Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Please join us for a Tuesday morning inspirational talk on old-time radio programs by Noah Griffin, a native San Franciscan, former television talk show host and former radio broadcast host for WJIB in Boston, and KFOG and KGO in San Francisco. Griffin's connection with radio stems back to when as a 6-year-old in 1952 he was given his first Hopalong Cassidy radio.His presentation will be energizing and fascinating as he talks about the best and most popular of old-time radio shows of their day, from live nightclub shows to soap operas, detective and mystery shows, family sitcoms, and westerns. “Can you remember yours?”The program is followed by Q and A.MLF ORGANIZER: Robert MeltonSPEAKERSNoah GriffinFormer Television Talk Show Host; Former Radio Broadcast Host, WJIB, KFOG, KGORobert MeltonCo-Chair, Commonwealth Club Arts Member-Led Forum; Curator, Farmer's Gallery, Commonwealth Club—ModeratorIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on April 13th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Despite its historic role in American life, the U.S. Supreme Court has served a surprisingly impactful policymaking role in the United States over the past decade. Starting in 2011, when Republicans gained control of the House of Representatives, until this March, Congress enacted hardly any major legislation outside of the tax law President Trump signed in 2017. In the same period, the Supreme Court dismantled much of America's campaign finance law, severely weakened the Voting Rights Act, permitted states to opt-out of the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion, weakened laws protecting against age discrimination and sexual and racial harassment, and held that every state must permit same-sex couples to marry. This powerful, unelected body, now controlled by six Republican presidential appointees, sat at the center of American political life, a trend that will likely continue, with profound impacts on the country's political system and civic life.Ian Millhiser, Vox's Supreme Court correspondent, tells the story of what is likely to come from the Supreme Court in the coming years, particularly around significant divisive issues such as abortion and affirmative action. Equally important, Millhiser also explores the arcane decisions that the Court can use to fundamentally reshape America, transforming it into something he believes is far less democratic by attacking voting rights, dismantling the federal administrative state, ignoring the separation of church and state, and putting corporations above the law.Millhiser's new book, The Agenda, exposes a radically altered Supreme Court whose powers extend far beyond transforming any individual right. Please join us for an important conversation on the future of perhaps the most important institution in America life: the Supreme Court.About the SpeakerIan Millhiser is a senior correspondent at Vox, where he focuses on the Supreme Court, the Constitution, and the decline of liberal democracy in the United States. Before joining Vox, he was a columnist at ThinkProgress. He is the author of Injustices: The Supreme Court's History of Comforting the Comfortable and Afflicting the Afflicted, published in 2015, and his writings have appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, The Nation, American Prospect and the Yale Law & Policy Review. He received his J.D. from Duke University and clerked for judge Eric L. Clay of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. SPEAKERSIan MillhiserSupreme Court Correspondent, Vox; Author, The Agenda: How a Republican Supreme Court Is Reshaping America;Twitter @imillhiserMelissa MurrayFrederick I. and Grace Stokes Professor of Law Faculty Director, Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Network, New York UniversityIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on April 7th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for a virtual discussion with Sabine Hossenfelder, live-streamed direct from Frankfurt, Germany, about her concern that theoretical physicists have failed to make any major breakthroughs for more than four decades because they are obsessed with the goal that an accurate theory must be beautiful—at least to mathematicians.Hossenfelder argues that when this belief in beauty becomes too dogmatic, it conflicts with scientific objectivity, and so may be interfering with our ability to understand black holes or why relativity theory and quantum mechanics have issues with each other. It may also be encouraging the pursuit of untestable string theory and supersymmetry explanations beyond what is scientifically useful (but which is still mathematically intriguing).Hear why Hossenfelder is insisting, to the generation of theoreticians that preceded her, that progress will probably not be made until they conclude that physics isn’t math. It’s choosing the right math.MLF ORGANIZERGeorge HammondNOTESMLF: HumanitiesSPEAKERSSabine HossenfelderResearch Fellow, Superfluid Dark Matter Group, Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies; Blogger, "Backreaction"; Author, Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics AstrayIn Conversation with George HammondAuthor, Conversations With SocratesIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on April 20th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. John Torres has spent his career fielding medical emergencies at home in the ER and abroad on humanitarian trips to Central and South America. As a U.S. Air Force veteran, he has been on the front lines of varying medical crises. As NBC News’ senior medical correspondent, he has spent the last year covering the COVID-19 pandemic.Dubbed “Dr. Disaster,” Torres has all the knowledge of best practices in an emergency, and his new book Dr. Disaster’s Guide to Surviving Everything provides a need-to-know guide on disaster preparedness.From avalanches and blackouts to pandemics and wildfires, Dr. Torres shares hacks and tips that could save your life or the life of someone around you. He tells you must-know practices such as the best place to sit on an airplane, how to start a fire with household items, and the first thing you should do every time you enter a shopping mall.SPEAKERSDr. John TorresSenior Medical Correspondent, NBC News/MSNBC; Author, Dr. Disaster’s Guide to Surviving Everything: Essential Advice for Any Situation Life Throws Your WayIn Conversation with Lenny MendoncaMember, Commonwealth Club Board of GovernorsIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on April 14th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The impacts of climate change may come fast or slow. A wildfire amplified by drought may rip through a town in a matter of hours, or rising seas may take years to destroy a neighborhood. Health impacts may show up in months, or take the form of devastating cancer rates that rise over a decade. Regardless of speed or intensity, the climate emergency will impact us all. How do we live alongside climate disruption?This story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.We have been nominated for a Webby!Please give us your vote as the Best Science and Education Limited Series in the 25th Annual People's Voice Award below:https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2021/podcasts/limited-series-specials/science-education Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Isaac Newton established the laws of motion in 1687, he created a foundation of understanding that still guides physicists to scientific discoveries today. As studies evolve, scientists get closer to understanding the deepest mysteries of space and time. Once physicists can successfully combine theories of relativity and quantum mechanics, all forces in the universe will be recognized and tied into one. Physicist Michio Kaku seeks to document this epic journey of uniting theories of space in his new book The God Equation.Dr. Kaku, once mentored by theoretical physicist Edward Teller, graduated summa cum laude and first in his physics class from Harvard University. Now, Dr. Kaku strives to continue Einstein’s search for a “theory of everything,” seeking to popularize science and unify the four fundamental forces of the universe—the strong force, the weak force, gravity and electromagnetism.Join us as Michio Kaku talks about physics pioneers looking to understand the complexity of the universe.SPEAKERSDr. Michio KakuProfessor of Theoretical Physics, City College of New York; Author The God Equation: The Quest for a Theory of Everything; Twitter @michiokakuKara PlatoniScience Editor, Science, Wired.com—ModeratorIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on April 16th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The real-life tale of Ted Ngoy, "the Donut King," is one of fate, love, survival, hard knocks, and redemption. It's the rags to riches story of a refugee escaping Cambodia, arriving in America in 1975 and building an unlikely multi-million-dollar empire baking America's favorite pastry, the donut. He sponsored hundreds of visas for incoming refugees and helped them get on their feet teaching them the ways of the donut business.His life has been turned into the documentary The Donut King by award-winning filmmaker Alice Gu. A Los Angeles native, Gu began her career as a director of photography, working with renowned directors Werner Herzog, Stacy Peralta, and Rory Kennedy, among others. Her commercial clients for print and live action include TBWA/ Chiat Day, Media Arts Lab, Deutsche, Edelman, Berlin Cameron, Cole & Weber, Pereira & O’Dell, Doremus, Publicis, Beats by Dre, Laird Hamilton, ESPN, FIFA, NFL, NHL, NBA, the WSL, Apple, Peta, and the American Humane Association. Take Every Wave: the Life of Laird Hamilton made its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2017, a documentary film directed by Academy Award nominated director, Rory Kennedy, and lensed by Alice Gu.The Donut King is Alice’s feature directorial debut; it was slated to premiere in the canceled 2020 SXSW film festival. Despite the cancellation, the film won the Special Jury Prize for Excellence in Documentary Storytelling, as well as the One in a Million Award at the canceled 2020 Sun Valley Film Festival and the Grand Jury Prize at the Bentonville Film Festival. A feature-length documentary about the rise and fall of a Cambodian refugee turned donut tycoon, The Donut King is executive produced by Academy Award-winners Ridley Scott and Freida Lee Mock.Join us for a discussion with Alice Gu.SPEAKERSAlice GuFilmmaker, The Donut King and Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird HamiltonMichelle MeowProducer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW/KPIX and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors; Twitter @msmichellemeow—Co-HostJohn ZippererProducer and Host, Week to Week Political Roundtable; Vice President of Media & Editorial, The Commonwealth Club—Co-HostIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on April 8th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for a virtual discussion with Mustafa Akyol, who takes us on a fascinating journey into Islam's diverse history of ideas, and argues that the next "Islamic Enlightenment" may be on the horizon.Akyol diagnoses “the crisis of Islam” in the modern world and offers a way forward. Diving deeply into Islamic theology, and also sharing lessons from his own life story, he says Muslims lost the universalism that made them a great civilization in their earlier centuries. He demonstrates how values often associated with the Western Enlightenment―freedom, reason, tolerance and an appreciation of science―had Islamic ancestors that were cast aside, for political reasons, in favor of more dogmatic views. Akyol borrows lost visions from medieval Muslim thinkers, such as Ibn Rushd (aka Averroes), to show how they shared a strikingly modern worldview on a range of sensitive issues: human rights, equality for women, freedom of religion, or freedom from religion.While frankly acknowledging the problems in the world of Islam today, Akyol offers a clear and hopeful vision for its future.MLF ORGANIZERGeorge HammondNOTESMLF: HumanitiesSPEAKERSMustafa AkyolSenior Fellow, Cato Institute; Contributing Opinion Writer, The New York Times; Author, Reopening Muslim Minds: A Return to Reason, Freedom and ToleranceIn Conversation with George HammondAuthor, Conversations With SocratesIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on April 8th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ruth Bader Ginsburg spent her decades in public service advocating for guaranteed rights and protections of all people. She transformed the legislative landscape by pioneering conversations on American freedom with a particular focus on gender equality. In the new book Justice, Justice Thou Shalt Pursue, UC Berkeley law school professor Amanda Tyler celebrates the life work of RBG to tell the story of Justice Ginsburg's unwavering commitment to the achievement of "a more perfect Union." With a research focus in the Supreme Court, legal history and civil procedure, Tyler encapsulates the life of RBG and what we can learn from her experiences in politics.Drawing from personal conversations and additional materials on Justice Ginsburg’s life, Tyler dives into her notable briefs and oral arguments, last speeches and favorite opinions, along with the statements that she read from the bench in her most important cases. She emphasizes Ginsburg’s pursuit for constitutional interpretation that defends all people based on humanity rather than status—a mission she said all politicians should strive to follow. Dubbed “The Notorious RBG,” her tireless work in the government will have a lasting impact on our nation’s political culture.Join us as professor Amanda Tyler and award winning journalist Soledad O’Brien commemorate the life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and tell us what we can learn from the late justice’s life work.SPEAKERSAmanda TylerShannon Cecil Turner Professor of Law, University of California Berkeley School of Law; Author, Justice, Justice Thou Shalt Pursue: A Life’s Work Fighting for a More Perfect UnionIn Conversation with Soledad O’BrienJournalistIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on April 15th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Theoretical physicist Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein wants to share the wonders of the universe with people who might think they are inaccessible. As a professor at the University of New Hampshire in theoretical physics and women’s studies, Prescod-Weinstein teaches and studies the outer reaches of scientific understanding and seeks to make complex concepts understandable. In her new book The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred, Prescod-Weinstein provides a unique chronicle of the physics of our cosmos through the lens of the Star Trek universe.Join Prescod-Weinstein at INFORUM to learn about the universe from her perspective, formed by Black feminism and a view of our cosmos as, despite its intricacies, accessible to all.SPEAKERSChanda Prescod-WeinsteinPh.D., Assistant Professor of Physics and Core Faculty Member in Women’s Studies, University of New Hampshire; Author, The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey Into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams DeferredRaja GuhaThakurtaPh.D., Professor/Astronomer & Department Chair, Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of California, Santa CruzIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on April 6th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices