We finally had a day without snow in Boston, and while resting my shoveling muscles I listened to talks for my #AcademicRunPlaylist!

First was an interesting talk by Andrea Pollio on Nairobi's tech ecosystems and its complex connections with China at Rafael Grohmann's DigiLabour lab https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Wkm6eWTj2c

Next was a great conversation with Cecilia Rikap on digital ecosystems, global value chains, and the EU's path forward at the Digital Markets Research Hub https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Sqy99Cn9Ac

Next was an important Power At Work panel on the recent US labor developments (with Minneapolis featuring prominently) with Seth Harris, Michael Sainato, Kate Bronfenbrenner, and Chris Garlock https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWxw9dTkf8w

Next was the MIT Stone Center on Inequality and Shaping the Future of Work symposium on wealth inequality. While a lot of the speakers seem to ignore the events of past last year, I did like the opening panel on political philosophy with Elizabeth Anderson, Oren Cass, and Hélène Landemore https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_hr9x1R3YU

Last was "Belly-Rippers, Surgical Innovation and the Ovariotomy Controversy" by Sally Frampton. This book is an eye-opening, deeply researched, painful dive into a simultaneously unique and representative case of technological innovation - in this case, the development, diffusion, and subsequent fading of the ovariotomy surgical technique. Frampton examines this from a variety of perspectives, looking at the genesis of the technique, its ethically fraught refinement, and the intellectual property and business aspects of the surgery. As an instantiation of the lifecycle of innovation it’s instructive in how winding and non-linear the process is, and truly appreciating the efficacy (and harm) of this approach took decades. Highly recommend https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-78934-7