Humanities (Audio)

For four decades, UCLA’s Stephanie Jamison has been somewhat defiantly seeking the stories of women among some of the oldest texts in the world. Jamison shares some of what she has unearthed, the names and stories of women we have likely never heard of before. Jamison’s expertise lies in Indo-Iranian, especially Sanskrit and middle Indo-Aryan languages with an emphasis on linguistics, literature and poetics, religion and law, mythology and ritual, and gender. Series: "UCLA Faculty Research Lectures" [Humanities] [Show ID: 34409]

In "Bad Rabbi and Other Strange but True Stories from the Yiddish Press" Eddy Portnoy mines century-old Yiddish newspapers to expose the seamy underbelly of pre-WWII New York and Warsaw, the two major centers of Yiddish culture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Series: "Taubman Symposia in Jewish Studies" [Humanities] [Show ID: 34806]

What makes us human is a question that not only science asks, but all disciplines of mind from philosophy to religion to sociology and ethics, and even to storytelling and the arts. Tim Disney's new movie "William", about a Neanderthal living in the modern world forces us to ask that and many other questions. Director of the UC San Diego Stem Cell Program Alysson Muotri brought together a panel of experts from across a spectrum of disciplines to discuss those issues in a lively and engaging forum with the movie's creator. Series: "Stem Cell Channel" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 34803]

New experimental and big data research have generated unexpected ethical challenges for social scientists. Historically, these disciplines have been largely observational - involving the passive collection of existing information and data. More recently, social scientists have embraced experimental methods to study a wide variety of social, policy, and political questions. This experimental revolution has created a new set of ethical problems and a backlash against social science experiments. Especially challenging are the popular field experiments - experiments conducted on a massive scale, without any informed consent, often affecting larger societies or systems. Scott Desposato, professor of political science at UC San Diego, looks at these new issues, examines the perspective of subjects and societies, and discusses the way social scientists are working to build new norms of research. Series: "Exploring Ethics" [Humanities] [Education] [Show ID: 33718]

Celebrating and honoring the legacy of Sally Ride, the first American woman to fly in space, Women in Leadership brings together trailblazers who have shattered barriers and paved the way for women across the globe. Through a candid and timely discussion, the distinguished panel will share their personal stories and vision on how women can help lead our nation to a better future. Series: "Women in Science" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Business] [Education] [Show ID: 34217]

The film Blade Runner was set in a dystopian 2019 Los Angeles. A timely gathering is in order. Three futurists sit down for a conversation on the film’s legacy and its relevance to Southern California. The guest speakers are David Brin, Paul Sammon and Mike Davis. They discuss the film’s influence and compare its vision with today’s 2019. Blade Runner initially underperformed in theaters when it was first released in 1982; some praised its thematic complexity and visuals, while others were displeased with its slow-paced narrative and unconventional plot. However, by 1992 it had become a cult classic and was re-released in newly edited versions. Why did it take a decade to find — or create — its audience? Series: "Library Channel" [Humanities] [Show ID: 34684]

UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep Khosla, Executive Vice Chancellor Elizabeth H. Simmons, and Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Becky R. Petitt welcome Tam O'Shaughnessy, Cofounder and Executive Director of Sally Ride Science@UC Diego. Tam shares the mission of Sally Ride Science. Journalist Lynn Sherr follows with anecdotes about Sally Ride and her legacy. (uctv.tv/shows/34217) Series: "Women in Science" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Education] [Show ID: 34878]

Rachel Kadish is an American writer of fiction and non-fiction, author of several novels and a novella. Her fiction work has won the National Jewish Book Award and the Julia Ward Howe Prize, the John Gardner Fiction Prize, and the Association of Jewish Libraries Fiction Award. She discusses her latest book, "The Weight of Ink," a work of historical fiction set in London of the 1660s and of the early twenty-first century. Series: "Taubman Symposia in Jewish Studies" [Humanities] [Show ID: 34680]

Emma Marris argues that there are different strategies to achieve the balance between nature, wilderness and the built environment. She challenges the idea of the pristine, pre-human state given that humans have altered their environment since pre-history. And, human-caused climate change is altering even the most remote places. She offers ideas on the future of nature and how we might think about it. Series: "Institute for Practical Ethics Speaker Series" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 34391]

Join Peter Cowhey, Dean of the School of Global Policy and Strategy for an in-depth conversation with Steven Pinker, an experimental psychologist and Johnstone Family Professor Psychology at Harvard University. In his new book, Enlightenment Now, Pinker makes a powerful argument that by every measure, the conditions of human life have been improving steadily for the past 200 years. This improvement can be attributed not just to the spread of eighteenth-century principles of enlightenment, but also to the evolved properties of the modern human mind. Series: "Helen Edison Lecture Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 34248]