The World as You’ll Know It: The Future Of Aging

The last decade has seen astonishing advancements in brain science that have opened doors to new ways of treating trauma, depression, and pain. Each week, host Judith Warner talks to leading brain experts about how their research is making possible the kinds of things that, just a few years ago, might have seemed like science fiction.

The World as You'll Know It returns for a third season on August 16.

Kurt Andersen speaks with economist and author, Mariana Mazzucato, about how governments should be proactive investors in and stewards of technological innovation in order to increase technology’s benefits for the common good. 

MARIANA MAZZUCATO is a professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London (UCL), where she is Founding Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation & Public Purpose (IIPP). She is the author of three books: The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public vs. Private Sector Myths; The Value of Everything: Making and Taking in the Global Economy and, most recently, Mission Economy: A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism. 

A transcript of their conversation can be found at Aventine.org.

Kurt Andersen speaks with computer scientist Stuart Russell about the risks of machines reaching superintelligence and advancing beyond human control. In order to avoid this, Russel believes, we need to start over with AI and build machines that are uncertain about what humans want.

STUART RUSSELL is a computer scientist and professor at University of California Berkeley. He is the author, most recently, of Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control. He has served as the Vice-Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Council on AI and Robotics and as an advisor to the United Nations on arms control. He is the author (with Peter Norvig) of the universally acclaimed textbook on AI, Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach.

A transcript of this episode is available at Aventine.org.

Kurt Andersen speaks with Genevieve Bell, cultural anthropologist and founding director of The School of Cybernetics, about how people adapt to changes in artificial intelligence and the way these technologies impact the way we live.

GENEVIEVE BELL is an Australian anthropologist and the founding director of The School of Cybernetics at the Australian National University. She is also a Senior Fellow in the Advance research and development labs at Intel.

A transcript of this episode is available at Aventine.org.

Kurt Andersen speaks with Roger McNamee, the author of Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe, about the evolution of Facebook and other big tech companies, and what measures might be taken to curb their influence.   

ROGER MCNAMEE is a buѕіnеѕѕmаn, іnvеѕtоr, vеnturе саріtаlіѕt, muѕісіаn and author. He іѕ thе fоundіng раrtnеr оf thе vеnturе саріtаl fіrm, Еlеvаtіоn Раrtnеrѕ, and the co-founder of the рrіvаtе еquіtу fіrm, Ѕіlvеr Lаkе Раrtnеrѕ. He was an early investor in Facebook, introduced Mark Zuckerberg to Cheryl Sandberg and is now one of its most outspoken critics. McNamee is also a musician, playing bass and guitar in the bands Moonalice and Doobie Decibel System.

A transcript of this episode is available at Aventine.org

Host of this season’s The World as You’ll Know It, Kurt Andersen, speaks with Alison Gopnik, cognitive scientist, author, and professor of psychology at the University of California Berkeley, about the way technology is shaping the way we think, learn and make decisions. 

ALISON GOPNIK is a professor of psychology at the University of California Berkeley. Gopnik is a psychologist and cognitive scientist specializing in the study of children’s learning and development. She’s the author of several books including “The Scientist in the Crib: What Early Learning Tells Us About the Mind” and “The Philosophical Baby: What Children's Minds Tell Us About Truth, Love, and the Meaning of Life” among others.

A transcript of this episode is available at Aventine.org.

Host of this season’s The World as You’ll Know It, Kurt Andersen, speaks with Sinan Aral, professor at MIT and author of “The Hype Machine,” about the promise and peril of social media, and the ways it tricks our brains into wanting more. 

SINAN ARAL is the David Austin Professor of Management, Marketing, IT, and Data Science at MIT; director of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy; and head of MIT’s Social Analytics Lab. He is an entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He is the author of “The Hype Machine: How Social Media Disrupts Our Elections, Our Economy, and How We Must Adapt.”

A transcript of this episode is available at Aventine.org. 

Technology is at an inflection point. Can we harness it to make life better...or will it harness us? Join Kurt Andersen as he and a world-class selection of thinkers explore this question as it pertains to our brains, our personal lives, our laws and our government.

The World as You'll Know It returns for a second season on August 24th.

This week features two conversations. In the first, Michael Kimmelman, the architecture critic for The New York Times, speaks to Julián Castro, former mayor of San Antonio, Texas and former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, about the housing crisis and the role cities play in national politics. Then Michael speaks with Janette Sadik-Khan, former Commissioner of New York City Department of Transportation, about how public transit can drive economic recovery in cities. 

JULIAN CASTRO was the mayor of San Antonio, Texas from 2009 - 2014. He also served as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 2014 - 2017.

JANETTE SADIK-KHAN was Commissioner of New York City Department of Transportation from 2007 - 2013 under Mayor Michael Bloomberg she is now a principal at Bloomberg Associates.

You can find a transcript of this episode at Aventine.org

Paul Tough, author, most recently, of "The Years That Matter Most: How College Makes or Breaks Us," speaks to Paul LeBlanc, President of Southern New Hampshire University, about whether Covid will serve as a catalyst to finally force a re-thinking of higher education. 

PAUL TOUGH is the author of The Years That Matter Most: How College Makes or Breaks Us and How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character. He is a contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine; his writing has also appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, GQ, and Esquire, and on the op-ed page of The New York Times.

PAUL LEBLANC has been the president of Southern New Hampshire University since 2003. Formerly, he was the president of Marlboro College from 1996 to 2003. In 2015 he served as Senior Policy Advisor to Under Secretary Ted Mitchell at the U.S. Department of Education, working on competency-based education, new accreditation pathways, and innovation. He is also the chair of the Board of Directors of the American Council on Education.

A transcript of this episode is available at Aventine.org