November 02, 2022

TRANSCRIPT

Jack and Shobita chat about the disasters in British politics, the CHIPS and Science Act, and how to determine whether self-driving cars are safe. Plus we chat with anthropologist Glenn Davis Stone, Professor at Sweet Briar College and author of the recent book The Agricultural Dilemma: How Not to Feed the World. Stone argues that we've been learning the story of the Green Revolution all wrong, and this has huge implications for how we think about more recent agricultural technologies like fertilizer and genetically modified organisms.

1. How is the CHIPS and Science Act being framed in the United States?

2. What are the problems with the conventional tale of the Green Revolution?

3. Why has the myth of the Green Revolution been so persistent?

4. What is the problem with GMOs, and specifically BT crops, in India?

5. How have publics gotten more involved in the decisions of the agricultural system? What are the impacts?

• Dan Reed and Darío Gil (2022). "Insufficient NSF funding could doom the Chips and Science Act." The Hill. October 13.Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (2022). "Responsible Innovation in Self-Driving Vehicles."

• Glenn Davis Stone (2022). The Agricultural Dilemma: How Not to Feed the World. Routledge.

• Glenn Davis Stone (2022). "Surveillance Agriculture and Peasant Autonomy." Journal of Agrarian Change.

• Glenn Davis Stone (2020). "A Long-term Analysis of a Controversial GMO Crop." Nature Plants. March 13.Glenn Davis Stone (2020). "The Philippines has rated ‘Golden Rice’ safe, but farmers might not plant it." The Conversation. February 7.

September 13, 2022

TRANSCRIPT

It's a new season of The Received Wisdom!! After their partial summer hiatus, Shobita and Jack discuss the fraud allegations that are rocking the foundations of what we know about Alzheimer's Disease, and the Biden Administration's directive to make freely available all publications based on federally funded research. And, they chat with Macarthur Fellow Mary Gray about the "ghost workers" behind digital technologies and supposedly artificial intelligence. Gray is Senior Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research, Faculty Associate at Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, and faculty in the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering with affiliations in Anthropology and Gender Studies at Indiana University.

1. Why was the amyloid plaque hypothesis for Alzheimer's so successful?

2. What are the potential drawbacks and limitations to the US government's adoption of an open access publication policy?

3. What is ghost work?

4. Why can't the problem of content moderation be solved solely through computation, and more generally computer science and engineering? What insights can deep understanding of the social dimensions of science and technology provide?

5. What don't we think of ghost workers as experts? How might reframing it in that way change the discussion? What public policy options might it reveal?

6. How do Gray and Suri categorize different types of ghost work?

• Charles Piller (2022). "Blots on a Field?" Science. July 21.

• The White House (2022). "Breakthroughs for All: Delivering Equitable Access to America’s Research." OSTP Blog. August 25.

• Mary L. Gray and Siddharth Suri (2019). Ghost Work: How to Stop Silicon Valley from Building a Global Underclass. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

• National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (2022). Fostering Responsible Computing Research: Foundations and Practices. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

• Mary L. Gray with Catherine Powell (2021). "The Emerging Technology Underclass." Council on Foreign Relations’ Women and Foreign Policy Roundtable Series and Roundtable Series on Cybersecurity and Cyberconflict.

• Margaret Bourdeaux, Mary L. Gray, and Barbara Grosz (2020). "How human-centered tech can beat COVID-19 through contact tracing." The Hill. April 20.

May 14, 2022

TRANSCRIPT

This month, Shobita and Jack discuss how scientists are engaging in the boiling politics of abortion in the United States, the implications of large language models (a new type of artificial intelligence), and Elon Musk's possible takeover of Twitter. And we have a fascinating conversation with Morgan Ames about her award-winning book The Charisma Machine, which focuses on the global One Laptop Per Child project. Ames is Professor of Practice at the School of Information and Associate Director of Research for the Center for Science, Technology, Medicine and Society at the University of California, Berkeley.

1. What are the problems with scientists taking such a prominent role in the abortion debate, especially in the US?

2. What was the hope behind the One Laptop Per Child project, and how did it fail?

3. What biases lay underneath the One Laptop Per Child project, in the idea, the design, and the implementation?

4. What role does hype play in shaping our understanding of emerging technologies? What are its positive and negative dimensions?

5. Could a One Laptop Per Child-type project ever be successful? How?

• Morgan G. Ames (2019). The Charisma Machine: The Life, Death, and Legacy of One Laptop Per Child. MIT Press.

• Morgan G. Ames (2021). "Laptops alone can’t bridge the digital divide." MIT Technology Review. October 27.

• Morgan G. Ames (2019). "Future Generations will Suffer if we Don't Solve Unequal Access to Tech." Pacific Standard. April 2.
  Morgan G. Ames (2019). "The Smartest People in the Room? What Silicon Valley’s Supposed Obsession with Tech-Free Private Schools Really Tells Us." LA Review of Books. October 18.

• Roger A. Pielke Jr. (2007). The Honest Broker: Making Sense of Science in Policy and Politics. Cambridge University Press.

• Dan Sarewitz (2013). "Science must be seen to bridge the political divide." Nature. 493: 7.

• Johanna Okerlund, Evan Klasky, Aditya Middha, Sujin Kim, Hannah Rosenfeld, Molly Kleinman, Shobita Parthasarathy (2022). What’s in the Chatterbox? Large Language Models, Why They Matter, and What We Should Do About Them.

• Technology Assessment Project, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Project, University of Michigan.
  Richard Van Noorden (2022). "How language-generation AIs could transform science." Nature. April 28.

March 23, 2022

TRANSCRIPT

In this episode, Shobita and Jack discuss this uncertain moment in the pandemic around the world, including the latest negotiations related to the TRIPS patent waiver related to COVID vaccines. They consider emerging efforts to develop a "pangenome" that emphasizes human genetic diversity. And they chat with Professor Sabrina McCormick, a scholar, policymaker, and filmmaker, about her efforts to advocate for climate change action in creative ways.

1. What it the TRIPS patent waiver and how might it influence global vaccine equity?

2. Why is it important to use storytelling to talk about important science and technology issues

3. Why are there pressures to “deanimate science”, as Bruno Latour puts it, and what are the benefits and drawbacks of that?

4. What role does emotion play in scientific research?

5. What kind of storytelling related to climate change do you think is ineffective? Effective?

• Roxane Khamsi (2022). "A more-inclusive genome project aims to capture all of human diversity." Nature. 16 March.

• Sequestra film (2020).

• The Years of Living Dangerously film (2014).

• The Years of Living Dangerously, Bringing Climate to the Classroom (2016).

• www.sabrinamccormick.com

• www.resilienceentertainment.com

February 15, 2022

TRANSCRIPT

This month, Jack and Shobita discuss the resignation of the Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, African scientists' success in copying the Moderna vaccine and the potential long-term implications, and the politics of long COVID. And we speak with scholar and writer Chris Gilliard about the rise of surveillance technologies, their implications especially for marginalized communities, and what we can do about it.

1. Can you think of additional examples of luxury and imposed surveillance? What are their similarities and differences?

2. What are the limitations to the consent model for accessing digital technologies? What harms might it cause?

3. Think of a common digital technology that clearly produces social harm (e.g., Facebook, facial recognition technology). How might you redesign it to maximize the social benefits while limiting the harms?

4. How might governments regulate emerging digital technologies to maximize societal benefits?

• Chris Gilliard (2022). "Crime Prediction Keeps Society Stuck in the Past." WIRED. January 2.

• Chris Gilliard (2021). "A Black Woman Invented Home Security. Why Did It Go So Wrong?" WIRED. November 14.

• Chris Gilliard and David Golumbia (2021). "Luxury Surveillance." Real Life. July 6.

• Chris Gilliard (2020). "Caught in the Spotlight." Urban Omnibus. January 9.

• Chris Gilliard (2018). "Friction-Free Racism." Real Life. October 15.

• Will Oremus (2021). "A Detroit community college professor is fighting Silicon Valley’s surveillance machine. People are listening." The Washington Post. September 17.
  Alex Thompson (2022). "Biden’s top science adviser bullied and demeaned subordinates, according to White House investigation." Politico. February 7.

• Amy Maxmen (2022). "South African scientists copy Moderna’s COVID vaccine." Nature. February 3.

January 11, 2022

TRANSCRIPT

In this episode, Shobita and Jack discuss the recent conviction of the now-notorious Elizabeth Holmes, former CEO of Theranos, and what it means for tech hype. They talk about the UK government's recent decision to review the racial bias embedded in medical devices, and consider whether this will move equity objectives forward. And they speak with Kyle Powys Whyte, George Willis Pack Professor of Environment and Sustainability, and Affiliate Professor of Native American Studies and Philosophy, at the University of Michigan, about how indigenous knowledge can inform the science and policy discussions related to climate change.

1. What does climate science look like for indigenous peoples?

2. What lessons might indigenous approaches to climate science hold for Western science?

3. How do indigenous peoples think about the relationship between science and society?

4. What are the benefits and drawbacks to the framing of climate change as an urgent problem?

5. How have histories of colonialism shaped climate change, both in the United States and elsewhere?

6. Is a just energy transition possible? What would it take to make the energy transition truly just?

• "An Interview with Kyle Whyte." Sense & Sustainability. September 1, 2021.

• Kyle Powys Whyte. "White Allies, Let's Be Honest About Decolonization." Yes! Magazine. April 3, 2018.

• Kyle Powys Whyte. "Five reasons why the North Dakota pipeline fight will continue in 2017." The Conversation. January 5, 2017.

• Kyle Powys Whyte. "Why the Native American pipeline resistance in North Dakota in about climate justice." The Conversation. September 16, 2016.

• Kyle Powys Whyte. "Michigan's woeful track record for environmental justice." Detroit Free Press. February 4, 2016.

November 15, 2021

TRANSCRIPT

This month, Shobita and Jack discuss efforts to engage publics in the development and regulation of AI, including the AI Bill of Rights proposed by the White house, and the most recent Facebook controversies. And they talk to sociologist and lawyer Karen Levy about her forthcoming book examining the rise of technology-based surveillance in the trucking industry and its social, political, and labor implications.

1. What are the benefits and drawbacks of bringing EDL and other surveillance technologies into trucking?

2. To what extent do you think the trucking (and other forms of labor) shortage can be traced to resistance to and frustration with surveillance technologies?

3. How do the new technologies transform the kinds of knowledge and expertise deemed relevant to trucking? What knowledge is now valued, and what is devalued? What are the consequences?

4. What is a multi-sited ethnography, and why is it useful for studying technologies, their implications, and the development of appropriate policies to manage them?

• Eric Lander and Alondra Nelson (2021). "Americans Need a Bill of Rights for an AI-Powered World." WIRED. October 8.

• Karen Levy (2021). "You Had Me at ‘Has Never Filed for Bankruptcy’." The New York Times. March 31.

• Julie Weed (2020). "Wearable Tech that tells Drowsy Truckers it's Time to Pull Over." The New York Times. February 6.

• Clara Berrige and Karen Levy (2019). "Webcams in Nursing Home Rooms May Deter Elder Abuse--But Are They Ethical?" The Conversation. July 24.

• Christophe Haubersin (2017). "Automation is coming for truckers. But first, they're being watched." Vox. November 20.

October 05, 2021

TRANSCRIPT

In this episode, Shobita and Jack compare how the US and UK governments are managing risk and uncertainty in both pandemic policymaking and in their evolving artificial intelligence strategies. And they chat with Jason Delborne, a professor at North Carolina State University who has done both research and public and policy engagement related to gene drives, a new form of biotechnology that could transform our ecosystems.

1. Why do we turn to surveys as measures of public opinion, and what might consensus conferences or other deliberative methods allow us to do?

2. Why do we need social scientists involved in discussions about science and technology policies

3. What’s the deficit model of public engagement, and what’s wrong with it?

4. Why might the science and engineering communities be skeptical of engaging communities in decisionmaking about science and technology, and how might these concerns be overcome?

• National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (2019). Forest Health and Biotechnology: Possibilities and Considerations. National Academies Press.

• National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (2016). Gene Drives on the Horizon: Advancing Science, Navigating Uncertainty, and Aligning Research with Public Values. National Academies Press.

• America in One Room (2020). Executive Summary.

• Delborne, J. A. (2019, January 18). Can genetic engineering save disappearing forests? The Conversation. http://theconversation.com/can-genetic-engineering-save-disappearing-forests-109793

• Delborne, J. A., Binder, A. R., Rivers, L., Barnes, J. C., Barnhill-Dilling, K., George, D., Kokotovich, A., & Sudweeks, J. (2018). Biotechnology, the American Chestnut Tree, and Public Engagement (Workshop Report). Genetic Engineering and Society Center. http://go.ncsu.edu/ges-chestnut-report.

• Long, K. C., Alphey, L., Annas, G. J., Bloss, C. S., Campbell, K. J., Champer, J., Chen, C.-H., Choudhary, A., Church, G. M., Collins, J. P., Cooper, K. L., Delborne, J. A., Edwards, O. R., Emerson, C. I., Esvelt, K., Evans, S. W., Friedman, R. M., Gantz, V. M., Gould, F., … Akbari, O. S. (2020). Core commitments for field trials of gene drive organisms. Science, 370(6523), 1417–1419. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abd1908

Episode 39: The Politics of Air Pollution, Ozempic, and Luddism ft. Brian Merchant

In this episode, Shobita and Jack tackle the EPA's recent efforts to increase monitoring of air pollutants, Jack's new documentary on existential risks, and the Ozempic craze. And Jack chats with Brian Merchant, a freelance journalist who focuses on tech who recently wrote Blood in the machine: The origins of rebellion against big tech about the history of Luddism.

Links:

- Merchant, Brian. (2023) Blood in the machine: The origins of rebellion against big tech. Hatchette Book Group. New York.

- Brian Merchant’s Substack

- For UK listeners, an audio adaptation of Blood in the Machine on BBC Radio.

- Stilgoe, Jack (2024). How Real is the Existential Risk from AI? Analysis 4. BBC Radio.

Transcript and study questions available at thereceivedwisdom.org.

In the first episode of 2024, Shobita and Jack reflect on the first CRISPR therapy approved by drug regulators around the world, for sickle cell disease. We also talk about the safety issues plaguing Boeing, and the Post Office scandal roiling the UK and why it matters for regulating AI. And, we reconnect with Alondra Nelson, one of The Received Wisdom's first guests! Alondra Nelson is the Harold F. Linder Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study and previously as deputy assistant to President Joe Biden and acting director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy(OSTP). 

References:

- Elish, M. (2019, March 23). Moral Crumple Zones: Cautionary Tales in Human-Robot Interaction. Engaging Science, Technology, and Society. 

- Lazar, S and A. Nelson (2023, July 13). "AI safety on whose terms?" Science. 381 (6654): 138

- Zook, M, S. Barocas, d. boyd, K. Crawford, E. Keller, S. P. Gangadharan, A. Goodman, R. Hollander, B.A. Koenig, J. Metcalf, A. Narayanan, A. Nelson, and F. Pasquale (2017, March 30). "Ten simple rules for responsible big data research." PLOS Computational Biology. 

- Nelson, A. (2016). The Social Life of DNA: Race, Reparations, and Reconciliation After the Genome. Beacon Press.

- Nelson, A, C. Marcum, J. Isler (2022, Fall). "Public Access to Advance Equity." Issues in Science and Technology. 

- White House (2022, Oct 4). Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights.