Keen On America

As a Harvard trained pediatrician as well as television writer and producer, Neal Baer has particularly interesting take on the moral, policy and ethical challenges of CRISPR gene-editing technology. Baer - He is best known for his work on the television shows Designated Survivor, ER and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit - has edited a new collection of essays on The Promise and Peril of CRISPR. It’s a critical issue because CRISPR technology allows us to become God in determining what types of humans should and shouldn’t exist. And Baer even has a new tv series in the works, appropriately entitled The Edit, about a group of rogue scientists who use CRISPR technology to eliminate a group of supposedly “undesirable” people. Born in 1958 in Denver, Colorado, Neal Baer is an award-winning showrunner, television writer and producer, physician, and author. He is a lecturer on global health and social medicine and the co-director of the master’s degree program in Media, Medicine, and Health at Harvard Medical School. He was an executive producer and showrunner for Designated Survivor, Baking Impossible, Under the Dome, and Law & Order: Special Victims...Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

Why are black men more likely to vote for Donald Trump than black women? According to Tavis Smiley, the syndicated radio host and best selling author of many books about black America include his latest Covenant with Black America - Twenty Years Later, it’s because some black men, especially younger ones, are attracted to the outlaw in Trump. Black women, in contrast, Smiley suggests, are repelled by everything about the former President, particularly what they see as his faux outlaw image. For Smiley, the host of the fastest growing syndicated Black radio talk show in America, this division between male and female African-Americans get to the heart of the complexity of what it means to be black in the United States today. Tavis Smiley is the host and managing editor of the nationally syndicated radio program and podcast “Tavis Smiley,” which is produced and distributed by SmileyAudioMedia, Inc., where he serves as founder and chief visionary officer. In 2023, Smiley received the highest honor in the talk radio industry, the coveted “Freedom of Speech” award and presently appears on the “Heavy Hundred” list of the “100 Most Important Radio Talk Show Hosts” in America. He is a New York Times bestselling author of over two dozen books, the recipient of nearly 20 honorary doctorate degrees, has been honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and recognized by TIME magazine as one of the world’s “100 Most Influential People.”Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

This is an important conversation. Few Americans are better skilled at listening than the UC Berkeley sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild. The author of the best selling Strangers in Their Own Land, Hochschild’s much anticipated new book, Stolen Pride, takes place in Kentucky, where she examines rural loss, shame and the rise of the American Right. Hochschild’s superpower is her ability to listen. It’s what she defines as “bilingualism” - the skill in separating the literal from the symbolic in other people’s language. This bilingualism makes Hochschild one of the few members of America’s coastal elite able to truly listen to the other America. What she hears - and the rest of us miss - is the pained language of stolen pride, loss and shame. Arlie Russell Hochschild is the author of many groundbreaking books, including The Second Shift, The Managed Heart, and The Time Bind as well as Strangers in Their Own Land, which became an instant bestseller and was a finalist for a National Book Award, and Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right (both from The New Press). Hochschild is professor emerita of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. She lives in Berkeley with her husband, the writer Adam Hochschild.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

In December 2008, Lily Bock, the daughter of the novelist Charles Bock, was born. But Bock, the New York Times bestselling author of the novels Beautiful Children and Alice & Oliver, was a reluctant parent, tagging along for the ride of fatherhood, obsessed primarily with his dream of a writing career. However, when Lily was six months old, his wife, Diana, was diagnosed with a complex form of leukemia. Two and half years later, when all treatments and therapies had been exhausted, Bock found himself a widower—devastated, drowning in medical bills, and saddled with a daunting responsibility. He had to nurture Lily, and, somehow, maybe even heal himself. Bock’s new memoir, I Will Do Better, is about this experience. It’s a confessional about heartbreak, parenting, and, above all, his love for Lily Bock. And to discuss I Will Do Better, already named one of the best books of Fall by Oprah Daily and People, Charles is joined by the now 15 year-old Lila Bock in a memorably intimate conversation about the challenges and joys of single parenting in the 2020s. Charles Bock is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels Beautiful Children and Alice & Oliver, and a creative writing professor at New York University. The father of two daughters, he lives in New York City.Lily Bock is many things including the daughter of Charles & Diana BockNamed as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

American Christianity appears in a state of disrepair, perhaps even imminent civil war. On the one hand, of course, we have the evangelical right who make up much of Trump’s ideological base; on the other hand, there are progressive American theologians like Jim Wallis who argue that this Christian nationalist wing of the Republican party isn’t quite kosher. In his new book, The False White Gospel, Wallis argues that it’s time to call out genuine faith—specifically the “Christian” in White Christian Nationalism. These people, he says, are not only fake Christians, but their racism and cruelty represents an existential threat to American democracy. True faith, for Wallis, Georgetown University’s inaugural holder of the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Chair in Faith and Justice, is loving one’s neighbor rather than throwing them out of the country. Jim Wallis is Georgetown University’s inaugural holder of the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Chair in Faith and Justice, and the Director of its new Center on Faith and Justice. He served on President Obama’s first White House Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, and is the author of multiple New York Times bestselling books, including God’s Politics. In 2022 and 2023, Washingtonian magazine named Wallis one of the 500 most influential people shaping policy in DC.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

Might future multi-trillion dollar AI platforms like OpenAI represent not just the end of the app age but also of economic competition itself? As That Was The Week’s Keith Teare and Andrew discuss in today’s weekly KEEN ON tech round-up, the news of OpenAI’s $6.5 billion new funding round suggests that big tech is going to get even bigger because these new post-platform AI leviathans will control everything associated with their revolutionary technology. There won’t be a need for apps in this economy because what Silicon Valley traditionally calls the technology “stack” will be controlled by a single AI company. It’s a daunting prospect that might, in the not too distant future, make us nostalgic for the relatively flat economy of the Apple/Google app store duolopy.Keith Teare is the founder and CEO of SignalRank Corporation. Previously, he was executive chairman at Accelerated Digital Ventures Ltd., a U.K.-based global investment company focused on startups at all stages. Teare studied at the University of Kent and is the author of “The Easy Net Book” and “Under Siege.” He writes regularly for TechCrunch and publishes the “That Was The Week” newsletter.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

Carissa Carter and Scott Doorley both teach at Stanford’s interdisciplinary d.school. They are also the joint authors of Assembling Tomorrow, an intriguing new book in which, using their D School experience, Carter and Doorley provide a guide to designing a thriving future. They argue that the future, in all its socioeconomic complexity, can de designed so that we can mend the mistakes of our past and shape that future for the better. For some viewers this might be a bit annoyingly Stanford in its can-do positivity and virtue signaling. But if Carter and Doorley can indeed successfully instill in their d.school students a degree of moral responsibility about designing the technological and economic future, then they will have done the rest of us a great service. Carissa Carter is a designer, a geoscientist, and the academic director at the Stanford d.school. She’s the author of The Secret Language of Maps: How to Tell Visual Stories with Data (2022) and Assembling Tomorrow: A Guide to Designing a Thriving Future from the Stanford d.school (2024). Carissa teaches design courses on emerging technologies, climate change, and data visualization. Her work on designing with machine learning and blockchain has earned multiple design awards, including Fast Company Innovation and Core 77 awards.Scott Doorley is a writer, designer, and the creative director at the Stanford d.school. He has overseen everything from books to workspaces to digital products and initiatives focused on the future of learning and design. He has co-written two books: Assembling Tomorrow: A Guide to Designing a Thriving Future from the Stanford d.school (2024) and also Make Space: How to Set the Stage for Creative Collaboration (2011). His work has been featured in museums from San Jose to Helsinki and in publications such as Architecture + Urbanism and The New York Times.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

Yesterday, I interviewed The Financial Times’ Andrew Hill about the FT’s best six business books of the year. Today, I talk to Michael Morris, the author of one of those books. In Tribal, Morris explains how the cultural instincts that divide us can also help bring us together. Our tribal instincts are humanity’s secret weapon, Morris suggests. Rather than deriding tribal impulses for their irrationality, we should therefore recognize them as powerful levers that elevate performance, heal rifts, and set off shockwaves of cultural change.  It’s an intriguingly counter-intuitive thesis from the Columbia University behavioral psychologist which offers an escape from our relentless culture wars. Michael Morris works as a cultural psychologist at Columbia University in its graduate Business School and its Department of Psychology. Previously he taught for a decade at Stanford University. Morris received his PhD in psychology from the University of Michigan after earning undergraduate degrees in cognitive science and English literature at Brown University. His research has discovered cultural influences on styles of cognition, communication, and collaboration, as well as situational factors that cue them and social experiences that shift them. Outside of academia, Professor Morris advises corporations, government agencies, NGOs, and political campaigns about culture-related issues. He lives in New York City.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

The Financial Times has just announced their short list of the best six business books of 2024. Authors include KEEN ON regulars like Andrew Scott as well as Michael Morris, who will appear on tomorrow’s show. As the competition’s manager, Andrew Hill, told me when I visited him at the FT offices in London last week, a business book is a tricky thing to define. Perhaps, like pornography, you know it when you read it. In any case, the list is full of timely texts on the morality of economic growth, the nature of the modern corporation, Silicon Valley’s control of the future of warfare, and, of course, how AI is about to change the world. We’ll try to get all the short-list authors on the show before the winner is announced in early December. But in meantime, please read the six and let me know which one you think should win the award.Andrew Hill is senior business writer at the FT and consulting editor, FT Live. He is a former management editor, City editor, financial editor and comment and analysis editor. He is the author of ‘Leadership in the Headlines’ (2016), a collection of his columns, and ‘Ruskinland’ (2019), about the enduring influence of Victorian thinker John Ruskin. He joined the FT in 1988 and has also worked as New York bureau chief, foreign news editor and correspondent in Brussels and Milan. Andrew was named Business Commentator of the Year at the 2016 Comment Awards and Commentator of the Year at the 2009 Business Journalist of the Year Awards, where he also received a Decade of Excellence award.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

While many fear that Trump offers an existential threat to American democracy, Barry C. Lynn believes that the real danger comes from big tech companies like Google, Amazon and Microsoft. Lynn, the executive director of the Open Markets Institute, is the author of “Antitrust Revolution”, Harper’s October cover story. Lynn argues that big tech offers the real threat to American freedom and major antitrust regulation is required to save liberal democracy. Not everyone will agree with Lynn, of course, but he has been the most consistent antitrust critic of big tech over the last decade and offers the most extensive economic and political critique of the Google/Amazon/Microsoft techno-monopoly complex.Barry C. Lynn is the executive director of the Open Markets Institute. Over the past two decades, Lynn pioneered understanding of how the monopolies of the 21st century threaten our democracy, individual liberties, security, and prosperity. Lynn’s efforts to update anti-monopoly law and thinking for the digital era have been fully embraced by the Biden administration and have shaped the thinking of policymakers and scholars around the world. His warnings on structural flaws in international systems predicted today’s supply chain crises, and his proposed remedies have been widely studied by the U.S. government, Europe, Asia, the IMF, and the OECD. Lynn developed his thinking in three books — End of the Line (2005), Cornered (2010), and Liberty from All Masters (2020), as well as numerous articles, speeches, and congressional testimony. Lynn’s thinking has been profiled in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Politico, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, and CBS, and his work has been translated into Chinese, Japanese, French, and Danish. Lynn was previously the executive editor of Global Business Magazine and a correspondent for The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse in South America. He holds a B.A. in English from Columbia University.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe