Scott Aaronson is a computer scientist and director of UT Austin's Quantum Information Institute.

Steven Callahan survived 76 days in the Atlantic Ocean, adrift on a life raft after his boat sunk. He is the author of the New York Times bestselling book "Adrift", and has gone on to consult for movies such as Life of Pi.

Christof Koch is a neuroscientist, a former professor at Cal Tech and the current President of the Allen Institute for Brain Science, and his most recent book is The Feeling of Life Itself.

Richard Wrangham is a primatologist, a recipient of a MacArthur "Genius" Grant, and the author of "Demonic Males" and "The Goodness Paradox."

Patrick Kroupa was a former member of the hacker collective Legion of Doom, and co-founder of MindVox, one of the first ISPs in America.

Mary Dearborn is an author and biographer of figures like Norman Mailer, Peggy Guggenheim, and most recently of Ernest Hemingway.

Joshua Shenk is the author of "Lincoln's Melancholy" and "Powers of Two: Finding the Essence of Innovation in Creative Pairs".

Derrick Jensen is an ecologist, author, and founder of "Deep Green Resistance."

Craig Packer is a biologist and the former director of the Serengeti Lion Project. He has written for and appeared in National Geographic numerous times, and is the author of "Lions In The Balance."

Rick Alan Ross is a cult deprogrammer who has helped over 500 people escape from cults.  He is the founder of the Cult Education Institute, and the author of "Cults Inside Out."