Beauty At Work

Brandon Vaidyanathan
  • 5.0 (9)
  • SOCIETY & CULTURE
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY

Beauty at Work expands our understanding of beauty: what it is, how it works, and why it matters. Sociologist Brandon Vaidyanathan interviews scientists, artists, entrepreneurs, and leaders across diverse fields to reveal new insights into how beauty shapes our brains, behaviors, organizations, and societies--for good and for ill. Learn how to harness the power of beauty in your life and work, while avoiding its pitfalls.

  1. The Promise and Peril of AI with Jaron Lanier, E. Glen Weyl, and Taylor Black - S4E7 (Part 2 of 2)

    3H AGO

    The Promise and Peril of AI with Jaron Lanier, E. Glen Weyl, and Taylor Black - S4E7 (Part 2 of 2)

    Jaron Lanier, E. Glen Weyl, and Taylor Black join Beauty at Work for a wide-ranging conversation on artificial intelligence, innovation, and the deeper questions of meaning, faith, and human flourishing that surround emerging technologies. Jaron Lanier coined the terms Virtual Reality and Mixed Reality and is widely regarded as a founding figure of the field. He has served as a leading critic of digital culture and social media, and his books include You Are Not a Gadget and Who Owns the Future? In 2018, Wired Magazine named him one of the 25 most influential people in technology of the previous 25 years. Time Magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Jaron is currently the Prime Unifying Scientist at Microsoft’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer, which spells out “Octopus”, in reference to his fascination with cephalopod neurology. He is also a musician and composer who has recently performed or recorded with Sara Bareilles, T Bone Burnett, Jon Batiste, Philip Glass, and many others. E. Glen Weyl is Founder and Research Lead at Microsoft Research’s Plural Technology Collaboratory and Co-Founder of the Plurality Institute and RadicalxChange Foundation. He is the co-author of Radical Markets and Plurality and works at the intersection of economics, technology, democracy, and social institutions. Taylor Black is Director of AI & Venture Ecosystems in the Office of the Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft and the founding director of the Leonum Institute on Emerging Technologies and AI at The Catholic University of America. His background spans philosophy, law, and technology leadership. In this second part of our conversation, we talk about: 1. The idea that modern technology and AI, in particular, have taken on religious or idolatrous qualities 2. Why the Talmud offers a powerful model for collective intelligence without erasing individual voices 3. The dangers of excessive anonymity in digital systems and AI training 4. The idea of “superintelligences” as collective human systems like corporations, democracies, and religions 5. Vatican-led efforts toward algorithmic ethics and the protection of human dignity 6. Where Glen and Jaron disagree about human-centered AI 7. AI as a tool for metacognition 8. How imagination, storytelling, and shared meaning can shape the future of innovation To learn more about Jaron, Glen and Taylor’s work, you can find them at:  Jaron Lanier - https://www.jaronlanier.com/ Glen Weyl - https://glenweyl.com/ Taylor Black - https://www.linkedin.com/in/blacktaylor/  Books and Resources mentioned: You Are Not a Gadget (Jaron Lanier)Who Owns the Future? (Jaron Lanier)Radical Markets (Eric Posner & E. Glen Weyl)Plurality (Audrey Tang & E. Glen Weyl)The Human Use of Human Beings (Norbert Wiener)The Fellowship of the Ring (J.R.R. Tolkien) This season of the podcast is sponsored by Templeton Religion Trust. Support the show

    30 min
  2. The Promise and Peril of AI with Jaron Lanier, E. Glen Weyl, and Taylor Black - S4E7 (Part 1 of 2)

    12/30/2025

    The Promise and Peril of AI with Jaron Lanier, E. Glen Weyl, and Taylor Black - S4E7 (Part 1 of 2)

    Jaron Lanier, E. Glen Weyl, and Taylor Black join Beauty at Work for a wide-ranging conversation on artificial intelligence, innovation, and the deeper questions of meaning, faith, and human flourishing that surround emerging technologies. Jaron Lanier coined the terms Virtual Reality and Mixed Reality and is widely regarded as a founding figure of the field. He has served as a leading critic of digital culture and social media, and his books include You Are Not a Gadget and Who Owns the Future? In 2018, Wired Magazine named him one of the 25 most influential people in technology of the previous 25 years. Time Magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Jaron is currently the Prime Unifying Scientist at Microsoft’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer, which spells out “Octopus”, in reference to his fascination with cephalopod neurology. He is also a musician and composer who has recently performed or recorded with Sara Bareilles, T Bone Burnett, Jon Batiste, Philip Glass, and many others. E. Glen Weyl is Founder and Research Lead at Microsoft Research’s Plural Technology Collaboratory and Co-Founder of the Plurality Institute and RadicalxChange Foundation. He is the co-author of Radical Markets and Plurality and works at the intersection of economics, technology, democracy, and social institutions. Taylor Black is Director of AI & Venture Ecosystems in the Office of the Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft and the founding director of the Leonum Institute on Emerging Technologies and AI at The Catholic University of America. His background spans philosophy, law, and technology leadership. In this first part of our conversation, we discuss: 1. How aesthetic experience shapes worldview, imagination, and intellectual vocation 2. The historical rivalry between artificial intelligence and cybernetics 3. The danger of treating AI as an object of faith or a replacement for human meaning 4. The psychological and spiritual costs of assuming people will become obsolete 5. A tension between two different modalities of beauty To learn more about Jaron, Glen and Taylor’s work, you can find them at:  Jaron Lanier - https://www.jaronlanier.com/ Glen Weyl - https://glenweyl.com/ Taylor Black - https://www.linkedin.com/in/blacktaylor/  Books and Resources mentioned: You Are Not a Gadget (Jaron Lanier)Who Owns the Future? (Jaron Lanier)Radical Markets (Eric Posner & E. Glen Weyl)Plurality (Audrey Tang & E. Glen Weyl)The Human Use of Human Beings (Norbert Wiener)The Fellowship of the Ring (J.R.R. Tolkien) This season of the podcast is sponsored by Templeton Religion Trust. Support the show

    38 min
  3. Regenerative Beauty with Alan Moore - S4E6 (Part 2 of 2)

    12/23/2025

    Regenerative Beauty with Alan Moore - S4E6 (Part 2 of 2)

    Alan Moore is a craftsman of beautiful business. He is a business innovator, author, and global speaker whose life’s work centers on one simple but radical idea: beauty is not a luxury in business, but a necessity. He has designed everything from books to organizations, working across six continents with artists, entrepreneurs, and leadership teams. He has advised companies including PayPal, Microsoft, and Interface, taught at institutions such as MIT, INSEAD, and the Sloan School of Management, and helped guide some of the world’s most innovative enterprises. He is the author of four books, including No Straight Lines: Making Sense of Our Nonlinear World and Do Design: Why Beauty Is Key to Everything. His work has been featured in outlets such as the BBC, The Guardian, Stanford Social Innovation Review, and The Huffington Post. In this second part of our conversation, we talk about: 1. Beauty as a quest for truth rather than surface aesthetics 2. What it means to create something like a jewel 3. Inevitability in design 4. Beauty as a metric for innovation 5. The distinction between extractive and regenerative approaches 6. Beauty as a verb and everyday practices for “doing beauty.”  To learn more about Alan’s work, you can find him at: https://thebeautifuldesignproject.com/  Books and resources mentioned: No Straight Lines: Making Sense of Our Nonlinear World (by Alan Moore)Do Design: Why Beauty Is Key to Everything (by Alan Moore) This season of the podcast is sponsored by Templeton Religion Trust. Support the show

    28 min
  4. Regenerative Beauty with Alan Moore - S4E6 (Part 1 of 2)

    12/16/2025

    Regenerative Beauty with Alan Moore - S4E6 (Part 1 of 2)

    Alan Moore is a craftsman of beautiful business. He is a business innovator, author, and global speaker whose life’s work centers on one simple but radical idea: beauty is not a luxury in business, but a necessity. He has designed everything from books to organizations, working across six continents with artists, entrepreneurs, and leadership teams. He has advised companies including PayPal, Microsoft, and Interface, taught at institutions such as MIT, INSEAD, and the Sloan School of Management, and helped guide some of the world’s most innovative enterprises. He is the author of four books, including No Straight Lines: Making Sense of Our Nonlinear World and Do Design: Why Beauty Is Key to Everything. His work has been featured in outlets such as the BBC, The Guardian, Stanford Social Innovation Review, and The Huffington Post. In this first part of our conversation, we discuss: 1. Beauty as a sense of homecoming to self, family, and the natural world 2. Why beauty is felt in the body, not just understood in the mind 3. Beauty as something soulful, universal, and deeply human 4. Living and working through the transition from analog to digital culture 5. Innovation as seeing latent potential and unmet human needs 6. The idea of beauty as the “ultimate metric” for decision-making 7. How beauty challenges dominant ideas of success, value, and the good life To learn more about Alan’s work, you can find him at: https://thebeautifuldesignproject.com/  Books and resources mentioned: No Straight Lines: Making Sense of Our Nonlinear World (by Alan Moore)Do Design: Why Beauty Is Key to Everything (by Alan Moore) This season of the podcast is sponsored by Templeton Religion Trust. Support the show

    30 min
  5. Beauty as Action with Lisa Lindahl - S4E5 (Part 2 of 2)

    12/09/2025

    Beauty as Action with Lisa Lindahl - S4E5 (Part 2 of 2)

    Lisa Z. Lindahl is an award-winning inventor, artist, author, and entrepreneur best known for transforming women’s sports with her 1977 invention of the first sports bra, the Jogbra. As CEO of JBI Inc. from 1977–1992, she helped shape a global industry, earning ten patents and seeing her invention archived at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History and even displayed at The Metropolitan Museum of Art as a “revolutionary piece of women’s undergarments.” In 1999, she co-founded Bellisse and co-invented the Compressure Comfort® Bra, a breakthrough medical garment now supporting breast cancer survivors worldwide. She has been inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame (2022), received a U.S. Congressional Commendation, and has long served as an advocate for women’s health, most notably through her leadership roles at the Epilepsy Foundation of America. She is the author of Beauty as Action (2017), her philosophical guide to practicing “True Beauty,” and the acclaimed memoir Unleash the Girls (2019). In this second part of our conversation, we talk about: True beauty is harmony rather than glamourThe problem of living in a culture rooted in fear, competition, and accumulation“Practicing beauty” works through simple, everyday disciplinesLisa’s 16 practices of beautyThe three-legged stool of truth, beauty, and justiceTo learn more about Lisa’s work, visit: https://www.lisalindahl.com/ https://beautyinaction.com/ Links Mentioned: Beauty as Action by Lisa Z. LindahlUnleash the Girls (Lisa’s memoir on inventing the sports bra)This season of the podcast is sponsored by Templeton Religion Trust. Support the show

    23 min
  6. Beauty as Action with Lisa Lindahl - S4E5 (Part 1 of 2)

    12/02/2025

    Beauty as Action with Lisa Lindahl - S4E5 (Part 1 of 2)

    Lisa Z. Lindahl is an award-winning inventor, artist, author, and entrepreneur best known for transforming women’s sports with her 1977 invention of the first sports bra, the Jogbra. As CEO of JBI Inc. from 1977–1992, she helped shape a global industry, earning ten patents and seeing her invention archived at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History and even displayed at The Metropolitan Museum of Art as a “revolutionary piece of women’s undergarments.” In 1999, she co-founded Bellisse and co-invented the Compressure Comfort® Bra, a breakthrough medical garment now supporting breast cancer survivors worldwide. She has been inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame (2022), received a U.S. Congressional Commendation, and has long served as an advocate for women’s health, most notably through her leadership roles at the Epilepsy Foundation of America. She is the author of Beauty as Action (2017), her philosophical guide to practicing “True Beauty,” and the acclaimed memoir Unleash the Girls (2019). In this first part of our conversation, we talked about: Lisa’s earliest encounters with beauty, from frozen rivers to childhood moments of oneness with natureThe story behind the first Jogbra prototype and why sewing “stretch on stretch” is its own artWhy the need for the sports bra was far greater than she ever imaginedThe surprising moment when she realized that “beauty is what really matters.”What she means by true beauty and why she believes it is eternalTo learn more about Lisa’s work, visit: https://www.lisalindahl.com/ https://beautyinaction.com/ Links Mentioned: Beauty as Action by Lisa Z. LindahlUnleash the Girls (Lisa’s memoir on inventing the sports bra)This season of the podcast is sponsored by Templeton Religion Trust. Support the show

    26 min
  7. Faith, Love, and AI with John Havens - S4E4 (Part 2 of 2)

    11/25/2025

    Faith, Love, and AI with John Havens - S4E4 (Part 2 of 2)

    John C. Havens has spent years at the heart of the global conversation on AI ethics. As the Founding Executive Director of the IEEE Global Initiative on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems, he led the creation of Ethically Aligned Design, a document that went on to influence the United Nations, OECD, IBM, and dozens of organizations shaping the future of AI. He also helped build the IEEE 7000 Standards Series, now one of the largest bodies of international standards on AI and society. Today, John serves as the Global Staff Director for the IEEE Planet Positive 2030 Program, guiding efforts that prioritize both ecological and human flourishing in technological design. But his perspective on AI doesn’t begin with policy or engineering; it starts with love, vulnerability, and the deep spiritual questions that have shaped his life. Previously, John was an EVP of Social Media at Porter Novelli and was a professional actor for over 15 years.  John has written for Mashable and The Guardian and is author of the books, Heartificial Intelligence: Embracing Our Humanity To Maximize Machines, Hacking Happiness: Why Your Personal Data Counts and How Tracking it Can Change the World, and Tactical Transparency: How Leaders Can Leverage Social Media to Maximize Value and Build their Brand.  John is also an expert with AI and Faith.  In this second part of our conversation, we talk about: The core of reality as loveDangers of ignoring griefWhy values must be integrated into AI systems from the very beginningHow generative AI entered classrooms and workplaces without care, consent, or loveThe seductive danger of simulated relationshipsThe role of faith communities in an automated societyJohn’s GAP framework: gratitude, altruism, and purposeRisks of using AI in religious settingsHow genuine community embodies the kind of love and dignity that technology must never replaceTo learn more about John’s work: IEEE Planet Positive 2030 Program – https://sagroups.ieee.org/planetpositive IEEE 7000 Standards Series – https://standards.ieee.org Books and resources mentioned: Heartificial Intelligence: Embracing Our Humanity to Maximize Machines (John Havens)Hacking Happiness: Why Your Personal Data Counts and How Tracking it Can Change the World (John Havens)The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power (Shoshana Zuboff)Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other (Sherry Turkle)This season of the podcast is sponsored by Templeton Religion Trust. Support the show

    33 min
  8. Faith, Love, and AI with John Havens - S4E4 (Part 1 of 2)

    11/18/2025

    Faith, Love, and AI with John Havens - S4E4 (Part 1 of 2)

    John C. Havens has spent years at the heart of the global conversation on AI ethics. As the Founding Executive Director of the IEEE Global Initiative on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems, he led the creation of Ethically Aligned Design, a document that went on to influence the United Nations, OECD, IBM, and dozens of organizations shaping the future of AI. He also helped build the IEEE 7000 Standards Series, now one of the largest bodies of international standards on AI and society. Today, John serves as the Global Staff Director for the IEEE Planet Positive 2030 Program, guiding efforts that prioritize both ecological and human flourishing in technological design. But his perspective on AI doesn’t begin with policy or engineering; it starts with love, vulnerability, and the deep spiritual questions that have shaped his life. Previously, John was an EVP of Social Media at Porter Novelli and was a professional actor for over 15 years.  John has written for Mashable and The Guardian and is author of the books, Heartificial Intelligence: Embracing Our Humanity To Maximize Machines, Hacking Happiness: Why Your Personal Data Counts and How Tracking it Can Change the World, and Tactical Transparency: How Leaders Can Leverage Social Media to Maximize Value and Build their Brand.  John is also an expert with AI and Faith.  In this first part of our conversation, we discuss: How love reframes “weakness” in both human life and AI ethicsThe impact of generative AI on creativity, intellectual property, and the erosion of human craftsmanshipThe dangers of anthropomorphism in AI designWays AI systems undermine our capacity for conscious choiceHow the surveillance economy and advertising systems shape our habits and decisionsPositive psychology matters for designing technology that supports well-beingWhat dreams, virtual reality, the spatial web, data, and spiritual life have in commonTo learn more about John’s work: IEEE Planet Positive 2030 Program – https://sagroups.ieee.org/planetpositive IEEE 7000 Standards Series – https://standards.ieee.org Books and resources mentioned: Heartificial Intelligence: Embracing Our Humanity to Maximize Machines (John Havens)Hacking Happiness: Why Your Personal Data Counts and How Tracking it Can Change the World (John Havens)The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power (Shoshana Zuboff)Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other (Sherry Turkle)This season of the podcast is sponsored by Templeton Religion Trust. Support the show

    39 min
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About

Beauty at Work expands our understanding of beauty: what it is, how it works, and why it matters. Sociologist Brandon Vaidyanathan interviews scientists, artists, entrepreneurs, and leaders across diverse fields to reveal new insights into how beauty shapes our brains, behaviors, organizations, and societies--for good and for ill. Learn how to harness the power of beauty in your life and work, while avoiding its pitfalls.

Information

  • Creator
    Brandon Vaidyanathan
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    132
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Beauty At Work
  • Show Website
    Beauty At Work