#AcademicRunPlaylist - 2/24/25

I had another day struggling to stay awake (hence the Tokyo pic from last week), but at least I got through it by listening to talks for my #AcademicRunPlaylist!

First was an interesting talk by Markus P. Nemitz on using additive manufacturing to build robot swarms at the Maryland Robotics Center https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrP345JCqq0

Next was a great talk by Toni Loh on the feminist philosophy of technology at the Institute for Science and Ethics (IWE) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5czA9riTlX8

Next was an excellent talk by Steven Kaplan on the holistic performance of PE firms at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Kaplan reviews the historical financial and employment trends in this space, presenting a detailed picture of the true impact of this important industry. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQOOg-erXxI

Next was a fantastic talk by Catherine Stinson on the problems with AI benchmarks at the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society (SRI). Stinson clearly identifies the many problems with the field's embrace of benchmarks, as well as the corrosive aversion to criticism that has emerged. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nttfu1co1bg

Next was a thought-provoking talk by Adam Karvonen on evaluating sparse autoencoders using board games at the USC Information Sciences Institute https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKhzSq_jMno

Next was a compelling talk by Pamela Samuelson on copyright law and the generative AI industry at SRI. Samuelson explains the legal issues at play, then reviews many of the lawsuits (although a few have seen decisions since this was recorded). Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJzkem3FWtc

Next was an engaging panel on economic inequality in preindustrial Europe with Guido Alfani, Theodore Seto, Ruth Mason, and Tsilly Dagan at the University of Virginia School of Law https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K1BrpEJxSA

Next was a nice talk by Rahul G. Krishnan on using deep learning to make causal predictions at SRI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE6Ss-dBtW0

Next was a great talk by Thomas Serre on designing large vision models to align with human vision at MIT Brain and Cognitive Sciences https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiYjQdpXtNQ

Next was an amazing talk by Virginia Dignum on a responsible AI innovation agenda at SRI. Dignum examines many of the current assumptions of AI development, showing why they need to be systematically and continuously questioned by all stakeholders. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp8t-6GOGZw

Next was an important panel on Britain's inequality crisis with Danny Dorling, Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah, Kitty Stewart, and Poly Toynbee at the LSE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWll71itthI

Last was "Inside the Invisible Cage" by Hatim A. Rahman (👋). Hatim pulls back the curtain on online gig work, expanding on his groundbreaking paper on the issues with algorithmic management and gig platforms to provide a sweeping analysis of these important problems. This book also doesn't just dismiss these platforms as a universal bad, rather it identifies the many problems with simplistic, unthinking implementations that plague the tech industry and management more broadly, charting paths forward to improve these systems so that they can provide better outcomes for all. I also loved the appendix, which goes into detail about how the data for this book was collected and analyzed. Highly recommend https://www.ucpress.edu/books/inside-the-invisible-cage/paper