Liam Speranza

Approximately 2 billion people live in conflict-affected areas. Yet the field of behavioral science has developed most of its theories, run most of its experiments, and built most of its interventions in stable contexts. When behavioral scientists do work in conflict settings, we tend to follow a familiar pattern: take what worked elsewhere, “localize” it, and evaluate it. But this isn’t enough. This is an urgent problem. Conflict is reshaping lives globally at an unprecedented scale.

Dacher Keltner grew up with a mother who was a professor of poetry and a father who was an artist. But Keltner didn’t take to the arts. Instead, he liked the idea of proof. His first collision with science was at the Le Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, where he marveled at reconstructions of dinosaurs and wooly mammoths and saber tooth tigers. He developed a precocious appreciation for dinosaurs, in particular. It wasn’t for their scaley tails or massive teeth.

Astro Teller is the CEO of X, though his actual job title is “Captain of Moonshots.” His only requirement for accepting the position, granted by Google’s founders, was that he had complete autonomy over the company. Even though X is a subsidiary of Alphabet, he has always insisted on cultural separation. X has become a famous incubator and developer of ideas in the nontraditional tradition of Bell Labs, Xerox PARC, and Thomas Edison’s laboratories.