Ignite SF #16: Alien Investigator

636 Jackson Street,San Francisco CA 94133

30 March, 2023

Description

We invite you to join us for an enlightening evening of speedy 5-minute talks in the style of Ignite! Learn about topics like hunting meteorites on Antarctica, finding freedom while in prison, and the surprising evolution of writing music. Ignite Talks is a series of 5-minute speedy presentations on topics ranging from the best way to buy a car to hacking chocolate. Imagine if you had 5 minutes on stage in front of an audience of hundreds of people, with a slide deck you were not allowed to control as it auto-forwarded every 15 seconds. What would you do? What would you say? Could you stand the pressure? Add in a dash of mingling, and some silly audience games and you've got a stellar date night ;-) For this evening we also have a special theme. Our speakers have been asked: what happens when we let go of our preconceptions and look at something with fresh eyes—the eyes of an alien just landing on earth for example. Can we experience it anew? Maybe it isn’t what it initially appeared to be. Maybe we’ll even notice something there that we didn’t see before… So let’s grab our alien spyglasses and get ready for liftoff! Doors open at 6:30. Come early, grab a drink, meet new friends, and play some icebreaker games. If you can't afford a ticket, or just want to help out, we are seeking 6-8 volunteers to help us with various aspects of the event. We prioritize volunteers getting to watch the show! Volunteering gets you a free ticket. Please email [email protected] if you or someone you know is interested in volunteering. Confirmed Speakers (check back regularly for updates): Making Healthy Connections Through Honest Deception—Robert Strong Extraterrestrial Explorations—On Ice!—Morgan Martinez How the IMF and World Bank Repress Poor Countries and Funnel their Resources to Rich Ones—Alex Gladstein Getting High vs Learning to Fly—The Intersection of Aviation and Psychedelics—Anaïs Radonich Galvin Extraordinary in the Ordinary: Using Wonder to See from Alien Eyes—Caitlin Krause Everything You Know About Government Tech Is Wrong—Jen Pahlka Joaquín Torres Julie Phelps Three Bay Bridge Bedtime Stories—Ben Davis How to Use Your Intuition to Manage Your Energy Not Your Time—Yasmeen Turayhi Ryan Shelton The Surprising Evolution of Music Notation—Bisi Obateru William Winters CoConnie Wong, aka DJ Icon Matthew MacDougall Charles Green Curious about what Ignite Talks is? Watch some previous speakers on YouTube, learn about our history, or join our community. You can find us on: Twitter Facebook Instagram YouTube Making Healthy Connections Through Honest Deception Robert Strong People have been paying him to lie to them for almost 4 decades. He is an expert at exploiting your brain's shortcuts and blindspots. See for yourself why audiences are saying, "Huh?" He just co-authored Amaze & Delight: Secrets to Creating Magic in Business and became an Amazon Best New Release in 3 categories. Extraterrestrial Explorations—On Ice! Morgan Martinez One of the ways we can learn about our Solar System from Earth is to collect and study the extraterrestrial material that lands here as meteorites. I'll talk about what we've learned from meteorites as well as how they wind up on Earth and how they're found in the world's best hunting grounds - Antarctica. Morgan is a scientist who specializes in the development of emergent strategy, design and fabrication of analytical methods, and wrangling of unwieldy projects. Morgan has applied her expertise in physical and analytical chemistry to diverse investigations, including the distribution of water in the inner Solar System. She is a veteran of two seasons with the Antarctic Search for Meteorites (ANSMET) program (2013-14, 15-16). How the IMF and World Bank Repress Poor Countries and Funnel their Resources to Rich Ones Alex Gladstein Most people are led to believe that the IMF and World Bank are charitable or at least altruistic organizations, meant to rescue governments in financial crises and to pay for development projects in the Global South that private capital doesn't want to fund. But the reality is that they bail out dictators, squeeze the living standards of poor people, and orchestrate a neocolonial drain of resources from developing countries to rich countries that has grown every year since 1982. Your way of life in the West is subsidized by poor workers in the Global South: something visiting aliens would immediately be able to see, but a reality most of us are blind to throughout our entire lives. Alex is chief strategy officer at the Human Rights Foundation and author of Check Your Financial Privilege. You can follow him on Twitter at @gladstein. Getting High vs Learning to Fly—The Intersection of Aviation and Psychedelics Anaïs Radonich Galvin Anais has been guiding people through their fear for decades. Starting as a scuba instructor, then as a flight and avalanche instructor, she has the ability to skillfully guide people through experiences that challenge the perceptions of the mind while providing an extraordinary opportunity for growth and new experience. As a psychedelic guide, she uses this same lens to skillfully guide the ‘traveler’ in navigating their internal terrain, weaving together spirituality, indigenous practices and science, to create a truly transformational experience. She has been mentored in Western philosophies of psychology, trauma and various modalities including somatic therapy, Hakomi and IFS. She has additionally studied with different lineages in Mexico, learning the art and depth of working with plants and ceremony. She is passionate about developing tools and techniques to support accelerated growth and consciousness for those desiring to create impact and change in this world. Extraordinary in the Ordinary: Using Wonder to See from Alien Eyes Caitlin Krause Caitlin Krause is an experience designer and keynote speaker fostering metaverse fluency. She has authored the books Designing Wonder: Leading Transformative Experiences in VR (2021) and Mindful by Design (2019). She teaches about digital well-being at Stanford University and serves as Chief Wellness Officer at TRIPP. Founder of the studio and consultancy MindWise, her thought leadership thrives at the intersection of technology, innovation, and well-being. Caitlin has advised global organizations including LinkedIn, Google, Meta, Oracle, Evernote, University of San Francisco, ETH Zürich, and the U.S. State Department. She has created and run numerous collaborative experiences in social XR, fusing presence, storytelling, meditation, and emotional intelligence. She holds an MFA from Lesley University and a BA from Duke University. With over two decades of leadership experience, she helps individuals and teams navigate complexity and change in the future of work, prioritizing mindful well-being, empathy, design, and imagination. Everything You Know About Government Tech Is Wrong Jen Pahlka When the pandemic put millions of people out of work, unemployment insurance systems in every state buckled under the weight of soaring applications for benefits. In California, over 1M people were stuck in a months-long processing backlog. Governors everyone where blamed technology built on COBOL. But the COBOL was just fine. So what went wrong? Jennifer Pahlka is the founder of Code for America and the former Deputy Chief Technology Officer of the United States. Code for America is a national nonprofit that brings the principles and practices of the digital era to government. While US Deputy CTO at the Obama White House from 2013-2014, she founded the United States Digital Service (USDS), which brings world-class technologists and designers to government to improve digital service delivery. She is the winner of the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, the David Packard Award, the Oxford Internet Institute’s Technology and Society Award, the National Democratic Institute’s Democracy Award, and was selected by ​Wired​ magazine as one of the people who have most shaped technology and society in the past 25 years. Her 2012 TED Talk, “Coding a Better Government,” has been viewed over 1M times. She also serves on the Tech Talent Project advisory board and served on the Defense Innovation Board. She holds fellowships with Ashoka, the National Academy of Public Administration, and the Volcker Alliance. Joaquín Torres Joaquín Torres was elected as San Francisco’s Assessor-Recorder on February 15, 2022. Prior to his election, Torres served as the Director of the San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development since 2018, and has led citywide efforts to mitigate economic hardships on businesses and workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the years, Torres collaboratively leveraged resources across City departments to create opportunities for all, expand support for small businesses and workers, build capacity and stability for locally rooted nonprofits, and maximize equitable economic and social impact for the benefit of San Franciscan communities, residents, businesses, and neighborhoods. As Director of the Office of Economic and Workforce Development, he provided citywide leadership and coordination for workforce development, business development, neighborhood economic development, film, small business, and development planning. Torres is also the President of the San Francisco Housing Authority Commission, chairing the oversight body as the Authority and City implemented a re-envisioning process to rehabilitate over 3,400 units of public housing with $750 million in improvements, leading to the transfer of ownership to affordable housing providers to best serve low-income communities. Previously, Torres has served as Director the San Francisco Invest in Neighborhoods initiative, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services, and Liaison to the San Francisco Latino and American Indian communities and to Supervisorial Districts Nine and Eleven (largely in the Mission and Excelsior neighborhoods). Torres is committed to Social Justice and Equity. He participated in the inaugural cohort of the City’s Government Alliance for Racial Equity program, which equips leaders with the framework and tools to transform systems and institutions impacting historically marginalized groups. Currently, Assessor Torres serves as President of the Board of Trustees for the American Conservatory Theatre (A.C.T.) and as a member of the Executive Committee and Equity Advisory Council for the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR). Torres is a graduate of Stanford University and New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. He lives in the Inner Sunset with his wife, Ruibo Qian. Julie Phelps Julie Phelps works at the intersection of aesthetics and activism as a celebrated curator and performance artist. Resisting singular descriptions of her work, Phelps enacts intentional imprecision and strategic responsiveness. As Artistic & Executive Director at the interdisciplinary, experimental arts space CounterPulse, Phelps borrows from the practices of tactical urbanism, placemaking, and social innovation to co-create transformational experiences. Mostly recently, Phelps successfully raised $7 million dollars and led the process of acquiring and renovating CounterPulse’s building to launch a new model for placing arts at the center of community development as the pilot project of the Community Arts Stabilization Trust (CAST). CounterPulse’s facility has been acclaimed by the press and featured in architectural reviews, receiving the 2017 Inspiration Award from CONTRACT magazine. Phelps has funded and launched a curated and acclaimed program of performing arts events, community-based programming, and international cross-cultural exchange projects. Phelps tours nationally and internationally as a speaker, U.S. representative, and dance artist. On stage, Phelps works primarily through the mediums of improvisation and state-based performance to create original works. Learn more at www.juliephelps.net Three Bay Bridge Bedtime Stories Ben Davis Ben runs the SF-based arts nonprofit Illuminate. This is the small group behind many of San Francisco's largest and most beloved works of public art. Successes include The Bay Lights on the Bay Bridge, the nightly Summer of Love lighting on the Conservatory of Flowers, the lighting of The Pink Triangle on Twin Peaks during Pride Month, the revival of the Golden Gate Bandshell (including hosting 125 live free concerts there this year), the giant laser rainbow that appeared over Market Street during Pride Weekend this year, and most currently, the Golden Mile Project on JFK Promenade in Golden Gate Park. Despite receiving invitations to work in cities worldwide, Ben has chosen to stay put, go deep, and build community, concentrating his creative efforts exclusively in San Francisco. Next up for Illuminate: recasting San Francisco as the City of Awe. Yasmeen Turayhi Yasmeen Turayhi is a Product Marketing Executive in Silicon Valley, a filmmaker, an author, and a podcast host. She is on the Board of Directors of non-profit TechWadi and the author of three books: Product Marketing Debunked and The Launch: A Product Marketer’s Guide. She is the founder of Modern Product, host of The Essential Go-To-Market show, produced by Sharebird, and the host of “Gateways to Awakening”, a podcast on wellness and spirituality produced by Hakawati, and the host of Startup Confessionals, a leading podcast with startup founders from the Middle East and North Africa. She has a Master Certification in Intuitiion Medicine and coaches Executives and Leaders on how to tap into their intuition. She is the writer and executive producer of A Star in the Desert, a short fantastical drama about a boy in Iraq who creates his own fantastical reality on the eve of the first Gulf War, which was selected as a finalist in over six international film festivals, winning an audience award for “best child actor”. Ryan Shelton Merchant Roots Chef/Owner Ryan Shelton is obsessed with discovering how things are made and exploring ways to make his own things. Growing up, he was equally fascinated by the arts and sciences; he’s a classically trained guitarist who was set to embark as a professional musician before deciding no, he’d like to be a chef instead. A Bay Area native of Italian heritage, Ryan has cooked extensively in Northern and Southern California, soaking up world culinary knowledge and learning everything from Vietnamese to French to Indian cuisine. He cut his teeth in fine dining and pastry at the Ritz Carlton - Laguna Niguel before joining the venerable Baumé Restaurant in Palo Alto, where the restaurant would go on to earn two Michelin stars under Ryan’s leadership as Chef de Cuisine. He served as Executive Chef of restaurants throughout the greater Bay from Santa Cruz to San Francisco before he decided to establish his own place and “put down roots” and open Merchant Roots in San Francisco’s historic Fillmore Jazz District in May 2018. Part engineer, chemist, carpenter, and chef, Ryan gets the greatest joy from working with his hands, embarking on an ever-changing mission that allows him to employ all five of his senses. The Surprising Evolution of Music Notation Bisi Obateru Bisi is a Nigerian and American world music fusion artist using his sound as an intersection for movement and philosophy. He is a globetrotting performer, dancer, explorer, and songwriter. Bisi brings a unique presence to the stage whether he is performing live original tracks on guitar or singing over his Afropop/ Afrohouse beats. The melodies and rhythms captivate his audience on the dance floor or accompany a space as the soundtrack to your activity. Matthew MacDougall Matt is a father, tinkerer, and an active community builder. He has always pondered about how technology can help reshape diseases and disorders of the brain, so by day he works as a neurosurgeon, and by night, he works at a little brain machine interface startup called Neuralink. He sees a future where we can outsmart spinal cord damage. Rewire neurological deficits. Mute depression, and amplify love. Diminish the effects of Parkinson's disease and eating disorders, and enhance memory and learning. The brain could be your oyster! Charles Green What does it mean to be free? What does it mean to be restrained? What are the constituent pieces of happiness? What can we learn about happiness and agency from moments in which we have neither? These and other questions will be mused upon, and almost certainly not answered. Some say Charles Green is a party in a box - a pastry chef, fire spinner, and DJ. He’s also spent some time making psychiatric, therapeutic, and substance use disorder treatments more accessible and effective.