Life, Meet Tech

Prabu David is joined by Greg Teachout, one of his favorite colleagues and armchair experts, to discuss everything from the thought contagion and Greg’s newfound fascination with the hurdy gurdy.

In this episode, Prabu David invites Kjerstin Thorson, a researcher and professor at Michigan State University, to discuss how social media uses our own user data to determine what we see.

In this episode, Prabu David discusses the future of work with IT expert and the president of IDC, Crawford Del Prete, to find out what he thinks about the impact of technology on business and society.

Today’s world runs on an attention economy that’s driven by technology, and businesses profit from our attention. In this episode, Prabu David talks with leading researcher, neuroscientist, and author Amishi Jha about the real price of our attention.

Picking up where last week’s episode left off, Prabu examines algorithmic bias. Rebecca Wexler explains the black box nature of algorithms used in the criminal justice system and explains why Glenn Rodríguez was denied parole by the COMPAS algorithm.

GUEST: Rebecca Wexler, co-director of the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology.

RELATED LINKS:

More about Rebecca Wexler

https://www.law.berkeley.edu/our-faculty/faculty-profiles/rebecca-wexler/

ARTICLE: When a Computer Program Keeps You In Jail. New York Times.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/13/opinion/how-computers-are-harming-criminal-justice.html

Forensic Files, Dexter, Dateline, Bones, CSI. Our streaming queues are full of crime shows that use all sorts of forensic technology -- from DNA sequencing and fingerprint analysis to facial recognition. Have you ever wondered if these technologies are accurate? Prabu takes a close look at how forensic technology is applied in criminal investigations. The episode includes a deep dive into the misapplication of forensic technology and the wrongful conviction case against Mr. Steven Barnes, who spent 20 years behind bars for a murder he didn’t commit until he was exonerated through the Innocence Project.

GUEST: Sarah Chu, senior advisor on forensic science policy for the Innocence Project.

RELATED LINKS

More About Sarah Chu

https://innocenceproject.org/teams/#SarahChu

The Innocence Project

https://innocenceproject.org/

The Innocence Project: Steven Barnes

https://innocenceproject.org/cases/steven-barnes/

As humans, we generally have an inherent trust in technology. Calculators are correct. ATMs are accurate. Computers are objective. It’s a relationship that begins when we are young, and we don’t even think about it most of the time. Now, we’ve allowed Alexa, Siri, Google and Facebook into our lives. Tech giants use this trust to access our data, both to benefit us and profit from us. In this episode, Prabu examines our trust in machines and the dilemma of a paradox: our willingness to trust machines with our data to give us better experiences even as we fear that are our data could be exploited.

GUEST: S. Shyam Sundar, founder and co-director of the Media Effects Research Laboratory at Penn State University.

RELATED LINKS

More about S. Shyam Sundar

https://www.bellisario.psu.edu/people/individual/s.-shyam-sundar

Scary Pizza Order at ACLU.org

https://www.aclu.org/ordering-pizza

How does technology help us live our best life? How does it hold us back?Prabu David introduces the new podcast exploring how our daily lives intersect with technology.