Brave New World -- hosted by Vasant Dhar

Data Governance Network
  • 5.0 (25)
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • UPDATED BIMONTHLY

Brave New World is a look into the transformation of humanity by machines in the post-COVID era. It examines a wide range of topics around how technology and "virtualization" of our lives is impacting work, health, faith, emotional well being, government, democracy, and freedom. It is hosted by AI-pioneer Vasant Dhar.

  1. MAY 14

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

    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 in a large social network over 32 years - Nicholas Christakis and  James H Fowler 4. Widowhood Effect 5. The Effect of Widowhood on Mortality by the Causes of Death of Both Spouses- Felix Elwert and Nicholas Christakis 6. Locally Noisy Autonomous Agents Improve Global Human Coordination in Network Experiments - Hirokazu Shirado and Nicholas Christakis 7. ETH Global Lecture, Social Artificial Intelligence 8. Graph Colouring 9. Vulnerable robots positively shape human conversational dynamics in a human–robot team - Margaret L. Traeger,  Sarah Strohkorb Sebo, Malte Jung and Nicholas Christakis 10. Hirokazu Shirado 11. Chicken, The Game 12. Emergence and collapse of reciprocity in semiautomatic driving coordination experiments with humans - Shunichi Kasahara, Hirokazu Shirado and Nicholas Christakis 13. Traffic Patterns in Seattle and Hyderabad: Immediate and Mediate Transactions - Paul G. Hiebert 14. Brian Scassellati 15. Iyad Rahwan 16. Machine Behaviour - Iyad Rahwan 17. A Randomised Controlled Trial of Social Network Targeting to Maximise Population Behaviour Change - David A Kim, Alison R Hwong, Derek Stafford, D Alex Hughes, A James O'Malley, Nicholas Christakis, James H Fowler 18. Induction of social contagion for diverse outcomes in structured experiments in isolated villages - Edoardo M. Airoldi, Nicholas Christakis 19. Algorithms for seeding social networks can enhance the adoption of a public health intervention in urban India - Marcus Alexander, Laura Forastiere, Swati Gupta, Nicholas Christakis 20. Friendship paradox 21. Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society - Nicholas Christakis 22. Friendship and Natural Selection - James H Fowler and Nicholas Christakis 23. Kin Selection 24. Social Network Biology and Human Chemosignaling 25. For The Love Of Science Check out Vasant Dhar's newsletter on Substack. The subscription is free! Order Vasant Dhar's new book, Thinking With Machines

    1h 8m

  2. APR 9

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

    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 III 5. Dynamical Systems 6. Linda B. Buck and Richard Axel 7. Dmitry Rinberg, Rinberg Lab 8. S. Murray Sherman 9. John Hopfield 10. Christof Koch 11. Joy Milne 12. Aromha test 13. Lucia F. Jacobs 14. From chemotaxis to the cognitive map: The function of olfaction - Lucia F Jacobs 15. Patricia Churchland 16. Andrew Sheriff, Northwestern Human Olfaction Lab 17. Long-Range Respiratory and Theta Oscillation Networks Depend on Spatial Sensory Context - Andrew Sheriff, Guinevere Pandolfi,  Vivian S Nguyen and Leslie M. Kay 18. Evidence for a Chromatographic Model of Olfaction - Maxwell Mozell 19. COVID-19 and olfactory dysfunction: a looming wave of dementia? - Leslie M. Kay 20. SARS-CoV-2 is associated with changes in brain structure - UK Biobank 21. Asifa Majid 22. Human Olfaction at the Intersection of Language, Culture, and Biology - Asifa Majid Check out Vasant Dhar's newsletter on Substack. The subscription is free! Order Vasant Dhar's new book, Thinking With Machines

    1h 15m

  3. MAR 12

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

    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 - The Appeal of Parallel Distributed Processing 6. Claude Shannon - Entropy and Redundancy in English 7. Marvin Minsky - Music, Mind and Meaning 8. Stafford Beer 9. Navier-Stokes Equations 10. Terry Sejnowski - Parallel Networks that Learn to Pronounce English Text 11. Christopher D. Manning 12. Brave New World Episode 58: Sam Bowman on ChatGPT & Controlling AI 13. De Morgan's laws Check out Vasant Dhar's newsletter on Substack. The subscription is free! Order Vasant Dhar's new book, Thinking With Machines

    1h 27m

  4. FEB 12

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

    AI is reshaping national power and governance. Drawing on India's digital public infrastructure, Jayant Sinha and Vasant Dhar discuss innovation and 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 15: Nandan Nilekani on an Egalitarian Internet 6. Brave New World Episode 50: Pramod Varma on India's Digital Empowerment 7. iSpirit 8. Unique Identification Authority Of India 9. Unified Payments Interface 10. M-Pesa 11. DigiYatra. 12. Australia has banned social media for kids under 16. 13. Data Empowerment and Protection Architecture, DEPA 14. Paul Gruenwald, Global Chief Economist, S&P Global 15. Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, James A. Robinson. 16. Neeraj Chopra 17. Thinking with Machines, The Brave New World of AI: Vasant Dhar 18. Battery Smart 19. Nutrifresh 20. Zero Cow 21. RevFin 22. Upside Foods 23. Brave New World Episode 93: Uma Valeti on Cultivating Meat 24. Brave New World Episode 101: Deepak Chopra On Consciousness and Reality 25. Geoffrey Hinton 26. Asimov's Laws 27. Jonathan Haidt 28. The Anxious Generation: Jonathan Haidt Check out Vasant Dhar's newsletter on Substack. The subscription is free! Order Vasant Dhar's new book, Thinking With Machines

    1h 11m

  5. JAN 8

    Ep 102 - Alex 'Sandy' Pentland on Humanizing Technology

    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, Nature Machine Intelligence. 6. The Hard Problem Of Consciousness. 7. Shared Wisdom: Cultural Evolution In The Age Of AI: Alex Pentland. 8. Brave New World Episode 101: Deepak Chopra On Consciousness and Reality. 9. Digital Dharma: How AI Can Elevate Spiritual Intelligence and Personal Well-Being - Deepak Chopra. 10. Awakening: The Path to Freedom and Enlightenment - Deepak Chopra. 11. Sharing The Wisdom Of Time: Pope Francis. 12. UN, Sustainable Development Goals. 13. Jonathan Haidt. 14. Brave New World Episode 08: Jonathan Haidt, How Social Media Threatens Society. 15. Daniel Kahneman, Behavioural Economics. 16. Brave New World Episode 21: Daniel Kahneman, How Noise Hampers Judgement. 17. Loyal Agents. 18. Loyal Agents Consumer Reports 19. EU - AI Act. 20. Duty Of Care. 21. Internet Engineering Task Force. 22. World Trade Organisation.   Check out Vasant Dhar's newsletter on Substack. The subscription is free! Order Vasan Dhar's new book, Thinking With Machines   Check out Vasant Dhar's newsletter on Substack. The subscription is free! Order Vasan Dhar's new book, Thinking With Machines

    54 min

  6. 12/11/2025

    Ep 101: Deepak Chopra On Consciousness and Reality

    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 Intelligence and Personal Wellbeing - Deepak Chopra 6. The Hard Problem Of Consciousness 7. Rosalyn Yalow 8. Neuropeptides 9. Psychoneuroimmunology 10. Candace Pert 11. Molecules of Emotion - Candace Pert 12. Richard Dawkins 13. The Physics of Consciousness - Richard Dawkins & Brian Greene 14. Naïve realism 15. Stephen Hawking 16. Qualia 17. Panpsychism 18. Advaita Vedanta 19. Sufism 20. What is Life?: With Mind and Matter and Autobiographical Sketches -  Erwin Schrodinger 21. Brave New World Episode 94: Anil Seth On The Science of Consciousness. 22. Wayne Dyer 23. Ludwig Wittgenstein 24. Jill Bolte Taylor 25. My Stroke Of Insight - Jill Bolte Taylor 26. TED - My stroke of insight: Jill Bolte Taylor 27. Scott Galloway Check out Vasant Dhar's newsletter on Substack. The subscription is free! Order Vasant Dhar's new book, Thinking With Machines

    1h 14m

  7. 11/19/2025

    Ep 100: David Ko, From Panic to Purpose

    Episode 100 of Brave New World features David Ko, CEO of Calm, a digital health company focused on mental wellness and mindfulness. From experiencing panic attacks as a teenager to being the driving force behind Calm, his journey is an inspiring exploration of resilience, purpose, and the intersection of vulnerability and innovation. Useful Resources: 1. David Ko, CEO of Calm 2. Recharge: Boosting Your Mental Battery, One Conversation at a Time - David Ko 3. Jonathan Haidt 4. Brave New World Episode 08: How Social Media Threatens Society 5. Severance 6. Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams 7. Recharge with David Ko Order Thinking With Machines: The Brave New World of AI - Vasant Dhar Check out Vasant Dhar's newsletter on Substack. The subscription is free!

    1h 1m

  8. 09/12/2025

    Ep 99: Vasant Dhar on Thinking With Machines, Hosted by Joel Roberts

    Joel Roberts, former host of a prime-time talk show on KABC Radio, Los Angeles, takes over hosting duties to talk Vasant Dhar about his upcoming book and Roberts' own scepticism regarding all things AI. Useful Resources: 1. Joel Roberts. 2. Thinking With Machines, The Brave New World With AI - Vasant Dhar 3. AI and The Paper Clip Problem. 4. Dr. Jules White. 5. Geoffrey Hinton. 6. Yuval Noah Harari. 7. Augmented Intelligence - The Future of Generative AI and Computing. 8. How The Mind Works - Steven Pinker 9. Brave New World Episode 94: Anil Seth On The Science of Consciousness. 10. Backpropagation 11. Brave New World Episode 98: There's no I in AI, Ben Shneiderman on The Evolution and State of Artificial Intelligence. 12. Brave New World Episode 97: Alex Wiltschko on Digitizing Scent. 13. Brave New World Episode 81: Alex Wiltschko on The Sense Of Smell. 14. Joy Milne. 15. Brave New World Episode 89: Missy Cummings on Making AI Safe. 16. TEDx Talk - When Should We Trust Machines: Vasant Dhar. 17. The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the Twenty-first Century's Greatest Dilemma: Mustafa Suleyman. 18.  Luis Elizondo. Check out Vasant Dhar's newsletter on Substack. The subscription is free!

    1h 27m
See All (100)

5
out of 5
25 Ratings

About

Brave New World is a look into the transformation of humanity by machines in the post-COVID era. It examines a wide range of topics around how technology and "virtualization" of our lives is impacting work, health, faith, emotional well being, government, democracy, and freedom. It is hosted by AI-pioneer Vasant Dhar.

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