Governments started the space age. Now, billionaires and private firms are reinventing it. Guest host Steve Levitt explores what the past can teach us about a high-stakes future. (Part two of a two-part series.)

• SOURCES:
  • Blaise Agüera y Arcas, vice president and fellow at Google, C.T.O. of technology and society.
  • Rosanna Hoffman, head of space law, policy, and sustainability at the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs.
  • Alex Macdonald, former first chief economist at NASA, senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
  • Will Marshall, co-founder and C.E.O. of Planet Labs.

• RESOURCES:
  • "The mission to create a searchable database of Earth's surface," by Will Marshall (TED, 2018).
  • The Long Space Age, by Alex Macdonald (2017).
  • Planet Labs A.I.

• EXTRAS:
  • "Should A.I. Move to Space?," series by Freakonomics Radio (2026).

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Gary and Stephen talk about creativity, recovery, getting fired, and holding grudges. They also get outside and play basketball, which is a big part of how Gary stays well.

If you'd like to see the video version of Better in Person, watch it on YouTube or Apple Podcasts.

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At first it sounds ridiculous. But it might be inevitable. Guest host Steve Levitt talks to a team that hopes to push A.I. infrastructure off the planet. Part one of a two-part series.)

• SOURCES:
  • Blaise Agüera y Arcas, vice president and fellow at Google, C.T.O. of technology and society.
  • Travis Beals, senior director of product management at Google, Project Suncatcher lead.
  • Will Marshall, co-founder and C.E.O. of Planet Labs.

• RESOURCES:
  • What Is Intelligence?, by Blaise Agüera y Arcas (2025).
  • "Towards a future space-based, highly scalable AI infrastructure system design," by Blaise Agüera y Arcas, Travis Beals, Maria Biggs, Jessica V. Bloom, Thomas Fischbacher, Konstantin Gromov, Urs Köster, Rishiraj Pravahan, and James Manyika (Google, 2025).
  • Reason, by Isaac Asimov (1941).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Are Our Tools Becoming Part of Us?," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2024).

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