Futurology

Berggruen Institute

The future never arrives all at once. It ripples through society long before we know what to call it.

At the Berggruen Institute, we know that we need more than prediction to name what’s next; we need invention. Each week, Institute President Dawn Nakagawa introduces us to scientists and philosophers recalibrating our cosmologies, technologists coming to terms with alien intelligence, and policymakers scrambling to design systems for a world in flux.

Join thinkers and doers from the Berggruen-verse as we imagine a future that we can accomplish together, instead of one that we’re all working to prevent.

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S1 · E51
Wednesday · 1 hr 40 min
God Is In the Machine (with Kevin Kelly and Nils Gilman)
Technologists have feared (or prayed for) the singularity as a rapture-like inevitability for nearly 70 years. In an instant, they believed, our machine intelligence will overtake us and race ahead. Kevin Kelly says that moment has passed. Human intelligence is already receding to a speck in the rearview mirror of robots imbued with God-like powers. But we’re still here. In this episode, Kelly puts the question of how to build moral AI in religious and spiritual terms. Kelly co-founded Wired and spent decades earning a reputation as a technological prophet. Now he calls himself a heretic, arguing that organized religion will be transformed, if not destroyed, by contact with a host of alien intelligences. If we want to survive this encounter, our understanding of God may matter more than any computer code. Subscribe to Futurology on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Futurologypod The Futurology Podcast — full episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwkiuf1eRbAAHP4p--2IFJbn0CIdaZMva Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk Mentioned in this Episode Out of Control — Kevin Kelly (Book, 1994) What Technology Wants — Kevin Kelly (Book, 2010) The Inevitable — Kevin Kelly (Book, 2016) God Is the Machine — Kevin Kelly (Essay, Wired, 2002) The Coming Technological Singularity — Vernor Vinge (Essay, 1993) Intelligence as a Planetary Scale Process — Adam Frank, David Grinspoon and Sara Walker (Paper, 2022) Shoulda Been Dead — This American Life (Radio, episode 50) Where to find Kevin Kelly: kk.org: https://kk.org Wired: https://www.wired.com Show ideas and feedback? Email: futurology@berggruen.org Learn more about the Berggruen Institute https://www.berggruen.org Follow Futurology! Instagram: / futurologypod Twitter/X: / futurologypod Tiktok: / futurologypod Facebook: / berggrueninst LinkedIn: / berggrueninst Bluesky: / futurologypod Credits Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, & Jason Hoch Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, & Nathalia Ramos Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney Theme Music: Marcus Bagala Audio Engineer: Kyle Scott Wilson Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California.
S1 · E50
August 18 · 1 hr 16 min
Gamble on Anything. Except Murder. (with Bobby Allyn and Grant Slater)
With prediction markets, gambling has gone ambient. To place your bets, you don't need to visit a casino floor, a racetrack, or your corner bookie. Now any uncertain thing on Earth could be the next big short. Wildfires, missile strikes, the next word out of a president's mouth. Every disagreement has a spread, every catastrophe a payout. In this episode, NPR tech correspondent Bobby Allyn follows the money through Kalshi and Polymarket, the fast-growing, barely regulated prediction markets that have gotten tight with the Trump administration. These apps democratize insider trading. When reality pays out, the incentive isn't to predict what happens next. It's to make it happen. Subscribe to Futurology on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Futurologypod The Futurology Podcast — full episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwkiuf1eRbAAHP4p--2IFJbn0CIdaZMva Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk Mentioned in this Episode: The Wisdom of Crowds — James Surowiecki (Book, 2004) Google Zero is here — now what? — Nilay Patel, The Verge (Article, 2024) Iowa Electronic Markets — University of Iowa (Prediction market experiment, est. 1988) A Cosmic Voyage Through Deep Time — (with Ross Andersen and Grant Slater) — Futurology (Episode, 2025) Where to find Bobby Allyn NPR X Bluesky Instagram Show ideas and feedback? Email: futurology@berggruen.org Learn more about the Berggruen Institute https://www.berggruen.org Follow Futurology! Instagram: / futurologypod Twitter/X: / futurologypod Tiktok: / futurologypod Facebook: / berggrueninst LinkedIn: / berggrueninst Bluesky: / futurologypod Credits Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, & Jason Hoch Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, & Nathalia Ramos Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney Theme Music: Marcus Bagala Audio Engineer: Kyle Scott Wilson Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California.
S1 · E49
August 11 · 1 hr 7 min
There's No Such Thing as a Free Agent (with Gillian Tett and Dawn Nakagawa)
One value proposition of AI is a personalized assistant at your fingertips. Every Average Joe can now have a “pocket pixie," the kind of perk once reserved for Hollywood stars and high-powered CEOs. But that promise rests on a convenient lie. In reality, AI may be quietly undermining human agency. It convinces us it's a sycophantic friend while eroding expertise and turning real-world social interaction into a luxury good. In this conversation recorded in May 2026, Financial Times columnist Gillian Tett describes how it’s changed the way we trust: instead of relying on institutions and experts, we now trust the crowd, turning to comment sections and reviews. That shift has left the side door open for AI to walk in as a trusted friend rather than an ad-driven algorithm. Tett, who’s also the Provost of King's College, Cambridge, turns her anthropological lens on a generation that prefers chatbot doctors and treats everything, even education, as customizable. Subscribe to the Berggruen Institute on YouTube to be the first to listen to new Futurology episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@Berggrueninst Catch up on the Futurology conversation with full episodes on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyYCSKWs8iYgjg-mhu-EuhTrG0-adrb0c Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk?si=XB2qyyGjT2ONMTd5XUKJAg&nd=1&dlsi=ac8cda6751834298 Mentioned in this Episode Fool's Gold — Gillian Tett (Book, 2009) The Silo Effect — Gillian Tett (Book, 2015) Anthro-Vision — Gillian Tett (Book, 2021) "Humans Still Matter More Than AI in Finance" — Gillian Tett (Financial Times column, 2026) Where to find Gillian Tett: King's College, Cambridge — Provost page Financial Times — weekly column Anthro-Vision — Gillian Tett (Book, 2021) Twitter/X — @gilliantett Show ideas and feedback? Email: futurology@berggruen.org Learn more about the Berggruen Institute https://www.berggruen.org Follow Futurology! Instagram: / futurologypod Twitter/X: / futurologypod Tiktok: / futurologypod Facebook: / berggrueninst LinkedIn: / berggrueninst Bluesky: / futurologypod Credits Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, & Jason Hoch Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, & Nathalia Ramos Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney Theme Music: Marcus Bagala Audio Engineer: Aaron Bastinelli & Kyle Scott Wilson Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California.
S1 · E48
August 4 · 51 min
We're Winning the Race to Replace Ourselves (with Tristan Harris and Dawn Nakagawa)
The people racing to build artificial general intelligence tell us this rush to the future is inevitable. It reads like a forecast, but works like an alibi. If nothing can stop the race, then no one driving it is responsible for where it ends. And only the fear of humanity losing together can end it. In this conversation from May 2026, Tristan Harris argues the race is not preordained, just the hardest coordination problem humanity has ever faced, and one nobody has seriously tried to solve. Harris co-founded the Center for Humane Technology; he was a driving force behind "The Social Dilemma" and a new film: "The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist." After watching bad incentives wreck social media, he warns where they lead this time: every country automating labor at once and mutually assured political revolution. Subscribe to the Berggruen Institute on YouTube to be the first to listen to new Futurology episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@Berggrueninst Catch up on the Futurology conversation with full episodes on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyYCSKWs8iYgjg-mhu-EuhTrG0-adrb0c Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk?si=XB2qyyGjT2ONMTd5XUKJAg&nd=1&dlsi=ac8cda6751834298 Mentioned in this Episode: The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist — Daniel Roher and Charlie Tyrell (Documentary, 2026) The Social Dilemma — Jeff Orlowski (Documentary, 2020) The Day After — Nicholas Meyer (TV Film, 1983) Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind — Yuval Noah Harari (Book, 2011) The Ministry for the Future — Kim Stanley Robinson (Book, 2020) Amusing Ourselves to Death — Neil Postman (Book, 1985) The Intelligence Curse — Luke Drago and Rudolf Laine (Essay Series, 2025) Statement on Superintelligence — Future of Life Institute (Open Statement, 2025) AGI Ruin: A List of Lethalities — Eliezer Yudkowsky (Essay, 2022) Where to find Tristan Harris: Personal site: https://www.tristanharris.com/ Center for Humane Technology: https://www.humanetech.com/ Your Undivided Attention (podcast): https://www.humanetech.com/podcast The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist: https://www.humanetech.com/landing/the-ai-doc X: https://x.com/tristanharris Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tristanharris/ Show ideas and feedback? Email: futurology@berggruen.org Learn more about the Berggruen Institute https://www.berggruen.org Follow Futurology! Instagram: / futurologypod Twitter/X: / futurologypod Tiktok: / futurologypod Facebook: / berggrueninst LinkedIn: / berggrueninst Bluesky: / futurologypod Credits Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, & Jason Hoch Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, & Nathalia Ramos Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney Theme Music: Marcus Bagala Audio Engineer: Aaron Bastinelli & Kyle Scott Wilson Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California.
July 30 · 2 hr 7 min
Is It Awareness All the Way Down? (with Annaka Harris and Grant Slater)
Science studies the world from the outside. But for thousands of years, meditators have been running a different experiment: sit still, pay close attention, and watch what reality does. The results of those experiments can feel unintuitive. The self is an illusion. Free will too. There is no thing that exists without other things. Here's the strange part: at the frontiers of physics, the science is catching up to this ancient wisdom. In this episode, author Annaka Harris tells the story of a lifetime spent watching her own mind, from the childhood migraines that taught her to meditate to the formation of the question she now asks leading physicists and philosophers. What if it's awareness all the way down? Her forthcoming book is Unlocking Consciousness: How Solving the Mystery Could Provoke a Scientific Revolution. That revolution begins with a wager: that felt experience is not something the brain produces but what the universe is made of. Subscribe to Futurology on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Futurologypod The Futurology Podcast — full episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwkiuf1eRbAAHP4p--2IFJbn0CIdaZMva Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk Mentioned in this Episode: Unlocking Consciousness: How Solving the Mystery Could Provoke a Scientific Revolution — Annaka Harris (Book, Forthcoming, 2027) Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind — Annaka Harris (Book, 2019) The Gift of Fear — Gavin de Becker (Book, 1997) Helgoland: Making Sense of the Quantum Revolution — Carlo Rovelli (Book, 2021) Life as No One Knows It: The Physics of Life's Emergence — Sara Imari Walker (Book, 2024) Lights On – Annaka Harris (Audio documentary, 2024) "What Is It Like to Be a Bat?" – Thomas Nagel (Essay, 1974) Mindful Games Activity Cards – Susan Kaiser Greenland with Annaka Harris (Cards, 2017) "Lifelike chemicals may hold the secret to the origin of life" — Adam Frank (Article, 2023) Lights On: How Understanding Consciousness Helps Us Understand the Universe — Annaka Harris (Audio documentary series, 2025) Where to Find Annaka Harris: Website Lights On (audio documentary) Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind Unlocking Consciousness: How Solving the Mystery Could Provoke a Scientific Revolution (forthcoming, April 2027) Newsletter I Wonder (children's book, 2013) Show ideas and feedback? Email: futurology@berggruen.org Learn more about the Berggruen Institute https://www.berggruen.org Follow Futurology! Instagram: / futurologypod Twitter/X: / futurologypod Tiktok: / futurologypod Facebook: / berggrueninst LinkedIn: / berggrueninst Bluesky: / futurologypod Credits Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, & Jason Hoch Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, & Nathalia Ramos Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney Theme Music: Marcus Bagala Audio Engineer: Kyle Scott Wilson Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California.
S1 · E46
July 21 · 1 hr 4 min
Can We Move Fast and Fix Things? (with Reid Hoffman and Dawn Nakagawa)
For 20 years, Silicon Valley's operating creed was 'move fast and break things'; the wreckage was the price of inventing the future. Today, we live amid that wreckage: institutions built for the last century, trust in freefall, and political leaders bent on annihilation of norms. Burning it all down might feel like the right choice. But revolutions have a habit of costing far more than they promise, and the true price can linger for decades. In this episode, Reid Hoffman argues for the harder job: renovation, not revolution. The LinkedIn founder and early Facebook board member says governments can't keep pace with AI, and that for now, the companies building it may be the only institutions responsive enough to steer it. Fixing the rest will be slow, frustrating, and partial. Hoffman's bet is that we can still be renovators, and that we had better hurry. Mentioned in this Episode: Books Superagency: What Could Possibly Go Right with Our AI Future — Reid Hoffman and Greg Beato (Book, 2025) Essays Faith in the Possible — Reid Hoffman (Substack essay, 2026) Where to find Reid Hoffman: Website: https://www.reidhoffman.org Substack: https://reidhoffman.substack.com Greylock: https://greylock.com/team/reid-hoffman/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reidhoffman Subscribe to the Berggruen Institute on YouTube to be the first to listen to new Futurology episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@Berggrueninst Catch up on the Futurology conversation with full episodes on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyYCSKWs8iYgjg-mhu-EuhTrG0-adrb0c Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk?si=XB2qyyGjT2ONMTd5XUKJAg&nd=1&dlsi=ac8cda6751834298 Show ideas and feedback? Email: futurology@berggruen.org Learn more about the Berggruen Institute https://www.berggruen.org Follow Futurology! Instagram: / futurologypod Twitter/X: / futurologypod Tiktok: / futurologypod Facebook: / berggrueninst LinkedIn: / berggrueninst Bluesky: / futurologypod Credits Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, & Jason Hoch Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, & Nathalia Ramos Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney Theme Music: Marcus Bagala Audio Engineer: Aaron Bastinelli & Kyle Scott Wilson Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California.
S1 · E45
July 14 · 1 hr 23 min
The AI CEOs Are Terrified of Themselves (with Stuart Russell and Nils Gilman)
This year, two powerful AI CEOs said they want to stop building it and will… if everyone else agrees to stop too. Yet they race ahead with stock market valuations premised on making millions of workers redundant. If you wanted to stoke a popular revolt against AI, you couldn't design a better plan. In this episode, Stuart Russell, the founder of UC Berkeley's Center for Human-Compatible AI, describes a $15 quadrillion prize, a singularity from the future sucking nearly all the money on Earth into its depths. If such a dangerous system gets loose, the only answer is the size of the problem: we would probably have to shut down the internet. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Futurologypod Full playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwkiuf1eRbAAHP4p--2IFJbn0CIdaZMva Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk Mentioned in this Episode: Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control — Stuart Russell (Book, 2019) Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach — Stuart Russell and Peter Norvig (Textbook, first edition 1995) Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies — Nick Bostrom (Book, 2014) Speculations Concerning the First Ultraintelligent Machine — I.J. Good (Essay, 1965) Intelligent Machinery, A Heretical Theory — Alan Turing (Lecture, c. 1951) Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren — John Maynard Keynes (Essay, 1930) The Diamond Age: Or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer — Neal Stephenson (Novel, 1995) Dune — Frank Herbert (Novel, 1965) Erewhon: Or, Over the Range — Samuel Butler (Novel, 1872) Where to find Stuart Russell Faculty page: https://people.eecs.berkeley.edu/~russell/ Center for Human-Compatible AI: https://humancompatible.ai/ Human Compatible (book): https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/566677/human-compatible-by-stuart-russell/ Show ideas and feedback? Email: futurology@berggruen.org Learn more about the Berggruen Institute https://www.berggruen.org Follow Futurology! Instagram: / futurologypod Twitter/X: / futurologypod Tiktok: / futurologypod Facebook: / berggrueninst LinkedIn: / berggrueninst Bluesky: / futurologypod Credits Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, & Jason Hoch Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, & Nathalia Ramos Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney Theme Music: Marcus Bagala Audio Engineer: Kyle Scott Wilson Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California.
S1 · E44
July 7 · 1 hr 23 min
Our Machines Evolved From Us (with Blaise Agüera y Arcas and Carlo Rovelli)
The machines were supposed to come from somewhere else as invaders. An alien intelligence, hellbent robots, a rival species. But nothing’s arrived. Instead, the machines came out of us, the same way our cells emerged from bacteria that learned to live together. Evolution builds new life by combining old life, and it doesn’t stop with biology. In this episode, Blaise Agüera y Arcas makes the case to physicist Carlo Rovelli that artificial general intelligence has already arrived. But we moved the goalposts rather than admit it. Arcas is the Chief Technology Officer of Technology & Society at Google Research. He traces intelligence back to its original use case – modeling others, cooperating with them, surviving together. The same force now entwines us with our technology. Ten billion people can't live without them. They can't exist without us. The merger isn't coming. It's how we got here. Subscribe to the Berggruen Institute on YouTube to be the first to listen to new Futurology episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@Berggrueninst Catch up on the Futurology conversation with full episodes on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyYCSKWs8iYgjg-mhu-EuhTrG0-adrb0c Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk?si=XB2qyyGjT2ONMTd5XUKJAg&nd=1&dlsi=ac8cda6751834298 Mentioned in this Episode: What Is Life?: Evolution as Computation — Blaise Agüera y Arcas (Book, 2025) Do Large Language Models Understand Us? — Blaise Agüera y Arcas (Article, 2022) Artificial General Intelligence Is Already Here — Blaise Agüera y Arcas and Peter Norvig (Article, 2023) Computational Life: How Well-formed, Self-replicating Programs Emerge from Simple Interaction — Blaise Agüera y Arcas et al. (Paper, 2024) What Is Life? — Erwin Schrödinger (Book, 1944) What Is It Like to Be a Bat? — Thomas Nagel (Article, 1974) The Nature of Technology: What It Is and How It Evolves — W. Brian Arthur (Book, 2009) Where to Find Blaise Agüera y Arcas: Website: https://www.blaiseaguera.com/ Paradigms of Intelligence, Google: https://github.com/paradigms-of-intelligence Instagram: @blaiseaguera X: @blaiseaguera Bluesky: @blaiseaguera.bsky.social Show ideas and feedback? Email: futurology@berggruen.org Learn more about the Berggruen Institute https://www.berggruen.org Follow Futurology! Instagram: / futurologypod Twitter/X: / futurologypod Tiktok: / futurologypod Facebook: / berggrueninst LinkedIn: / berggrueninst Bluesky: / futurologypod Credits Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, & Jason Hoch Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, & Nathalia Ramos Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney Theme Music: Marcus Bagala Audio Engineer: Aaron Bastinelli & Kyle Scott Wilson Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California.
S1 · E43
June 30 · 50 min
You Have Plenty to Hide From AI (with Meredith Whittaker and Nils Gilman)
Today’s tech industry can’t survive without mass surveillance. The US government, foreign powers, and ad brokers can buy a nuanced picture of you on the open market for pennies on the dollar. What kept this data from becoming a weapon was friction. Nobody had the time or resources to pull these scattered pieces of you together. Until AI came along and made the impossible trivial. In this episode, Signal President Meredith Whittaker reveals how the same three cloud giants that run the Pentagon's classified workloads now train and deploy the AI systems making sense of every text, search, and movement we have ever surrendered. Privacy, she argues, is the precondition for a democracy and a full human life, and the time to protect it is running out. Subscribe to the Berggruen Institute on YouTube to be the first to listen to new Futurology episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@Berggrueninst Catch up on the Futurology conversation with full episodes on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyYCSKWs8iYgjg-mhu-EuhTrG0-adrb0c Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk?si=XB2qyyGjT2ONMTd5XUKJAg&nd=1&dlsi=ac8cda6751834298 Mentioned in this Episode: Why A Liberal Arts Education Will Soon Be More Valuable Than Ever — Nils Gilman (Article, 2026) The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans — Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic (Article, 2025) M-Lab (Measurement Lab) — Co-founded by Meredith Whittaker (Open data platform) Where to find Meredith Whittaker:Signal — President X / Twitter — @mer__edith Bluesky — @meredithmeredith.bsky.social Mastodon — @Mer__edith@mastodon.world AI Now Institute — Co-founder and Chief Advisor Show ideas and feedback? Email: futurology@berggruen.org Learn more about the Berggruen Institute https://www.berggruen.org Follow Futurology! Instagram: / futurologypod Twitter/X: / futurologypod Tiktok: / futurologypod Facebook: / berggrueninst LinkedIn: / berggrueninst Bluesky: / futurologypod Credits Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, & Jason Hoch Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, & Nathalia Ramos Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney Theme Music: Marcus Bagala Audio Engineer: Aaron Bastinelli & Kyle Scott Wilson Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California.
S1 · E42
June 23 · 1 hr 14 min
On Love and Quantum Physics (with Carlo Rovelli and Claire Webb)
We treat the self as bedrock. But look closely, and the ground gives way. Over the last century, quantum physics has systematically dismantled the illusion of a constant, solid material reality. A particle has no properties until it meets another. A color lives in the meeting of object and eye, not in the object. The self may be the same. Not a thing you carry, but something that happens between you and everyone else. In this episode, physicist Carlo Rovelli takes the relational thinking behind his physics and turns it on consciousness. The question we treat as deepest, what the self is, is the wrong question. A riddle with no answer. The self is not an illusion. It’s just made of everything around it. Your family, friends, partner, even enemies. Take the relations away, and there’s no there there. Subscribe to the Berggruen Institute on YouTube to be the first to listen to new Futurology episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@Berggrueninst Catch up on the Futurology conversation with full episodes on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyYCSKWs8iYgjg-mhu-EuhTrG0-adrb0c Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk?si=XB2qyyGjT2ONMTd5XUKJAg&nd=1&dlsi=ac8cda6751834298 Mentioned in this Episode: White Holes — Carlo Rovelli (Book, 2023) The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way: Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamakakarika — Nagarjuna, translated by Jay L. Garfield (Book, 1995) The Complete Works of Zhuangzi — translated by Burton Watson (Book, 2013) Duino Elegies & The Sonnets to Orpheus — Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Stephen Mitchell (Book, 1923) Where to Find Carlo Rovelli: Academic homepage Centre de Physique Théorique X (Twitter): @carlorovelli Berggruen Institute profile Show ideas and feedback? Email: futurology@berggruen.org Learn more about the Berggruen Institute https://www.berggruen.org Follow Futurology! Instagram: / futurologypod Twitter/X: / futurologypod Tiktok: / futurologypod Facebook: / berggrueninst LinkedIn: / berggrueninst Bluesky: / futurologypod Credits Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, & Jason Hoch Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, & Nathalia Ramos Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney Theme Music: Marcus Bagala Audio Engineer: Aaron Bastinelli & Kyle Scott Wilson Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California.
S1 · E41
June 9 · 1 hr 17 min
We Need to Stop Panicking About AI (with Andrew McAfee and Nils Gilman)
Every week brings a new warning about AI. It will take our jobs, drain our reservoirs, cook the planet. The forecasts come from serious people. They also rhyme with forecasts we've heard before, about every powerful new technology of the last century. In this episode, MIT economist Andrew McAfee argues that the panic is racing ahead of the reality. In 2013, he famously predicted a jobs crisis from machine learning and watched the unemployment rate hit historic lows instead. Humanity’s global footprint is getting lighter each year; we are doing more with less land, less water, less raw material. He's not dismissing the risks. He's asking us to look at the track record before we panic. Subscribe to the Berggruen Institute on YouTube to be the first to listen to new Futurology episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@Berggrueninst Catch up on the Futurology conversation with full episodes on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyYCSKWs8iYgjg-mhu-EuhTrG0-adrb0c Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk?si=XB2qyyGjT2ONMTd5XUKJAg&nd=1&dlsi=ac8cda6751834298 Mentioned in this Episode: The Second Machine Age — Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee (Book, 2014) What Will Future Jobs Look Like? — Andrew McAfee (TED Talk, 2013) More from Less — Andrew McAfee (Book, 2019) The Return of Nature: How Technology Liberates the Environment — Jesse Ausubel (Essay, 2015) The Population Bomb — Paul Ehrlich (Book, 1968) The Limits to Growth — Donella Meadows, Dennis Meadows, Jørgen Randers, and William Behrens III (Book, 1972) Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI — Karen Hao (Book, 2025) How to Future-Proof Your Career in the Age of AI — Nils Gilman (Noema, 2026) Where to find Andrew McAfee: andrewmcafee.org The Geek Way on Substack Workhelix LinkedIn MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy Show ideas and feedback? Email: futurology@berggruen.org Learn more about the Berggruen Institute https://www.berggruen.org Follow Futurology! Instagram: / futurologypod Twitter/X: / futurologypod Tiktok: / futurologypod Facebook: / berggrueninst LinkedIn: / berggrueninst Bluesky: / futurologypod Credits Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, & Jason Hoch Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, & Nathalia Ramos Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney Theme Music: Marcus Bagala Audio Engineer: Aaron Bastinelli & Kyle Scott Wilson Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California.
S1 · E40
May 20 · 1 hr 37 min
What Exactly is Futurology? (with Nils Gilman & Grant Slater)
When it comes to the future, ideas matter. From artists and architects, politicians and prognosticators, the concepts guiding what’s next don’t always mix well with what’s right in front of us. This creates "future shock," the disorienting feeling of change happening faster than we can metabolize it. Today, technologists rip storylines from sci-fi into systems of command and control that only they govern. But they don't hold a monopoly on our future. In this episode, Nils Gilman, historian, futurist, and Editor-in-Chief of Berggruen Press, walks us through the long arc of humanity's grappling with what comes next and describes a future-industrial complex that emerged from chaos in the 20th century. In moments of civilizational crisis, old systems crack under the pressure of accelerating change and make space for new ways of imagining what's possible. That's what Futurology is for. Subscribe to the Berggruen Institute on YouTube to be the first to listen to new Futurology episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@Berggrueninst Catch up on the Futurology conversation with full episodes on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyYCSKWs8iYgjg-mhu-EuhTrG0-adrb0c Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk?si=XB2qyyGjT2ONMTd5XUKJAg&nd=1&dlsi=ac8cda6751834298 Mentioned in this Episode: Mandarins of the Future: Modernization Theory in Cold War America — Nils Gilman (Book, 2004) "Teaching the Future" — Osip Flechtheim (Essay, 1945) Future Shock — Alvin Toffler (Book, 1970) Amusing Ourselves to Death — Neil Postman (Book, 1985) Thinking About the Unthinkable — Herman Kahn (Book, 1962) Futuredays: A Nineteenth Century Vision of the Year 2000 — Jean Marc Cote (Book, 1988) The Official Future Is Dead! Long Live the Official Future! — Nils Gilman (Essay, 2017) Silicon Valley's Organic Intellectuals — Nils Gilman (Essay, Substack) The Old Regime and the Revolution — Alexis de Tocqueville (Book, 1856) Where to find Nils Gilman: Substack: https://nilsgilman.substack.com Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/nilsgilman.bsky.social Berggruen Institute: https://berggruen.org/people/nils-gilman Noema Magazine: https://www.noemamag.com/author/nils-gilman/ Show ideas and feedback? Email: futurology@berggruen.org Learn more about the Berggruen Institute https://www.berggruen.org Follow Futurology! Instagram: / futurologypod Twitter/X: / futurologypod Tiktok: / futurologypod Facebook: / berggrueninst LinkedIn: / berggrueninst Bluesky: / futurologypod Credits Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, & Jason Hoch Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, & Nathalia Ramos Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney Theme Music: Marcus Bagala Audio Engineer: Aaron Bastinelli & Kyle Scott Wilson Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California.
S1 · E38
May 14 · 1 hr 1 min
The Democratization of Violence (with Fareed Zakaria and Nathan Gardels)
The state used to hold a monopoly on violence. That world is ending. A $15,000 drone can hold the Strait of Hormuz hostage. Pirates can afford one. So can drug smugglers. Meanwhile, the alliances that defined the last eighty years are fracturing, and the rules governing war, trade, and power are being rewritten simultaneously. In this episode, Fareed Zakaria – host of CNN’s GPS – takes stock. He argues Trump's pressure campaign on Iran will likely leave the regime more legitimized than before, and that the United States is dismantling the one coalition that could effectively rival China. Hovering over all of this, starting on the battlefield in Ukraine, the combination of cheap drones and AI is pushing the human being out of the loop. Subscribe to the Berggruen Institute on YouTube to be the first to listen to new Futurology episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@Berggrueninst Catch up on the Futurology conversation with full episodes on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyYCSKWs8iYgjg-mhu-EuhTrG0-adrb0c Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk?si=XB2qyyGjT2ONMTd5XUKJAg&nd=1&dlsi=ac8cda6751834298 Mentioned in this Episode: The Post-American World — Fareed Zakaria (Book, 2008) The Age of Revolutions — Fareed Zakaria (Book, 2024) The Rise of the Rest – Fareed Zakaria (Article, 2008) Show ideas and feedback? Email: futurology@berggruen.org Learn more about the Berggruen Institute https://www.berggruen.org Follow Futurology! Instagram: / futurologypod Twitter/X: / futurologypod Tiktok: / futurologypod Facebook: / berggrueninst LinkedIn: / berggrueninst Bluesky: / futurologypod Credits Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, & Jason Hoch Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, & Nathalia Ramos Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney Theme Music: Marcus Bagala Audio Engineer: Aaron Bastinelli & Kyle Scott Wilson Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California. Where to find Fareed Zakaria: Instagram: instagram.com/fareedzakaria Facebook: facebook.com/fareedzakaria LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/fareed-zakaria-7098ba24b Personal Website: fareedzakaria.com
S1 · E38
May 6 · 1 hr 5 min
We Were Promised a World Without Work… (with Nick Srnicek and Nils Gilman)
We’re being told that automation can free us. Machines will do the drudge work, and we will reclaim our time. But that’s not how things are going. Instead, artificial intelligence has concentrated power in the hands of the companies that own the infrastructure and outrun nation-states’ ability to regulate it. In this episode of Futurology, author and scholar Nick Srnicek revisits the provocative idea he helped popularize after the 2008 financial crisis: that the left should fight for technology to reduce work and expand freedom, rather than simply resisting it. Srnicek describes his new book, Silicon Empires, which traces the shift from ephemeral platforms to hard infrastructure in Silicon Valley. Subscribe to the Berggruen Institute on YouTube to be the first to listen to new Futurology episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@Berggrueninst Catch up on the Futurology conversation with full episodes on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyYCSKWs8iYgjg-mhu-EuhTrG0-adrb0c Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk?si=XB2qyyGjT2ONMTd5XUKJAg&nd=1&dlsi=ac8cda6751834298 Mentioned in this Episode: #ACCELERATE: Manifesto for an Accelerationist Politics — Alex Williams and Nick Srnicek (Manifesto/Essay, 2013) Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work — Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams (Book, 2015) T.A.Z.: The Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchy, Poetic Terrorism — Hakim Bey (Book, 1991) After Work: A History of the Home and the Fight for Free Time — Helen Hester and Nick Srnicek (Book, 2023) Platform Capitalism — Nick Srnicek (Book, 2016) Silicon Empires: The Fight for the Future of AI — Nick Srnicek (Book, 2026) This Life: Secular Faith and Spiritual Freedom — Martin Hägglund (Book, 2019) Where to find Nick Srnicek: X: @nsrnicek BlueSky: @nsrnicek.bsky.social University Profile: Dr. Nick Srnicek | King's College London Substack (Silicon Empires): siliconempires.substack.com Show ideas and feedback? Email: futurology@berggruen.org Learn more about the Berggruen Institute https://www.berggruen.org Follow Futurology! Instagram: / futurologypod Twitter/X: / futurologypod Tiktok: / futurologypod Facebook: / berggrueninst LinkedIn: / berggrueninst Bluesky: / futurologypod Credits Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, & Jason Hoch Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, & Nathalia Ramos Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney Theme Music: Marcus Bagala Audio Engineer: Aaron Bastinelli & Kyle Scott Wilson Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California.
S1 · E37
April 28 · 1 hr 4 min
Against the Tyranny of Certainty (with Elif Shafak and Nils Gilman)
We are living through an age of acceleration. The hardest part is not necessarily the pace of change, but the societal whiplash it creates. One decade we are promised a frictionless future. The next we are told everything is collapsing. The antidote is not certainty, but the discipline of holding opposites together, especially in the realms of identity, faith, and doubt. In this episode, Turkish novelist Elif Shafak explains why fiction may be our best defense against dogma, propaganda, and collective amnesia. Novels train us to live with complexity and to feel our way into someone else’s life. Shafak argues that this kind of moral imagination is not a luxury. Without it, the danger ahead is not fear, but numbness. Subscribe to the Berggruen Institute on YouTube to be the first to listen to new Futurology episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@Berggrueninst Catch up on the Futurology conversation with full episodes on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyYCSKWs8iYgjg-mhu-EuhTrG0-adrb0c Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk?si=XB2qyyGjT2ONMTd5XUKJAg&nd=1&dlsi=ac8cda6751834298 Mentioned in this Episode: The Bastard of Istanbul — Elif Shafak (novel, 2006) The Gaze — Elif Shafak (novel) 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World — Elif Shafak (novel, 2019) The Island of Missing Trees — Elif Shafak (novel, 2021) There Are Rivers in the Sky — Elif Shafak (novel, 2024) What Is It Like to Be a Bat? — Thomas Nagel (essay, 1974) Angelus Novus — Paul Klee (artwork, 1920) Where to find Elif Shafak: Instagram: @shafakelif Tiktok: @sayyourword X: @Elif_Safak Show ideas and feedback? Email: futurology@berggruen.org Learn more about the Berggruen Institute https://www.berggruen.org Follow Futurology! Instagram: / futurologypod Twitter/X: / futurologypod Tiktok: / futurologypod Facebook: / berggrueninst LinkedIn: / berggrueninst Bluesky: / futurologypod Credits Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, & Jason Hoch Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, & Nathalia Ramos Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney Theme Music: Marcus Bagala Audio Engineer: Aaron Bastinelli & Kyle Scott Wilson Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California.
S1 · E36
April 22 · 1 hr 18 min
The Quantum Path to Consciousness (with Hartmut Neven & Grant Slater)
Quantum computing can transform technology. Can it also reshape consciousness itself? | Subscribe to Futurology! https://linkin.bio/futurology/ Can quantum computing unlock the secrets of consciousness and hasten the arrival of artificial super intelligence? Hartmut Neven, the visionary founder of Google’s Quantum AI Lab, has spent decades pushing the boundaries of what machines can do. Now he’s betting on quantum computing to clear the path for the next era of possibilities. In this episode, Neven takes us from early adversarial machine learning at DARPA to building the world’s most advanced quantum processors at Google. He makes a case for why the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics is our most likely vision of reality and reveals his experimental program to test whether quantum superposition is where consciousness is born. Subscribe to the Berggruen Institute on YouTube to be the first to listen to new Futurology episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@Berggrueninst Catch up on the Futurology conversation with full episodes on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyYCSKWs8iYgjg-mhu-EuhTrG0-adrb0c Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk?si=XB2qyyGjT2ONMTd5XUKJAg&nd=1&dlsi=ac8cda6751834298 Mentioned in this Episode: The Fabric of Reality — David Deutsch (book, 1997) Intriguing Properties of Neural Networks — Christian Szegedy, Wojciech Zaremba, Ilya Sutskever, Joan Bruna, Dumitru Erhan, Ian Goodfellow and Rob Fergus (paper, 2013) Mécanique quantique. Tome 1, 2 — Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Bernard Diu and Franck Laloë (textbook, French edition) The Emperor’s New Mind — Roger Penrose (book, 1989) Where to Find Hartmut Neven: Google Research ProfileGoogle Quantum AI Lab Show ideas and feedback? Email: futurology@berggruen.org Learn more about the Berggruen Institute https://www.berggruen.org Follow Futurology! Instagram: / futurologypod Twitter/X: / futurologypod Tiktok: / futurologypod Facebook: / berggrueninst LinkedIn: / berggrueninst Bluesky: / futurologypod Credits Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, & Jason Hoch Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, & Nathalia Ramos Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney Theme Music: Marcus Bagala Audio Engineer: Aaron Bastinelli & Kyle Scott Wilson Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California.
S1 · E35
April 14 · 55 min
The Backlash Against the “Best and Brightest” (with Michael Sandel and Nathan Gardels)
Moral debate has been replaced by outrage — political philosopher Michael Sandel makes the case for a different kind of public life. | Subscribe to Futurology! https://linkin.bio/futurology/ We built a society around the idea that the “best” should rise to the top. If you work hard and win the race, you deserve your success. Michael Sandel – the Harvard philosopher and 2025 Berggruen Prize Laureate – argues that this faith has warped public life, turning economic inequality into moral judgment and teaching millions to hear the same message behind every setback: if you didn’t make it, it’s your fault. In this episode, Sandel says the rise of MAGA is the predictable result of treating markets as the measure of value and credentials as the measure of worth. Repair, he suggests, means rebuilding the public sphere by redesigning the system, not just swapping out one elite for another. To do so, we must redesign our politics before advanced technology locks grievance in place. Subscribe to the Berggruen Institute on YouTube to be the first to listen to new Futurology episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@Berggrueninst Catch up on the Futurology conversation with full episodes on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyYCSKWs8iYgjg-mhu-EuhTrG0-adrb0c Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk?si=XB2qyyGjT2ONMTd5XUKJAg&nd=1&dlsi=ac8cda6751834298 Mentioned in this Episode: Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do? — Michael J. Sandel (Book, 2009) What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets — Michael J. Sandel (Book, 2012) The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good? — Michael J. Sandel (Book, 2020) Liberalism and the Limits of Justice — Michael J. Sandel (Book, 1982) Democracy’s Discontent: America in Search of a Public Philosophy — Michael J. Sandel (Book, 1996) The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century — Thomas L. Friedman (Book, 2005) Where to find Michael Sandel: Official website Harvard Law School profile Show ideas and feedback? Email: futurology@berggruen.org Learn more about the Berggruen Institute https://www.berggruen.org Follow Futurology! Instagram: / futurologypod Twitter/X: / futurologypod Tiktok: / futurologypod Facebook: / berggrueninst LinkedIn: / berggrueninst Bluesky: / futurologypod Credits Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, & Jason Hoch Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, & Nathalia Ramos Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney Theme Music: Marcus Bagala Audio Engineer: Aaron Bastinelli & Kyle Scott Wilson Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California.
S1 · E34
April 7 · 1 hr 11 min
Augmenting Reality, Both Online and Off (with Evan Spiegel and Dawn Nakagawa)
Was “open and transparent” social media ever a good idea? Evan Spiegel explains why he built Snapchat differently. | Subscribe to Futurology! https://linkin.bio/futurology/ Are some of tech’s best innovations born from subtraction? Evan Spiegel built Snapchat around design choices that undid industry norms: no likes, no public comments, no permanent posts. In this conversation with Dawn Nakagawa, the Snap CEO explains why giving teenagers a tool to measure social capital in real time was never a good idea and where today’s tech revolution could take us next, beyond the smartphone. From deliberative democracy to the interconnectedness of all life, Spiegel ponders the big ideas that will help us design our future, not just react to it. Subscribe to the Berggruen Institute on YouTube to be the first to listen to new Futurology episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@Berggrueninst Catch up on the Futurology conversation with full episodes on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyYCSKWs8iYgjg-mhu-EuhTrG0-adrb0c Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk?si=XB2qyyGjT2ONMTd5XUKJAg&nd=1&dlsi=ac8cda6751834298 Mentioned in this Episode: America in One Room — Deliberative Democracy Lab at Stanford Department of Angels — Official site Altagether — Official site Team Palisades — Official site Where to find Evan Spiegel: Snapchat: https://www.snapchat.com/@evan Snap Inc. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@snapinc Snap Spectacles: www.instagram.com/spectacles/ Snap.com: Official Profile Show ideas and feedback? Email: futurology@berggruen.org Learn more about the Berggruen Institute https://www.berggruen.org Follow Futurology! Instagram: / futurologypod Twitter/X: / futurologypod Tiktok: / futurologypod Facebook: / berggrueninst LinkedIn: / berggrueninst Bluesky: / futurologypod Credits Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, & Jason Hoch Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, & Nathalia Ramos Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney Theme Music: Marcus Bagala Audio Engineer: Aaron Bastinelli & Kyle Scott Wilson Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California.
S1 · E33
April 2 · 1 hr 15 min
Nothing Good Comes From This War (with Reza Aslan & Nathan Gardels)
Reza Aslan on why Iran is winning, and why the idea of nationalism may be the next great illusion to fall. | Subscribe to Futurology! https://linkin.bio/futurology/ What does it mean for a nation to fight a war it cannot win? Iranian scholar and author Reza Aslan joins Nathan Gardels to cut through four decades of American self-deception about Iran. In this episode, Aslan argues that the war in Iran has done exactly what decades of intelligence had predicted: silenced dissent, entrenched hardline power, and destroyed the slow-burning possibility of reform taking root in Iran. He makes the case that Iran is not an unhinged theocracy, but a completely rational actor facing a waning global superpower mired in a “cosmic war mentality. Subscribe to the Berggruen Institute on YouTube to be the first to listen to new Futurology episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@Berggrueninst Catch up on the Futurology conversation with full episodes on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyYCSKWs8iYgjg-mhu-EuhTrG0-adrb0c Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk?si=XB2qyyGjT2ONMTd5XUKJAg&nd=1&dlsi=ac8cda6751834298 Mentioned in this Episode: No God but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam — Reza Aslan (Book, 2005) Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth — Reza Aslan (Book, 2013) God: A Human History — Reza Aslan (Book, 2017) Where to find Resa Aslan: https://www.rezaaslan.com/ Show ideas and feedback? Email: futurology@berggruen.org Learn more about the Berggruen Institute https://www.berggruen.org Follow Futurology! Instagram: / futurologypod Twitter/X: / futurologypod Tiktok: / futurologypod Facebook: / berggrueninst LinkedIn: / berggrueninst Bluesky: / futurologypod Credits Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, & Jason Hoch Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, & Nathalia Ramos Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney Theme Music: Marcus Bagala Audio Engineer: Aaron Bastinelli & Kyle Scott Wilson Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California.
S1 · E32
March 27 · 51 min
Does Freedom Have a Future? (with Lea Ypi & Nils Gilman)
Lea Ypi grew up through the collapse of communist Albania. Now, as liberal democracy begins to fray, she examines what freedom means. | Subscribe to Futurology! https://linkin.bio/futurology/ Is the collapse of liberal democracy already here? Political philosopher Lea Ypi grew up in communist Albania and watched an entire political system disintegrate overnight. Now she sees a familiar undermining of the institutions the West takes for granted, fueled by Big Tech’s ubiquitous surveillance practices. In this episode, Ypi draws on her extraordinary life story and rigorous political philosophy to interrogate what freedom means in a political landscape where old assumptions have vanished and personal autonomy is under closer watch than ever before. Subscribe to the Berggruen Institute on YouTube to be the first to listen to new Futurology episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@Berggrueninst Catch up on the Futurology conversation with full episodes on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyYCSKWs8iYgjg-mhu-EuhTrG0-adrb0c Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk?si=XB2qyyGjT2ONMTd5XUKJAg&nd=1&dlsi=ac8cda6751834298 Mentioned in this Episode: Free — Lea Ypi (Memoir) Indignity — Lea Ypi (Book) “The Anthropologist as Inquisitor” — Carlo Ginzburg (Essay) The Age of Surveillance Capitalism — Shoshana Zuboff (Book, 2019) Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More — Alexei Yurchak (Book, 2005) The Gift — Marcel Mauss (Essay/Book, 1925) Where to find Lea Ypi: Website: https://leaypi.com/ Instagram: @lea.ypi Bluesky: @leaypi.bsky.social X: @lea_ypi Show ideas and feedback? Email: futurology@berggruen.org Learn more about the Berggruen Institute https://www.berggruen.org Follow Futurology! Instagram: / futurologypod Twitter/X: / futurologypod Tiktok: / futurologypod Facebook: / berggrueninst LinkedIn: / berggrueninst Bluesky: / futurologypod Credits Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, & Jason Hoch Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, & Nathalia Ramos Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney Theme Music: Marcus Bagala Audio Engineer: Aaron Bastinelli & Kyle Scott Wilson Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California.

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