Democracy — Podcast — 12 Geniuses

AI-generated content has exploded into people’s feeds, and with that comes greater concern over deep fakes and misinformation. As we scroll through election content this season, how can we ensure we know when something is real or fake? In this interview, IBM's Jesús Mantas addresses how his work proactively stops “fake news” and what we, as ordinary citizens, can do to spot and combat misinformation, especially AI-generated.

Jesús Mantas is the Global Managing Partner in IBM Consulting responsible for Business Transformation Services, leading the $10B unit transforming and operating mission critical businesses with digital technology and AI. He also serves as an Independent Director and Chair of the Compensation and Management Development Committee in the Board of Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB), a leading biotechnology company focused on neuroscience. He serves as a member of the Audit Committee as well. He is also a member of the World Economic Forum AI Global Council. Prior to joining IBM, Jesús was a Partner in the High Technology practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting, an adjunct professor at University of California Irvine Graduate School of Management, and an officer in the Air Force of Spain.

Dr. Pano Kanelos | Better Dialogue on Campus

Colleges have become a hotbed of division as students from all walks of life cross paths with each other, and academic agendas shape discourse and student life on campuses. As Gen Z casts some of their first ballots in 2024, how can they learn to have more respectful dialogue about the issues that matter most to them? In this interview, Dr. Pano Kanelos provides his perspective and ideas on how to encourage open dialogue on college campuses and educational settings.

Dr. Panayiotis (Pano) Kanelos is the Founding President of the University of Austin (UATX). Lauded by Forbes as one of higher education’s “academic entrepreneurs,” Dr. Kanelos was President of St. John’s College, Annapolis, the nation’s most storied great books liberal arts college. During his tenure, St. John’s successfully launched a historic initiative that included the most significant tuition reduction at any American college, accompanied by a $300 million campaign. He is widely acclaimed as one of the country’s most powerful advocates for liberal education and believes polarization on university campuses today reflects a “hardening” of empathy within American culture. He and the other co-founders started the school in response to their belief that college campuses were no longer a place where students and faculty could openly exchange ideas.

Thank you to Starts with Us for their collaboration on this series. Starts with Us is an organization committed to overcoming extreme political and cultural division. Check them out at startswith.us.

Dr. Geoffrey Baym | A Media Literacy Diet for Elections

The blurred lines between journalism, advertising, and entertainment have contributed to a lack of media literacy in today’s audiences. So, how do we discern when we have all the facts, particularly as we gear up toward an election? In this interview, Dr. Geoffrey Baym explains the history of political content in media and how we can practice better media literacy in the lead-up to the 2024 election.

Dr. Geoffrey Baym is a professor of media studies and directs the PhD program in Media and Communication at Temple University. A former TV news producer, Dr. Baym explores the shifting styles and standards of broadcast journalism, public affairs media, and political discourse. His work particularly examines the melding of news, entertainment, politics, and popular culture. His publications include the award-winning From Cronkite to Colbert: The Evolution of Broadcast News and the edited collection News Parody and Political Satire Across the Globe.

Thank you to Starts with Us for their collaboration on this series. Starts with Us is an organization committed to overcoming extreme political and cultural division. Check them out at startswith.us.

Vance Cryer | The Threats to American Democracy

Finding and fighting against national security threats is a crucial job. In any election cycle, it’s even more necessary as political enemies and disinformation can pose serious threats to our democratic process. As a career veteran and defense specialist, Vance Cryer helps spotlight the threats we may face in the intersection between polarization and national defense and how we can overcome them. Vance describes America’s external threats, what they stand to gain by a weakened America, and how they are using America’s division as a tool to undermine democracy.

Vance Cryer was born in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1968. To help pay his way through school, Vance worked as a journeyman plumber and also helped his grandfather in a business that prewired new houses for telephone service. During his first semester of school, he joined the Air Force ROTC. He then got a job at the local airport filling airplanes with gas and scraping bugs off windshields, using the cash he earned to pay for flying lessons thereby fulfilling his lifelong dream of being a pilot. By the end of that first semester, he contracted with the Marines to compete for one of two slots in north Texas for Officer Candidate School.

Vance's 27-year career with the Marines took him through flight school in Pensacola, Florida; to Top Level School at the National War College in Washington, D.C., where he earned a master's degree in national strategic studies; to four AV-8B squadron tours, including as the commanding officer of Marine Attack Squadron 211. He completed six combat tours in Iraq and served two tours of duty at the Pentagon-Headquarters Marine Corps in the Department of Aviation. In 2013, he was promoted to colonel and commanded the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit at Camp Pendleton. In 2016, he was handpicked by Secretary Ray Mabus as the Marine Military Assistant to the Secretary of the Navy.

In August 2018, Vance retired from active duty in the Marine Corps and is now serving as a Director for Special Programs at Lockheed Martin Missiles & Fire Control (MFC). He serves as the liaison between MFC and Lockheed Martin Aerospace, working on the leading edge of missile and sensor technologies and future capabilities.

Thank you to Starts with Us for their collaboration on this series. Starts with Us is an organization committed to overcoming extreme political and cultural division. Check them out at startswith.us.

Leadership, Privacy & Cybersecurity with Thom Hartmann

In this episode, host Don MacPherson and author and radio host Thom Hartmann discuss how the removal of privacy has been a tool of autocratic governments to control citizens throughout history. In countries around the world, privacy continues to be taken away from people through new technologies. That threatens innovation, liberty, and democracy. An absence of privacy and the failure to protect sensitive data heightens the vulnerability to cyber attacks at the national level and cyber theft at the corporate level. Thom and Don end their discussion with why leaders in corporate and government positions need to be aware of the challenges that an absence of privacy creates and advice for how to respond in order to restore privacy to everyday employees and citizens.

12 Geniuses Podcast

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