Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

The Nobel laureate Otto Warburg was widely regarded in his day as one of the most important biochemists of the 20th century. As a Jewish homosexual living openly with his male partner, Warburg represented all that the Third Reich abhorred. Yet Hitler and his top advisors dreaded cancer, and protected Warburg in the hope that he could cure it.

Apple demonstrates how Warburg's midcentury work may well hold the secret to why cancer became so common in the modern world and how we can reverse the trend.

A tale of scientific discovery, personal peril, and the race to end a disastrous disease, Ravenous would be the stuff of the most inventive fiction were it not, in fact, true.

MLF ORGANIZER

Patty James

NOTES

MLF: Health & Medicine

SPEAKERS

Sam Apple

Faculty Member, Johns Hopkins University; Writer; Author, Ravenous: Otto Warburg, The Nazis, and the Search for the Cancer-Diet Connection

Patty James

M.S., N.C. Nutritionist; Chef; Author—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 June 1st, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Over the last few decades, San Francisco has experienced radical changes with the influence of Silicon Valley, tech companies and more. Countless articles, blogs and even movies have tried to capture the complex nature of what San Francisco has become, a place millions of people have loved to call home, and yet are compelled to consider leaving.

In the new book The End of the Golden Gate, 25 acclaimed writers take on the eternal question: "Should I stay or should I go?" Subjects include: the tech-industry invasion and the evolution, gentrification, and radical cost of living that has transformed San Francisco's most beloved neighborhoods; the lasting imprint of the 1960s counterculture movement; and the fight to preserve the art, music and other creative movements that make San Francisco forever the city of love.

Come hear the compelling thoughts of three of the book's contributors: journalist and historian Gary Kamiya; poet, essayist and cultural critic Kimberly Reyes; and writer and musician Daniel Handler, also well known as Lemony Snicket.

A percentage of the book proceeds will be given to charities that help those in the bay experiencing homelessness.

SPEAKERS

Gary Kamiya

Journalist; Historian; Contributor, The End of the Golden Gate

Kimberly Reyes

Poet; Essayist; Cultural Critic; Contributor, The End of the Golden Gate

Daniel Handler

Writer; Musician; A.K.A. Lemony Snicket: Contributor, The End of the Golden Gate

In Conversation with Heather Knight

Columnist, San Francisco Chronicle

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 27th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Join us for a virtual discussion, live-streamed direct from Berlin, Germany, with Heino Falcke, the German astrophysicist, about his research into the nature of black holes. His new book A Light in the Darkness is the story of how the first photographic evidence of black holes was achieved by Falcke in April 2019, and what its significance for humanity might be. Falcke wrestles with the ways in which black holes force us to confront the boundary where human life ends and the celestial begins. He also ponders why black holes are so difficult for most of us to understand, comparing that to our inability to envisage our own inevitable death.

Black holes develop when a massive star dies, and its matter is condensed. That extreme amount of mass contained in a small space generates a gigantic amount of gravitational force, allowing the black hole to suck up everything that comes near, including light. These astronomical wonders are the subject of intense scientific and philosophical theorizing—the journey to a black hole might even be a journey to the end of time itself. Which is why Falcke regards black holes as exquisite representations of fear, death—and, surprisingly, the divine.

Empirical and profound, Falcke examines both the physical nature and the spiritual meaning of black holes, which he calls “the epitome of merciless destruction.”

MLF ORGANIZER

George Hammond

NOTES

MLF: Humanities

SPEAKERS

Heino Falcke

Professor, Radio Astronomy and Astroparticle Physics, Radboud University Nijmegen; Winner, 2011 Spinoza Prize; Author, A Light in the Darkness: Black Holes, the Universe, and Us

In Conversation with George Hammond

Author, Conversations With Socrates

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 27th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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In 1968, San Francisco made history when, as a result of the student strike at San Francisco State University, the country’s first ethnic studies department was born. Over the years, community advocates have continued to find inadequacies in educational programs for students, citing a lack of inclusion of instructional materials for the teaching of history and culture regarding diverse population demographics. They also believe the learning and understanding of diverse cultures will help foster understanding and mutual respect between and among people from different ethnic backgrounds. 

Join us for an in-depth discussion with panelists who will discuss their personal stories about the origins of ethnic studies and their individual advocacy within the movement. Learn how and why they have devoted their efforts to advocate for the programs and hear their visions about how ethnic studies can shape our society’s future.

This is one of an occasional series sharing perspectives on the subject of ethnic studies. 

NOTES

Presented in association with the APA Heritage Foundation.

This program is made free thanks to the generous support of Gilead Sciences, Inc..

SPEAKERS

Ana De Almeida Amaral

Student Activist, Stanford University; Advocate, National Equity Project

Artnelson Concordia

Educator; Coordinator, Santa Barbara Unified School District Ethnic Studies Program; Founding Teacher, San Francisco Unified School District Ethic Studies Program

Dr. Taunya Jaco

6th Grade ELA/Social Studies Teacher, San Jose; Board of Directors Member, National Education Association; Secretary, NEA Black Caucus; Chair, Civil Rights in Education Committee, California Teachers Association's State Council

Dr. Theresa Montaño

Teacher, CSUN; Former Board Director and President, National Council for Higher Education

Dr. Samia Shoman

Advocate, Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Coalition; Manager of English Learner and Adacemic Support Programs, San Mateo Union High School District; Co-Coordinator, Teach Palestine, Middle East Children Alliance

Iza McGawley

Student Activist, UC Santa Cruz; Co-Founder, Ethnic Studies Program, High Tech High

Dr. Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales

Professor, College of Ethnic Studies, San Francisco State University—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 April 29th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Disasters are inherently inevitable in life. We cannot predict the next earthquake, wildfire, financial crisis, war or pandemic, but we can predict how to handle each situation better. Unexpected calamities have happened all throughout human history, yet even in the 21st century we are ill-prepared to recover from them. In the new book Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe, popular historian Niall Ferguson explores the reasoning behind this phenomena and offers solutions on how to handle unforeseen circumstances of mass misfortune.

Ferguson has spent his academic career lecturing on the international, financial, and economic history of British and American imperialism. In his new book, Ferguson uses centuries of knowledge to understand the complex pathologies at work that make societies fail in the face of disaster. He offers the lesson he says the West urgently needs to learn if we want to handle the next crisis better and avoid the ultimate doom of irreversible decline.

Join us as Niall Ferguson offers an explanation of disaster response and strategies to make us better at handling the next catastrophe we will inevitably face.

SPEAKERS

Niall Ferguson

Milbank Family Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution; Author, Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe; Twitter @nfergus

In Conversation with Maya Jasanoff

Coolidge Professor of History, Harvard University

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 June 1st, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Ever have a difficult conversation about climate? Pretty much everyone has. Knowing all the facts and figures only goes so far when talking to someone who just doesn’t agree. So how do we break through the barriers? Scientists trained to present information in a one-way lecture format face a particular challenge: they first need to unlearn old habits.

“Everybody's trying to figure out ‘how do we move past this idea that just arming people with facts will lead to a better world,’ right, because we’ve just seen that that’s absolutely not true,” says Faith Kearns, author of Getting to the Heart of Science Communication. 

Kearns argues that we all need to move from an “information deficit” model of communication – where it’s assumed that the audience simply needs more information – to a relational model, where the science communicator does as much listening as talking in order to first find empathy and common ground.

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As attacks on Asian Americans repeatedly make the news, there is also a bigger story to tell: What the challenges of the future are, and how Asian Americans will help America be more competitive in this brave new world.

Join this insightful discussion with prominent Asian American leaders not only about the history of Asian Americans in the United States, but about what Asian Americans are contributing today, and what all Americans should think about doing as we fight together against modern stereotypes and broken systems, and face current and future challenges.

In association with The Committee of 100, Northern California.

SPEAKERS

Daniel Chao

Ph.D., Board Chair, 1990 Institute; Member, Committee of 100; Former Senior Vice President, TerraPower, LLC; Former Chairman, Bechtel, China

Dennis Wu

Chair, Asia Pacific Islander American Public Affairs, San Francisco; Managing Partner, WuHoover & Co., CPA Advisory Firm; Retired Partner, Deloitte; Past Chair, Commonwealth Club's Board of Governors

In Conversation with Evelyn Dilsaver

Chair, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors

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 26th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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In 2021, as we begin to emerge from the global COVID-19 pandemic, the country continues to grapple with well-publicized incidents of police violence against Black Americans, a wave of anti-API discrimination and violence, and spreading political and other attacks on the transgender, gender nonconforming and intersex communities.

In response to these harrowing realities, The Commonwealth Club and The Transgender District of San Francisco bring together a roundtable of thought leaders from across the nation to speak openly about their unique experiences regarding race and gender identity, in hopes that this summit can provide context, connection and solidarity between three communities that are far too often pitted against each other.

Note: This program contains EXPLICIT language

SPEAKERS

Andy Marra

Korean American Trans Woman Activist; Executive Director, Transgender Legal Defense Fund

Oluchi Omeoga

Transmasculine Advocate and Co-Director of BLMP (Black LGBT Migrants Project)

Diamond Stylz

Transgender Activist; Host, "Marsha's Plate" Podcast; Executive Director, Black Trans Women Inc. (Houston, Texas)

Juniper Yun

Korean-American Artist; Program Associate, The Transgender District

Michelle Meow

Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show" on KBCW/KPIX and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors—Host

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 25th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Bloomberg's Brad Stone is one of the country's leading experts on the global commerce company Amazon. His bestselling book from a decade ago, The Everything Store, gave one of the most detailed pictures of Amazon’s unprecedented growth and its billionaire founder, Jeff Bezos. His coverage in Bloomberg Businessweek has helped shaped our understanding of the internet giant.

Since Stone's first book on Amazon was published, the company has expanded to become the most valuable internet company and one of the globe's largest retailers. Its workforce has quintupled in size and its valuation has soared to well over $1 trillion dollars. The company's holdings also include Whole Foods, Prime Video, and Amazon’s cloud computing unit, AWS, which powers many of the country's largest websites. Throughout the pandemic, Amazon became a lifeline for many people and small businesses around the world for home supplies, cleaning products and PPE. Bezos also has a personal ownership of The Washington Post, expanding the Amazon owner's impact.

In Stone's new book, Amazon Unbound, the author presents another deeply reported narrative of how a retail upstart became one of the most powerful and feared entities in the global economy. Stone also looks at the evolution of Bezos himself from a geeky start-up guy to leading one of the globe's most influential companies.

Please join us for this important event to better understand one of the private sector giants that is shaping modern life, and the company's enigmatic leader who is shaping that vision.

SPEAKERS

Brad Stone

Senior Executive Editor, Global Technology, Bloomberg News; Author, Amazon Unbound: Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a Global Empire

In Conversation with Sarah Frier

Technology Reporter, Bloomberg; Author, No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram

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 25th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Former congresswoman Jane Harman says America has used the same tactics to solve defense and intelligence issues since the end of the Cold War. She says many of these strategies haven't worked and that the United States has become too self-satisfied as the lone superpower of global politics. Harman further says that many nations no longer defer to America as they once did. In her new book Insanity Defense, Harman chronicles how the United States has failed to confront some of the toughest national security policy issues and discusses what that bodes for our national security.

Harman has gained the expertise to discuss security and public policy issues. During her nine terms in Congress, she served on all major security committees, including six years on Armed Services and eight years on Intelligence. She is currently a distinguished fellow and president emerita of the Wilson Center, the nation’s key nonpartisan policy forum for independent research to tackle global issues. Through her work, Harman says she witnessed the unravelling of American politics in her various roles as legislator, exhorter, enabler, dissident and, eventually, outside advisor and commentator.

Hear Jane Harman's unabashed thoughts on achievable solutions to bring us to a safer future.

SPEAKERS

Jane Harman

Distinguished Fellow and President Emerita, Wilson Center; Author, Insanity Defense: Why Our Failure to Confront Hard National Security Problems Makes Us Less Safe

Melissa Caen

Moderator - Political and legal analyst for CBS San Francisco KPIX

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 25th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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