Arati Prabhakar is the founder and CEO of Actuate, a nonprofit that is using research and development to tackle a variety of challenges, and the former head of DARPA, the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Before joining “Can Innovation Really Solve Society’s Problems?,” a Zócalo/Issues in Science and Technology event, she called into the virtual green room to talk about what creates the perfect environment for innovation, getting into trouble for having her nose in a book, and being part of the notable women in computing card deck.
What is your favorite piece of antiquated technology?
It might have to be a book. Part of what I love, in addition to loving many specific books, is the whole idea of the book. It was just such an important milestone in human progression.
How did you get into trouble growing up?
Oh god, I was such a nerd. Reading too much, to continue the book theme. I’d go over for what is now called the “play date”—I don’t know what it was called back then—and it would come out that I had spent the whole time with my nose in a book instead of socializing.
What did you want to be growing up?
It’s so textbook. I was a classic Indo-American immigrant kid. My family came here when I was 3. And the story goes that, at age 6, I had a conversation with my mother in which I weighed whether I should be a scientist or an engineer. Because, you know, as an Indian child in America, of course, all options were available to us—we could be any kind of engineer, scientist, or for that matter, doctor, we wanted.
I didn’t say this at 6, but the verbs science cares about are “know” and “understand.” Engineering’s verbs are “solve” and “create” and “build,” and those are my verbs. For most of my life, it’s been really clear to me that science is very important, but for me, it’s just an interesting starting point, because it gives you a foundation to go build and create and solve.
If you could describe an ideal ecosystem to encourage innovation, what would you put into it?
Lots of ingredients.
It starts by being clear about the values, and the purpose or the purposes, that the system is aiming to deal with. It requires a whole systems view of any challenge or area of discovery, with many different kinds of actors. Almost every big, world-changing innovation involved people doing basic research, people translating that and turning it into new products and services, new policies and practices. In today’s world it’s universities, companies, nonprofits, government organizations, the market, philanthropy… You need to start with a very wide and full systems view.
What’s your favorite work of art?
I’m quite uninformed about art, and simply enjoy it as an amateur. But I had this fantastic experience of going with my husband to visit my daughter, who had just finished a semester abroad in Rome, where she was studying history. And we did this tour of Italy and Greece, and then Amsterdam that introduced me to thinking about history through the lens of art. I thought it would be very interesting, but very different than where my professional interests are. And it turns out, I think they’re completely connected. Because art, of course, is this amazing lens through which you can understand history. And it’s the history of the progression of humanity. It’s the history of how far we came, and then how far we regressed. And how we overcame that and surged forward again. And it ended up really informing my thinking about the time that we’re in.
Is there a science fiction work that you think looks the most like the future we’re heading toward right now?
I don’t think I have a sharp answer to that. I think a lot of dystopian science fiction is important because it helps you understand what could happen if we don’t get on a new trajectory now. That aside, I mean, if you want very different examples, there’s Gattaca, there’s climate dystopia. There’s a lot of different directions things could go that would not be great.
Do you see any good directions in sci-fi?
Well, sure. When I was a kid, I was much more into science fiction. I wouldn’t say that I particularly am right now. But the classic, of course, is Star Trek and the vision that it painted of a more egalitarian future.
Last question: You’re part of notable women in computing card deck. Have you ever played the online solitaire version of it?
That’s hilarious. I did not know that existed. I remember that I somehow got included in [the deck], which is awesome because I’m not particularly in computing, but I get to be in lots of things because of the breadth of things I work on.