Astra Taylor is a documentary filmmaker, writer, and political organizer. Her works include the documentary What is Democracy? and the books The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart and The People’s Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age, which won an American Book Award in 2015. She is also the co-founder of the Debt Collective, a union for debtors fighting to cancel student debt and bail debt.

This conversation was recorded on July 11, 2025.

Follow Astra on Bluesky and X. Questions or comments? Email [email protected].

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Cory Doctorow is an activist, journalist, and bestselling science fiction author. His books include The Lost Cause, Red Team Blues, The Internet Con, and Picks and Shovels. In 2020, he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

This conversation occurred on May 8, 2025, as part of a live event sponsored by UCLA DataX, an initiative focused on strengthening research and education in data science and critical data studies. The event was titled Beyond Broligarchy: The Fight for a Better Future.

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This podcast may contain explicit language and content that is not suitable for all audiences.

Sayash Kapoor is a computer scientist and co-author of AI Snake Oil. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Princeton University's Center for Information Technology Policy. His work focuses on the societal impacts of AI. In 2023, he was named to Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in AI.”

This conversation was recorded on February 27, 2025.

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References: 

• The Fallacy of Inscrutability by Joshua A. Kroll. 
• Technology and the Rise of Great Powers by Jeffrey Ding. 
• Machine Bias by Julia Angwin, Jeff Larson, Surya Mattu and Lauren Kirchner.

This podcast contains explicit language and content that may not be suitable for all audiences.

Venerable Dr. Pooja Dabral is a Buddhist monk and an assistant professor at Nalanda University in Rajgir, India, a university which originally dates back to more than 1500 years. Her research focuses on Buddhist 'middle path' philosophy and psychology and Buddhist Psychology. 

This conversation was recorded on January 28, 2025. 

Learn more about Ven. Dr. Dabral and Ramesh. Questions or comments? Email [email protected]. 

Check out this list for definitions of technical terms used in the conversation.

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This podcast contains explicit language and content that may not be suitable for all audiences. 

Venerable Geshe Dorji Damdul is the director of the Tibet House, the Cultural Center of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in New Delhi, India. He previously served as the English translator to His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

This conversation was recorded on September 18, 2024.

Learn more about Ven. Damdul and Ramesh. Questions or comments? Email [email protected]. 

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Sandeep Vaheesan is the legal director at the Open Markets Institute and a former adviser to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He is a staunch advocate for antitrust regulation and consumer protection. He is the author of Democracy in Power: A History of Electrification in the United States. 

This conversation was recorded in October 2023 and includes discussion about the FTC during the Biden administration. 

Learn more about Sandeep and Ramesh. Follow Open Markets on X. Questions or comments? Email [email protected]. 

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Yanis Varoufakis is a renowned Greek economist and bestselling author. He served as the Minister of Finance in Greece and co-founded the political party Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25). His books include Another Now and Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism.

This conversation was recorded in November 2024. Learn more about Yanis and Ramesh. Questions or comments? Email [email protected]. 

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Sara Dosa is an award-winning documentary director and producer, and Shane Boris is an award-winning documentary writer and producer. Their most recent collaboration, Fire of Love, was nominated for Best Documentary Feature Film at the 2023 Academy Awards.   

This conversation was recorded in the spring of 2023.

More about Sara.
More about Shane.
More about Fire and Love. 

Keep in touch with Dr. Srinivasan!
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Nathan Schneider explores the intersection of democracy and technology as a professor of media studies and the director of the Media Economies Design Lab at the University of Colorado Boulder. He is a founder of the platform cooperativism movement and Occupy Wall Street.

This conversation was recorded in January 2024.

More about Nathan: https://nathanschneider.info/ 

Keep in touch with Dr. Srinivasan!
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Elaine McMillion Sheldon is an Academy Award-nominated and Peabody and Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker. Much of her film work, including her most recent film King Coal, is rooted in the culture and environment of her home region of Appalachia.

This conversation was recorded in October 2023.

More about Elaine: https://www.elainemcmillionsheldon.com/about
More about King Coal: https://www.kingcoalfilm.com/

Keep in touch with Dr. Srinivasan!
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