Recycling bins

Talking Trash: Recycling Inches Up, But Problems Remain

With the changes in consumed materials, recycling is running into problems; meanwhile, plastic and overall waste climb.

Jonathan Taplin

Podcast #28: Jonathan Taplin on Internet Aggregators

Jonathan Taplin, former music and film professional, tells first-hand what the new rentier economy of Internet aggregators like Google and Facebook has done to the creative arts, journalism, and democracy.

Huei Peng

Podcast #20: Huei Peng and Driverless Cars

A tour of autonomous vehicle testing track Mcity with director Huei Peng answers many questions, and raises others.

Podcast #17: Cal Newport on Deep Work

For a computer scientist, Georgetown professor and author Cal Newport is hard to reach via email. But it’s part of his philosophy that focused concentration–so elusive in our overstimulated world–is the key to a better and more rewarding work and personal life.

Tomaso Poggio

Podcast #16: Tomaso Poggio on the State of AI

After a long so-called winter, artificial intelligence has recently made amazing gains. Tomaso Poggio, Director of MIT’s Center for Brains, Minds, and Machines, explains why this success is still a long way from the dystopian fears of robot overlords, but that the threat to jobs is real.

Mix Tape

Spotify Automates; Humans Get Played

When Spotify’s music algorithms lead one writer to a band he can’t stand that he loves, he wonders about who’s programming who.

Google’s Smart Reply: Convenience Over Connection

Gmail offers users canned responses to emails, based on AI interpretations of the contents and the user’s typical writing style. This convenience, unknown to the recipient, comes at a social cost.

Burning Hard Drive

The Proud Luddite

The word Luddite has a long history as a derogatory term. But it has little to do with the real history of the Luddites, who seem more relevant than ever.

Robot AI Job Line

Speeding Towards a Potential AI Jobocalypse, Government is on Autopilot

A White House paper on AI betrays a stunning naivte about potential economic fallout, but few in government are interested in even acknowledging the issue.