Techtopia with Chitra Ragavan

On March 7, 2022, The front page of the New York Times ran a graphic photograph that summed up the tragic cost of Russia’s war on innocent Ukrainian civilians. It was a photograph of a mother, her two children, and a church volunteer crumpled to the ground. They were the victims of a Russian mortar attack on civilians as they attempted to flee over the Irpin River to Kyiv. The photo, which was was taken by the Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Lynsey Addario, sent shock-waves throughout the world.

Capturing that image also put Lynsey Addario in grave danger, something that she has confronted many times over during her more than two-decade career as one of the most accomplished war-photographers in the world.

Addario has had boots on the ground in Ukraine since the begining of the Russian invasion. And, as we near the one year anniversary of the war, she describes the toll of the conflict on Ukrainian civilians and reflects on the personal cost of covering conflict.

Ukraine is just one of the war zones that Addario has traveled in and out of, on assignment for The New York Times, National Geographic, and other publications for more than two decades.

In 2015, American Photo Magazine named Addario as one of the five most influential photographers of the past 25 years, saying she changed the way we saw the world’s conflicts.

I spoke with Addario when she made a brief stop in Washington DC on November 3rd to receive the prestigious Courage in Journalism Award from the International Women’s Media Foundation.

This is my third conversation with the fearless Addario. To hear her personal story of how she became a photojournalist, how she covers major conflicts, how she survived a violent kidnapping in Libya, and why she does the work she does, do check out my previous interview with Addario on my leadership podcast, When It Mattered, Episode 35. It’s an incredible story. And do listen to Addario’s previous appearance on Techtopia, Episode 18, as she reflects on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and the aftermath of the chaotic pullout of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.

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When It Mattered:

🎙️70. A protector of U.S. nukes evaluates Putin’s nuclear threats / Maj Gen Robert Wheeler, USAF (ret)

🎙️ Ep. 60. Putin laid his cards on the table years before the Ukraine invasion / Gen. James Jones, USMC

🎙️ Ep. 66. Distinguished diplomat reclaims her narrative / Marie Yovanovitch, “Lessons from the Edge”

Techtopia:

🎙️ Ep. 29. How drones, crypto, and satellites are changing the future of war / Thomas Frey & Trent Fowler

🎙️ Ep. 26. Technology is rewiring Ukraine’s narrative / Alex Deane & Bryan Cunningham

Do check out these related articles in SWAAY

✍️  A “Genuine Badass”: How Marie Yovanovitch Reclaimed Her Narrative and Reputation

✍️  The Incredible, Indomitable Super-Survivors of Ukraine

✍️  Refugees in the Shadows: A Viral Insights Column on War, Displacement, and Super-Survivors

Thanks for Listening! 

Russia’s war on Ukraine has turned a lot of assumptions about the fundamental nature and trajectory of how wars are fought, on its head.

For one thing, Ukraine’s strong defense has upended conventional wisdom about big powers being able to violate at will the sovereignty of little powers.

Technology, in particular, drones, has also leveled the playing field in unique ways.

The emergence of cryptocurrency, both as a means to fund the war and the relief efforts, raises all kinds of interesting questions about the ability to enforce sanctions and bypass the traditional financing of wars with alternate means.

I had a great discussion about these and other topics with Thomas Frey, and Trent Fowler, who have been giving a lot of thought to the future of war.

Frey is the founder and Executive Director of the DaVinci Institute and co-host of the Futurati Podcast. Over the past decade, he has built an enormous following around the world based on his ability to develop accurate visions of the future and describe the opportunities ahead.

Trent Fowler is a machine learning engineer, keynote speaker, and co-host of the Futurati Podcast.

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If you liked this episode, please check out these other episodes!

🎙️Breakfast with Putin 

🎙️Distinguished diplomat reclaims her narrative

🎙️Heroism, activism, reconciliation with nature

🎙️What does IRS Criminal Investigation Do?

🎙️Are NFTs overhyped?

🎙️Father’s gift and brother’s illness led him to crypto 

🎙️What’s driving the bitcoin mania?

This past April, the FBI disclosed an astonishing fact about the breach of the blockchain behind the popular “play to earn” game Axie Infinity a few weeks earlier. The FBI said the hackers who stole $615 million dollars in cryptocurrency were, in fact, from the group “Lazarus” which has direct ties to the government of North Korea.

To add insult to injury, the brazen attack took place just weeks after President Joe Biden had released an Executive Order, authorizing a whole-of federal government approach to derisking digital assets.

It was the equivalent of North Korea thumbing its nose at the U.S. Government.

The incident revealed the incredible challenges confronting President Joe Biden and his national security and economic teams as they attempt to craft sweeping policies to protect consumers without hindering financial innovation, at the same time earning the trust of and cooperation from the crypto communities to help police the space, without violating the libertarian ethos undergirding blockchain, cryptocurrency, and digital assets.

With all these challenges swirling about, I am delighted to share my recent wide-ranging conversation on crypto regulation and compliance with a key White House official who has been thinking about this and working on these complex issues for years.

Carole House is the former Director for Cybersecurity and Secure Digital Innovation for the National Security Council, The White House. She joined the NSC on detail from the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), where she led cybersecurity, virtual currency, and emerging technology policy efforts as a Senior Cyber and Emerging Technology Policy Officer. House has just returned back to FinCEN after her White House tour of duty.

With Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine — resulting in what’s become the first war to be largely televised and video-recorded — Ukraine has become Ground Zero for how technology is reshaping history’s narratives and the story of politics, war and conflict.

I have two great guests to talk about how technology is shaping human history and how it will be told. Bryan Cunningham and Alex Deane are co-hosts of a wonderful new podcast called, “Hidden History, Happy Hour”, available on YouTube and all the major podcast platforms.

As my regular listeners know,  my friend Bryan is a frequent guest on both this podcast and my leadership podcast, When It Mattered (I’ve added his previous appearances below)

I’m also delighted to welcome Bryan’s co-host, Alex Deane, author of the bestselling non-fiction book, “Lessons from History: Hidden Heroes & Villains from the past & what we can learn from them.” The book inspired “Hidden History, Happy Hour”.

Bryan Cunningham previous appearances:

Techtopia, Ep. 12 — Flying Saucer Pilgrimage

When It Mattered, Ep. 9 — A Deadly Fire Leaves Lasting A Legacy 

Other episodes referenced in this podcast in the section on UFOs.

WIM: Episode 55. Great-granddaughter of a SciFi pioneer spots a UFO / Alex Dietrich, US Navy

Techtopia: Episode 13. Astrophysicist searches for aliens/Adam Frank, University of Rochester 

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Techtopia, Ep. 3 — Bitcoin and the boom in cryptocurrency investing / Perianne Boring, Founder and President, Chamber of Digital Commerce.

Jeffrey Epstein never faced the consequences for allegedly trafficking dozens of girls, some as young as age 14, and engaging in sex acts with them. He committed suicide in jail 35 days after he was arrested, avoiding a trial and potentially, half a century in prison for his evil actions.

Now, however, more than two years later, at the Thurgood Marshall U.S. Courthouse in Lower Manhattan, Epstein’s former lover, and alleged enabler, Ghislaine Maxwell is on trial for aiding and abetting Epstein in satisfying his unmitigated sexual appetite for and exploitation of vulnerable girls.

Prosecutors allege that Ghislaine Maxwell was at the heart of the trafficking conspiracy that Epstein was accused of carrying out both in his tony Manhattan townhouse and luxurious Palm Beach estate. Maxwell’s lawyers say that she is simply the proverbial fall guy for Epstein’s actions.

The trial is casting a lens on the tragic world of human trafficking and how wealthy powerful people can engage, often over decades, in these crimes and escape seemingly with impunity.

My former colleague at Palantir Technologies, Rajan’s expertise is applying cryptography to human rights and national security issues. She’s the former Chief Technology Officer of Callisto, a nonprofit that builds advanced cryptographic technology to combat sexual assault.

Rajan has testified before Congress as an expert witness to speak about ways technology can protect survivors and victims of human trafficking.

Related Episodes:

Techtopia, Ep. 8: How Polaris is Fighting Q-Anon in its Use of Human Trafficking Disinformation Campaigns/Anjana Rajan, CTO, Polaris.

Techtopia, Ep. 5: Technology has given women a powerful voice in the alt-right movement / Seyward Darby, Author, Sisters in Hate: American Women on the Front Lines of White Nationalism.

I really enjoyed this deep conversation about the current state and future of AI with one of my favorite guests and former Palantir colleague, Courtney Bowman. He is the Director of Privacy and Civil Liberties Engineering at Palantir. Bowman’s work addresses complex issues at the intersection of policy, law, technology, ethics, and social norms. Bowman has worked closely with the U.S. government and governments around the world to address the issues around the collection and analysis of COVID-19 pandemic data. And he has been thinking and writing about the challenges around the global AI Arms race.