Talks at Google

Leading theoretical physicist Antonio Padilla visits Google to discuss his new book, "Fantastic Numbers and Where to Find Them: A Cosmic Quest from Zero to Infinity." The book is a combination of popular and cutting-edge science, as well as a lively, entertaining, and even funny exploration of the most fundamental truths about the universe. For particularly brilliant theoretical physicists like James Clerk Maxwell, Paul Dirac, or Albert Einstein, the search for mathematical truths led to strange new understandings of the ultimate nature of reality. But what are these truths? What are the mysterious numbers that explain the universe? In Fantastic Numbers and Where to Find Them, Antonio takes us on an irreverent cosmic tour of nine of the most extraordinary numbers in physics, offering a startling picture of how the universe works. These strange numbers include Graham’s number, which is so large that if you thought about it in the wrong way, your head would collapse into a singularity; TREE(3), whose finite nature can never be definitively proved, because to do so would take a near-infinite amount of time; and 10^{-120}, measuring the desperately unlikely balance of energy needed to allow the universe to exist for more than just a moment and to extend beyond the size of a single atom―in other words, the mystery of our unexpected universe. Leading us down the rabbit hole to a deeper understanding of reality, Antonio explains how these unusual numbers are the key to understanding such mind-boggling phenomena as black holes, relativity, and the problem of the cosmological constant―that the two best and most rigorously tested ways of understanding the universe contradict one another. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.

Archaeologist Ian Hodder visits Google to discuss the origins of settled life in the Middle East. Recent archaeological discoveries have upturned our theories about the origins of agriculture and the dawn of settled life. While climate change and economic adaptation have long been seen as prime causes, recent work at Göbekli (Guh-BEK-li) and Çatalhöyük (CHATAL-hoyuk) in what is now Turkey has shown that social gatherings at ritual centers played a key role. The remarkable finds at Göbekli include 6 meter high stone monoliths carved with images of animals and birds, forming ritual enclosures. Recent research at Çatalhöyük shows a fully fledged town in which wild bulls, leopards and the severed heads of ancestors were important social monuments. Ian Hodder was trained at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London and at Cambridge University where he obtained his PhD in 1975. His main large-scale excavation projects have been at Haddenham in the east of England and at Çatalhöyük in Turkey where he has worked since 1993. Originally published in May of 2015. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.  

Renowned teacher and author Prem Rawat visits Google to discuss his book “Hear Yourself: How to Find Peace in a Noisy World.” The book aims to show readers how to quiet the noise of our busy lives to hear our own authentic voice—the source of peace. The cacophony of modern life can be deafening, leaving us feeling frazzled and uneasy. In this book, Prem Rawat teaches us how to turn down the noise to “hear ourselves”—to listen to the subtle song of peace that sings inside each of us. Once we learn to truly hear ourselves and the voice of peace within, facing the noisy outside world becomes much more manageable. The culmination of a lifetime of study, “Hear Yourself” lays out the steps we can use to focus on the voice within. Prem challenges us to embrace our thirst for peace and let go of expectations for how it should feel. With one straightforward yet deeply profound question, he helps us to focus—to be present: “Am I conscious of where I am today and what I want to experience in this world?” If we allow ourselves to listen, what we hear is the extraordinary miracle of existence—an experience that transforms our relationship to life and everything in it. Packed with powerful insights and compelling stories, Hear Yourself introduces readers to an ancient line of practical wisdom that enlightens us to a simple way to listen. By doing so, we can profoundly change our understanding of ourselves, those around us, and our lives. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.  

Futurist and entreprenuer Jerry Kaplan visits Google to discuss his book “Humans Need Not Apply: A Guide to Wealth and Work in the Age of Artificial Intelligence”. The common wisdom about Artificial Intelligence is that we are building increasingly intelligent machines that will ultimately surpass human capabilities and steal our jobs, or possibly even escape human control and take over the world. This narrative is both misguided and counterproductive. A more appropriate framing–better supported by actual events and current trends—is that AI is simply a natural expansion of longstanding human efforts to automate tasks, dating back at least to the start of the industrial revolution. Stripping the field of its apocalyptic gloss makes it easier to predict the likely benefits and pitfalls of this important technology. AI has the potential to usher in a new age of affluence and leisure, but it’s likely to shake up labor markets and increase inequality unless we forcefully address these pressing societal problems. The robots are certainly coming, but whether they will benefit society as a whole or serve the needs of the few is still very much up in the air. Join futurist Jerry Kaplan for an unorthodox tour of the history of Artificial Intelligence, learn why it is so misunderstood, and what we can do to ensure that the engines of progress don’t motor on without us. Originally published in November of 2015. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.  

Before becoming a renowned journalist and public speaker, Nomi Prins reached the upper echelons of the financial world where she worked as a managing director at Goldman Sachs, ran the international analytics group at Bear Stearns, was a strategist at Lehman Brothers, and an analyst at the Chase Manhattan Bank. During her time on Wall Street, she grew increasingly aware of unethical practices that readily permeated the banking industry. Eventually, she decided to become an investigative journalist to expose the ways that financial systems are manipulated to serve the wealthy. Nomi’s latest best-selling book, Collusion: How Central Bankers Rigged the World, explores the conditions that led to the rise of powerful central banks and the impact they have on markets and the global economy. She argues that central banks and institutions like the IMF and the World Bank are overstepping their mandates by using the flow of money to control global markets and dictate economic policy, both at the domestic and global level. These public institutions have become so dependent on funding from private banking and the revolving door between the two worlds is so smooth, that public and private banks are effectively working toward the same goals. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.  

Professor Cassie Holmes visits Google to discuss her book "Happier Hour: How to Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time, and Focus on What Matters Most." Cassie argues that our most precious resource isn’t money. It’s time. We are allotted just twenty-four hours a day, and we live in a culture that keeps us feeling “time poor” —like we just never have enough. Since we can’t add more hours to the day, how can we experience our lives as being richer? Is it possible to spend our days so they aren’t just full, but are fulfilling? Based on her wildly popular MBA class at UCLA, Cassie demonstrates how to immediately improve our lives by changing how we perceive and invest our time. “Happier Hour” teaches you how small changes can have an enormous impact, helping you feel less overwhelmed, more present, and more satisfied with your life overall. It all starts by transforming just one hour into a happier hour. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.  

Actors Sue Ann Pien, Rick Glassman and Albert Rutecki visit Google to discuss the Amazon Original series As We See It. The show follows three roommates on the autism spectrum, as they strive to get and keep jobs, make friends, fall in love, and navigate the strange world of adulthood in a world that eludes them. Through her journey of understanding what it means to be on the autism spectrum, Sue Ann Pien has welcomed a greater acceptance of what makes her unique, and the freedom to express that. She followed her myriad dreams through Hollywood and beyond, having worked with Academy and Emmy award winners, presented for a Nobel Laureate and U.S. Secretary of State on climate change solutions, and even gained global attention as a Mars One candidate. Rick Glassman is a Los Angeles-based stand-up comedian, writer, and actor, Glassman’s notable credits include a leading role in the NBC ensemble sitcom, Undateable, as well as playing Harold Ramis in David Wain’s National Lampoon biopic, A Futile and Stupid Gesture. He also wrote, directed, and starred in an award-winning five-episode series, The Sixth Lead, based on his experience starring on Undateable. Before joining As We See It, Albert Ruteck appeared in the web series Aged Fruit. As an adolescent, Rutecki was diagnosed on the autism spectrum, and is excited to portray those characters authentically. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.  

Philosophy professor John Searle visits Google to discuss the philosophy of mind and the potential for consciousness in artificial intelligence. John is widely noted for his contributions to the philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, and social philosophy. Among his notable concepts is the "Chinese room" argument, which challenges the supposed language comprehension ability of artificial intelligence. Searle conceived of the “Chinese room” thought experiment in 1980. Imagine a native English speaker who cannot read or speak Chinese, locked in a room with boxes of Chinese symbols together with a book of instructions for manipulating the symbols. Imagine that people outside the room send in other Chinese symbols which, unknown to the person in the room, are questions in Chinese. And imagine that by following the book of instructions, the man in the room can pass out Chinese symbols which are correct answers to the questions. Thus the person in the room is able to convince the people outside the room that he understands Chinese, but in fact he does not understand a word of Chinese. The narrow conclusion of the argument is that programming a computer may make it appear to understand language, but cannot produce true comprehension. Searle argues the fact that computers merely use syntactic rules to manipulate symbol strings, but have no true grasp of meaning or semantics. Thus, the theory that human minds are computer-like computational or information processing systems is inadequate. Instead, the human mind must result from biological processes; computers can at best simulate these biological processes. His argument has large implications for semantics, philosophy of language and mind, theories of consciousness, computer science and cognitive science generally. Originally published in December of 2015. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.