Tobias is our chief balloonist. He is equally at home in philosophy departments, art galleries and technology laboratories. The practice that organizes his life is thinking about thinking: about the way we think and about the many small and large presuppositions that organize our understanding of ourselves, the world and the things we do.

In the early 2010s, he recognized that contemporary technology not only disrupts our historical, established ways of thinking and doing — but also creates new ones: radically new possibilities that unfold beyond what we take for granted. Tobias thinks this is not only a sweeping event in the history of thought, but also a major opportunity; technology itself has become philosophical, and it has become possible to “do” philosophy by building and inventing new technologies.

Previously, Tobias was the William Dawson chair at McGill University and the Reid Hoffman professor of humanities at the Parsons School of Design. He is a fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and holds degrees in philosophy, anthropology and neurobiology.

Called the Oracle and real life fairy godmother – Kim manifests fantasy into reality. She can always pull the right things out of the right people at the right time. A producer from birth, Kim will make flow charts for just about anything, including the birth of her own children.

Kim has more than 15 years of experience helping corporations and organizations increase their global impact. She has degrees in German and political science from Susquehanna University and numerous certifications in project management, operational leadership and consulting. She believes that combining product development with philosophical inquiry will ensure a more prosperous and sustainable future for all.

Nina Beguš is a senior researcher at ToftH and holds a PhD in comparative literature from Harvard University. She works in the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory on the concept of the planetary and directs a ToftH working group on language in humans, animals and machines.

Jeanne Dreskin is a writer, curator, and researcher based in Los Angeles. She holds a PhD in art history from the University of Pennsylvania. At ToftH, she directs the organization’s art initiatives, including curatorial programming, collaborative research with artists, and organizational partnerships. Her project-based research focuses on how questions of visuality, truth, and creativity evolve alongside emerging technologies.

Anne O’Connor has a PhD in Sociocultural Anthropology from UC Davis. At ToftH, she works with engineers, scientists and philosophers at the interface of biology and computing.

Matt Prindible is an interaction designer His primary research interests concern nonhuman intelligences — biological, artificial or otherwise. He thinks machines (both historical and conceptual) are pretty neat, especially when they do things they’re not supposed to.