Futurology

We are living through an age of acceleration. The hardest part is not necessarily the pace of change, but the societal whiplash it creates. One decade we are promised a frictionless future. The next we are told everything is collapsing. The antidote is not certainty, but the discipline of holding opposites together, especially in the realms of identity, faith, and doubt.

In this episode, Turkish novelist Elif Shafak explains why fiction may be our best defense against dogma, propaganda, and collective amnesia. Novels train us to live with complexity and to feel our way into someone else’s life. Shafak argues that this kind of moral imagination is not a luxury. Without it, the danger ahead is not fear, but numbness.

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Catch up on the Futurology conversation with full episodes on YouTube. 

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Apple Podcasts

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921

Spotify

https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk?si=XB2qyyGjT2ONMTd5XUKJAg&nd=1&dlsi=ac8cda6751834298

Mentioned in this Episode:

The Bastard of Istanbul — Elif Shafak (novel, 2006)

The Gaze — Elif Shafak (novel)

10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World — Elif Shafak (novel, 2019)

The Island of Missing Trees — Elif Shafak (novel, 2021)

There Are Rivers in the Sky — Elif Shafak (novel, 2024)

What Is It Like to Be a Bat? — Thomas Nagel (essay, 1974)

Angelus Novus — Paul Klee (artwork, 1920)

Where to find Elif Shafak:

Instagram: @shafakelif

Tiktok: @sayyourword

X: @Elif_Safak

Show ideas and feedback? Email:

[email protected]

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https://www.berggruen.org

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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 WilsonFuturology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California.

Quantum computing can transform technology. Can it also reshape consciousness itself? | Subscribe to Futurology! https://linkin.bio/futurology/

Can quantum computing unlock the secrets of consciousness and hasten the arrival of artificial super intelligence? Hartmut Neven, the visionary founder of Google’s Quantum AI Lab, has spent decades pushing the boundaries of what machines can do. Now he’s betting on quantum computing to clear the path for the next era of possibilities.

In this episode, Neven takes us from early adversarial machine learning at DARPA to building the world’s most advanced quantum processors at Google. He makes a case for why the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics is our most likely vision of reality and reveals his experimental program to test whether quantum superposition is where consciousness is born.

Subscribe to the Berggruen Institute on YouTube to be the first to listen to new Futurology episodes:

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Catch up on the Futurology conversation with full episodes on YouTube. 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyYCSKWs8iYgjg-mhu-EuhTrG0-adrb0c 

Apple Podcasts

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921

Spotify

https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk?si=XB2qyyGjT2ONMTd5XUKJAg&nd=1&dlsi=ac8cda6751834298

Mentioned in this Episode:

The Fabric of Reality — David Deutsch (book, 1997)

Intriguing Properties of Neural Networks — Christian Szegedy, Wojciech Zaremba, Ilya Sutskever, Joan Bruna, Dumitru Erhan, Ian Goodfellow and Rob Fergus (paper, 2013)

Mécanique quantique. Tome 1, 2 — Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Bernard Diu and Franck Laloë (textbook, French edition)

The Emperor’s New Mind — Roger Penrose (book, 1989)

Where to Find Hartmut Neven:

Google Research ProfileGoogle Quantum AI Lab

Show ideas and feedback? Email:

[email protected]

Learn more about the Berggruen Institute 

https://www.berggruen.org

Follow Futurology!

Instagram:   / futurologypod

Twitter/X:   / futurologypod

Tiktok:   / futurologypod

Facebook:   / berggrueninst  

LinkedIn:   / berggrueninst  

Bluesky:   / 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.

Moral debate has been replaced by outrage — political philosopher Michael Sandel makes the case for a different kind of public life. | Subscribe to Futurology! https://linkin.bio/futurology/

We built a society around the idea that the “best” should rise to the top. If you work hard and win the race, you deserve your success. Michael Sandel – the Harvard philosopher and 2025 Berggruen Prize Laureate – argues that this faith has warped public life, turning economic inequality into moral judgment and teaching millions to hear the same message behind every setback: if you didn’t make it, it’s your fault.

In this episode, Sandel says the rise of MAGA is the predictable result of treating markets as the measure of value and credentials as the measure of worth. Repair, he suggests, means rebuilding the public sphere by redesigning the system, not just swapping out one elite for another. To do so, we must redesign our politics before advanced technology locks grievance in place.

Subscribe to the Berggruen Institute on YouTube to be the first to listen to new Futurology episodes:

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 

Apple Podcasts

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921

Spotify

https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk?si=XB2qyyGjT2ONMTd5XUKJAg&nd=1&dlsi=ac8cda6751834298

Mentioned in this Episode:

Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do? — Michael J. Sandel (Book, 2009)

What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets — Michael J. Sandel (Book, 2012)

The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good? — Michael J. Sandel (Book, 2020)

Liberalism and the Limits of Justice — Michael J. Sandel (Book, 1982)

Democracy’s Discontent: America in Search of a Public Philosophy — Michael J. Sandel (Book, 1996)

The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century — Thomas L. Friedman (Book, 2005)  Where to find Michael Sandel:

Official website

Harvard Law School profile

Show ideas and feedback? Email:

[email protected]

Learn more about the Berggruen Institute 

https://www.berggruen.org

Follow Futurology!

Instagram:   / futurologypod

Twitter/X:   / futurologypod

Tiktok:   / futurologypod

Facebook:   / berggrueninst  

LinkedIn:   / berggrueninst  

Bluesky:   / 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.

Was “open and transparent” social media ever a good idea? Evan Spiegel explains why he built Snapchat differently. | Subscribe to Futurology! https://linkin.bio/futurology/

Are some of tech’s best innovations born from subtraction? Evan Spiegel built Snapchat around design choices that undid industry norms: no likes, no public comments, no permanent posts. 

In this conversation with Dawn Nakagawa, the Snap CEO explains why giving teenagers a tool to measure social capital in real time was never a good idea and where today’s tech revolution could take us next, beyond the smartphone. From deliberative democracy to the interconnectedness of all life, Spiegel ponders the big ideas that will help us design our future, not just react to it.

Subscribe to the Berggruen Institute on YouTube to be the first to listen to new Futurology episodes:

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 

Apple Podcasts

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921

Spotify

https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk?si=XB2qyyGjT2ONMTd5XUKJAg&nd=1&dlsi=ac8cda6751834298

Mentioned in this Episode:

America in One Room — Deliberative Democracy Lab at Stanford

Department of Angels — Official site

Altagether — Official site

Team Palisades — Official site

Where to find Evan Spiegel: 

Snapchat: https://www.snapchat.com/@evan

Snap Inc. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@snapinc

Snap Spectacles: www.instagram.com/spectacles/

Snap.com: Official Profile

Show ideas and feedback? Email:

[email protected]

Learn more about the Berggruen Institute 

https://www.berggruen.org

Follow Futurology!

Instagram:   / futurologypod

Twitter/X:   / futurologypod

Tiktok:   / futurologypod

Facebook:   / berggrueninst  

LinkedIn:   / berggrueninst  

Bluesky:   / 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.

Reza Aslan on why Iran is winning, and why the idea of nationalism may be the next great illusion to fall.  | Subscribe to Futurology! https://linkin.bio/futurology/

What does it mean for a nation to fight a war it cannot win? Iranian scholar and author Reza Aslan joins Nathan Gardels to cut through four decades of American self-deception about Iran. In this episode, Aslan argues that the war in Iran has done exactly what decades of intelligence had predicted: silenced dissent, entrenched hardline power, and destroyed the slow-burning possibility of reform taking root in Iran. He makes the case that Iran is not an unhinged theocracy, but a completely rational actor facing a waning global superpower mired in a “cosmic war mentality.

Subscribe to the Berggruen Institute on YouTube to be the first to listen to new Futurology episodes:

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 

Apple Podcasts

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921

Spotify

https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk?si=XB2qyyGjT2ONMTd5XUKJAg&nd=1&dlsi=ac8cda6751834298

Mentioned in this Episode:

No God but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam — Reza Aslan (Book, 2005)

Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth — Reza Aslan (Book, 2013)

God: A Human History — Reza Aslan (Book, 2017)

Where to find Resa Aslan:

https://www.rezaaslan.com/

Show ideas and feedback? Email:

[email protected]

Learn more about the Berggruen Institute 

https://www.berggruen.org

Follow Futurology!

Instagram:   / futurologypod

Twitter/X:   / futurologypod

Tiktok:   / futurologypod

Facebook:   / berggrueninst  

LinkedIn:   / berggrueninst  

Bluesky:   / 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.