3 Takeaways™

The world map we grew up with makes Greenland and Africa look the same size. The problem?  Africa is actually an astonishing 14 times larger.
The even larger problem? There's no such thing as an accurate map. They all distort how we see the world. 
Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones are comedians, writers, and YouTubers with millions of followers where they are better known as Map Men. Their new book, This Way Up, explores how maps shape our understanding of the world and what happens when they inevitably get it wrong. 
They discuss:
Why a 500-year-old deeply-flawed map became our standard picture of the world
Why Greenland and other northern regions appear much larger than they really are
Why creating a completely accurate flat map is impossible
Why north being “up” is simply a convention
How a country’s apparent size and position may shape how important we believe it is
Why Google Maps can display different borders depending on where it is viewed
What London taxi drivers reveal about navigation, memory, and the brain
How relying on GPS is weakening abilities we once took for granted
What GPS and AI have in common
Maps look objective, but they're actually very subjective and flawed. Where and how are they misleading us? 
And if you're looking for a more topical take on Greenland, Trump, and the recent security deal -- be sure to tune in next week for my conversation with security expert Heather Conley.

What if one of the things Americans believe most deeply about America simply isn’t true?

Americans have a powerful story about who they are and why America acts when it does.

Historian Robert Kagan, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, says America's own history tells a very different story.

He discusses:

● The biggest myth Americans believe about their own country
● What American history looks like when you strip that myth away
● Why America keeps doing something it insists it doesn’t want to do
● Whether America’s wars were really forced upon it
● The unexpected connection between American power and the threats America faces
● What China and Russia may understand about America that Americans don’t
● What happens if America turns inward again

What if the biggest thing Americans misunderstand about their role in the world isn’t the world?

It’s America.

What if AI becomes easier to talk to than another person?
And what happens to us when it does?
MIT professor Sherry Turkle has spent decades studying what technology does to the way we think, work, and love. Now she says there are two parts of our lives we should never let AI into.
She discusses:
Why ordinary conversation has started to feel like work
The surprising reason people may prefer talking to chatbots
How AI will change what we expect from other people
Why “pretend empathy” may be more dangerous than it seems
What happens when relationships become frictionless
What it could mean for a child to have an AI friend
Whether AI could make us worse at being with each other
The question isn’t just what AI can do. It’s what AI may do to us.

Mark Cuban told people that television would eventually be delivered over the internet. 

Everybody thought he was an idiot.

Now, Cuban is making another prediction that runs counter to what we all believe, but this time it's about A.I.

Few people have made as many big bets across as many industries as Mark Cuban. The billionaire entrepreneur and investor has built businesses in technology and media, transformed the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, and is now taking on prescription drug companies with Cost Plus Drugs.

He discusses:
● What everyone may be getting wrong about AI
● What he sees happening to jobs and where the real opportunity may be
● The one thing he believes AI will never replace
● How he decides whether a seemingly crazy idea is actually an opportunity
● The quality he looks for after seeing thousands of entrepreneurs
● The mistake incredibly smart people make again and again
● Why one of his biggest decisions required him to become “the younger Mark Cuban” again
● Why being wrong repeatedly may not matter nearly as much as we think
● What success means to him now that money is no longer the measure
● What he thinks most Americans still don’t understand about healthcare
Mark Cuban saw streaming coming and almost nobody believed him. What does he see now that the rest of us may be missing?

What if the president can act before Congress has time to stop him?

As former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, former General Counsel of the Department of Defense, and a member of the National Security Council, Jeh Johnson has advised presidents on war, terrorism, cyber threats, and some of the country’s most consequential national security decisions.

He has seen what happens when the pressure to “do something” collides with incomplete intelligence, rapidly changing facts, political pressure, and enormous presidential power.

He discusses:

● Why “Mr. President, do something” can be dangerous advice
● Why Congress has formally declared war in only five conflicts in U.S. history
● How much military force a president can order without first going to Congress
● What happens to constitutional checks and balances when weapons can strike in minutes
● Why presidential power looks different from inside the Oval Office
● What actually happens inside the Situation Room when the intelligence is incomplete and the stakes are enormous
● The threat that worries him the most

The Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war. But modern military strikes and warfare can move extraordinarily fast. 

So who can stop a president from starting a war? Where are the limits on presidential power when a decision has to be made in minutes? And when the law leaves enormous discretion in the hands of one person, how much ultimately depends on that person’s judgment and restraint?