Brave New World

Episode 109 – Mordecai Kurz: Technology And Democracy

Fri, 11 Sep 2026 05:16:54 +0000

Mordecai Kurz joins host Vasant Dhar to discuss how policy, technology, and culture concentrated corporate power. Leading to the decline of democracy. Useful Resources: 1. Mordecai Kurz 2. Private Power and Democracy’s Decline: How to Make Capitalism Support Democracy – Mordecai Kurz 3. Robert Bork 4. The Antitrust Paradox – Robert Bork 5. Sherman Antitrust Act 6. Section 230 7. Jonathan Haidt 8. Herbert ...

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Episode 108: Prashanth Chandrasekar: Community and the AI Pivot

Fri, 14 Aug 2026 03:05:44 +0000

Prashanth Chandrasekar, CEO of Stack Overflow, joins Vasant Dhar to discuss the company’s pivot to reinvent the platform and the way forward in an AI-native world. Useful Resources: 1. Prashanth Chandrasekhar. 2. Stack Overflow. 3. Nandan Nilekani. 4. Clayton M. Christensen. 5. The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail (Management ...

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Episode 107: Rule Breaker Investing — David Gardner on Staying the Course

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 14:06:05 +0000

David Gardner, co-founder of The Motley Fool, joins Vasant Dhar to discuss his approach to investing – the case for holding great companies for decades, and candid takes on stocks as long-term bets. Useful Resources: 1. David Gardner 2. The Motley Fool 3. Tom Gardner, CEO, The Motley Fool 4. Bill James 5. Peter ...

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Episode 106: Luca Turin On Decoding Smell

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 13:27:14 +0000

Smell is the most mysterious of our senses and we’ve been getting it wrong. Biophysicist Luca Turin joins Vasant Dhar to reveal why and how our noses detect vibrations and what that could mean for disease diagnosis, security, and the future of AI. Useful Resources: 1. Luca Turin. 2. Perfumes: The A-Z Guide – Luca Turin, Tania ...

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Episode 105: Nicholas Christakis on The Impacts of Machines on Human Groups

Thu, 14 May 2026 11:17:37 +0000

Your networks shape you more than you know. Nicholas Christakis joins Vasant Dhar to reveal how machines inserted into human groups quietly rewire the way people cooperate, coordinate, and trust — and why a little artificial noise might be exactly what we need. Useful Resources: 1. Nicholas Christakis 2. Human Nature Lab 3. The spread of obesity ...

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Episode 104: Leslie Kay on Smell, Memory and the Brain

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 09:41:24 +0000

Your nose knows more than you think. Professor Leslie M. Kay joins Vasant Dhar to reveal how smell is wired directly into the brain’s emotional core — and how every breath you take is quietly synchronising your mind. Useful Resources: 1. Leslie Kay 2. GenBank 3. National Library of Medicine 4. Walter Jackson Freeman ...

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Episode 103: Léon Bottou on Fiction Machines and the Limits of AI Alignment

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 05:53:24 +0000

What separates fluency from understanding? Léon Bottou joins Vasant Dhar in Episode 103, Brave New World, to explore the deep question at the heart of AI. Useful Resources: 1. Léon Bottou 2. Léon Bottou – The Fiction Machine 3. Hopfield Network in AI 4. Yann LeCun 5. J. L. McClelland, D.E. Rumelhart and G.E. Hinton – ...

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Episode 103: Jayant Sinha on AI Governance In A Fragmented World

Thu, 12 Feb 2026 11:11:17 +0000

AI is reshaping national power and governance. Drawing on India’s digital public infrastructure, Jayant Sinha and Vasant Dhar discuss sovereignty over compute, data consent, and privacy by design in Episode 103 of Brave New World. Useful Resources: 1. Jayant Sinha 2. Eversource Capital 3. India’s Green Startups: Jayant Sinha and Sandeep Bhammer 4. Nandan Nilekani 5. Brave New World Episode ...

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Episode 102: Alex ‘Sandy’ Pentland on Humanizing Technology

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 10:58:58 +0000

Professor Alex ‘Sandy’ Pentland, one of the most renowned computational scientists in the world, joins Vasant Dhar in Episode 102 of Brave New World to discuss the state and development of human-centric AI. Useful Resources: 1. Alex ‘Sandy’ Pentland. 2. Stanford Research Institute. 3. MIT Media Lab. 4. Distributed Computing, Blockchain. 5. Nature Magazine, ...

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Episode 101: Deepak Chopra On Consciousness and Reality

Thu, 11 Dec 2025 03:29:19 +0000

Deepak Chopra, a renowned pioneer in integrative medicine and personal transformation, joins Vasant Dhar in Episode 101 of Brave New World to talk about consciousness and our imagined worlds. Useful Resources: 1. Deepak Chopra 2. Donald D. Hoffman 3. Awakening: The Path to Freedom and Enlightenment – Deepak Chopra 4. Seymour Reichlin 5. Digital Dharma: How AI Can Elevate Spiritual ...

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