Beauty At Work
Beauty at Work expands our understanding of beauty: what it is, how it works, and why it matters. Sociologist Brandon Vaidyanathan interviews scientists, artists, entrepreneurs, and leaders across diverse fields to reveal new insights into how beauty shapes our brains, behaviors, organizations, and societies--for good and for ill. Learn how to harness the power of beauty in your life and work, while avoiding its pitfalls.
Episodes
141 episodes
AI and the Future of Human Agency with Helen and Dave Edwards - S4E12 (Part 1 of 2)
Artificial intelligence is not only changing what we can do, but may be changing how we think. As AI systems increasingly participate in writing, reasoning, and decision-making, it becomes more urgent to ask what it means to retain human agency...
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39:19
Innovation and Religion with Dr. Marco Ventura - S4E11 (Part 2 of 2)
Dr. Marco Ventura is Professor of Law and Religion and Religious Diplomacy at the University of Siena in Italy. Trained in bioethics and biolaw at the University of Strasbourg, he has advised the European Parliament, the OSCE, and various gover...
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29:08
Innovation and Religion with Dr. Marco Ventura - S4E11 (Part 1 of 2)
Dr. Marco Ventura is Professor of Law and Religion and Religious Diplomacy at the University of Siena in Italy. Trained in bioethics and biolaw at the University of Strasbourg, he has advised the European Parliament, the OSCE, and various gover...
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29:48
Can AI Replace Human Connection? with Dr. Allison Pugh and Louis Kim - S4E10 (Part 2 of 2)
Dr. Allison Pugh is Professor of Sociology at Johns Hopkins University and author of The Last Human Job, winner of the 2025 Best Book Award from the American Sociological Association. Her work examines how automation, efficiency, and quantifica...
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35:01
Can AI Replace Human Connection? with Dr. Allison Pugh and Louis Kim - S4E10 (Part 1 of 2)
Dr. Allison Pugh is Professor of Sociology at Johns Hopkins University and author of The Last Human Job, winner of the 2025 Best Book Award from the American Sociological Association. Her work examines how automation, efficiency, and quantifica...
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38:09
Innovations in Spiritual Care with Dr. Wendy Cadge & Dr. Michael Skaggs - S4E9 (Part 2 of 2)
What does innovation look like in the field of spiritual care, when fewer people belong to congregations, yet more people still need meaning, accompaniment, and spiritual support? My two guests today have been researching this question extensiv...
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26:19
Innovations in Spiritual Care with Dr. Wendy Cadge & Dr. Michael Skaggs - S4E9 (Part 1 of 2)
What does innovation look like in the field of spiritual care, when fewer people belong to congregations, yet more people still need meaning, accompaniment, and spiritual support? My two guests today have been researching this question extensiv...
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25:05
Disruptive Innovations with Scott D. Anthony - S4E8 (Part 2 of 2)
Scott D. Anthony is a globally recognized expert on navigating disruptive change and a passionate optimist about humanity’s capacity to adapt in a constantly evolving world. He is a Clinical Professor of Strategy at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of B...
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33:14
Disruptive Innovations with Scott D. Anthony - S4E8 (Part 1 of 2)
Scott D. Anthony is a globally recognized expert on navigating disruptive change and a passionate optimist about humanity’s capacity to adapt in a constantly evolving world. He is a Clinical Professor of Strategy at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of B...
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25:50
The Promise and Peril of AI with Jaron Lanier, E. Glen Weyl, and Taylor Black - S4E7 (Part 2 of 2)
Jaron Lanier, E. Glen Weyl, and Taylor Black join Beauty at Work for a wide-ranging conversation on artificial intelligence, innovation, and the deeper questions of meaning, faith, and human flourishing that surround emerging technologies.<...
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30:06
The Promise and Peril of AI with Jaron Lanier, E. Glen Weyl, and Taylor Black - S4E7 (Part 1 of 2)
Jaron Lanier, E. Glen Weyl, and Taylor Black join Beauty at Work for a wide-ranging conversation on artificial intelligence, innovation, and the deeper questions of meaning, faith, and human flourishing that surround emerging technologies.<...
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38:24
Regenerative Beauty with Alan Moore - S4E6 (Part 2 of 2)
Alan Moore is a craftsman of beautiful business. He is a business innovator, author, and global speaker whose life’s work centers on one simple but radical idea: beauty is not a luxury in business, but a necessity.He has designed everyth...
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27:40
Regenerative Beauty with Alan Moore - S4E6 (Part 1 of 2)
Alan Moore is a craftsman of beautiful business. He is a business innovator, author, and global speaker whose life’s work centers on one simple but radical idea: beauty is not a luxury in business, but a necessity.He has designed everyth...
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29:55
Beauty as Action with Lisa Lindahl - S4E5 (Part 2 of 2)
Lisa Z. Lindahl is an award-winning inventor, artist, author, and entrepreneur best known for transforming women’s sports with her 1977 invention of the first sports bra, the Jogbra. As CEO of JBI Inc. from 1977–1992, she helped shape a global ...
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22:59
Beauty as Action with Lisa Lindahl - S4E5 (Part 1 of 2)
Lisa Z. Lindahl is an award-winning inventor, artist, author, and entrepreneur best known for transforming women’s sports with her 1977 invention of the first sports bra, the Jogbra. As CEO of JBI Inc. from 1977–1992, she helped shape a global ...
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25:33
Faith, Love, and AI with John Havens - S4E4 (Part 2 of 2)
John C. Havens has spent years at the heart of the global conversation on AI ethics. As the Founding Executive Director of the IEEE Global Initiative on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems, he led the creation of Ethically Aligned Desi...
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32:46
Faith, Love, and AI with John Havens - S4E4 (Part 1 of 2)
John C. Havens has spent years at the heart of the global conversation on AI ethics. As the Founding Executive Director of the IEEE Global Initiative on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems, he led the creation of Ethically Aligned Desi...
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38:32
Spiritual Innovation with Casper Ter Kuile & Angie Thurston - S4E3 (Part 2 of 2)
In Episode 3 of this season, we explore the evolving landscape of spiritual innovation, what it means to design meaningful spiritual life in a rapidly changing world, with guests Casper Ter Kuile and Angie Thurston from Sacred Design Lab, a non...
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25:36
Spiritual Innovation with Casper Ter Kuile & Angie Thurston - S4E3 (Part 1 of 2)
In Episode 3 of this season, we explore the evolving landscape of spiritual innovation, what it means to design meaningful spiritual life in a rapidly changing world, with guests Casper Ter Kuile and Angie Thurston from Sacred Design Lab, a non...
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34:52
The Evolution of Beauty and the Beauty of Innovation with Matt Ridley - S4 E2 (Part 2 of 2)
In Episode 2 of this season, we explore the evolution of beauty (especially in birds) and the beauty of innovation, with guest Matt Ridley.Matt Ridley's books have sold over a million copies, been translated into 31 languages and won sev...
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28:02
The Evolution of Beauty and the Beauty of Innovation with Matt Ridley - S4 E2 (Part 1 of 2)
In Episode 2 of this season, we explore the evolution of beauty (especially in birds) and the beauty of innovation, with guest Matt Ridley.Matt Ridley's books have sold over a million copies, been translated into 31 languages and won sev...
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30:49
The Laws of Life with Michael Muthukrishna - S4 E1 (Part 2 of 2)
This is part 2 of my conversation with Dr. Michael Muthukrishna. What really drives human progress? What is innovation, and why is innovation not just a feature of modern society but a law of life? How do energy, cooperation, and cu...
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35:48
The Laws of Life with Michael Muthukrishna - S4 E1 (Part 1 of 2)
What really drives human progress? What is innovation, and why is innovation not just a feature of modern society but a law of life? How do energy, cooperation, and culture shape the way we create new ideas?These are ideal questions with...
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34:11
Beauty, Responsibility, and the Future of AI: A Conversation with Brian Mullins of Mind Foundry - Clip From S2E18
In this clip from the episode of Beauty at Work, host Brandon Vaidyanathan sits down with Brian Mullins, CEO of Mind Foundry, a pioneering responsible AI company spun out of the University of Oxford. Brian shares how AI can...
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19:51
The Sacred Power of Sound: Timothy Myers on Beauty, Community, and the Art of Conducting - Clip From S2E17
Is classical music “entertainment”? Timothy Myers, conductor and music director of the Austin Opera, argues that it’s an antidote to entertainment. Here, he shares his story of how he became a conductor and discusses what he finds inspiring abo...
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20:51
