Talks at Google

Physicist and author Michio Kaku visits Google to discuss his book “Quantum Supremacy: How the Quantum Computer Revolution Will Change Everything.” The book takes us on an exhilarating tour of humanity’s next great technological achievement—quantum computing. The runaway success of the microchip processor may be reaching its end. Running up against the physical constraints of smaller and smaller sizes, traditional silicon chips are not likely to prove useful in solving humanity’s greatest challenges, from climate change to global starvation and incurable diseases. But the quantum computer, which harnesses the power and complexity of the atomic realm, already promises to be every bit as revolutionary as the transistor and microchip once were. Its unprecedented gains in computing power herald advancements that could change every aspect of our daily lives. Automotive companies, medical researchers, and consulting firms are betting on quantum computing, hoping to exploit its power to design more efficient vehicles, create life-saving new drugs, and streamline industries to revolutionize the economy. But this is only the beginning. Quantum computers could allow us to finally create nuclear fusion reactors that create clean, renewable energy without radioactive waste or threats of meltdown. They could help us crack the biological processes that generate natural, cheap fertilizer and enable us to feed the world’s growing populations. And they could unravel the fiendishly difficult protein folding that lies at the heart of previously incurable diseases like Alzheimer’s, ALS, and Parkinson’s, helping us to live longer, healthier lives. Told with Michio Kaku’s signature clarity and enthusiasm, “Quantum Supremacy” is the story of this exciting frontier and the race to claim humanity’s future. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.  

Sara Zaske visits Google to discuss her book “Achtung Baby: An American Mom on the German Art of Raising Self-Reliant Children.” When Sara Zaske moved from Oregon to Berlin with her husband and toddler, she knew the transition would be challenging, especially when she became pregnant with her second child. She was surprised to discover that German parents give their children a great deal of freedom—much more than Americans. In Berlin, kids walk to school by themselves, ride the subway alone, cut food with sharp knives, and even play with fire. German parents did not share her fears, and their children were thriving. Was she doing the opposite of what she intended, which was to raise capable children? Why was parenting culture so different in the States? Through her own family’s often funny experiences, as well as interviews with other parents, teachers, and experts, Zaske shares the many unexpected parenting lessons she learned from living in Germany. “Achtung Baby” reveals that today's Germans know something that American parents don't about raising kids with “selbstandigkeit”, or self-reliance, and provides practical examples American parents can use to give their own children the freedom they need to grow into responsible, independent adults. Originally published in February of 2018. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.  

Associate professor of philosophy Mariana Alessandri visits Google to discuss her book “Night Vision: Seeing Ourselves through Dark Moods,” a philosopher’s personal meditation on how painful emotions can reveal truths about what it means to be truly human. Under the light of ancient Western philosophies, our darker moods like grief, anguish, and depression can seem irrational. When viewed through the lens of modern psychology, they can even look like mental disorders. The self-help industry, determined to sell us the promise of a brighter future, can sometimes leave us feeling ashamed that we are not more grateful, happy, or optimistic. “Night Vision” invites us to consider a different approach to life, one in which we stop feeling bad about feeling bad. In this book, Existentialist philosopher Mariana Alessandri draws on the stories of a diverse group of nineteenth- and twentieth-century philosophers and writers to help us see that our suffering is a sign not that we are broken, but that we are tender, perceptive, and intelligent. Thinkers such as Audre Lorde, María Lugones, C. S. Lewis, and Søren Kierkegaard sat in their anger, sadness, and anxiety until their eyes adjusted to the dark. Alessandri explains how readers can cultivate “night vision” and discover new sides to their painful moods, such as wit and humor, closeness and warmth, and connection and clarity. “Night Vision” shows us that when we learn to embrace the dark, we begin to see these moods—and ourselves—as honorable, dignified, and unmistakably human. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.  

Yanis Varoufakis visits Google to discuss his book “And the Weak Suffer What They Must?”, a critique of the European Union’s austerity policies during the Greek financial crisis of the early 2010’s. In January 2015, Yanis Varoufakis, an economics professor teaching in Austin, Texas, was elected to the Greek parliament with more votes than any other member of parliament. He served as Greece’s Minister of Finance for five months in 2015. In his book, Varoufakis delivers a fresh look at the history of Europe’s debt crisis and America’s central role in it. He presents his case against austerity, proposing concrete policies for Europe that he believes are necessary to address excessive sovereign debt and avert contagion to America, China, and the rest of the world. With passionate, informative, and at times humorous prose, he warns that the implosion of an admittedly imperfect European monetary union should, and can, be avoided at all cost. Varoufakis is the Finance Minister of Greece. A Professor of Economic Theory at the University of Athens and a visiting professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, he is the author of "The Global Minotaur: America", "The True Causes of the Financial Crisis" and "The Future of the World", among others. Originally published in April of 2016. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.  

Author Monica Parker visits Google to discuss her book “The Power of Wonder: The Extraordinary Emotion That Will Change the Way You Live, Learn, and Lead.” The book takes readers on a multidisciplinary journey through psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, literature, and business to show us how to become more open to experiencing wonder and to reconnect with a reverence for the world and all the magic in it. A world-renowned speaker, writer, and authority on the future of work, Monica Parker has spent decades helping people discover how to lead and live wonderfully. The founder of global human analytics and change consultancy HATCH, whose clients include blue-chip companies such as LinkedIn, Google, Prudential, and LEGO, Parker challenges corporate systems to advocate for more meaningful work lives. In addition to her extensive advocacy work, she has been an opera singer, a museum exhibition designer, and a homicide investigator defending death-row inmates. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.  

Dr. Judith Orloff visits Google to discuss her book, “The Empath’s Survival Guide.” The book teaches readers how sensitive people can thrive in an insensitive world. What is the difference between having empathy and being an empath? “Having empathy means our heart goes out to another person in joy or pain,” says Dr. Judith Orloff, “but for empaths it goes much farther. We actually feel others’ emotions, energy, and physical symptoms in our own bodies, without the usual defenses that most people have.” With The Empath’s Survival Guide, Dr. Orloff offers an invaluable resource to help sensitive people develop healthy coping mechanisms in our high-stimulus world—while fully embracing the empath’s gifts of intuition, creativity, and spiritual connection. In this practical and empowering book for empaths and their loved ones, Dr. Orloff begins with self-assessment exercises to help you understand your empathic nature, then offers potent strategies for protecting yourself from feeling overwhelmed and replenishing your vital energy. For any sensitive person who’s been told to “grow a thick skin,” here is your lifelong guide for staying fully open while building resilience, exploring your gifts of deep perception, raising empathic children, and feeling welcomed and valued by a world that desperately needs what you have to offer. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.  

What is consciousness? How do physical processes in the brain give rise to the self-aware mind and to feelings as profoundly varied as love or hate, aesthetic pleasure or spiritual yearning? These questions today are some of the most hotly debated issues among scientists and philosophers. Now, in his book “The Conscious Mind”, philosopher David Chalmers offers an analysis of this heated debate as he unveils a major new theory of consciousness, one that rejects the prevailing reductionist trend of science, while offering provocative insights into the relationship between mind and brain. Taking us on a tour through the philosophical ramifications of consciousness, Chalmers reveals how contemporary cognitive science and neurobiology have failed to explain how and why mental events emerge from physiological occurrences in the brain. He proposes instead that conscious experience must be understood in an entirely new light--as an irreducible entity that exists at a fundamental level and cannot be understood as the sum of its parts. And after suggesting some intriguing possibilities about the structure and laws of conscious experience, he details how his unique reinterpretation of the mind could be the focus of a new science. Originally published in April of 2019. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.