Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences
Conversations about projects and research undertaken by scholars & affiliates of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford Un...
Two-time CASBS fellow and renowned anthropologist Tanya Luhrmann discusses her past and current work as an anthropologist of the mind, both in religious and psychological contexts, in conversation with 2023-24 CASBS fellow Erica Robles-Anderson. Luhrmann's award-winning work investigates visions, voices, psychosis, the supernatural, and other unusual sensory experiences and phenomena, found often at the borderlands of spirit, culture, and the mind.TANYA LUHRMANN: Stanford faculty page | Stanford profile page | Personal website | Wikipedia page | on Google Scholar | CV |Luhrmann, Of Two Minds. Winner of: the Victor Turner Prize in Ethnographic Writing, the Bryce Boyer Prize for Psychological Anthropology, the Gradiva Award from the Association for the Advancement of PsychoanalysisLuhrmann, When God Talks Back. Winner of the Grawemeyer Prize in Religion and the Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year.Luhrmann, "A life in books," Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (2020)Luhrmann, et al. "Sensing the presence of gods and spirits across cultures and faiths," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2021)ERICA ROBLES-ANDERSON: NYU faculty page | CASBS page | on Google Scholar |
Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford UniversityExplore CASBS: website|Bluesky|X|YouTube|LinkedIn|podcast|latest newsletter|signup|outreachHuman CenteredProducer: Mike Gaetani | Engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel |
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57:45
Demystifying the Disinformation Marketplace
There never will be enough independent fact checking of online political advertising and their ecosystems. Can we develop methods and tools to demonetize or at least disincentivize the behaviors of disinformation producers as well as the ad firms and content providers in business with them? 2023-24 CASBS fellow Ceren Budak navigates the disinformation marketplace and illuminates pathways for better design of online communities and platforms in conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning tech journalist and former CASBS fellow John Markoff. CEREN BUDAK: Faculty webpage | Personal website | Referenced in this episode:"Misunderstanding the harms of online misinformation." Nature 630, 45–53 (2024)The Prosocial Ranking Challenge (Center for Human-Compatible Artificial Intelligence)"Intermedia agenda setting during the 2016 and 2020 U.S. presidential elections." Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media, 18(1), 254-275. Lawrence Lessig's Pathetic Dot Theory (Wikipedia)----Read John Markoff's latest book, Whole Earth: The Many Lives of Stewart Brand (Penguin Random House, 2022)
Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford UniversityExplore CASBS: website|Bluesky|X|YouTube|LinkedIn|podcast|latest newsletter|signup|outreachHuman CenteredProducer: Mike Gaetani | Engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel |
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46:43
The Humanity of Connective Labor
Are jobs requiring high levels of human interaction worth preserving in the age of automation? Can we design machines to achieve something profound – the mutual recognition that occurs when human beings truly "see" each other? CASBS faculty fellow Mitchell Stevens explores these questions with Allison Pugh, author of the 2024 book The Last Human Job: The Work of Connecting in a Disconnected World. Pugh launched work on the book as a 2016-17 CASBS fellow.ALLISON PUGH website | Google Scholar page | Interview with Allison Pugh on building a society of connection (CASBS in partnership with Public Books) |Princeton University Press page for The Last Human Job MITCHELL STEVENSStanford GSE faculty page | Stanford profile | CASBS page | Google Scholar page |
Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford UniversityExplore CASBS: website|Bluesky|X|YouTube|LinkedIn|podcast|latest newsletter|signup|outreachHuman CenteredProducer: Mike Gaetani | Engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel |
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51:23
Organized Civic Benevolence and Nationhood
Santi Furnari (CASBS fellow, 2023-24) engages renowned political sociologist & 2015-16 fellow Elisabeth Clemens on the role of private civic volunteer organizations in co-constructing national identity and state capacity as well as serving as tools of governance, solidarity, and inclusion for much of American history. In what form does civic benevolence and philanthropy operate in the contemporary landscape? This absorbing conversation draws inspiration from the multi-award-winning book "Civic Gifts," much of which Clemens wrote during her CASBS year.ELISABETH CLEMENS: Univ. of Chicago faculty page | Clemens wins 2023 Gordon J. Laing Award | on Wikipedia |The book is Civic Gifts: Voluntarism and the Making of the American Nation-State (Univ. of Chicago Press), winner of the Barrington Moore Book Award, Comparative and Historical Sociology section, American Sociological Association; the University of Chicago Press Gordon J. Laing Award; the Outstanding Published Book Award, ASA Section on Altruism, Morality, and Social Solidarity; and the Peter Dobkin Hall History of Philanthropy Prize, Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA).SANTI FURNARI: CASBS page | City University of London, Bayes School of Business faculty page | on Google Scholar |
Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford UniversityExplore CASBS: website|Bluesky|X|YouTube|LinkedIn|podcast|latest newsletter|signup|outreachHuman CenteredProducer: Mike Gaetani | Engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel |
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51:37
Exposing Sources and Impacts of Election Disinformation Campaigns
Legendary tech journalist John Markoff (CASBS fellow, 2017-18) chats with 2023-24 CASBS fellow Young Mie Kim on her groundbreaking efforts to identify how shadowy groups use algorithms and targeted disinformation campaigns during presidential election cycles; measure their real-world distorting effects on voter mobilization or suppression; and illuminate our understanding of resulting political inequalities and their implications for American democracy.YOUNG MIE KIM: CASBS bio | Univ. of Wisconsin faculty page | "The Disinformation Detective" (On Wisconsin magazine) |Kim leads Project DATA (Digital Ad Tracking & Analysis) at UW. | Project DATA on X |Kim is lead author of the article "The Stealth Media? Groups and Targets Behind Divisive Issue Campaigns on Facebook," Political Communication, v35 n4 (2018). The article won the Kaid-Sanders Award for the Best Political Communication Article of the Year by the International Communication Association.Coverage of findings: The New York Times here and here | Wired | Kim's testimony delivered to the Federal Election Commission | Kim is a founding member of the International Panel on the Information Environment. Coverage of IPIE in The New York Times |Kim among the authors of "The effects of Facebook and Instagram on the 2020 election: A deactivation experiment," Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, v121 n2 (2024) |Kim a coauthor of several articles appearing in a special issue of Science on Social Media and Elections (2023) |At the beginning of the episode, Kim discusses the influence of Phil Converse. Converse was a CASBS fellow in 1979-80 and later served as CASBS director (1989-94). Learn more about Converse's work.---------Read John Markoff's latest book, Whole Earth: The Many Lives of Stewart Brand (Penguin Random House, 2022)
Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford UniversityExplore CASBS: website|Bluesky|X|YouTube|LinkedIn|podcast|latest newsletter|signup|outreachHuman CenteredProducer: Mike Gaetani | Engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel |
Conversations about projects and research undertaken by scholars & affiliates of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University; interviews with renowned fellows from CASBS history; and audio versions of occasional CASBS live events.
CASBS is a scholarly community like no other for collaborative, cross-disciplinary, generative research. It brings together deep thinkers to address wicked problems and significant societal challenges. It empowers them to challenge boundaries and assumptions in order to advance our understanding of the full range of human beliefs, behaviors, interactions, and institutions. As a leading incubator of human-centered knowledge, CASBS is a place that is, well…human centered.
Producer: Mike Gaetani | Engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel
Learn more about CASBS> website: casbs.stanford.edu | X: @CASBSStanford | LinkedIn: CASBS at Stanford |