About Bina Venkataraman
Amid rapid change in technology, geopolitics and culture, many leaders narrow their focus to getting through the next week, making it hard to place the bets their organizations need for future success. Bina Venkataraman gives them the tools to look further.
Bina's Keynote Topics
How can we change our thinking now to achieve a better future? According to journalist, author and former science policy advisor Bina Venkataraman, positive future outcomes start with thinking like a pragmatic optimist. In this eye-opening presentation, she draws on her acclaimed book “The Optimist’s Telescope” to reveal how best to imagine a future that’s different from the present and to make smart investments toward achieving that future. She provides a practical framework for thinking long-term, including the nuances of how to look ahead with optimism in today’s fraught and uncertain world. Attendees will be able to constructively apply optimistic long-term thinking in their business settings, building more imaginative organizations that can take practical steps now to create better outcomes, both financially and socially, down the road.
Why should business leaders avoid the temptation of adopting strategies based on the immediate cost-cutting applications of AI? According to journalist and MIT Program in Science, Technology, and Society lecturer Bina Venkataraman, by applying long-term thinking to the development and use of AI, leaders can make wiser decisions in pivotal moments of technological change. She explains that reactive and impulsive adoption of AI tools can lead to unwelcome outcomes. In this engaging talk, Venkataraman illustrates the importance of taking a long-term approach and of putting human values and talents at the center of AI development. Audiences will gain new insight into how responsible, strategic use and discernment about AI can lead to powerful organizations where technology complements human judgment.
Is there a way we can make action on climate change less daunting? Journalist and former science and technology policy advisor to the Obama White House Bina Venkataraman says taking a practical but optimistic approach to protecting the environment can help nurture real change. In this enlightening presentation, she explains how human health and thriving are inextricably linked with the prosperity of the planet. Venkataraman unveils everyday strategies for boosting our individual conservation efforts and expanding them to the community level. Audiences will learn how to amplify their own impact to find scalable solutions for fighting climate change, safeguarding our natural systems, and protecting public health over time.
Books by Bina Venkataraman
Bina in the Media
Mayor Mamdani Can’t Magically Make Buses Free. Lesson from Boston: Maybe It Doesn’t Matter
Lonely? Call Your AI Best Friend
Birth Rates Are Falling. So What?
Do We Actually Want AI That Seems Human?
Can AI Solve Medical Mysteries? It’s Worth Finding Out
How Individual Choices Can Add Up in the Fight Against Climate Change
In Maine, a Return of Tribal Land Shows How Conservation Can Succeed
A New Tool in the Fight To Save the Planet? A 6th-Century Roman Doctrine
Too Many Treatable Diseases Go Unnoticed. This Could Change That
Is Guilt-Free Meat Possible?
AI Ghosts Are Coming. But Must We Perform From Beyond the Grave?
Why is it So Hard for Our Brains to Plan for the Future?
How Bina Works with Organizations
Each engagement is built around your goals and audience.
01 · WORKSHOPLearn How to Implement Long-Term Thinking in Your Organization
Imparting a long-term thinking ethos in your business can lead to better outcomes, both financially and socially, in the future. In this highly interactive workshop, Bina Venkataraman, journalist and acclaimed author of “The Optimist’s Telescope,” empowers leaders to create imaginative, forward-thinking strategies within their organizations. Exploring case-studies of successful, creative leaders and applying future-planning exercises, she unveils the ingredients for being optimistic in today’s fraught business world. Participants will gain tools for imagining and creating a better future. With the option of a half-day, full-day or two-day format, leaders can be empowered to make long-term thinking part of their organization’s modus operandi to drive positive change.
Chinese peasants once got paid by the piece to find dinosaur bones; soon they took to smashing the bones into tiny pieces to boost their income. This book is a sobering compendium of the many ways in which ill-conceived short-term incentives undermine valuable long-term goals. The stakes go way beyond busted fossils: think rising sea waters, treatment-resistant pathogens, collapsing infrastructure, disappearing topsoil . . . A grim list and grounds for pessimism unless, that is, it gets read in the context of this book, for Bina Venkataraman has assembled a remarkable repair kit, full of tested tools for harmonizing the lure of present reward with the foresight we need if we are to build a durable future.
Lewis Hyde
We chose Bina as the closing speaker for TED’s mainstage conference with good reason—and Bina exceeded our high expectations, inspiring the TED audience with her call to become better ancestors with a talk that has since reverberated around the world.
TED Conference
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