Podcasts about Utrecht University

Economic debates often focus on poverty — how to raise wages, strengthen safety nets, and ensure people don't fall too far behind. But what if fairness also requires asking a different question: how much wealth is too much? This week, we're resharing our conversation with ethics professor Ingrid Robeyns about her idea of limitarianism — the argument that societies should place moral limits on extreme wealth accumulation. Rather than starting with policy prescriptions, Robeyns asks a deeper question about justice, democracy, and what kind of economy we want to live in. As inequality continues to dominate public debate, this conversation invites listeners to reconsider something we rarely question: not just how to lift people up, but whether an economy without limits at the top can truly work for everyone. Ingrid Robeyns is a distinguished scholar and Professor of Ethics of Institutions at Utrecht University, and author of the new book, Limitarianism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth. Professor Robeyns' research in the field of Ethics and Political Philosophy focuses on issues of justice, inequality, well-being, and the ethical dimensions of societal structures and policies. Social Media:  @IngridRobeyns Further reading:  Limitarianism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Facebook: Pitchfork Economics Podcast Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics TikTok: @pitchfork_econ YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer Substack: ⁠The Pitch⁠

“In this sense, human and AI means a synergy where teams of humans and AI together lead to superior outcomes than either the human or the AI operating in isolation.” – Davide Dell'Anna About Davide Dell'Anna Davide Dell'Anna is Assistant Professor of Responsible AI at Utrecht University, and a member of the Hybrid Intelligence Centre. His research focuses on how AI can cooperate synergistically and proactively with humans. Davide has published a wide range of leading research in the space. Webiste: davidedellanna.com LinkedIn Profile: Davide Dell'Anna University Profile: Davide Dell'Anna What you will learn The core concept of hybrid intelligence as collaborative human-AI teaming, not replacement Why effective hybrid teams require acknowledging and leveraging both human and AI strengths and weaknesses How lessons from human-human and human-animal teams inform better design of human-AI collaboration Key differences between humans and AI in teams, such as accountability, replaceability, and identity The importance of process-oriented evaluation, including satisfaction, trust, and adaptability, for measuring hybrid team effectiveness Why appropriately calibrated trust and shared ethics are central to performance and cohesion in hybrid teams The shift from explainability to justifiability in AI, emphasizing actions aligned with shared team norms and values New organizational roles and skills—like team facilitation and dynamic team design—needed to support successful human-AI collaboration Episode Resources Transcript Ross Dawson: Hi Davide. It’s wonderful to have you on the show. Davide Dell’Anna: Hi Ross, nice to meet you. Thank you so much for having me. Ross: So you do a lot of work around what you call hybrid intelligence, and I think that’s pretty well aligned with a lot of the topics we have on the podcast. But I’d love to hear your definition and framing—what is hybrid intelligence? Davide: Well, thank you so much for the question. Hybrid intelligence is a new paradigm, or a paradigm that tries to move the public narrative away from the common focus on replacement—AI or robots taking over our jobs. While that’s an understandable fear, more scientifically and societally, I think it’s more interesting and relevant to think of humans and AI as collaborators. In this sense, human and AI means a synergy where teams of humans and AI together lead to superior outcomes than either the human or the AI operating in isolation. In a human-AI team, members can compensate for each other’s weaknesses and amplify each other’s strengths. The goal is not to substitute human capabilities, but to augment them. This immediately moves the discussion from “what can the AI do to replace me?” to “how can we design the best possible team to work together?” I think that’s the foundation of the concept of hybrid intelligence. So hybrid intelligence, per se, is the ultimate goal. We aim at designing or engineering these human-AI teams so that we can effectively and responsibly collaborate together to achieve this superior type of intelligence, which we then call hybrid intelligence. Ross: That’s fantastic. And so extremely aligned with the humans plus AI thesis. That’s very similar to what I might have said myself, not using the word hybrid intelligence, but humans plus AI to say the same thing. We want to dive into the humans-AI teaming specifically in a moment. But in some of your writing, you’ve commented that, while others are thinking about augmentation in various ways, you point out that these are not necessarily as holistic as they could be. So what do you think is missing in some of the other ways people are approaching AI as a tool of augmentation? Davide: Yeah, so I think when you look at the literature—as a computer scientist myself, I notice how easily I fall into the trap of only discussing AI capabilities. When I talk about AI or even human-AI teams, I end up talking about how I can build the AI to do this, or how I can improve the process in this way. Most of the literature does that as well. There’s a technology-centric perspective to the discussion of even human-AI teams. We try to understand what we can build from the AI point of view to improve a team. But if you think of human-AI teams in this way, you realize that this significantly limits our vocabulary and our ability to look at the team from a broader, system-level perspective, where each member—including and especially human team members—is treated individually, and their skills and identity are considered and leveraged. So, if you look at the literature, you often end up talking about how to add one feature to the AI or how to extend its feature set in other ways. But what people often miss is looking at the weaknesses and strengths of the different individuals, so that we can engineer for their compensation and amplification. Machines and people are fundamentally different: humans are good at some things, AI is good at others, and we shouldn’t try to negate or hide or be ashamed of the things we’re worse at than AI, and vice versa. Instead, we should leverage those differences. For instance, just as an example, consider memory and context awareness. At the moment, at least, AI is much more powerful in having access to memory and retrieving it in a matter of seconds—AI can access basically the whole internet. But often, when you talk nowadays with these language model agents, they are completely decontextualized. They talk in the same way to millions across the world and often have very little clue about who the specific person is in front of them, what that person’s specific situation is—maybe they’re in an airport with noise, or just one minute from giving a lecture and in a rush. The type of things you might say also change based on the specific situation. While this is a limitation of AI, we shouldn’t forget that there is the human there. The human has that contextual knowledge. The human brings that crucial context. Sometimes we tend to say, “Okay, but then we can build an AI that can understand the context around it,” but we already have the human for that. Ross: Yes, yes. I don’t think that’s what I call the framing. Framing should come from the human, because that’s what we understand—including the ethical and other human aspects of the context, as well as that broader frame. It’s interesting because, in talking about hybrid intelligence, I think many who come to augmentation or hybrid intelligence think of it on an individual basis: how can an individual be augmented by AI, or, for example, in playing various games or simulations, humans plus AI teaming together, collaborating. But the team means you have multiple humans and quite probably multiple AI agents. So, in your research, what have you observed if you’re comparing a human-only team and a team which has both human and AI participants? What are some of the things that are the same, and what are some of the things that are different? Davide: Yes, this is a very interesting question. We’ve recently done work in collaboration with a number of researchers from the Hybrid Intelligence Center, which I am part of. If you’re not familiar with it, the Hybrid Intelligence Center is a collaboration that involves practically all the Dutch universities focused on hybrid intelligence, and it’s a long project—lasting around 10 years. One of the works we’ve done recently is to try to study to what extent established properties of effective human teams could be used to characterize human-AI teams. We looked at instruments that people use in practice to characterize human teams. One of them is called the Team Diagnostic Survey, which is an instrument people use to diagnose the strengths and weaknesses of human teams. It includes a number of dimensions that are generally considered important for effective human teams. These include aspects like members demonstrating their commitment to the team by putting in extra time and effort to help it succeed, the presence of coaches available in the team to help the team improve over time, and things related to the satisfaction of the members with the team, with the relationships with other members, and with the work they’re doing. What we’ve done was to study the extent to which we could use these dimensions to characterize human-AI teams. We looked at different types of configurations of teams—some had one AI agent and one human, others had multiple agents and multiple humans, for example in a warehouse context where you have multiple robots helping out in the warehouse that have to cooperate and collaborate with multiple humans. We tried to understand whether the properties of—by the way, we also looked at an interesting case, which is human-animal-animal teams, which is another example that’s interesting in the context of hybrid intelligence. You see very often in human-animal interaction—basically two species, two alien species—interacting and collaborating with each other. They often manage to collaborate pretty effectively, and there is an awareness of what both the humans and the animals are doing that is fascinating, at least for me. So, we tried to analyze whether properties of human teams could be understood when looking at human-AI teams or hybrid teams, and to what extent. One of the things we found is that some concepts are very well understood and easily applicable to different types of hybrid teams. For example, the idea of interdependence—the fact that members in the team, in order to be a team, need to be mutually dependent, at least to some extent. Otherwise, if they’re all doing separate jobs, there’s a lack of common goal. There are also things related to having a clear mission or a clear objective as a team, and aspects related to the possibility of exhibiting autonomy in the operation of the team and taking initiative. Also, the presence and awareness of team norms, like a shared ethical code or shared knowledge about what is appropriate or not. These were things that we found people could easily understand and apply to different configurations of teams. Ross: Just actually, one thing—I don’t know if you’re familiar with the work of Mohammad Hussain Johari, who did this wonderful paper called “What Human-Horse Interactions May Teach Us About Effective Human-AI Interactions.” Again, these are the cases where we can have these parallels—learning how to do human-AI interactions from human-human and human-animal interactions. But again, it comes back to that original question: what is the same? I think you described many of those facets of the nature of teams and collaboration, which means they are the same. But there are, of course, some differences. One of the many differences is accountability, essentially, where the AI agents are not accountable, whereas the humans are. That’s one thing. So, this allocation of decision rights across different participants—human and AI—needs to take into account that they’re not equal participants. Humans have accountability, and AI does not. That’s one possible example. Davide: Yeah, definitely. I totally agree, and I remember the paper you mentioned. I agree that human-animal collaboration is a very interesting source of inspiration. When looking at this paper, we looked at the case of shepherds and shepherd dogs. I didn’t know much about it before, but then I started digging a little bit. Shepherd dogs are trained at the beginning, but over time, they learn a type of communication with the shepherd. Through whistles, the shepherd can give very short commands, and then the shepherd dogs—even in pairs—can quickly understand what they need to do. They go through the mountains, collect all the sheep, and bring them exactly as intended by the shepherd, with very little need for words or other types of communication. They manage to achieve their goals very effectively. So, I think we have a lot to learn from these cases, even though it’s difficult to study. But just to mention differences, of course—one of the things that emerged from this paper is the inherent human-AI asymmetry. Like you mentioned, accountability is definitely one aspect. I think overall, we should always give the human a different type of role in the team, similar to the shepherd and the shepherd dogs. There is some hierarchy among the members, and this makes it possible for humans to preserve meaningful control in the interactions. This also implies that different rules or expectations apply to different team members. Beyond these, there is asymmetry in skills and capabilities, as we mentioned earlier, and also in aspects related to the identity of the members. For instance, some AI could be more easily replaceable than humans. Think, for example, of robots in a warehouse. In a human team, you wouldn’t say you “replace” a team member—it’s not the nicest way to say you let someone go and bring someone else in. But with robots, you could say, “I replace this machine because it’s not working anymore,” and that’s fine. We can replace machines with little consequence, though this doesn’t always hold, because there are studies showing that people get attached to machines and AI in general. There was a recent case of ChatGPT releasing a new version and stopping the previous one, and people complained because they got attached to the previous version. So, in some cases, replacing the AI member would work well, but in others, it needs to be done more carefully. Ross: So one of the other things looked at is the evaluation of human-AI teams. If we’re looking at human teams and possibly relative performance compared to human-AI teams, what are ways in which we can measure effectiveness? I suppose this includes not just output or speed or outcomes, but potentially risk, uncertainty, explainability, or other factors. Davide: Yes, this is an interesting question, and I think it’s still an open question to some extent. From the study I mentioned earlier, we looked at how people measure human team effectiveness. There are aspects concerning, of course, the success of the team in doing the task, but these are not the only measures of effectiveness that people consider in human teams. People often consider things related to the satisfaction of the members—with their teammates, with the process of working together, and with the overall goals of the team. This often leads to reflection from the team itself during operation, at least in human teams, where people reassess and evaluate their output throughout the process to make sure satisfaction with the process and relationships goes well over time. In general, there are aspects to measure concerning the effectiveness of teams related to the process itself, which are often forgotten. It’s a matter, at least from a research point of view, of resources, because to evaluate a full process over time, you need to run experiments for longer periods. Often people stop at one instant or a few interactions, but if you think of human teams, like the usual forming, storming, norming, and performing, that often goes over a long time. Teams often operate for a long time and improve over time. So, the process itself needs to be monitored and reassessed over time. This is a way to also measure the effectiveness of the team, but over time. Ross: Interesting point, because as you say, the dynamics of team performance with a human team improve as people get to know each other and find ways of working. They can become cohesive as a team. That’s classically what happens in defense forces and in creating high-performance teams, where you understand and build trust in each other. Trust is a key component of that. With AI agents, if they are well designed, they can learn themselves or respond to changing situations in order to evolve. But it becomes a different dynamic when you have humans building trust and mutual understanding, where that becomes a system in which the AI is potentially responding or evolving. At its best, there’s the potential for that to create a better performing team, but it does require both the attitudes of the humans and well the agents. Davide: Related to this—if I can interrupt you—I think this is very important that you mentioned trust. Indeed, this is one of the aspects that needs to be considered very carefully. You shouldn’t over-trust another team member, but also shouldn’t under-trust. Appropriate trust is key. One of the things that drives, at least in human teams, trust and overall performance is also team ethics. Related to the metrics you mentioned earlier, the ability of a team to gather around a shared ethical code and stick to that, and to continuously and regularly update each other’s norms and ensure that actions are aligned with the shared norms, is crucial. This ethical code significantly affects trust in operation. You can see it very easily in human teams: considering ethical aspects is essential, and we take them into account all the time. We respect each other’s goals and values. We expect our collaborators to keep their promises and commitments, and if they cannot, they can explain or justify what they are doing. These justifications are also a key element. The ability to provide justifications for behavior is very important for hybrid teams as well. Not only the AI, but also the human should be able to justify their actions when necessary. This is where the concept of hybrid teams and, in general, hybrid intelligence requires a bit of a philosophical shift from the traditional technology-centric perspective. For example, in AI, we often talk about explainability or explainable AI, which is about looking at model computations and understanding why a decision was made. But here, we’re talking about a different concept: justifiability, which looks at the same problem from a different angle. It considers team actions in the context of shared values, shared goals, and the norms we’ve agreed upon. This requires a shift in the way we implement AI agents—they need to be aware of these norms, able to learn and adapt to team norms, and reason about them in the same way we do in society. Ross: Let’s say you’ve got an organization and they have teams, as most organizations do, and now we’re moving from classic human teams to humans plus AI teams—collaborative human-AI teams. What are the skills and capabilities that the individual participants and the leaders in the teams need to transition from human-only teams to teams that include both humans and AI members? Davide: This is a complicated question, and I don’t have a full answer, but I can definitely reflect on different skills that a hybrid team should have. I’m thinking now of recent work—not published yet—where we started moving from the quality model work I mentioned earlier towards more detailed guidelines for human-AI teams. There, we developed a number of guidelines for organizations for putting in place and operating effective teams. We categorized these guidelines in terms of different phases of team processes. For instance, we developed guidelines related to structuring the teamwork—the envisioning of the operations of the team, which roles the team members would have, which responsibilities the different team members should have. Here, I’m talking about team members, but I’m still referring to hybrid teams, so this applies to both humans and AI. This also implies different types of skills that we often don’t have yet in AI systems. For example, flexible team composition is a type of skill required to make it possible at the early stage of the team to structure the team in the right way. There are also skills related to developing shared awareness and aspects related to breaking down the task collaboratively or ensuring a continuous evolution of the team over time, with regular reassessment of the output. If you think of these notions, it’s easy to think about them in terms of traditional organizations, but when you imagine a human-AI team or a small hybrid organization, then this continuous evolution, regular output assessment, and flexible team composition are not so natural anymore. What does it mean for an LLM agent to interact with someone else? Usually, LLM architectures rely on static roles and predefined workflows—you need to define beforehand the prompts they will exchange—whereas humans use much more flexible protocols. We can adjust our protocols over time, monitor what we’re doing, and reassess whether it works or not, and change the protocols. These are skills required for the assistants, but also for the organization itself to make hybrid teaming possible. One of the things that emerges in this recent work is a new figure that would probably come up in organizations: a team designer or a team facilitator. This is not a team member per se, but an expert in teams and AI teammates, who can perhaps configure the AI teammates based on the needs of the team, and provide human team members with information needed about the skills or capabilities of the specific AI team member. It’s an intermediary between humans and AI, with expertise that other human team members may not have, and could help these teams work together. Ross: That’s fantastic. It’s wonderful to learn about all this work. Is there anywhere people can go to find out more about your research? Davide: Yeah, sure. You can look me up at my website, davidedellanna.com. That’s my main website—I try to keep it up to date. Through there, you can see the different projects I’m involved in, the papers we’re working on, both with collaborators and with PhD and master students, who often bring great contributions to our research, even in their short studies. That’s the main hub, and you can also find many openly available resources linked to the projects that people may find useful. Ross: Fantastic. Well, it’s wonderful work—very highly aligned with the idea of hybrid intelligence, and it’s fantastic that you are focusing on that, because there’s not enough people yet focusing in the area. So you and your colleagues are ahead, and I’m sure many more will join you. Thank you so much for your time and your insights. Davide: Thank you so much, Ross. Pleasure to meet you. The post Davide Dell'Anna on hybrid intelligence, guidelines for human-AI teams, calibrating trust, and team ethics (AC Ep33) appeared first on Humans + AI.

Can AI be wise as well as intelligent? We sit down with Wakanyi Hoffman, co-director of the Inclusive AI Lab at Utrecht University, to discuss the questions AI designers might consider as this technology becomes ever more present in our daily lives.Wakanyi reflects on how growing up in community and close to nature shaped her worldview, and how AI can draw on indigenous wisdom to address today's challenges of disconnection. She also explores how AI can support NGOs by creating more time and space for meaningful work.In this conversation:The role of AI designers in considering human connectionThe meaning of Ubuntu and the role it can play in designing wise AIAI as a tool for potential good within NGOsWith:Wakanyi Hoffman, co-director of the Inclusive AI Lab at Utrecht University, where she is researching ways of integrating indigenous African knowledge into emerging AI systems. She is also a storyteller, educator and public speaker. To find out more about Wakanyi and her work:https://inclusiveailab.org/ https://www.africanfolktalesproject.com/https://www.humanitylinkfoundation.org/https://www.linkedin.com/in/wakanyi-hoffman/With thanks to the The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation for their support of the Inner Green Deal podcast which is hosted and produced by Tamsin Walker. Executive producer is IGD co-founder Jeroen Janss.For more information, visit  innergreendeal.com or write to info@innergreendeal.com.Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

******Support the channel******Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedissenterPayPal: paypal.me/thedissenterPayPal Subscription 1 Dollar: https://tinyurl.com/yb3acuuyPayPal Subscription 3 Dollars: https://tinyurl.com/ybn6bg9lPayPal Subscription 5 Dollars: https://tinyurl.com/ycmr9gpzPayPal Subscription 10 Dollars: https://tinyurl.com/y9r3fc9mPayPal Subscription 20 Dollars: https://tinyurl.com/y95uvkao ******Follow me on******Website: https://www.thedissenter.net/The Dissenter Goodreads list: https://shorturl.at/7BMoBFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/thedissenteryt/Twitter: https://x.com/TheDissenterYT This show is sponsored by Enlites, Learning & Development done differently. Check the website here: http://enlites.com/ Dr. Hanna Schleihauf is Assistant Professor in the Department for Developmental Psychology at Utrecht University. She studies the roots of human diversity: although each of us shares 99.99% of our genes with every other human on the planet, there is massive variation in our socio-cultural practices driven by our ability to learn from and interact with others. Her research investigates socio-cognitive underpinnings of cultural learning, focusing on how cultural novices, children during early and middle childhood, grow into proficient cultural beings. In this episode, we first talk about when and how children start considering other people's beliefs, the kinds of beliefs people care about, fact-based beliefs and value-based beliefs, and intuitions about people's control over their own beliefs. We then talk about belief revision and how it develops in children. We discuss what people consider to be good reasoning. Finally, we talk about recent exciting findings that suggest that chimpanzees respond to higher-order evidence.--A HUGE THANK YOU TO MY PATRONS/SUPPORTERS: PER HELGE LARSEN, JERRY MULLER, BERNARDO SEIXAS, ADAM KESSEL, MATTHEW WHITINGBIRD, ARNAUD WOLFF, TIM HOLLOSY, HENRIK AHLENIUS, ROBERT WINDHAGER, RUI INACIO, ZOOP, MARCO NEVES, COLIN HOLBROOK, PHIL KAVANAGH, SAMUEL ANDREEFF, FRANCIS FORDE, TIAGO NUNES, FERGAL CUSSEN, HAL HERZOG, NUNO MACHADO, JONATHAN LEIBRANT, JOÃO LINHARES, STANTON T, SAMUEL CORREA, ERIK HAINES, MARK SMITH, JOÃO EIRA, TOM HUMMEL, SARDUS FRANCE, DAVID SLOAN WILSON, YACILA DEZA-ARAUJO, ROMAIN ROCH, DIEGO LONDOÑO CORREA, YANICK PUNTER, CHARLOTTE BLEASE, NICOLE BARBARO, ADAM HUNT, PAWEL OSTASZEWSKI, NELLEKE BAK, GUY MADISON, GARY G HELLMANN, SAIMA AFZAL, ADRIAN JAEGGI, PAULO TOLENTINO, JOÃO BARBOSA, JULIAN PRICE, HEDIN BRØNNER, DOUGLAS FRY, FRANCA BORTOLOTTI, GABRIEL PONS CORTÈS, URSULA LITZCKE, SCOTT, ZACHARY FISH, TIM DUFFY, SUNNY SMITH, JON WISMAN, WILLIAM BUCKNER, PAUL-GEORGE ARNAUD, LUKE GLOWACKI, GEORGIOS THEOPHANOUS, CHRIS WILLIAMSON, PETER WOLOSZYN, DAVID WILLIAMS, DIOGO COSTA, ALEX CHAU, AMAURI MARTÍNEZ, CORALIE CHEVALLIER, BANGALORE ATHEISTS, LARRY D. LEE JR., OLD HERRINGBONE, MICHAEL BAILEY, DAN SPERBER, ROBERT GRESSIS, JEFF MCMAHAN, JAKE ZUEHL, BARNABAS RADICS, MARK CAMPBELL, TOMAS DAUBNER, LUKE NISSEN, KIMBERLY JOHNSON, JESSICA NOWICKI, LINDA BRANDIN, VALENTIN STEINMANN, ALEXANDER HUBBARD, BR, JONAS HERTNER, URSULA GOODENOUGH, DAVID PINSOF, SEAN NELSON, MIKE LAVIGNE, JOS KNECHT, LUCY, MANVIR SINGH, PETRA WEIMANN, CAROLA FEEST, MAURO JÚNIOR, 航 豊川, TONY BARRETT, NIKOLAI VISHNEVSKY, STEVEN GANGESTAD, TED FARRIS, HUGO B., JAMES, JORDAN MANSFIELD, AND CHARLOTTE ALLEN!A SPECIAL THANKS TO MY PRODUCERS, YZAR WEHBE, JIM FRANK, ŁUKASZ STAFINIAK, TOM VANEGDOM, BERNARD HUGUENEY, CURTIS DIXON, BENEDIKT MUELLER, THOMAS TRUMBLE, KATHRINE AND PATRICK TOBIN, JONCARLO MONTENEGRO, NICK GOLDEN, CHRISTINE GLASS, IGOR NIKIFOROVSKI, AND PER KRAULIS!AND TO MY EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS, MATTHEW LAVENDER, SERGIU CODREANU, ROSEY, AND GREGORY HASTINGS!

In this episode, Mae Thompson speaks with Prof Luke Moffett, Dr Jessica Dorsey, and Chris Rogers about how artificial intelligence is already reshaping military decision making and what that means for civilian harm, accountability, and redress. The guests distinguish AI‑enabled decision support from lethal autonomy, unpack the cognitive risks of automation bias, anchoring, and de‑skilling, and consider how AI might responsibly support civilian‑harm tracking and investigations through data fusion and triage. They discuss the “triple black box” of accountability (model opacity, military secrecy, and diffused responsibility), the importance of lawful‑by‑design guardrails across the AI lifecycle, and why NGOs must pair new tools with people‑centred documentation. Looking ahead, they reflect on opportunities for a UK statutory redress scheme to deliver prompt acknowledgement, amends, and mitigation—keeping accountability pace with capability while centring affected communities. Prof Luke Moffett — Chair of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, Queen's University Belfast; author of Algorithms of War: The Human Cost of AI and Conflict (forthcoming, Bristol University Press). Dr Jessica Dorsey — Assistant Professor of International Law, Utrecht University; Director of the Realities of Algorithmic Warfare; expert member of the Global Commission on Responsible AI in the Military Domain; Ambassador for the Lawful by Design initiative; Executive Board Member at Airwars. Chris Rogers — Senior Fellow at the Reiss (Reese) Center on Law and Security, New York University School of Law; former Branch Chief and Law & Policy Advisor at the U.S. Department of Defense's Civilian Protection Center of Excellence. This podcast is the sixth in a series of episodes on Civilian Harm in Conflict – hosted by Mae Thompson, advocacy officer at Ceasefire. The podcast is an output of the AHRC‑funded ‘Reparations during Armed Conflict' project with Queen's University Belfast, University College London and Ceasefire, led by Professor Luke Moffett.

We're joined by Rosi Braidotti, Distinguished University Professor Emerita at Utrecht University and founding director of the Centre for the Humanities, for a wide-ranging conversation on posthumanism as both a philosophical project and a political orientation.Braidotti's work has constructed one of the most sustained and consequential accounts of what comes after the collapse of Eurocentric 'humanism.' The conversation traces the long arc from her early intervention on nomadic subjectivity, a materialist corrective to postmodernism's drift into linguistic relativism, through the ethical and ontological turn that her posthumanist project represents. Where poststructuralism gave us the critique of the subject as origin, nomadism gave us a subject that is grounded, embodied, multiple, and in motion.Central to the episode is the missing link in the American reception of French theory: the radical materialist tradition of Deleuze and Guattari, which diagnosed capitalism's schizophrenic logic (its ability to deterritorialize and adapt faster than any opposition) long before it became common sense. Braidotti traces the suppression of that critique through the French Communist Party's blacklists, the invention of "French theory" as an exportable product stripped of its political economy, and the consequences for a left that lost the ability to think technogenesis, cognitive capitalism, or the mutation of subjectivity under media saturation.The conversation then turns to fascism as concept rather than historical event: the philosophical move that Deleuze and Guattari made and that Foucault named in his preface to Anti-Oedipus. This allows Braidotti to connect micro-fascism (the cult of negativity, the eroticization of power-as-humiliation, the viral spread of impotence) to the coherent neo-fascist philosophical tradition running from Alain de Benoit through the Heritage Foundation and Budapest to Peter Thiel's Yale dissertation on sacrifice. While the left blocked its own analytical capacities, the right was doing serious philosophical work.Against all of this, Bradiotti proposes affirmative ethics: a Spinozist praxis of activating what a body can do. The episode ends thinking through scale, how affirmative ethics operates from the city to the planetary, and the urgency of the European federalist project as the only existing institutional attempt to participate in decisions about what we could possibly become.Some references:Rosi BraidottiPatterns of Dissonance, Polity Press, 1991Nomadic Subjects: Embodiment and Sexual Difference in Contemporary Feminist Theory, Columbia University Press, 1994Metamorphoses: Towards a Materialist Theory of Becoming, Polity Press, 2002Transpositions: On Nomadic Ethics, Polity Press, 2006The Posthuman, Polity Press, 2013Gilles Deleuze & Félix GuattariAnti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia, 1972 (English trans. 1977, preface by Michel Foucault)A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia, 1980Félix GuattariThe Three Ecologies, 1989 (English trans. 1991)Michel FoucaultPreface to the American edition of Anti-Oedipus, 1977SpinozaEthicsTheological-Political TreatiseAntonio NegriThe Savage Anomaly: The Power of Spinoza's Metaphysics and Politics, 1981Genevieve LloydPart of Nature: Self-Knowledge in Spinoza's Ethics, University of Minnesota Press, 1994Spinoza and the Ethics, Routledge, 1996Antonio DamasioDescartes' Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain, 1994Looking for Spinoza: Joy, Sorrow, and the Feeling Brain, 2003Simone de BeauvoirThe Second Sex, 1949Frantz Fanon — mentioned in relation to decolonial thought and the anti-fascist generation Herbert MarcuseOne-Dimensional Man, 1964Eros and Civilization, 1955Rosa Luxemburg — cited as an ecological thinker; the dialogue with Lenin in Zurich narrated by Isaiah Berlin Isaiah Berlin — on Spinoza and radical enlightenment; on Rosa LuxemburgAltiero SpinelliThe Ventotene Manifesto, 1941 — founding document of the European federalist projectDonna Haraway"A Cyborg Manifesto," 1985VNS Matrix"A Cyberfeminist Manifesto for the 21st Century," 1991Alain de Benoist — neo-fascist philosopher, intellectual architect of the European New Right; cited as formative influence on Steve Bannon and the Heritage Foundation / Budapest / Rome foundation networksJulius Evola — philosopher of Italian fascism; cited alongside de Benoist as daily reference for BannonPeter Thiel — PhD dissertation on René Girard and the concept of sacrifice, Stanford / Yale; position papers on technological selection and extinction

On this episode of Player Driven, Lewis and Greg are joined by Joost Vervoort, Associate Professor at Utrecht University (in the Netherlands) and Science/Impact Director at Speculative Agency. We dive into the "imagination factory" of the games industry and explore how video games can move beyond simple escapism to become tools for systemic societal change and climate activism.

A lively and entertaining cultural history of a supremely annoying intellectual vice Intellectuals have long provoked scorn and irritation, even downright aggression. Many learned individuals have cast such hostility as a badge of honor, a sign of envy, or a form of resistance to inconvenient truths. On Pedantry: A Cultural History of the Know-it-All (Princeton University Press, 2025) offers an altogether different perspective, revealing how the excessive use of learning has been a vice in Western culture since the days of Socrates. Taking readers from the academies of ancient Greece to today's culture wars, Arnoud Visser explains why pretentious and punctilious learning has always annoyed us, painting vibrant portraits of some of the most intensely irritating intellectuals ever known, from devious sophists and bossy savantes to hypercritical theologians, dry-as-dust antiquarians, and know-it-all professors. He shows how criticisms of pedantry have typically been more about conduct than ideas, and he demonstrates how pedantry served as a weapon in the perennial struggle over ideas, social status, political authority, and belief. Shifting attention away from the self-proclaimed virtues of the learned to their less-than-flattering vice, Visser makes a bold and provocative contribution to the history of Western thought. Drawing on a wealth of sources ranging from satire and comedy to essays, sermons, and film, On Pedantry sheds critical light on why anti-intellectual views have gained renewed prominence today and serves as essential reading in an age of rising populism across the globe. Arnoud S. Q. Visser is professor of textual culture in the Renaissance at Utrecht University and director of the Huizinga Institute, the Dutch national research school for cultural history. Caleb Zakarin is CEO and Publisher of the New Books Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

A lively and entertaining cultural history of a supremely annoying intellectual vice Intellectuals have long provoked scorn and irritation, even downright aggression. Many learned individuals have cast such hostility as a badge of honor, a sign of envy, or a form of resistance to inconvenient truths. On Pedantry: A Cultural History of the Know-it-All (Princeton University Press, 2025) offers an altogether different perspective, revealing how the excessive use of learning has been a vice in Western culture since the days of Socrates. Taking readers from the academies of ancient Greece to today's culture wars, Arnoud Visser explains why pretentious and punctilious learning has always annoyed us, painting vibrant portraits of some of the most intensely irritating intellectuals ever known, from devious sophists and bossy savantes to hypercritical theologians, dry-as-dust antiquarians, and know-it-all professors. He shows how criticisms of pedantry have typically been more about conduct than ideas, and he demonstrates how pedantry served as a weapon in the perennial struggle over ideas, social status, political authority, and belief. Shifting attention away from the self-proclaimed virtues of the learned to their less-than-flattering vice, Visser makes a bold and provocative contribution to the history of Western thought. Drawing on a wealth of sources ranging from satire and comedy to essays, sermons, and film, On Pedantry sheds critical light on why anti-intellectual views have gained renewed prominence today and serves as essential reading in an age of rising populism across the globe. Arnoud S. Q. Visser is professor of textual culture in the Renaissance at Utrecht University and director of the Huizinga Institute, the Dutch national research school for cultural history. Caleb Zakarin is CEO and Publisher of the New Books Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

A lively and entertaining cultural history of a supremely annoying intellectual vice Intellectuals have long provoked scorn and irritation, even downright aggression. Many learned individuals have cast such hostility as a badge of honor, a sign of envy, or a form of resistance to inconvenient truths. On Pedantry: A Cultural History of the Know-it-All (Princeton University Press, 2025) offers an altogether different perspective, revealing how the excessive use of learning has been a vice in Western culture since the days of Socrates. Taking readers from the academies of ancient Greece to today's culture wars, Arnoud Visser explains why pretentious and punctilious learning has always annoyed us, painting vibrant portraits of some of the most intensely irritating intellectuals ever known, from devious sophists and bossy savantes to hypercritical theologians, dry-as-dust antiquarians, and know-it-all professors. He shows how criticisms of pedantry have typically been more about conduct than ideas, and he demonstrates how pedantry served as a weapon in the perennial struggle over ideas, social status, political authority, and belief. Shifting attention away from the self-proclaimed virtues of the learned to their less-than-flattering vice, Visser makes a bold and provocative contribution to the history of Western thought. Drawing on a wealth of sources ranging from satire and comedy to essays, sermons, and film, On Pedantry sheds critical light on why anti-intellectual views have gained renewed prominence today and serves as essential reading in an age of rising populism across the globe. Arnoud S. Q. Visser is professor of textual culture in the Renaissance at Utrecht University and director of the Huizinga Institute, the Dutch national research school for cultural history. Caleb Zakarin is CEO and Publisher of the New Books Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/intellectual-history

A lively and entertaining cultural history of a supremely annoying intellectual vice Intellectuals have long provoked scorn and irritation, even downright aggression. Many learned individuals have cast such hostility as a badge of honor, a sign of envy, or a form of resistance to inconvenient truths. On Pedantry: A Cultural History of the Know-it-All (Princeton University Press, 2025) offers an altogether different perspective, revealing how the excessive use of learning has been a vice in Western culture since the days of Socrates. Taking readers from the academies of ancient Greece to today's culture wars, Arnoud Visser explains why pretentious and punctilious learning has always annoyed us, painting vibrant portraits of some of the most intensely irritating intellectuals ever known, from devious sophists and bossy savantes to hypercritical theologians, dry-as-dust antiquarians, and know-it-all professors. He shows how criticisms of pedantry have typically been more about conduct than ideas, and he demonstrates how pedantry served as a weapon in the perennial struggle over ideas, social status, political authority, and belief. Shifting attention away from the self-proclaimed virtues of the learned to their less-than-flattering vice, Visser makes a bold and provocative contribution to the history of Western thought. Drawing on a wealth of sources ranging from satire and comedy to essays, sermons, and film, On Pedantry sheds critical light on why anti-intellectual views have gained renewed prominence today and serves as essential reading in an age of rising populism across the globe. Arnoud S. Q. Visser is professor of textual culture in the Renaissance at Utrecht University and director of the Huizinga Institute, the Dutch national research school for cultural history. Caleb Zakarin is CEO and Publisher of the New Books Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A lively and entertaining cultural history of a supremely annoying intellectual vice Intellectuals have long provoked scorn and irritation, even downright aggression. Many learned individuals have cast such hostility as a badge of honor, a sign of envy, or a form of resistance to inconvenient truths. On Pedantry: A Cultural History of the Know-it-All (Princeton University Press, 2025) offers an altogether different perspective, revealing how the excessive use of learning has been a vice in Western culture since the days of Socrates. Taking readers from the academies of ancient Greece to today's culture wars, Arnoud Visser explains why pretentious and punctilious learning has always annoyed us, painting vibrant portraits of some of the most intensely irritating intellectuals ever known, from devious sophists and bossy savantes to hypercritical theologians, dry-as-dust antiquarians, and know-it-all professors. He shows how criticisms of pedantry have typically been more about conduct than ideas, and he demonstrates how pedantry served as a weapon in the perennial struggle over ideas, social status, political authority, and belief. Shifting attention away from the self-proclaimed virtues of the learned to their less-than-flattering vice, Visser makes a bold and provocative contribution to the history of Western thought. Drawing on a wealth of sources ranging from satire and comedy to essays, sermons, and film, On Pedantry sheds critical light on why anti-intellectual views have gained renewed prominence today and serves as essential reading in an age of rising populism across the globe. Arnoud S. Q. Visser is professor of textual culture in the Renaissance at Utrecht University and director of the Huizinga Institute, the Dutch national research school for cultural history. Caleb Zakarin is CEO and Publisher of the New Books Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A lively and entertaining cultural history of a supremely annoying intellectual vice Intellectuals have long provoked scorn and irritation, even downright aggression. Many learned individuals have cast such hostility as a badge of honor, a sign of envy, or a form of resistance to inconvenient truths. On Pedantry: A Cultural History of the Know-it-All (Princeton University Press, 2025) offers an altogether different perspective, revealing how the excessive use of learning has been a vice in Western culture since the days of Socrates. Taking readers from the academies of ancient Greece to today's culture wars, Arnoud Visser explains why pretentious and punctilious learning has always annoyed us, painting vibrant portraits of some of the most intensely irritating intellectuals ever known, from devious sophists and bossy savantes to hypercritical theologians, dry-as-dust antiquarians, and know-it-all professors. He shows how criticisms of pedantry have typically been more about conduct than ideas, and he demonstrates how pedantry served as a weapon in the perennial struggle over ideas, social status, political authority, and belief. Shifting attention away from the self-proclaimed virtues of the learned to their less-than-flattering vice, Visser makes a bold and provocative contribution to the history of Western thought. Drawing on a wealth of sources ranging from satire and comedy to essays, sermons, and film, On Pedantry sheds critical light on why anti-intellectual views have gained renewed prominence today and serves as essential reading in an age of rising populism across the globe. Arnoud S. Q. Visser is professor of textual culture in the Renaissance at Utrecht University and director of the Huizinga Institute, the Dutch national research school for cultural history. Caleb Zakarin is CEO and Publisher of the New Books Network.

A lively and entertaining cultural history of a supremely annoying intellectual vice Intellectuals have long provoked scorn and irritation, even downright aggression. Many learned individuals have cast such hostility as a badge of honor, a sign of envy, or a form of resistance to inconvenient truths. On Pedantry: A Cultural History of the Know-it-All (Princeton University Press, 2025) offers an altogether different perspective, revealing how the excessive use of learning has been a vice in Western culture since the days of Socrates. Taking readers from the academies of ancient Greece to today's culture wars, Arnoud Visser explains why pretentious and punctilious learning has always annoyed us, painting vibrant portraits of some of the most intensely irritating intellectuals ever known, from devious sophists and bossy savantes to hypercritical theologians, dry-as-dust antiquarians, and know-it-all professors. He shows how criticisms of pedantry have typically been more about conduct than ideas, and he demonstrates how pedantry served as a weapon in the perennial struggle over ideas, social status, political authority, and belief. Shifting attention away from the self-proclaimed virtues of the learned to their less-than-flattering vice, Visser makes a bold and provocative contribution to the history of Western thought. Drawing on a wealth of sources ranging from satire and comedy to essays, sermons, and film, On Pedantry sheds critical light on why anti-intellectual views have gained renewed prominence today and serves as essential reading in an age of rising populism across the globe. Arnoud S. Q. Visser is professor of textual culture in the Renaissance at Utrecht University and director of the Huizinga Institute, the Dutch national research school for cultural history. Caleb Zakarin is CEO and Publisher of the New Books Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/education

A lively and entertaining cultural history of a supremely annoying intellectual vice Intellectuals have long provoked scorn and irritation, even downright aggression. Many learned individuals have cast such hostility as a badge of honor, a sign of envy, or a form of resistance to inconvenient truths. On Pedantry: A Cultural History of the Know-it-All (Princeton University Press, 2025) offers an altogether different perspective, revealing how the excessive use of learning has been a vice in Western culture since the days of Socrates. Taking readers from the academies of ancient Greece to today's culture wars, Arnoud Visser explains why pretentious and punctilious learning has always annoyed us, painting vibrant portraits of some of the most intensely irritating intellectuals ever known, from devious sophists and bossy savantes to hypercritical theologians, dry-as-dust antiquarians, and know-it-all professors. He shows how criticisms of pedantry have typically been more about conduct than ideas, and he demonstrates how pedantry served as a weapon in the perennial struggle over ideas, social status, political authority, and belief. Shifting attention away from the self-proclaimed virtues of the learned to their less-than-flattering vice, Visser makes a bold and provocative contribution to the history of Western thought. Drawing on a wealth of sources ranging from satire and comedy to essays, sermons, and film, On Pedantry sheds critical light on why anti-intellectual views have gained renewed prominence today and serves as essential reading in an age of rising populism across the globe. Arnoud S. Q. Visser is professor of textual culture in the Renaissance at Utrecht University and director of the Huizinga Institute, the Dutch national research school for cultural history. Caleb Zakarin is CEO and Publisher of the New Books Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yuval Golan is the founder and CEO of Waltz, a fintech-proptech-wealthtech startup that makes it simple for foreigners to invest in, purchase and manage U.S. residential real estate remotely. Featured by CNBC, Yahoo Finance, The Washington Post and HousingWire with over 1.5 billion impressions globally, he has managed operations generating billions of dollars across 18 countries. His expertise spans M&As, leveraged buyouts, venture capital and real estate investment, with properties in the U.S., Europe, China and Israel. Previously CEO of Unique 1 Asia International, he holds degrees in economics and business from Utrecht University and Luiss Guido Carli University and a joint Executive MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management and Peking University. Recognized as Inman's 2024 Entrepreneur of the Year, Yuval is a global citizen fluent in several languages.In this episode we discuss how investors living abroad can invest in and finance properties in the U.S. Yuval shares insights into the American real estate market and outlines the steps foreign investors must take to purchase property remotely. He explains the challenges international buyers face—such as financing, legal requirements and property management—and details how fintech solutions like Waltz simplify the process. Our conversation highlights strategies to overcome obstacles and capitalize on U.S. real estate opportunities from anywhere in the world.You Can Find Yuval @:Website: https://www.getwaltz.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuvalgolan1/

Creating Organizational Cultures That Actually Work In this episode, Michael and cultural anthropologist Jitske Kramer dive deep into the heart of organizational culture. Michael shares a story from a startup he supported, where a crystal clear sense of purpose created unity, loyalty, and a genuine feeling of belonging. Employees stayed because they felt connected to something bigger than a job description. Jitske expands on this by highlighting how leaders shape culture through the behaviors, values, and norms they model. She stresses that culture is never an accident. It is a series of daily choices and conversations. When leaders fail to engage with their teams or invite them into meaningful decision making, organizations lose clarity and people lose their sense of belonging. Both Michael and Jitske agree that leaders miss countless opportunities to build trust simply because they are not intentionally engaging with their people. Transformative Leadership and the Power of Human Connection Michael brings up a powerful metaphor involving an orchestra conductor to show how communication and knowledge flow can transform the relationship between leaders and their teams. When the conductor shifts from directing to connecting, the entire ensemble transforms. The energy changes. People take ownership. Collaboration becomes natural rather than forced. Jitske builds on this idea by contrasting transactional interactions with transformative ones. Transactional moments keep the lights on, but transformative moments build the future. She emphasizes the need for what she calls campfire conversations. These are the unhurried, human centered discussions where ideas form, trust deepens, and innovation actually has space to emerge. They conclude that the most successful organizations are the ones that prioritize human to human connection over rigid systems and corporate scripts. Finding Clarity in the Messy Middle of Change Jitske introduces her latest book, Tricky Times, which explores liminality. Liminality refers to the messy middle stage of change when the old story no longer works and the new story is not yet formed. She describes this phase as uncomfortable but deeply necessary. She explains that societies worldwide are wrestling with a kind of midlife crisis. People are questioning the expectation of nonstop economic growth and the conflict it creates with environmental and social realities. In these liminal spaces, power dynamics shift. Cultural identities get rewritten. Leaders are challenged to redefine what truly matters. Michael shares how timely these insights feel, especially given the current political climate in the United States and abroad. He highlights how difficult but essential conversations shape whether we move forward with intention or stay stuck in old patterns. Leading with Courage in Tricky Times Jitske describes the leadership challenges she writes about in Tricky Times. She warns against leaders who act like tricksters, constantly pushing boundaries without offering guidance or stability. True leadership requires bold honesty, grounded decision making, and the willingness to enter uncomfortable conversations. She emphasizes that balanced leadership is essential. Leaders must be willing to question assumptions, tell the truth about what is working and what is not, and invite their organizations into deeper reflection. Tricky Times has become a bestseller in the Netherlands, and Jitske is sharing its message with influential political leaders who are navigating uncertainty on a national scale. The book is available as an e-book on Amazon and offers a grounded, human centered framework for leading through cultural transformation. Jitske Kramer is a renowned Dutch corporate anthropologist who translates real-world lessons from communities around the globe into practical tools for modern workplaces.    She travels the world to learn from traditional healers, innovators, random passers-by, and everyday communities, studying how humans bond, lead, and resolve conflict — and brings those insights into the boardroom.   Her latest book, Tricky Times (a #1 Dutch bestseller), explores what it takes to lead in “the messy middle” — those uncertain in-between phases where old systems break down before new ones emerge.    With 25+ years of experience, she has shaped transformation for Nike, Unilever, Calvin Klein, and Philips, authored 9 bestselling books (150,000+ copies sold), and spoken alongside Simon Sinek, Amy Edmondson, Yuval Noah Harari on stages like TEDx and Workhuman Live.   Jitske's sharp, funny, and “aha”-filled style makes anthropology highly accessible for leaders facing change, culture challenges, and transformation.   Topics:  The messy middle: Leading effectively through uncertainty and liminal times The real drivers of company culture: Rituals, symbols, and hidden power structures How to “think like an anthropologist” to sense change and spot unseen dynamics The difference between formal power and cultural power — and why rank-awareness is critical for leaders What tribes can teach today's organizations about handling dilemmas and conflict   More about Jitske:  Founder of HumanDimensions, a pioneering training company that helps organizations strengthen teamwork and company culture.  Featured in the Patterns of Life documentary series, in which she traveled to India as an anthropologist.  Former Fellow at the Oxford Leadership Academy; holds a master's degree in cultural anthropology from Utrecht University.  Other books by Jitske: Building Tribes, Wow! What a Difference, Work Has Left the Building, Jam Cultures, andThe Corporate Tribe (which won the prestigious 2016 Management book of the Year Award). Take a look at Jitske's keynotes, other public speeches, TV appearances, and writings.    To get a sense of Jitske, here's an appearance she made on The Culture Lab podcast, talking about the making of a corporate tribe and how to effectively deal with diversity in a team. 

Limitarianism holds that it is immoral to have personal wealth above a certain level. Is this idea compatible with capitalism? Defenders of capitalism have argued that it is not, whereas those who want to move beyond capitalism have urged defenders of limitarianism to clear up this issue. This lecture argues that limitarianism is compatible with some forms of capitalism, and that it would help the debate about the most desirable socio-economic system if we provide more clarity on how these concepts are used.This lecture was recorded by Professor Ingrid Robeyns on the 5th of November 2025 at Bernard's Inn Hall, LondonProfessor Ingrid Robeyns works on issues in contemporary political philosophy and applied ethics, and holds the Chair in Ethics of Institutions at the Ethics Institute of Utrecht University. She specialises in applied and "non-ideal" ethics, interdisciplinary research, and developing normative frameworks and methods. Additionally, she is affiliated as a visiting professor at the Center for Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE) at LSE.The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/limitarianismGresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham College's mission, please consider making a donation: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-today Website:  https://gresham.ac.ukX: https://x.com/GreshamCollegeFacebook: https://facebook.com/greshamcollegeInstagram: https://instagram.com/greshamcollegeBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/greshamcollege.bsky.social TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@greshamcollegeSupport Us: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-todaySupport the show

Another upgrade, another round of applause. OpenAI's GPT-5 has arrived—sleeker, quicker and kind of the talk of the town. But peel back the glitz and questions pile up. In this episode, we will know who builds these systems, and at what cost? Who reaps the rewards? And what happens when a few voices decide how billions will live, work and learn? Guest: Payal Arora, Professor of Inclusive AI Cultures, Utrecht University; author of From Pessimism to Promise Host: Anupama Chandrasekaran Produced and edited by Jude Francis Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A ‘re'-writing history project - Grace Leksana Shortly after taking up his position as the Minister for Culture and Education in the Prabowo government, Fadli Zon announced he was commissioning a reworking of the official Indonesian history textbook. In early 2025, outlines of the project's terms of reference started to trickle out, and historians, activists and survivors' groups grew increasingly concerned. The new version, assembled without broad consultation, contained a raft of significant changes and glaring omissions, including human rights violations carried out by the New Order, and the roles of women at various stages in Indonesia's pre- and post-independence past. Moreover, Minister Zon was determined to deliver the new book in time for the celebration of Indonesia's 80th anniversary of independence on 17 August. That deadline has now passed but the project remains in progress. What and who was behind this ‘rewriting' history project? What were their motives? What ‘red flags' most alarmed historians and others, and ultimately what can be done to resist and possibly reverse the course of this project? In this week's episode Jemma chats with Grace Leksana an Assistant Professor in Indonesian history in the Cultural History section of Utrecht University. Grace is author of Memory culture of the anti Leftist violence in Indonesia: Embedded Remembering (Amsterdam University Press, 2023). She is a member of the Indonesian History Openness Alliance (AKSI). In 2025, the Talking Indonesia podcast is co-hosted by Dr Jemma Purdey from the Australia-Indonesia Centre, Dr Jacqui Baker from Murdoch University, Dr Elisabeth Kramer from the University of New South Wales and Tito Ambyo from RMIT.

In this inspiring episode of Hema Now, Catherine Glass speaks with Rob Pieters, Professor of Pediatric Oncology at Utrecht University; and co-founder of the Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology, Utrecht, the Netherlands, the largest dedicated childhood cancer centre in Europe. Pieters shares his personal journey in paediatric oncology, the breakthroughs that have reshaped care, and the vision behind uniting all of the Netherlands' childhood cancer expertise under one roof.  Timestamps   00:00 – Introduction  01:06 – Pieters' start in paediatric oncology  01:29 – Biggest breakthroughs in childhood cancers  02:35 – Parts of Pieters work that bring him the most joy  03:12 - Lessons learnt from patients or their families   04:31 – The vision behind the Princess Máxima Center  08:35 – The impact of the Princess Máxima Center   10:53 – How is research funding divided?  12:55 – Evolution of treatments in paediatric oncology  15:10 – What will it take to achieve 100% cure rate in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia?  18:55 – President Elect of the European Society for Paediatric Oncology (SIOPE)  22:20 – One message of hope to families facing childhood cancer  25:10 – Pieter's three wishes for healthcare 

Questions, suggestions, or feedback? Send us a message!Our guest this week is Rutger Bregman. Rutger is a Dutch historian and author. His books Humankind: A Hopeful History and Utopia for Realists: And How We Can Get There were both Sunday Times and New York Times Best Sellers and have been translated in 46 languages.The Guardian described him as 'the Dutch wunderkind of new ideas', while TED named him 'one of Europe's most prominent young thinkers'. His TED Talk, 'Poverty Isn't a Lack of Character; It's a Lack of Cash', was selected by TED curator Chris Anderson as one of the top ten talks of 2017.He studied History at Utrecht University and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Initially considering a career as an academic historian, Rutger instead ventured into journalism. He began his career at the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant before moving to the independent journalism platform De Correspondent, for which he wrote for ten years.In 2024, Rutger co-founded The School for Moral Ambition, a non-profit organization inspired by his latest book, Moral Ambition. The initiative helps people to take steps toward an impactful career.‍We talk about:Not resting on ones laurelsIndividual versus societal responsibilityHow just being decent isn't enoughThe value of harsh feedbackWhen is the best time to make people morally ambitiousPragmatic AlliancesNoble Loosers aka Social Media ActivismEffective AltruismThe School of Moral Ambition‍Let's get moral!Web: www.whereshallwemeet.xyzTwitter: @whrshallwemeetInstagram: @whrshallwemeet

Professor Michael Burke from Utrecht University discusses the relationship between populism and democracy at the European Speechwriter Network conference in Oxford March 2025.

Comprehensive coverage of the day's news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice. New Orleans (Photo: Chris Litherland) Trump mulls sending military to New Orleans, as Dems blast “wannabe dictator” moves; Lawmakers submit bipartisan bill to ban congress members from trading stocks; AG Bonta sues Catholic hospital in Humboldt County for refusing to perform emergency abortion; SF, Yolo counties urge masking as Covid surges in California, 30 states; Florida to become first state to eliminate all childhood vaccine mandates; CA, Oregon, Washington launch “West Coast Health Alliance” as response to dismantling of public health; Scotland to stop funding companies that provide weapons to Israel, Utrecht University in Netherlands announces boycott of Israeli institutions The post Trump mulls sending military to New Orleans; Bonta sues hospital for refusing to perform emergency abortions – September 3, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.

Polymath Anna Maria van Schurman was a very well-educated woman in the 17th century, making her exceptional. She’s described as the most learned woman of her time, and she basically became a celebrity because of it. Research: Aldersey-Williams, Hugh. “’A Truer and Deeper Knowledge’: Anna Maria van Schurman’s The Learned Maid (1659).” Public Domain Review. https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/the-learned-maid/ "Anna Maria van Schurman." Encyclopedia of World Biography Online, vol. 31, Gale, 2011. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/K1631009647/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=cdba4228. Accessed 21 July 2025. “Anna Maria van Schurman: an academic multitalent.” Utrecht University. https://www.uu.nl/en/background/anna-maria-van-schurman-an-academic-multitalent Clarke, Desmond M. “Anna Maria Van Schurman and Women’s Education.” Revue Philosophique de la France et de l'Étranger. No. 3. July-September 2013. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/42773326 de Baar, Mirjam. “Elisabeth of Bohemia’s Lifelong Friendship with Anna Maria van Schurman (1607–1678).” From Elisabeth of Bohemia (1618–1680): A Philosopher in her Historical Context, Women in the History of Philosophy and Sciences 9. S. Ebbersmeyer and S. Hutton (eds.). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71527-4_2 de Baar, Mirjam. “SCHURMAN, Anna Maria van.” Online Dictionary of Dutch Women. https://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/vrouwenlexicon/lemmata/data/Schurman,%20Anna%20Maria%20van/en 1/13/2014. Dekker, Maryse. “Anna Maria van Schurman: Brains, Arts and Feminist avant la letter.” Art Herstory. 2/23/2021. https://artherstory.net/anna-maria-van-schurman-artist-scholar-and-woman-of-letters/ Larsen, Anne R. “A Women's Republic of Letters: Anna Maria van Schurman, Marie de Gournay, and Female Self-Representation in Relation to the Public Sphere.” Early Modern Women, Fall 2008, Vol. 3 (Fall 2008). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23541520 Larsen, Anne R. “Religious Alterity.” French Forum, FALL 2018, Vol. 43, No. 2. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/26762079 National Museum of Women in the Arts. “Anna Maria van Schurman.” https://nmwa.org/art/artists/anna-maria-van-schurman/ National Museum of Women in the Arts. “Anna Maria van Schurman: Self-Portrait.” https://nmwa.org/art/collection/schurman-self-portrait/ Pal, Carol. “Chapter 2 - Anna Maria van Schurman: the birth of an intellectual network.” From Republic of Women: Rethinking the Republic of Letters in the Seventeenth Century.” Cambridge University Press. 2012. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139087490.005 Project Vox. “Van Schurman (1607-1678).” https://projectvox.org/van-schurman-1607-1678/ Sint Nicolaas, Samantha. “The Correspondence of Anna Maria van Schurman.” Early Modern Letters Online. http://emlo-portal.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/collections/?catalogue=anna-maria-van-schurman The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Jean de Labadie". Encyclopedia Britannica, 9 Feb. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jean-de-Labadie. Accessed 25 July 2025. Van Beek, Pieta. “The first female university student: Anna Maria van Schurman (1636).” Igitur. Utrecht Publishing & Archiving Services. 2010. Van der Stighelen, Katlijne. “Chapter Title: Anna Francisca de Bruyns (1604/5–1656), Artist, Wife and Mother: a Contextual Approach to Her Forgotten Artistic Career.” From Women and Gender in the Early Modern Low Countries. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1163/j.ctvrxk3hp.12 Weststeijn, Thijs. “Anna Maria Van Schurman’s Chinese Calligraphy.” Early Modern Low Countries 7 (2023) 1, pp. 1-25 - eISSN: 2543-1587. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this sweeping new history of humanity, told through the prism of our ever-changing moral norms and values, Hanno Sauer shows how modern society is just the latest step in the long evolution of good and evil and everything in between. What makes us moral beings? How do we decide what is good and what is evil? And has it always been that way? Hanno Sauer's sweeping new history of humanity, covering five million years of our universal moral values, comes at a crucial moment of crisis for those values, and helps to explain how they arose -- and why we need them. We humans were born to cooperate, but everywhere we find ourselves in conflict. The way we live together has changed fundamentally in recent decades: global mobility, demographic upheaval, migration movements, and digital networking, have all called the moral foundations of human communities into question. Modern societies are in crisis: a shared universal morality seems to be a thing of the past. Hanno Sauer explains why this appearance is deceptive: in fact, there are universal values that all people share. If we understand the origin of our morality, we can understand its future too. With philosophical expertise and empirical data, Sauer explains how processes of biological, cultural, social, and historical evolution shaped the moral grammar that defines our present. Seven chapters recount the crucial moral upheavals of human history showing how the emergence of humankind five million years ago, the rise of first civilizations 5,000 years ago, and the dynamics of moral progress in the last fifty years are interrelated. This genealogical perspective allows us, on the one hand, to see the contradictions and potential conflicts of our moral identities; on the other, it makes clear that we share fundamental values that apply to all human beings at all times. Sauer's elegant prose, translated into English by Jo Heinrich, brings the history of humanity to vivid new life. Hanno Sauer is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy & Religious Studies at Utrecht University. He teaches ethics, metaethics and political philosophy. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube channel. Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

Hosted by IPAA National President Andrew Metcalfe, AO FIPAA, this episode of Work with Purpose explores how the public sector might manage an increasingly complex global public sector environment, while maintaining a spirit of humility and empathy in serving the community.Public administration on a global scale is facing challenges from growing hostility influenced by misinformation and political rhetoric, which is impacting public servants' morale and the perception of government institutions.In this discussion, Crawford School of Public Policy Director Janine O'Flynn reflects on her address to the 2025 American Society of Public Administration Conference which highlighted these issues alongside efforts to build a positive narrative for public service and the integration of technology like AI in governance.This podcast delves into the long-running global debate on the value of public service – a conversation that continues to evolve across different national contexts.Key tips: Lead with empathy – recognise the emotional toll of uncertainty and trauma on public sector employees. Whether you're a leader or a colleague, approach conversations and decisions with compassion and understanding.Champion positivity – actively highlight the value and impact of public sector work. Sharing success stories and meaningful contributions helps counteract public hostility and rebuild trust.Engage thoughtfully with AI – understand that trust in artificial intelligence depends on more than just technology; it requires ethical oversight, sound judgement, and high-quality data. Advocate for systems that challenge, rather than replicate, existing biases.Show notes:Utrecht University project on Successful Public Governance | Utrecht University, NetherlandsSpeech to the American Society for Public Administration | Crawford School of Public PolicyPathways to Positive Public Administration: An International Perspective | Open source book via Elgar OnlineHas the time arrived for Positive Public Administration | The MandarinAutomated Assistance in Administrative Decision Making [2004] | Administrative Review Council Reports2025 American Society of Public Administration Conference | ASPANet Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this sweeping new history of humanity, told through the prism of our ever-changing moral norms and values, Hanno Sauer shows how modern society is just the latest step in the long evolution of good and evil and everything in between. What makes us moral beings? How do we decide what is good and what is evil? And has it always been that way? Hanno Sauer's sweeping new history of humanity, covering five million years of our universal moral values, comes at a crucial moment of crisis for those values, and helps to explain how they arose -- and why we need them. We humans were born to cooperate, but everywhere we find ourselves in conflict. The way we live together has changed fundamentally in recent decades: global mobility, demographic upheaval, migration movements, and digital networking, have all called the moral foundations of human communities into question. Modern societies are in crisis: a shared universal morality seems to be a thing of the past. Hanno Sauer explains why this appearance is deceptive: in fact, there are universal values that all people share. If we understand the origin of our morality, we can understand its future too. With philosophical expertise and empirical data, Sauer explains how processes of biological, cultural, social, and historical evolution shaped the moral grammar that defines our present. Seven chapters recount the crucial moral upheavals of human history showing how the emergence of humankind five million years ago, the rise of first civilizations 5,000 years ago, and the dynamics of moral progress in the last fifty years are interrelated. This genealogical perspective allows us, on the one hand, to see the contradictions and potential conflicts of our moral identities; on the other, it makes clear that we share fundamental values that apply to all human beings at all times. Sauer's elegant prose, translated into English by Jo Heinrich, brings the history of humanity to vivid new life. Hanno Sauer is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy & Religious Studies at Utrecht University. He teaches ethics, metaethics and political philosophy. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube channel. Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/intellectual-history

In this sweeping new history of humanity, told through the prism of our ever-changing moral norms and values, Hanno Sauer shows how modern society is just the latest step in the long evolution of good and evil and everything in between. What makes us moral beings? How do we decide what is good and what is evil? And has it always been that way? Hanno Sauer's sweeping new history of humanity, covering five million years of our universal moral values, comes at a crucial moment of crisis for those values, and helps to explain how they arose -- and why we need them. We humans were born to cooperate, but everywhere we find ourselves in conflict. The way we live together has changed fundamentally in recent decades: global mobility, demographic upheaval, migration movements, and digital networking, have all called the moral foundations of human communities into question. Modern societies are in crisis: a shared universal morality seems to be a thing of the past. Hanno Sauer explains why this appearance is deceptive: in fact, there are universal values that all people share. If we understand the origin of our morality, we can understand its future too. With philosophical expertise and empirical data, Sauer explains how processes of biological, cultural, social, and historical evolution shaped the moral grammar that defines our present. Seven chapters recount the crucial moral upheavals of human history showing how the emergence of humankind five million years ago, the rise of first civilizations 5,000 years ago, and the dynamics of moral progress in the last fifty years are interrelated. This genealogical perspective allows us, on the one hand, to see the contradictions and potential conflicts of our moral identities; on the other, it makes clear that we share fundamental values that apply to all human beings at all times. Sauer's elegant prose, translated into English by Jo Heinrich, brings the history of humanity to vivid new life. Hanno Sauer is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy & Religious Studies at Utrecht University. He teaches ethics, metaethics and political philosophy. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube channel. Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/religion

In this sweeping new history of humanity, told through the prism of our ever-changing moral norms and values, Hanno Sauer shows how modern society is just the latest step in the long evolution of good and evil and everything in between. What makes us moral beings? How do we decide what is good and what is evil? And has it always been that way? Hanno Sauer's sweeping new history of humanity, covering five million years of our universal moral values, comes at a crucial moment of crisis for those values, and helps to explain how they arose -- and why we need them. We humans were born to cooperate, but everywhere we find ourselves in conflict. The way we live together has changed fundamentally in recent decades: global mobility, demographic upheaval, migration movements, and digital networking, have all called the moral foundations of human communities into question. Modern societies are in crisis: a shared universal morality seems to be a thing of the past. Hanno Sauer explains why this appearance is deceptive: in fact, there are universal values that all people share. If we understand the origin of our morality, we can understand its future too. With philosophical expertise and empirical data, Sauer explains how processes of biological, cultural, social, and historical evolution shaped the moral grammar that defines our present. Seven chapters recount the crucial moral upheavals of human history showing how the emergence of humankind five million years ago, the rise of first civilizations 5,000 years ago, and the dynamics of moral progress in the last fifty years are interrelated. This genealogical perspective allows us, on the one hand, to see the contradictions and potential conflicts of our moral identities; on the other, it makes clear that we share fundamental values that apply to all human beings at all times. Sauer's elegant prose, translated into English by Jo Heinrich, brings the history of humanity to vivid new life. Hanno Sauer is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy & Religious Studies at Utrecht University. He teaches ethics, metaethics and political philosophy. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube channel. Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In this sweeping new history of humanity, told through the prism of our ever-changing moral norms and values, Hanno Sauer shows how modern society is just the latest step in the long evolution of good and evil and everything in between. What makes us moral beings? How do we decide what is good and what is evil? And has it always been that way? Hanno Sauer's sweeping new history of humanity, covering five million years of our universal moral values, comes at a crucial moment of crisis for those values, and helps to explain how they arose -- and why we need them. We humans were born to cooperate, but everywhere we find ourselves in conflict. The way we live together has changed fundamentally in recent decades: global mobility, demographic upheaval, migration movements, and digital networking, have all called the moral foundations of human communities into question. Modern societies are in crisis: a shared universal morality seems to be a thing of the past. Hanno Sauer explains why this appearance is deceptive: in fact, there are universal values that all people share. If we understand the origin of our morality, we can understand its future too. With philosophical expertise and empirical data, Sauer explains how processes of biological, cultural, social, and historical evolution shaped the moral grammar that defines our present. Seven chapters recount the crucial moral upheavals of human history showing how the emergence of humankind five million years ago, the rise of first civilizations 5,000 years ago, and the dynamics of moral progress in the last fifty years are interrelated. This genealogical perspective allows us, on the one hand, to see the contradictions and potential conflicts of our moral identities; on the other, it makes clear that we share fundamental values that apply to all human beings at all times. Sauer's elegant prose, translated into English by Jo Heinrich, brings the history of humanity to vivid new life. Hanno Sauer is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy & Religious Studies at Utrecht University. He teaches ethics, metaethics and political philosophy. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube channel. Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

Dr Helen Geake and Martyn Williams are joined by Time Team archaeologist Jackie McKinley. She's been part of the team investigating a potential Viking boat burial in the most northern part of the UK. She gives us a sense of what it was like working in driving rain and high winds, as well as the clues which could point to a Viking boat being hidden beneath the soil. Archaeologists have discovered evidence of a Roman temporary camp in The Netherlands. It's been found north of the known frontier of the empire. What does it mean for our understanding of the Romans? Dr Saskia Stevens from Utrecht University will shed some light on her research. Martyn investigates the complexities of magnetometry and how they can help the archaeological process and Patreon supporters pose their questions to Helen. Join us on Patreon to get more from Time Team; including behind-the-scenes videos, extended interviews and a chance to volunteer at future digs. Plus, you can pose your question to Helen for a future episode. Head to patreon.com/timeteamofficial to find out more.

Stand Up is a daily podcast. I book,host,edit, post and promote new episodes with brilliant guests every day. Please subscribe now for as little as 5$ and gain access to a community of over 750 awesome, curious, kind, funny, brilliant, generous souls Check out StandUpwithPete.com to learn more Outclassed: How the Left Lost the Working Class and How to Win Them Back Described as having “something approaching rock star status” in her field by The New York Times Magazine, Joan C. Williams is a scholar of social inequality and a prominent public intellectual. Williams is the author of 12 books and 116 academic articles in law, sociology, psychology, medical and management journals. She is the 11th most cited legal scholar both in critical theory and employment law. She is a Sullivan Professor and the Founding Director of the Equality Action Center at UC Law San Francisco, former Founding Director of the Center for WorkLife Law. She has three TED/TEDx talks, including one with over 1.3 million views. Her 2016 essay on why Trump attracted so many non-college voters went viral, with over 3.7 million reads, becoming the most-read article in the 90-year history of Harvard Business Review. She is widely known for “bias interrupters,”—an evidence-based metrics-driven approach to eradicating implicit bias introduced in the Harvard Business Review in 2014. The website  biasinterrupters.org with open-sourced toolkits for individuals and organizations has been accessed over 500,000 times. She was profiled in Financial Times and has published on class dynamics in American politics in The New York Times, Washington Post, The Atlantic, The New Republic, Politico, The Hill, the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere. Her work on class includes her upcoming book Outclassed: How the Left Lost the Working Class – And How to Win Them Back (forthcoming St. Martin's, May 2025) and her critically acclaimed 2017 book White Working Class – one of three books President Biden carried, dog-eared and annotated, during his 2020 presidential campaign, according to the Washington Post. Her work on gender includes What Works for Women at Work: Four Patterns Working Women Need to Know (NYU Press, 2014) and her prize-winning Unbending Gender: Why Family and Work Conflict and What To Do About It (Oxford, 1999). Williams' work helped create the field of work-family studies, modern workplace flexibility policies, and the study of maternal wall bias in sociology. Her work on race includes eight studies documenting how racial and gender bias play out in today's workplaces, including two focused specifically on women of color: Pinning down the Jellyfish: Racial and Gender Bias against Women in Tech (2022) and Double Jeopardy? Gender Bias against Women of Color in STEM (2014). She is a leading voice on diversity, equity, and inclusion; with her team, she has published 39 articles published in Harvard Business Review. In 2014, she launched Bias Interrupters, a data-driven approach to interrupting bias in organizations whose website has been downloaded over half a million times. Williams has received awards in several different fields. For her contributions to the legal profession, she is one of the few people to receive both the American Bar Foundation's Outstanding Scholar Award (2012) and the ABA's Margaret Brent Women Award for Lawyers of Achievement (2006).  For her contributions to the work-family field, she received the Work Life Legacy Award from the Families and Work Institute (2014) and MSOM Responsible Research Award in Operations Management (2022). For her contributions to women's advancement in engineering, she received the President's Award from the Society of Women Engineers (2019). For contributions to psychology, she received the Distinguished Publication Award from the Association for Women in Psychology (2005). Her work has been funded by three National Science Foundation grants, as well as grants from Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the W. W. Kellogg Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She holds degrees from Yale, Harvard, and MIT as well as an honorary PhD from Utrecht University in the Netherlands. Join us Monday's and Thursday's at 8EST for our Twice Weekly Happy Hour Hangout's !  Pete on Blue Sky Pete on Threads Pete on Tik Tok Pete on YouTube  Pete on Twitter Pete On Instagram Pete Personal FB page Stand Up with Pete FB page All things Jon Carroll  Follow and Support Pete Coe Buy Ava's Art  Hire DJ Monzyk to build your website or help you with Marketing Gift a Subscription https://www.patreon.com/PeteDominick/gift

Saving Liberalism from Itself: The Spirit of Political Participation Bristol UP, 2022) By Timothy Stacey In the wake of populism, Timothy Stacey's book critically reflects on what is missing from the liberal project with the aim of saving liberalism. It explains that populists have harnessed myth, ritual, magic and tradition to advance their ambitions, and why opponents need to embrace rather than eschew them. Using examples of liberally oriented activists in Vancouver, it presents an accessible theorization of these quasi-religious concepts in secular life. The result is to provide both a new theoretical understanding of why liberalism fails to engage people, and a toolkit for campaigners, policymakers and academics seeking to bridge the gap between liberal aspirations and lived experiences, in order to promote political engagement and to create unity out of division. Timothy Stacey is Researcher in the Urban Future Studio at Utrecht University. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/a48266/videos Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Saving Liberalism from Itself: The Spirit of Political Participation Bristol UP, 2022) By Timothy Stacey In the wake of populism, Timothy Stacey's book critically reflects on what is missing from the liberal project with the aim of saving liberalism. It explains that populists have harnessed myth, ritual, magic and tradition to advance their ambitions, and why opponents need to embrace rather than eschew them. Using examples of liberally oriented activists in Vancouver, it presents an accessible theorization of these quasi-religious concepts in secular life. The result is to provide both a new theoretical understanding of why liberalism fails to engage people, and a toolkit for campaigners, policymakers and academics seeking to bridge the gap between liberal aspirations and lived experiences, in order to promote political engagement and to create unity out of division. Timothy Stacey is Researcher in the Urban Future Studio at Utrecht University. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/a48266/videos Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

Saving Liberalism from Itself: The Spirit of Political Participation Bristol UP, 2022) By Timothy Stacey In the wake of populism, Timothy Stacey's book critically reflects on what is missing from the liberal project with the aim of saving liberalism. It explains that populists have harnessed myth, ritual, magic and tradition to advance their ambitions, and why opponents need to embrace rather than eschew them. Using examples of liberally oriented activists in Vancouver, it presents an accessible theorization of these quasi-religious concepts in secular life. The result is to provide both a new theoretical understanding of why liberalism fails to engage people, and a toolkit for campaigners, policymakers and academics seeking to bridge the gap between liberal aspirations and lived experiences, in order to promote political engagement and to create unity out of division. Timothy Stacey is Researcher in the Urban Future Studio at Utrecht University. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/a48266/videos Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/critical-theory

In this episode Nick Breeze speaks with Dr Soumitra Das from the Healthy Climate Initiative. Soumitra sheds light on the life threatening challenges that face citizens in India and surrounding countries today. A major threat to life is when heat and humidity combine – known as wet bulb temperatures. This is when the body is unable to cool itself, leading to fatal heatstrokes within a few hours. Today 2% of India's population are exposed to wet bulb extremes. In a country nearing 1.5 billion people, 2% equates to ~around 30 million people. On the current trajectory this figure is set to rise by midcentury to 70%, or, in real terms, in excess of 1 billion citizens at risk of heatstroke.The fossil fuel industry is the main culprit of this ongoing rise in temperatures, doing everything they can to slow the inevitable transition to clean renewable energy. The impact on peoples lives, infrastructure, biodiversity on land and in the oceans, is incalculable, as carbon emissions continue to rise. All of this is set against the needlessly worsening relations between humans around the world. New episodes include interviews with Professor Mark Maslin at UCL about the state of what the recent World Meteorological Organisation Climate Report tells us and his views on whether we should be looking into methods to cool the earth while we continue to try and reduce emissions. Nick also catch's up with Dr René van Westen at Utrecht University about his and his colleagues new AMOC research paper. The research tells us more indications of Europe's dramatic climate future as the global mean temperature rises over 2ºC. This is inline with our current emissions scenarios that scientists have told us we should avoid at all costs. Currently our emissions trajectory is taking us much much higher and raises hard questions about the future we want to try and exist in.

“The first job of a leader—at work or at home—is to inspire trust. You don't manage people—you model trust, extend it, and grow together." - Stephen M. R. Covey “Trust is the one trait that consistently boosts happiness at every age.” — Research by Utrecht University, 2025 “Trust doesn't follow leadership. Trust is leadership.” - Lee Brower In Th'River, we believe in flow—in letting trust move through us, not just to us.

What if your agentic AI could innovate autonomously—and still follow your business rules? Agility in the age of AI doesn't just mean speed. It means predictability, accountability, and the ability to innovate autonomously without businesses losing control of what is important, and what their customers value. Today we are here at PegaWorld 2025 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and we're going to talk about how enterprises are starting to move beyond prompt-based, freewheeling AI models and toward something more mature, governed, and scalable: Predictable AI Agents. And we'll explore what that means for the future of autonomous enterprise decisioning and innovation. To help me dig into this topic, I'd like to welcome Peter van der Putten, Director AI Lab and Lead Scientist at Pega. About Peter van der PuttenPeter van der Putten is assistant professor of AI, Leiden University and Director AI Lab at Pegasystems. Through his expertise in artificial intelligence and machine learning, Peter helps leading brands to become more ‘human' by transforming into customer centric organizations. In addition to his role at Pegasystems, Peter is an assistant professor and creative researcher at the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS), Leiden University, The Netherlands.   Peter is particularly interested in how intelligence can evolve through learning, in man or machines. Peter has a MSc in Cognitive Artificial Intelligence from Utrecht University and a PhD in data mining from Leiden University, and combines academic research with applying these technologies in business. He teaches New Media New Technology and supervises MSc thesis projects.  RESOURCES Pega: https://www.pega.com https://www.pega.com The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://www.teksystems.com/versionnextnow Catch the future of e-commerce at eTail Boston, August 11-14, 2025. Register now: https://bit.ly/etailboston and use code PARTNER20 for 20% off for retailers and brandsOnline Scrum Master Summit is happening June 17-19. This 3-day virtual event is open for registration. Visit www.osms25.com and get a 25% discount off Premium All-Access Passes with the code osms25agilebrandDon't Miss MAICON 2025, October 14-16 in Cleveland - the event bringing together the brights minds and leading voices in AI. Use Code AGILE150 for $150 off registration. Go here to register: https://bit.ly/agile150Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstromDon't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter and more: https://www.theagilebrand.showCheck out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://www.agilebrandguide.com The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company

In this episode, we're joined by Arash Ghajarjazi, a scholar of Iranian Studies at Utrecht University and author of the new book, Remembering Khayyam: Episodes of Unbelief in the Reception Histories of Persian Quatrains. We delve into the history of Iran to discuss the long legacy of secular culture by way of the figure of Omar Khayyam, a Persian poet and polymath from the 11th century. There are plenty of surprises along the way as we learn how religious elites leveraged modern technology to monopolize power, the role Victorian love of poetry had on Iranian culture, and how secular monuments continue to inspire and allow protest in a theocratic country. We also learn whether a true atheist can hide their atheism and if it may prove to be an absolute necessity.For more on Arash: www.linkedin.com/in/arash-ghajarjazi-036621176On X: @arashghajarjaziArash's new book, Remembering Khayyam: Episodes of Unbelief in the Reception Histories of Persian Quatrains: https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783111626017/htmlAnd the video trailer of the book: https://youtu.be/A7Z4ZtUQlnU?si=NO8nX3eZjBNNqzJdBeyond Sharia project: https://beyondsharia.nl/Register for Nathan Alexander's upcoming webinar (July 8): https://freethinker.co.uk/2025/05/freethought-history-webinar-4-atheism-and-vegetarianism-in-the-19th-and-20th-centuries-a-match-made-in-heaven-with-nathan-alexander-8-july-2025/ Follow Nathan on BlueSky: @nathgalexander.bsky.socialNathan's website: https://www.nathangalexander.com/ Beyond Atheism is produced and distributed by Atheists United Studios: https://www.atheistsunited.org/au-studios 

From Mali to Montreal, from May Day marches to Maori resistance, the world's on fire—and people are pushing back. In this episode of Loose Wires, we cover five major stories of revolt and repression: pro-democracy protests in Mali, care worker solidarity in Aotearoa, anarchist actions on May Day, Gaza solidarity at Utrecht University, and the legacy of José Mujica. Plus: Emma Goldman's flaws, Hasan Piker detained, and the trans-led quilt that asserts their continued presence and resilience.✊ Mutual aid links and support resourcesIn Mali, support → Guamina → AJCAD → Amnesty International MaliIn Aotearoa, back → New Zealand Nurses Organisation → PSA NZ (Public Service Association)In the Netherlands, follow and uplift → SRP Netherlands on InstagramSupport trans and queer lives through → Trans Lifeline → For The GworlsHelp keep radical history alive with → AK Press → The Anarchist Library → PM PressCheck out AnComSciComm on FOFANews and follow him on Blueskyhttps://youtu.be/2-oKULEugDs?si=WLAvxp0Cv9dyMHTZ https://bsky.app/profile/ancomscicomm.bsky.social Support the show at patreon.com/skepticalleftist And follow me in all the places https://linktr.ee/Skepticalleftist  

During the upcoming OWASP Global AppSec EU in Barcelona, Kate Labunets, a cybersecurity researcher focused on human factors and usable security, takes the stage to confront a disconnect that too often holds the industry back: the gap between academic research and real-world cybersecurity practice.In her keynote, “Outside the Ivory Tower: Connecting Practice and Science,” Kate invites practitioners to reconsider their relationship with academic research—not as something removed from their daily reality, but as a vital tool that can lead to better decisions, more targeted security programs, and improved organizational resilience.Drawing from her current research, Kate shares how interviews and surveys with employees reveal the hidden motivations behind the use of shadow IT—tools and technologies adopted without formal approval. These aren't simply acts of rebellion or ignorance. They reflect misalignments between human behavior, workplace needs, and policy communication. By understanding these mindsets, organizations can move beyond one-size-fits-all training and begin designing interventions grounded in evidence.This is where science meets practice. Kate's work isn't about generating abstract theories. It's about applying research methods—like anonymous interviews and behavior-focused surveys—to surface insights that security leaders can act on. But for this to happen, researchers need access, and that depends on building trust with practitioners.The keynote also raises a critical point about time. In industries like medicine, the gap between a published discovery and its application in the real world can be 15 years. Kate argues that cybersecurity faces a similar delay, citing the example of multi-factor authentication: patented in 1998, but still not universally adopted today. Her goal is to accelerate this timeline by helping practitioners see themselves as contributors to science—not just consumers of its outcomes.By inviting companies to participate in research and engage with universities, Kate's message is clear: collaboration benefits everyone. The path to smarter, more human-aligned cybersecurity isn't gated behind academic walls. It's open to any team curious enough to ask better questions—and brave enough to challenge assumptions.GUEST: Kate Labunets | Assistant Professor (UD1) in Cyber Security at Utrecht University | https://www.linkedin.com/in/klabunets/HOSTS:Sean Martin, Co-Founder at ITSPmagazine [@ITSPmagazine] and Host of Redefining CyberSecurity Podcast [@RedefiningCyber] | On ITSPmagazine:  https://www.itspmagazine.com/sean-martinMarco Ciappelli, Co-Founder at ITSPmagazine [@ITSPmagazine] and Host of Redefining Society Podcast & Audio Signals Podcast | On ITSPmagazine: https://www.itspmagazine.com/itspmagazine-podcast-radio-hosts/marco-ciappelliSPONSORSManicode Security: https://itspm.ag/manicode-security-7q8iRESOURCESKate's Session: https://owasp2025globalappseceu.sched.com/event/1v86U/keynote-outside-the-ivory-tower-connecting-practice-and-scienceLearn more and catch more stories from OWASP AppSec Global 2025 Barcelona coverage: https://www.itspmagazine.com/owasp-global-appsec-barcelona-2025-application-security-event-coverage-in-catalunya-spainCatch all of our event coverage: https://www.itspmagazine.com/technology-and-cybersecurity-conference-coverageWant to tell your Brand Story Briefing as part of our event coverage? Learn More

In this episode of The Dairy Podcast Show, Dr. Johanna Fink-Gremmels, a veterinarian specialized in pharmacology and toxicology, unpacks the complex role of biofilms in dairy cattle health and farm management. She explains how bacterial communities impact antibiotic resistance, chronic infections, and nutrient utilization, offering insight into prevention strategies, such as quorum sensing manipulation. Learn how understanding bacterial communication can optimize herd health and productivity. Listen now on all major platforms!"The most important nutrient for a cow is water, and biofilms in water systems can severely affect intake and health."What will you learn: (00:00) Introduction(04:28) Understanding biofilms(10:20) Antibiotic resistance mechanisms(13:20) Biofilms and cow health(17:33) Rumen health focus(19:56) Quorum sensing explained(29:23) Final three questionsMeet the guest:Dr. Johanna Fink-Gremmels is a veterinarian specialized in pharmacology and toxicology (Dip ECVPT). With over 25 years as a professor and head of department at Utrecht University, her expertise spans antibiotic use, pharmacokinetics, and the toxicity of mycotoxins. Now consulting for the feed and animal health industries, Dr. Fink-Gremmels shares critical insights on biofilms and microbial communication in dairy cattle health.Connect with our guest on Social Media: LinkedIn

In the late sixteenth century, a German Lutheran scholar named Martin Crusius compiled an exceptionally rich record of Greek life under Ottoman rule. Although he never left his home in the university town of Tübingen, Crusius spent decades annotating books and manuscripts, corresponding with the Greek Orthodox Patriarch, and interviewing Greek Orthodox alms-seekers. Ultimately, he gathered his research into a seminal work called the Turcograecia, which served for centuries as Europe's foremost source on Ottoman Greece. Yet as Richard Calis reveals, Crusius's massive—and largely untapped—archive has much more to tell us about how early modern Europeans negotiated cultural and religious difference. In particular, Crusius's work illuminates Western European views of the religious “other” within Christianity: the Greek Orthodox Christians living under Ottoman rule, a group both familiar and foreign. Many Western Europeans, including Crusius, developed narratives of Greek cultural and religious decline under Ottoman rule. Crusius's records, however, reveal in exceptional detail how such stories developed. His interactions with his Greek Orthodox visitors, and with a vast network of correspondents, show that Greeks' own narratives of hardship entwined in complex ways with Western Europeans' orientalist views of the Ottoman world. They also reflect the religious tensions that undergirded these exchanges, fueled by Crusius's fervent desire to spread Lutheran belief across Ottoman Greece and the wider world. A lively intellectual history drawn from a forgotten archive, The Discovery of Ottoman Greece (Harvard UP, 2025) is also a perceptive character study, in which Crusius takes his place in the history of ethnography, Lutheran reform, and European philhellenism. Richard Calis is an Assistant Professor in Cultural History at Utrecht University, who specializes in the history of science and intellectual history Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube channel. Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the late sixteenth century, a German Lutheran scholar named Martin Crusius compiled an exceptionally rich record of Greek life under Ottoman rule. Although he never left his home in the university town of Tübingen, Crusius spent decades annotating books and manuscripts, corresponding with the Greek Orthodox Patriarch, and interviewing Greek Orthodox alms-seekers. Ultimately, he gathered his research into a seminal work called the Turcograecia, which served for centuries as Europe's foremost source on Ottoman Greece. Yet as Richard Calis reveals, Crusius's massive—and largely untapped—archive has much more to tell us about how early modern Europeans negotiated cultural and religious difference. In particular, Crusius's work illuminates Western European views of the religious “other” within Christianity: the Greek Orthodox Christians living under Ottoman rule, a group both familiar and foreign. Many Western Europeans, including Crusius, developed narratives of Greek cultural and religious decline under Ottoman rule. Crusius's records, however, reveal in exceptional detail how such stories developed. His interactions with his Greek Orthodox visitors, and with a vast network of correspondents, show that Greeks' own narratives of hardship entwined in complex ways with Western Europeans' orientalist views of the Ottoman world. They also reflect the religious tensions that undergirded these exchanges, fueled by Crusius's fervent desire to spread Lutheran belief across Ottoman Greece and the wider world. A lively intellectual history drawn from a forgotten archive, The Discovery of Ottoman Greece (Harvard UP, 2025) is also a perceptive character study, in which Crusius takes his place in the history of ethnography, Lutheran reform, and European philhellenism. Richard Calis is an Assistant Professor in Cultural History at Utrecht University, who specializes in the history of science and intellectual history Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube channel. Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In the late sixteenth century, a German Lutheran scholar named Martin Crusius compiled an exceptionally rich record of Greek life under Ottoman rule. Although he never left his home in the university town of Tübingen, Crusius spent decades annotating books and manuscripts, corresponding with the Greek Orthodox Patriarch, and interviewing Greek Orthodox alms-seekers. Ultimately, he gathered his research into a seminal work called the Turcograecia, which served for centuries as Europe's foremost source on Ottoman Greece. Yet as Richard Calis reveals, Crusius's massive—and largely untapped—archive has much more to tell us about how early modern Europeans negotiated cultural and religious difference. In particular, Crusius's work illuminates Western European views of the religious “other” within Christianity: the Greek Orthodox Christians living under Ottoman rule, a group both familiar and foreign. Many Western Europeans, including Crusius, developed narratives of Greek cultural and religious decline under Ottoman rule. Crusius's records, however, reveal in exceptional detail how such stories developed. His interactions with his Greek Orthodox visitors, and with a vast network of correspondents, show that Greeks' own narratives of hardship entwined in complex ways with Western Europeans' orientalist views of the Ottoman world. They also reflect the religious tensions that undergirded these exchanges, fueled by Crusius's fervent desire to spread Lutheran belief across Ottoman Greece and the wider world. A lively intellectual history drawn from a forgotten archive, The Discovery of Ottoman Greece (Harvard UP, 2025) is also a perceptive character study, in which Crusius takes his place in the history of ethnography, Lutheran reform, and European philhellenism. Richard Calis is an Assistant Professor in Cultural History at Utrecht University, who specializes in the history of science and intellectual history Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube channel. Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/german-studies

In the late sixteenth century, a German Lutheran scholar named Martin Crusius compiled an exceptionally rich record of Greek life under Ottoman rule. Although he never left his home in the university town of Tübingen, Crusius spent decades annotating books and manuscripts, corresponding with the Greek Orthodox Patriarch, and interviewing Greek Orthodox alms-seekers. Ultimately, he gathered his research into a seminal work called the Turcograecia, which served for centuries as Europe's foremost source on Ottoman Greece. Yet as Richard Calis reveals, Crusius's massive—and largely untapped—archive has much more to tell us about how early modern Europeans negotiated cultural and religious difference. In particular, Crusius's work illuminates Western European views of the religious “other” within Christianity: the Greek Orthodox Christians living under Ottoman rule, a group both familiar and foreign. Many Western Europeans, including Crusius, developed narratives of Greek cultural and religious decline under Ottoman rule. Crusius's records, however, reveal in exceptional detail how such stories developed. His interactions with his Greek Orthodox visitors, and with a vast network of correspondents, show that Greeks' own narratives of hardship entwined in complex ways with Western Europeans' orientalist views of the Ottoman world. They also reflect the religious tensions that undergirded these exchanges, fueled by Crusius's fervent desire to spread Lutheran belief across Ottoman Greece and the wider world. A lively intellectual history drawn from a forgotten archive, The Discovery of Ottoman Greece (Harvard UP, 2025) is also a perceptive character study, in which Crusius takes his place in the history of ethnography, Lutheran reform, and European philhellenism. Richard Calis is an Assistant Professor in Cultural History at Utrecht University, who specializes in the history of science and intellectual history Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube channel. Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/intellectual-history

Built on the shifting grounds of post-Yugoslav transformation, Staging the Promises examines how the residents of Bor — a Serbian copper-mining town marked by both socialist prosperity and post-socialist decline — became spectators to the staged enactments of promised futures. Deana Jovanović traces how local authorities and the copper-processing company theatrically projected visions of economic, infrastructural, environmental, urban, and post-industrial renewal. The book asks: What impact did the staging of promises have on the residents? What temporal, material, and political effects did these performances generate? How did they shape the citizens' futures and their present? Jovanović offers many ethnographic examples of ambivalence in people's orientation to their futures, while residents balanced hope with despair, disillusionment, and dismay. Staging the Promises highlights how the performances shaped the present, and how, in a Gramscian twist, they sustained hope alongside power dynamics that residents often criticized. Staging the Promises: Everyday Future-Making in a Serbian Industrial Town (Cornell UP, 2025) assesses the performative ways through which contemporary capitalist futures are remade. For Jovanović, Bor represents a site that reflects a current global trend: staging the promises of enhanced futures today play a significant role in contemporary populist politics. Through them, she argues, distant futures become gradually withdrawn from people's horizons. Deana Jovanović is Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Utrecht University. She ethnographically studies how people in late-industrial and post-socialist environments shape futures, interact with pipes and cables, and live with risks and airborne particles. She has published widely on these topics in internationally recognized journals. Yadong Li is a socio-cultural anthropologist-in-training. He is registered as a PhD student at Tulane University. His research interests lie at the intersection of economic anthropology, development studies, hope studies, and the anthropology of borders and frontiers. More details about his scholarship and research interests can be found here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

On April 4, The New York Times reported that the European Commission is considering finding X, formerly Twitter, as part of its ongoing DSA investigation, which began in 2023. Tech Policy Press has discussed at length the extent and quality of transparency from platforms under the DSA, but there is limited insight into how the Commission is conducting its investigations into large online platforms and search engines. In most cases, the publicly available documents on cases are just press releases, while enforcement strategies and methods are not spelled out. To delve into the challenges this lack of transparency presents and how it impacts the public's understanding of the DSA, Tech Policy Press Associate Editor Ramsha Jahangir spoke to two researchers:Jacob van de Kerkhof, a PhD researcher at Utrecht University. His research is focused on the DSA and freedom of expression.Matteo Fabbri, a PhD candidate at IMT School for Advanced Studies in Lucca, Italy. Fabbri is also a visiting scholar at the Institute for Information Law at the University of Amsterdam. He recently published a research article titled "The Role of Requests for Information in Governing Digital Platforms Under the Digital Services Act: The Case of X."

Dr. Hille Fieten is veterinary researcher and clinician specializing in internal medicine. She is is the coordinator of the Center for Expertise in Genetics and Veterinary Medicine at Utrecht University. I have received multiple requests to talk to her about her research into the genetics of copper toxicity in dogs. Some of her research has been used for new genetic tests, and the dog loving community is asking how to interpret these tests. Buckle up for a lot of information coming at you!