#AcademicRunPlaylist - 12/11/24

It was pouring today (pic is from earlier this week), but at least while taking refuge in my car while commuting I was also able to listen to some talks for my #AcademicRunPlaylist!

First was an engaging conversation between Ann Lipton and Michael Levin on Chancellor McCormick's final decision in Tornetta (the shareholder lawsuit against Elon Musk's egregious pay package) on the Shareholder Primacy podcast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcUP_SovTQI

Next was a great talk by Shayne Longpre on the data provenance initiative as well as his work on decline of the data commons at the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pn7kfgheaMg

Next was an amazing talk by Joe Magee on why many sex/gender differences are really power differences at the Women and Public Policy Program at the Harvard Kennedy School. There's a hidden meta analysis on the power literature here, in addition to the powerful main effect that there's a 9:1 ratio (!) of consistent to opposite effects. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCot3exY_Ic

Next was a fascinating talk by Eric Paulos on encountering and designing with emerging technologies through the decades at BayCHI. In addition to a lot of classic MIT Media Lab hits, there's recent work on hair notifications/interaction (pour one out for us bald guys), sensing and interaction through temporary tattoos, and more. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGH_P79KUlA

Last was "The Price of Inequality" by Joseph Stiglitz. Stiglitz comes out swinging in this indictment of neoliberalism, methodically exposing the many failings of this ideology and how it in fact created a society that subsidizes rich people and organizations at the expense of the vast majority of the public. As this book came out in 2013, when the US was still climbing out of the aftermath of the great recession, much of the book is concerned with the 2008 financial crisis and its implications. While still intellectually interesting, these sections are obviously far less relevant today. Beyond that, many chapters (especially on political and legal reform) are mostly data-free, and while I mostly agree with the conclusions I tend to prefer the work of Piketty, and if you've read one of his longer tomes you can probably skip this one. Still, if you're not inclined to that kind of book or you want a quicker, less technical intro to the space, this is an excellent book. Highly recommend https://wwnorton.com/books/the-price-of-inequality/