Human Centered

Pulitzer Prize-winning tech journalist & 2017-18 CASBS fellow John Markoff chats with 2022-23 CASBS fellow Rebecca Slayton on how the field of computing expertise evolved, eventually giving rise to the niche of professionals who protect systems from cyber-attacks. Slayton's forthcoming book explores the governance & risk implications emerging from the fact that cybersecurity experts must establish their authority by paradoxically revealing vulnerabilities and insecurities of that which they seek to protect.REBECCA SLAYTONCornell University faculty page | |  CASBS page | Slayton's book Arguments that Count: Physics, Computing, and Missile Defense, 1949-2012 (MIT Press)Slayton's article "What is the Cyber Offense-Defense Balance?," International SecurityVideo: Talk on "Shadowing Cybersecurity: Expertise, Transnationalism, and the Politics of Uncertainty" at Stanford Univ.JOHN MARKOFFNew York Times pageMarkoff's latest book, Whole Earth: The Many Lives of Steward Brand (Penguin Random House, 2022) Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University75 Alta Road | Stanford, CA 94305 | CASBS: website|Twitter|YouTube|LinkedIn|podcast|latest newsletter|signup|outreach​View the Fall 2023 CASBS Newsletter  Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford UniversityExplore CASBS: website|Bluesky|X|YouTube|LinkedIn|podcast|latest newsletter|signup|outreach​Human CenteredProducer: Mike Gaetani | Engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel | 

The podcast explores the impact of storytelling on collective memory, the dangers of manipulating historical accounts, the intersection of storytelling, infrastructure, and history, the connection between millenarian Marxism and neo-Christian vision in Silicon Valley, the collision of old myths and new technologies, unity and diversity in debating the past in democracy, and the importance of civil debate and diverse stories.

Renowned sociologist Michèle Lamont discusses her new book, Seeing Others, with Woody Powell. They explore topics such as societal dynamics during the Trump era, challenges faced by marginalized groups, the importance of recognition for a more egalitarian society, and the need for empathy and understanding towards different social classes. They also discuss the role of media and philanthropies in fighting inequality and the challenges of dignity and recognition in different cultural settings.

Angela Aristidou, a CASBS fellow, and Phil Howard, a renowned scholar of tech innovation, discuss the challenges of understanding and regulating our information ecosystems, interdisciplinary collaboration, the impact of the information environment, AI language models, and more.

Dan Simon, a 2022-23 CASBS fellow and USC law professor, joins in conversation with Elizabeth Loftus, a 1978-79 CASBS fellow and Distinguished Professor at UC Irvine. Loftus is known in the public sphere through her decades-long study of memory – specifically, its malleability and fallibility – as well as her application of findings as an expert witness or consultant in hundreds of legal cases. Loftus's book "Eyewitness Testimony," completed at the Center, charted the course of her career that followed and serves as this episode's launching point.ELIZABETH LOFTUSUC Irvine faculty pageWikipedia pageTED Talk (2013), "How reliable is your memory?"Nobel Prize Summit (2023), "The misinformation effect"The New Yorker (2021), "How Elizabeth Loftus Changed the Meaning of Memory" DAN SIMONUSC Gould School of Law faculty pageCASBS bio"In Doubt: The Psychology of the Criminal Justice Process" (Harvard Univ. Press, 2012)Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences(CASBS)at Stanford UniversityCASBS: website|Twitter|YouTube|LinkedIn|podcast|latest newsletter|signup|outreach​Follow the CASBS webcast series, Social Science for a World in Crisis  Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford UniversityExplore CASBS: website|Bluesky|X|YouTube|LinkedIn|podcast|latest newsletter|signup|outreach​Human CenteredProducer: Mike Gaetani | Engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel | 

While you're listening to this episode, 2016-17 CASBS fellow Jonathan Jansen likely will write another few thousand words. As a scholar of education & leader of education institutions, Jansen is South Africa's most towering figure. To call him prolific is a gross understatement. He writes a steady stream of books & more books. As a public intellectual he writes a separate steady stream of columns & essays. And he's written a family memoir too. We bring 2022-23 CASBS fellow Zimitri Erasmus, a social anthropologist who is working on a book on writing praxis, in conversation with Jansen to unlock some secrets & insights into his most powerful & liberating weapon for engaging the world – writing.JONATHAN JANSENon Google ScholarJansen websiteMentioned in the episodeCorrupted: A Study of Chronic Dysfunction in South African Universities (2023)Song for Sarah: Lessons from my Mother (2017)Jansen and CASBS"Loving and Blacking" (symposium, 2017)"Higher Ed at the Crossroads" (webcast, 2020) ZIMITRI ERASMUSCASBS pageon Google Scholarat University of WitswatersrandCenter for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences(CASBS) at Stanford UniversityCASBS: website|Twitter|YouTube|LinkedIn|podcast|latest newsletter|signup|outreach​Follow the CASBS webcast series, Social Science for a World in Crisis  Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford UniversityExplore CASBS: website|Bluesky|X|YouTube|LinkedIn|podcast|latest newsletter|signup|outreach​Human CenteredProducer: Mike Gaetani | Engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel | 

What are the most effective collective actions that social protest movements can or should undertake in the context of deep societal conflict and polarization? CASBS fellows Eran Halperin (2022-23) & Robb Willer (2012-13, 2020-21) compare their cross-national research findings and explore Halperin's real-time applied work with the dramatic, ongoing protests in Israel.ERAN HALPERIN links:Psychology of Intergroup Conflict and Reconciliation Lab (PCIL)Halperin on Google ScholaraChord: Social Psychology for Social ChangeROBB WILLER links:Willer's Stanford faculty pageWiller's personal web pagePolarization and Social Change LabWiller on Google ScholarArticle in JPSP, "The Activist's Dilemma" (2020)Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford UniversityCASBS:website|Twitter|YouTube|LinkedIn|podcast|latest newsletter|signup|outreach​Follow the CASBS webcast series,Social Science for a World in Crisis  Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford UniversityExplore CASBS: website|Bluesky|X|YouTube|LinkedIn|podcast|latest newsletter|signup|outreach​Human CenteredProducer: Mike Gaetani | Engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel | 

Drawing upon a career of scholarship extending from studies of labor, citizenship, and the state in Africa to explorations of global empire, colonialism, and globalization, three-time CASBS fellow Frederick Cooper – in conversation with 2022-23 fellows Jean Beaman and Martin Williams – gives a master class on how critical and relational thinking serve historical inquiries that advance our understandings. Frederick Cooper, CASBS fellow 1990-91, 1995-96, 2002-03NYU faculty pageWikipedia page Fred Cooper booksCitizenship, Inequality, and Difference: Historical Perspectives (2018)Citizenship Between Empire and Nation: Remaking France and French Africa, 1945-1960 (2014)Empires in World History: Power and the Politics of Difference (2010)Cooper Books in CASBS's Ralph W. Tyler Collection:Colonialism in Question: Theory, Knowledge, History (2005)Decolonization and African Society: The Labor Question in French and British Africa (1996)Confronting Historical Paradigms: Peasants, Labor, and the Capitalist World System in Africa and Latin America (1993)Fred Cooper article referenced in the episode"What is the Concept of Globalization Good for? An African Historian's Perspective" (2001) Jean Beaman faculty pageMartin Williams faculty page Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford UniversityCASBS:website|Twitter|YouTube|LinkedIn|podcast|latest newsletter|signup|outreach​Follow the CASBS webcast series,Social Science for a World in Crisis   Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford UniversityExplore CASBS: website|Bluesky|X|YouTube|LinkedIn|podcast|latest newsletter|signup|outreach​Human CenteredProducer: Mike Gaetani | Engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel | 

This episode is  produced in association with the CASBS project "The Social Science of Caregiving," and draws further inspiration from the CASBS project "Imagining Adaptive Societies." Learn more about both:https://casbs.stanford.edu/programs/projects/social-science-caregivinghttps://casbs.stanford.edu/programs/projects/imagining-adaptive-societiesCASBS program director Zachary Ugolnik served as co-producer of this episode.Ted Chiang on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_ChiangTed Chiang in The New Yorker"Why Computers Won't Make Themselves Smarter"  https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-inquiry/why-computers-wont-make-themselves-smarter"ChatGPT is a Blurry JPEG of the Web" https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/chatgpt-is-a-blurry-jpeg-of-the-web"Will A.I. Become the New McKinsey?" https://www.newyorker.com/science/annals-of-artificial-intelligence/will-ai-become-the-new-mckinsey"Ted Chiang's Soulful Science Fiction"  https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/ted-chiangs-soulful-science-fictionExplore the work of Alison Gopnikhttp://alisongopnik.com/http://www.gopniklab.berkeley.edu/alisonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alison_Gopnikhttps://www.ted.com/talks/alison_gopnik_what_do_babies_thinkhttps://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/16/podcasts/ezra-klein-podcast-alison-gopnik-transcript.htmlLearn about CASBSwebsite|Twitter|YouTube|LinkedIn|podcast|latest newsletter|signup|outreach​Follow the CASBS webcast series,Social Science for a World in Crisis   Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford UniversityExplore CASBS: website|Bluesky|X|YouTube|LinkedIn|podcast|latest newsletter|signup|outreach​Human CenteredProducer: Mike Gaetani | Engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel | 

This is a podcast version of a live CASBS webcast event. View video of the event here.The event was produced in association with CASBS's program on Creating a New Moral Political Economy. Learn about the program here.CASBS's moral political economy program guest-curated the Winter 2023 issue of Dædalus, a publication of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The entire issue is open access here. Panelist John Ahlquist's essay in the issue provided impetus for the organization of the event this podcast episode draws from.CASBS: website|Twitter|YouTube|LinkedIn|podcast|latest newsletter|signup|outreach​Follow the CASBS webcast series,Social Science for a World in Crisis Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford UniversityExplore CASBS: website|Bluesky|X|YouTube|LinkedIn|podcast|latest newsletter|signup|outreach​Human CenteredProducer: Mike Gaetani | Engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel |