You Have Plenty to Hide From AI (with Meredith Whittaker and Nils Gilman)

You Have Plenty to Hide From AI (with Meredith Whittaker and Nils Gilman)

Today’s tech industry can’t survive without mass surveillance. The US government, foreign powers, and ad brokers can buy a nuanced picture of you on the open market for pennies on the dollar. What kept this data from becoming a weapon was friction. Nobody had the time or resources to pull these scattered pieces of you together. Until AI came along and made the impossible trivial. In this episode, Signal President Meredith Whittaker reveals how the same three cloud giants that run the Pentagon's classified workloads now train and deploy the AI systems making sense of every text, search, and movement we have ever surrendered. Privacy, she argues, is the precondition for a democracy and a full human life, and the time to protect it is running out. Subscribe to the Berggruen Institute on YouTube to be the first to listen to new Futurology episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@Berggrueninst [https://www.youtube.com/@Berggrueninst] Catch up on the Futurology conversation with full episodes on YouTube.  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyYCSKWs8iYgjg-mhu-EuhTrG0-adrb0c [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyYCSKWs8iYgjg-mhu-EuhTrG0-adrb0c]  Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921] Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk?si=XB2qyyGjT2ONMTd5XUKJAg&nd=1&dlsi=ac8cda6751834298 [https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk?si=XB2qyyGjT2ONMTd5XUKJAg&nd=1&dlsi=ac8cda6751834298] Mentioned in this Episode: Why A Liberal Arts Education Will Soon Be More Valuable Than Ever [https://www.noemamag.com/why-a-liberal-arts-education-will-soon-be-more-valuable-than-ever/] — Nils Gilman (Article, 2026) The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans [https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/trump-administration-accidentally-texted-me-its-war-plans/682151/] — Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic (Article, 2025) M-Lab (Measurement Lab) [https://www.measurementlab.net/] — Co-founded by Meredith Whittaker (Open data platform) Where to find Meredith Whittaker:Signal [https://signal.org/] — President X / Twitter [https://x.com/mer__edith] — @mer__edith Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/meredithmeredith.bsky.social] — @meredithmeredith.bsky.social Mastodon [https://mastodon.world/@Mer__edith] — @Mer__edith@mastodon.world AI Now Institute [https://ainowinstitute.org/] — Co-founder and Chief Advisor Show ideas and feedback? Email: futurology@berggruen.org Learn more about the Berggruen Institute  https://www.berggruen.org [https://www.berggruen.org/] Follow Futurology! Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/futurologypod/]:   / futurologypod Twitter/X [https://x.com/FuturologyPod]:   / futurologypod Tiktok [https://www.tiktok.com/@futurologypod?utm_campaign=social_link_list&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=later-linkinbio]:   / futurologypod Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/BerggruenInst/]:   / berggrueninst   LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/berggrueninst/]:   / berggrueninst   Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/futurologypod.bsky.social]:   / futurologypod Credits  Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, & Jason Hoch Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, & Nathalia Ramos Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney Theme Music: Marcus Bagala Audio Engineer: Aaron Bastinelli & Kyle Scott Wilson Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California.

On Love and Quantum Physics (with Carlo Rovelli and Claire Webb)

We treat the self as bedrock. But look closely, and the ground gives way. Over the last century, quantum physics has systematically dismantled the illusion of a constant, solid material reality. A particle has no properties until it meets another. A color lives in the meeting of object and eye, not in the object. The self may be the same. Not a thing you carry, but something that happens between you and everyone else. In this episode, physicist Carlo Rovelli takes the relational thinking behind his physics and turns it on consciousness. The question we treat as deepest, what the self is, is the wrong question. A riddle with no answer. The self is not an illusion. It’s just made of everything around it. Your family, friends, partner, even enemies. Take the relations away, and there’s no there there. Subscribe to the Berggruen Institute on YouTube to be the first to listen to new Futurology episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@Berggrueninst [https://www.youtube.com/@Berggrueninst] Catch up on the Futurology conversation with full episodes on YouTube.  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyYCSKWs8iYgjg-mhu-EuhTrG0-adrb0c [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyYCSKWs8iYgjg-mhu-EuhTrG0-adrb0c]  Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921] Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk?si=XB2qyyGjT2ONMTd5XUKJAg&nd=1&dlsi=ac8cda6751834298 [https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk?si=XB2qyyGjT2ONMTd5XUKJAg&nd=1&dlsi=ac8cda6751834298] Mentioned in this Episode: White Holes [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/724426/white-holes-by-carlo-rovelli/] — Carlo Rovelli (Book, 2023) The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way: Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamakakarika [https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-fundamental-wisdom-of-the-middle-way-9780195093360] — Nagarjuna, translated by Jay L. Garfield (Book, 1995)  [https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-complete-works-of-zhuangzi/9780231164740/] The Complete Works of Zhuangzi [https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-complete-works-of-zhuangzi/9780231164740/] — translated by Burton Watson (Book, 2013)  [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/154356/duino-elegies-and-the-sonnets-to-orpheus-by-rainer-maria-rilke-edited-and-translated-by-stephen-mitchell/] Duino Elegies & The Sonnets to Orpheus [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/154356/duino-elegies-and-the-sonnets-to-orpheus-by-rainer-maria-rilke-edited-and-translated-by-stephen-mitchell/] — Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Stephen Mitchell (Book, 1923) Where to Find Carlo Rovelli: Academic homepage [https://www.cpt.univ-mrs.fr/~rovelli/] Centre de Physique Théorique [https://www.cpt.univ-mrs.fr/~rovelli/]  [https://x.com/carlorovelli] X (Twitter): @carlorovelli [https://x.com/carlorovelli]  [https://berggruen.org/people/carlo-rovelli] Berggruen Institute profile [https://berggruen.org/people/carlo-rovelli] Show ideas and feedback? Email: futurology@berggruen.org Learn more about the Berggruen Institute  https://www.berggruen.org [https://www.berggruen.org/] Follow Futurology! Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/futurologypod/]:   / futurologypod Twitter/X [https://x.com/FuturologyPod]:   / futurologypod Tiktok [https://www.tiktok.com/@futurologypod?utm_campaign=social_link_list&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=later-linkinbio]:   / futurologypod Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/BerggruenInst/]:   / berggrueninst   LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/berggrueninst/]:   / berggrueninst   Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/futurologypod.bsky.social]:   / futurologypod Credits  Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, & Jason Hoch Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, & Nathalia Ramos Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney Theme Music: Marcus Bagala Audio Engineer: Aaron Bastinelli & Kyle Scott Wilson Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California.

We Need to Stop Panicking About AI (with Andrew McAfee and Nils Gilman)

Every week brings a new warning about AI. It will take our jobs, drain our reservoirs, cook the planet. The forecasts come from serious people. They also rhyme with forecasts we've heard before, about every powerful new technology of the last century. In this episode, MIT economist Andrew McAfee argues that the panic is racing ahead of the reality. In 2013, he famously predicted a jobs crisis from machine learning and watched the unemployment rate hit historic lows instead. Humanity’s global footprint is getting lighter each year; we are doing more with less land, less water, less raw material. He's not dismissing the risks. He's asking us to look at the track record before we panic. Subscribe to the Berggruen Institute on YouTube to be the first to listen to new Futurology episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@Berggrueninst [https://www.youtube.com/@Berggrueninst] Catch up on the Futurology conversation with full episodes on YouTube.  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyYCSKWs8iYgjg-mhu-EuhTrG0-adrb0c [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyYCSKWs8iYgjg-mhu-EuhTrG0-adrb0c]  Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921] Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk?si=XB2qyyGjT2ONMTd5XUKJAg&nd=1&dlsi=ac8cda6751834298 [https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk?si=XB2qyyGjT2ONMTd5XUKJAg&nd=1&dlsi=ac8cda6751834298] Mentioned in this Episode: The Second Machine Age [https://wwnorton.com/books/the-second-machine-age/] — Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee (Book, 2014) What Will Future Jobs Look Like? [https://www.ted.com/talks/andrew_mcafee_what_will_future_jobs_look_like] — Andrew McAfee (TED Talk, 2013) More from Less [https://www.andrewmcafee.org/books/more-from-less] — Andrew McAfee (Book, 2019) The Return of Nature: How Technology Liberates the Environment [https://thebreakthrough.org/journal/issue-5/the-return-of-nature] — Jesse Ausubel (Essay, 2015) The Population Bomb [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Population_Bomb] — Paul Ehrlich (Book, 1968) The Limits to Growth [https://www.clubofrome.org/publication/the-limits-to-growth/] — Donella Meadows, Dennis Meadows, Jørgen Randers, and William Behrens III (Book, 1972) Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/743569/empire-of-ai-by-karen-hao/] — Karen Hao (Book, 2025) How to Future-Proof Your Career in the Age of AI [https://www.noemamag.com/why-a-liberal-arts-education-will-soon-be-more-valuable-than-ever/] — Nils Gilman (Noema, 2026) Where to find Andrew McAfee: andrewmcafee.org [https://www.andrewmcafee.org/] The Geek Way on Substack [https://geekway.substack.com/] Workhelix [https://www.workhelix.com/] LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/amcafee] MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy [https://ide.mit.edu/] Show ideas and feedback? Email: futurology@berggruen.org Learn more about the Berggruen Institute  https://www.berggruen.org [https://www.berggruen.org/] Follow Futurology! Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/futurologypod/]:   / futurologypod Twitter/X [https://x.com/FuturologyPod]:   / futurologypod Tiktok [https://www.tiktok.com/@futurologypod?utm_campaign=social_link_list&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=later-linkinbio]:   / futurologypod Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/BerggruenInst/]:   / berggrueninst   LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/berggrueninst/]:   / berggrueninst   Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/futurologypod.bsky.social]:   / futurologypod Credits  Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, & Jason Hoch Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, & Nathalia Ramos Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney Theme Music: Marcus Bagala Audio Engineer: Aaron Bastinelli & Kyle Scott Wilson Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California.

What Exactly is Futurology? (with Nils Gilman & Grant Slater)

When it comes to the future, ideas matter. From artists and architects, politicians and prognosticators, the concepts guiding what’s next don’t always mix well with what’s right in front of us. This creates "future shock," the disorienting feeling of change happening faster than we can metabolize it. Today, technologists rip storylines from sci-fi into systems of command and control that only they govern. But they don't hold a monopoly on our future. In this episode, Nils Gilman, historian, futurist, and Editor-in-Chief of Berggruen Press, walks us through the long arc of humanity's grappling with what comes next and describes a future-industrial complex that emerged from chaos in the 20th century. In moments of civilizational crisis, old systems crack under the pressure of accelerating change and make space for new ways of imagining what's possible. That's what Futurology is for. Subscribe to the Berggruen Institute on YouTube to be the first to listen to new Futurology episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@Berggrueninst [https://www.youtube.com/@Berggrueninst] Catch up on the Futurology conversation with full episodes on YouTube.  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyYCSKWs8iYgjg-mhu-EuhTrG0-adrb0c [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyYCSKWs8iYgjg-mhu-EuhTrG0-adrb0c]  Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921] Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk?si=XB2qyyGjT2ONMTd5XUKJAg&nd=1&dlsi=ac8cda6751834298 [https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk?si=XB2qyyGjT2ONMTd5XUKJAg&nd=1&dlsi=ac8cda6751834298] Mentioned in this Episode: Mandarins of the Future: Modernization Theory in Cold War America [https://www.amazon.com/Mandarins-Future-Modernization-American-Intellectual/dp/0801886333] — Nils Gilman (Book, 2004) "Teaching the Future" [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00221546.1945.11774322] — Osip Flechtheim (Essay, 1945) Future Shock [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_Shock] — Alvin Toffler (Book, 1970) Amusing Ourselves to Death [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusing_Ourselves_to_Death] — Neil Postman (Book, 1985) Thinking About the Unthinkable [https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-about-Unthinkable-1980s-Herman/dp/067160449X] — Herman Kahn (Book, 1962) Futuredays: A Nineteenth Century Vision of the Year 2000 [https://www.amazon.com/Futuredays-Nineteenth-century-Vision-Year-2000/dp/0863691609] — Jean Marc Cote (Book, 1988) The Official Future Is Dead! Long Live the Official Future! [https://www.the-american-interest.com/2017/10/30/official-future-dead-long-live-official-future/] — Nils Gilman (Essay, 2017) Silicon Valley's Organic Intellectuals [https://nilsgilman.substack.com/p/silicon-valleys-organic-intellectuals] — Nils Gilman (Essay, Substack) The Old Regime and the Revolution [https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/tocqueville-the-old-regime-and-the-revolution-1856] — Alexis de Tocqueville (Book, 1856) Where to find Nils Gilman: Substack: https://nilsgilman.substack.com [https://nilsgilman.substack.com/] Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/nilsgilman.bsky.social [https://bsky.app/profile/nilsgilman.bsky.social] Berggruen Institute: https://berggruen.org/people/nils-gilman [https://www.berggruen.org/] Noema Magazine: https://www.noemamag.com/author/nils-gilman/ [https://www.noemamag.com/author/nils-gilman/] Show ideas and feedback? Email: futurology@berggruen.org Learn more about the Berggruen Institute  https://www.berggruen.org [https://www.berggruen.org/] Follow Futurology! Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/futurologypod/]:   / futurologypod Twitter/X [https://x.com/FuturologyPod]:   / futurologypod Tiktok [https://www.tiktok.com/@futurologypod?utm_campaign=social_link_list&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=later-linkinbio]:   / futurologypod Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/BerggruenInst/]:   / berggrueninst   LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/berggrueninst/]:   / berggrueninst   Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/futurologypod.bsky.social]:   / futurologypod Credits  Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, & Jason Hoch Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, & Nathalia Ramos Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney Theme Music: Marcus Bagala Audio Engineer: Aaron Bastinelli & Kyle Scott Wilson Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California.

The Democratization of Violence (with Fareed Zakaria and Nathan Gardels)

The state used to hold a monopoly on violence. That world is ending. A $15,000 drone can hold the Strait of Hormuz hostage. Pirates can afford one. So can drug smugglers. Meanwhile, the alliances that defined the last eighty years are fracturing, and the rules governing war, trade, and power are being rewritten simultaneously. In this episode, Fareed Zakaria – host of CNN’s GPS – takes stock. He argues Trump's pressure campaign on Iran will likely leave the regime more legitimized than before, and that the United States is dismantling the one coalition that could effectively rival China. Hovering over all of this, starting on the battlefield in Ukraine, the combination of cheap drones and AI is pushing the human being out of the loop. Subscribe to the Berggruen Institute on YouTube to be the first to listen to new Futurology episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@Berggrueninst [https://www.youtube.com/@Berggrueninst] Catch up on the Futurology conversation with full episodes on YouTube.  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyYCSKWs8iYgjg-mhu-EuhTrG0-adrb0c [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyYCSKWs8iYgjg-mhu-EuhTrG0-adrb0c]  Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921] Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk?si=XB2qyyGjT2ONMTd5XUKJAg&nd=1&dlsi=ac8cda6751834298 [https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk?si=XB2qyyGjT2ONMTd5XUKJAg&nd=1&dlsi=ac8cda6751834298] Mentioned in this Episode: The Post-American World [https://www.amazon.com/Post-American-World-Release-2-0/dp/0393340384] — Fareed Zakaria (Book, 2008) The Age of Revolutions [https://www.amazon.com/Age-Revolutions-Progress-Backlash-Present/dp/0393239233] — Fareed Zakaria (Book, 2024) The Rise of the Rest [https://fareedzakaria.com/columns/2008/05/12/the-rise-of-the-rest]– Fareed Zakaria (Article, 2008) Show ideas and feedback? Email: futurology@berggruen.org Learn more about the Berggruen Institute  https://www.berggruen.org [https://www.berggruen.org/] Follow Futurology! Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/futurologypod/]:   / futurologypod Twitter/X [https://x.com/FuturologyPod]:   / futurologypod Tiktok [https://www.tiktok.com/@futurologypod?utm_campaign=social_link_list&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=later-linkinbio]:   / futurologypod Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/BerggruenInst/]:   / berggrueninst   LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/berggrueninst/]:   / berggrueninst   Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/futurologypod.bsky.social]:   / futurologypod Credits  Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, & Jason Hoch Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, & Nathalia Ramos Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney Theme Music: Marcus Bagala Audio Engineer: Aaron Bastinelli & Kyle Scott Wilson Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California. Where to find Fareed Zakaria: Instagram: instagram.com/fareedzakaria [https://www.instagram.com/fareedzakaria/]  Facebook: facebook.com/fareedzakaria [https://www.facebook.com/fareedzakaria/]  LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/fareed-zakaria-7098ba24b [https://www.linkedin.com/in/fareed-zakaria-7098ba24b] Personal Website: fareedzakaria.com [https://fareedzakaria.com/]