Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Trailblazing AI journalist Karen Hao comes all the way from Hong Kong to San Francisco to discuss the issues raised in her new book, Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI. Hao tackles the hard-hitting questions many people are afraid to face about the disruptive power of artificial intelligence and the forces driving its rapid ascent. A longtime AI insider with unparalleled access to OpenAI and its key players, Hao has spent years investigating the industry’s hidden costs—human, environmental, and geopolitical. As a journalist whose award-winning work has been cited by Congress and featured in leading publications such as The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal and MIT Technology Review, she has become one of the most authoritative voices on AI today. Now Hao pulls back the curtain on the tech arms race reshaping our world in real time. From the breakneck rise of OpenAI and its Faustian bargain with Microsoft to the global supply chains powering AI’s insatiable appetite for data, energy and human labor, she reveals the staggering scale of the industry’s ambitions—and its consequences. With exclusive behind-the-scenes insights, including the dramatic firing and reinstatement of Sam Altman (a highly public corporate drama that began just days after Altman talked AI ethics on the Commonwealth Club stage), Hao will discuss not just a corporate saga but a crucial examination of the future of power, technology and society itself. Join us for this urgent and thought-provoking conversation about the past, present, and future of AI—what’s at stake, who stands to gain, and who is being left behind.   Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California is a nonprofit public forum; we welcome donations made during registration to support the production of our programming. Commonwealth Club World Affairs is a public forum. Any views expressed in our programs are those of the speakers and not of Commonwealth Club World Affairs.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Joshua Knowles, a physician-scientist at Stanford, Ethan Weiss, a cardiologist, and Robert Lustig, an emeritus professor of pediatrics at UCSF, as they delve into the fascinating world of cholesterol. They discuss cholesterol's essential functions, the different types like HDL and LDL, and the evolution of testing methods. The trio also explores the role of triglycerides, the misconceptions surrounding statins, and the complexities of managing cholesterol, shedding light on how diet and genetics influence heart health.

After decades of strong governmental and public support, and despite strong evidence supporting the societal and individual benefits of a college degree, American public higher education is confronting a multi-layered crisis of confidence and funding. While the need remains for all that public higher education has to offer, the sector’s very mission and purpose have become the subject of political debate and disagreement, even as state funding levels fail to keep pace with rising costs, and changes in federal policies threaten public universities’ long-standing missions and values. UC Berkeley’s new chancellor, Rich Lyons, is working to launch a new era of excellence for his campus with the knowledge that many are watching how public higher education’s flagship university will take on a wide array of threats and opportunities at a time when the stakes could not be higher. He has a new vision for the Berkeley campus that centers innovation and entrepreneurship; new programs to bridge divides of perspective and belief; and a quest for financial independence through the development of new and novel revenue streams. About the Speaker Rich Lyons is the 12th chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, beginning his tenure as the first undergraduate alum to serve as chancellor in July 2024. Previously, he was the associate vice chancellor for innovation and entrepreneurship from 2020–2024, leading the development and expansion of innovation and entrepreneurship campuswide. Lyons also served as the dean of UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business from 2008–2018. Lyons received his B.S. degree from UC Berkeley in 1982 and returned to campus in 1993 as a faculty member at the Haas School of Business after receiving his Ph.D. in economics from MIT and following six years on the faculty at Columbia University. In 1998, he was awarded the Distinguished Teaching Award, Berkeley’s highest teaching award. A Health & Medicine Member-led Forum program. Forums and Chapters at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. Organizer: Robert Lee Kilpatrick  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The moving force behind biasinterrupters.org (an evidence-based metrics-driven approach to eradicating implicit bias) brings her perspective to bear on bridging the divide between college grads and everyone else she says has been driving politics to the far right in the United States. Joan Williams asks: Is there a single change that could simultaneously protect democracy, spur progress on climate change, enact sane gun policies, and improve our response to the next pandemic? Her answer is that changing the class dynamics which are currently dividing American voters could do just that. Williams argues that liberals often inadvertently play into the hands of far-right politicians intent on manipulating class anger to undercut progressive goals. She says the process can be reversed by offering college-educated Americans insights into how their values reflect their lives, and how their lives reflect their privilege, while also demonstrating how working-class values reflect working-class lives. She says the far right connects culturally with the working-class by manipulating racism and masculine anxieties to obfuscate the reality that far-right economic policies often prove disadvantageous to the working-class. Join us to hear her guidance on how she says liberals can forge a multiracial cross-class coalition capable of delivering on progressive goals. A Humanities Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. OrganizerGeorge Hammond  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During the Second World War, members of the United States Marine Corps coined a sarcastic acronym to explain a state of chaos and confusion: SNAFU, or situation normal, all fouled (or a saltier f-word) up. More than 80 years later, Ed Helms began to explore history’s greatest own-goals. And now Helms comes to Commonwealth Club World Affairs in Silicon Valley to share his absurdly entertaining look at some of history’s greatest face plants. He’ll draw on his new book—conveniently titled SNAFU: The Definitive Guide to History’s Greatest Screwups—to enlighten us about some of history’s darker moments. Helms is an actor, writer, producer and comedian who was a correspondent for “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.” He portrayed Andy Bernard in the celebrated sitcom “The Office” and Stu Price in The Hangover film trilogy. He has won awards for his performances and for his comedy writing. And—you can sense a theme here—he is the host of the podcast “SNAFU with Ed Helms.” From nuclear weapons on the moon to training cats to be CIA spies to turning the weather into a weapon—Helms has the inside scoop on the greatest foul-ups of modern times. This program contains EXPLICIT language. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Three years ago, Russian troops and tanks invaded Ukraine and started the largest land war in Europe since World War II. And like the Second World War, the war in Ukraine has drawn in money, weapons, and even troops from around the world, from the United States to North Korea. The invasion served as a wake-up call to many in the West about the threats posed by Vladimir Putin’s revanchist Russia, even while it drained the Kremlin’s war chest and depleted its military—including a march on Moscow by disgruntled mercenary forces. John Sullivan served as the U.S. ambassador to Russia from February 2020 to September 2022, and in his book Midnight in Moscow, he related the behind-the-scenes activity in Moscow and the West in the lead-up to the war. It is a war that many have come to see—and that Putin has declared it to be—a struggle against the West itself, not just Ukraine. Has Russia been weakened by the collapse of its Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad? How extensive is Russian involvement in attacks on Western European infrastructure? How has Russia been able to evade harsh sanctions? And how is the West doing—under President Joe Biden and next under President Donald Trump—in meeting the threat? Join us for an in-person talk with John Sullivan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In January, congestion pricing went into effect in New York City. The policy’s implementation took decades; along the way, multiple moments suggested that it wouldn’t happen at all. Now, drivers entering Manhattan south of 60th Street during peak hours are required to pay a toll. Meanwhile, other cities like San Francisco are considering a similar initiative. But Trump opposes New York’s plan. Governor Hochul and state policy leaders encountered a political quagmire pushing the plan through. And its future is only certain up until around next fall, when legal proceedings are expected to come to a resolution. So, is congestion pricing making a worthwhile difference? How do New Yorkers — and those traveling into Manhattan — feel about it? Guests: Eric A. Goldstein, Senior Attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council Sarah M. Kaufman, Director of NYU’s Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management Ryan Johnson, Co-Founder and CEO, Culdesac On June 4, Climate One is hosting a special screening of the documentary “Good Grief: The 10 Steps” followed by a climate anxiety workshop. Join us for this intimate conversation about the importance of mental health live at The Commonwealth Club. Tickets are available through our website. Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on Patreon, you’ll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. Sign up today. For show notes and related links, visit our website. Ad sales by Multitude. Contact them for ad inquiries at multitude.productions/ads Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Radio and TV journalist Ira Flatow produced his first science stories back in 1970 during the inaugural Earth Day. Since then, he has worked for Emmy Award-winning science programs and covered science for a number of high-profile news organizations, and has hosted the popular public radio program “Science Friday” for more than three decades. In his career, Flatow has interviewed countless scientists, journalists and other experts about the most exciting developments in science. Now the Club welcomes Flatow in conversation with local journalists to speak about the role of science writing in the current cultural climate. About the Speakers Ira Flatow is an award-winning science correspondent, TV journalist, and the host of "Science Friday," heard on public radio stations across the country and distributed by WNYC Studios. He brings radio and podcast listeners worldwide a lively, informative discussion on science, technology, health, space, the environment and more. Flatow describes his work as the challenge “to make science and technology a topic for discussion around the dinner table.” Annalee Newitz writes science fiction and nonfiction. Most recently, as a science journalist, they are the author of Stories Are Weapons: Psychological Warfare and the American Mind, about the history of psychological warfare, from Sun Tzu to Benjamin Franklin and beyond. They have published in The Washington Post, Slate, Scientific American, Ars Technica, The New Yorker, and Technology Review, among others. Newitz is the co-host of the Hugo Award-winning podcast "Our Opinions Are Correct," and has contributed to the public radio shows "Science Friday," "On the Media," KQED "Forum," and "Here and Now." Ezra David Romero is a climate reporter for KQED News. He covers the absence and excess of water in the Bay Area—think sea level rise, flooding and drought. For 12 years he’s covered how warming temperatures are altering the lives of Californians. He’s reported on farmers worried their pistachio trees aren’t getting enough sleep, families desperate for water, scientists studying dying giant sequoias, and alongside firefighters containing wildfires. His work has appeared on local stations across California and nationally on public radio shows such as "Morning Edition," "Here and Now," "All Things Considered" and "Science Friday." Naveena Sadasivam is a writer and editor at Grist covering the oil and gas industry and climate change. She previously worked at the Texas Observer, Inside Climate News, and ProPublica, and is based in Oakland, California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens when one of the world’s most powerful companies finds itself caught between two superpowers? And what does it mean for the broader tech industry? Through in-depth reporting and more than 200 interviews with former Apple executives and engineers, journalist Patrick McGee uncovers what he says is the untold story of how Apple’s offshoring strategy helped China rise as the world’s leading electronics manufacturing hub—but also left Apple increasingly vulnerable. Now, as Beijing tightens its grip, demanding greater control over data, production and supply chains, Apple is facing a crisis that could redefine its future. McGee has reported from financial hubs around the world, from Frankfurt to Hong Kong. Now, as the San Francisco correspondent for the Financial Times, he joins Commonwealth Club World Affairs to discuss the issues raised in his new book Apple in China. He’ll unpack the increasingly fraught relationship between Apple and China—a relationship with profound implications not only for the tech giant but for the future of global technology and geopolitics. Join us for this timely and thought-provoking conversation about Apple’s uncertain future, the shifting balance of power in the tech world, and the far-reaching consequences for global innovation and economic stability. This program has 2 types of tickets available: in-person and online-only. Please pre-register to receive a link to the live-stream event. Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California is a nonprofit public forum; we welcome donations made during registration to support the production of our programming. Commonwealth Club World Affairs is a public forum. Any views expressed in our programs are those of the speakers and not of Commonwealth Club World Affairs. This program contains EXPLICIT language. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Something is deeply rotten at the Supreme Court, says Leah Litman, an attorney and law professor at the University of Michigan. How did we get here and what can we do about it? Litman shines a light on what she calls the unabashed lawlessness embraced by conservative Supreme Court justices and shows people how to fight back. With the gravitas of Joan Biskupic and the irreverence of Elie Mystal, Leah Litman brings her signature wit to the question of what’s gone wrong at One First Street. Drawing on her new book Lawless, she argues that the Supreme Court is no longer practicing law; it’s running on vibes. By “vibes,” Litman means legal-ish claims that repackage the politics of conservative grievance and dress them up in robes. Major decisions adopt the language and posture of the law, while in fact displaying a commitment to protecting a single minority: the religious conservatives and Republican officials whose views are no longer shared by a majority of the country. Litman employs pop culture references and the latest decisions to deliver a funny, zeitgeisty, pulls-no-punches cri de coeur undergirded by impeccable scholarship. Join us for a fascinating and engaging hour, as Litman explains the tools we need to understand the law, the dynamics of courts, and the stakes of this current moment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices