#AcademicRunPlaylist - 1/21/26

From the picture you might gather that it was a bit nippy in Boston (started running when it was a brisk 6° F (-14.5 C)), but it was still nice seeing the frozen landscape while listening to talks for my #AcademicRunPlaylist!

First was an interesting talk by Kaushik Basu on cross-border labor mobility and its challenges at the Asian Development Bank Institute https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYF1kUhduQQ

Next was an amazing talk by Molly Crockett on the deeply pessimistic and dystopian nature of techno-optimism at ACM FAccT. Crockett methodically works through the different classes of this ideology, dissecting its many flaws and proposing a different path forward. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEaHHw-akC0

Next was a great talk by Christopher Findlay on promoting regional trade in services in Asia at the ADBI, with discussion by Jane Drake-Brockman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkIgcDfCYk0

Next was an engaging talk by Nathalie Smuha on the current AI regulatory landscape at FAccT 2025 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqKnMEEGEdw

Next was a compelling talk by Jeffrey Sachs on the importance of economic cooperation at the ADBI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyOk5vrXrM4

Last was "Alegal: Biopolitics and the Unintelligibility of Okinawan Life" by Annmaria Shimabuku. The majority of this book focuses on the history of the US occupation of Okinawa and the central role of the sex industry in this time period. This history isn't well covered in many other academic books, and learning about the legal limbo of Okinawa and Okinawans vis a vis both Japan and the US was eye opening. Other parts of the book, however, retread tired Marxist tropes (seriously: there's a whole section called "The Lumpenproletariat") and use overly obtuse language to theorize about social relations. If you breeze through those sections it's a worthwhile read https://fordhampress.com/alegal-hb-9780823282661.html