Episode 39: The Politics of Air Pollution, Ozempic, and Luddism ft. Brian Merchant

In this episode, Shobita and Jack tackle the EPA's recent efforts to increase monitoring of air pollutants, Jack's new documentary on existential risks, and the Ozempic craze. And Jack chats with Brian Merchant, a freelance journalist who focuses on tech who recently wrote Blood in the machine: The origins of rebellion against big tech about the history of Luddism.

Links:

- Merchant, Brian. (2023) Blood in the machine: The origins of rebellion against big tech. Hatchette Book Group. New York.

- Brian Merchant’s Substack

- For UK listeners, an audio adaptation of Blood in the Machine on BBC Radio.

- Stilgoe, Jack (2024). How Real is the Existential Risk from AI? Analysis 4. BBC Radio.

Transcript and study questions available at thereceivedwisdom.org.

In the first episode of 2024, Shobita and Jack reflect on the first CRISPR therapy approved by drug regulators around the world, for sickle cell disease. We also talk about the safety issues plaguing Boeing, and the Post Office scandal roiling the UK and why it matters for regulating AI. And, we reconnect with Alondra Nelson, one of The Received Wisdom's first guests! Alondra Nelson is the Harold F. Linder Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study and previously as deputy assistant to President Joe Biden and acting director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy(OSTP). 

References:

- Elish, M. (2019, March 23). Moral Crumple Zones: Cautionary Tales in Human-Robot Interaction. Engaging Science, Technology, and Society. 

- Lazar, S and A. Nelson (2023, July 13). "AI safety on whose terms?" Science. 381 (6654): 138

- Zook, M, S. Barocas, d. boyd, K. Crawford, E. Keller, S. P. Gangadharan, A. Goodman, R. Hollander, B.A. Koenig, J. Metcalf, A. Narayanan, A. Nelson, and F. Pasquale (2017, March 30). "Ten simple rules for responsible big data research." PLOS Computational Biology. 

- Nelson, A. (2016). The Social Life of DNA: Race, Reparations, and Reconciliation After the Genome. Beacon Press.

- Nelson, A, C. Marcum, J. Isler (2022, Fall). "Public Access to Advance Equity." Issues in Science and Technology. 

- White House (2022, Oct 4). Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights. 

TRANSCRIPT

This month, Shobita and Jack reflect on the recent COP meeting in the United Arab Emirates, recent AI news including the Biden Administration's Executive Order, the UK summit, and the fates of the two Sams: Altman and Bankman-Fried. And they chat with Sarah de Rijcke, Professor in Science, Technology, and Innovation Studies and Scientific Director at the Centre for Science and Technology Studies at Leiden University in the Netherlands.

References:

- D'Ignazio, C. and L. F. Klein.Data Feminism. The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2020. 

- Andreessen, M. (2023, October 16).The Techno-Optimist Manifesto. Andreessen Horowitz. 

- de Rijcke, S. (2023). Does science need heroes? Leiden Madtrics blog, CWTS, Leiden University.

- Pölönen, J., Rushforth, A.D., de Rijcke, S., Niemi, L., Larsen, B. & Di Donato, F. (2023). Implementing research assessment reforms: Tales from the frontline.

- Rushforth, A.D. & de Rijcke, S. (2023). Practicing Responsible Research Assessment: Qualitative study of Faculty Hiring, Promotion, and Tenure Assessments in the United States. Preprint. DOI: 10.31235/osf.io/2d7ax

- Scholten, W., Franssen, T.P., Drooge, L. van, de Rijcke, S. & Hessels, L.K. (2021). Funding for few, anticipation among all: Effects of excellence funding on academic research groups. Science and Public Policy, 48(2), 265-275. DOI: 10.1093/scipol/scab018 https://academic.oup.com/spp/article/48/2/265/6184850

- Penders, B., de Rijcke, S. & Holbrook, J.B. (2020). Science’s moral economy of repair: Replication and the circulation of reference. Accountability in Research, first published online January 27, 2020. DOI: 10.1080/08989621.2020.1720659.

- Müller, R. & De Rijcke, S. (2017). Thinking with indicators. Exploring the Epistemic Impacts of Academic Performance Indicators in the Life Sciences. Research Evaluation. DOI: 10.1093/reseval/rvx023.

Study Questions:

1. What is techno-optimism, and how does it apply in the case of AI?

2. How might we think about the strengths and weaknesses of current efforts to address AI governance by the U.S. government?

3. What are some negative consequences of simplistic performance metrics for research assessment, and why do such metrics remain in use?

4. How do large companies like Elsevier now extend their domain beyond publishing? How might this shape the trajectory of research assessment methods?

5. What hopes exist for better performance metrics for research assessments?

More at thereceivedwisdom.org

In this episode, Shobita and Jack discuss the United Auto Worker strike, facial recognition technology in schools, and the recent biographies of Elon Musk and Sam Bankman-Fried. And, they interview Ashley Shew, author of Against Technoableism and Associate Professor of Science, Technology, and Society at Virginia Tech.

Links

- Ashley Shew (2023). Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement. W.W. Norton.

- Virdi, J. (2022). Hearing happiness: Deafness cures in history. The University of Chicago Press.

- Nario-Redmond, M. R. (2020). Ableism: The causes and consequences of disability prejudice. Wiley Blackwell.

- Ashley Shew (2020). Let COVID-19 expand awareness of disability tech. Nature. May 5.

- Weise, J. (n.d.). The Cyborg Jillian Weise. 
Wheelchair Sports Camp. (2015). Wheelchair Sports Camp. 

- New York State Education Department (2023). "State Education Department Statement on Release of the Use of Biometric Identifying Technology in Schools Report." August 7.

Study Questions and full transcript available at thereceivedwisdom.org.

Jack and Shobita are back after a summer hiatus! We return talking about--of course--ChatGPT and other generative AI, the problem at Fukushima, and India's Chandrayaan Rover. Then we chat with Richard A.L. Jones, professor of material physics and innovation policy . He is also the Vice President for Regional Innovation and Civic Engagement at Manchester University.

- Richard A.L. Jones (2022). "Science and innovation policy for hard times: an overview of the UK’s Research and Development landscape."The Productivity Institute.

- Tom Forth and Richard A.L. Jones (2020). "The Missing £4 Billion." Nesta.

- Richard A.L. Jones (2019). "A Resurgence of the Regions: rebuilding innovation capacity across the whole UK."

- Richard A.L. Jones and James WIlsdon (2018). "The Biomedical Bubble."Nesta.
Richard A.L. Jones.Soft Machines. Blog.

- Jack Stilgoe (2023). "We need a Weizenbaum test for AI." Science. August 11.

- Gil Scott-Heron, (1970) "Whitey on the Moon."

Transcript and study questions available at thereceivedwisdom.org.

Jack and Shobita discuss the decline in humanities majors as the number of computer and data science majors rise, and why this is will have very bad consequences. Then they chat about emerging efforts to regulate both in vitro gametogenesis (creation of eggs and sperm using pluripotent stem cells) and generative AI. Finally, they talk to Cassidy Sugimoto, Professor and Tom and Marie Patton School Chair in the School of Public Policy at Georgia Institute of Technology, about her new book, Equity for Women in Science: Dismantling Systemic Barriers to Advancement.

- Nick Anderson (2023). "College is remade as tech majors surge and humanities dwindle." The Washington Post. May 20.

- Center for Genetics and Society (2023). "Whether or How to Use Artificial Gametes." April 12.

- Cassidy Sugimoto (2023). Equity for Women in Science: Dismantling Systemic Barriers to Advancement. Harvard University Press.

- Cassidy Sugimoto (2022). "Narrow hiring practices at US universities revealed." Nature. September 29.

- Cassidy Sugimoto (2021). "Scientific success by numbers." Nature. May 3.

- Cassidy Sugimoto (2019). "Rethinking impact factors: Better ways to judge a journal." Nature. May 28.

- Hoppe, Travis A. et al. (2019). “Topic choice contributes to the lower rate of NIH awards to African-American/black scientists.” Science Advances. 5: eaaw7238.

Transcript and discussion questions available at thereceivedwisdom.org.

What makes an emergency? This month, Jack and Shobita talk to Elizabeth Ellcessor, Associate Professor in the Department of Media Studies at University of Virginia, who studies how emergency alert systems shape our understanding of crisis, how this has changed with the rise of new consumer technologies, and the implications especially for communities who are marginalized. They also wrestle with the politics of science in US court decisions about abortion drugs, and recent calls for a moratorium on certain types of artificial intelligence.

- Future of Life Institute (2023). Policymaking in the Pause: What can Policymakers Do Now to Combat Risks from Advanced AI Systems?

- Future of Life Institute et al. (2023). Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter.

 - (2023). "In Support of FDA's Authority to Regulate Vaccines."

- Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration (April 7, 2023).

- Elizabeth Ellcessor (2022). In Case of Emergency: How Technologies Mediate Crisis and Automate Inequality. NYU Press.

- Elizabeth Ellcessor (2021). “COVID messages make emergency alerts just another text in the crowd on your home screen.” The Conversation. June 9.

- Elizabeth Ellcessor (2018). "Academic Accessibility, a Flashback." April 16.

- Matt Richtel (2023). "My Watch Thinks I'm Dead." The New York Times. February 3.

Transcript and study questions available at thereceivedwisdom.org.

This month, Jack and Shobita talk about the challenges of ensuring that AI and gene editing reflect human values, and reflect on what the recent train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio tells us about the politics of knowledge. And they chat with Amy Moran-Thomas, Associate Professor of Anthropology at MIT, about her clarion call to address the racial biases embedded in the pulse oximeter, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in August 2020.

- Amy Moran-Thomas (2020). "How a Popular Medical Device Encodes Racial Bias." Boston Review. August 5.

- Amy Moran-Thomas (2021). "Oximeters used to be designed for equity. What happened?" WIRED. June 4.

- Amy Moran-Thomas (2019). Traveling with Sugar: Chronicles of a Global Epidemic. University of California Press.

- Kadija Ferryman (n.d.) "Framing Inequity in Health Technology: The Digital Divide, Data Bias, and Racialization." SSRC: JustTech.

- Andrea Ballestero and Yesmar Oyarzun (2022). "Devices: A location for feminist analytics and praxis." Feminist Anthropology. 3(2):  227-233.

- Yesmar Oyarzun, Juliann Bi, Eddie Jackson (n.d.) Undertones.

Study questions and transcript available at thereceivedwisdom.org.