Luminary

By Luminary.fm

What's Luminary about?

Kitchen table-style conversations with some of the world’s brightest minds, exploring boundaries of human knowledge. Join us on a pursuit to discover the ideas, intuition, theories and thoughts behind these luminaries.

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Luminary episodes:

12.11.2023
Tim O’Reilly on Open Source Alchemy: Shaping the Tech Landscape
Tim O’Reilly is the founder, CEO, and Chairman of O’Reilly Media, a company that has profoundly impacted how generations of software engineers and computer hobbyists have learned programming. Tim is of course a luminary of the technology industry and hardly...
11.06.2023
Yochai Benkler on Tech’s True Forces: Capitalism, Institutions, and Ideological Impact
Yochai Benkler is a professor of Entrepreneurial Legal Studies at Harvard Law School and co-director of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. Yochai is known for coining the term commons-based peer production which describes collaborative...
10.09.2023
Jason Crawford on progress and the history of technology
Jason Crawford is the founder of Roots of Progress and a prolific writer on all things technology and progress. Jason was previously a startup founder and engineering manager. His mission is to understand the causes of progress and help usher...
09.04.2023
Noah Smith on digital technology adoption, energy, and economic progress
Noah Smith is a renaissance man, blogger, and commentator. Noah’s popular blog, Noahpinion, focuses on economics, technology, and current events. He was previously a columnist for Bloomberg and an assistant professor of Behavioral finance at Stony Brook University. Our wide-ranging conversation...
08.07.2023
Carlota Perez on technological revolutions and capitalism
Carlota Perez is a pre-eminent multi-disciplinarian, scholar, and author. Carlota studies the nature of technological change and economic systems, and the lessons provided by the history of technological revolutions. Her book, Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital, is a landmark contribution...
07.10.2023
Clay Shirky on value generation, ChatGpt, and education
Clay Shirky is the Vice Provost of Educational Technologies at New York University and an associate professor at the New York University Tisch school of arts. He is a prominent thinker on the social and economic effects of the Internet...
03.13.2023
Matt Clancy on innovation, policy, and Progress Studies
Matt Clancy is a research fellow at Open Philanthropy and a senior fellow at The Institute for Progress, a think tank for accelerating scientific, technological, and industrial progress. He maintains New Things Under the Sun, a living literature review about...
02.06.2023
Martin Gurri on the fifth wave, democracy, and technology
Martin Gurri is the visiting research fellow at Mercatus Center and a former CIA analyst. Martin’s core interests center around politics, information, and media. His book The Revolt of the Public received notoriety for its cogent analysis of the effects...
06.27.2022
Brian Arthur on technology, software, and economic systems
Brian Arthur is a storied economist and complexity thinker. He is a pioneer in a number of disciplines including increasing returns, complexity economics, and the evolution of technology. Brian previously served on the science board and the board of trustees...
05.16.2022
Alissa Cooper on building the internet
Alissa Cooper is the Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Technology Policy and a Fellow at Cisco Systems. She is also currently a board member of the Tor Project. Alissa was chair of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF),...
04.11.2022
Eric Peters on change and human psychology
Eric Peters is the founder, CEO, and CIO of One River Asset Management. He is a macro-thinker with a rare ability to parse markets, human psychology, and long-term trends. Eric also pens the popular weekly newsletter, Wknd notes, with reflections...
01.03.2022
Andrew Sullivan on operating the internet
Our conversation with Andrew centers around the many facets of the Internet. What is the nature of the internet? How is it distinct from the web? Who holds power on the internet? We also talk about the domain name system,...
11.29.2021
Vint Cerf on the internet and its building blocks
Dr. Vint Cerf is an internet pioneer commonly known as one of the “father’s of the internet.” He co-designed the TCP/IP protocols, which lie at the heart of the internet. Vint is currently the Chief Internet evangelist at Google. Among...
11.01.2021
Albert Borgmann on the philosophy of technology
Albert Borgmann is a philosopher and writer whose research interests intersect technology, society, and culture. Albert’s theory, the device paradigm, and his book “Technology and the Character of Contemporary Life” are foundational contributions to the philosophy of technology. Our conversation...
10.05.2021
Kevin Kelly on technology and software
Kevin Kelly is one of the leading and deepest thinkers on the technology of our time. A startling percentage of what has been meaningfully said about technology in the past quarter-century can be traced back to him, something we don’t...
08.30.2021
Mitch Waldrop on The Dream Machine: Part 3 – JCR Licklider, Xerox PARC, and TCP/IP
Our second season launches with a three-part series featuring the preeminent Mitch Waldrop. We discuss the history, ideas, and origins of computing, software, the internet – and of course, the pioneers and unsung heroes who made it all a reality....
08.16.2021
Mitch Waldrop on The Dream Machine: Part 2 – 1980s to present
Our second season launches with a three-part series featuring the preeminent Mitch Waldrop. We discuss the history, ideas, and origins of computing, software, the internet – and of course, the pioneers and unsung heroes who made it all a reality....
08.02.2021
Mitch Waldrop on The Dream Machine: Part 1 – 1940s to 1970s
Our second season launches with a three-part series featuring the preeminent Mitch Waldrop. We discuss the history, ideas, and origins of computing, software, the internet – and of course, the pioneers and unsung heroes who made it all a reality....
11.29.2020
Jeff Behrends on ethics
Jeff Behrends is a director of ethics and technology initiatives at the Edmond J Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University. He is also a co-director of Embedded EthiCS, a program that teaches ethical reasoning to budding computer scientists. In this...
10.11.2020
Micael Dahlen on happiness
Micael Dahlen is a wonderfully brilliant, thought-provoking, and multi-facetted professor in the Department of Marketing and Strategy at Stockholm School of Economics. He has a uniquely curious mind which has led to novel findings in many areas, including happiness, marketing,...
08.31.2020
Rebecca Katz on the past, present, and future of covid-19
Today’s guest is Rebecca Katz, a professor and director of the Center for Global Health Science and Security at Georgetown University. She is a leading expert in global health diplomacy, global health security, and emerging infectious diseases. Rebecca was a...
12.30.2019
David Danks on causality, human-technology interaction, and ethics of autonomous systems
David Danks is a professor of philosophy and psychology and head of the department of philosophy at Carnegie Mellon University. His research lies at the intersection of philosophy, cognitive science, and machine learning, with a recent focus on the ethics...
11.12.2019
Mahzarin Banaji on the human mind and subconscious biases
Mahzarin Banaji is an award-winning experimental psychologist and professor at the Department of Psychology at Harvard University. Her research explores the human mind, why and how we think and feel in certain ways, especially in a social context, and frameworks...
09.30.2019
Jonathan Aldrich on the design and evolution of programming languages
Jonathan Aldrich is a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and director of the software engineering Ph.D. program at Carnegie Mellon’s Institute for Software Research. Jonathan’s research focuses on software scalability. His work aims to improve software quality and programmer productivity...
08.19.2019
Amy Lippert on visual culture, images, and the celebrity phenomenon
Amy Lippert is a former assistant professor of urban and social history at the University of Chicago, with a particular focus on visual imagery, visual culture, and mass production. She is the author of Consuming Identities: Visual Culture in Nineteenth...
07.08.2019
Manu Prakash on the power of observation, curiosity-driven science, and physical biology
Manu Prakash is a physical biologist, inventor, and associate professor of BioEngineering at Stanford University. Manu was awarded the McArthur fellowship in 2016 and has received numerous other prestigious awards. His research is driven by curiosity, empathy for solving challenges...
05.20.2019
Kimberlé Crenshaw on the state of civil rights in America, intersectionality, and the critical race theory
Kimberlé Crenshaw is an American civil rights advocate and legal scholar, well-known for her work around intersectionality and critical race theory. She is a Professor of Law at Columbia Law School and UCLA. Kimberlé is the director of the Center...
04.15.2019
Gerta Keller, the forensic detective, on mass extinctions, dinosaurs, and geo sciences
Gerta Keller is a professor of paleontology and geology in the geo sciences department at Princeton University with a wonderful personality. Gerta has over 240 scientific publications focused on major earth catastrophes and mass extinctions, including the biotic and environmental...
03.18.2019
Chika Okeke-Agulu on the call for artistic expression and rise of African diaspora art
Chika Okeke-Agulu is an Igbo-Nigerian artist, art historian, art curator, and a blogger specializing in African and African Diaspora art history. He is the Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Art & Archaeology at Princeton University. In our...
02.18.2019
Kevin Leyton-Brown on the kitten algorithm, computer science, and economics
Kevin Leyton-Brown is an award-winning computer scientist focusing on predominantly two streams of research: 1) algorithmic game theory and 2) empirical algorithms and machine learning. He is a professor of computer science at University of British Columbia and co-teaches two...
01.27.2019
Mihir Desai on the muddle of life and finance
Mihir Desai is a Professor of Finance at Harvard Business School and a Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. In this conversation with Mihir, amongst other things, we cover the cocktail party test; how the principal-agent framework might help...

What's Luminary about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Luminary episodes:

Tim O’Reilly on Open Source Alchemy: Shaping the Tech Landscape

Yochai Benkler on Tech’s True Forces: Capitalism, Institutions, and Ideological Impact

Jason Crawford on progress and the history of technology

Noah Smith on digital technology adoption, energy, and economic progress

Carlota Perez on technological revolutions and capitalism

Clay Shirky on value generation, ChatGpt, and education

Matt Clancy on innovation, policy, and Progress Studies

Martin Gurri on the fifth wave, democracy, and technology

Brian Arthur on technology, software, and economic systems

Alissa Cooper on building the internet

Eric Peters on change and human psychology

Andrew Sullivan on operating the internet

Vint Cerf on the internet and its building blocks

Albert Borgmann on the philosophy of technology

Kevin Kelly on technology and software

Mitch Waldrop on The Dream Machine: Part 3 – JCR Licklider, Xerox PARC, and TCP/IP

Mitch Waldrop on The Dream Machine: Part 2 – 1980s to present

Mitch Waldrop on The Dream Machine: Part 1 – 1940s to 1970s

Jeff Behrends on ethics

Micael Dahlen on happiness

Rebecca Katz on the past, present, and future of covid-19

David Danks on causality, human-technology interaction, and ethics of autonomous systems

Mahzarin Banaji on the human mind and subconscious biases

Jonathan Aldrich on the design and evolution of programming languages

Amy Lippert on visual culture, images, and the celebrity phenomenon

Manu Prakash on the power of observation, curiosity-driven science, and physical biology

Kimberlé Crenshaw on the state of civil rights in America, intersectionality, and the critical race theory

Gerta Keller, the forensic detective, on mass extinctions, dinosaurs, and geo sciences

Chika Okeke-Agulu on the call for artistic expression and rise of African diaspora art

Kevin Leyton-Brown on the kitten algorithm, computer science, and economics

Mihir Desai on the muddle of life and finance