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Artwork for High Variance

High Variance with Danny Buerkli

Danny Buerkli
Artificial Intelligence
Facilitation
Group Dynamics
Questions In Facilitation
Preparation In Meetings
Teamwork
Chaos and Order In Facilitation
Innovation
Economics
Government Reform
Joy In Community Engagement
Authenticity
Cultural Contexts
Governance
Philosophy
State Capacity
Open-Source Models
Scenario Planning
Futures Studies
Improv

High Variance is an interview podcast about a world that has become harder to read — more uncertain, more volatile, stranger. Host Danny Buerkli speaks with public intellectuals, entrepreneurs, and technologists to ask what is going on and how we should respond.

PublishesMonthlyEpisodes15Foundeda year ago
Number of ListenersCategories
EducationSociety & Culture

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Artwork for High Variance

Latest Episodes

Florence Gaub — political scientist, military strategist, and director of the Research Division at the NATO Defense College — joins Danny Buerkli to talk about the craft of foresight: what makes for a good warning (be concrete, offer options, manage ... more

Dan Davies — economist, FT contributor, former investment bank analyst, and author of The Unaccountability Machine and Lying for Money — joins Danny Buerkli to make the case that management cybernetics is the science economics should have turned into... more

Simon Wardley — former CEO and creator of Wardley Mapping — joins Danny Buerkli to talk about how he went from feeling like a "fake CEO" to finding one of the most useful ways of thinking about strategy. Simon also explains how he "cheats" at predict... more

If you don't have a frontier AI lab within your borders, as a country, what exactly is your plan? Anton Leicht — visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and author of the "Threading the Needle" Substack — joins Danny Buerkl... more

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Recent Guests

Richard Cockett
Historian and senior editor at The Economist, author of Vienna, How the City of Ideas Created the Modern World.
The Economist
Episode: Vienna: How the City of Ideas Created the Modern World – with Richard Cockett
Bharat Chandar
Labor economist and postdoc at the Stanford Digital Economy Lab
Stanford Digital Economy Lab
Episode: Labor Market Impacts of AI – with Bharat Chandar
Patricia Ryan Madson
Professor Emerita from Stanford and author of Improv Wisdom.
Stanford University
Episode: Improv Wisdom – with Patricia Ryan Madson
Jamais Cascio
Futurist, scenarios expert, and author of "Navigating the Age of Chaos".
Independent Futurist
Episode: Scenario Planning – with Jamais Cascio
Antoine Bosselut
Assistant professor at EPFL and creator of Apertus
EPFL
Episode: Building an Open LLM – with Antoine Bosselut
Vishal Jodhani
Facilitator and expert in group dynamics
Episode: The Art of Facilitation – with Vishal Jodhani
Don Kettl
Former dean in the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland and author of over 30 books on government reform and state capacity.
University of Maryland
Episode: State Capacity and Government Reform – with Don Kettl

Host

Danny Buerkli
Host of High Variance

Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars from 17 ratings
  • An excellent listen!

    This podcast is like eavesdropping on a very smart friend's conversation with fascinating people

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    K_katya
    United States6 months ago

Listeners Say

Key themes from listener reviews, highlighting what works and what could be improved about the show.

Engaging exploration of big ideas, though occasionally dense for casual listeners.
Smart, challenging conversations with thoughtful guests.
Candid, nuanced discussions that reward careful listening.
High-quality guests and research-driven dialogue.

Chart Rankings

How this podcast ranks in the Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube charts.

Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

Vienna: How the City of Ideas Created the Modern World – with Richard Cockett
Q: How do you assess who has actually won the intellectual battle between the Viennese empiricists and the Frankfurt School?
Cockett suggests that while the Austrian School has had significant wins in economics, the Frankfurt School remains influential in cultural critique. It's a contest between two differing ideologies.
Vienna: How the City of Ideas Created the Modern World – with Richard Cockett
Q: What made the Rockefeller Foundation so good at identifying the right people to fund?
The Rockefeller Foundation looked for talented individuals frustrated in Austria who would contribute greatly to America, successfully facilitating a flow of talent to American institutions.
Vienna: How the City of Ideas Created the Modern World – with Richard Cockett
Q: How come so much of the important intellectual formation seemed to happen at home rather than in the gymnasiums and universities?
Cockett explains that while the gymnasiums had reputations as intellectual hot houses, much important education took place at home, especially among the lower middle classes and Jewish families eager for self-improvement.
Vienna: How the City of Ideas Created the Modern World – with Richard Cockett
Q: What did you learn from your correspondence with Karl Popper?
Cockett had a brief correspondence with Popper toward the end of a previous book he wrote, where he sought permission to quote letters between Popper and Hayek.
Improv Wisdom – with Patricia Ryan Madson
Q: Can you talk about side coaching and why it is effective?
Johnstone is a master of side coaching, providing insights to change direction during scenes, though I prefer to let scenes unfold before discussing their effectiveness afterward.

Audience Metrics

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Frequently Asked Questions About High Variance

What is High Variance about and what kind of topics does it cover?

A thoughtful, high-signal interview show that tackles uncertainty, volatility, and big-picture shifts in technology, economics, and governance. Episodes mix deep dives into AI, public policy, futures thinking, and social dynamics with practical implications for how individuals and organizations respond to a rapidly changing world. Noteworthy strengths include access to diverse, high-caliber guests—from historians and policymakers to AI researchers and futurists—along with a capacity to connect historical context to contemporary challenges. The format tends toward long-form conversations that prioritize nuance, rigorous thinking, and practical takeaways for decision-makers, researchers, and curious professionals with an appetite for substant... more

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1. MORD AUF EX

How many episodes of High Variance are there?

High Variance launched a year ago and published 15 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.

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What guests have appeared on High Variance?

Recent guests on High Variance include:

1. Richard Cockett
2. Bharat Chandar
3. Patricia Ryan Madson
4. Jamais Cascio
5. Antoine Bosselut
6. Vishal Jodhani
7. Don Kettl

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