AI, UFOs, Perception & Reality with Artist, Geographer, Author TREVOR PAGLEN - Highlights

AI, UFOs, Perception & Reality with Artist, Geographer, Author TREVOR PAGLEN - Highlights

At the core of the work is that sense of curiosity, that sense of joy, that sense of beauty, and that sense of learning. I've been fortunate to have all kinds of strange and interesting experiences, whether that's seeing weird things in the sky over secret military bases in the middle of the Nevada desert, going scuba diving and finding internet cables on the bottom of the ocean, or tracking spy satellites in the sky and being able to predict when they'll appear in a flash against the backdrop of stars. The world around us is extraordinary and embodied, right? It is not on screens, and I’m very privileged to have that be so much a part of my process.

How AI is Shaping Perception, How Deception is Sculpting Our Reality with Artist TREVOR PAGLEN

How AI is Shaping Perception, How Deception is Sculpting Our Reality with Artist TREVOR PAGLEN

How Deception is Sculpting Our Reality
A Conversation Artist, Geographer, Author TREVOR PAGLEN

At the core of the work is that sense of curiosity, that sense of joy, that sense of beauty, and that sense of learning. I've been fortunate to have all kinds of strange and interesting experiences, whether that's seeing weird things in the sky over secret military bases in the middle of the Nevada desert, going scuba diving and finding internet cables on the bottom of the ocean, or tracking spy satellites in the sky and being able to predict when they'll appear in a flash against the backdrop of stars. The world around us is extraordinary and embodied, right? It is not on screens, and I’m very privileged to have that be so much a part of my process.

Life As No One Knows It - Exploring AIR Aspen with NICOLA LEES - Highlights

Life As No One Knows It - Exploring AIR Aspen with NICOLA LEES - Highlights

& The Future of Museums
A Conversation with NICOLA LEES · Director of the Aspen Art Museum

It's a complicated time to think about how we can slow down, be still, and bring a brilliant group of people together to do something that feels purposeful and can be productive. It's a moment where things are moving so fast. When I brought up the idea of a hinge generation, I think it's impossible to know how we will look back and reflect on this time and these moments. This year, there is a real emphasis on the relationship between the question we have posed for the retreat, which is fundamentally about our relationship with technology and identifying our relationship with the world and how we want to be present in the moment.

Writing, AI & The Future of Humanity w/ VIET THANH NGUYEN

Writing, AI & The Future of Humanity w/ VIET THANH NGUYEN

A Conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning Author VIET THANH NGUYEN

What I've discovered as a writer is that fear is a good indicator that there is a truth. To speak the truth in a society is oftentimes an act that requires some courage. Those processes of being an other for me in the United States were obviously very fundamental to shaping who I am as a person and as a writer. It was very difficult to undergo, but to become a writer who could talk about those issues was also a lot of fun. Writing The Sympathizer was a lot of fun, and I hope that the novel was enjoyable and humorous to read as well, despite its very serious politics. When I wrote The Committed, I also had a lot of fun as an outsider to France. In writing the novel itself, The Committed, there was a lot of humor, satire, and these kinds of tools to confront the tragedy of othering. This is very important to me as literary and political devices. I think I could do that in both The Sympathizer and The Committed because I had a lot of distance from the time periods that those novels described. My challenge right now is to try to find my sense of humor in describing what the United States is undergoing and doing to other countries, its own immigrants, and its own people of color, and minorities in the present. That's proving to be a little more challenging at this moment.

The First Artist-Led Global Summit & The Future of Museums - NICOLA LEES, Director, Aspen Art Museum

The First Artist-Led Global Summit & The Future of Museums - NICOLA LEES, Director, Aspen Art Museum

& The Future of Museums
A Conversation with NICOLA LEES · Director of the Aspen Art Museum

It's a complicated time to think about how we can slow down, be still, and bring a brilliant group of people together to do something that feels purposeful and can be productive. It's a moment where things are moving so fast. When I brought up the idea of a hinge generation, I think it's impossible to know how we will look back and reflect on this time and these moments. This year, there is a real emphasis on the relationship between the question we have posed for the retreat, which is fundamentally about our relationship with technology and identifying our relationship with the world and how we want to be present in the moment.

Examining Monuments, Memory & The History of White Supremacy IRVIN WEATHERSBY JR. - Highlights

Examining Monuments, Memory & The History of White Supremacy IRVIN WEATHERSBY JR. - Highlights

A Conversation with Author IRVIN WEATHERSBY JR.

One of the biggest symbols of America is Mount Rushmore. This monument, right? But I think most people fail to realize where it's located and why it's located there. Even more importantly, who did it? It's on a sacred Native American mountain, a place that was central to their creation stories. But then you think about who did it, and it was a Klansman. The guy who sculpted Mount Rushmore was a Klansman. People were like, "Wait, really?" Like, how is that a thing? But it seeps into our understanding and our embrace of white supremacy. This whole notion of us using Mount Rushmore as a metric of excellence is really sad. We are honoring slave owners and people who viciously killed natives, and those who pillage other lands in the name of capitalism. That's what America is, I guess.

I think there's such a disinterest in education in America that it is sickening. We can't even agree on facts. It's up to states' rights to decide. Really? States can say that this is true in one state, but it's not true in another? Although these states are united, it's very bizarre. I'm hopeful for revolution. I'm optimistic. I want radical change. I think we are repeating history. We are going through a cycle of fascism and greed, and I think we're going to see a lot of states collapse. As a result of that, I think people are going to be forced back to their primal needs and concerns, but I think they're going to be forced to think about what makes us human. How do we become more human? Because we've lost that. We've given it up to technology. How can we figure out what makes us a really powerful species again?

From Spy Thrillers to Police Dramas w/ Writer, Creator, Showrunner ALEXI HAWLEY

From Spy Thrillers to Police Dramas w/ Writer, Creator, Showrunner ALEXI HAWLEY

Showrunner · Writer · Creator
The Rookie · The Recruit

There used to be a time when leading men were okay with falling down as a character. Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones is a prime example of that. Even going back to the fifties, they understood that failure and falling down, but getting back up, is an endearing quality. It's a universal human quality. We have gotten to a point in the last 10 or 15 years, or maybe longer, where leading men often want to win every fight. It’s in their contract: "I have to win every fight" or "I can't fail" or "I can't fall down." It's just such a mistake because the audience roots for you more if they see you fail and then get back up again. Noah is totally comfortable playing that character who's just trying to figure it out on the fly. Sometimes, he gets it wrong, but he's never going to give up. You can really feel that coming off the screen.

JARON LANIER on Tech, Music, Creativity & Who Owns the Future - Highlights

JARON LANIER on Tech, Music, Creativity & Who Owns the Future - Highlights

VR Pioneer · Musician · Author JARON LANIER
Who Owns the Future? · Dawn of the New Everything: Encounters with Reality & Virtual Reality · Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now

AI is obviously the dominant topic in tech lately, and I think occasionally there's AI that's nonsense, and occasionally there's AI that's great. I love finding new proteins for medicine and so on. I don't think we serve ourselves well when we put our own technology up as if it were a new God that we created. I think we're really getting a little too full of ourselves to think that.

When we do that, I think we confuse ourselves too easily. This goes back to Alan Turing, the main founder of computer science, who had this idea of the Turing test. In the test, you can't tell whether the computer has gotten more human-like or the human has gotten more computer-like. People are very prone to becoming more computer-like. When we're on social media, we let ourselves be guided by the algorithms, so we start to become dumb in the way the algorithms want us to. You see that all the time. It's really degraded our psychologies and our society.

AI, Virtual Reality & Dawn of the New Everything w/ JARON LANIER, VR Pioneer, Musician, Author

AI, Virtual Reality & Dawn of the New Everything w/ JARON LANIER, VR Pioneer, Musician, Author

Father of VR · Musician · Author JARON LANIER
Who Owns the Future? · Dawn of the New Everything: Encounters with Reality & Virtual Reality · Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now

AI is obviously the dominant topic in tech lately, and I think occasionally there's AI that's nonsense, and occasionally there's AI that's great. I love finding new proteins for medicine and so on. I don't think we serve ourselves well when we put our own technology up as if it were a new God that we created. I think we're really getting a little too full of ourselves to think that.

When we do that, I think we confuse ourselves too easily. This goes back to Alan Turing, the main founder of computer science, who had this idea of the Turing test. In the test, you can't tell whether the computer has gotten more human-like or the human has gotten more computer-like. People are very prone to becoming more computer-like. When we're on social media, we let ourselves be guided by the algorithms, so we start to become dumb in the way the algorithms want us to. You see that all the time. It's really degraded our psychologies and our society.

How Can AI-moderated Deliberation Cure the Ills of Democracy? JAMES FISHKIN - Highlights
How Can AI be Part of Bringing Deliberative Democracy to the Masses? w/ JAMES S. FISHKIN
The Imagination Emporium with Fmr. VP of Innovation & Creativity at Disney DUNCAN WARDLE

The Imagination Emporium with Fmr. VP of Innovation & Creativity at Disney DUNCAN WARDLE

Fmr. Vice President of Innovation & Creativity at Disney

I think for most of us, time to think is the biggest barrier to innovation. I would argue it's our own river of thinking. Well, what's a river of thinking? I think it's our own expertise and our own experience. The more we have, the faster, wider, and deeper our river is, allowing us to make quick and informed decisions. But we don't get to think the way we've always thought. In the last four years, we've had global pandemics. We've had global climate change. We've got Generation Z entering the workforce, and now we have AI. So basically, the tools of the toolkit, which are brought to you by Nova, are actually designed to stop you from thinking the way you always do and give you permission to think differently.

Art, Technology & Society with Author T.C. BOYLE

Art, Technology & Society with Author T.C. BOYLE

Novelist · Short Story Writer

What I have done in my career is just try to assess who we are, what we are, why we are here, and how come we, as animals, are able to walk around and wear pants and dresses and talk on the internet, while the other animals are not. It's been my obsession since I was young. I think if I hadn't become a novelist, I might have been happy to be a naturalist or a field biologist.

On Regulating the Attention Market & Prevent Algorithmic Emotional Governance w/ FABIEN GANDON & FRANCK MICHEL

On Regulating the Attention Market & Prevent Algorithmic Emotional Governance w/ FABIEN GANDON & FRANCK MICHEL

The fact that technologies are being used and combined to capture our attention is concerning. This is currently being done with no limitations and no regulations. That's the main problem. Attention is a very private resource. No one should be allowed to extract it from us by exploiting what we know about the human mind and how it functions, including its weaknesses. We wrote this paper as a call to regulate the attention market and prevent algorithmic emotional governance.

PAY ATTENTION: A Call to Regulate the Attention Market & Prevent Algorithmic Emotional Governance

PAY ATTENTION: A Call to Regulate the Attention Market & Prevent Algorithmic Emotional Governance

The fact that technologies are being used and combined to capture our attention is concerning. This is currently being done with no limitations and no regulations. That's the main problem. Attention is a very private resource. No one should be allowed to extract it from us by exploiting what we know about the human mind and how it functions, including its weaknesses. We wrote this paper as a call to regulate the attention market and prevent algorithmic emotional governance.

Elon Musk, Putin's Russia, Murdoch's Fox News: How Billionaires Shape Our World with DARRYL CUNNINGHAM

Elon Musk, Putin's Russia, Murdoch's Fox News: How Billionaires Shape Our World with DARRYL CUNNINGHAM

The Lives of Billionaires Comic Artist & Author DARRYL CUNNINGHAM on Making Complex Subjects Simple

No one should be a billionaire because it's damaging. There's a certain level of wealth that's damaging to a country. Billionaires have so much wealth that they have enormous political power, which is undemocratic. There should be a ceiling on wealth. I have nothing against people becoming millionaires or even multi-millionaires. But multi-billionaires are incredibly bad for all of us. If you have so much money that you can buy an entire political party, that's a thing that shouldn't exist.

AI, Technology, Art & Culture - Artists, Philosophers, Economists & Scientists discuss the Future

AI, Technology, Art & Culture - Artists, Philosophers, Economists & Scientists discuss the Future

Artists, Philosophers, Economists & Scientists discuss the Future

How can we shape technology’s impact on society? How do social media algorithms influence our democratic processes and personal well-being? Can AI truly emulate human creativity? And how will its pursuit of perfection change the art we create?

AI & The Pathway to Flow with Neuroscientist, Fmr. Dancer DR. JULIA CHRISTENSEN

AI & The Pathway to Flow with Neuroscientist, Fmr. Dancer DR. JULIA CHRISTENSEN

Neuroscientist · Fmr. Dancer
Author of The Pathway to Flow: The New Science of Harnessing Creativity to Heal and Unwind the Body & Mind

The state of being in flow and seeking out that state, sort of disappearing from the here and now... it must have been something that has been part of human cultures for many millennia. We know that, for example, dancing can bring you into these states. And we know from many anthropological works that people dance themselves into trance, a type of flow. So, there is that flow in this scientific sense of a state of well-being. And we will speak about what that does to our brain and our broader wellbeing, but also the flow in what cues enter into our senses. So that would be a scientific field that looks at brain synchrony, physiology synchrony, these waves that we see that sort of connect with us.

AI, Technological Progress & the Growth Dilemma w/ Economist DANIEL SUSSKIND - Highlights

AI, Technological Progress & the Growth Dilemma w/ Economist DANIEL SUSSKIND - Highlights

Economist · Oxford & King’s College London
Author of Growth: A Reckoning · A World Without Work

We have a choice to change the nature of growth. How we can have growth that is more respectful of place, doesn’t cause as much damage to the environment, doesn't lead to as large inequalities in society, doesn’t disrupt politics, doesn't undermine the availability of good work? We ought to pursue this morally enriched GDP measure which better reflects what we really value and care about as a society.

Growth: A Reckoning with Economist DANIEL SUSSKIND

Growth: A Reckoning with Economist DANIEL SUSSKIND

Economist · Oxford & King’s College London
Author of Growth: A Reckoning · A World Without Work

We have a choice to change the nature of growth. How we can have growth that is more respectful of place, doesn’t cause as much damage to the environment, doesn't lead to as large inequalities in society, doesn’t disrupt politics, doesn't undermine the availability of good work? We ought to pursue this morally enriched GDP measure which better reflects what we really value and care about as a society.