#AcademicRunPlaylist - 2/25/25

I'm slowly getting back onto Boston time, and while I still took it easy today I was able to listen to a bunch of talks for my #AcademicRunPlaylist!

First was an important slate of talks on caste, space, and sensory expectations at CRASSH with Srilata Sircar, Bhawani Buswala, Jusmeet S. Sihra, and Priyanka Kotamraju https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALg2hOcHfkg

Next was an engaging panel on opportunities and policy around AI for Africa at the Africa Tech Summit with Moya Novella, Loubna Hadid, Lawrence Muthoga, and Yekeen Ajeigbe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X27wCnsjN7Q

Next was an excellent talk by Gene Kimmelman on UK competition and consumer protection law at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School. Kimmelman gives a great overview of the DMCC act and nicely contextualizes this activity around recent EU regulations and the global political situation. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnT-8LzDQEk

Next was an interesting talk by Haijun Xia on generative, personal user interfaces at Stanford https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbWgRuM-7X8

Next was an intriguing talk by Gioele Zardini on the compositional design of complex mobility systems at the GRASP Lab https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAqXQll4mFM

Last was "Survival of the Friendliest" by Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods. The first part of this book is a fascinating examination of how selection for "friendly" traits drove human (and dog) evolution, combining anthropological and experimental evidence. The book then ventures into psychology and political science, a good introduction to these fields https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/550437/survival-of-the-friendliest-by-brian-hare-and-vanessa-woods/