"Honest Signals: How They Shape Our World" - Alex (Sandy) Pentland

"Honest Signals: How They Shape Our World"
How can you know when someone is bluffing? Paying attention? Genuinely interested? The answer, writes Sandy Pentland in Honest Signals, is that subtle patterns in how we interact with other people reveal our attitudes toward them. These unconscious social signals are not just a back channel or a complement to our conscious language; they form a separate communication network. Biologically based "honest signaling," evolved from ancient primate signaling mechanisms, offers an unmatched window into our intentions, goals, and values. If we understand this ancient channel of communication, Pentland claims, we can accurately predict the outcomes of situations ranging from job interviews to first dates.

Professor Alex ("Sandy") Pentland, is a leading figure at the MIT Media Lab and is a pioneer in the fields of organizational engineering, mobile information systems, and computational social science. He co-directs the Digital Life Consortium, a group of more than twenty multinational corporations exploring new ways to innovate, and oversees the Next Billion Network, established to support aspiring entrepreneurs in emerging markets. In 1997 Newsweek magazine named him one of the 100 Americans likely to shape this century.
This event took place on November 19, 2008

Gapminder Google Talks Conference - Presentation of human development, the reality of income distribution, etc.

Google TechTalks
March 7, 2006

Amazing presentation of human development, the reality of income distribution, etc.

Ola Rosling
Anna Rosling Rönnlund
Johan Nystrand

Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions." - Authors@Google: Dan Ariely

Professor Dan Ariely visits Google's Mountain View, CA headquarters to discuss his book "Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions." This event took place on July 1, 2008, as part of the Authors@Google series. In a series of illuminating, often surprising experiments, MIT behavioral economist Dan Ariely refutes the common assumption that we behave in fundamentally rational ways. Blending everyday experience with groundbreaking research, Ariely explains how expectations, emotions, social norms, and other invisible, seemingly illogical forces skew our reasoning abilities. Not only do we make astonishingly simple mistakes every day, but we make the same types of mistakes, Ariely discovers. We consistently overpay, underestimate, and procrastinate. We fail to understand the profound effects of our emotions on what we want, and we overvalue what we already own. Yet these misguided behaviors are neither random nor senseless. They're systematic and predictable—making us predictably irrational. Dan Ariely is the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Behavioral Economics at MIT, where he holds a joint appointment between MIT's Media Laboratory and the Sloan School of Management. He is also a researcher at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and a visiting professor at Duke University. Ariely wrote this book while he was a fellow at the Institute for Advance Study at Princeton.



YouTube - Authors@Google: Dan Ariely

Robert Frank - "The Economic Naturalist: In Search of Explanations for Everyday Enigmas"

Author Robert Frank discusses his book "The Economic Naturalist: In Search of Explanations for Everyday Enigmas" as a part of the Authors@Google series. This event took place on July 23, 2007 at Google headquarters in Mountain View, CA.




YouTube - Authors@Google: Robert Frank: ""

James Randi- Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP).

"James Randi is an internationally known magician (as The Amazing Randi), psychic debunker, and winner of a MacArthur Foundation 'Genius Grant.' He was a founding fellow of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP). He is perhaps best known for offering $1,000,000 (via the James Randi Educational Foundation) to anyone who can successfully demonstrate psychic powers under conditions mutually agreed on by the challenger and himself. Starting with a $10,000 prize over 25 years ago, no claimant to psychic powers has ever won the money.

Randi has pursued 'psychic' spoonbenders, exposed the dirty tricks of faith healers, investigated homeopathic water 'with a memory,' and generally been a thorn in the sides of those who try to pull the wool over the public's eyes in the name of the supernatural.

This event took place August 6, 2007 at Google Headquarters in Mountain View, CA."



YouTube - Authors@Google: James Randi:

Michael Dobbs - "One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War".

Author Michael Dobbs visits Google's headquarters in Mountain View, CA, to discuss his book "One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War". This event took place on October 8, 2008, as part of the Authors@google series.
In October 1962, at the height of the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union appeared to be sliding inexorably toward a nuclear conflict over the placement of missiles in Cuba. In One Minute to Midnight, Veteran Washington Post reporter Michael Dobbs has pored over previously untapped American, Soviet, and Cuban sources to produce the most authoritative book yet on the Cuban missile crisis. In his hour-by-hour chronicle of those near-fatal days, Dobbs reveals some startling new incidents that illustrate how close we came to Armageddon.
Michael Dobbs was born in Belfast, Ireland, and educated at the University of York, with fellowships at Princeton and Harvard. He is a reporter for The Washington Post, where he spent much of his career as a foreign correspondent covering the collapse of communism. His Down with Big Brother: The Fall of the Soviet Empire was a finalist for a 1997 PEN award. He lives in Bethesda, Maryland.



YouTube - Authors@Google: Michael Dobbs

"The Future of the Internet - And How To Stop It" - Google DC Talks: The Future of the Internet

Harvard's Berkman Center, Google, and the Family Online Safety Institute hosted this discussion featuring Professor Jonathan Zittrain previewing his forthcoming book "The Future of the Internet - And How To Stop It" with a response by Professor Larry Lessig and an introduction by Google's own Vint Cerf. This event took place at Google's Washington, D.C. office on March 20, 2008


YouTube - Google DC Talks: The Future of the Internet

"SIMPLEXITY: Why Simple Things Become Complex (and how Complex Things Can Be Made Simple)." - Authors@Google: Jeffrey Kluger

Jeffrey Kluger visits Google's Cambridge, MA office to discuss his book "SIMPLEXITY: Why Simple Things Become Complex (and how Complex Things Can Be Made Simple)." This event took place on June 4, 2008, as part of the Authors@Google series. In Simplexity, Time senior writer Jeffrey Kluger shows how a drinking straw can save thousands of lives; how a million cars can be on the streets but just a few hundred of them can lead to gridlock; how investors behave like atoms; how arithmetic governs abstract art and physics drives jazz; why swatting a TV indeed makes it work better. As simplexity moves from the research lab into popular consciousness it will challenge our models for modern living. Jeffrey Kluger adeptly translates newly evolving theory into a delightful theory of everything that will have you rethinking the rules of business, family, art—your world. Jeffrey's other work includes Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13, on which the 1995 movie Apollo 13 was based, and the critically acclaimed Splendid Solution: Jonas Salk and the Conquest of Polio.




YouTube - Authors@Google: Jeffrey Kluger

"The Book of Vice: Very Naughty Things (and How to Do Them)." - Authors@Google: Peter Sagal

Peter Sagal visits Google's Mountain View, CA headquarters to discuss his book "The Book of Vice: Very Naughty Things (and How to Do Them)." This event took place on July 23, 2008, as part of the Authors@Google series. Somewhere, somebody is having more fun than you are. Or so everyone believes. Peter Sagal, a mild-mannered, Harvard-educated NPR host—the man who put the second "L" in "vanilla"—decided to find out if it's true. From strip clubs to gambling halls to swingers clubs to porn sets—and then back to the strip clubs, but only because he left his glasses there—Sagal explores exactly what the sinful folk do, how much they pay for the privilege, and exactly how they got those funny red marks. He hosts a dinner for three of the smartest porn stars in the world, asks the floor manager at the oldest casino in Vegas how to beat the house, and indulges in molecular cuisine at the finest restaurant in the country. Meet liars and rich people who don't think consumption is a disease, encounter the most spectacular view ever seen from a urinal, and say hello to Nina Hartley, the only porn star who can discuss Nietzsche while strangers smack her butt. With a sharp wit, a remarkable eye for detail, and the carefree insouciance that can only come from not having any idea what he's getting into, Sagal proves to be the perfect guide to sinful behavior. What happens in Vegas—and in less glamorous places—is all laid out in these pages, a modern version of Dante's Inferno, except with more jokes. Peter Sagal (www.petersagal.com) is the host of Wait Wait . . . Don't Tell Me!,™ the NPR ™ news quiz. He is also an award-winning playwright, occasional screenwriter, onetime extra in a Michael Jackson music video, former staff writer for a motorcycle magazine, and a regular contributor to "The Funny Pages" in the New York Times Sunday Magazine. Sagal lives near Chicago with his wife and three daughters. This is his first book.




YouTube - Authors@Google: Peter Sagal

The Time Paradox: The New Psychology of Time - Authors@Google: Philip Zimbardo and John Boyd

The Time Paradox: The New Psychology of Time That Will Change Your Life Your every significant choice -- every important decision you make -- is determined by a force operating deep inside your mind: your perspective on time -- your internal, personal time zone. This is the most influential force in your life, yet you are virtually unaware of it. Once you become aware of your personal time zone, you can begin to see and manage your life in exciting new ways. In The Time Paradox, Drs. Zimbardo and Boyd draw on thirty years of pioneering research to reveal, for the first time, how your individual time perspective shapes your life and is shaped by the world around you. Further, they demonstrate that your and every other individual's time zones interact to create national cultures, economics, and personal destinies. Philip Zimbardo is professor emeritus of psychology at Stanford University and has also taught at Yale University, New York University, and Columbia University. His informative website, www.prisonexperiment.org, is visited by millions every year. Visit the author's personal website at www.zimbardo.com. This event took place on October 3, 2008





YouTube - Authors@Google: Philip Zimbardo and John Boyd

James Randi - Authors@Google

James Randi is an internationally known magician (as The Amazing Randi), psychic debunker, and winner of a MacArthur Foundation "Genius Grant." He was a founding fellow of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP). He is perhaps best known for offering $1,000,000 (via the James Randi Educational Foundation) to anyone who can successfully demonstrate psychic powers under conditions mutually agreed on by the challenger and himself. Starting with a $10,000 prize over 25 years ago, no claimant to psychic powers has ever won the money.

Randi has pursued "psychic" spoonbenders, exposed the dirty tricks of faith healers, investigated homeopathic water "with a memory," and generally been a thorn in the sides of those who try to pull the wool over the public's eyes in the name of the supernatural.

This event took place August 6, 2007 at Google Headquarters in Mountain View, CA.




YouTube - Authors@Google: James Randi

Christopher Hitchens - "God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything"

Author Christopher Hitchens discusses his book "God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything" as a part of the Authors@Google series. The author of Why Orwell Matters and Letters to a Young Contrarian, Christopher Hitchens is a Vanity Fair contributing editor, a Slate columnist, and a regular contributor to The Atlantic Monthly. He has also written for The Nation, Granta, Harper's, The Washington Post, and is a frequent television and radio guest. Born in England, Hitchens was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, where he received a degree in philosophy, politics, and economics. He now lives in Washington, D.C., and he became a U.S. citizen in 2007. This event took place on August 16, 2007 at Google headquarters in Mountain View, CA.
Authors@Google:



YouTube - Authors@Google: Christopher Hitchens

"Leadership and the Sexes" - Michael Gurian

Author Michael Gurian visits Google's headquarters in Mountain View, CA, to discuss his book "Leadership and the Sexes". This event took place September 10, 2008, as a part of the Authors@google series. For more info, please visit http://www.michaelgurian.com/
Leadership and the Sexes presents brain science tools with which readers can look into the brains of men and women to understand themselves and one another. The book also provides five Gender Tools, which can be used immediately in executive, management, design, and marketing teams. The gender science presented in this book has been used successfully by such diverse corporations as IBM, Nissan, Proctor & Gamble, Deloitte & Touche, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Brooks Sports, and many others. This gender science helps leaders increase their organization's competitive edge, profits, and bottom line.
Michael Gurian is a thought-leader, corporate consultant, family therapist, and the New York Times bestselling author of twenty-five books, including Leading Partners, The Wonder of Girls, Boys and Girls Learn Differently!, The Wonder of Boys, and The Minds of Boys. The co-founder of the Gurian Institute, he has spearheaded a national effort to provide communities and corporations with training in brain-based gender issues.
Link to the Gurian Institute: http://www.gurianinstitute.com/



YouTube - Authors@Google: Michael Gurian

Louann Brizendine - "The Female Brain."

Louann Brizendine visits Google's Mountain View, CA headquarters to discuss her book "The Female Brain." This event took place on August 7, 2008, as part of the Authors@Google series.



YouTube - Authors@Google: Louann Brizendine

Michael Shermer - The Mind of the Market - Authors@Google:

Michael Shermer discusses his book "Mind of the Market" as part of the Authors@Google series.

How did we evolve from ancient hunter-gatherers to modern consumer-traders? Why are people so irrational when it comes to money and business? Bestselling author Dr. Michael Shermer argues that evolution provides an answer to both of these questions through the new science of evolutionary economics. Drawing on research from neuroeconomics, Shermer explores what brain scans reveal about bargaining, snap purchases, and how trust is established in business. Utilizing experiments in behavioral economics, Shermer shows why people hang on to losing stocks and failing companies, why business negotiations often disintegrate into emotional tit-for-tat disputes, and why money does not make us happy. Employing research from complexity theory, Shermer shows how evolution and economics are both examples of a larger phenomenon of complex adaptive systems. Along the way, Shermer answers such provocative questions as: Do our tribal roots mean that we will always be a sucker for brands? How is the biochemical joy of sex similar to the rewards of business cooperation? How can nations increase trust within and between their borders? Finally, Shermer considers the consequences of globalization and what will happen if nations allow free trade across their borders.

This event took place January 29, 2008 at Google Headquarters in Mountain View, CA.





Authors@Google: Michael Shermer

Dr. John Medina. Brain Rules: Excersice & Stress. Authors@Google:

Most of us have no idea what's really going on inside our heads. Yet brain scientists have uncovered details every business leader, parent, and teacher should know--such as the brain's need for physical activity to work at its best.
How do we learn? What exactly do sleep and stress do to our brains? Why is multi-tasking a myth? Why is it so easy to forget--and so important to repeat new information? Is it true that men and women have different brains?
In Brain Rules, molecular biologist Dr. John Medina shares his lifelong interest in how the brain sciences might influence the way we teach our children and the way we work. In each chapter, he describes a brain rule--what scientists know for sure about how our brains work--and then offers transformative ideas for our daily lives. For more information go to http://www.brainrules.net/.



YouTube - Authors@Google: Dr. John Medina

Thinking Beyond Borders - video

Thinking Beyond Borders
Google engEDU
32 min 44 sec - Sep 27, 2007


Google Tech Talks September 27, 2007

ABSTRACT
Our global society faces great challenges such as Global Warming, HIV/AIDS in ... all » sub-Saharan Africa, wide-spread hunger, and poverty. To effectively address these issues in years to come, we must re-envision how we prepare our next great leaders to be conscious agents of change. Thinking Beyond Borders is a 35-week program to educate Gap Year students about the economic, political, and cultural realities of our world while empowering them with the tools to create proactive social change. Through varied service learning opportunities, the itinerary immerses students in cultures and communities around the world to provide experiences with various issues of International Development. The curriculum challenges students to synthesize academic research and their collected observations into powerful conclusions about the nature of globalization, world hunger, human rights, cultural change, and political systems. The most unique aspect of this program is that students return to the US to meet with international policy makers and share their conclusions with student and philanthropy groups to raise awareness and funds for the NGOs they worked with abroad. In these ways, Thinking Beyond Borders seeks to create a community of conscious agents of proactive change, equipped to tackle our world's greatest challenges.


Thinking Beyond Borders

Toward the First Revolution in the Mind Sciences

Toward the First Revolution in the Mind Sciences
Google engEDU
1 hr 2 min 31 sec - Aug 8, 2006


Google TechTalks August 8, 2006

B. Alan Wallace, Ph.D. has been a scholar and practitioner of Buddhism since 1970. He is currently seeking ways to integrate Buddhist contemplative practices and Western science to advance the study of the mind. He is the founder and president of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies ( http://sbinstitute.com ).

ABSTRACT Galileo took a seminal role in launching the first revolution in the physical sciences, and a key element in this revolution was the rigorous, sophisticated observation of physical phenomena. Darwin likewise launched a revolution in the life sciences on the basis of decades of meticulous observation of biological phenomena. Although scientists have been studying the mind for more than a century, no comparable revolution has taken place in the mind sciences, and the missing element that may account for this delayed revolution is the absence of rigorous, precise observations of mental phenomena. By integrating the third-person methodologies of the cognitive sciences with the first-person methods for examining the mind that have been developed in Buddhism and other contemplative traditions, our present generation may bring about the first revolution in the mind sciences.


Toward the First Revolution in the Mind Sciences

Authors@Google: John Searle " Freedom and Neurobiology: Reflections on Free Will, Language, and Political Power."

John Searle visits Google's Mountain View, CA headquarters to discuss his book " Freedom and Neurobiology: Reflections on Free Will, Language, and Political Power." This event took place on October 30, 2007 as part of the Authors@Google series.



YouTube - Authors@Google: John Searle

Authors@Google: Will Self, "Psychogeography."

Will Self visits Google's Mountain View, CA headquarters to discuss his book, "Psychogeography." This event took place on October 29, 2007 as part of the Authors@Google program.



YouTube - Authors@Google: Will Self