The Berkeley Forum

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"Being here embodies a place that's truly capable of so much. Representing such a prestigious education is unique and really cool... Also Steve's Korean Bar-B-Que." - Tosh Lupoi on what he missed about Berkeley

"Words are great motivational tools, but at the end of the day, the challenge is being a man or woman of action." - Tosh Lupoi at the Berkeley Forum on earning respect from former Cal teammates

"When you start to mature and understand, you end up learning a lot more from the losses and the hard times than the victories and the good times." - Tosh Lupoi at The Berkeley Forum

“The commercial sector has innovated and done some incredible things… My company, Blue Origin, landed their second rocket on the barge. That’s like science fiction. It’s incredible to see that and be a part of it.” -Rex Walheim at the Berkeley Forum

“Take care of your people. It's very important that people know you have your back and want to take care of them.” -Rex Walheim at the Berkeley Forum

“If you lose that money, something's gotta go. Whether it's going to be science or human space flight, something has to go. Luckily, Congress has come back to fill that gap.” -Rex Walheim on the Trump administration’s recently attempted budget cuts to NASA

“The more people have the chance to get into space, the better off we are as a people.” -Rex Walheim at the Berkeley Forum

"On my last mission, I called the site in North Dakota where I used to work shifts and sit watching for World War 3. I said I’m in space, but I used to be stationed there and wanted to call and thank you for your service and say hello.” -Rex Walheim at the Berkeley Forum

“When you're trained as an astronaut there's always more to learn. There's always more you can study… It's very easy to fall into a workaholic, especially if you love your work, but my family supported me through that.” -Rex Walheim at the Berkeley Forum

"I thought: I'm never gonna become an astronaut, I'm never going to become a pilot … I have to do the best job I can here. I'm going to do the best I can and try to make the best of it, and that set me up for my next job." -Rex Walheim at the Berkeley Forum

“Overwhelmingly I’ve felt very positive support from the linguistics community. There’s incredible collaboration if anything” - Adam Aleksic on his relationship with academics at The Berkeley Forum

“The perception that there is a huge difference between generations is increasing, maybe because we have more words to describe this difference” - Adam Aleksic at The Berkeley Forum

“Young people will always be the first to adopt new words, because they are trying to differentiate themselves from the older generation” - Adam Aleksic at The Berkeley Forum

“Language is a form of power. Who gets to come up with words is a story of power. As long as there is a power imbalance in society, there will be languages and anti-languages” - Adam Aleksic at The Berkeley Forum

“We’re smart, and we recognize that there are different domains in which we speak, and there are different rules for these domains” - Adam Aleksic, on the way ‘internet-speak’ permeates real life, at The Berkeley Forum

“I’m lucky. Because I make things publicly, people tag me on new slang words… and I do spend a lot of time scrolling on Tiktok for ‘research’” - Adam Aleksic on how he stays on top of the new slang terms at The Berkeley Forum

“I got into linguistics for the fun facts. There’s always a great story behind every word, even when it looks boring” - Adam Aleksic at The Berkeley Forum

“Safety is more of a side question next to capabilities, because safety is not what’s making money right now… Third party testing is not mandatory, it is at the goodwill of the companies.” -Marius Hobbhann at the Berkeley Forum

"We are not quite yet at the point of no return where AI is going to take its path and we can’t alter the course of history… there is a lot we can do." -Marius Hobbhann at the Berkeley Forum

“(AI) Models are this superposition of hundreds of thousands of different things, and depending on context, different kinds of thinking are activated more than others… it’s a mix of different personas and ideas that come into its head." -Marius Hobbhann at the Berkeley Forum