Ep 97: Alex Wiltschko on Digitizing Scent
Brave New World -- hosted by Vasant Dhar
Release Date: 07/10/2025
Ep 104: Leslie Kay on Smell, Memory and the Brain
Brave New World -- hosted by Vasant Dhar
Your nose knows more than you think. Professor Leslie M. Kay joins Vasant Dhar to reveal how smell is wired directly into the brain's emotional core — and how every breath you take is quietly synchronising your mind. Useful Resources: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. and 7. , 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. - Lucia F Jacobs 15. 16. , 17. - , , and 18. - Maxwell Mozell 19. - Leslie M. Kay 20. - UK Biobank 21. 22. - Asifa Majid Check out on Substack. The subscription is free! Order Vasant Dhar’s new book,
info_outline
EP 103: Léon Bottou on Fiction Machines and the Limits of AI Alignment
Brave New World -- hosted by Vasant Dhar
What separates fluency from understanding? Léon Bottou joins Vasant Dhar in Episode 103, Brave New World, to explore the deep question at the heart of AI. Useful Resources: 1. 2. Léon Bottou - 3. 4. 5. , and - 6. - 7. - 8. 9. 10. - 11. 12. 13. Check out on Substack. The subscription is free! Order Vasant Dhar’s new book,
info_outline
Ep 103: Jayant Sinha on AI Governance In A Fragmented World
Brave New World -- hosted by Vasant Dhar
AI is reshaping national power and governance. Drawing on India’s digital public infrastructure, Jayant Sinha and Vasant Dhar discuss innovation and sovereignty over compute, data consent and privacy by design in Episode 103 of Brave New World. Useful Resources: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. . 12. . 13. 14. 15. , , . 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. Check out on Substack. The subscription is free! Order Vasant Dhar’s new book,
info_outline
Ep 102 - Alex ‘Sandy’ Pentland on Humanizing Technology
Brave New World -- hosted by Vasant Dhar
Professor Alex ‘Sandy’ Pentland, one of the most renowned computational scientists in the world, joins Vasant Dhar in Episode 102 of Brave New World to discuss the state and development of human-centric AI. Useful Resources: 1. . 2. . 3. . 4. , . 5. , . 6. . 7. . 8. . 9. . 10. . 11. . 12. . 13. . 14. . 15. , . 16. . 17. . 18. 19. . 20. . 21. . 22. . Check out on Substack. The subscription is free! Order Vasan Dhar’s new book, Check out on Substack. The subscription is free! Order Vasan Dhar’s new book,
info_outline
Ep 101: Deepak Chopra On Consciousness and Reality
Brave New World -- hosted by Vasant Dhar
Useful Resources: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. . 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. Check out on Substack. The subscription is free! Order Vasant Dhar’s new book,
info_outline
Ep 100: David Ko, From Panic to Purpose
Brave New World -- hosted by Vasant Dhar
Episode 100 of Brave New World features David Ko, CEO of Calm, a digital health company focused on mental wellness and mindfulness. From experiencing panic attacks as a teenager to being the driving force behind Calm, his journey is an inspiring exploration of resilience, purpose, and the intersection of vulnerability and innovation. Useful Resources: 1. , CEO of 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Order - Vasant Dhar Check out on Substack. The subscription is free!
info_outline
Ep 99: Vasant Dhar on Thinking With Machines, Hosted by Joel Roberts
Brave New World -- hosted by Vasant Dhar
Joel Roberts, former host of a prime-time talk show on KABC Radio, Los Angeles, takes over hosting duties to talk Vasant Dhar about his upcoming book and Roberts' own scepticism regarding all things AI. Useful Resources: 1. . 2. 3. . 4. . 5. . 6. . 7. 8. 9. . 10. 11. . 12. . 13. 14. 15. . 16. . 17. . 18. . Check out on Substack. The subscription is free!
info_outline
Ep 98: There’s no I in AI, Ben Shneiderman on The Evolution and State of Artificial Intelligence
Brave New World -- hosted by Vasant Dhar
Useful Resources: 1. , . 2. and . 3. - Ben Shneiderman. 4. and . 5. and the . 6. . 7. . 8. . 9. - Ben Shneiderman. 10. - Ben Shneiderman. 11. - Ben Shneiderman. 12. - Marvin Minsky. 13. . 14. - Edward A Feigenbaum and Julian Feldman. 15. . 15. - Lewis Mumford. 16. . 17. . 18. . 19. - Jonathan Haidt. 20. . 21. , photographer. 22. , professor emeritus of psychology and neural science at NYU. 23. . 24. . 25. - Jaron Lanier. 26. - Episode 94 of Brave New World. 27. - Tim Wu 28. - Tim Berners-Lee 29. : study 30. 31. 32. - , , -- Check out on Substack. The subscription is free!...
info_outline
Ep 97: Alex Wiltschko on Digitizing Scent
Brave New World -- hosted by Vasant Dhar
Alex Wiltschko, CEO and Founder of Osmo, returns to Brave New World on Episode 97 to discuss the developments in the field of mapping smell and what the future holds for olfactory AI. Useful Resources: 1. , Founder and CEO of . 2. . 3. . 4. 5. 6. 7. , Luca Turin’s TED Talk. 8. 9. ; paper by , , 10. . 11. , Alex Wiltschko in conversation with Patrick O'Shaughnessy 12. , OSMO’s paper in . 13. . 14. , OSMO’s fragrance company. 15. . 16. ; proprietary AI-generated scent molecules 17. - Oliver Sacks Check out on Substack. The subscription is free! Pre-order - Vasant Dhar
info_outline
Ep 96: Deogratias Niyizonkiza, Healing a Nation, One Village at a Time
Brave New World -- hosted by Vasant Dhar
Episode 96 of Brave New World features Deogratias Niyizonkiza in conversation with Vasant Dhar. From surviving the genocide in Burundi to rebuilding lives through healthcare and education, Deo’s journey is one of extraordinary resilience and purpose. Useful Resources:1. , Founder and CEO, . 2. - Tracy Kidder. 3. , Burundian Prince and Politician.4. , and , Ethnic Groups In Burundi. 5. . 6. Rwanda . 7. - Chinua Achebe. 8. . Check out on Substack. The subscription is free! Pre-order - Vasant Dhar.
info_outlineAlex Wiltschko, CEO and Founder of Osmo, returns to Brave New World on Episode 97 to discuss the developments in the field of mapping smell and what the future holds for olfactory AI.
Useful Resources:
1. Alex Wiltschko, Founder and CEO of OSMO.
2. Brave New World Episode 81: Alex Wiltschko On The Sense Of Smell.
3. StockX.
4. Gas Chromatography - Mass Spectrometry
5. Brave New World Episode 90: Sandeep Robert Datta on Smell and The Brain
6. Brave New World Episode 62: Dmitry Rinberg on the Mysteries of Smell
7. The Science of Scent, Luca Turin’s TED Talk.
8. Graph Neural Network
9. Convolutional Networks on Graphs for Learning Molecular Fingerprints; paper by Dougal Maclaurin, David Duvenaud, Alán Aspuru-Guzik
10. OSMO AI passes human performance in Odour Turing Test.
11. Giving Computers a Sense of Smell, Alex Wiltschko in conversation with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
12. A principal odour map unifies diverse tasks in olfactory perception, OSMO’s paper in Science.
13. First Success, teleporting the scene of a Plum.
14. Generation, OSMO’s fragrance company.
15. Industry report by Global Market Insights on the Global Fragrance Market.
16. Glossine, Wizerine and Fractalin; proprietary AI-generated scent molecules
17. An Anthropologist On Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales - Oliver Sacks
Check out Vasant Dhar’s newsletter on Substack. The subscription is free!
Pre-order Thinking With Machines: The Brave New World of AI - Vasant Dhar