Charlie Rose: interviews Nicholas Thompson (CEO of The Atlantic) on AI, Ambition …. The Running Ground

Nicholas Thompson has been one of the definers of the digital revolution in all of its impact on our life. After graduating from Stanford and engaging in freelance writing, he became editor of NewYorker.com. Later, he became Editor-in-Chief of Wired as the power of social media became more pervasive. Now he is the CEO of The Atlantic as artificial intelligence becomes more involved in our daily life.

Thompson has written two books. The first was The Hawk and the Dove about Paul Nitze, the hawk, and George Kennan, the dove. Nitze was Thompson’s maternal grandfather.

The second, published in 2025, is The Running Ground about Thompson’s life as a serious and successful marathon runner. It is much more than a book about running. It is about his cancer struggle and the emotional story of his relationship to his father. Thompson makes running central to his identity and attitudes about competition, fear, ambition, and endurance. Nicholas Thompson has achieved great success, but in The Running Ground uses his success in running to explore not only the joy of victory but also its cost.

As we learn more about the progress in artificial intelligence, it is a moment to consider its value and its risk.

We will talk about many things with Nicholas Thompson, including running as a metaphor for life, his relationship with his father, the digital revolution, social media, and the impact of artificial intelligence on all of us.

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About michelleclarke2015

Life event that changes all: Horse riding accident in Zimbabwe in 1993, a fractured skull et al including bipolar anxiety, chronic fatigue …. co-morbidities (Nietzche 'He who has the reason why can deal with any how' details my health history from 1993 to date). 17th 2017 August operation for breast cancer (no indications just an appointment came from BreastCheck through the Post). Trinity College Dublin Business Economics and Social Studies (but no degree) 1997-2003; UCD 1997/1998 night classes) essays, projects, writings. Trinity Horizon Programme 1997/98 (Centre for Women Studies Trinity College Dublin/St. Patrick's Foundation (Professor McKeon) EU Horizon funded: research study of 15 women (I was one of this group and it became the cornerstone of my journey to now 2017) over 9 mth period diagnosed with depression and their reintegration into society, with special emphasis on work, arts, further education; Notes from time at Trinity Horizon Project 1997/98; Articles written for Irishhealth.com 2003/2004; St Patricks Foundation monthly lecture notes for a specific period in time; Selection of Poetry including poems written by people I know; Quotations 1998-2017; other writings mainly with theme of social justice under the heading Citizen Journalism Ireland. Letters written to friends about life in Zimbabwe; Family history including Michael Comyn KC, my grandfather, my grandmother's family, the O'Donnellan ffrench Blake-Forsters; Moral wrong: An acrimonious divorce but the real injustice was the Catholic Church granting an annulment – you can read it and make your own judgment, I have mine. Topics I have written about include annual Brain Awareness week, Mashonaland Irish Associataion in Zimbabwe, Suicide (a life sentence to those left behind); Nostalgia: Tara Hill, Co. Meath.

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