The Atlas Society Asks

Steven E. Koonin is the author of Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn’t, and Why It Matters and the director of NYU’s Center for Urban Science and Progress. He also served in the Obama administration as Under Secretary for Science at the U.S. Department of Energy, was chief scientist at BP, and professor and provost at California Institute of Technology. Tune in for his thoughts about climate change as well as about the dire predictions for our future that populate our media.

Turkish journalist and award-winning writer Mustafa Akyol is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute's Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity. He is also the author of the upcoming Reopening Muslim Minds: A Return to Reason, Freedom, and Tolerance and the 2018 The Islamic Jesus. His work focuses on the intersection of ​​public policy, Islam, and modernity.

Steve Forbes is Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Media and the host of podcast What’s Ahead, where he talks to newsmakers, politicians, and pioneers in business and economics. He is the author of Reviving America: How Repealing Obamacare, Replacing the Tax Code and Reforming The Fed will Restore Hope and Prosperity and Money: How the Destruction of the Dollar Threatens the Global Economy – and What We Can Do About It and writes editorials for each issue of Forbes called “Fact and Comment.” He twice ran for president promoting policies such as the flat tax, school choice, and term limits.

Sebastian Junger is an award-winning international journalist, a #1 New York Times bestselling novelist, and acclaimed documentary filmmaker. His most recent book, Freedom, explores the concept of freedom as he and three friends spent most of a year walking the railroad tracks on the east coast. Other books include The Perfect Storm, War, and Tribe. He also co-directed Restrepo, a feature-length documentary about troops in Afghanistan as well as three other films about war and its impact. Junger founded and is the director of Vets Town Halls, events that provide vets with an opportunity to speak publicly about their experiences to create a better understanding between vets and their communities.

Kmele Foster is a political commentator who is the co-host of the podcast The Fifth Column. A producer and writer, he co-founded Freethink Media, an online video platform dedicated to telling stories about human perseverance, inspiration, and progress. Foster is also an entrepreneur and the co-founder of TelcoIQ, a Maryland-based telecommunications consultancy.

Michael Saylor is chairman, CEO, and co-founder of MicroStrategy, a company that provides business intelligence, mobile software, and cloud-based services. An expert on Bitcoin, he frequently speaks and appears on television to discuss cryptocurrency and its future. He is also the author of The Mobile Wave: How Mobile Intelligence Will Change Everything and trustee of Saylor Academy, which has provided a free education to over 800,000 students.

The Atlas Society Current Events Panel: Philosopher Stephen Hicks and Economist Richard Salsman discuss Critical Race Theory and Inflation in the 57th episode of The Atlas Society Asks.

Aubrey de Grey is the Chief Science Officer and Co-Founder of SENS Research Foundation, an organization dedicated to changing the way the world researches and treats age-related diseases by researching, developing, and promoting the means to defeat the human aging process. A biomedical gerontologist, he co-authored Ending Aging: The Rejuvenation Breakthroughs That Could Reverse Human Aging in Our Lifetime to explain the science behind the biomedical technology that would slow, and even reverse, aging. He is one of the foremost speakers on the topic of aging as a curable disease.

John Mackey is the co-founder and co-CEO of Whole Foods Market, one of Fortune magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For.” Devoted to promoting health and wellness and to reducing global poverty, Mackey wrote Conscious Capitalism and co-founded the Conscious Capitalism Movement. Tune in to hear him discuss his most recent book, Conscious Leadership: Elevating Humanity Through Business, which challenges readers to rethink conventional business wisdom.

Randall Wallace is an Oscar-nominated screenwriter, director, producer, songwriter, and novelist. He is best known for writing the screenplay for Braveheart and Pearl Harbor but has also written and directed We Were Soldiers, and Secretariat. He is also the author of seven novels and most recently, Living the Braveheart Life: Finding the Courage to Follow Your Heart, which is about his creative and personal life journey. His deep admiration for the ideas of Ayn Rand inspired Jennifer Grossman to write her Wall Street Journal op-ed, “Can You Love God and Ayn Rand?”

Bill Whittle is a writer, film director, political commentator and YouTuber who focuses on America, history, and conservative values. He is the co-host of Bill Whittle Now and Right Angle, in which he and his co-hosts share their thoughts on topics in the news. He is also known for his FIREWALL video essays. His first book, "Silent America: Essays from a Democracy at War," is a collection from his first blog, "Eject! Eject! Eject!," where he wrote personal narratives and long format essays which discussed current events and political philosophy. Whittle is also an instrument-rated pilot of glider and light aircraft.

Nina Teicholz is an investigative science journalist and an adjunct professor at NYU. She is the author of the best-selling book, "The Big Fat Surprise", which challenges conventional thinking regarding dietary fat and government dietary policy. She is also Executive Director of The Nutrition Coalition, a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization with the primary goal of ensuring that U.S. nutrition policy is based on rigorous scientific evidence. Tune in for her thoughts on nutrition and health, particularly COVID.

Patri Friedman is the founder and general partner of Pronomos Capital, which is dedicated to building prosperous cities using a new model for urban development, uplifting entire regions. Mr. Friedman worked at Google as an engineer from 2004-2008 and 2013-2019. In 2008 he founded the Seasteading Institute and in 2009 started Ephemerisle, the largest self-organizing festival on water.

Jason Hill credits Ayn Rand for inspiring him to emigrate from Jamaica to America and pursue his calling as a professor of philosophy. Today as a Professor at DePaul University in Chicago he’s a sought-after speaker on Objectivism, ethics, moral psychology, and American politics. He is an advocate for the freedom of speech on college campuses and calls out the common victimhood narrative against this freedom: “To be a victim is to take on the mantle of permanent innocence. It is to become a certified moral icon. And when you become a certified moral icon and a permanent innocent person, your transgressor becomes a guilty person from whom you can extract some kind of reparation.”

Entrepreneur Tim Draper is a leading spokesperson on Bitcoin, Blockchain, and cryptocurrencies. The Silicon Valley venture capitalist is founder of Draper Associates, Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ), and the Draper Venture Network. Author of How to be The Startup Hero, Draper has invested heavily in promoting school choice and founded Draper University to train the next generation of Startup Heroes. Tune in to hear his thoughts on cryptocurrency, school choice, Robinhood, and Theranos.

Join us for The Atlas Society Asks Art Laffer on March 31 @ 12 N PT / 3 PM ET Economist Art Laffer is best known for the "Laffer Curve," an illustration of the theory that there exists a tax rate between 0% and 100% that will result in maximum tax revenue for governments. Thanks to his work as a member of President Reagan’s Economic Policy Advisory Board, the founder and chairman of Laffer Associates has been called the “Father of Supply Side Economics.” He is also the co-author of the 2018 book "Trumponomics: Inside the America First Policy to Revive our Economy" as well as "The End of Prosperity" and "The Return to Prosperity."

Jose Cordeiro is a futurist, an MIT engineer, an economist, a transhumanist, and an author of a dozen books, his most recent being "La Muerte de la Muerte," also available in French. Born in Venezuela, He serves as the executive director of the Ibero-American Futurists Network, vice chair of Humanity Plus, and chair of Venezuela Node of The Millennium Project. Cordeiro has been an advocate of sound monetary policy and dollarization in Eastern Europe and Latin America. He is optimistic about the advancement of technology to end aging and defeat death.

Dale Launer is a writer, producer, and director who got his start in Hollywood when his screenplay for "Ruthless People" was optioned. Some of his other credits include "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," "Blind Date," and "My Cousin Vinny."

Tim Sandefur is vice president for Litigation at the Goldwater Institute and an adjunct scholar at Cato Institute. He litigates important cases for economic liberty, private property rights, and free speech. He is also the author of "Frederick Douglass: Self-Made Man." His book and input helped shape our Draw My Life “My Name is Frederick Douglass.”

An award-winning journalist, Virginia Postrel is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist and author of the recently released "The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World," which explores how the need for textiles has driven technology, business, politics, and culture. She is currently on the board of Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) and previously served as editor of Reason magazine.