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Berkeley Talks

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Latest episodes

W. Kamau Bell on AI, creativity and resisting the pull of automation

September 18, 2026 · 1 hr 6 min

When W. Kamau Bell was a child, his mother bought the family a Commodore VIC-20, a popular home computer of the early 1980s. He also had Pong, a ColecoVision and, later, a MiniDisc player. Today, he is still the person his family calls…
Leaping robots, AI companies and a NASA mission

August 21, 2026 · 53 min

When Aravind Srinivas arrived at UC Berkeley in 2020 hoping to join Pieter Abbeel’s robotics lab, he encountered an immediate obstacle: The lab was already full. Undeterred, Srinivas proposed that he and Abeel work together for six months…
How we've long misread gun violence (and ways to prevent it)

August 7, 2026 · 1 hr 28 min

In the early hours of November 2007, Amadou Cisse, a 29-year-old University of Chicago chemistry graduate student, was walking home when Demetrius Warren, then 17, and Benjamin Williams, 21, approached him. According to trial testimony…
The making of pioneering Black feminist Frances M. Beal

July 24, 2026 · 43 min

In 1957, a terrified 17-year-old girl lay on a Harlem kitchen table undergoing an illegal, backstreet abortion. Nearly dying from complications, she was rushed to a hospital ward where nurses badgered her and demanded to know what she had…
When we talk to AI, what are we talking to?

July 10, 2026 · 1 hr 51 min

In the early days of personal computing, people imagined artificial intelligence as a single, self-contained system — a kind of digital brain with a fixed identity. Talking to AI meant asking questions to a clearly defined machine. That…

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Philosopher Mark Johnston asks, 'Is this our only life?'

June 26, 2026 · 1 hr 27 min

When Princeton University Professor Mark Johnston's daughter was 18 months old, she stood on a beach with what he describes as a "quizzical philosophical look on her face, as if she was thinking, 'Is this my only life?'" That question is…
Why kids need awe — and how puppets can help

June 12, 2026 · 58 min

As Halle Stanford drove through Topanga Canyon in Southern California, with Dolly Parton blasting from the car speakers, she was struck by a moment of inspiration. “I had this vision of a little hedgehog on the side of the road in her…
What punk subcultures can teach us about resisting hate

May 29, 2026 · 1 hr 12 min

Across the American West Coast in the 1980s, the burgeoning punk rock and skinhead scenes were much more than just raw music and counterculture fashion — they quickly became contested ground in an ideological battle against white…
Musician Lara Downes celebrates the sound of America

May 15, 2026 · 30 min

It was the morning after the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and pianist Lara Downes was catching a flight from California to Kentucky, where she was set to perform later in the evening. “It was a very weird day to be anywhere,” she…
How the American university’s success led to its modern challenges

May 1, 2026 · 1 hr 4 min

While preparing his lectures for UC Berkeley, Princeton University President Christopher Eisgruber spent hours poring over the memoirs and writings of former University of California President Clark Kerr, seeking wisdom from the architect…
Alison Gopnik on why AI is no match for a 4-year-old

April 17, 2026 · 1 hr 25 min

Over her decadeslong career as a developmental psychologist, Alison Gopnik has observed a striking phenomenon: When children are given a new toy without an obvious use, they often outperform high‑achieving college students in figuring out…
Hany Farid on the erosion of shared reality in the age of deepfakes

April 6, 2026 · 51 min

Two decades ago, when Hany Farid first began studying digital misinformation and manipulated media, fake content was easier to detect. Today, that landscape has shifted with a speed that he describes as “breathtaking.” In just the last…