The Technically Human Podcast

This week, we are continuing our series on the theme of democracy and technology by bringing you a conversation with Ram Fish, on the impact of social media on democratic institutions and civil discourse. We talk about the existential threat that social media poses to democratic norms, the erosion of civil discourse in the attention economy, and where else in the world we might look for hope in le...

This week, we are kicking off a special series of “Technically Human” focused on the intersection of democracy and tech. In the first episode in the series, I sit down with Dr. Foaad Khosmood. We talk about the relationship between access to information and functional democracy, and how digital technologies can expand civil discourse. Dr. Foaad Khosmood is the Forbes Professor of Computer Engineer...

In this episode, I speak with Dr. John C. Williams about the ethics of automated weapons systems. We talk about the concept of meaningful human control, about the ethics of war, and what it means to engage in the politics of biopower in the age of lethal autonomous weapons. Dr. John C. Williams is a Professor in the School of Government and International Affairs at Durham University, in the UK. Am...

In this episode of "Technically Human," I sit down with D.J. MacLennan to talk about the relationship between technological realities and fairy tale mythologies. We talk about what it means to re-write epic and age-old stories about magical worlds and beings in the age of tech, and how technological culture may itself be a form of fairy tale thinking. D.J. MacLennan is a writer of speculative fict...

"Technically Human" is back with a brand new season of the show! In our first episode of the season, I sit down with film director Jake Wachtel to talk about his debut film, " Karmalink, " the first science fiction film set in Cambodia. We discuss the connection between digital technologies, reincarnation, and Buddhism, we talk about the state of technological development in Cambodia, and Jake ref...

In this episode, I speak with Dr. Brooke Duffy about the structure of digital labor. We talk about Instagram influencers and the people who love to hate them, the double bind that women online face in presenting themselves as both "authentic" and  "relatable," and the problem with the advice we so often get, to "do what we love." Dr. Brooke Erin Duffy is an Associate Professor at Cornell Universit...

In this week’s episode, we bring you a conversation about, well, how we have conversations. Listeners of this podcast, students who have taken my class, and anyone who has heard me talk about ethics and technology in public has heard me talk about the importance of civil discourse. In an age of Twitter feuds, Facebook shouting matches, and an online culture of escalating arguments, learning the sk...

In this episode, I talk to Rob Dickinson, the CEO of Resurface . We talk about the ethic behind cybersecurity technology, the ethics of data ownership, and what regulations and laws can--and can't--do.  Rob Dickinson is Co-Founder and CEO at Resurface, an innovative platform focused on data privacy and API activity. His work around observability, cybersecurity and the “internet of things” has set...

In this episode, we do a deep dive into the Technically Human show archive to bring you an episode that puts together some of the show's top moments. If you are looking for a guide into the key questions, concepts, and characters critical to thinking about ethics and technology.  We've put together a show that answers some of the top questions that we consistently get asked about ethics and techno...

In this episode of "Technically Human," I dive into the history, the sociology, and the ethics of wearables with Dr. Steven LeBoeuf, the President and Co-Founder of Valencell Technologies . We talk about how wearable technologies trouble the boundaries of what we call a "self," and how what it means to be human is changing as we increasingly enlist technologies on our bodies in reporting on what i...

In this episode, I sit down with Vivek Wadhwa to talk about his pivot from tech entrepreneur and big tech enthusiast, to critic and activist. We talk about his path to tech and then to his activism in education, his research into tech innovation, and his research into the importance of global diversity when considering questions of how we imagine, innovate, and build. Vivek Wadhwa is a Distinguish...

In this episode, I speak with Joe Toscano about why he left Google in 2017, and how he became one of tech's leading critics. We talk about what he saw, in 2017, in the culture of tech that led him to leave, and what led him to found the Better Ethics and Consumer Outcomes Network (BEACON) . We discuss the relationship between ethics, law, and policy, and best practices for building a space for cha...

In this episode of "Technically Human," I sit down with Dr. Steven Smith, the director USC's  Dimensions in Holocaust Testimony .   We talk about the ethics of memory, testimony, and witness, and how these fundamental concepts are being radically changed by developing technologies. Steven explains the ethics of Holocaust witness in the digital age and how a new interactive program that enlists vir...

In this special edition of "Technically Human," we feature a live public conversation about the future of democracy, technology, and public policy. In 2017, Yaël Eisenstat came onboard Facebook to change it, joining the company as its Global Head of Elections Integrity Operations. What she discovered while working there alarmed her. She started speaking out, becoming a leading critic of tech’s thr...

In this episode, I sit down with a personal hero, the iconic literary giant Dan Lyons . We discuss Dan's experience writing about tech culture for the hit HBO show " Silicon Valley ," and Dan's own experience working in tech. We talk about what makes Silicon Valley funny--and how that humor gets at some of the deeply sobering realities of Silicon Valley culture.  Dan Lyons is one of the best-known...

In this episode of the podcast, I speak with Carlos Moreira, the CEO of WISeKey. We discuss the possibilities for building a human-centered technological future today—and the consequences if we do not. What does a human-centered model for technological production look like? How can we build human rights into our tech? And what needs to change to return human values to tech? Carlos Moreira is the F...

In this episode, I speak to Kordel France, the CEO of Seekar Technology . We discuss the challenges of building an ethical tech company, the importance of creating unbiased data sets, and Kordel discusses the importance of making AI explainable. Seekar technologies builds Artificial Intelligence across industries, with a specific focus on creating ethical AI for uses in ethical contexts. His techn...

In this episode, I sit down with Chris Wexler, the CEO of Krunam , one of the world’s leading image and video classifiers of Child Sexual Abuse Materials (CSAM). We discuss the dark side of the world wide web, and Chris explains how exploitative economies of human trafficking proliferate online. We discuss how Krunam puts AI to use combatting this exploitation. We also look at the rise of social j...

In this episode, I sit down with Ted Harrington, the author of Hackable: How to Do Application Security Right , and the Executive Partner at Independent Security Evaluators (ISE) , one of the most prominent global companies working in the growing industry of ethical hacking. We talk about cybersecurity, the growth of the "ethical hacker" profession, and how the next generation of humanists and tec...

We are back with a brand-new season of the Technically Human podcast! This week's episode features Dr. Anthony Hatch. We discuss the use of psychotropic drugs in prisons as a form of carceral technology, race, and the bioethics of food systems. Learn more about how technologies are mediating health data, how our understanding of our bodies changes in response to new monitoring and mediating techno...

In this episode of "Technically Human," I talk to Dr. Ethel Mickey about tech's "pipeline problem." We discuss STEM culture in universities, how inequality gets generated through a culture of networking, and Dr. Mickey walks me through the pipeline from campus culture to the tech workforce.  Dr. Ethel Mickey is a sociologist of gender, work, and organizations, with a focus on science & technology...

In this week's episode, I speak to Steven Olikara, founder of the Millenial Action Project (MAP ), the largest nonpartisan organization of young lawmakers in the U.S. Steven and I discuss the role of tech in political activism and the challenges of bipartisanship in a technological age.  Steven Olikara has been named a Global Shaper by the World Economic Forum, a Forbes 30 Under 30 in Law & Policy...

In this episode, I talk to Dr. Sharla Alegria about inequality in the tech workforce. We discuss tech workplace culture, the relationship between ethics and equality, and Sharla explains why robots aren't really taking your job--but growing culture of inequality might. Dr. Alegria earned her Ph. D. in Sociology with a certificate in Women, Gender, and Sexuality studies at the University of Massach...

In this episode of "Technically Human," I talk to Dr. Rashawn Ray and Dr. Nicol Turner Lee, both Fellows at the Brookings Institution, about race, tech, policing, and the digital divide. We talk about the role of video technology and social media in police accountability, the dangers of surveillance technologies developed in Silicon Valley when deployed in policing, and the long history--and the c...

In this episode, I talk to Jeff Ryan, author of Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America. We discuss gaming culture, the gender dynamics of the gaming community, and Jeff defines the key to gaming, in what he calls "the ludology of play." Jeff Ryan is the author of A MOUSE DIVIDED: HOW UB IWERKS BECAME FORGOTTEN...AND WALT DISNEY BECAME UNCLE WALT and SUPER MARIO: HOW NINTENDO CONQUERED AMERICA...