Andrew Hunt is a Professor of History at the University of Waterloo, specializing in Modern US Cultural and Social History, and an author. Pop culture is an excellent window into the hearts and minds of a population – from understanding sentiments around a war, to gauging the strength of the culture as a whole. Fortunately, Andrew is a lifelong historian who has read, written, and taught about all things US Culture, publishing several books that span the Korean and Cold Wars.

Expect to learn how the US can solve the growing political rift between the Right and Left, how we can forge a path forward into the future by looking to the past, why the Vietnam War was such a watershed moment for US culture, what Mr. Beast videos can tell us about the future of Hollywood's influence on culture, how Andrew found himself getting arrested in Utah, and much more...

Cosmin Munteanu is an Associate Professor and Shlegel Research Chair in Technology for Healthy Aging. In today's world, our devices are inseparable from us. With time, technology only gets smaller, more affordable, and more integrated into our lives. But what will happen in the future, when the barriers between our physical and digital world all but disappear entirely?

Expect to learn what happened when an eating disorder helpline replaced their human staff with ChatGPT, why creating a good voice assistant is really difficult, where Cosmin believes technology is headed, if Cosmin believes the Apple Vision Pro will move the needle regarding virtual reality adoption, why technologies are not adapting to a rapidly aging global population, and much more...

Lisa Ramsden is a Senior Oceans Campaigner at Greenpeace USA, an NGO focused on tackling today's biggest climate change issues. We use plastic in quite literally every facet of our lives, and that is incredibly disconcerting. There are so many downstream effects of plastic exposure and consumption, and people need to be more aware of it. Fortunately, Lisa has been working for over 15 years to fight Oil & Gas and Big-Plastic, and is here to spread the word.

Expect to learn just how bad the plastic epidemic has gotten, and how much bigger it is projected to become, how much plastic we consume in any given week, why your athleisure wardrobe may not be so good for you, how we may find our way out of this mess, and much more..

More from Lisa:

Lisa's Greenpeace Page: https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/bios/lisa-ramsden/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ramsdelisa

Socials:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jackmackn

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jackkmackinnon

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@jackmackinnon3879

Paul Fieguth is the Associate Dean of Resources & Planning for the Faculty of Engineering, a Professor in the Department of Systems Design Engineering, and an author, and and, a former Professor of mine. The world is, well, complex. And this complexity oftentimes tricks us into believing we know more about our environment than we do. These nonlinearities are everywhere in the world, which can make navigating it quite tricky. Luckily, Paul is here to help us understand the world just a little better.

Expect to learn why most of the resources tend to be held by a tiny group of people, why we can expect more record highs and record lows as the climate continues to change, how Paul thinks about striking a balance between efficiency and resilience, how something as complex as consciousness can seemingly emerge out of nowhere, and much more.

More from Paul:

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Britt Anderson is an associate professor and director at the Centre for Theoretical Neuroscience at the University of Waterloo. We all have our own way of seeing the world. It's shaped by our experiences and predicts how our environment will change and respond to our actions. The way we build these mental models is subtle, yet complex, and Britt is here to walk us through some of the nuances.

Jeff Orchard is an associate professor and director of the Neurocognitive Computing Lab at the University of Waterloo. The human brain is one of evolution's greatest creations, yet we know shockingly little about it. Fortunately, Jeff is working on better understanding the brain through Artificial Intelligence systems.

Jonathan Fugelsang is a professor and researcher on the psychology of higher-level cognition. Thinking critically of the world is hard, and it takes work, especially in a world where new information is bombarding you at every turn. How can we sort truth from fiction, and the profound from pseudo-profound bullsh*t?

Bas Korsten is the Global Chief Creative Officer at Wunderman Thompson, an award-winning global advertising agency. Bas has helped make Wunderman Thompson one of the most recognizable and accomplished advertising agencies in the world, delivering the double Grand Prix-winning campaign 'The Next Rembrandt'. To date, Bas has won 42 Cannes Lions, 11 D&AD Pencils, and many other international awards. In 2016 Bas was awarded a spot in Ad Age's Creativity 50, a list of the 50 most creative people in the world, alongside recognizable names, such as Tom Ford, Beyonce, Prince, and David Bowie. Bas is the real deal.

Expect to learn why Bas created a meatball made of Mammoth meat, no seriously he made a meatball out of Mammoth tissue, whether Bas believes AI will replace human creativity, how to enter into the Alpha-flow state, why we may ditch data centers in favor of DNA storage, and much more...

More from Bas:

Bas on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bas-korsten-/

Wunderman Thompson: https://www.wundermanthompson.com/people/bas-korsten

Mammoth Meatball: https://www.wundermanthompson.com/work/mammoth-meatball

Socials

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jackmackn

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jackkmackinnon

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5cZwJz41l-vnEWPXxcP7xQ

Juli Berwald is an ocean scientist, a science writer, and an author. The oceans contain some of the most mysterious places on Earth, and they have taken the brunt of the disruptions caused by climate change. Among these mystical places are coral reefs, the most productive ecosystems we know of, and they need our help. Juli has traveled the world to see and document humanity's best efforts regarding coral reef restorations and has joined me to discuss what the future of the seas will look like.

Jason M Allen is the founder and CEO of Incarnate Games and Art Incarnate, and not an artist. Jason has created quite a stir online, being the first well-known case of winning an art competition using AI. He has found himself at the frontlines of the culture war between artists and technologists. His formative piece, Theatre D'Opera Spatial, is a symbol of distaste and frustration for some, and a symbol of the future of creation for others.