The Data Fix with Dr. Mél Hogan

Empathy, with Steven Gonzalez Monserrate

Nov 13, 2023

In this delightful hour, anthropologist Steven Gonzalez Monserrate discusses ethnographic research in data centers and post-climate disaster sites. Topics include the empathy and feeling in his writing, the staggering ecological impacts of computation and the cloud, settler acoustics, and emerging technologies for future information storage.

01:00:29

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Episode guests

Steven Gonzalez Monserrate

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

Steven Gonzalez Monserrate uses empathy and feeling in his writing to explore data centers and their impact on communities.

The podcast discusses the connection between the guest's identity as an anthropologist and speculative fiction writer, highlighting the influence of anthropology on their cultural exploration.

The environmental impact of data centers, including electricity consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, water usage, electronic waste, and noise pollution, is addressed.

Deep dives

The Data Effects Project and Digital Humans

The podcast episode explores The Data Effects Project, which focuses on the significance of living in a world of data and the emergence of digital humans, such as chatbots, holograms, deep fakes, and AI images and videos. The project aims to archive collective thinking and feelings about these data-driven phenomena.

Introduction

3min

Honoring Ancestors Through a Pen Name and Exploring Trauma in Fiction and Data Centers

2min

Belonging, Rituals, and the Anthropologist's Perspective

8min

The Environmental Impacts of Data Centers

13min

Settler Acoustics and the Noise of Data Centers

20min

Emerging Technologies for Future Information Storage

6min

Researching Amidst a Pandemic and Reflecting on Devastation

8min

In this absolutely delightful hour, Steven Gonzalez, an anthropologist of data centers, walks us through various sites of ethnographic research — from places of abandonment post-climate disaster, the desert, to the suburbs. While much as been written and discussed about data centers in the last decade, nobody does it quite as thoughtfully as Steven — showing empathy and feeling in and through his writing. Recorded Oct 2, 2023. Released Nov 13, 2023.

Sordidez

https://egconde.com/books/sordidez/

Q&A: Steven Gonzalez on Indigenous futurist science fiction

https://news.mit.edu/2023/qa-steven-gonzalez-indigenous-futurist-science-fiction-sordidez-0821

The Staggering Ecological Impacts of Computation and the Cloud

https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/the-staggering-ecological-impacts-of-computation-and-the-cloud/

Steven Gonzalez Monserrate

https://www.stevengonzalezm.com/

The people of the cloud

https://aeon.co/essays/downtime-is-not-an-option-meet-the-stewards-of-the-cloud

La Nube sin Apagón

https://www.anthropology-news.org/articles/la-nube-sin-apagon/