PODCAST

Public Service Podcast

Alethios

Talking about institutions and cities in the age of AI.Find more here: alethios.substack.com

government

All Episodes

83:51

Chinese Trade, Housing, and the Auckland Mayoralty -...

Public Service Podcast ·

2026/01/19

Hon Phil Goff is a former New Zealand Minister of Trade, Foreign Affairs, Defence, Education, Housing, and Justice. In 2016 he was elected mayor of the Auckland 'Supercity'. We discuss that experience, contrasting central and local government, as well as his role negotiating the first Western Free Trade Agreement with China in 2008.Full transcript, with inline notes and links is available at alethios.substack.comAuckland Skyline image from Ssiyamalan.

38:12

Smart Cities & Digital Governance, with Sean Audain

Public Service Podcast ·

2025/12/22

Presenting a discussion with Sean Audain, the former City Innovation Lead and now Strategic Planning Manager at Wellington City Council. We covered a wide array of topics, from how Wellington is using sensors at scale to improve earthquake resilience, to the implications of narrowing information asymmetries thanks to AI combined with data collection at unprecedented scale. This recording is from the 2025 Sustainable Development Goals Summit at Massey University and is published here with the

109:48

Auckland's Legendary Design Champion, Ludo Campbell-Reid

Public Service Podcast ·

2025/12/03

Ludo is one of the most interesting and successful public servants of the 21st Century, leading a radical transformation of Auckland’s urban design over his 13 years as the city’s ‘Design Champion’. YIMBY’s rightly celebrate the city’s upzoning successes and improving affordability, but it’s easy to forget how strong public opposition to ‘ugly’ tower blocks almost unraveled the movement before it started. Delivering change is always challenging, particularly in the public sector. Ludo’s

92:24

Patrick McKenzie - VaccinateCA and Institutional...

Public Service Podcast ·

2025/10/20

Patrick McKenzie (aka patio11) is a strategic advisor at Stripe, an angel investor, writes the fortnightly newsletter ‘Bits About Money’ about financial infrastructure, and was CEO of the extraordinary VaccinateCA effort in 2021. Patrick and I previously spoke on his show ‘Complex Systems’ about system dynamics, local government challenges, and organisational scar tissue. Here we follow up on what the insane VaccinateCA saga tells us about modern institutional dysfunction, and how we might avoid

106:06

Anish Tondwalkar - The Societal Implications of...

Public Service Podcast ·

2025/08/14

Anish Tondwalkar is a former employee of OpenAI and Google Brain, now the co-founder of Y-Combinator backed AI interpretability startup ‘dmodel.ai’. We sat down in June to discuss the underappreciated capabilities of the latest generation of AI models, and how individuals, institutions, and society is likely to respond, even if no further progress were made.Full transcript with links and inline notes available here:https://alethios.substack.com/p/anish-tondwalkar-the-societal-implications

82:59

Samo Burja - Live Players and Institutional Reform

Public Service Podcast ·

2025/08/05

Samo is an institutional theorist, the founder of Bismarck Analysis, and the editor of Palladium Magazine. We discuss why our political agreements are 80 years out of date, and how Estonia provides the same standard of public services at half the cost.Full transcript with reference links and notes available here:https://alethios.substack.com/p/samo-burja-live-players-and-institutional

117:12

Steve Hsu - In No.10 with Boris and Cummings

Public Service Podcast ·

2025/08/01

Steve Hsu completed his PhD in theoretical physics at age 24. He’s since made numerous contributions as a scientist, tech startup founder, professor, and institutional advisor. Little is known about the role he played during Boris Johnson’s ill-fated tenure as Prime Minister of the UK. In Steve’s first interview on the subject, he shares that hidden history, and what lessons can be drawn from it.Later, we discuss the rapidly changing power dynamics of the Western Pacific, as China continues to flex

76:22

TracingWoodgrains - Journalism, Education Policy, and...

Public Service Podcast ·

2025/08/01

Jack Despain Zhou, aka ‘TracingWoodgrains’, is an independent investigative journalist, education campaigner, online community expert, and internet commentator. We discussed evolving cultural dynamics, leadership, and how to reform everything from dog control laws, to education, to the Democratic Party.Full transcript available here:https://alethios.substack.com/p/with-tracingwoodgrains-journalism

86:57

Nuño Sempere - Superforecasting and Global Risk

Public Service Podcast ·

2025/08/01

⁠Nuño Sempere⁠ is a founding member of the legendary forecasting group ‘Samotsvety’. His track record puts him at the top of the world’s most accurate predictors of the future. I sat down with him last month to discuss forecasting, global risk, and his new non-profit ‘⁠Sentinel⁠’, a free early-warning system for large-scale catastrophes like pandemics, wars, and financial turmoil.Read the full transcript and more at ⁠alethios.substack.com

9 results

Public Service Podcast

All Episodes

Similar Podcasts

The Fly

Georgetown"s Institute of Politics and...

THE CONSTITUTION STUDY

Paul Engel

The DSR Daily

The DSR Network

The Lawfare Podcast

The Lawfare Institute

Fora do Baralho

Rádio Observador