MIT Press Podcast

MIT Press Podcast

episodes

The MIT Press Podcast features exclusive interviews and content that draw on the topics, themes, and trends explored in our books and journals. Subject areas that are covered include art and design, technology, science, information and data science, linguistics, neuroscience, business and management, architecture and urban design, ecology and sustainability, science fiction, and more. The podcast also regularly features high level discussions about open access publishing and knowledge.

Alan F. Blackwell, "Moral Codes: Designing Alternatives to AI" (MIT Press, 2024)

October 6, 2024

Moral Codes

Alan F. Blackwell
Hosted by Michael LaMagna

Why the world needs less AI and better programming languages. Decades ago, we believed that robots and computers would take over all the boring jobs a…

Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani, "The Cities We Need: Essential Stories of Everyday Places" (MIT Press, 2024)

October 2, 2024

The Cities We Need

Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani
Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

An expressive book of prose and photographs that reveals the powerful ways our everyday places support our shared belonging. Where would you take some…

Lynne B. Sagalyn, "Times Square Remade: The Dynamics of Urban Change" (MIT Press, 2023)

September 30, 2024

Times Square Remade

Lynne B. Sagalyn
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

What is it about Times Square that has inspired such attention for well over a century? And how is it that, despite its many changes of character, the…

Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand the World

September 26, 2024

Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand the World

Meredith Broussard

Why do we assume that computers always get it right? Today’s book is: Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand the World (MIT Press, 20…

Francis Stevens, "The Heads of Cerberus and Other Stories" (MIT Press, 2024)

September 23, 2024

The Heads of Cerberus and Other Stories

Francis Stevens
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

When three people in Philadelphia inhale dust developed by a scientist who has discovered parallel universes, they are transported into an interdimens…

Brian Clegg, "Ten Patterns That Explain the Universe" (MIT Press, 2021)

September 2, 2024

Ten Patterns That Explain the Universe

Brian Clegg
Hosted by Galina Limorenko

Our universe might appear chaotic, but deep down it's simply a myriad of rules working independently to create patterns of action, force, and conseque…

Cyrus Mody on the Importance of Square (as in NOT COOL) Scientists and Engineers

August 26, 2024

On the Importance of Square (as in NOT COOL) Scientists and Engineers

Cyrus Mody
Hosted by Lee Vinsel

Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, talks to Cyrus Mody, Professor in the History of Science, Technology, and Innovation and Director of the STS Progra…

Edward Shanks, "The People of the Ruins" (MIT Press, 2024)

August 6, 2024

The People of the Ruins

Edward Shanks
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In The People of the Ruins (originally published in 1920), Edward Shanks imagines England in the not-so-distant future as a neo mediaeval society whos…

Robert Baker, "Making Modern Medical Ethics: How African Americans, Anti-Nazis, Bureaucrats, Feminists, Veterans, and Whistleblowing Moralists Created Bioethics" (MIT Press, 2024)

August 2, 2024

Making Modern Medical Ethics

Robert Baker
Hosted by Claire Clark

The little-known stories of the people responsible for what we know today as modern medical ethics. In Making Modern Medical Ethics: How African Ameri…

Aram Sinnreich and Jesse Gilbert, "The Secret Life of Data: Navigating Hype and Uncertainty in the Age of Algorithmic Surveillance" (MIT Press, 2024)

July 10, 2024

The Secret Life of Data

Aram Sinnreich and Jesse Gilbert
Hosted by Joanne Kuai

What is data, and why does it matter for us to care about the data traces we leave behind? What are the implications for our lives of how this data is…

Donna Drucker, "Contraception: A Concise History" (MIT Press, 2020)

July 8, 2024

Contraception

Donna Drucker

The beginning of the modern contraceptive era began in 1882, when Dr. Aletta Jacobs opened the first birth control clinic in Amsterdam. The founding o…

Ann Johnson and Johannes Lenhard, "Cultures of Prediction: How Engineering and Science Evolve with Mathematical Tools" (MIT Press, 2024)

June 24, 2024

Cultures of Prediction

Ann Johnson and Johannes Lenhard
Hosted by Nikki Stevens

A probing examination of the dynamic history of predictive methods and values in science and engineering that helps us better understand today's cultu…

Anna Abraham, "The Creative Brain: Myths and Truths" (MIT Press, 2024)

June 24, 2024

The Creative Brain

Anna Abraham
Hosted by Jeff Adler

A nuanced, science-based understanding of the creative mind that dispels the pervasive myths we hold about the human brain—but also uncovers the truth…

More Than A Glitch: Confronting Race, Gender, and Ability Bias in Tech

June 13, 2024

More than a Glitch

Meredith Broussard

Today’s book is: More Than A Glitch: Confronting Race, Gender, and Ability Bias in Tech (MIT Press, 2024), by Meredith Broussard. When technology rein…

Elena Kochetkova, "The Green Power of Socialism: Wood, Forest, and the Making of Soviet Industrially Embedded Ecology" (MIT Press, 2024)

June 5, 2024

The Green Power of Socialism

Elena Kochetkova
Hosted by Ailin Zhou

In The Green Power of Socialism: Wood, Forest, and the Making of Soviet Industrially Embedded Ecology (MIT Press, 2024), Elena Kochetkova examines the…

Iris Moon, "Melancholy Wedgwood" (MIT Press, 2024)

May 26, 2024

Melancholy Wedgwood

Iris Moon
Hosted by Rachel Pafe

Melancholy Wedgwood (MIT Press, 2024) is an experimental biography of the ceramics entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood that reveals the tenuous relationship …

Catherine D'Ignazio, "Counting Feminicide: Data Feminism in Action" (MIT Press, 2024)

May 17, 2024

Counting Feminicide

Catherine D'Ignazio
Hosted by Luca Scholz

What isn't counted doesn't count. And mainstream institutions systematically fail to account for feminicide, the gender-related killing of women and g…

Matthew Berland and Antero Garcia, "The Left Hand of Data: Designing Education Data for Justice" (MIT Press, 2024)

May 15, 2024

The Left Hand of Data

Matthew Berland and Antero Garcia
Hosted by Jen Hoyer

Educational analytics tend toward aggregation, asking what a “normative” learner does. In The Left Hand of Data: Designing Education Data for Justice …

Tiziano Bonini and Emiliano Trere, "Algorithms of Resistance: The Everyday Fight against Platform Power" (MIT Press, 2024)

May 10, 2024

Algorithms of Resistance

Tiziano Bonini and Emiliano Trere
Hosted by Dave O'Brien

What are the tactics needed for a world of platforms and algorithms? In Algorithms of Resistance: The Everyday Fight against Platform Power (MIT Press…

The Scientific Attitude

May 7, 2024

The Scientific Attitude

Lee McIntyre
Hosted by Daniel Shea

Listen to this interview of Lee McIntyre, Research Fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science (Boston University) and Senior Advisor f…