Thoughts in Between: exploring how technology collides with politics, culture and society

Erik Hoel is a neuroscientist whose work we’ve discussed in Thoughts in Between before. But he’s also an excellent writer of fiction: his first novel, The Revelations, has just been published in the US and is available in the UK from 13 May 2021. It’s a brilliant novel of ideas centered on the search for a theory of consciousness. It’s one of the best things I’ve read this year and this discussion is a spoiler-free introduction to some of its big themes: the sociology of science, the nature of ambition and, of course, consciousness itself.

Enjoy this conversation with Erik Hoel.

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Thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show. You can learn more about Entrepreneur First at www.joinef.com and subscribe to my weekly newsletter at tib.matthewclifford.com.

Alice Bentinck is co-founder of Entrepreneur First (EF), the world's leading talent investor. I've worked with Alice for nearly a decade and she is one of the deepest thinkers about talent and innovation I know. In this conversation, we talk about lessons from building EF through the lens of some of TiB's favorite themes. We discuss how to identify great founders, the consequences of the pandemic for innovation, institution building, and lots more. 

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Thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show. You can learn more about Entrepreneur First at www.joinef.com and subscribe to my weekly newsletter at tib.matthewclifford.com

Samo Burja is founder of Bismarck Analytics and the author of Great Founder Theory, a manuscript that looks at how institutions and civilisations succeed and fail. It’s one of the most interesting things I’ve read this year and in this conversation we dive into its main themes. We discuss where great institutions come from, why there are so few of them, and what we need to do to build more.

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Thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show. You can learn more about Entrepreneur First at www.joinef.com and subscribe to my weekly newsletter at tib.matthewclifford.com

Steve O’Hear is a writer at Techcrunch and one of Europe’s leading technology journalists. He’s also, as he likes to put it, a “recovering founder”. In this conversation, we discuss consumer internet innovation in lockdown, the relationship between the media and the technology industry, the prospects for the European startup ecosystem, and how to think about privilege and inclusion in tech.

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Thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show. You can learn more about Entrepreneur First at www.joinef.com and subscribe to my weekly newsletter at tib.matthewclifford.com

Sarah Drinkwater is Director of Beneficial Tech at Omidyar Network, where she works on creating levers for a responsible tech industry. She’s one of the most thoughtful and optimistic people I know on the challenges of making technology a force for good in the world. In this conversation talk we cover a lot of ground: responsible technology, the trade-offs of scale, the role of talent in regulating Big Tech, and much more.

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Thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show. You can learn more about Entrepreneur First at www.joinef.com and subscribe to my weekly newsletter at tib.matthewclifford.com

Anton Howes is a historian of innovation. He writes a newsletter on the topic, Age of Invention, and is the author of Arts and Minds (Princeton University Press, 2020), a history of the Royal Society of Arts.

In this conversation we discuss:

• Where does innovation come from?
• The importance of "the improving mindset" in the history of economic growth
• Why it feels like progress is slowing down and why that's wrong. And much more.

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Thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show. You can learn more about Entrepreneur First at www.joinef.com and subscribe to my weekly newsletter at tib.matthewclifford.com

Rowland is a technology correspondent at Sky News where he covers the way technology impacts politics and public life, most recently in the fight against Covid-19.

As well as this, we also talk about why it's so hard for governments to deploy capital well, and the relative merits of technocracy and populism.

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Thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show. You can learn more about Entrepreneur First at www.joinef.com and subscribe to my weekly newsletter at tib.matthewclifford.com

Marc Warner is co-founder and CEO of Faculty.AI, a London-based artificial intelligence company that helps leading organisations implement AI in their businesses. In this conversation, we talk about implementing machine learning in the real world and how to make AI safe and effective. We talk about bias and fairness in AI applications and frameworks for ensuring AI is a force for good.

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Thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show. You can learn more about Entrepreneur First at www.joinef.com and subscribe to my weekly newsletter at tib.matthewclifford.com

Jade was the first Head of Research & Partnerships with the Centre for the Governance of Artificial Intelligence (GovAI), housed at Oxford's Future of Humanity Institute. In this conversation, we discuss her superb doctoral thesis, "Who Will Govern Artificial Intelligence?" and look at what the history of emerging technologies tells us about the future of AI. We cover the role and power of talent; the part that the EU can play; and why AI is a great cause area for effective altruists.

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Thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show. You can learn more about Entrepreneur First at www.joinef.com and subscribe to my weekly newsletter at tib.matthewclifford.com

Anna Gat is co-founder and CEO of Interintellect, a global community of public intellectuals. In this conversation, we discuss how the internet has changed intellectual life, the future of academia, and much more...

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Thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show. You can learn more about Entrepreneur First at www.joinef.com and subscribe to my weekly newsletter at tib.matthewclifford.com