Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Latest Episodes:

CLIMATE ONE: Rep. Ro Khanna on AI, Misinformation and Holding Big Oil Accountable Oct 06, 2023

Show notes

Congressman Ro Khanna has made a name for himself as a pragmatic progressive and critic of Big Oil. He grilled oil company CEOs under oath and helped negotiate with Senator Joe Manchin to keep climate policy in the Inflation Reduction Act, the biggest piece of climate legislation ever passed in the United States.

Despite being one of the more progressive voters in Congress, Khanna has a reputation for coalition building; he got more bills passed than any other Democrat during the previous administration. Now that Republicans control the House of Representatives and are looking to claw back climate provisions of the IRA, what levers can he still pull to address the climate crisis?

Guest:

Ro Khanna, U.S. Congressman

For show notes and related links, visit our website.

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Kashmir Hill: Clearview AI, Facial Recognition Technology, and Threats to Our Privacy Oct 04, 2023

Show notes

Are you one in a million? One in a billion? What if an app could pick you out of a crowd based on your face alone?

New York Times tech reporter Kashmir Hill was skeptical when she got a tip about a mysterious app called Clearview AI that claimed it could, with 99 percent accuracy, identify anyone based on just one snapshot of their face. The app could supposedly scan a face and, in just seconds, surface every detail of a person’s online life: their name, social media profiles, friends and family members, home address, and photos that they might not have even known existed. If it was everything it claimed to be, it would be the ultimate surveillance tool, and it would open the door to everything from stalking to totalitarian state control. Could it be true?

Hill tracked the improbable rise of Clearview AI and its astounding collection of billions of faces from the internet. Google and Facebook decided that a tool to identify strangers was too radical to release, but Clearview forged ahead, sharing the app with private investors, pitching it to businesses, and offering it to thousands of law enforcement agencies around the world.

Join us for a surprising look at the rise of a technological superpower and an urgent warning that, in the absence of vigilance and government regulation, Clearview AI is one of many new technologies that challenge what Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once called “the right to be let alone.”

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Amy Schneider: In the Form of a Question Oct 02, 2023

Show notes

Who is the most successful woman ever to compete on "Jeopardy"?

Amy Schneider’s impressive 40-game winning streak was accompanied by an even greater prize—the joy of being herself on national television and blazing a trail for openly queer and transgender people around the world.

Her new memoir, In the Form of a Question: The Joys and Rewards of a Curious Life explores some of the innumerable topics that have fascinated Amy throughout her life—books and music, Tarot and astrology, popular culture and computers, sex and relationships—but they all share the same purpose: to illustrate, and celebrate, the results of a lifetime spent asking, why?

Join Amy as she returns to The Commonwealth Club and shares her singular journey that led to becoming an unlikely icon and hero to millions.

NOTES

This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation.

See more Michelle Meow Show programs at The Commonwealth Club of California.

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CLIMATE ONE: Jane Fonda: A Lifetime of Activism Sep 29, 2023

Show notes

Jane Fonda has spent the last several decades fighting for Indigenous peoples' rights, economic justice, LGBTQ rights, peace, gender equality and more. Now, she is devoting herself to the climate emergency, beginning with Fire Drill Fridays, the national movement to protest government inaction on climate change she started in October 2019.

Now, through the Jane Fonda Climate PAC, she is focused on defeating political allies of the fossil fuel industry. At 85, Fonda continues to fight for the most vulnerable among us, consistently pointing out the intersection between the myriad of causes. What keeps the iconic Jane Fonda going strong?

Guest:

Jane Fonda, actor, activist

For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/audio/jane-fonda-lifetime-activism

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100 Years to Thrive: Designing Longer and Wealthier Lives Sep 25, 2023

Show notes

Feel like you are always running out of time? What would you do differently with an extra 25 years of longevity to build a fulfilled life?

Please join us for a conversation on making the most of our increased longevity and designing lives with greater well-being, meaning and purpose. Dr. Laura Carstensen and Mark T. Johnsen will touch on the multiple facets of building a wealthier life with increased life spans.

Health—align health spans to life spans: One-hundred-year lives are quickly becoming commonplace, but healthy long lives require us to consider what we should be doing at all life stages to promote well-being.

Career—working more flexible years to provide well-being beyond just financial stability: Having a fulfilling career helps give us a sense of purpose but can also be taxing on us in this fast-paced world, particularly when we have so many obligations to our families, friends and communities. How should we be thinking of education and work in order to foster meaningful and healthy career spans?

Building Financial Stability—assessing the risks and rewards of a 100-year life span: Supporting 100-year lives requires creative and flexible roadmaps at all stages of life from early education for children and teaching financial literacy at an early age to re-thinking the safety nets of Medicare and Social Security.

Family and Friends—multigenerational families and communities: The energy and curiosity of youth combined with wisdom and life experiences of older generations creates opportunities for families, friends and workplaces to reap the benefits of age diversity.

Life Transitions—opportunities to reset: One-hundred-year lives can present multiple transitions, such as retirement, birth of a child, divorce, death of a loved one, and provide us with lifelong learning opportunities and ways to discover and pave a new path, course-correct, and find purpose.

MLF ORGANIZER

Denise Michaud

NOTES

A Grownups 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.

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CLIMATE ONE: Naomi Klein and Carolyn Beeler: Covering Big Ideas and Personal Stories Sep 22, 2023

Show notes

The climate crisis can be difficult to cover in a way that most people can relate to. The mechanism of harm goes from a person's gas car or stove to the Earth's atmosphere and back again in the form of floods and fires. That's why true stories of individuals and families experiencing the fallout of the climate crisis can be so impactful. They help us relate to each other on a more direct level, the way humans naturally do: person to person. Covering Climate Now Journalism Award winners Naomi Klein and Carolyn Beeler bring those stories to light.

This episode was produced in collaboration with Covering Climate Now.

Guests:

Carolyn Beeler, Environment Reporter, Editor, The World

Naomi Klein, author, social activist

For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/audio/naomi-klein-and-carolyn-beeler-covering-big-ideas-and-personal-stories

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Bringing Back the Bay Lights with Ben Davis Sep 21, 2023

Show notes

The Bay Lights by artist Leo Villareal first went live on March 5, 2013. Exactly one decade later, the beloved artwork went dark. Ben Davis is the driving force behind The Bay Lights and the effort to bring the artwork back with twice the number of LEDs in a radically accessible new configuration. With the project 75 percent funded—and $2.5 million more needed to proceed—Davis will reveal what's next for the historic effort: organizational vulnerability.

Davis is the founder and leader of Illuminate, the art nonprofit behind many of San Francisco's large-scale and iconic public artworks, including lighting The Pink Triangle on Twin Peaks, activation of the Golden Mile on JFK Promenade, the Summer of Love lighting on the Conservatory of Flowers, Grace Light in Grace Cathedral, the revival of the Golden Gate Bandshell, and the series of giant laser art installations across San Francisco this summer.

Davis will also talk about his vision for San Francisco as the City of Awe.

The program talk will be followed by a reception and live music by "KAVIN" on the rooftop. In-kind food donations provided by local SF Hot Cookies and Casa Sanchez.

Community partner: Beyond The Fog Radio

MLF ORGANIZER

Robert Melton

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CLIMATE ONE: The Nuclear Option Sep 15, 2023

Show notes

Fourteen years after receiving its permit, the nation’s first new nuclear reactors in decades just fired up in Georgia. Massive, traditional nuclear reactors like this have faced so many cost overruns and construction delays that the investment market for them all but vanished. Despite a handful of recent technical breakthroughs in fusion power, its promise of virtually limitless power remains just a promise. But could a new wave of small, modular fission reactors bring new carbon-free power onto the market faster and cheaper (and safer?) than traditional nuclear plants in time to help the world decarbonize?

Guests:

Melissa Lott, Senior Research Scholar and the Senior Director of Research at the Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University

Jacopo Buongiorno, TEPCO Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering, MIT

Allison MacFarlane, Director of the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia; Former Chair, Nuclear Regulatory Commission

For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/audio/nuclear-option

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Civics Across the Curriculum: Educating for Democracy Sep 11, 2023

Show notes

In recent years, political and social turbulence have given rise to a new urgency around civics education in the United States. Civic leaders, educators and politicians across the ideological spectrum claim that reviving civics in schools will compensate for decades of neglect and ensure the future of our fragile democracy. But more civics learning doesn’t necessarily mean better civics learning. Even when civics is taught, it is typically relegated to history-social science classes, isolating it from core subjects and offering students limited support to help them understand and act on the real-world issues they see and experience in their everyday lives.

"Civics Across the Curriculum" brings together a panel of educators whose teaching and research offer new possibilities for making civics education relevant and impactful. Rather than treating it as a discrete content area, they use disciplines as varied as math, literature and gender studies to help students investigate and reason about complex civic issues. And they demonstrate that practices such as inquiry, respectful discourse and action projects can be incorporated into every class, infusing a democratic sensibility into all facets of school life and helping students practice the skills they need to engage with meaning and purpose in our diverse society.

As we welcome the new school year, we invite you to join us for an inspiring discussion about one of the highest priorities in education today: preparing young people to uphold our constitutional democracy, now and in the future.

Please come early to enjoy a reception before the program, with complimentary wine, soft drinks, and light snacks.

Dr. Garcia will sign copies of his new book, Civics for the World to Come, after the program.

NOTES

This program is part of The Commonwealth Club’s civics education initiative, Creating Citizens.

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Robert Wachter and Katie Hafner: Creating the Science, Covering the Science Sep 10, 2023

Show notes

Join us for a discussion with journalist Katie Hafner, who covers scientific advances, especially those by women, and her husband, Dr. Robert Wachter of UCSF, who is on the forefront of the digital transformation of health care and has been influential in advancing public understanding of the COVID crisis. Dr. Wachter coined the term “hospitalist” in 1996 and has overseen that medical specialty, the fastest growing specialty in modern medical history. His tweets on COVID-19 have been a trusted source of information on the clinical, public health, and policy issues surrounding the pandemic, garnering more than 500 million views.

Hafner and Wachter are at the center of advancing public understanding of science and health care through various media. We will discuss Hafner’s popular "Lost Women of Science" podcast, her groundbreaking nonfiction books, and her recent switch to fiction with The Boys. We’ll also discuss Dr. Wachter’s perspective on COVID—including lessons learned—as we enter a new phase of the pandemic, how health care will be transformed by digital tools like ChatGPT, and how to communicate about science in the face of uncertainty, political polarization, and misinformation. In addition, they’ll discuss the experience of working and writing together as a married couple, particularly when the pandemic forced them—like so many couples—into the same bubble.

MLF ORGANIZER

George Hammond

NOTES

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.

In Association with Wonderfest.

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