Possible with Reid Hoffman

What if society completely phased out fossil fuels? This week, Saul Griffith joins the show to discuss how this future is actually possible. Best of all, much of the work can be done with our existing technology—starting from inside the home. Saul founded the organizations Rewiring America and Rewiring Australia, dedicated to the electrification of those countries. He’s also the author of Electrify: An Optimist's Playbook for Our Clean Energy Future and The Big Switch: Australia’s Electric Future. Saul talks about the efficacy of the variety of climate solutions on the table, from nuclear energy to carbon capture, and from geoengineering to his preferred method of electrification. GPT-4 also supplies a potential pathway to the complete electrification of society based on Saul’s book—but is it too fantastical? Or does it not go far enough?

Read the AI-generated stories for this episode here.

Read the transcript of this episode here. 

For more info on the podcast and transcripts of all of the episodes, visit www.possible.fm/podcast.

Topics:

03:50 - Hellos and intros

04:50 - How Saul manages to stay optimistic

06:55 - How to inspire action against climate change

08:36 - Climate change is mostly a “machines problem”

14:41 - Why and how the solution should focus on households

17:47 - Should nuclear energy be part of the climate solution?

21:21 - Responding to GPT-4 “electrifying the world” story

23:56 - Responding to critics

25:20 - The technology that’s still required for sustainability

29:42 - Carbon capture and storage: use cases and limitations

33:50 - The importance of systems change—a “new social contract”

43:45 - The efficacy of geoengineering

48:10 - Rapidfire questions

55:10 - Debrief with Reid and Aria

Possible is a new podcast that sketches out the brightest version of the future—and what it will take to get there. Most of all, it asks: what if, in the future, everything breaks humanity's way? Hosted by Reid Hoffman and Aria Finger, each episode features an interview with a visionary from a different field: climate science, media, criminal justice, and more. The conversation also features another kind of guest: GPT-4, OpenAI’s latest and most powerful language model to date. Each episode has a companion story, generated by GPT-4, which will serve as a jumping-off point for a hopeful, speculative discussion about what humanity could possibly get right if we leverage technology—and our collective effort—effectively.

Possible is produced by Wonder Media Network and hosted by Reid Hoffman and Aria Finger. Our showrunner is Shaun Young. Possible is produced by Edie Allard and Sara Schleede. Jenny Kaplan is our Executive Producer and Editor. Special thanks to Nan Ransohoff, Christin Pelgrum, Surya Yalamanchili, Saida Sapeiva, Ian Alas, Greg Beato and Ben Relles.

What if there was a source of energy that was virtually inexhaustible, produced no greenhouse gasses, and generated minimal waste? Well, it already exists – almost. Reid and Aria sit down with Dr. Kim Budil, director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, to talk about the future of fusion energy. Last December, Dr. Budil’s lab achieved fusion ignition. She explains what that historic breakthrough means, and what levers need to be pulled to go from that experiment to powering nations. Dr. Budil responds to stories, generated by GPT-4, about scaling fusion energy, plus another about how a country can transition to fusion energy in 2053. 

Read the AI-generated stories for this episode here.

Read the transcript of this episode here. 

For more info on the podcast and transcripts of all of the episodes, visit www.possible.fm/podcast.

Topics:

01:45 - Hellos and intros

05:09 - Explaining fusion breakthrough and the scale of opportunity 

13:09 - Responding to GPT-4 “Fusion leading the way” story 

22:10 - How to get to “Manhattan Project-level” of investment 

25:50 - The geopolitics of fusion

29:06 - Responding to GPT-4 “Karachi transitioning to fusion” story

33:56 - Creating conditions for change

37:44 - Rapidfire questions

42:46 - Debrief with Reid and Aria

Possible is a new podcast that sketches out the brightest version of the future—and what it will take to get there. Most of all, it asks: what if, in the future, everything breaks humanity's way? Hosted by Reid Hoffman and Aria Finger, each episode features an interview with a visionary from a different field: climate science, media, criminal justice, and more. The conversation also features another kind of guest: GPT-4, OpenAI’s latest and most powerful language model to date. Each episode has a companion story, generated by GPT-4, which will serve as a jumping-off point for a hopeful, speculative discussion about what humanity could possibly get right if we leverage technology—and our collective effort—effectively.

Possible is produced by Wonder Media Network and hosted by Reid Hoffman and Aria Finger. Our showrunner is Shaun Young. Possible is produced by Edie Allard and Sara Schleede. Jenny Kaplan is our Executive Producer and Editor. Special thanks to Breanna Bishop, Mahdi Salehi, Surya Yalamanchili, Saida Sapieva, Ian Alas, Greg Beato, and Ben Relles.

What if every TV show could be perfectly tailored to each viewer's interests, knowledge level, and needs? Reid Hoffman and Aria Finger sit down with Trevor Noah to talk about how technology—including artificial intelligence—might influence the future of entertainment. They chat about the strengths and shortcomings of artificial intelligence, how jobs—and the way we will work—will evolve with AI, and even the nature of capitalism. Trevor responds to a speculative story, generated by GPT-4, that paints a picture of a futuristic “AI-ly Show.” Plus, he reviews some unexpected AI-generated light bulb jokes. Is GPT-4 actually funny?

Read the AI-generated story for this episode here.

Read the transcript of this episode here. 

Read Reid Hoffman’s essay “A Co-Pilot for Every Profession” here.

For more info on the podcast and transcripts of all of the episodes, visit www.possible.fm/podcast.

Topics:

02:30 - Hellos and intros

06:00 - Reacting to AI-generated “light bulb jokes”

08:58 - Trevor’s work with Microsoft, and a story about AI and Africa 

17:40 - Capitalism, AI and jobs (and a lesson from Sweden) 

28:04 - Responding to GPT-4 “AI-ly Show” story

34:28 - AI as an assistant for everyone in everything

38:10 - How to improve our social media climate

44:45 - Rapidfire questions

54:01 - Debrief with Reid and Aria

Possible is a new podcast that sketches out the brightest version of the future—and what it will take to get there. Most of all, it asks: what if, in the future, everything breaks humanity's way? Hosted by Reid Hoffman and Aria Finger, each episode features an interview with a visionary from a different field: climate science, media, criminal justice, and more. The conversation also features another kind of guest: GPT-4, OpenAI’s latest and most powerful language model to date. Each episode has a companion story, generated by GPT-4, which will serve as a jumping-off point for a hopeful, speculative discussion about what humanity could possibly get right if we leverage technology—and our collective effort—effectively.

Possible is produced by Wonder Media Network and hosted by Reid Hoffman and Aria Finger. Our showrunner is Shaun Young. Possible is produced by Edie Allard and Sara Schleede. Jenny Kaplan is our Executive Producer and Editor. Special thanks to Chelsea Williamson, Jill Fritzo, Stephen Fertelmes, Jennifer Sandler, Mahdi Salehi, Surya Yalamanchili, Saida Sapieva, Ian Alas, Greg Beato, Ben Relles, and the team at City Vox.

Introducing Possible, a new podcast that sketches out the brightest version of the future—and what it will take to get there. Most of all, it asks: what if, in the future, everything breaks humanity's way? Hosted by Reid Hoffman and Aria Finger, each episode features an interview with a visionary from a different field: climate science, media, criminal justice, and more. The conversation also features another kind of guest: GPT-4, OpenAI’s latest and most powerful language model to date. Each episode has a companion story, generated by GPT-4, which will serve as a jumping-off point for a hopeful, speculative discussion about what humanity could possibly get right if we leverage technology—and our collective effort—effectively.

Possible is produced by Wonder Media Network and hosted by Reid Hoffman and Aria Finger. Our showrunner is Shaun Young. Possible is produced by Edie Allard and Sara Schleede. Jenny Kaplan is our Executive Producer and Editor.