#AcademicRunPlaylist - 12/26/24

While my youngest was doing a skiing lesson I went on a nice hike into the frozen wilderness, and at the end I had a frozen lake all to myself! On the way I was able to listen to some talks/books for my #AcademicRunPlaylist!

First was an excellent panel on how traditional legal doctrines apply to AI technologies and how to adapt them moving forward at the Lawfare Institute with Chinmayi Sharma, Catherine Sharkey, Bryan Choi, and Katrina Geddes. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbB0yIBQAq0

Next was "Energy and Civilization" by Vaclav Smil. You have got to love a book that cites multiple 18th century primary sources and compares their merits on water wheel power output and efficiency. Up through the early 20th century, Smil brings that rigor to bear on unpacking the nature of human energy expenditure and usage through the millennia, providing a unique lens onto different phases of human history and technological development. He also shows just how rapid the energy usage and efficiency gains have been in the last ~250 years.

Unfortunately that same rigor isn't brought to more recent issues, with most developments in the last ~100 years being subject to wild guesses and surprisingly inaccurate characterizations (e.g. "the Toyota Production System was just scientific management"). On top of that, the nearly complete omission of slavery and colonization, despite expounding at length on human labor energy and resource extraction, is pretty much inexcusable.

With that in mind, if you can get over those issues and skip the sections on the modern world, I highly recommend the book. https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262536165/energy-and-civilization/

Last was "Aloha Betrayed" by Noenoe Silva. This book rectifies the one-sided nature of much of the research on American Colonialism in Hawaii, diving into (and quoting at length) Hawaiian newspaper accounts and other native sources to significantly expand the historical record. The successful interactions with Britain and the subsequent rapid modernization effort were enlightening, as were the social and economic developments leading up to the American-backed coup that paved the way for annexation. The flip-flopping of the US congress on the issue and its willful engagement in unrepentant colonial activity at the dawn of the 20th century is laid out in devastating detail, leaving much to think about for those of us who are beneficiaries of that injustice. Highly recommend https://www.dukeupress.edu/aloha-betrayed