Dr. Safiya U. Noble is an assistant professor at the University of Southern California (USC) Annenberg School of Communication. She's the author of a best-selling book called Algorithms of Oppression. Today she talks to Scott about how commercial search engines have algorithmic bias that shape how we see the world. How can we identify biases in our search r ... Show More
Nov 20
C++ is Still Here, Still Powerful with Gabriel Dos Reis
<p>In a world of Rust, Go, and Python, why does C++ still matter? Dr. Gabriel Dos Reis joins Scott to explain how C++ continues to shape everything from GPUs and browsers to AI infrastructure. They talk about performance, predictability, and the art of balancing power with safety ... Show More
35m 50s
Nov 13
Why Postgres? and why now? with Claire Giordano
<p>Postgres has quietly become the world’s favorite database...running startups, governments, and global clouds alike. Scott talks with Claire Giordano, long-time Postgres advocate and technologist, about the database’s unlikely rise from academic roots to modern dominance. They ... Show More
36m 11s
Mar 2023
How Smart Is AI? (Part One) with Meredith Broussard
Every time you interact with a targeted advertisement, use a drop-down menu, or scroll through TikTok, you’re engaging with an algorithm. And these algorithms are anything but objective. This week, Meredith Broussard returns to the show for a special two-part episode about algori ... Show More
37m 39s
Nov 2023
How does a computer discriminate?
OK, not exactly a computer — more like, the wild array of technologies that inform what we consume on our computers and phones. Because on this episode, we're looking at how AI and race bias intersect. Safiya Noble, a professor at UCLA and the author of the book Algorithms of Opp ... Show More
33m 53s
Jun 2021
In Machines We Trust: Hired by an algorithm
If you’ve applied for a job lately, it’s all but guaranteed that your application was reviewed by software—in most cases, before a human ever laid eyes on it. In this episode, the first in a four-part investigation into automated hiring practices, we speak with the CEOs of ZipRec ... Show More
33m 32s
Sep 2021
Algorithms: From the ancients to the internet
Hidden from view, complex to understand and often controversial, algorithms are at the heart of computer coding that underpins modern society. Every time we search the internet, every time we pay by credit card, even the romantic partners suggested to us by online dating sites – ... Show More
39m 20s
Oct 2023
#161 Fighting for Algorithmic Justice with Dr. Joy Buolamwini, Artist-in-Chief and President of The Algorithmic Justice League
In 2015 an MIT Researcher set out to build a mirror that would augment their face to look like those of their idols. The execution of this went well, until it came to testing. When the researcher came to use the mirror, no face was detected. The researcher was not detected in the ... Show More
55m 2s