Boomers, Burners, And Flying Cars With Cal Newport

While the public clamors for some semblance of government regulation of the burgeoning artificial intelligence sector, the question remains: how to prevent doom scenarios without compromising the industry’s innovative spirit. Cal Newport, a Georgetown University computer scientist and frequent writer on AI matters, discusses questions he wants Congress to ask and suggests ways to keep AI from undermining secondary and college learning processes (are Georgetown’s phone-free “cognition cloisters” the answer?). After that, the fellows discuss what’s fueling the fiery riots across Western Europe (is it time that European nations paid attention to Javier Milei’s reforms in Argentina?) and what compelled President Trump to threaten Ukraine with blocked access to the Starlink satellite internet service (is it what comes from too many conversations with Vladimir Putin?). Finally, in the “Lightning Round”: thoughts on Hoover economist Bob Hall receiving a Nobel Prize, what America’s midterm elections might bring, and the likelihood of any of the three academics buying Elon Musk’s “flying” roadster (the answer, it seems: when pigs fly!).    

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Cast

H.R. McMaster

H.R. McMaster

Sir Niall Ferguson

Sir Niall Ferguson

John H. Cochrane

John H. Cochrane

Bill Whalen

Bill Whalen

Cal Newport

Cal Newport

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