Special Guests

We invite curious thinkers, builders, and explorers around the globe to Building 21.
Get involved
David Krakauer
President and William H. Miller Professor of Complex Systems at the Santa Fe Institute
Francesca Panetta
Creative Director at the MIT Center for Advanced Virtuality
Refik Anadol
Creating A New Aesthetic By Asking Whether Machines Can Dream
Alexander Weinstein
Author of "Children of the New World" and "Universal Love"
Betty Edwards
Learning to Draw for Thinking's Sake
Professor Michael Levin
Planarians and Intentionality
Gabriella Coleman
The Hacker Community
Leah Price
Author, Professor, Book Historian
Frédéric Gilbert
The Ethics of Implantable Brain-Computer Interface
Jonathan Ledgard
Director of Rossums, Author of "Submergence", NYT Book of the Year
Dr. Ed Finn
Founder of the Center for Science and the Imagination at ASU
Angus Fletcher
The Brain and Narratives, The Limits of AI
Dr. Sha Xin Wei
Director of the School of Arts, Media and Engineering at Arizona State University
Antonio Zadra
Dream Researcher, Director of the Dream Laboratory at UdeM
Dr. Paul Yachnin
Lead Author of the White Paper on the Future of the PhD in the Humanities
David Jhave Johnston
A Brief History of Brain-Machine Interfaces/Implants and the Underlying Neurological Research
Dr. David M. Peña-Guzmán
When Animals Dream
Karen Tam
Eating Gold Mountain Dreams
Professor Paula Williams
The Psychology of Awe
Michael Lapsley
Founder of the Institute for Healing of Memories
Dr. Raj Aggarwal
Chief Growth and Strategy Officer at Panda Health

Speakers Series

Check out our Speaker Series on YouTube.

We invite a diverse range of people at the forefront to engage with our community and enrich their pursuits.

Professor Leah Price, Author & Book Historian
RadicalFutures
Michael Lapsley: Founder of the Institute for Healing of Memories
SpeakerSeries
Prof. Michael Levin: Planarians and Intentionality
SpeakerSeries
Francesca Panetta, Creative Director at the MIT Center for Advanced Virtuality
RadicalFutures
Dr. David M. Peña-Guzmán: When Animals Dream
SpeakerSeries
Professor Angus Fletcher: The Brain and Narratives, The Limits of AI
RadicalFutures
Professor Paul Yachnin: "What did we do right?"
RadicalFutures
David Krakauer: President of the Santa Fe Institute
RadicalFutures
Author Alexander Weinstein: Creative Writing Workshop
SpeakerSeries
Professor Frédéric Gilbert: The Ethics of Implantable Brain-Computer Interfaces
RadicalFutures
Professor Paula Williams: The Psychology of Awe
SpeakerSeries
Refik Anadol, Media Artist & Director
RadicalFutures
Artist Karen Tam: Eating Gold Mountain Dreams
SpeakerSeries
Professor Darryl Haggard: Observing Black Holes
SpeakerSeries
Azeem Azhar, Founder of Exponential View
RadicalFutures
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