Dean W. Ball
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Research Fellow
Dean Woodley Ball is a Research Fellow at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center and author of the Substack Hyperdimensional. His work focuses on artificial intelligence, emerging technologies, and the future of governance. Previously, he was Senior Program Manager for the Hoover Institution's State and Local Governance Initiative.
He has published on topics including artificial intelligence, neural technology, biotechnology, political theory, public finance, infrastructure, and prisoner re-entry. His paper “Neither Harbour nor Floor: Contemplating the Singularity with Michael Oakeshott” will be published in a forthcoming volume titled Liberalism Revisited, to be published by Palgrave. He is the author of “Ideas of Another Order: Michael Oakeshott and Confucius in Conversation,” an essay in comparative political theory between the West and China, which was published in Collingwood and British Idealism Studies. His writing has appeared in National Affairs, The Dispatch, The Hill, the Orange County Register, Investor’s Business Daily, the Coolidge Quarterly, and National Review, and his research has been published by the Manhattan Institute and the Hoover Institution.
Prior to his role at the Hoover Institution, he served as Executive Director of the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation, based in Plymouth, Vermont and Washington, D.C. In that role he oversaw a foundation with assets of more than $20 million, an annual budget of $3 million, and the Coolidge Scholarship, a full-ride, merit-based undergraduate program that is among the most competitive and prestigious scholarships in the United States. He worked as the Deputy Director of State and Local Policy at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research from 2014–2018, and as Director of the Adam Smith Society from 2018–2020. In addition, he oversaw the Institute’s Hayek Book Prize, one of the most financially generous book prizes in the world.
He has also worked as an independent consultant, allowing him to focus on projects near and dear to his heart. These have included efforts to reform policing in Argentina and Chile and to recreate, at small scale, the Florentine guild system for sacred liturgical art.
He serves on the Board of Directors of the Alexander Hamilton Institute and on the Advisory Council of the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue University. He graduated magna cum laude from Hamilton College in 2014 with a B.A. in History, and currently resides in Washington, D.C. with his girlfriend Abigail and their two cats, Io and Ganymede.
Latest Work
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
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Questions, Unasked and Unanswered | Hyperdimensional
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
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Here's What I Think We Should Do | Hyperdimensional
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Podcast Appearance Podcast Appearance
AGI Lab Transparency Requirements and Whistleblower Protections | The Cognitive Revolution
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
America Is Sleepwalking Into a Permanent DEI Bureaucracy That Regulates AI | Pirate Wires
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
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The United States Must Win the Global Open Source AI Race | Just Security
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
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AI Safety Under Republican Leadership | Hyperdimensional (Substack)
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
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On Civilizational Triumph | Hyperdimensional (Substack)
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
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Hold My Beer, California | Hyperdimensional (Substack)
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Research Papers Research Papers
The Deepfake Challenge: Targeted AI Policy Solutions for States
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Policy Briefs Policy Briefs
Shaping the AI Revolution: Key Policy Options and Principles for State and Local Leaders in 2024
Latest Work
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Questions, Unasked and Unanswered | Hyperdimensional
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Here's What I Think We Should Do | Hyperdimensional
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Podcast Appearance Podcast Appearance
AGI Lab Transparency Requirements and Whistleblower Protections | The Cognitive Revolution
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
America Is Sleepwalking Into a Permanent DEI Bureaucracy That Regulates AI | Pirate Wires
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
AI Safety Under Republican Leadership | Hyperdimensional (Substack)
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
The United States Must Win the Global Open Source AI Race | Just Security
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
On Civilizational Triumph | Hyperdimensional (Substack)
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Hold My Beer, California | Hyperdimensional (Substack)
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Research Papers Research Papers
The Deepfake Challenge: Targeted AI Policy Solutions for States
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Policy Briefs Policy Briefs
Shaping the AI Revolution: Key Policy Options and Principles for State and Local Leaders in 2024
Latest Work
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Research Papers Research Papers
The Deepfake Challenge: Targeted AI Policy Solutions for States
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Policy Briefs Policy Briefs
Shaping the AI Revolution: Key Policy Options and Principles for State and Local Leaders in 2024
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Policy Briefs Policy Briefs
Building America’s Applied AI Workforce: Strategies for Effective Technology Diffusion
Latest Work
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Podcast Appearance Podcast Appearance
AGI Lab Transparency Requirements and Whistleblower Protections | The Cognitive Revolution
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Podcast Appearance Podcast Appearance
Gavin Newsom Vetoes a Controversial AI Safety Bill | Lawfare’s “Lawfare Daily”
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Podcast Appearance Podcast Appearance
AI Regulation and Government Adoption | AI, Government, and the Future
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The Age of Artificial Intelligence | The Aaron Renn Show
- | Regulation Regulation
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We Don’t Need AI Regulations | Ethical Machines
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
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How Big Tech Threatens The Marketplace Of Ideas | The Federalist Radio Hour
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David Rubenstein, Dean Ball, and Alan Rozenshtein on AI Federalism | Lawfare Daily
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
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AI Policy: CA SB 1047, Upcoming AI Disaster Response, Llama 3 405B, Chinese Open-source AI, and Scaling Laws | Interconnects Interviews
- | Radio Appearance Radio Appearance
Sunsetting Section 230 | Lars Larson Show
Latest Work
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Public Interest Comments Public Interest Comments
Comment on NIST/AISI AI 800-1: Expanding Guidelines for Open-Source AI
Latest Work
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Questions, Unasked and Unanswered | Hyperdimensional
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Here's What I Think We Should Do | Hyperdimensional
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
America Is Sleepwalking Into a Permanent DEI Bureaucracy That Regulates AI | Pirate Wires
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
AI Safety Under Republican Leadership | Hyperdimensional (Substack)
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
The United States Must Win the Global Open Source AI Race | Just Security
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
On Civilizational Triumph | Hyperdimensional (Substack)
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Hold My Beer, California | Hyperdimensional (Substack)
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Be Embraced, Ye Millions | Hyperdimensional
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
What Is AI, and How Do We Govern It? | Hyperdimensional
- | Technology and Innovation Technology and Innovation
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary