Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Think you know San Francisco and the rest of California? Think again. Two new books, Oldest San Francisco, and Secret California: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful and Obscure, will inspire you to seek out spots even locals will be surprised to learn about and inspired to visit.Oldest San Francisco, by Alec Scott, draws a picture of the sudden city that exploded in the Gold Rush. It tells the stories of the longtime institutions that have made the City by the Bay distinctive, visiting the oldest: bakery (Boudin), bike shop (American Cyclery). and brewery (Anchor, whose struggle to survive will be discussed). Scott speaks of civic fabrics―the oldest blue jeans and first rainbow flag―and even the oldest public affairs forum in the country (yes, The Commonwealth Club). Together the stories distill the ebullient, entrepreneurial spirit of San Francisco.Secret California: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful and Obscure, by Ruth Carlson, invites you to enter a live fairytale with aerial dancers, opera singers and a huge rabbit, to visit The Institute of Abnormal Arts―if you dare―and to watch silent movies in the East Bay theater where Charlie Chaplin premiered The Tramp. She sniffed out the country's only perfume museum, discovered an ancient society's crypt, and visited a second city underneath the state's capital.Don't miss this enjoyable evening, which will include a trivia contest, selected readings from the authors’ books, and an audience Q&A. Everyone will leave with a deeper appreciation of what makes San Francisco San Francisco.MLF ORGANIZERGeorge Hammond Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Throughout his career, Rajiv J. Shah has tackled some of the world’s most intractable challenges head on. At the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Shah played an integral role in the colossal effort to vaccinate 900 million children. At the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under President Obama, he led the U.S. response to the Haiti earthquake and the West African Ebola pandemic, served on the National Security Council, and elevated the role of development as part of our nation’s foreign policy. Now, as president of the Rockefeller Foundation, Shah oversees the global institution in its mission to promote the well-being of humanity around the world.His approach to tackling some of the biggest humanitarian efforts of the 21st century? A "big bets" philosophy—the idea that seeking ambitious solutions rather than making incremental improvements can attract the unlikely partners with the power and know-how to achieve results.His debut book, Big Bets, offers a masterclass in approaching challenges—regardless of magnitude—through decision-making, leadership and, of course, a willingness to make bets.Come hear Shah as he illuminates his "big bets" philosophy on creating transformational and lasting change—in our own lives and well beyond. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Laughter can be good medicine, but when is it okay to laugh at something as deadly serious as the climate crisis? Jokes help us remember information that otherwise might not be retained. A snappy punchline can be a powerful way to get a message through to an audience. Comedy can also be a way for performers and audiences alike to cope with a shared societal problem, like climate or social justice. Humor has a way of slipping through our perceived biases and giving us a new way of looking at challenges. How can we all learn to use humor both as a coping tool and a tool for change? Guests: Rollie Williams, Comedian, Host, Climate TownCaty Borum, Provost Assoc. Professor, American UniversityFor show notes and related links, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's a challenge to make the best decisions in a world that is unpredictable and full of contradictions. Help is now available in the form of advice from quantum physicist Jim Al-Khalili, who shares 8 lessons from the heart of science that he says can help people get the most out of life.As he writes in The Joy of Science, Al-Khalili invites people to engage with the world as scientists have been trained to do. The scientific method has served mankind well in its quest to see things as they really are. Underpinning the scientific method are core principles that can be deployed outside of the laboratory too, in our own lives. Knowing the nature of truth and uncertainty, the role of doubt, the pros and cons of simplification, the value of guarding against bias, the importance of evidence-based thinking and more—Al-Khalili says these are all deeply relevant to everyday lives.Jim Al-Khalili is distinguished professor of theoretical physics at the University of Surrey and is one of Britain’s best-known science communicators. His other books include The World According to Physics, Quantum: A Guide for the Perplexed, and Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology. MLF ORGANIZER: Gerald HarrisA Technology & Society 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.In Association with Wonderfest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As CNN’s anchor and chief Washington correspondent Jake Tapper is one of the most respected journalists in news today. He is also a best-selling author, and his heart-pounding new thriller All the Demons Are Here takes us back to the 1970s, with two unforgettable characters encountering many of the real-life figures and events that defined one of the wildest and most dangerous decades in American history.Hear more about his latest work and his take on the current political landscape. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At 5:12 a.m. on April 18, 1906, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck San Francisco, catching most of the city asleep. For approximately one minute, shockwaves buckled streets, shattered water mains, collapsed buildings, crushed hundreds of residents to death and trapped many alive. For the next three days, fires ignited and nearly destroyed what was then the largest city in the American West.Join us in-person as Matthew Davenport describes the massive devastation and combines history and science to tell the dramatic true story of one of the greatest disasters in American history.MLF ORGANIZERGeorge HammondNOTESA 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.This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Disasters caused by burning fossil fuels are becoming more frequent, and in the aftermath of hurricanes, floods and wildfires, federal and state responses are often slow or insufficient. There is a growing body of research showing that neighborhood ties can be the difference between life and death: Socially connected neighbors are less likely to die from excessive heat or other extreme weather events. Community-based action, like mutual aid, can bring resources to people overlooked by overburdened governments. What tools can a community use to prepare for fossil fueled disasters? Guests:Tanya Gulliver Garcia, Director of learning and partnerships, Center for Disaster PhilanthropyChenier “Klie” Kliebert, Executive Director, Imagine Water WorksAmee Raval, Research and Policy Director, Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN)Justin Hollander, Professor, Urban and Environmental Policy Planning, Tufts UniversityReverend Vernon K. Walker, Climate Justice Program Director, Clean Water ActionFor show notes and related links, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for the 13th annual Lundberg Institute Lecture, featuring Bob Matthews of MediSync discussing the advances artificial intelligence is making in health care.AI’s advances into various health-care fields have recently burst into public consciousness—generating excitement, concern and confusion among lay and professional observers. AI has already been relied upon in genomic medicine and in the automated analysis of diagnostic studies, but ChatGPT and Bard have liberated imaginations to consider many more potential applications. The task at hand, though, is determining whether those liberated imaginations are being realistic or unrealistic.Medical news tends to focus on the newest and most technically glitzy innovations. even though they sometimes perform less well than advertised. Matthews will explore the immediate opportunities AI has for affecting the care of the most prevalent and important medical conditions, like chronic diseases, as that could quickly influence both the quality and the total cost of such care for the largest number of patients.MLF ORGANIZERGeorge Hammond Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bestselling author and popular speaker Suneel Gupta knows what it's like to fail and to succeed. He's done both, and he says the key to creating a balanced, joyous life that integrates ambition, work and well-being is to find your dharma—your inner calling.He says we’ve been conditioned, from an early age, to believe that one day we’ll reach a moment of “arrival.” But no matter how much we achieve or acquire we still don’t feel as satisfied or as fulfilled as we thought we would be. Exhausted, we become burned out and cynical, questioning the purpose of it all.An expert on happiness and work, Gupta argues that for too long we have compartmentalized work and well-being and ignored the fact that both are essential for sustained success. We’ve assumed that outer success leads to inner well-being, despite history showing us otherwise.In his latest book, Everyday Dharma, Gupta weaves personal stories, history, science, Eastern philosophy, and Western modalities in this prescriptive book. Gupta, a visiting scholar at Harvard Medical School, will share his ideas for empowering people to let go of anxiety, follow their ambitions, produce their life’s work, and experience true joy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For thousands of years, the American buffalo evolved alongside Indigenous people who relied on them for food and shelter, and, in exchange for killing them, revered the animal. For millennia, this totemic animal lived in symbiotic relationship with grasslands throughout North America, then – in less than 100 years – new settlers and hunters brought their numbers from 30 million to the mere hundreds, while in the same era glorifying them as our iconic national animal. It’s a classic and cautionary tale of our ability to destroy the natural world – and potentially, to bring it back. Guests:Ken Burns, Director, The American BuffaloRosalyn LaPier, Indigenous environmental historian and ethnobotanistFor show notes and related links, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices