In a time of existential crisis, Pakistanis continue to believe that infusing the right "Islamic" spirit into the population will somehow see it through. Critics say that experience shows otherwise.

Pakistanis—both religiously orthodox and liberal—believe that the founder of Pakistan had a game plan for the state after it came into being in 1947. There was none.

Nationalist Hindus imagine India was populated in ancient times by a Hindu nation whereas nationalist Muslims tie Pakistan's origin with pre-existing Muslim identity and the first Muslim invader arriving on Indian soil. Historical evidence refutes both.

The author will discuss these and other myths that are widely held in Pakistan as well as in India.

Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy earned his Ph.D. in nuclear physics from MIT and is also a prominent anti-nuclear activist. His earlier book was Confronting the Bomb: Pakistani and Indian Scientists Speak Out. As an advocate for science and reason in Islam, his first book was Islam and Science: Religious Orthodoxy and the Battle for Rationality, which included a foreword by the physics Nobel Prize winner Abdus Salam.

As a science popularizer, Hoodbhoy received the UNESCO’s Kalinga Prize. Earlier he had received the Burton Award for Electronics and the Abdus Salam Prize for Mathematics. He is also a recipient of the Joseph A. Burton Award from the American Physical Society, is a sponsor of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and was included among the top 100 global thinkers by Foreign Policy magazine in 2011. Hoodbhoy’s newest project is The Black Hole, a community center in Islamabad for nurturing science, art, and culture. It houses an auditorium for speakers who would otherwise go unheard, a library, and a science lab for children.

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David Ambroz is a living testament to the power of hope, strength and perseverance in overcoming some of life’s greatest challenges.

Ambroz’s childhood was a harrowing tumult of poverty, homelessness and hunger as he, his siblings, and his mentally ill, abusive mother survived on the streets of New York. His subsequent experience in the foster system as a young gay man was similarly marked by neglect and abuse until he finally found stability.

In his recent memoir, A Place Called Home, Ambroz vividly describes his story of survival and ultimately life success. Today, Ambroz is a law school graduate, a leading advocate for child welfare, and a national voice for improved foster care and homelessness policies. He is a head of Community Engagement (Southern California & Western U.S. Region) at Amazon, and has been recognized by former President Obama as an American Champion of Change.

Please join us for a conversation with an inspirational person who is using his lived experience to help build a more humane and compassionate nation, and how you can too.

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Lawyer, author, professor and Supreme Court expert Stephen Vladeck—author of the new book The Shadow Docket—exposes the Court’s increasing reliance on secretive judicial processes that permit typically public hearings and discussions to occur behind closed doors. Having argued multiple cases before the Supreme Court himself, Vladeck explains how the Court’s expanded use of the “shadow docket” has enabled cryptic late-night rulings that leave the public without explanation for decisions affecting everything from immigration to COVID vaccine mandates.

A University of Texas law professor and CNN’s lead Supreme Court analyst, Vladeck joins us to talk about the important issues raised in his book as well as the biggest cases facing the Court this term.

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Land use, pollution and the climate crisis are driving what may be the largest mass extinction event since the dinosaurs. The World Wildlife Fund estimates that the planet has seen an average 68% drop in mammal, bird, fish, reptile and amphibian populations since 1970. In order to help address species collapse, over 190 countries – signatories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Biodiversity – recently agreed to an ambitious new plan, called 30x30, which aims to conserve 30% of the world’s land and waters by 2030. Will the framework be enough to bring biodiversity back from the breaking point? 

This episode is supported in part by Resources Legacy Fund.

Guests:

Tanya Sanerib, International Legal Director, Center for Biological Diversity

Ian Urbina, Director and Founder, The Outlaw Ocean Project 

Jennifer Tauli Corpuz, Managing Director of Policy, Nia Tero 

For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org.

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Recent advances in artificial intelligence are raising hopes of a U.S. productivity boom by automating mundane tasks, improving decision-making, and opening up new business models and opportunities. At the same time, many workers are skeptical, fearing that the new tools may make them obsolete. What impact will AI have on businesses and employees in the long and short term? And how can we be more productive while also ensuring that the benefits will be distributed equally?

A new report by the McKinsey Global Institute, "Rekindling Productivity for a New Era," sheds light on these questions. The study examines which sectors and geographic regions, such as California, have been the most innovative and productive, and what it took to achieve that success. "To unlock value from truly new technology, firms must reconfigure how they work, often over sustained periods, as they tinker with processes and workers adapt their skills," the report finds.

The study also argues that maintaining the status quo is not an option. U.S. productivity has been lagging since 2005, averaging 1.4 percent a year, compared to the post-World War II average of 2.2 percent. Bringing productivity up to its historical average could add an additional $10 trillion to the U.S. GDP over the next 10 years, amounting to an extra $15,200 per U.S. household.

We'll talk with McKinsey's Olivia White about how to fix the U.S. productivity engine in a way that benefits everyone.

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In the 21st century, technology dominates all aspects of our lives. With the advent of artificial intelligence, some believe we are at a critical moment with our ability to control the very technology that humans built. And the decisions we make now will likely shape our society's progress on a range of variables in the future.

According to economist and global thinker Simon Johnson, a thousand years of historical and contemporary evidence makes one thing clear: societal progress for all depends on the choices we make about technology.

In his new book Power and Progress: Our 1000-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity, Johnson explores the history and economics of major technological transformations up to and including the latest developments in artificial Intelligence. He finds that new ways of organizing production and communication can either serve the narrow interests of the elite or become the foundation for widespread prosperity for society.

Johnson demonstrates that the path of technology was once—and may again be—brought under control if we make the right choices. The tremendous computing advances of the last half century can become empowering and democratizing tools, but not if all major decisions remain in the hands of a few tech leaders, which characterizes much of the world of technology today. 

Will this change, and what is our role? Hear more as Johnson addresses these critical questions about the power of technology and its influence on societal progress.

NOTES

This program is generously supported by the Jackson Square Partners Foundation.

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Many on the left say that the growing climate crisis is the inevitable result of unbridled capitalism – industries seeking profits above all else. In “The Big Myth,” Naomi Oreskes (who brought us “Merchants of Doubt”) points to a concerted effort from American business groups to propagate the myth that only markets free of government regulation can generate prosperity and protect political freedom. 

“If we actually had appropriate regulations, appropriate rules of the road, we wouldn't be in this position of having to beg corporate leaders not to destroy the planet,” Oreskes says.

This myth has grown so pervasive that American citizens now put more faith in CEOs than in religious leaders, according to David Gelles, author of “The Man Who Broke Capitalism.” What should be done to change the narrative?

Guests:

Naomi Oreskes, Professor of the History of Science, Harvard 

David Gelles, Reporter, The New York Times

Kate Khatib, Co-Director, Seed Commons

For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts

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Please join The Commonwealth Club for an evening with the leaders of the Buck Institute, one of the country's leading research organizations on aging. We'll hear from the leader of the Buck Institute on "Healthspan," then enjoy an in-person wine and cheese reception.

"Healthspan" is the period of life in which an individual is healthy and free from chronic disease. Interventions that promote healthy aging, such as diet and exercise, can help increase healthspan and reduce the burden of age-related diseases. Dr. Eric Verdin will discuss his efforts and those of his colleagues at the Buck Institute in helping to advance our understanding of aging and develop new strategies for promoting healthy aging and extending healthspan.

Eric Verdin, MD, is the president and CEO of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, a pioneering biomedical research institute dedicated to aging and age-related disease. A native of Belgium, Dr. Verdin received his Doctorate of Medicine from the University of Liege and completed additional clinical and research training at Harvard Medical School. He has held faculty positions at the University of Brussels, the National Institutes of Health, and the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory. Dr. Verdin is also currently a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. In 2016 Dr. Verdin established his laboratory at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging to study the relationship between aging and the immune system. He is an elected member of several scientific organizations, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society for Clinical Investigation, and the Association of American Physicians. He also serves on the advisory council of the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health.

There will be a post-program reception for all attendees.

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Forbes magazine now reports there are more billionaires in China than in any other country in the world. Many of them, joined by grassroots donors as well, are interested in making a positive difference in their own countries, the Asia-Pacific region, and elsewhere in the world.

Many of them partner with, and benefit from, the Centre for Asian Philanthropy and Society (CAPS), headquartered in Hong Kong and helmed by Dr. Ruth A. Shapiro. The Centre conducts policy research, applied research, commissioned research and convening. In collaboration with its extensive network of local partners and support from Asian philanthropists across 18 Asian economies, CAPS generates evidence-based insights into how individuals, companies and governments can best address social challenges. What are those insights, and what progress is being made to best address the social challenges?

Join Dr. Shapiro and fundraising consultant Ruyi Lu for an inspired conversation about recent trends in Asian philanthropy, the differences and similarities between Asian and American philanthropy, and how they converge to produce a greater good for all.

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Nuclear deterrence has been a cornerstone of U.S. defense since the end of World War II, seeking to protect the country’s security and that of its allies by threatening unacceptable damage to any country that might attack with nuclear weapons or by other means. Since the end of the Cold War, the United States has been able to focus on reducing the role and number of nuclear weapons and strengthening nonproliferation. But now big changes are again afoot in the global context . . . will Russia’s current modernization of its nuclear arsenal and China’s buildup of strategic nuclear forces threaten the viability of the U.S. nuclear deterrent, including the extended deterrence the United States provides to its allies? Is arms control still possible? 

China has historically maintained a “minimum” strategic nuclear deterrent but is now engaged in an unprecedented build up and diversification of its nuclear arsenal; a decade from now, it will match if not surpass the United States in deployed weapons. Russia is also upgrading its nuclear weapons, and in February “suspended” its adherence to the New START arms control treaty, which limits U.S. and Russian strategic nuclear weapons to 1,550 deployed warheads each.

What are China’s and Russia’s objectives in accelerating their nuclear weapons programs? How do their nuclear policies relate to their grand strategies and other military activities, such as the war in Ukraine for Russia, and the Chinese buildup of naval forces in the Pacific, and to their perceptions or misperceptions of United States activities? What are the implications for U.S. and world security? To maintain deterrence, will the United States be compelled to match the nuclear arsenals of both Russia and China? What do U.S. allies want and need from the United States and what can they contribute to deterrence? 

What are the prospects for arms control, or other strategies to place limits on this potential new nuclear arms race? Do new technologies, such as those for homeland missile defense, offer some escape from the dilemmas of nuclear deterrence?

About the Speakers

Brad Roberts is the director of the Center for Global Security Research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where he recently chaired a study group on China’s emergence as a second nuclear peer of the United States. Prior to this position, he was deputy assistant secretary of defense for nuclear and missile defense policy. Dr. Roberts was also a consulting professor at Stanford University and William Perry Fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation.

Thomas Fingar is a Shorenstein APARC Fellow in the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. From 2005 through 2008, he served as the first deputy director of national intelligence for analysis and, concurrently, as chairman of the National Intelligence Council. Dr. Fingar served previously as assistant secretary of the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research.

SPEAKERS

Thomas Fingar

Shorenstein APARC Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University.

Brad Roberts

Director, Center for Global Security Research, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Dr. Gloria Duffy

Ph.D., President and CEO, The Commonwealth Club of California—Moderator

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on May 15th, 2023 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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