#AcademicRunPlaylist - 10/13/24

I had a great time catching then end of the Psychology of Technology Institute conference today at the fabulous Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences at Boston University building, and since my talk was recorded I should be able to post it soon! And while the weather wasn't great I was also able to listen to some talks for my #AcademicRunPlaylist!

First was an interesting talk by Max Ruiz Luyten on enhancing model interpretability and performance with concept bottleneck models at the University of Cambridge Department of Computer Science and Technology https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CISPuSTtvWA

Last was "The Dawning of the Apocalypse" by Gerald Horne. This is a breathless run through of a formative time in world history - the start of systematized slavery, white supremacy, and colonialism. While the 16th century often escapes strong historical consideration since these issues weren't as widespread, Horne catalogs numerous trial runs of these systems, from Jewish persecution in Spain and England to colonial actions on the west coast of Africa and Ireland. The influence of the Ottoman Empire on this enterprise is nicely emphasized here as well.

Unfortunately I did find that this book lacks a coherent narrative, going back and forth in time and often simply listing events one after another without any in-depth analysis of their import. If you're unfamiliar with some of these events it'll be hard to fully grasp their meaning, and even then Horne proceeds with such speed that it's hard to fully internalize the threads that are exposed here.

That being said, this is still an excellent review of a critical era, and for those looking for pointers to further reading this will make a good reference. https://monthlyreview.org/product/the-dawning-of-the-apocalypse/