Utility + Function
Utility + Function, a multifaceted, eclectic, and probing podcast hosted by Nanotronics co-founder and CEO, Matthew Putman, covers subjects from Machine Learning, to Jazz, to Community Development. Utility Function, a definition: individual preferences for goods or services. It calculates desire, and therefore, is relative.
Tom Irvine: Sensory Data and Operational Jazz
13 Feb 2023
Dr. Thomas Irvine is a global historian of music from 1500 CE to the present. After studying viola at conservatoire (at the Shepherd School of Rice University and Indiana University Jacobs School of
Björn Lomborg: Climate Change, Public Spheres, and Technological Solutions
7 Nov 2022
Dr. Björn Lomborg is an academic and author of the bestselling titles "False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet", "The Skeptical
Serge Faguet: Who are we, what have we accomplished, and where are we going?
13 Oct 2022
Serge Faguet is a Russian-Ukrainian entrepreneur and thinker. He has founded multiple tech companies including multi-billion-dollar B2B online travel company Emerging Travel Group, concierge medicine
K. Eric Drexler: Envisioning Abundance Through Artificial Worlds
23 Sep 2022
K. Eric Drexler is a senior research fellow at Oxford University and widely regarded as the father of nanotechnology. He has authored several seminal texts including Engines of Creation and Radical
S3-E2: Andre Watson: Personalized Medicine, Our Antidotal Future
15 Sep 2022
Andre Watson is Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Ligandal, an industry pioneer in precision genetic medicine. Andre has a background in biomedical engineering and is using his knowledge of nanomaterials
Ranjit Singh: Seeing through the Database
5 Aug 2022
Ranjit Singh is currently a researcher at Data & Society’s AI on the Ground Initiative, a nonprofit research center that convenes experts in industry and academia to address interdisciplinary
S2. E18. George Kurtz - Thrill of Entrepreneurship
3 Sep 2021
George Kurtz is the CEO and co-founder of CrowdStrike, a leading provider of next-generation endpoint protection, threat intelligence, and services. Kurtz is an internationally recognized security
E 17. Gaurab Chakrabarti - Understanding the White Space of the Unknown
9 Jul 2021
Gaurab Chakrabarti is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Solugen, which he co-founded with Sean Hunt in 2016 with the mission to decarbonize the chemicals industry. Gaurab is a physician-scientist
E 16. Henrik Fisker - Designing for Experience
25 Jun 2021
Henrik Fisker is a risk taking, innovation loving, protocol challenging legendary designer & entrepreneur who turns dreams into reality and believes in never giving up. An entrepreneur, creator,
E 15. Gerald Posner - Investigating For Truth
18 Jun 2021
The author of 13 acclaimed books, including New York Times nonfiction bestsellers Case Closed, Why America Slept and God’s Bankers. Posner was a finalist for the Pulitzer in History. “A merciless
E14. Gustav Söderström - The Evolution of Music
27 May 2021
Gustav Söderström is the Chief Research & Development Officer at Spotify. He oversees the product, design, data, and engineering teams at Spotify and is responsible for their product strategy. Mr.
E13. Kate Darling - Robots: Sufficiently Like Us
5 May 2021
Dr. Kate Darling is a leading expert in Robot Ethics. She’s a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab, where she investigates social robotics and conducts
E12. TONY ARCABASCIO - From ALife to the AI-Life
16 Apr 2021
Tony Arcabascio is the Art Director for Nanotronics and oversees all creative design across branding, marketing, and digital platforms. Tony also provides creative input on design for some
S2 - E11 - Sarah Williams - Reimagining Cities
18 Mar 2021
Sarah Williams is currently an Associate Professor of Technology and Urban Planning. She also is Director of the Civic Data Design Lab at MIT's School of Architecture and Planning. The Civic Data
E 10. Shawanna Vaughn - Strength in Community
26 Feb 2021
The founder and the Director of Silent Cry Inc., Shawanna Vaughn, is a native of Bakersfield, California, and a mother of two. Silent Cry, Inc. is the product of the tears she shed while overcoming
E9. Alan Murray - Task Above Ego
26 Jan 2021
Alan Murray is the CEO of Fortune. He previously hosted an eponymous show on CNBC and was president of Pew Research Center from 2013 to 2014, where he oversaw a rapid expansion of the center’s
E8. Kweku Mandela - Considering Ourselves Human
13 Jan 2021
Kweku Mandela is a film producer most well-known for Inescapable (2012). He was born in Transkei, South Africa, and grew up in America, returning to his homeland in 1993. He attended APA
E7. Béla Fleck - The Rights Of The Noble Banjo
30 Dec 2020
Béla Fleck, (born July 10, 1958, New York, New York, U.S.), American musician recognized as one of the most inventive and commercially successful banjo players of the late 20th and early 21st
6. Juan Martín Maldacena - Into the Juan Dimension: Black Holes, Quantum Gravity, and String Theory
16 Dec 2020
Juan Martín Maldacena is a theoretical physicist and the Carl P. Feinberg Professor in the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study. He has made significant contributions to
5. Peter Singer - Global Access To Knowledge
1 Dec 2020
Peter Albert David Singer is an Australian moral philosopher. He is the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University, and a Laureate Professor at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and
4. Janna Levin - Periphery of Comprehensible
17 Nov 2020
Janna Levin is the Claire Tow Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Barnard College of Columbia University. She is also the Chair and Founding Director of the Science Studios at Pioneer Works
3. Vijay Kumar - Coordination, Cooperation, Collaboration
3 Nov 2020
Vijay Kumar is the Nemirovsky Family Dean of Penn Engineering with appointments in the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, Computer and Information Science, and Electrical
2. Lee Smolin - Discovering New Methods
20 Oct 2020
Lee Smolin is a theoretical physicist who has been since 2001 a founding and senior faculty member at Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. His main contributions have been so far to the
1. Caroline Buckee - Digging Through The Data
6 Oct 2020
Dr. Caroline Buckee joined Harvard School of Public Health in the summer of 2010 as an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2017. In 2013, Dr. Buckee was
26. James Gimzewski - Faith in Rarity
17 Sep 2020
Dr. James Gimzewski is a Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles; Faculty Director of the Nano & Pico Characterization Core Facility of the California
25. Joscha Bach - Asking The Right Questions
10 Sep 2020
Joscha Bach, Ph.D., is the VP of Research at the AI Foundation. He formerly held research positions in Cognitive Artificial Intelligence at MIT and Harvard. Joscha’s work explores the workings of
24. Scott Aaronson - Before and After The Machine
3 Sep 2020
Scott Aaronson is a David J. Bruton Centennial Professor of Computer Science at The University of Texas at Austin, and director of its Quantum Information Center. Prior to coming to UT Austin,
23. Jill Neimark - Marveling at Nature’s Resilience
27 Aug 2020
Jill Neimark is a veteran science journalist and author of adult and children's fiction. She is a former contributing editor at Discover Magazine, she also written for Scientific American, Science,
22. Stephon Alexander - The Music of Spheres
20 Aug 2020
Physicist and musician Stephon Alexander has straddled the worlds of theoretical physics and jazz music over the last two decades. He works on the connection between the smallest and largest entities
21. Gary Marcus - AI Builder, AI Skeptic
13 Aug 2020
Gary Marcus is a scientist, best-selling author, and entrepreneur. He is Founder and CEO of Robust.AI (http://robust.ai/), and was Founder and CEO of Geometric Intelligence, a machine learning
20. Anima Anandkumar - The Immediate and Future Impact of How We Build AI
6 Aug 2020
Anima Anandkumar is Director of Machine Learning at NVIDIA and Bren professor at Caltech. Anima has led research in tensor-algebraic methods, large-scale learning, deep learning, probabilistic
19. Pamela McCorduck - History of Artificial Intelligence
1 Aug 2020
Pamela McCorduck has authored and co-authored several books, including the iconic Machines Who Think, her personal, original, and groundbreaking inquiry into the history and possibilities of AI,
18. Joe Pistone, the Real Donnie Brasco
9 Jul 2020
Joseph Dominick Pistone (born September 17, 1939), also known by his undercover alias Donnie Brasco, is an American former FBI agent who worked undercover between September 1976 and July 1981,
17. Najee Dorsey - Building Together
2 Jul 2020
Najee Dorsey (https://najeedorsey.com) is an Artist, a Collector, and the CEO / Founder of Black Art In America. Najee's work has been exhibited in multiple museum shows, including his first major
16. Stephen Wolfram - Inevitable, Beautiful Connections
25 Jun 2020
Stephen Wolfram is a scientist, physicist, and businessman best known for his work in computer science, mathematics, and theoretical physics. Over more than four decades, Wolfram has been a pioneer
15. Tom X. Lee, MD - A Path Toward Healthcare For All
22 Apr 2020
Tom X. Lee, MD, is the CEO and founder behind Galileo Health, a telemedicine company that aims to provide quality healthcare that is affordable and accessible to everyone. He has a track record
14. Smriti Keshari - Energy Doesn’t Die
11 Mar 2020
Artist and director Smriti Keshari’s work covers a spectrum of the moving image and explores under-represented themes and experiences. Smriti is known for her acclaimed film, the bomb, which has
13. Steve Hanke - And then, there is the 95% Rule
4 Mar 2020
In this episode of Utility + Function, Matthew sits down with world-renowned economist, Prof. Steve Hanke, at his offices at Johns Hopkins University. Prof. Hanke is a leading expert on currency
12. Angeline Butler - Civil Rights Icon, Musical Force, Living Legend
20 Feb 2020
When asked if she is ever disappointed in the way the world is going, Living Legend Professor Angeline Butler is unwavering. "The revolution is never over." Angeline Butler is a founding SNCC
11. Jeff Holden - Inventions Lifeline
13 Jan 2020
On today’s episode, Matthew talks to Jeff Holden, the CEO and Co-Founder of Atomic Machines and former CPO of Uber, Senior Vice President of Groupon, and the Senior Vice President of Consumer
10. Stephen Delaporte - To Bot or Not
7 Jan 2020
On today’s episode, Matthew talks to Stephen Delaporte
9. Dan Widmaier - Threads to Sustainability
16 Dec 2019
Bolt Threads' CEO Dan Widmaier sits down with Matthew to discuss their individual evolution from scientist to CEO, the timelines of Startups, how to build a team, and create partnerships.
8. Alexis Gambis - Butterfly Blues
15 Nov 2019
Matthew talks to Alexis Gambis, French-Venezuelan biologist and filmmaker, about feeling small when you look through a microscope and how being a director allows one to put a spotlight on our own
7. Beth Comstock - That's My Van Gogh!
8 Nov 2019
This week, Matthew interviews Beth Comstock about creativity, freedom, and investigation: how do these impulses translate within an organization and within a life? How does one “justify” or
6. Andrew Shearer - How to Grow a Company
23 Oct 2019
Today marks Nanotronics' sixth podcast and we are looking inward. It is time for us to ask what makes a startup tick, and who better to talk to than Farmshelf founder and fellow Navy Yard resident,
5. Michael Vassar - Does Michael Vassar Dream of Electric Sheep?
16 Oct 2019
Michael Vassar, founder of the Singularity Institute among many other accomplishments, speaks to Matthew about Thomas Edison, Climate Change, Railroads, President Lincoln, Modern Times, Alien
4. Julie Orlando - I Didn't Think There Was Any Way I Couldn't Do it
10 Oct 2019
Builder, Mentor, Business Leader. Julie Orlando, Nanotronics CPO, talks to Matthew about building a wooden box for her rare rock collection in kindergarten, taking apart complex machinery at twelve,
3. Antoinette Roberson - Mentorship by Creative Collaboration
1 Oct 2019
Matthew sits with grammy-nominated, singer song-writer, Antoinette Roberson, his partner in helping to mold our next generation of leaders. Here, they discuss personal success, how to motivate and
2. David Belt - They're Not All Evil, Right?
28 Sep 2019
Two Brooklyn-based CEO’s, Matthew Putman and David Belt, friends and partners in philanthropy and technology discuss the zeitgeist in all its incarnations, a shared history, and creativity in
1. John Putman - A Grander Vision
23 Sep 2019
Nanotronics co-founders Matthew Putman and John Putman discuss their influences, the drive to invent, starting new ventures, the importance of walking, building new toolkits, and a search for a