CASBS Joins Talks at Google Program

The Talks at Google program features speakers who allow us “to find out what drives them and how they make our world a better place.”

The program’s simple tagline: Where great minds meet.

That aligns well with the CASBS’s cornerstone: its fellowship program, making CASBS, too, a place where great minds meet. The Center’s annual fellows class features a multi-disciplinary set of scholars who are among the leaders in their respective fields.

CASBS is pleased that some of its current and former fellows will participate in an ongoing basis in the Talks at Google program. Three have appeared already – 2015-16 fellow Rose McDermott, 2016-17 fellow Eric Klinenberg, and 2015-16 fellow Ted Slingerland – and more are in the pipeline.

“Talks at Google invites the world’s most influential thinkers, creators, makers, and doers to tell us about their work, their lives, and what drives them to shape our world,” says Cliff Redeker, Impresario for Talks at Google. (Yes, that’s his very cool title.) “Bringing innovative ideas to Google fosters creative conversations and makes Google a great place to work. We're excited to include CASBS fellows among a wide range of experts we invite every year.”

Each talk includes a presentation before a live audience of Googlers, followed by a Q&A session. The talks are filmed and, within a couple of weeks, placed on the Talks at Google YouTube channel, allowing the talks to reach new audiences. The channel has more than a half-million subscribers, and videos of the talks have been viewed more than 85 million times.

“We boast a practically unlimited depth and breadth of intellectual talent here, and we’re delighted that Google recognizes the Center as a valuable source of knowledge and expertise,” said CASBS communications director Mike Gaetani. “We constantly seek to build institutional relationships and engage the broader public and other communities, and the Talks at Google program is a great way to do that.”

The first three CASBS participants in the program provided an excellent showcase of that depth and breadth. McDermott presented on “The Genetics of Politics,” exploring her research on the influence of genetic contributions to political and social behavior. Klinenberg discussed “The Sociology of Connection,” in which he integrated insights underpinning his books Modern Romance (co-authored with Aziz Ansari) and Going Solo. Slingerland talked about “Creativity, Trust, and the Paradox of Spontaneity,” in which he described his extensive work incorporating ancient Chinese philosophy, psychology, embodied cognition, and modern neuroscience and their applications to how we can live today and in the future.

View all three talks, each followed by lively Q&A sessions, below.

Related Events

• 2017-18 CASBS fellow Hector Postigo: "Can Your Platform Afford Play? How Video Gamers Invented New Entertainment Genres"
• 2016-17 CASBS fellow Eric Klinenberg: "The Sociology of Connection: Lessons from Going Solo and Modern Romance""
• 2015-16 CASBS fellow Rose McDermott: "The Genetics of Politics"
• 2014-15 CASBS fellow Fred Turner: "Media Against Fascism: From World War II to the Psychedelic Sixties"
• 2015-16 CASBS fellow Jamie Jones: "Decelerating, Correlated, and Skewed: Understanding How the Biophysical Environment Shaped Human Preferences"
• 2015-16 CASBS fellow Ted Slingerland: "Trying Not to Try: Creativity, Trust, and the Paradox of Spontaneity"