Jonnie Penn

Jonnie Penn
Born (1987-01-02) January 2, 1987
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Occupation Executive Producer & Author
Years active 2006–present

Jonnie Penn (born January 2, 1987 in Victoria, British Columbia) is a bestselling Canadian non-fiction author, technologist, historian, television personality, and filmmaker.

He is the creator, executive producer and cast member of the MTV documentary series The Buried Life. Jonnie is co-author of the book "What Do You Want To Do Before You Die?". The book became a #1 New York Times Best Seller shortly after its release in April 2012.[1]

Education and Youth

In high school, Jonnie was selected to represent Canada at the Oxford University Debate Championships.[2] He enrolled at McGill University in Montreal, with a double major in History and English. He then studied Philosophy of Physics and Logic at the University of Cambridge.[3] In his spare time he made films, one of which won an award at the Sacramento Film Festival. He is one of six children.[4]

After the death of a friend, Jonnie dropped out of university to start The Buried Life with his friends and brother.[5] The Buried Life asks, "What do you want to do before you die?"[6] For every item the group accomplishes off a shared list of 100 Things To Do Before You Die, they help a stranger accomplish a goal of their own. The project has spawned a million member online community, a MTV documentary series, a #1 New York Times bestselling book, and popular speaking tours.[7] Jonnie resides between Los Angeles, CA and Cambridge, UK.

The Buried Life

In 2010 and 2011, Jonnie earned a nomination for the Do Something Awards, inaugurated to recognize young people 25 and under who have done outstanding work in their communities and the world. The creators of The Buried Life received a nomination for its efforts to encourage young people to volunteer and accomplish meaningful life goals.

Penn appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show[8] on April 9, 2010 to announce a new season of The Buried Life documentary series and to discuss crossing off #95: Play Ball with President Obama.[9] Jonnie was recorded by the Guinness World Records for the largest roulette spin in Las Vegas history with all benefits going to World Food Programme. The Buried Life placed a bet of $250,000 on black. They also helped organize the biggest speed dating event in history with the University of South Florida.[10]

In July 2011, Jonnie and the rest of the cast helped make a $300,000 donation to The Keep America Beautiful foundation.[11]

Artificial Intelligence and Governance

Jonnie holds degrees from McGill University and the University of Cambridge.[12] He is currently a Rausing, Williamson and Lipton trust doctoral researcher in the History and Philosophy of Science Department at the University of Cambridge.[13]

In 2017, he became a Google Technology Policy Fellow.[14] He works in collaboration with the European Youth Forum.[15] In an interview with IBM Think Leaders, Jonnie said, "My hope is that the public will be able to use AI as citizen as not just as consumers. This type of use would certainly shape the direction of future AI research initiatives, in terms of which subjects get funding."[16]

In 2018, he joined the Harvard Berkman Klein Center and MIT Media Lab Assembly program to work on emerging problems within artificial intelligence and its governance.[17]

References

  1. ↑ Saiidi, Uptin. "'Buried Life' Book Makes Best Seller List, #19 Crossed Off Bucket List". MTV.
  2. ↑ "The Buried Life - What do You Want to Do Before You Die?".
  3. ↑ Swords, Beth. "The Tab Meets: Jonnie Penn".
  4. ↑ "Assembly". Assembly. 2018-01-01.
  5. ↑ "The Buried Life". Campus Activities Magazin.
  6. ↑ "The Buried Life | What Do You Want To Do Before You Die?". The Buried Life.
  7. ↑ "The Buried Life". www.facebook.com.
  8. ↑ "What's on Oprah's Bucket List? Video".
  9. ↑ "'Buried Life' Stars Tell Oprah About Shooting Hoops With Barack Obama".
  10. ↑ Katz, Taylor. "USF, MTV, Guiness (sic) World Records, Verizon Wireless and speed dating?". WTSP.
  11. ↑ "Cast of MTV's The Buried Life Helps Raise $300,000 for Keep America Beautiful". http://www.usmagazine.com. External link in |publisher= (help)
  12. ↑ "talks.cam : Jonnie Penn". talks.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 2016-03-03.
  13. ↑ "Jonnie Penn | People | HPS". www.people.hps.cam.ac.uk.
  14. ↑ "Jonnie Penn | People | HPS". www.people.hps.cam.ac.uk.
  15. ↑ "European Youth Forum". European Youth Forum. 2017-11-11.
  16. ↑ "Building a brain trust for good AI? - thinkLeaders". thinkLeaders. 2017-08-23.
  17. ↑ "Assembly". Assembly. 2018-01-01.
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