Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchBrain Rot: What Screens Are Doing to Our Minds (2)
Episode 234
“Brain Rot,” the 2024 Oxford word of the year captures the essence of our new podcast that is being created as a special series on the New Books Netw…
1 year, 4 months ago
Gabriella Coleman on Hackers Cultures (Plural!)
Episode 90
Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, and guest host, Paula Bialski, Associate Professor for Digital Sociology at the University of St. Gallen in St. Ga…
1 year, 4 months ago
Astrid J. Smith, "Transmediation and the Archive: Decoding Objects in the Digital Age" (Arc Humanities Press, 2024)
Episode 85
Building on the field of modern archival practice, Transmediation and the Archive: Decoding Objects in the Digital Age (ARC Humanities Press, 2024) e…
1 year, 4 months ago
Shoumita Dasgupta, "Where Biology Ends and Bias Begins: Lessons on Belonging from Our DNA" (U California Press, 2025)
Episode 380
Dr. Dasgupta is a geneticist and internationally recognized anti-racism educator. In this book, she provides a powerful, science-based rebuttal to co…
1 year, 4 months ago
Our History with AI is (much) Longer than You Think (with Kevin LaGrandeur)
Episode 22
It’s the UConn Popcast, and when did we really start dreaming about the promise, and the danger, of artificial intelligence? When ChatGPT was release…
1 year, 4 months ago
Daniel Oberhaus, "The Silicon Shrink: How Artificial Intelligence Made the World an Asylum" (MIT Press, 2025)
Episode 22
AI psychiatrists promise to detect mental disorders with superhuman accuracy, provide affordable therapy for those who can't afford or can't access t…
1 year, 4 months ago
Marijam Did, "Everything to Play For: An Insider's Guide to How Videogames are Changing Our World" (Verso, 2024)
Episode 32
Everything to Play For: How Videogames Are Changing the World (Verso, 2024) by Marijiam Did asks if videogames can achieve egalitarian goals instead …
1 year, 4 months ago
Mirca Madianou, "Technocolonialism: When Technology for Good is Harmful" (Polity, 2024)
Episode 28
With over 300 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, and with emergencies and climate disasters becoming more common, AI and big data are…
1 year, 4 months ago
Antonio A. Casilli, "Waiting for Robots: The Hired Hands of Automation" (U Chicago Press, 2025)
Episode 402
Artificial Intelligence fuels both enthusiasm and panic. Technologists are inclined to give their creations leeway, pretend they’re animated beings, …
1 year, 5 months ago
Understanding Disinformation
Episode 251
How do we discern what is factual from what isn’t? In this episode, Dr. Colleen Sinclair joins us to discuss the functions of disinformation, and to …
1 year, 5 months ago