Pavilion Passes

SEBASTIAN MALLABY

“The Quest for Superintelligence”

Saturday, July 18  |  2:00pm – 3:00pm  |  Sun Valley Pavilion

The question everyone keeps asking is: Will AI save humanity or doom it? SEBASTIAN MALLABY goes to the heart of that question in his important new book, The Infinity Machine: Demis Hassabis, DeepMind, and the Quest for Superintelligence. Through his intimate portrait of Hassabis, one of the key players in the AI race, Mallaby provides a riveting and colorful story about how AI developed and how it is remaking the world with breathtaking—and sometimes alarming— speed. The author of six previous books, Mallaby will talk about Hassabis, his intellect, philosophy, and ambition and how the quest for superintelligence is driving a technological and profit arms race that is already surpassing the imaginings and ideals of its human creators, not to mention the rest of us.

VIRGINIA EVANS & SHELLEY READ

“New Voices Fellows”

Saturday, July 18  |  3:30pm – 4:30pm  |  Sun Valley Pavilion

It is a rare and thrilling event when a writer’s first novel takes off and becomes an international phenomenon, ending up on bestseller lists around the world. That has happened for both of our New Voices Fellows, VIRGINIA EVANS and SHELLEY READ, and what a pleasure to introduce these magical storytellers and the quirky, resilient women at the heart of their stories. In The Correspondent, Evans gives us a prickly septuagenarian who writes brilliant, chatty letters and emails to family, friends, foes, and literary idols (the exchanges with Joan Didion are priceless) and reveals her own life story—and deep sorrows—along the way. In Read’s Go as a River, a resourceful young woman growing up in rural Colorado learns to live with the painful repercussions of one chance encounter. In conversation with SVWC Associate Director ANNE TAYLOR FLEMING, Evans and Read will talk about the road to their first novels and their wild rides since—and they’ll also tell us what’s ahead.

DAVID GELLES

“Dirtbag Billionaire”

Sunday, July 19  |  9:30am – 10:30am  |  Sun Valley Pavilion

Many of us at some point have owned a jacket, a fleece vest, or a piece of outdoor gear from Patagonia. Now we have the fascinating story of the unique company and its complex founder. In his new book, Dirtbag Billionaire: How Yvon Chouinard Built Patagonia, Made a Fortune, and Gave It All Away, DAVID GELLES, reporter for The New York Times, profiles Yvon Chouinard, the maverick mogul and unwavering environmentalist who committed the company’s future profits to fight the climate crisis. In conversation with WILLY WALKER, host of the Walker Webcast, Gelles will talk about Chouinard’s extraordinary career and how Patagonia became a global leader in doing well by doing good.

JULIA LOVELL & DAVID E. SANGER

“The New World Disorder”

Monday, July 20  |  9:30am – 10:30am  |  Sun Valley Pavilion

We could not think of two more thoughtful and original minds to help us decipher the dynamics of the new world order—or indeed, the new world disorder— than DAVID E. SANGER and JULIA LOVELL. Sanger, a veteran New York Times correspondent, reports on the Trump Administration with a focus on foreign policy, and is the author of the essential new book, New Cold Wars, China’s Rise, Russia’s Invasion, and America’s Struggle to Defend the West. Lovell is a British professor of Modern Chinese History and the author of Maoism, A Global History. In conversation with award-winning journalist EVAN OSNOS, they will discuss the major global shifts and perils, the physical and cyber wars, and the wily autocrats, and tell us what they see ahead.

JILL LEPORE

“The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State”

Monday, July 20  |  11:00am – 12:00pm  |  Sun Valley Pavilion

With her highly original and ultimately optimistic forthcoming book, The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State, writer JILL LEPORE takes a brilliant, unexpected pivot. The prize-winning Harvard historian is known to many as a constitutional scholar. Her new book takes us into the heart of our artificial data-driven new world and offers an eye-opening account of how all this technology is threatening democracy. With her characteristic intellectual breadth, she examines everything from robot rights to Elon Musk’s origins to what data centers cost wildlife. History, Lepore demonstrates, is driven by individuals and ideas, not machines. She will talk with award-winning journalist EVAN OSNOS about the rise of the artificial state and how we can loosen its grip on our lives.