BONUS: Should Research into Artificial Intelligence Be Stopped? Professor Jon Agar Explains Why A Former UCL Provost Said “Yes” | WeAreSTS
Release Date: 03/23/2021
#30 Don’t Look Up! How Hollywood Imports Science Policy into Films | WeAreSTS
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Hollywood chooses to portray experts in particular – sometimes peculiar – ways. Those choices have profound impacts on how audiences think about subjects as diverse as dinosaurs, robots, and climate catastrophes. But do those portrayals also change the way we think about the experts themselves and the process of expertise? Does Hollywood play some kind of under-the-table role in teaching us which experts to trust? That’s the theme for today’s podcast. Today, we listen in on a conversation between three experts here in STS who study science policy making as a process. They talk about a...
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#29 Can Comedy Help Us Tackle Conversations About Climate Change? | WeAreSTS
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Ever heard of climate change comedy? Here’s the idea. The climate crisis dominates our news. But more and more, messages about action are ignored. Fatalism is growing. People seem frozen with the scale of the problem. It’s clear we need new ways to tackle these tough conversations. In this episode, STS’s very own Grace Tyrrell explores the growing niche of climate change comedy. With her guest Dr Matt Winning, an environmental researcher and comedian, Grace shows us how climate change comedy works and she explores the question of how these two ideas can fit together. Grace is finishing...
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#28 Promising Potential for Generative AI at University: Is it a Personal Tutor for Every Pocket | WeAreSTS
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Mandy dives optimistically into the world of artificial intelligence (AI) and its impact on education as we know it. Think ChatGPT and all those related tools called generative AI. Along the way, we touch on some fundamental and relevant concepts from science and technology studies - including the Turing Test and technological determinism - that can help us gain a more nuanced understanding of emerging technology and big tech. With insights from UCL experts and others in Silicon Valley, we explore the incredible potential of AI to enhance university education, plus we dip into some of the...
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#27 Top Stories in Science Journalism from STS Students | WeAreSTS
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The assignments students do in STS modules today are nothing like what they used to be. These days, they build portfolios with all sorts of things: short writing, long writing, posters, blogs, in-class presentations. Add to these, projects like podcasts, film clips, campaign strategies, briefing papers, debates, and full-on project proposals. Research of different kinds. They all require hard work, creativity, and rising to the challenge. We diversify our curriculum because we know the future holds work as varied as we do ourselves each day. We want our students skilled up, practiced, and...
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#26 Women in History of Science Through 53 Original Sources | WeAreSTS
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Women in the History of Science brings together primary sources that highlight women’s involvement in scientific knowledge production around the world. Drawing on texts, images and objects, each primary source is accompanied by an explanatory text, questions to prompt discussion, and a bibliography to aid further research. Arranged by time period, covering 1200 BCE to the twenty-first century, and across 12 inclusive and far-reaching themes, this book is an invaluable companion to students and lecturers alike in exploring women’s history in the fields of science, technology, mathematics,...
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#25 Are We Over-Hyping Mindfulness for University Students? | WeAreSTS
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Chances are you’ve had something to do with “mindfulness” recently. Maybe you’ve been sent to “mindfulness” training. Or, perhaps you’ve been listening to a mindfulness podcast. Or, perhaps you’re using a “mindfulness” app, such as HeadSpace. In this episode, Franziska Link investigates the growing use of mindfulness therapies at universities, such as UCL, in their provision for student support and welfare. What good are they? What do they involve? What are the pros – and the cons – of this approach. Franziska interviews four people with quite different relationships to...
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#24 Who Are Museums REALLY Speaking For (And What About The Rest of Us) | WeAreSTS
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Alex Hancock explores how research about museum collections is helping to connect British museums with more of the publics they claim to support. His emphasis is on decolonisation, engagement, and white European power. Ultimately, how do structural inequalities manifest in our museums, and how do we move to a new set of relationships? Alex undertook this project for the STSNewsRoom in summer 2021. His reporting focused on two specific events. First, Alex discusses with Tannis Davidson the “” exhibition at UCL Grant Museum of Zoology, which explores legacy of empire through objects in the...
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#23 Journalism from STS Science Communication Master’s Students 2022 | WeAreSTS
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We sampled undergraduate projects in a previous episode. Now, it time for the Master’s students. Today’s episode offers a sampler of student-made podcasts. These were created by Master’s students in our science journalism module, run by Dr Jean-Baptiste Gouyon. The assignment was straightforward: imagine you’re working for a news magazine. Create a three-minute feature about a recent piece of research at UCL. The piece must include a short interview segment, and it must make sense within the context of the show. They have a tight deadline, and they have to work pretty much with the...
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#22 Thinking About Internationality: Is Science the Same Everywhere? | WeAreSTS
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It’s one of those fundamental tenets taught to every student: science is international; it’s the same everywhere, it respects no borders; the work is the same no matter where or when you are. Assessing this idea is a core task in STS. Our philosophers, historians, and sociologists work overtime on case studies to explore internationality. Our policy and communication experts grapple with variations and work to understand where there is consensus and where there’s consensus. In this episode, Beatrice Han (BSc Sociology and Politics of Science student) investigates science and...
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#21 Responsible Media Coverage: Hype in Our Stories About Chatbots | WeAreSTS
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Is AI sentient? Do machines have souls? I’ve got an even better question: are these questions the most important ones we should be asking? Headlines claiming machines could be alive are definitely eye-catching. But hype does not come unaccompanied: misinformation, fear, and fake news are close friends with sensationalism. They target audiences who probably know enough about the topic, but not enough to critically analyse the information fed to them. Understanding the role the media plays in opinion-making about new science and technology is vital when we are dealing our own decision making...
info_outlineJames Lighthill, UCL Provost (1979-1989), was the author of a highly influential report to the UK government about artificial intelligence (AI). It questioned what AI was and what it could achieve. Its impact was profound. It was the cause, say some, of the first “AI winter” of the 1970s. Lighthill was one of the leading mathematicians of the 20th century. His work nevertheless was highly engaging, asking questions such as “how do fish swim?” and “how do birds fly?”. His answers led him to firm convictions about what makes good science policy, not least concerning how science might pay close attention to the world's problems.
The bonus episode excerpts from the audio of Professor Agar’s “lunchtime lecture” at UCL in March 2021, with his permission. About the lecture, Professor Agar explains, “I will explore the resonances between Lighthill’s approach and our recent return to grand challenges and a problem-oriented industrial strategy for science….I will present my discoveries made in the Lighthill papers held in UCL Special Collections and the National Archives at Kew that reveal the reasons for this intervention. Given the resurgent importance of AI, we can learn from the past fortunes of the subject.”
The original title of Professor Agar’s talk was, “Why Did a Former UCL Provost think Research in AI Should be Stopped?”
UCL Minds Lunch Hour Lectures
UCL's Lunch Hour Lecture series has been running at UCL since 1942 and showcases the exceptional research work being undertaken across UCL. Lectures are free and open to all. The full version of this lecture, with formal introduction and moderated questions and answers, is available on the UCLLHL YouTube channel.
Twitter: @UCLLHL
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/UCLLHL
About the Speaker
Professor Jon Agar is Professor and Co-Head of UCL Department at Science and Technology Studies (STS). He is a historian of modern science and technology, and he is the author of many books, including:
- Science Policy under Thatcher (2019)
- Constant Touch: a Global History of the Mobile Phone (Icon, second edition, 2013)
- Science in the Twentieth Century and Beyond (Polity, 2012)
- The Government Machine: A Revolutionary History of the Computer (MIT Press, 2003)
He is also co-editor of the volume:
- Histories of Technology, the Environment and Modern Britain (co-edited with Jacob Ward, 2018)
In 2016 Professor Agar was the recipient of the Royal Society’s Wilkins-Bernal-Medawar Medal and Lecture.
Featuring
Speaker: Professor Jon Agar, UCL Professor in Science and Technology Studies https://www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/agar (@jon_agar)
Host: Professor Joe Cain, UCL Professor in History and Philosophy of Biology https://www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/cain (@profjoecain)
Music credits
“Rollin At 5,” by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/5000-rollin-at-5
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Production information
Editing and post-production by Professor Joe Cain.
“WeAreSTS” producer is Professor Joe Cain.
Podcast information
“WeAreSTS” is a production of the Department of Science and Technology Studies (STS) at University College London (UCL). To find out more, and to leave feedback about the show, visit us online:
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/podcast
Students and staff in STS also can find on the website information about how to get involved with our programme.
Twitter: @stsucl #WeAreSTS