Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Silicon Valley Reads 2022: The Power of Kindness, Resilience and Hope Feb 02, 2022

Show notes

Valarie Kaur, Reyna Grande, and Richard Lui offer their unique perspectives about how the power of kindness, resilience and hope can move us forward as a community.

Kaur will discuss how "revolutionary love" can heal our world; Lui will share his experience of how compassion impacts individuals and our community; and Grande will reflect on her own journey crossing the US-Mexico border as a child and the resilience she developed during her life.

Each of their stories and experiences provides hope for our collective future and inspiration to become better people in the world.

NOTES

In partnership with Santa Clara County Office of Education, Santa Clara County Library District, and San Jose Public Library.

SPEAKERS

Reyna Grande

Author, A Dream Called Home: A Memoir

Valarie Kaur

Founder, Revolutionary Love Project; Author, See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love

Richard Lui

Journalist, MSNBC/NBC News; Author, Enough About Me: The Unexpected Power of Selflessness

In Conversation with Sal Pizarro

Columnist, Mercury News

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on January 27th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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NBC's Jacob Ward: How Technology Shapes Our Thinking and Decisions Feb 02, 2022

Show notes

For nearly five years, NBC News technology correspondent Jacob Ward has reported on the unanticipated consequences of science and technology on our lives. His new book, The Loop: How Technology is Creating a World Without Choices and How to Fight Back, builds on this work by exploring the ways artificial intelligence is beginning to curate our choices for us, and how capitalism packages those choices for our unconscious acceptance. The consequences for individuals and our society from this unseen "loop" are tremendous, and growing every day.

Artificial intelligence is changing the world as we know it. But the real danger isn't some movie-style robot that's going to enslave us; it's actually our own brains that are being re-shaped by technology, according to Ward. He explores how our brains are constantly making decisions using shortcuts, biases, and hidden processes using technology built to reinforce those very same processes. In short, he says it is a feedback loop—that magnifies our worst instincts so that we have fewer choices, leading to a potentially dangerous future.

At this important talk, Ward will discuss how our brains make decisions and how artificial intelligence in such areas of policing, entertainment, parenting, the military and more are shaped by algorithms, and then how patterns of behaviors are shaped further by those very algorithms, creating patterns that organize and manipulate our lives., often without us even knowing it. Please join us as we question the on-going impact of the machines that humans created.

SPEAKERS

Jacob Ward

Technology Correspondent, NBC News; Author, The Loop: How Technology Is Creating a World Without Choices and How to Fight Back

DJ Patil

Former U.S. Chief Data Scientist; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors—Moderator

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Writing with Fire: Dalit Women Deliver the News Feb 02, 2022

Show notes

Join us for a screening of Writing With Fire followed by a discussion with the filmmakers about their film and the topics raised in it.

Into India's cluttered male-dominated news landscape comes Khabar Lahariya (Waves of News), India's only newspaper run by Dalit ("low caste") women. Armed with smartphones, Chief Reporter Meera and her journalists break traditions, be it on the frontlines of India's biggest issues or within the confines of their homes, redefining what it means to be powerful.

Join us for a conversation with Suchmit Ghosh and Rintu Thomas, the filmmakers behind the documentary Writing With Fire. They will be joining us from India. Learn how they chronicled the astonishing determination of these local reporters—who empowered each other and held responsible the unjust. Reaching new audiences through their growing platform, the women of Khabar Lahariya redefine what it means to be powerful.

SPEAKERS

Sushmit Ghosh

Director and Cinematographer, Writing With Fire; Co-founder, Black Ticket Films

Rintu Thomas

Director and Producer, Writing With Fire; 2021 Logan Elevate Grantee

Michelle Meow

Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show" on KBCW/KPIX TV and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors; Twitter @msmichellemeow—Co-Host

John Zipperer

Producer and Host, Week to Week Political Roundtable; Vice President of Media & Editorial, The Commonwealth Club—Co-host

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Senator Amy Klobuchar on Antitrust Jan 28, 2022

Show notes

Antitrust enforcement is one of the most pressing issues facing America today. Google reportedly controls 90 percent of the search engine market, and Big Pharma has hiked drug prices up, making health care almost impossible to access for many.

Senator Amy Klobuchar is leading the charge against monopolies. As Minnesota's senior senator, she has been a member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights.

Antitrust: Taking on Monopoly Power from the Gilded Age to the Digital Age draws from her experience in the Senate, along with history, to give readers a comprehensive view of how monopolies have changed over the years and how the government has adapted to it. Senator Klobuchar explores today's Big Pharma and what she calls its price-gouging, tech, television, content, and agriculture communities and how a marketplace with few players can hurt consumer prices and stifle innovation.

Join us as Senator Amy Klobuchar talks about the fascinating history of the antitrust movement, shows us what led to the present moment, and offers achievable solutions to prevent monopolies, promote business competition, and encourage innovation.

SPEAKERS

Amy Klobuchar

U.S Senator (D-MN); Author, Antitrust: Taking on Monopoly Power from the Gilded Age to the Digital Age; Twitter @amyklobuchar

In Conversation with Sheera Frenkel

Technology Reporter, The New York Times; Co-Author, An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook's Battle for Domination; Twitter @sheeraf

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on January 26th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Eve Rodsky: Reclaim Your Creative Life Jan 28, 2022

Show notes

Eve Rodsky knows more than a thing or two about relationship building, goal setting, and time management. In her newest book, Find Your Unicorn Space: Reclaim Your Creative Life in a Too-Busy World, Rodsky offers an in-depth look at how to identify and prioritize time for activities that will cultivate and unleash creativity in your life.

Rodsky reveals what researchers already know: Creativity is not optional but essential—though most of us do need to remind ourselves how (and where) to find it.

At INFORUM, she will bring her new book to life with how-to advice and big-picture thinking to reclaim your own “unicorn space.”

NOTE: This program contains EXPLICIT language

SPEAKERS

Eve Rodsky

Author, Find Your Unicorn Space: Reclaim Your Creative Life in a Too-Busy World;Twitter @eve_rodksy

In Conversation with Minda Harts

CEO, The Memo LLC; Professor, NYU Wagner; Host, "Secure the Seat" Podcast; Author, The Memo: What Women of Color Need to Know To Secure a Seat At the Table; Twitter @MindaHarts

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on January 24th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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CLIMATE ONE: State of the Unions: Navigating Job Creation and Destruction Jan 28, 2022

Show notes

With expanding electrical infrastructure and some jurisdictions beginning to ban gas appliances in new construction, the transition to a clean energy economy is already happening. Understandably, labor unions that represent workers tied to the fossil fuel infrastructure are digging in their heels. While recognizing that climate change is a threat, the Laborers’ International Union of North America and the Utility Workers Union of America are skeptical of promises of a just transition, saying green jobs are typically non-union and pay far less. So how can we transition to a low-carbon economy while protecting good-paying jobs?

Guests:

Austin Keyser, Assistant to the International President for Government Affairs at International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)

Yvette Pena-O'Sullivan, Executive Director, Office of the General President, LiUNA

Lee Anderson, Director of Government Affairs, Utility Workers Union of America

Carol Zabin, Director, Green Economy Program, UC Berkeley Labor Center

Norman Rogers, Second Vice President of United Steelworkers, California

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Michael Shellenberger: How Progressives Threaten Cities Jan 27, 2022

Show notes

As 2021 came to a close, questions about crime and homelessness in San Francisco dominated headlines locally and nationally. In addition to high-profile smash-and-grab robberies in San Francisco's Union Square and malls outside the city, the publication of Michael Shellenberger's new book, San Fransicko: Why Progressives Ruin Cities, also drew attention to increasing disorder on San Francisco's streets; the book and its arguments received attention across the political spectrum from media around the World.

A Bay Area resident for more than 30 years, Shellenberger says progressive policies are, in good part, the reason for homelessness and crime in San Francisco (and similar cities on the West Coast). From homeless encampments to open-air drug markets and retail robberies, he says progressive leaders have gone beyond merely tolerating these issues and now actively enable them through specific public policy choices by urban lawmakers and district attorneys. Shellenberger believes that urban problems such as homelessness and drug dealing aren't primarily from a lack of housing, money for social programs or other "root causes." Instead, he feels the real problem is an ideology that designates some people, by identity or experience, as victims entitled to destructive behaviors and a hands-off approach to law enforcement that coddles them. The result, he says, is an undermining of the values that make cities, and civilization itself, possible.

Please join us as Shellenberger makes one of his first local public appearances to discuss his controversial book and the new crime policies launched in San Francisco.

NOTES

This program contains EXPLICIT language.

This program is supported by the Ken & Jaclyn Broad Family Fund. Complimentary copies of Shellenberger’s San Fransicko will be available to in-person attendees thanks to their support.

SPEAKERS

Michael Shellenberger

Founder and President, Environmental Progress; Author, San Fransicko: Why Progressives Ruin Cities

Melissa Caen

Political Analyst; Attorney—Moderator

This program was recorded on January 24th, 2022 at the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Civics Education as a National Security Priority Jan 26, 2022

Show notes

With deep political divides dominating America's civic culture and affecting how the United States is viewed abroad, civics education is increasingly being seen as a national security issue. Improving K–12 students’ understanding of America’s civic structures—from the Constitution to voting, to clarity about our national security institutions and how they operate within the rule of law—is being seen by national leaders as a way to strengthen the role of the United States in the world, and to protect the country’s national interests. Similar to the push for STEM education funding to address America’s global role in science and technology, many officials now support expanded funding for civics and history education as a way to improve student learning about their civic responsibilities in our participatory democracy.

Please join us as we discuss civics education and its role in boosting national resilience at this critical time in American history.

NOTES

The program is part of the Commonwealth Club's Creating Citizens initiative.

Suzanne Spaulding

Senior Adviser, Homeland Security, International Security Program

Millie Solomon

President, The Hastings Center

Shawn Healy

Senior Director, Policy and Advocacy, iCivics—Moderator

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Ann Burgess with Steven Constantine: My Quest to Decipher Criminal Minds Jan 26, 2022

Show notes

In yet another case of reality trumping its popularization as entertainment, Ann Burgess tells the vivid story of her role in the creation of the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit (very thinly veiled on the long-running "Criminal Minds" series as its Behavioral Analysis Unit)—a role that transformed the way the FBI studies, profiles, and catches serial killers.

With reported cases of sexual assault and homicide rising in the 1970s and 1980s, the FBI created a specialized team—the “Mindhunters”—to track down America's most dangerous criminals. Dr. Burgess's pioneering research on sexual assault and trauma soon caught their attention, and steered her right into the middle of a chilling serial murder investigation in Nebraska. Over the next two decades she helped identify, interview and track down dozens of notoriously violent offenders, including Ed Kemper ("The Co-Ed Killer"), Dennis Rader ("BTK"), Henry Wallace ("The Taco Bell Strangler"), and Jon Barry Simonis ("The Ski-Mask Rapist"). As one of the first women trailblazers at the FBI, Burgess knew she was expected to crack under pressure—to recoil in horror. But she was determined to protect potential victims at any cost.

Burgess provides deep insights into the minds of deranged criminals, and of their victims, and paints a revealing portrait of the FBI on the brink of a seismic scientific and cultural reckoning. She also directly confronts the age-old question that plagues every criminal justice system: “What drives someone to kill, and how can we stop them?”

MLF ORGANIZER

George Hammond

NOTES

MLF: Humanities

SPEAKERS

Ann Burgess

Professor, Boston College Connell School of Nursing; Forensic and Psychiatric Nurse; Worked with the FBI for over two decades; Author, A Killer By Design: Murderers, Mindhunters, and My Quest to Decipher the Criminal Mind

Steven Constantine

Co-Author, A Killer By Design: Murderers, Mindhunters, and My Quest to Decipher the Criminal Mind

In conversation with George Hammond

Author,

Conversations With Socrates

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on January 20th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Filmmaker Nanfu Wang: COVID Outbreaks and Outrages Jan 25, 2022

Show notes

In her new documentary In the Same Breath, director Nanfu Wang recounts the origin and spread of the novel coronavirus from the earliest days of the outbreak in Wuhan to its rampage across the United States. In a deeply personal approach, Wang, who was born in China and now lives in the United States, explores the parallel campaigns of misinformation waged by leadership and the devastating impact on citizens of both countries. Emotional first-hand accounts and startling, on-the-ground footage weave a revelatory picture of cover-ups and misinformation while also highlighting the strength and resilience of the health-care workers, activists and family members who risked everything to communicate the truth.

Note: This is a discussion about the documentary; this is not a screening of the film. In the Same Breath is currently available on HBO Max.

Join us for an online conversation with Nanfu Wang.

SPEAKERS

Nanfu Wang

Director, In the Same Breath and One Child Nation

Michelle Meow

Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW TV and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors; Twitter @msmichellemeow—Co-Host

John Zipperer

Producer and Host, Week to Week Political Roundtable; Vice President of Media & Editorial, The Commonwealth Club—Co-Host

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