He has been a driver of change at Transport for London, which has shown the way to the rest of the world. Shashi Verma joins Vasant Dhar in Episode 83 of Brave New World to share his learnings on urban transport -- and the governance structures that lead to the best results. Useful resources: 1. Shashi Verma on LinkedIn and Centre for London. 2. Albert Wenger on the World After Capital — Episode 29 of Brave New World. 3. Estimating the Social Benefit of Constructing an Underground...

How much blame should we put on social media for polarizing our society? Perhaps not as much as we tend to do. Joshua A Tucker joins Vasant Dhar in episode 82 of Brave New World to discuss his studies on the effects of social media -- and the algorithms that run them.    Useful resources: 1. Joshua Tucker at NYU, Twitter and Google Scholar. 2. Online searches to evaluate misinformation can increase its perceived veracity -- Kevin Aslett, Zeve Sanderson, William Godel, Nathaniel Persily,...

Smell is the most underrated of our senses -- and it affects everything. Alex Wiltschko joins Vasant Dhar in episode 81 of Brave New World to discuss the role of smell in our lives -- and in this new digital age. Useful resources: 1. Alex Wiltschko on LinkedIn, Google Ventures, Google Scholar and Twitter. 2. Osmo. 3. Perfumes: The A-Z Guide -- Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez. 4.  Perfume: The Story of a Murderer -- Patrick Suskind. 5. The Mystery of Smell -- Lydialyle Gibson on Sandeep...

Given what we know of physics and neuroscience, can there be free will? Kevin Mitchell, a neuroscientist himself, joins Vasant Dhar in episode 80 of Brave New World to unpack his argument for the existence of free will. Useful resources 1. Kevin Mitchell on Amazon, Twitter, Trinity College, Google Scholar, his blog and his homepage. 2. Free Agents: How Evolution Gave Us Free Will -- Kevin Mitchell. 3. Innate: How the Wiring of Our Brains Shapes Who We Are -- Kevin Mitchell. 4. Freedom...

Artificial intelligence is transforming society. And therefore politics. Arthur Spirling joins Vasant Dhar in episode 79 of Brave New World to share his insights from his twin fields of data science and political science. Useful resources: 1. Arthur Spirling at Princeton, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Scholar and his own website. 2. Why open-source generative AI models are an ethical way forward for science -- Arthur Spirling. 3. James Robinson on What Makes a Successful State -- Episode 19...

How can we use the insights of behavioral economics to make the world a better place? David Halpern joins Vasant Dhar in episode 78 of Brave New World to share his learnings from running the Behavioral Insight Team for the British government. Useful resources: 1. David Halpern on Wikipedia and the Behavioural Insights Team. 2. The work of the Behavioral Insights Team. 3. Inside the Nudge Unit -- David Halpern. 4. Social Capital -- David Halpern. 5, The Hidden Wealth of Nations --...

Her film My Octopus Teacher won an academy award -- and her insights on nature, and her love for it, go far beyond the film. Pippa Ehrlich joins Vasant Dhar in episode 77 of Brave New World to talk about her work and what she has learnt from it. Useful resources: 1. Pippa Ehrich on Instagram, X, LinkedIn and IMDb.. 2. My Octopus Teacher -- Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed. 3. Peter Singer on Animal Liberation -- Episode 74 of Brave New World. 4. Save Our Seas Foundation. 5. 20,000...

Life on earth is a crazy accident. We have no idea how it arose or whether it will survive. Peter Ward joins Vasant Dhar in episode 76 of Brave New World to chat about the origins of our planet, the many extinctions and resurgences of life, and the future of our species. Useful resources: 1. Peter Ward on Wikipedia, University of Washington and Amazon. 2. Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe -- Peter Ward and Donald Brownlee. 3. A New History of Life -- Peter Ward...

He's been a successful entrepreneur and investor, and is highly regarded for his sharp understanding of India. Mohit Satyanand joins Vasant Dhar in episode 75 of Brave New World to share his inspiring story -- and to offer a word of caution. Useful resources 1. Mohit Satyanand on Twitter, Instagram and IMDb. 2. Gimme Mo — Mohit Satyanand’s newsletter. 3. Salaam Baalak Trust. 4. Aswath Damodaran on Investing -- Episode 33 of Brave New World. 5. James Robinson on What Makes a...

Why should only human beings be worthy of moral consideration? Would we still eat animals if we had a sense of their mass-produced suffering? Peter Singer joins Vasant Dhar in episode 74 of Brave New World to discuss his influential work as a philosopher. Useful resources: 1. Peter Singer at Britannica, Wikipedia, Princeton, Twitter, Instagram, Amazon and his own website. 2. Animal Liberation Now -- Peter Singer. 3. Animal Machines -- Ruth Harrison. 4. My Octopus Teacher -- Pippa...

What is money? How is it created? What is the relationship of governments, central banks, and commercial banks to money? Paul Sheard joins Vasant Dhar in episode 73 of Brave New World to cut through the fog. Useful resources: 1. Understanding QE in the New World -- Episode 10 of Brave New World (w Paul Sheard). 2. The Power of Money -- Paul Sheard. 3. David Yermack on The Crypto Revolution -- Episode 30 of Brave New World. 4. Monetary Economics -- Wynne Godley and Marc Lavoie. 5. The...

Digital Public Infrastructure sounds like a huge step forward for the world -- till you think about how it empowers the state to oppress the people. Ajay Shah joins Vasant Dhar in episode 72 of Brave New World to warn that we are not being wary enough of state coercion when we think of this incredible technology.  Useful resources: 1. Ajay Shah on Twitter and Substack. 2. In Service of the Republic: The Art and Science of Economic Policy -- Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah. 3. Everything is...

David Sontag joins Vasant Dhar on episode 70 of Brave New World to highlight where and how AI is creating a major transformation in healthcare. We could create a brave new world of individualized and holistic healthcare, where the machine really cares about us and tells us what to do based on knowledge and data. Useful resources 1. David Sontag on Twitter, LinkedIn, MIT and Google Scholar. 2. Heuristic Methods for Imposing Structure on Ill-Structured Problems -- Harry E Pople Jr. ...

He was an early dotcom millionaire -- and he repeated his success. He wants to reinvent email, and has radical insights on politics. Rajesh Jain joins Vasant Dhar in episode 70 of Brave New World to share his insights on what he has learnt from success -- and failure. Useful resources 1. Rajesh Jain on LinkedIn, Twitter and his own website. 2. Startup to Proficorn -- Rajesh Jain. 3. Rajesh Jain and Dhan Vapasi — Episode 94 of The Seen and the Unseen. 4. James Robinson on What Makes a...

She's a business leader, a Grammy-nominated musician and is trying to transform education. Chadrika Tandon joins Vasant Dhar in episode 69 of Brave New World to discuss her life, her learning, and why she is still so driven. Useful resources 1. Chandrika Tandon on Spotify, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn, Tandon School of Engineering and her own website. 2. Ammu's Treasures on YouTube, Flipbook and other streaming platforms. 3. Rick Smolan on a Life in...

Will big data and scary AI take over the world? Not a chance, says Gary Smith, as he joins Vasant Dhar in episode 68 of Brave New World. The human brain is special. Useful resources: 1. Gary Smith on Twitter, Amazon, Pomona College, Google Scholar and his own website. 2. The AI Delusion -- Gary Smith. 3. Distrust: Big Data, Data-Torturing, and the Assault on Science -- Gary Smith. 4. Standard Deviations: Flawed Assumptions, Tortured Data, and Other Ways to Lie with Statistics -- Gary...

Does ChatGPT really understand anything? Or is it faking it? Hell, do we understand how it works? Ellie Pavlick joins Vasant Dhar in episode 67 of Brave New World to share her thoughts on where AI has reached -- and where it's going.  Useful resources: 1. Ellie Pavlick at Brown and Google Scholar. 2. Symbols and grounding in large language models -- Ellie Pavlick. 3. Sam Bowman on ChatGPT & Controlling AI -- Episode 58 of Brave New World. 4. The Nature of Intelligence — Episode 7...

Law and social conventions around free speech have evolved with the times, but technology presents new challenges to both. In this new world of social media, how should we think about it? Jameel Jaffer joins Vasant Dhar in episode 66 of Brave New World to share his thoughts on how we can navigate this territory. Useful resources: 1. Jameel Jaffer on Wikipedia, Twitter, ACLU, Columbia Law School and Knight First Amendment Institute. 2. Social Media Companies Want to Co-opt the First...

In a rich career as a photographer, he's brought his own distinct gaze to every place he's been to. Rick Smolan joins Vasant Dhar in episode 65 of Brave New World to talk about his rich experiences -- and what he's learned from them. Useful resources: 1. Rick Smolan on Wikipedia, Instagram, Amazon, Ted Talks and Against All Odds. 2. The Good Fight: America's Ongoing Struggle for Justice -- Rick Smolan and Jennifer Erwitt. 3. The Human Face of Big Data -- Rick Smolan and Jennifer...

There has never been a better time to be a creator. Amit Varma joins Vasant Dhar in episode 64 of Brave New World to discuss his learnings as a podcaster and blogger -- and to explain why AI is not a threat. Useful resources: 1. Amit Varma on Twitter, India Uncut and Substack. 2. The Seen and the Unseen -- Amit Varma's podcast. 3. Brave New World — Episode 203 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vasant Dhar). 4.  Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan...

He has skin in the game as a top banker -- and saw the power of AI long before others did. Piyush Gupta joins Vasant Dhar in episode 63 of Brave New World to share his excitement for the present -- and his vision for the future. Useful resources: 1. Piyush Gupta at DBS Bank, LinkedIn, Wikipedia and Twitter. 2. Tom Davenport on Artificial Intelligence in Business -- Episode 56 of Brave New World. 3. David Yermack on The Crypto Revolution -- Episode 30 of Brave New World. 4. SVB was a...

We live in a world of smell -- and we barely understand it! Dmitry Rinberg joins Vasant Dhar in episode 62 of Brave New World to discuss what he has learnt about the neurobiology of smell over the last two decades. Useful resources: 1. Dmitry Rinberg at NYU, Google Scholar, LinkedIn, Twitter and Rinberg Lab.. 2. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer -- Patrick Suskind. 3. A Novel Multigene Family May Encode Odorant Receptors: A Molecular Basis for Odor Recognition -- Linda Buck and Richard...

One of the great disruptions that shaped the modern world was the way in which technology transformed Wall Street. Marty Fridson joins Vasant Dhar in episode 61 of Brave New World to talk about those good old days -- and these mad new times! Useful resources: 1. Martin Fridson at Lehman Livian Fridson Advisors, Amazon, Twitter and his own website. 2. When the Tech Revolution Came to Wall Street -- Marty Fridson. Check out Vasant Dhar’s newsletter on Substack. Subscription is free!

ChatGPT is great -- but does it 'understand' what it is telling us? Raphaël Millière joins Vasant Dhar in episode 60 of Brave New World to understand on what's going on inside ChatGPT -- and the larger questions that arise from this. Useful resources: 1. Raphaël Millière on Google Scholar, Twitter, LinkedIn, Columbia University and his own website. 2. How to Talk to (And About) Artificial Intelligence -- Raphaël Millière. 3. Moving Beyond Mimicry in Artificial Intelligence -- Raphaël...