The MIT Press Podcast

Why laws focused on data cannot effectively protect people—and how an approach centered on human rights offers the best hope for preserving human dignity and autonomy in a cyberphysical world.Ever-pervasive technology poses a clear and present danger to human dignity and autonomy, as many have pointed out. And yet, for the past fifty years, we have been so busy protecting data that we have failed to protect people. In Beyond Data: Reclaiming Human Rights at the Dawn of the Metaverse (MIT Press, 2023), Elizabeth Renieris argues that laws focused on data protection, data privacy, data security and data ownership have unintentionally failed to protect core human values, including privacy. And, as our collective obsession with data has grown, we have, to our peril, lost sight of what’s truly at stake in relation to technological development—our dignity and autonomy as people.Far from being inevitable, our fixation on data has been codified through decades of flawed policy. Renieris provides a comprehensive history of how both laws and corporate policies enacted in the name of data privacy have been fundamentally incapable of protecting humans. Her research identifies the inherent deficiency of making data a rallying point in itself—data is not an objective truth, and what’s more, its “entirely contextual and dynamic” status makes it an unstable foundation for organizing. In proposing a human rights–based framework that would center human dignity and autonomy rather than technological abstractions, Renieris delivers a clear-eyed and radically imaginative vision of the future.At once a thorough application of legal theory to technology and a rousing call to action, Beyond Data boldly reaffirms the value of human dignity and autonomy amid widespread disregard by private enterprise at the dawn of the metaverse.Jake Chanenson is a computer science Ph.D. student at the University of Chicago. Broadly, Jake is interested in topics relating to HCI, privacy, and tech policy. Jake’s work has been published in top venues such as ACM’s CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.

Listen as Andrew Menard and Laura Dassow Walls discuss the notions of walking, wildness, nationalism, and the role of beauty in Thoreau's "Walking." This conversation was recorded on February 27, 2014.Read Andrew Menard's article, "Nationalism and the Nature of Thoreau's 'Walking.'" 

Our contributors discuss their work in the arts and sciences, which is showcased in the new article collection, Water Is in the Air: Physics, Politics, and Poetics of Water in the Arts. Water Is in the Air explores the ways that artists, from all over the world, working at the cutting edge of science and engineering, create work that addresses critical issues of water in culture and society. This conversation was recorded on March 19, 2014. Jean-Marc Chomaz, CNRS research director at the École Polytechnique Hydrodynamics Laboratory (Ladhyx) and professor at École Polytechnique. He is a member of the artist group Labofactory. Mikael Fernström and Sean Taylor, the art-science collaborators behind Softday. Fernström and Taylor teach at the University of Limerick. Listen to their sound art piece, "Hypoxia Hibernalis," a shortened version of "Marbh Chrios.” Annick Bureaud, independent art critic, curator and event organizer, researcher and teacher in art and technosciences. She is the director of Leonardo/OLATS, European sister organization to Leonardo/ISAST. Roger Malina, physicist, astronomer, editor-in-chief of Leonardo, and distinguished professor at the University of Texas, Dallas.

Listen, my children, and you shall hear Of a lovely feminine Paul Revere...Marla R. Miller and Paula D. Hunt discuss Sybil Ludington, material culture, and American mythmaking. Although there is no primary evidence supporting Sybil’s historic ride, she has become an increasingly popular figure tied to the American Revolution. This conversation was recorded on March 30, 2015. Correction: At (28:41), it was the Connecticut NOW (National Organization for Women) that sponsored the Sybil Ludington Young Feminist Award.Check out Paula D. Hunt's article, “Sybil Ludington, the Female Paul Revere: The Making of a Revolutionary War Heroine,” from the June 2015 issue of The New England Quarterly. Marla R. Miller, Member of NEQ's Editorial Board and Director of the Public History program at The University of Massachusetts, Ahmerst. Paula D. Hunt, Doctoral Candidate at Missouri School of Journalism at the University of Missouri. Related content: "Drunk History" "Hangry Moments in History" Daughters of the American Revolution "Paul Revere's Ride" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Berton Braley's Take on Longfellow's poem Sybil Ludington golf ball Sybil Ludington "Contributors to the Cause" stamp Colonel Ludington silhouette

As Lucas Kello reveals, it is far easier to attack than to defend when it comes to cyber war. Listen as Kello and Sean Lynn-Jones discuss the dangers of cyber war, review recent cases of cyber attack, and offer security advice for policymakers. This conversation is based on Kello’s article “The Meaning of the Cyber Revolution: Perils to Theory and Statecraft,” which appears in the Fall 2013 issue of International Security (38:2). This episode was recorded on October 2, 2013.

Our contributors discuss the connections between science, specifically chemistry, and art, and talk about how materials traditionally identified with science can be used to create art. This conversation was recorded on January 24, 2013. Tami Spector, Professor of Chemistry at the University of San Francisco. Philip Ball, freelance science writer, lecturer, and author of several popular science books. Kathryn de Ridder-Vignone, Post-Doctoral Research Analyst at the Center for Nanotechnology in Society at Arizona State University. Julian Voss-Andreae, sculptor and physicist based in Portland, Oregon. Roger Malina, physicist, astronomer, editor-in-chief of Leonardo, and distinguished professor at the University of Texas, Dallas.

As Mary Sarotte reveals in her Fall 2012 article in International Security, the actions of the Chinese government during the Tiananmen Square protests nearly split the Communist Party of China. Listen as Sarotte and International Security Editor Sean Lynn-Jones discuss internal party reactions to the event, how it affected relations between the US and China, and lessons the CCP may have learned from other Cold War-era governments. This conversation was recorded on November 20, 2012.

Maximilian Schich, Isabel Meirelles, and Roger Malina discuss the contents and creation of the new article collection, Arts, Humanities, and Complex Networks, which explores the application of the science of complex networks to art history, archeology, visual arts, the art market, and other areas of cultural importance. This conversation was recorded on April 26, 2012. Maximilian Schich, DFG fellow at László Barabási's Center for Complex Network Research in Boston. Isabel Meirelles, information designer and associate professor of graphic design at Northeastern University, Boston. Roger Malina, physicist, astronomer, editor-in-chief of Leonardo, distinguished professor at the University of Texas, Dallas.

Bill Fowler, member of the editorial board of The New England Quarterly, Mary Babson Fuhrer, and Robert A. Gross discuss Fuhrer's recent NEQ article, “The Revolutionary Worlds of Lexington and Concord Compared” and Gross's 1976 book, The Minutemen and Their World. Our panelists discuss the two colonial towns, their similarities and differences, and key factors that led to the famous battles between the English and the colonists on April 19, 1775. This conversation was recorded on March 22, 2012.

Edward Mead Earle was a historian, scholar, professor, and international relations expert; he was also a founding father of the field we know as Security Studies. Listen as David Ekbladh and International Security Editor Sean Lynn-Jones discuss Earle's contributions to the field, his views on what Security Studies should be, his seminar at the Institute for Advanced Study, and what he might think of Security Studies today. This conversation was recorded on January 4, 2012.