How do you find common ground when people disagree? Opportunity builder Anuj Gupta and Visit Philadelphia CMO Neil Frauenglass discuss why democracy needs debate and why we all have more political power than we think. They explore whether society is divided or just disconnected, how local action makes a difference and what it takes to rebuild trust when we can’t even agree on truth itself.

Idea Knock Down features experts with different perspectives taking on big questions — one block at a time. Made possible with the support Visit Philadelphia.

Deep tech entrepreneur D. Scott Phoenix spent years building AI — now, he believes we’re on the cusp of a profound merger between humans and machines. Reframing the AI debate through the lens of evolutionary biology, he shifts the question from whether we should fear or embrace AI to whether we understand what’s at stake if we get it wrong. Hear his provocative case for why we need to “eat the AI.”

AI education researcher Randi Williams has spent years studying how kids interact with technology and toys, and what she’s found should make every parent stop and think. She reveals how, as tech companies embed AI inside toys, children are forming strong emotional bonds with machines. Explore what this means for their development — and why a playful fix might start with teaching kids to break the things they love. (Recorded at Play@TED on May 14, 2026)

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