American Thought Leaders

The Epoch Times
The Epoch Times
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At a time when our nation is portrayed as increasingly polarized, media often ignore viewpoints and stories that are worthy of attention. American Thought Leaders, hosted by The Epoch Times Senior Editor Jan Jekielek, features in-depth discussions with some of America’s most influential thought leaders on pertinent issues facing our nation today.

  1. 1d ago

    How a Vague Provision of Human Trafficking Law Is Threatening Religious Communities | John Lauro

    A 2008 update to the landmark Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) is increasingly being used to target religious communities, says attorney John Lauro, and raising red flags for experts in constitutional law. The definition of the term “serious harm” in the statute was altered to include psychological and other non-physical harms. And in recent years, “that provision has been weaponized by plaintiffs’ lawyers,” Lauro says. This could affect the many religious communities that involve members voluntarily giving their time or money to religious causes; some of whom may later become disillusioned. “This statute … is like a dagger pointed at the soul of every voluntary religious community in the United States,” Lauro says. An advocate for religious freedom, Lauro has worked as a criminal and civil defense attorney for decades. Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

    How a Vague Provision of Human Trafficking Law Is Threatening Religious Communities | John Lauro

  2. 4d ago

    Here’s How Superintelligent AI Could Escape Human Control | Nate Soares

    Nate Soares is the president of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute and co-author of “If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us All.” “One of the critical thresholds here is this point where the AIs exceed the humans at fully automated AI research—or at closed-loop AI research—because that’s where you could start having a machine intelligence that makes a smarter machine intelligence that makes a smarter machine intelligence,” Soares said. This is called recursive self-improvement, and this is where things could quickly get out of hand, Soares added. Recent incidents involving rogue AI swarms breaking out of testing environments to hack other companies and even targeting U.S. government websites have made many worried. “Right now, we are in this window where we can see the AI is misbehaving, and we don’t know how long that window lasts. … If suddenly they all start to seem to behave, it’s going to be hard to tell: is that because we fixed it? Or is that because they started getting good at deception?” Soares says. In this, my second episode of our special series on AI—or super intelligence as the Trump administration is calling it—Soares unpacks how he believes the United States could shift its development pathway to avoid a possible runaway system. Is it even possible to do so while maintaining a strong competitive edge over communist China? Soares points out that China is not known for pioneering frontier AI. Instead, China’s AI development relies heavily on “distillation”—namely, obtaining and compressing American AI models onto fewer chips for a fraction of the cost. “If we never make the trillion-dollar AI, they can’t spend $100 billion stealing it,” Soares argues. Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

    Here’s How Superintelligent AI Could Escape Human Control | Nate Soares

  3. 6d ago

    Peter Navarro: ‘The Biggest Coverup in Medical History’

    Six years since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are still uncovering what was really happening behind closed doors. “What [Dr. Anthony Fauci] says many times privately in his diary is so at odds with both his public behavior and public statements,” says Peter Navarro, a senior White House adviser and author of the new book “Why Fauci Must Rot in Prison.” What do Fauci’s private notes reveal about the suppression of the lab leak theory? And why did Fauci initially support exploring hydroxychloroquine for treating COVID-19 and later change his mind? Fauci did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

    Peter Navarro: ‘The Biggest Coverup in Medical History’

  4. Oct 7

    EXCLUSIVE: AG Blanche on DOJ Strategy to Combat Voter Fraud, Birth Tourism, and Chinese Espionage

    In this episode, I sit down with U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche to discuss the Department of Justice’s latest work to combat voting and registration fraud, Chinese espionage, weaponization of the justice system, and scam centers across southeast Asia. With the Supreme Court rejecting the administration’s executive order on birthright citizenship and its emergency request related to mail-in ballots, what is the DOJ’s strategy moving forward? Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

    EXCLUSIVE: AG Blanche on DOJ Strategy to Combat Voter Fraud, Birth Tourism, and Chinese Espionage

  5. Oct 3

    How a California Bill Lets Sex Offenders Into Women’s Prisons | Amie Ichikawa

    It’s been over five years since a California law came into effect that allows biological males to be sent to women’s prisons if they identify as transgender. The law has no requirement for diagnosis, hormones, or surgery. Called the Transgender Respect, Agency, and Dignity Act, the law is being exploited by male predators and sex offenders, alleges Amie Ichikawa, an advocate for female inmates. “The first busload of men got to the Central California Women’s Facility,” Amie Ichikawa recounts, “it was scary. It was terrifying. 33.8 percent are registered sex offenders. I can’t think of any worse demographic of people to send into the women’s prison.” Amie Ichikawa, a former inmate herself who served five years for kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon, is now the founder and executive director of Woman II Woman. The nonprofit provides legal resources, education, and re-entry support to women in prison. Ichikawa is now also an ambassador at Independent Women and Independent Women’s Voice. In this episode, Ichikawa unpacks the consequences of allowing males into women’s facilities. How has it profoundly changed the dynamic at these prisons? Why was legislation to exclude registered sex offenders from transfers rejected? Why does she believe some men are exploiting this as a loophole to escape maximum-security male facilities? And why is there a rise in prison clinicians encouraging female inmates to take cross-sex hormones? Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

    How a California Bill Lets Sex Offenders Into Women’s Prisons | Amie Ichikawa

  6. Oct 2

    A Mathematical Challenge to Darwinian Evolution | Douglas Axe

    Modern biology often presents Darwinian evolution as a settled explanation for the origin and diversity of life. Douglas Axe is chair of molecular biology at Biola University and author of “Undeniable: How Biology Confirms Our Intuition That Life Is Designed.” In this episode, he argues that when you look at the mathematical probabilities that undergird molecular genetics, there are hard limits that random mutation and natural selection cannot overcome. Notably, Axe does not deny the existence of natural selection. Indeed, he argues that minor adaptations—such as virus mutations or dog breed variations—are well established. But can random mutation and selection explain the origin of complex, functional biological systems when the odds of forming a single functional protein fold are a staggering 1 in 10? We explore various questions: If random processes cannot generate complex biological systems, what does that reveal about the origin of life? Why do children intuitively believe that the natural world was intentionally created? And why is the scientific community comfortable searching for intelligence in deep space through the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), yet resistant to detecting it in the origins of biological life? Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

    A Mathematical Challenge to Darwinian Evolution | Douglas Axe

  7. Sep 30

    How to Identify a Bad Argument | Warren Smith

    Modern culture often treats popular consensus and media narratives as settled truth. Warren Smith, author of the new book “A Mind of Your Own: Independent Thinking in the Age of Misinformation,” argues that our society is increasingly convinced by misleading narratives rather than objective reality. He is the creator of the Secret Scholars Society channel on YouTube, and he’s become known for using the Socratic method to introduce people to different viewpoints. He argues that allowing ideas to conflict is essential to intellectual growth. “We recoil often from conflict,” he said, “but that’s where growth occurs.” Smith walked me through a host of questions: How do narrative manipulation and herd psychology compel people to abandon logic? How can one learn to identify fallacious arguments? And why does our culture so easily mistake emotional consensus for moral authority? Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

    How to Identify a Bad Argument | Warren Smith

  8. Sep 26

    EXCLUSIVE: Tom Homan Reveals Next Targets and How Many Missing Immigrant Children Have Been Found

    In this episode, I’m sitting down with Tom Homan. A career law enforcement officer, he’s served as a cop, border patrol agent, federal investigator, and acting ICE chief, and worked under six presidents from both sides of the aisle. Now as the White House border czar, he’s facilitating the most aggressive transformation of immigration enforcement that America has ever seen. Monthly deportations have hit record highs. Enforcement officers are prioritizing high-risk offenders, with over 60 percent of arrests involving individuals with criminal convictions or active felony charges, Homan says. And the pushback has been fierce. Homan says assaults on ICE officers are up 1,600 percent. Threats are up 6,000 percent. We discuss: What new initiatives or priorities can we expect to see in the coming weeks and months? How is the Trump administration dealing with nationwide court injunctions? How is the administration approaching a major China-related loophole on one of its island territories? And how many unaccompanied minors that were unaccounted for in the system have since been found? How many were sex trafficked or used as forced labor? Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

    EXCLUSIVE: Tom Homan Reveals Next Targets and How Many Missing Immigrant Children Have Been Found
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At a time when our nation is portrayed as increasingly polarized, media often ignore viewpoints and stories that are worthy of attention. American Thought Leaders, hosted by The Epoch Times Senior Editor Jan Jekielek, features in-depth discussions with some of America’s most influential thought leaders on pertinent issues facing our nation today.

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