Wise The Dome TV

In this episode of Algorithms of Empire, we speak with anthropologist Dr. Roberto J. Gonzalez about his book War Virtually: The Quest to Automate Conflict, Militarize Data, and Predict the Future. Our conversation examines the evolution of counterinsurgency as a project of social engineering and the emergence of what Gonzalez calls “War 4.0”: a new phase of warfare organized around artificial intelligence, robotics, data analytics, predictive systems, and human-machine teaming. We discuss how these technologies are reshaping the battlefield while extending much older ambitions to classify populations, anticipate threats, and regulate human behavior.We also explore the deep institutional connections between the Pentagon, Silicon Valley, and the social sciences. Gonzalez explains why the supposed divide between civilian technological innovation and military research is increasingly difficult to sustain, and we discuss computational counterinsurgency, military predictive systems such as W-ICEWS and Nexus7, the militarization of social science, and the role of data-driven psychological operations in projects such as Cambridge Analytica. The conversation ultimately raises a broader question at the heart of Algorithms of Empire: how should we understand the technologies developed within institutions shaped by militarism, counterinsurgency, and techno-optimism as they migrate into civilian life? We discuss whether algorithms can ever be understood as politically neutral, how virtual and increasingly automated warfare can distance publics from the human consequences of military decisions, and whether the values embedded in military research ultimately become features of the technologies themselves.

In this episode of Algorithms of Empire, we speak with CG-IPTC Research Fellow Zane Maddux about his essay, “Cutting the Grass Before It Grows,” and the counterinsurgent politics embedded in Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan. We examine how popular culture does more than reflect political ideas—it can help normalize particular ways of seeing populations as threats.The conversation focuses on the construction of Arab men and boys through categories such as the “military-age male,” future dangerousness, and predictive threat. These categories do not remain confined to television or military discourse; they also shape drone warfare, surveillance, and increasingly AI-assisted systems of target acquisition.Algorithms of Empire explores how the military origins and imperial logics of AI bleed into civilian life. From battlefield technologies to predictive policing and algorithmic decision-making, the series asks how systems built to identify, classify, and manage threats continue to structure the world far beyond war.

Gerald Perreira & Dwayne Omowale: Marcus Garvey, Jacobin, & The White LeftIn this interview, I speak with Gerald Perreira and Dwayne Omowale about a recent Jacobin article on Marcus Garvey and the broader questions it raises about the white left, African political movements, and the struggle for African liberation.We examine how Marcus Garvey's political legacy is understood and often misrepresented, the relationship between the white left and Black liberation movements, and the contradictions that emerge when African political struggles are viewed through a Western political lens. We also discuss Sudan, the current state of African politics, and the importance of understanding these struggles within their historical and political contexts.A discussion about Garvey, Pan-Africanism, political independence, and who gets to define the terms of African liberation.

In this interview, Dr. Gilmore explores counterinsurgency, Elon Musk, and the growing tendency to anthropomorphize artificial intelligence. We discuss the intersections of power, technology, and human behavior, examining how AI is changing the way we think about intelligence, agency, and our relationship with machines.

On this episode of Wise The Dome TV, I sit down with Ras Ceylon to discuss Fred Hampton Jr., the legacy of 2Pac 30 years later and his article revisiting the rap icon, his experiences as a Wu-Tang Killa Bee, Oliver 'Power' Grant, the film Judas and the Black Messiah, and Malcolm X’s grandson. We get into hip hop, political struggle, and the people and movements shaping Black culture and history.

In this episode of Wise The Dome TV, I speak with Baba Ifa Karade about Ifa, African philosophy, and Black nationalism. We explore how African spiritual and philosophical traditions shape Black identity, cultural preservation, self-determination, and the liberation struggle.

In this episode of Algorithms of Empire, we speak with Dr. Leonard Harris, one of the most influential figures in contemporary African American philosophy, about necro-being, the limits of ethical theory, and the limits of reason itself.Building on his recent lecture, “Necro-Being and the Limits of Ethical Theory,” delivered at the University of Toronto’s Centre for Ethics as part of the Algorithmic Bias Speaker Series, Harris reflects on his concept of necro-being: an approach to racism that foregrounds its material production of premature death, suffering, deprivation, and damaged possibilities for human life. Our conversation also turns to his forthcoming work on the moral imperative against necro-being and what it would mean to construct an ethical response adequate to forms of domination that cannot be reduced to failures of individual intention, prejudice, or rational deliberation.Our discussion then moves from racism and moral philosophy to artificial intelligence. Harris challenges the confidence traditionally placed in reason as the foundation of moral progress, for us to consider what happens when the limitations of human rationality are reproduced—or radically amplified—in artificial superintelligent systems. If reason has never guaranteed moral conduct among human beings, what grounds do we have for assuming that greater computational intelligence will produce wiser or more ethical agents?We were privileged to have Dr. Harris spend his time in a wide-ranging philosophical conversation about racism, death, moral obligation, artificial intelligence, and whether intelligence—human or artificial—is sufficient for confronting the conditions that make necro-being possible.

In this episode of Wise The Dome TV, Haki Shakur takes us through the history of the New Afrikan Independence Movement, tracing its intellectual foundations, organizations, personalities, political struggles, and historical memory.The conversation follows a chronological path—from the influence of Malcolm X and the concept of a nation within a nation, to the formation of the Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika (PG-RNA) and the development of New Afrikan political thought.

Gerald Perreira joins Wise The Dome TV for a wide-ranging discussion on Pan-Africanism, Revolutionary Pan-Africanism, socialism, anti-imperialism, and the rapidly changing global political landscape.We examine the current period of global instability, the rise of multipolarity, BRICS, and the growing competition between major powers for influence across Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Global South. The conversation also explores Africa and the new scramble for resources, political developments in the Sahel, Burkina Faso, and the importance of maintaining a critical revolutionary analysis.Other topics include Palestine and its connection to Pan-Africanism, Gaza and the failures of international institutions, Haiti and foreign intervention, the role of the Caribbean in anti-imperialist struggles, and the growing tensions surrounding Guyana, Venezuela, Essequibo, and oil.We also discuss China's growing role in Africa and the Global South, asking whether institutions such as BRICS can create genuine space for formerly colonized nations or whether new centers of power are emerging within the existing global capitalist system.Topics discussed include Pan-Africanism vs. Revolutionary Pan-Africanism, multipolarity, BRICS, Africa, the Sahel, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Ibrahim Traoré, Palestine, Gaza, Haiti, Guyana, Venezuela, Essequibo, China, socialism, imperialism, and the Global South.

Bomani Shakur joins Wise The Dome TV for a wide-ranging conversation on New Afrikan history, Oyotunji African Village, 2Pac, and international relationships. We explore culture, history, identity, and the ongoing struggle for African self-determination.