#AcademicRunPlaylist - 3/15/25

It was another gorgeous day in Boston, and while taking in the lovely weather I was also able to take in talks for my #AcademicRunPlaylist!

First was an amazing talk by Jason Resnikoff on the historical arc of technological change and labor relations at Studium Generale Groningen. This is essentially an expanded version of the ETUI talk he gave that I posted yesterday, and like that I highly recommend it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rOFbUHGXDQ

Next was an interesting talk by Fuhimide Tanaka on the University of Tsukuba's robotics research and social robotics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljZ8aK6HHF4

Next was an engaging panel on physics-inspired machine learning frameworks and their applications at the NSF AI Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions (IAIFI) (which giving the current dismantling of the US's public research infrastructure might not exist soon) with Cengiz Pehlevan, Dmitry Krotov, and Ila Fiete https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g-6XeUCmb8

Next was a fascinating talk by Matthew Gombolay on human-robot teaming in wheelchair tennis at MIT Robotics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RQ_gPBirX4

Next was "Gender Trouble" by Judith Butler. This is a very down-the-rabbit-hole examination of the essence of gender in the Western world prior to the 21st century, for better and for worse. I appreciated the critique of the subject, but the reductive arguments and constant referrals to Freud's long discredited theories significantly detract from the rest of the book. Still, the ideas put forth here are important to consider as a foundation for gender studies https://www.routledge.com/Gender-Trouble-Feminism-and-the-Subversion-of-Identity/Butler/p/book/9780415389556

Last was "Index, A History of the" by Dennis Duncan. The idea of page numbers, chapters, and indexes (there's a whole section in the book about why for written works one should call them "indexes" and not "indices") are so basic that it's hard to imagine that they were invented at all. However Duncan reveals that due to the nature of books, it wasn't until the 1300s that proto-indexes actually emerged, with the printing press spurring further development and innovation in the space. As a work on the history of technology there are some asides that are entertaining but not informative, but overall this is a fascinating look at technological and scientific development. Highly recommend https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324002543