University of California Video Podcasts (Video)

Tage S. Rai is a psychologist who studies ethics, culture, and violence. Drawing on both qualitative and experimental methods, he examines the social-relational nature of morality, its origins, and its consequences. In recent work, he has found that when perpetrators are motivated by moral sentiments, they may humanize rather than dehumanize their victims, experience greater rather than lesser self-control when harming them, and respond irrationally to material costs and benefits. Moving forward, he is especially interested in developing psychological approaches to the study of organizational and institutional violence. Series: "Exploring Ethics" [Health and Medicine] [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 38800]

Large language models (LLMs) have now achieved many of the longstanding goals of the quest for generalist AI. While LLMs are still very imperfect (though rapidly improving) in areas like factual grounding, planning, reasoning, safety, memory, and consistency, they do understand concepts, are capable of insight and originality, can problem-solve, and exhibit many faculties we have historically defended vigorously as exceptionally human, such as humor, creativity, and theory of mind. At this point, human responses to the emergence of AI seem to be telling us more about our own psychology, hopes and fears, than about AI itself. However, taking these new AI capacities seriously, and noticing that they all emerge purely from sequence modeling, should cause us to reassess what our own cerebral cortex is doing, and whether we are learning what intelligence, machine or biological, actually is. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 38679]

It is estimated that more than 80% of adults in the U.S. will have low back pain at some time in their lives. It is a significant cause of disability, resulting in an immeasurable toll on function, happiness, and quality of life. Dr. Paul Su discusses the basics of lower back pain with a look at anatomy, physiology and evaluation. Series: "Mini Medical School for the Public" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 38785]

UC San Diego Latinx STEM faculty sharing their journey, research and relationship to the Latinx community and experience. Robert Castro, Director of Chicanx and Latinx Studies sits down with Javier Duatre, Ph.D., Olivia Graeve, Ph.D., and Julio Barreiro, Ph.D. Series: "Education Channel" [Humanities] [Education] [Show ID: 38627]

Jeff Barry, MD, discusses the difference between a strain and a sprain, as well as a treatment program. Series: "Mini Medical School for the Public" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 38808]

UC San Diego Latinx STEM faculty sharing their journey, research and relationship to the Latinx community and experience. Robert Castro, Director of Chicanx and Latinx Studies sits down with Rommie Amaro, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Alex Frano, Assistant Professor of Physics, and Gilberto Mosqueda, Professor of Structural Engineering Series: "Education Channel" [Humanities] [Education] [Show ID: 38494]

As the delegates to the Constitutional Convention gathered in Philadelphia in 1789, there was no experience, anywhere in the world, of a successful republican executive over an extensive nation — one with sufficient authority and independence to make things work on a national scale, but without the risk of becoming a monarch. This Jefferson Memorial Lecture shows how the delegates, and especially the Committee of Detail, went about constructing such an executive, and what it means for separation-of-powers law today. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 38613]

Grammy award-winning tabla musician Zakir Hussain is the 2022 Kyoto Prize Laureate in Arts and Philosophy. He has opened new possibilities beyond the framework of traditional Indian music in collaboration with artists of other diverse genres worldwide. Dr. Hussain's performance innovations include a unique method of creating melodies on the tabla, originally regarded as a rhythmic instrument of accompaniment. In the process, he has expanded the tabla's possibilities and established it as one of the most expressive percussion instruments in the world. UC San Diego Professor of Indian Classical Music, Kartik Seshardi hosts an enlightening conversation with Dr. Hussain, before the laureate takes to the stage for thought-provoking lecture performance on the tabla and Indian classical music. Series: "Kyoto Prize Symposium" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 38887]

The cell phone revolutionized how we communicate with each other, but its origins are extremely different from the device you use to talk, text and even surf the internet with on a daily basis. Its roots could be traced back to the early 1970s when the head of Motorola’s communications systems division, Martin Cooper was tasked with developing a device that would make the up and coming car phone obsolete technology. On April 3, 1973, Cooper made the very first handheld cell phone call while standing on Sixth Avenue outside the New York City Hilton in midtown Manhattan to engineer Joel Engel, head of AT&T’s rival project. In a conversation with Al Pisano, Dean of UC San Diego’s Jacobs School of Engineering, Cooper reflects on the past fifty years including what it took to develop the world’s first cellular telephone, the impact it’s had on the world and the future of smartphone technology. Series: "Computer Science Channel" [Science] [Show ID: 38819]

What we eat -- and don’t eat -- is directly related to our health. Poor diets lead to poor health outcomes, including cancer. Dr. Donald Abrams, integrative oncologist at UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, is an expert on nutrition and cancer. Dr. Abrams says you can never overstate how important the food we eat is to our health. In this excerpt Dr. Abrams discusses the role body fat plays in the production of insulin. Series: "Mini Medical School for the Public" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 38815]