#AcademicRunPlaylist - 10/8/25

O Canada! Today I'm officially a Canadian-American, and the ceremony made me reflect on the sacrifices my grandmother's family made to flee an oppressive regime to the True North in the late 1800s. The First Nations video that was part of the ceremony, with its message of embracing diversity and acknowledging history, was particularly moving.

Besides the ceremony I was unfortunately under the weather for most of the day, but at least I was able to listen to talks in bed for my #AcademicRunPlaylist!

First was a great talk by Kaitlyn Becker on using fabrication-integrated design to mechanically program soft robots at MIT Robotics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBBUUzUrPgE

Next was an engaging discussion between Ann Lipton and Michael Levin on recent notable M&A litigation and corporate personhood on the Shareholder Primacy Podcast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTMMTf36Kes

Next was an amazing talk by Tomer Ullman on approximations in mental simulation and intuitive physics at the Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems - NICO. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlva6nzjW7Y

Next was a slate of talks at #CCN2025:

Nancy Kanwisher - intuitive physical reasoning in the brain https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvUXUm1AMCU

Anna Schapiro - learning representation of specifics and generalities over time https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7_7qd_giug

Yasuo Kuniyoshi - embodied intelligence https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDOUV8I2uGE

David Poeppel - from vibrations in the ear to abstractions in the brain https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV0e2L3_kwk

Pieter Roelfsema - brain mechanisms for visual perception and technology for restoring it in blindness https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJKh5zhGRhE

Next was an interesting talk by Alex Damian on understanding optimization in deep learning with central flows at Harvard CMSA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04E8r76TetQ

Last was "Congo" by David Van Reybrouck. This book provides a sweeping analysis of the DRC's history, and reading this book in 2025 with a renewed Rwandan invasion is as edifying as it is depressing. Van Reybrouck speed runs the prehistorical period, focusing much more on initial contact with Europeans and Arabs, the subsequent colonization and exploitation by Belgium, and its independent period. Importantly, this book includes many interviews and oral accounts from the Congolese people themselves, with excellent on the ground work by Van Reybrouck to talk with both bigger names and less well known individuals. Given the moral imperative to help improve conditions in the DRC and its growing geopolitical importance, there couldn't be a better time to pick up this book. Highly recommend https://www.harpercollins.com/products/congo-david-van-reybrouck