The Technically Human Podcast

For our last episode of the season, I sit down with Rebekah Tweed to talk about the topic that has animated my research for the past year: The future of what I have been calling the new profession of ethical technology.

As listeners may know, for the past year I have led a team of researchers for the National Science Foundation to explore this new profession, to assess what it means, and to proactively define it in order to ensure that workers in this profession can succeed in these roles, and that they can make the ethical difference they were hired to make.

So I was especially excited to talk to Rebekah Tweed, the creator of the Responsible Tech Job Board, which features roles that are focused on reducing the harms of technology, diversifying the tech pipeline, and ensuring that tech is aligned with the public interest. It’s the first job board of its kind, it attracts both hirers and job seekers who are interested in creating ethical change in tech, and it is already changing the industry and defining the field.  

Rebekah Tweed is a leader in Responsible Technology careers, talent, and hiring trends. Alongside her role as curator and creator of the Responsible Tech Job Board, she is the Program Director at All Tech is Human, where she heads up various programs including their mentorship program and university ambassadors program. She is also the Co-Chair of the IEEE Global AI Ethics Initiative Editing Committee and a member of the Arts Committee.

And that’s all for this season! We are off for the summer, but we’ll be back in September with brand new episodes of Technically Human. Until then, check out our archives. Enjoy the summer, and see you in September!

In this episode, I talk to Dr. John Cooley, the Founder and Chief of Products of Nanoramic Laboratories, a company reinventing the transportation industry with new battery technologies to replace fossil fuel consumption in our car economy. We talk about the relationship between ethical innovation and financial success, the state of the auto industry's transition to battery power, the controversial ethics of battery technology, and the growth of the climate tech industry and environmental consciousness.

Dr. John Cooley is the founder and Chief of Products and Innovation at Nanoramic Laboratories, a company working to accelerate the adoption and universality of battery-powered transportation. He holds five (5) technical degrees from MIT including the Ph.D. from the Electrical Engineering dept. 

Dr. Cooley has been issued several patents including four for his thesis work. He has presented and published papers in the areas of power converter control and modeling, linearized circuit analysis, capacitive sensing, building energy management, and in education. His interests lie in energy-related problems of scale and the ways in which we can impact those with technology and policy.

This week, I’ll turn the mic over to two guest hosts, for a conversation about mental health and technology with Dr. Elizabeth Barrett, licensed family-marriage counselor, author, and Cal Poly professor. Cal Poly “Technically Human” students Katelyn Travis and Katrina Loye interview Dr. Barrett to discuss the modern implications of digital technologies for family and romantic dynamics.

The episode delves into the complications of recent technology, including social media apps and the shift into virtual education due to Covid-19. In a virtual world, we lose connection and intimacy in the relationships that should be most important to us, and Dr. Barrett helps us brainstorm ways that we can reconnect in our coldly digital world.

Dr. Elizabeth Barrett is a Psychology and Child Development professor at the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo where she lectures on the topics of counseling, family psychology, child abuse and neglect, and marriage and family therapy. She is a licensed marriage and family therapist of 20 years and a mental health coach specializing in personal growth, family life, and relationship issues. She has worked with the county of San Luis Obispo as a crisis/in-home counselor for a child abuse prevention program where she focused on communication’s importance in individual health and the well-being of a family. Her expertise surrounding family psychology and the psychological impact of our evolving society is enhanced through her roles as a wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and daughter. She shares her concerns regarding our collective mental health and the direction of the helping professions on her weekly radio program on Public Radio KCBX, A Conversation with the Reluctant Therapist.

In this episode, we take a deep dive into the technology of “Clean Meat,” with Paul Shapiro. We talk about the ethics of eating non-human animals, the technological history that led to factory farming and the technology that is allowing human animals to eat meat, in what we might call the "Clean Meat" revolution--a term that nods to the clean energy revolution that has transformed the energy sector.

Paul Shapiro author of the national bestseller Clean Meat, published in 2018. When Paul took his first bite of clean meat in 2014, more humans had gone into space than had eaten real meat grown outside an animal. In addition to being among the world’s first clean meat consumers, Paul is a four-time TEDx speaker, the host of the Business for Good Podcast, the CEO of The Better Meat Co., and long-time leader in food sustainability. Paul is a researcher, innovator, industry leader, and public scholar swho has published hundreds of articles in publications ranging from daily newspapers to academic journals. Paul lives in Sacramento, California with his wife Toni Okamoto, author and founder of Plant-Based on a Budget, and their very friendly pit bull Eddie. Clean Meat (2018) is his first book, is a Washington Post bestseller, and has been translated into seven languages.

You can read more about Paul’s work and contact him at www.paul-shapiro.com.

This week's episode is the second episode of a 2 part series of Technically Human. Over the next two episodes, I speak with six women/nonbinary/trans individuals about their experiences transitioning into the tech industry after leaving established careers. They share their stories about what led them to decide to leave their established careers and retrain as technologists through the Grace Hopper Coding Academy, a program specifically targeting women/nonbinary/trans individuals who want to learn how to code so that they can pursue careers in the tech industry. We discuss the challenges that women/nonbinary/trans individuals face when pursuing careers in tech. We talk about what tech represents for those who have been historically excluded from it, and their decision to launch their new collective, "Intercode," a platform that seeks to establish a community for Womyn+ in tech to share their stories and forge new connections.

Intercode is a collective of voices exploring how the intersection of identity and privilege impacts every facet of the tech industry–including access, culture and the ethics governing the space. Through candid conversation and writing, we work to tackle the ways current DEI efforts can still fall short in fostering inclusive and equitable spaces. ​​

The idea for Intercode began with several candid discussions amongst a group of software developers and recent graduates from the Grace Hopper Program, a NY-based bootcamp targeted towards historically underrepresented candidates in the field of engineering. While sharing our perspectives we quickly realized that these discussions were valuable enough to merit a larger audience and began laying the groundwork to create a formal space for us to share these perspectives with the world.

This week's episode is the first of a 2 part series of Technically Human. Over the next two episodes, I speak with six women/nonbinary/trans individuals about their experiences transitioning into the tech industry after leaving established careers. They share their stories about what led them to decide to leave their established careers and retrain as technologists through the Grace Hopper Coding Academy, a program specifically targeting women/nonbinary/trans individuals who want to learn how to code so that they can pursue careers in the tech industry. We discuss the challenges that women/nonbinary/trans individuals face when pursuing careers in tech. We talk about what tech represents for those who have been historically excluded from it, and their decision to launch their new collective, "Intercode," a platform that seeks to establish a community for Womyn+ in tech to share their stories and forge new connections.

Serena Chang is a Fullstack software engineer and professional dancer in New York City looking to combine both these passions in her next career. Chang was dancing as one of the lead roles in the off-broadway performance, “Then She Fell” and prepared to go on an international tour prior to the performance shutdowns due to Covid. Looking for another creative and technical pathway, she became immersed in coding and the endless creative possibilities it offered to interface with humans.

Kelsey Roy is a Software Engineer who is seeking to implement socially conscious practices in the tech sphere. She has held previous roles as a Data Analyst and Operations Manager and as a Project Management Consultant. Kelsey is devoted to a career working for mission-driven organizations with diverse and collaborative environments that make a positive difference in the world. Related to her passion for supporting DEI efforts in tech, she is also interested in the ethics surrounding AI, machine learning, and computing in general.

Jazma Foskin is a Fullstack Software Engineer who recently graduated from the Grace Hopper Program at Fullstack Academy. She is an Army Veteran who is passionate about learning, traveling, and growing. Combining technology and creativity has allowed her to work on passion projects that are aiming to push the Black and LGBTQIA+ community forward. As a Black woman, Jazma is continuing to be a representation so that others may see themselves in her and understand they too no matter their starting point can accomplish their goals.

Diana Viglucci (they/them) is a full stack developer, community-builder, and lifelong learner. They like writing code that brings people joy, helps them learn something new, or that makes resources more accessible. Diana completed their technical training at the Grace Hopper Program, where they were best known for their Stackathon-winning rat tracker app. Prior to transitioning into tech, they worked in community-based nonprofit programs, supporting individuals and their families as they navigated mental health issues, career changes, and LGBTQ+ identity. A cum laude graduate of Cornell University, Diana finds joy in making art, spending time in nature, and turning off their phone for hours-long stretches. Their work is grounded in person-centered, trauma-informed, and intersectional perspectives - and always will be - because software is for people.

Violet Cutler (She/They) is a trans woman living in Philadelphia. She has been an artist and performer for more than a decade. She has also spent that time organizing DIY events in the queer and trans community and really values community building. She spent the last 4 years working in a food coop. She co-organized a successful union campaign when Covid struck. Despite this success, the dangers of the pandemic drove her to look for another way to support herself. In August of 2021, she quit her job and began studying to get into the Grace Hopper Program at Fullstack Academy. She graduated in April 2022 and looks forward to a career in Tech and Game Development. Her priorities moving forward are accessibility of the web and creating spaces in tech for other marginalized identities.

Jessica Donig (she/her) is a Fullstack software engineer with a background in social entrepreneurship. Prior to attending Grace Hopper, Jessica co-founded a nonprofit, worked as the first employee of a YC-backed startup, and conducted clinical research at Stanford University.  From the time she entered the startup world in 2015, Jessica wanted to learn to code, but the lack of female representation in the field had made her hesitant to do so. Now that she has completed her coursework, Jessica is passionate about helping other nontraditional engineers—especially women—see themselves in tech.

In this episode of “Technically Human” I talk to Dov Maisel, the cofounder of United Hatzalah, an organization that leverages technologies to provide disaster relief around the world when crisis strikes—in Haiti, Florida, Nepal, Israel, and right now, in the devastating war in Ukraine. We talk about United Hatzalah’s ethic of providing free emergency care to all people, regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, or nationality, we talk about how technologies are changing the terrain of disaster relief, and we discuss how existing technologies can be transformed into life-saving ones.

Dov Maisel is an Innovator, volunteer and world renown expert in disaster management. In 2006, Dovi helped to cofound United Hatzalah, Israel’s first nationwide, all volunteer EMS organization. He invented the technology for United Hatzalah’s Uber-like GPS based dispatch system which locates and sends the EMT closest to the medical emergency to provide aid. He led the United Hatzalah international relief missions in Haiti, Nepal and in both Houston and Florida, USA, after the devastating hurricanes that decimated the communities there, and he managed the United Hatzalah EMS response teams in Mumbai immediately after the shocking terror attacks that took place there in 2008. He works as the head of International Operations of United Hatzalah, which is currently providing critical care and emergency aid in Ukraine. He continues to save lives as a volunteer, instructor and mass casualty incident manager.

United Hatzalah is currently providing crucial on the ground aid in Ukraine. To donate to United Hatzalah and to support their work in Ukraine, please visit their website: https://israelrescue.org/

In this episode, I interview Prateek Joshi, Founder and CEO of Plutoshift. We talk about the importance of local and cultural knowledge in a global tech economy, the ethical obligations of technological producers in the West to technological development in developing countries, and how AI transforming the landscape of the developing world.

Prateek Joshi is the Founder and CEO of Plutoshift, a company that leverages AI to create sustainable, and life-saving, technologies that help meet basic needs in developing countries. He is the author of 13 books on ML, including a #1 Best Seller, and the host of the Infinite Machine Learning podcast  He has been featured on Forbes, Fortune, CNBC, TechCrunch, and Bloomberg, and he publishes a tech blog with readership in 200+ countries. 

In this episode, Dr. Pallavi Banerjee joins me to talk about her new book, The Opportunity Trap: High-Skilled Workers, Indian Families and the Failures of Dependent-Visa Program. We talk about the role of immigrants in American tech culture, the challenges that immigrants coming to the U.S. to work face in the immigration process, and the need to think about what "tech" is, beyond our just technological products.

Dr. Pallavi Banerjee is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Calgary. Her research interests lie at the intersections of sociology of families, immigration, labour, gender, transnationalism and critical feminist theories. Her new book looks at the experience of Indian immigrants coming to the U.S. to work in the tech sector through the American visa program, and the problems with an immigration system that offers opportunities for immigrants, while often simultaneously wreaking havoc on their lives and families.

We are back, with another season of “Technically Human.”

For our first episode of the season, we're bringing you a conversation with Dr. Steven Kelts. We talk about corporate ethics, we debate the role of values in tech culture, and Steven plays "optimistic cop" to my "cynical cop," to argue that he's hopeful for, and excited about, the future of ethics in tech culture.

Steven Kelts is a political theorist and long-time ethics educator, and a Lecturer at Princeton University, in the Politics Department and at the University Center for Human Values. 

His current research is on the history and uses of market ideas, including theories of the firm and corporate organization. In addition to ongoing writing projects, Dr. Kelts consults in the private sector with companies looking to align their market value with their ethical values, working to develop frameworks to help employees navigate ethical pitfalls in their organizational culture.

This episode was produced by Deb Donig and Sakina Nuruddin.

Art by Desi Aleman.