Moral Repair: A Black Exploration of Tech

Tech Companies and American Manufacturing have a history of booming and busting towns. The Big Question for this last episode of the season is, will this AI chip factory scheduled to open in a suburb just north of Syracuse, NY actually provide reasonable, sustainable increased quality of life, or will it be the latest iteration of the boom and bust cycle? Annanda and Keisha ask key Syracusans to find out. 

SHOW NOTES

• Talk to us at Instagram (@moralrepairpodcast), on X (@moralrepair), and on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/moral-repair-podcast/

Syracuse  

Micron 

This week, Keisha and Annanda explore AI and tech from the perspectives of the African diaspora in North America, in Europe, and continental Africa. We ask: Where’s Africa in the story of AI? What does the diaspora have to say about inclusion in tech? Our featured guest is Mutale Nkonde (AI For the People), and we get into inclusion, colonialism, and what we can all learn from the Maori.

SHOW NOTES

This Episode Annanda and Keisha Explore The Big Question of, is it worth the expense to go to Mars given the needs on Earth? And what would it be like to live on Mars or in space? They interview Kai Staats, Director of Research for SAM at the University of Arizona to get the space tea.

This week we’re sharing an episode with you from Heather Freeman at Magic in the US. 

Magic in the US is a PRX show that explores America’s magical communities. In this episode, we hear how pagans in the 1980s used the early internet to find each other. 

Enjoy the episode! 

Follow Magic in the US wherever you listen. 

Keisha and Annanda talk to Sarah Nahar of Community Peacemaker Teams and Buddhist Peace Fellowship about technologies of public safety and conflict in the United States and how communities can organize themselves to repair the harms of oppression and policing. We look at the history and values of public safety in the USA, specific policing tech, and ways communities in and out of tech are responding.

How do the profits from Big Tech impact family farmers, food-ways and the environment in the United States? Annanda & Keisha talk to Jamie Fanous, Director of Policy for Community Alliance with Family Partners and Dr. Amina Darwish, the Associate Dean and Advisor for Muslim Life at The Office of Religious and Spiritual Life at Stanford University.

SHOW NOTES

We’re excited to be live in Oakland on June 11 for a live in-person show at Kinfolx in the East Bay. Join us in person @4pm PST or online at, Making It: A Night of Big Questions! Sign up at Eventbrite 

Talk to us on Instagram (@moralrepairpodcast), on X (@moralrepair), and on LinkedIn. 

Always-on technology has amplified distraction and overwhelm, disconnection, and cultural polarization. What ancient and emerging tools can help us put tech in its rightful place? Keisha and Annanda talk to Judith Shulevitz and Joe Hollier about what can we learn from Sabbath traditions about community, connection, and thriving. 

SHOW NOTES

Tell us: What are the community spaces where you find rest with others?

It’s a major election year in American politics. This episode explores the big question, how is AI used in American political decision-making? What are the tools out there? How do they impact the political process? While this episode will not be political, it will touch on the evolution of political culture via AI and the impact it has the everyday person. Our episode features special guest, Cyber Security expert Bruce Schneier of the Harvard Kennedy School.

Talk to us on Instagram (@moralrepairpodcast), on X (@moralrepair), and on LinkedIn. 

SHOW NOTES

The whole cup of tea… The Guardian Interview with Christopher Wylie

They are still going y’all! Chicago Festival for the Humanities

Check Out Bruce’s Corner of the Internet! Bruce Schneier

What do we need to know about recent regulatory guidelines on AI trust and safety? What does one recent federal regulator think still needs attention? How could critical Black digital perspectives reshape the conversation? Annanda and Keisha talk Afrofuturism and equity with Dr. Alondra Nelson, deputy director for science and society at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy from 2021-2023.

SHOW NOTES

On Moral Repair: A Black Exploration of Tech, hosts Annanda Barclay and Keisha McKenzie talk with tech and wisdom leaders. Their conversations inspire curiosity about tech while showcasing practical wisdom from the African continent and diaspora to nurture wellbeing for all.

Moral Repair expands mainstream tech narratives, celebrates profound insight from Black philosophy and culture, and promotes technology when it serves the common good. Listeners leave each episode with new ways to think about tech’s impacts and apply practical wisdom in their own lives.