It's still extremely cold in Boston, and while struggling to keep my digits warm I listened to talks for my #AcademicRunPlaylist!

First was an interesting talk by Amitai Shenhav on an affect-centered account of motivated behavior at the Society for the Science of Motivation (SSM) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9PhiAjRIfc

Next was a great talk by Wei-Hsi Chen on task-informed robot codesign at the GRASP Lab https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KVT44xAiis

Next was an engaging talk by Matthias Gruber on how curiosity shapes spatial exploration and cognitive map formation at the SSM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA16g5p47Ns

Next was an amazing talk by Angelina Wang on intentionally building discrimination into AI systems to increase fairness at the Network Science Institute. Wang clearly articulates the problems with simplistic definitions of fairness, how and why this results in unjust systems, and why considering context is essential will result in better outcomes. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h3KJbzHWko

Next was an intriguing talk by Alyssa Sinclair on how motivational states bias choices, information consumption, and memory at the SSM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnEy3f3fn8g

Next was the first day of the National Bureau of Economic Research industrial organization program meeting, with a notable talk by Bradley Setzler on the links between labor and product market power in the US hospital industry https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkKhcH6kBF8

Next was a fascinating talk by Alan Castel on memory selectivity in younger and older adults at the SSM. Through a series of clever experiments, Castel demonstrates the surprising differences in memory and meta-cognition across age ranges. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5aeCE1F1_s

Next was an excellent talk by Brian Knutson on neural predictors of risky choice at the SSM. Knutson isolates these predictors using gambling experiments, but also nicely caveats the limits of imaging here. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX-mzrnbE_E

Last was "Grow the Pie" by Alex Edmans. This book essentially says out the naive neoliberal economic consensus on why companies should be managed to deliver for multiple stakeholders. The issue here isn't with the hypothesis, it's that Edmans repeats standard economic dogma on the theory of the firm and management that have zero empirical backing and are hilariously wrong. This particularly stands out when discussing executive compensation, neglecting analyses demonstrating that this is not a healthy market by any definition, conflicts of interest, and the question of how much one needs to pay to motivate people/how much better they are than other people. Given that we literally don't know, it's dishonest to defend these practices. If you've read a book or even a few columns on why companies should aim for more than short term profit, you already know what's in this book https://www.growthepie.net/