Open Transcripts

Interview with Opal Tometi (#BlackLivesMatter)

presented by Opal Tometi

There’s a lot going on in the United States, right. So there’s a legacy of structural racism that’s been impacting Black communities in the United States ever since we were kidnapped from Africa and brought to the United States. And so what we’re seeing today is actually a continuation of the racist policies and practices of the United States. We’re seeing state-sanctioned violence with impunity on black people.

How To Lose A Country: The New Political Ice Age

presented by Ece Temelkuran

When did we decide that we no longer need to watch news? We no longer have to watch these disturbing images? That’s why I’m writing a book. I’m thinking about these issues.

The Breakdown: evelyn douek on Doctored Media, Platform Response and Responsibility

presented by evelyn douek, Oumou Ly

The question also does come up, you know, is there anything really new here, with these new technologies? Disinformation is as old as information. Manipulated media is as old as media. Is there something particularly harmful about this new information environment and these new technologies, these hyperrealistic false depictions, that we need to be especially worried about?

The Breakdown: Renée DiResta on Misinformation and COVID-19

presented by Oumou Ly, Renée DiResta

It’s been really interesting to see the entire world pay attention to one topic. This is something somewhat unprecedented. We have had outbreaks in the era of social media misinformation before. Zika in 2015, Ebola 2018, right. So there have been a range of moments in which diseases have captivated public attention. But usually they tend to stay at least somewhat geographically confined in terms of attention.

Political Culture, Donald Trump and Education

presented by Anne Applebaum, Derek Shearer, Jeb Bush, Roger Berkowitz, Sean Wilentz

Donald Trump is not an American phenomenon, solely an American phenomenon. We see Trumps emerging all across the West, all across Europe—Western Europe and Eastern Europe. And they are repeating themselves in very similar ways.

Solarpunk : A Grand Dress Rehearsal

presented by Jay Springett

Many of the concerns of the cyberpunk genre have come true. The rise of corporate power, ubiquitous computation, and the like. Robot limbs and cool VR goggles. But in many ways, it’s far far worse.

How to Predict the Future

presented by Ben Hammersley

Every single futurist has one of these as the first slide in their deck. It doesn’t really matter what this is. An exponential curve, up and to the right. This represents all of technology. The past thirty years of technological evolution is described in this. This could be anything. This is processor power. This is memory per dollar. This is Internet penetration. This is the number of people playing Angry Birds.

(Data) Trust is the New Oil
Redesigning the data economy to optimize for trust

presented by Andrew Hoppin

The power of data has never been bigger than it is today and I think this can be a great thing, even though it is also creating some existential risks.

Sidney Blumenthal on the Crisis of Democracy

presented by Rob Riemen, Sidney Blumenthal

There’s always been this strain, particularly in American politics, a skepticism about politicians. We’re in one of these periods where there is such skepticism, but it runs deeper.

Is the USA the world’s last best hope?

presented by Sidney Blumenthal

Lincoln spoke of the United States as the last best hope on earth because the United States was the last, and only, and first, successful Democratic Republic in the world.