WHY SYNAPSE
SHOMA CHAUDHURY
Founder, Lucid Lines
BIG PICTURE I Global Flashpoints
Hot, Flat. And Split
Nature, tech, and geopolitics.
Decoding an era of acceleration. And a world on fire
Thomas Friedman
3-time Pulitzer winner I Global Trend Spotter I New York Times columnist
Moderator I Shoma Chaudhury
Founder, Lucid Lines
HOT BUTTON I AI & Human Futures
Part 1: Enter the Machine Divine
The power, promise & peril of AI. How to harness it
ERIC DAIMLER
Former Obama adviser on AI I AI entrepreneur I CEO, Conexus AI
RUMMAN CHOWDHURY
Forbes ‘One of 5 shaping AI’ I AI Ethicist I Founder, Parity AI
Part 2: How to Train a Dragon
Culture classes for AI. And introducing the human in the machine
PEEYUSH RANJAN
VP, Google Engineering I Shaping AI for end users
IRENE SOLAIMAN
Former bias researcher, ChatGPT @OpenAI I Head of Global Policy, Hugging Face
Moderator I Shoma Chaudhury
Founder, Lucid Lines
DISCOVERY CAPSULE I Brain & Breakthrough Tech
Limitless, Uncaged
Super athletes to patients. Pain to power. The science of pushing body barriers
DAVID PUTRINO
Rehabilitation innovator, Mt Sinai I Chief Mad Scientist, Not Impossible Labs
Moderator I Ritika Passi
Executive Editor, Lucid Lines
BOUNDARY BREAKER I Biohacking & Gene Editing
The God Principle
Defying death. Reversing age. The awe & ethics of rewriting life as we know it
ELIZABETH PARRISH
Patient Zero I Biohacker I Founder, BioViva
AVI ROY
Biomedical scientist
I Longevity entrepreneur
Co-Discussant I Sanjeev Galande
Dean, School of Natural Sciences, Shiv Nadar University
Moderator I Shoma Chaudhury
Founder, Lucid Lines
SPOTLIGHT I Tech Maverick
Rule Breaker, Rural Maker
Meet a bootstrap billionaire revolutionising tech with village talent. And bucking Silicon Valley trends
SRIDHAR VEMBU
Value Tech Entrepreneur I Co-founder, Zoho
Moderator I Shoma Chaudhury
Founder, Lucid Lines
LUNCH
DEEP DEBATE I Who are we
Machines Like Me
Can human creativity survive the era of AI?
JAVED AKHTAR
Star lyricist
RAJKUMAR HIRANI
Star director
SHEKHAR KAPUR
Star director
SONU NIGAM
Star singer
Moderator I Shoma Chaudhury
I Founder, Lucid Lines
HOT BUTTON I AI & Future of Work
Abundance Shock
Utopia. Dystopia. Windows into a world without work
DANIEL SUSSKIND
Former adviser to UK government I Economist, Oxford I Author
Moderator I Shoma Chaudhury
Founder, Lucid Lines
Co-Moderator I Rajat Kathuria
Economist I Dean, School of Humanities & Social Sciences, Shiv Nadar University
BOUNDARY BREAKERS I Moods & Minds
Miracle Molecules
The science of psychedelics.
And why they could be the new wonder drug for
anxiety, stress & mental health
VIDITA VAIDYA
Psychedelic researcher I Award winning neuroscientist, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Moderator I Shoma Chaudhury
Founder, Lucid Lines
BOUNDARY BREAKER | Transhumanism
Homo Excelsior
Bio-enhancement. Mind-uploading. Digi-immortality. The edgy universe of post-humans
ANDERS SANDBERG
Radical Futurist I Philosopher, Oxford I Techno-optimist I Neuroscientist I Mathematician
Moderator I Shoma Chaudhury I
Founder, Lucid Lines
MOONSHOT: Biological Operating Systems
Move over AI, Enter Brain on Chip
Brain without bodies. Intelligence in a dish. The jaw drop world of biocomputing. And ethics of frontier science
BRETT KAGAN
Co-creator, 'DishBrain’ I CTO, Cortical Labs
Moderator I Ritika Passi
Executive Editor, Lucid Lines
Co-moderator I Aaryaman Vir Shah
Futurist I Technology Investor I Co-founder, Tigerfeathers
DEEP DEBATE: Tech & Society
Ex Machina
AI. The future of human nature. And how it’s changing the inner wiring of our intimate selves
MICHAEL SANDEL
Rockstar philosopher who fills stadiums I Harvard professor I Master of Socratic Dialogue
Audience Interactive Session
Moderator I Shoma Chaudhury
Founder, Lucid Lines
SPOTLIGHT: Myths & Science
SCI-FI VALMIKI
New heroes. New ways of thinking. Meet a narrative engineer creating a new framework for the 21st century
ANAND GANDHI
Polymath philosopher-artist I Award winning director | Co-founder, Memysys Culture Lab
Moderator I Shoma Chaudhury
Founder, Lucid Lines
SPOTLIGHT: Hero of Science
Missions Impossible
Meet the Tom Cruise of human medicine. Whose work has touched 4 billion lives
Robert Langer
Edison of Medicine I Most cited engineer in history I Co-founder, Moderna
Moderator I Ajit Singh
Co-moderator I Shoma Chaudhury
Founder, Lucid Lines
Cocktails, dinner.
And soul stirring music with Indian Ocean
BIG PICTURE I Spirituality & Science
The Watcher, the Knower, the Spirit Self
Insights from the Vedanta. And arguments over
consciousness in an era of AI
SWAMI SARVAPRIYANANDA
Scholar, Seeker, Vedanta Master I Head Monk, Ramakrishna Mission, New York
Moderator I Shoma Chaudhury
Founder, Lucid Lines
HOT BUTTON: AI & Human Futures
Empires of Attention
Hacked & hijacked. Why we need to defend ourselves from digital czars. A sharp take from a legendary insider
JARON LANIER
Inventor of Virtual Reality I Prime Unifying Scientist, Microsoft I Philosopher I Musician I Silicon Valley savant
Moderator I Shoma Chaudhury
Founder, Lucid Lines
SPOTLIGHT | Indians & Innovation
Tech Genies
Exuberance, ambition, enterprise.
The story of young blood & must solve problems.
RAJAN ANANDAN
Merchant of moonshots I Innovation accelerator, MD, Peak XV & Surge
Moderator I Shoma Chaudhury
Founder, Lucid Lines
DISCOVERY CAPSULE: Cosmic Unknowns
Interstellar
Our eye in the sky. And a journey across spacetime into the origins of the Universe
MARK McCAUGHREAN
Astrophysicist, European Space Agency I Inter-disciplinary scientist, James Webb Space Telescope
DISCOVERY CAPSULE | Public Tech
Orbit Change
Digital good, digital danger. The complex story of India’s tech transformation. From a man at the heart of it
SHARAD SHARMA
Accelerator, IndiaStack I Public tech Evangelist I Co-Founder, Spirt
Moderator I Shoma Chaudhury
Founder, Lucid Lines
DISCOVERY & DEBATE: Tech & Well Being
Tech Tonic
Imagine digital twins. Patients on a chip. AI diagnostics.
And Formula 1 data models for next gen healthcare
AJIT SINGH
White space investor in health & AI I Partner, Artiman Ventures
HANY ElOSMAN
Big Data Scientist I Bioinformatics specialist @NEOM, Cognitive City Experiment
Moderator I Shoma Chaudhury
Founder, Lucid Lines
Co-moderator I Aaryaman Vir Shah
Futurist I Technology Investor I Co-founder, Tigerfeathers
LUNCH
HOT BUTTON I The Age of the Anthropocene
Don't Look Up
Nature. Humans. Technology.
And the most urgent conversation of our times.
Harnessing the sun to save the earth
MARTIN GREEN
The father of solar technology I Scientia professor, UNSW
What’s love got to do with climate change
PETER SELIGMANN
Trailblazing EnvironmentalistI Chairperson, Conservation International I CEO, Nia Tero
Voices from the wild side
MALAIKA VAZ
Award winning filmmaker I National Geographic Explorer I CEO, Untamed Planet
Moderator I Thomas Friedman
3-time Pulitzer Winner
HOT BUTTON I Tech & National Security
Apocalypse Now
Autonomous. Anonymous. Asymmetrical.
Technology as the bewildering new minefield of war
Lt. Gen. M.U. NAIR
National Cyber Security Coordinator, India
ANSHUMAN TRIPATHI
National Security Advisory Board
EFRAIM HALEVY
Former Mossad chief
Moderator I Shoma Chaudhury
Founder, Lucid Lines
Co-Moderator I Ritika Passi
Executive Editor, Lucid Lines
DISCOVERY CAPSULE I Quantum Tech
Society of Atoms
The mind-bending world of quantum. What it says about the nature of reality. Why it’s scrambling the world order
URBASI SINHA
Scientist of the powerful unknown I India’s lead quantum physicist, Raman Research Institute
FERNANDO DOMINGUEZ PINUAGA
VP, Sandbox AQ I Formerly at Google X secret innovation lab I Former World Cup Rugby player
Moderator I Shoma Chaudhury
Founder, Lucid Lines
DEEP DEBATE I Biology of Attention
The Outrage Machine
Democracy. Toxicity. Discontent. How the internet is breaking our brains. And how to fix it
TOBIAS ROSE STOCKWELL
Investigator of the internet I Journalist I Author
Moderator I Shoma Chaudhury
Founder, Lucid Lines
DEEP DEBATE I Science, Politics & Tech
Machines & Manifestos
Aligning tech to humanity is not just an engineering problem. It’s a political one. What can the Global South teach the world?
PALANIVEL THIAGA RAJAN
Politician with a Purpose I Minister of IT, Tamil Nadu
ERIC DAIMLER
Former Obama adviser on AI I AI entrepreneur I CEO, Conexus AI
Moderator I Shoma Chaudhury
Founder, Lucid Lines
SPOTLIGHT I Mythology & Tech
The Alpha Imagination
The science of spectacle.
And tech as collaborator of the human imagination
RANA DAGGUBATI
Enthusiast of mythology & metaverse I Multi-Hatter Actor I Producer
NAG ASHWIN
Director, Kalki 2898 AD, India’s most expensive sci-fi film
SLICE OF LIFE I AI & Children
Authority Interrupted
AI & adventures in a 21st century classroom. A teacher seeking the key to learning
ORLY FRIEDMAN
Educationist I Formerly Khan Lab School I Founder Red Bridge School
SPOTLIGHT I Hero of Science
Code of Life
Vaccines, mRNA, drug discovery.
New bionic technologies. Atomic level windows
into Nature’s grand design
ROGER KORNBERG
Nobel Laureate
Co-Discussant I Sanjeev Galande
Dean School of Natural Sciences, Shiv Nadar University
Moderator I Ajit Singh
White space investor in health & AI I Partner, Artiman Ventures
Cocktails, dinner.
And foot tapping music with A-26