The Most Important Question

How does innovation actually work? That's today's big question, and my guest is Christopher Mims. Chris is a journalist for the Wall Street Journal, and I had him on the show in 2021 to understand how he asks big questions.Chris is constantly asking questions about the most pressing technological and societal issues we face from robot trains to the future of batteries, brain implants, and whatever happens to land in between. And his thesis is this: every little bit counts. And innovation is more predictable than you think - or is it?In this conversation, Chris and I explore the team dynamics of innovation, the "great man" question, the invisible force behind Moore's Law, and more.The bad news: Nobody gets to save the world. The good news: Everyone gets to save the world a little bit.-----------Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.comNew here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at importantnotimportant.com/podcast.-----------INI Book Club:Life as We Made It by Beth ShapiroArriving Today by Christopher MimsFind all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-clubLinks:mims.clubTwitter: @mimsFollow us:Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.comFollow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImpSubscribe to our YouTube channelFollow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmettEdited by Anthony LucianiProduced by Willow BeckIntro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.comFind our more about our guests here: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/guest-statsAdvertise with us: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/sponsorsMentioned in this episode:Become An Important Member

This week: Everyone needs insurance. But what kind? And what does it mean to have it, or not?Well, there’s actual insurance, which is a policy where you and an insurer contract with one another in case things go south with (usually) your home, your car, or your body. That’s the layman’s technical explanation, but more colloquially, and for our purposes today, “insurance” can mean just having a buffer or a back up plan, or a “thing you might do to make sure a big decision (like buying a home, having a child, or just generally being a person) doesn’t go to hell in a hand basket.” All of these decisions are usually the result of understanding that just by being alive you’re really putting yourself out there. While you believe in your choices, and the odds of actual calamity are (usually) reasonable, the costs of calamity can be devastating. My friends: We are in a time of calamity. It’s time to get some insurance.Here's What You Can Do:⚡️Understand your home's flood and fire risk with Risk Factor⚡️ Work for a local government? Get real-time flood forecasting with FloodMapp⚡️ Wildfire season is around the corner -- get an outdoor monitor and check the map with PurpleAir⚡️ Get ahead of COVID and more. Get your town's wastewater monitored with Biobot⚡️ Over 60? Use your life experiences to organize for climate action with Third Act⚡️ Find the best "green" bank near you with Bank.GreenNews RoundupHealth & MedicineParents #1 concern for their kids: mental healthTeen's leukemia gains into remission after experimental gene-editing therapyAn ALS patient set a record for communicating via brain implantMedicaid continuous enrollment is ending. That's bad.Climate$1.1 trillion was invested in climate tech of all kinds last year. That's the new floorThe UK will offer £600 million to industry to switch to green steel (Europe's going to need to throw way more money to catch up to the US)1/3 of the Amazon is degraded, and Lula's just started fighting backFood & WaterThe FDA unveiled limits for lead in baby food, the same week the top food safety official publicly resignedMinnesota is one step closer to requiring 100% clean electricity by 2040Beep BoopYou'll never guess who's the world's biggest face recognition dealerThe BlackCat ransomware attack showed how vulnerable health care records areApparently the Xbox is woke nowCOVIDTwo new studies suggested the bivalent COVID vaccines are more effective against severe illness than the previous ones, please get themGet more:Get more news, analysis, and Action Steps at importantnotimportant.com/newsletterGot feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.comFollow us on Twitter at @importantnotimpSubscribe to our YouTube channelGet fun merch at importantnotimportant.com/storeTake a nap you deserve itAdvertise with us: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/sponsorsMentioned in this episode:Become An Important Member

How do we reimagine capitalism in a world on fire? That's today's big question, and my guest is Rebecca Henderson, Harvard professor behind the wildly popular class "Reimagining Capitalism". I had Rebecca on the show in 2020 to discuss her book of the same name and her research, which explores the degree to which the private sector can play a major role in building a more sustainable economy, focusing on the relationships between organizational purpose, innovation, productivity, and high-performance organizations.What Rebecca discovered over the last decade or so of research is that focusing exclusively on shareholder profits is a pretty terrible way to run a company in the long run. And it could burn this whole thing down in the short, in the long term. The silver lining is, as we try to present here all the time, of the four to five catastrophes happening in this country at any given moment, many also present unprecedented opportunities to build a better today and tomorrow for everyone.Here's my 2020 conversation with Rebecca Henderson.-----------Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.comNew here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at importantnotimportant.com/podcast.-----------INI Book Club:"Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist" by Kate RaworthFind all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-clubLinks:reimaginingcapitalism.org“Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire”Twitter: @RebeccaReCapLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rebecca-henderson-recapRead Ed Yong’s “How the Pandemic Defeated America”Follow us:Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.comFollow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImpSubscribe to our YouTube channelFollow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmettEdited by Anthony LucianiProduced by Willow BeckIntro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.comFind our more about our guests here: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/guest-statsAdvertise with us: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/sponsorsMentioned in this episode:Become An Important Member

This week: What does it mean when people say “revolution”? For these purposes, which are pretty narrow and entirely of my own invention, I don’t mean some single moment in time, unless it was a bellwether for something bigger. And I don’t mean the revolutions that have necessarily most directly impacted me. When I think “revolution” I imagine a building up of…something…that affected most people directly or indirectly, so that’s the threshold I’ll use here. This list is in no way comprehensive, I’m a generalist bonehead who definitely missed some significant items. I am 40, though I feel like I’m 99, so anyways I’m going to use 1982 as my starting point. YMMV. INI is about looking forward, to understanding where we are and where we might be going, so we can build a better today and tomorrow for everyone. But to do so, it’s helpful to look back a little bit to understand how we got here, what’s underway, and what might be brewing, for better or worse. Because the more we have our eyes on these currents, the more we can strike at the root to influence them. Here's What You Can Do:⚡️ I love donating to DonorsChoose so much. Teachers need so much more support and should never have to front the cost of essential supplies. Buy some books or crayons or maps or even a 3D printer!⚡️ Understand where your power is coming from, live, like right now, with Electricity Maps.⚡️ From the southern border to Ukraine, East Africa, and Palestine, Doctors Without Borders provides medical humanitarian assistance to folks who need it the most. Setup a new monthly donate now.⚡️ Volunteer to text or call with the Environmental Voter Project, an incredibly effective movement to identify millions of non-voting environmentalists and turns them into consistent votersNews RoundupHealth & MedicineGenes from the mother shape a baby's microbiomeA bunch of states are suing companies over insulin pricesClean air in schools could become New Mexico lawClimateWhat the California drought map looks like after massive rainsA more sustainable way to grow crops under solar panelsBiden's Green Energy Bank starts to dole out billionsFood & WaterNew York will ban forever chemicals from clothing by end of the year98% of California's don't have flood insuranceWhat happens when the Great Salt Lake disappears?Beep BoopT-Mobile gave up 37 million customer accounts. Again.US law enforcement agencies have access to 150 million bank transactionsRussia's increasingly going after Ukraine's mobile phone networkCOVIDCan we stop Long COVID before it starts?Get more:Get more news, analysis, and Action Steps at importantnotimportant.com/newsletterGot feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.comFollow us on Twitter at @importantnotimpSubscribe to our Youtube channelGet fun merch at importantnotimportant.com/storeTake a nap you deserve itAdvertise with us: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/sponsorsMentioned in this episode:Become An Important Member

How can I be a better ancestor? This question has haunted and inspired me since way back in 2019 when I first read the Optimist's Telescope. A beautiful, helpful, inspiring book by Bina Venkataraman. Then I had Bina on the show. I think it's fair to say it reframed and focused my work and now all of our work here. You simply cannot be a better ancestor by hoping shit gets better in posting black boxes on your Instagram stories. You have to do the work for today and tomorrow. If you want your descendants to consider you the cool, great-great uncle, you need to drive change today.Bina is a journalist. She's an author and a science policy expert. She's the editor at large at the Boston Globe and a fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard. She's been an advisor to President Obama on everything from climate innovation to Ebola to public school science education. I hope you enjoy this wonderful throwback conversation.It is mid-Trump presidency. It is before COVID, before Biden, with old co-host Brian Colbert Kennedy, sharing the mic with me, where we dig into the influence Bina's family had on her perspective and her ideas for how you can value the future, how you can use the tools we have available to us now to both prevent further calamities and a build better future. -----------Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.comNew here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at importantnotimportant.com/podcast.-----------INI Book Club:“The Lorax” by Dr. SeussFind all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-clubLinks:Watch Bina’s TEDTalk: "The power to think ahead in a reckless age"Read: "The Optimist's Telescope"Twitter: @binajvFollow us:Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.comFollow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImpSubscribe to our Youtube channelFollow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmettEdited by Anthony LucianiProduced by Willow BeckIntro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.comFind our more about our guests here: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/guest-statsAdvertise with us: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/sponsorsMentioned in this episode:Become An Important Member

Across the front of our website, in big bold letters, is our calling card: “Science for people who give a shit.”You may have seen it and immediately thought “That’s me!” or “You sir, are a child.” Either reaction is well and great. We’re not for everybody.You’re here, though, so let's assume you’re on board with the whole idea. However you identified with that tagline, you may have also asked yourself what it means, in practice. And that’s a good question because while the mantra isn’t changing, I’m more focused than ever on putting it into practice for me, and you. To Do Better Better requires trust in one another. That we care, that we'll step up when it counts, that we won't pull the ladder up after us. It requires a radical reorientation of our assumptions and expectations, to put into practice our values, to show up for one another -- together whenever we can, and when we're most alone -- to understand 1% better every day doesn't feel very different today -- if anything, it can feel like nowhere near enough -- but in three hundred and sixty-five days, much less by 2035 or 2050, at the rate of 1% a day, together, we can build something entirely new and fucking awesome. That's compound action. That's what we're about. That's science for people who give a shit.Here's What You Can Do:Mutual aid is probably the most effective way to help the folks around you. Find a network near you here. Want to take on one of the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals? Google's offering cash prizes in their 2023 Solution Challenge. Build a team and get to work! To understand the climate crisis, you have to understand our food systems. Nobody does a better job at that than Civil Eats. Subscribe today. Get more:Get more news, analysis, and Action Steps at importantnotimportant.com/newsletterGot feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.comFollow us on Twitter at @importantnotimpSubscribe to our Youtube channelGet fun merch at importantnotimportant.com/storeTake a nap you deserve itAdvertise with us: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/sponsorsMentioned in this episode:Become An Important Member

We’re taking giving a shit quite literally this week! Our guest is Newsha Ghaeli, the president and co-founder at Biobot Analytics. If you read our newsletter, you’ll have heard me go on and on about Biobot, whose mission is to transform wastewater infrastructure into public health observatories.As an architect turned urban studies researcher, Newsha met her co-founder, Dr. Mariana Matus, at MIT almost a decade ago. Their work on the MIT Underworlds Project led to a dissertation, scientific publications, and coverage by dozens of local and national media outlets, and places in the DeltaV, DesignX, and Y Combinator accelerators.Obviously, Biobot’s work couldn’t have come along at a better time.Public health data in the US is fractured and difficult to aggregate, much less on the fly.Three years into the pandemic, most COVID testing is done at home and unreported, and most states have stopped reporting the data they do get.Building a baseline understanding of what’s quite literally floating around in our towns and cities will help us be better prepared when new threats like COVID, or old threats like polio come to town.Like a weather report, wastewater data can make our day-to-day lives safer and less surprising when things go to shit.-----------Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.comNew here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at importantnotimportant.com/podcast.-----------INI Book Club:Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah HarariDune by Frank HerbertFind all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-clubLinks:Check out Biobot's dataGet started with Biobot in your communityKeep up with Biobot and Newsha on TwitterFollow us:Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.comFollow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImpSubscribe to our Youtube channelFollow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmettEdited by Anthony LucianiProduced by Willow BeckIntro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.comFind our more about our guests here: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/guest-statsAdvertise with us: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/sponsors

What’s one big change we can make that can make our food healthier, make farming more lucrative, draw down carbon in the atmosphere, and reduce climate emigration?That’s today’s big question, and my guest is Sasankh Munukutla, another fellow in our series with the 776 Foundation. Sasankh is the Co-Founder of Terradot, a satellite and AI-based gigaton-scale, soil-carbon sequestration verification system. Sasankh originally hails from Singapore and grew up across countries as a third-culture kid and a future global citizen attending international schools. Before college, Sasankh took two gap years and served as a Commander in the Singapore Armed Forces. Once at Stanford, he completed his undergraduate degree in Computer Science with distinction as a Terman Scholar, Phi Beta Kappa, Tau Beta Pi, and with the Stanford Award of Excellence.So, you know.As you’ll hear, Sasankh is deeply passionate and thoughtful about the intersection of technology and social impact. He’s worked in the refugee space, on accessibility, and is a major force for organizing in the tech for good space. Something we can all get behind.Here’s the deal:Globally, soil has the potential to sequester up to 1.85 gigatons of carbon per year but soil degradation threatens our ability to feed a growing population, and soil desertification will result in 135 million soil refugees by 2050. Fun!That’s where Sasankh and Terradot come in.For farmers, Terradot will incentivize adopting sustainable agricultural practices that sequester carbon, improve soil health, and enable participation in soil carbon credit markets.On the other side, for carbon buyers, Terradot can eventually provide high-integrity carbon removal credits while allowing them to verify and monitor the permanence of carbon removal – an essential piece of the puzzle.-----------Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.comNew here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at importantnotimportant.com/podcast.-----------INI Book Club:Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy KidderHow to Avoid a Climate Disaster by Bill GatesSpeed & Scale by John DoerrFind all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-clubLinks:Follow Sasankh on TwitterConnect with Sasankh on LinkedInCheck out CS+ Social Good and Tech ShiftCheck out the 776 FoundationFollow us:Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.comFollow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImpSubscribe to our Youtube channelFollow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmettEdited by Anthony LucianiProduced by Willow BeckIntro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.comFind our more about our guests here: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/guest-statsAdvertise with us: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/sponsors

Aluminum. It’s everywhere!And we’re going to need a hell of a lot more of it in the future.Aluminum is a primary ingredient in solar, wind, hydro, concentrated solar, bioenergy, the grid, batteries, hydrogen, and more. And that’s just electricity generation and distribution, to say nothing of consumer goods, from EVs to baseball bats.  Great news: we already collect and recycle a hell of a lot of it. Compared to, say, plastic, this is a huge win!But…the bit we haven’t been able to recycle is 1) at scale, a lot, and 2) FAIRLY hazardous.Luckily, some very smart young folks may have figured out how to recycle more of it, and maybe even power their whole operation from the inside out.We have to rebuild our entire economy to get to zero new emissions, and then go even further. Some sectors are far easier than others, and deep tech, heavy industry, is the latter.It’s not sexy, but heavy industry is – often literally – the foundation for everything we do. Think metals and minerals and concrete and steel and more.My guests today are Rostam Reifschneider & Julian Davis.Rostam and Julian are childhood friends, and the founders of Hydrova, a new company that focuses on developing technology to repurpose waste byproducts of aluminum recycling that are typically landfilled into valuable commodities. Rostam is another 776 Fellow that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and sharing with you.What they’re trying to do is so important. If you’ve ever watched a video about aluminum production or recycling on YouTube, well, it’s like looking at a collection of rings being forged in the fires of Mordor.Finding a way of making that process more efficient, more circular, less dangerous for people and the climate, and just in time for us to need much more of the product?Well, that’s a story I’ve just got to share.-----------Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.comNew here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at importantnotimportant.com/podcast.-----------INI Book Club:Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know by Adam GrantBenjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter IsaacsonFind all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-clubLinks:Learn more on the Hydrova websiteConnect with Hydrova on LinkedInFollow us:Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.comFollow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImpSubscribe to our Youtube channelFollow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmettEdited by Anthony LucianiProduced by Willow BeckIntro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.comFind our more about our guests here: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/guest-statsAdvertise with us: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/sponsors

This week: Global climate news roundup beyond COP27The human cost of vaccine inequityWater runs dryChatbots aren't your friendsCaveats to exciting AI developmentsHere's What You Can Do:More Democratic Senators means a greater chance the US can stand by it's climate commitments. Donate to Senator Warnock's December runoff campaign here, and the invaluable "Georgia Safe and Strong" alliance of local organizers here.Check out Biobot's wastewater monitoring program for local governments and then take it to your next city council meetingGet deeper water news from our friends at Circle of BlueEvery bit of leverage for data privacy policy matters. Donate to Senator Warnock's December runoff campaign here, and the invaluable "Georgia Safe and Strong" alliance of local organizers here, so we can get ahead of this dangerous nonsense for once.Get free weekly updates on ethical AI from our friends at the Montreal AI Ethics Institute.Get more:Get more news, analysis, and Action Steps at importantnotimportant.com/newsletterGot feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.comFollow us on Twitter at @importantnotimpSubscribe to our Youtube channelGet fun merch at importantnotimportant.com/storeTake a nap you deserve itAdvertise with us: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/sponsors