Hod Lipson + Y-House

From microscopes to telescopes, humans have created many tools to expand our perception and exploration of the world. Now artificial intelligence, robotics, and virtual reality are opening a whole new chapter. Can AIs that think differently than us open up entirely new views of reality? Can machines and other avatars expand the human experience—and perhaps even take our minds to the stars?

Join roboticist and TED Talk alumnus Hod Lipson, philosopher Susan Schneider, and astrophysicists Edwin L. Turner and Caleb Scharf as they discuss cutting-edge research on the nature of machine learning and the human story.

Presented with Y-House

Brainwave is supported in part by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

About the Speaker

Hod Lipson is a professor of Engineering at Columbia University in New York, and a co-author of the award-winning book Fabricated: The New World of 3D Printing, and Driverless: Intelligent Cars and the Road Ahead. His work on self-aware and self-replicating robots challenges conventional views of robotics. His TED Talk on self-aware machines is one of the most viewed presentations on AI. Lipson has co-authored over 300 publications that have received over 12,000 citations. He directs the Creative Machines Lab, which pioneers new ways for machines to create and be creative.

Susan Schneider is a philosophy professor who specializes on the nature of the self and mind. She currently works at the University of Connecticut, YHouse in New York City, and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.

Edwin L. Turner is Professor of Astrophysical Sciences and Director of the Council for International Teaching and Research at Princeton University. He is also an affiliate scientist at the University of Tokyo’s Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe and a continuing visitor at the Institute for Advanced Study’s program in Interdisciplinary Studies. He has been an active participant in the Breakthrough Starshot Initiative since its inception. He is among the founders of YHouse and serves as treasurer on its board of directors.

Caleb Scharf was born and educated in England. He received his B.Sc. in physics from Durham University and his Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Cambridge. Since completing postdoctoral work in X-ray astronomy and observational cosmology at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the Space Telescope Science Institute in Maryland, he has been a research scientist at Columbia University in New York. He is currently the director of the multidisciplinary Columbia Astrobiology Center. His research interests include the study of exoplanets, exomoons, and the nature of environments suitable for life.