Google's Eric Schmidt discusses the confluence between technology and democracy. Schmidt is in conversation with Jeffrey Goldberg. Location: Greenwald Pavilion
Bio
Jeffrey Goldberg
Jeffrey Goldberg is a national correspondent of The Atlantic. Before joining the magazine in 2007, he was Middle East correspondent and Washington correspondent for The New Yorker. Previously, he served as a correspondent for The New York Times Magazine and New York Magazine. He has also written for the Forward and was a columnist for The Jerusalem Post. His book Prisoners has been hailed as one of the best books of 2006. Goldberg is the recipient of the 2003 National Magazine Award for Reporting for his coverage of Islamic terrorism. He is also the winner of an International Consortium of Investigative Journalists prize for best international investigative journalist, an Overseas Press Club award for best human rights reporting, and the Abraham Cahan Prize in Journalism. He is also the recipient of 2005’s Anti-Defamation League Daniel Pearl Prize.
Eric Schmidt
Eric E. Schmidt is executive chairman of Google. Since joining the startup in 2001, Schmidt has helped grow the company to be a global leader in technology. As executive chairman, he is responsible for the external matters of Google: building partnerships and broader business relationships, government outreach and technology thought leadership, and advising the CEO and senior leadership on business and policy issues. From 2001 to 2011, Schmidt served as Google’s CEO, overseeing the company’s technical and business strategy alongside its founder. Under his leadership, Google dramatically scaled its infrastructure and diversified its product offerings while maintaining a strong culture of innovation. Schmidt is a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and the Prime Minister’s Advisory Council in the UK. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2006 and inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences as a fellow in 2007.
Eric Schmidt, the executive chairman of Google, is optimistic about the future of democracy in the U.S. and believes the internet is benefiting politics. "Things will get bad enough, that eventually, reason will prevail," says Schmidt.