Technology

Technology

episodes

Interviews with technologists and scholars of technology about their new books.

Ignacio Cofone, "The Privacy Fallacy: Harm and Power in the Information Economy" (Cambridge UP, 2023)

March 28, 2024

The Privacy Fallacy

Ignacio Cofone
Hosted by Jake Chanenson

Our privacy is besieged by tech companies. Companies can do this because our laws are built on outdated ideas that trap lawmakers, regulators, and…

Anita R. Gohdes, "Repression in the Digital Age: Surveillance, Censorship, and the Dynamics of State Violence" (Oxford UP, 2023)

March 26, 2024

Repression in the Digital Age

Anita R. Gohdes
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Global adoption of the Internet has exploded, yet we are only beginning to understand the Internet's profound political consequences. Authoritarian st…

How Can We Reach International Consensus on AI Regulation?

March 25, 2024

How Can We Reach International Consensus on AI Regulation?

Gabriele Mazzini

In this episode of International Horizons, RBI director John Torpey interviews Gabriele Mazzini, a lawyer and officer of the European Commission and e…

On Bloomsbury's "Object Lessons" Series: A Discussion with Christopher Schaberg

March 25, 2024

On Bloomsbury's "Object Lessons" Series

Christopher Schaberg
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Object Lessons is a series of concise, collectable, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. Each book starts from a spec…

John Warner on Teaching Writing in the Age of Generative AI

March 25, 2024

Teaching Writing in the Age of Generative AI

John Warner
Hosted by Lee Vinsel

Peoples & Things host Lee Vinsel talks with writer and editor John Warner, who taught writing at the college level for more than twenty years. Warner …

George S. Takach, "Cold War 2.0: Artificial Intelligence in the New Battle between China, Russia, and America" (Pegasus Book, 2024)

March 24, 2024

Cold War 2.0

George S. Takach
Hosted by AJ Woodhams

A vivid, thoughtful examination of how technological innovation—especially AI—is shaping the tensions between democracy and autocracy during the new C…

Tonia Sutherland, "Resurrecting the Black Body: Race and the Digital Afterlife" (U California Press, 2023)

March 22, 2024

Resurrecting the Black Body

Tonia Sutherland
Hosted by Pete Kunze

The first critical examination of death and remembrance in the digital age—and an invitation to imagine Black digital sovereignty in life and death. …

Once More--What Does It Even Mean for a Machine to be Generative?

March 16, 2024

Once More--What Does It Even Mean for a Machine to be Generative?

Bill Cope, Mary Kalantzis, and James Gee
Hosted by Daniel Shea

Listen to Episode No.9 of All We Mean, a Special Focus of this podcast. All We Mean is an ongoing discussion and debate about how we mean and why. The…

Lisa Messeri, "In the Land of the Unreal: Virtual and Other Realities in Los Angeles" (Duke UP, 2024)

March 16, 2024

In the Land of the Unreal

Lisa Messeri
Hosted by Noopur Raval

In the mid-2010s, a passionate community of Los Angeles-based storytellers, media artists, and tech innovators formed around virtual reality (VR), bel…

Nick Jones, "Gooey Media: Screen Entertainment and the Graphic User Interface" (Edinburgh UP, 2023)

March 15, 2024

Gooey Media

Nick Jones
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

The Graphic User Interface, or GUI, is the adhesive centre of today’s screen entertainment web. From films and television to apps and videogames, it h…

Peter D. McDonald, "Run and Jump: The Meaning of the 2D Platformer" (MIT Press, 2024)

March 15, 2024

Run and Jump

Peter D. McDonald

How abstract design decisions in 2D platform games create rich worlds of meaning for players.Since the 1980s, 2D platform games have captivated their …

Zachary Loeb on the History of the End of the World

March 11, 2024

Zachary Loeb on the History of the End of the World

Zachary Loeb
Hosted by Lee Vinsel

Are you into the end of the world? Well, have we got the guest for you. In this episode, Peoples & Things host Lee Vinsel interviews Zachary Loeb, ass…

Brian Merchant, "Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech" (LIttle, Brown, 2023)

March 10, 2024

Blood in the Machine

Brian Merchant
Hosted by Michael Vann

"Luddite" has become an insult and Brian Merchant wants to change that. Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech (Little, B…

Hsuan L. Hsu, "Air Conditioning" (Bloomsbury, 2024)

March 8, 2024

Air Conditioning

Hsuan L. Hsu
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Air conditioning aspires to be unnoticed. Yet, by manipulating the air around us, it quietly conditions the baseline conditions of our physical, menta…

Robert Charette on Researching the Material World

March 4, 2024

Robert Charette on Researching the Material World

Robert Charette
Hosted by Lee Vinsel

In this episode, Peoples & Thing host Lee Vinsel interviews engineer, businessman, consultant, author, contributing editor at IEEE Magazine, and forme…

Verity Harding, "AI Needs You: How We Can Change AI's Future and Save Our Own" (Princeton UP, 2024)

March 1, 2024

AI Needs You

Verity Harding
Hosted by Mark Klobas

Artificial intelligence may be the most transformative technology of our time. As AI's power grows, so does the need to figure out what--and who--this…

Carol Beggy, "Pencil" (Bloomsbury, 2024)

February 28, 2024

Pencil

Carol Beggy
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

A cylinder of baked graphite and clay in a wood case, the pencil creates as it is being destroyed. To love a pencil is to use it, to sharpen it, and t…

Yanis Varoufakis, "Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism" (Melville House, 2023)

February 26, 2024

Technofeudalism

Yanis Varoufakis
Hosted by Louisa Hann

In Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism (Melville House, 2023), Yanis Varoufakis argues that capitalism is dead and a new economic era has begun. …

What Does It Even Mean for a Machine to Generate?

February 24, 2024

What Does It Even Mean for a Machine to Generate?

Bill Cope, Mary Kalantzis, and Duane Searsmith
Hosted by Daniel Shea

Listen to Episode No.8 of All We Mean, a Special Focus of this podcast. All We Mean is an ongoing discussion and debate about how we mean and why. The…

Paul Scharre, "Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence" (Norton, 2023)

February 24, 2024

Four Battlegrounds

Paul Scharre
Hosted by Renee Garfinkel

An award-winning defense expert tells the story of today’s great power rivalry―the struggle to control artificial intelligence. A new industrial re…