TECH TALK: RETHINKING AUTOMATION & OPTIMIZATION

BRIAN MERCHANT is the technology columnist for the Los Angeles Times and the author of the national bestseller The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone. He’s the co-founder of Terraform, Vice’s science fiction outlet, and the founder of Gizmodo’s automaton project examining AI and the future of work. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Wired, The Atlantic, Harper’s Magazine, Fast Company, and other outlets. He lives in Los Angeles.

COCO KRUMME is an applied mathematician and writer. After completing her doctorate at MIT and working in technology, she founded a scientific consultancy and moved into a cabin on a remote island in the Pacific Northwest, where she now resides.

NATALIA MARTINEZ-KALININA is co-founder and COO of Base, a modern-day membership club that brings great minds together for curated, deep, intimate social experiences meant to hack serendipity. She is also the founder and principal at NMK Group, where she advises clients on economic development, human capital design, and impact strategy. Prior to that she led the expansion of the Cambridge Innovation Center to Miami; the CIC is the United States' oldest and largest gathering hub of startup activity, labeled a leader in creating innovation districts by Brookings Institution due to its economic impact, urban development, and community engagement initiatives. Since launching CIC in Miami, Martinez-Kalinina has nurtured it into a $2 million-plus business and overseen various initiatives to deepen and nuance the conversation about entrepreneurship, accelerate Miami's economic development, and build tangible bridges to innovation hubs and Latin America.