#AcademicRunPlaylist - 8/29/24

Author

Ben Waber
August 29, 2024

A selfie of me in front of the Charles River on a sunny day. I'm a bald, middle-aged, white man with a red beard flecked with white. I'm wearing black sunglasses and a dark purple running shirt. Some algae is visible in the river, and forest lines both banks. In the distance a number of swans and Canadian geese can just be made out

It was absolutely gorgeous in Boston today, and while I'm still not full strength after getting COVID late last week I still went on a short run while listening to talks for my #AcademicRunPlaylist!

First was a short conversation with Ellen P. Goodman on DOJ's approach to promoting competition in AI and the need for regulation at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZiUOsMMe98

Next was a thought-provoking talk by Jeanette Conrick and Megan Prictor on the ethics and legal landscape of direct to consumer DNA testing from the perspective of adoptees at Melbourne Law School https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=So-1fiGNAko

Next was a short discussion with Susan Athey on the antitrust challenges in the AI industry at Stanford GSB https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OXLRpuMcfY

Next was an important talk by Katherine Lieschke and Lorna McLeman on the state of gene therapy, barriers to clinical trials, and ethical issues in the space at Melbourne Law https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkrLJay0D-o

Next was a fantastic conversation with Raj Chetty on how children succeed at the Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State. Chetty gets into recent work around the surprisingly fast reduction in some inequality metrics recently in the US and implications for policy. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr3-jUTfD6g

Next was an excellent panel on approaches to AI regulation, ethics, and the state of the field at the QMUL School of Law with Sandra Wachter and Jack Stilgoe. This is an incredibly refreshing examination of the problems with much of the recent discourse around AI, and is one of the few panels I've listened to where I'm in nearly complete agreement with the panelists. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaNkaWz8plg

Next was an intriguing talk by Tomer Galanti on how stochastic gradient descent and weight decay actually compress neural networks at MIT Brain and Cognitive Sciences https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axprAoA-Gew

Last was a fascinating talk by Lars Chittka on how bees think (!) at the QMUL School of Law https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCMFyQZPNJM