Cited

Another chapter in the continuing battle between wonks and Christian conservatives, this time in Canada. In 2010, a small but influential group of Catholics forced Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty into scrapping his government's proposal for updating the sexual education curriculum. In 2015, Premier Kathleen Wynne decided to try again. Our program was produced out of the world class Michael Smith Laboratories at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, with funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. This piece was also supported by CJSF 90.1FM in Burnaby, BC. It was written, edited, produced and hosted by Sam Fenn, Gordon Katic, Alexander Kim, and Josh Gabert-Doyon. If you like the show, follow us on iTunes (http://apple.co/2hW3B4c), Twitter (https://twitter.com/citedpodcast), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/citedpodcast/), and email feedback to cited.podcast@ubc.ca.

Another chapter in the continuing battle between wonks and Christian conservatives, this time in Canada. In 2010, a small but influential group of Catholics forced Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty into scrapping his government’s proposal for updating the sexual education curriculum. In 2015, Premier Kathleen Wynne decided to try again.

This week, Sam and Alex talk Trump, Harper and science muzzling. Sam asks theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss about the difference between a good and a bad public intellectual. Alex talks to science journalist Carl Zimmer about tough choices in science storytelling.

This week, Sam and Alex talk Trump, Harper and science muzzling. Sam asks theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss about the difference between a good and a bad public intellectual. Alex talks to science journalist Carl Zimmer about tough choices in science storytelling.

What are numbers? Did we make them, or were we given them? How do they affect us? Are there people who do not have numbers? Gordon interviews Anthropologist Caleb Everett, author of a forthcoming book that gives a sweeping study of numbers and how they radically shape the way we understand our world. Follow us on iTunes (http://apple.co/2hW3B4c), Twitter (https://twitter.com/citedpodcast), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/citedpodcast/), and email feedback to cited.podcast@ubc.ca.

What are numbers? Did we make them, or were we given them? How do they affect us? Are there people who do not have numbers? Gordon interviews Anthropologist Caleb Everett, author of a forthcoming book that gives a sweeping study of numbers and how they radically shape the way we understand our world.  Cited is a podcast and radio show produced out of the world class Michael Smith Laboratories at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. It is written, edited, produced and hosted by Sam Fenn, Gordon Katic, Alexander Kim and Josh Gabert-Doyon. If you like the show, please subscribe, rate and review the show on iTunes; follow us on Twitter; like us on Facebook; and send us an email to let us know what you think at cited.podcast@ubc.ca.

The Democrats used to count on white workers. Now they have to fight to win them back. Sam interviews Arlie Russel Hochschild about conservatives on the Louisiana Bayou and Alex talks to Katherine Cramer about the rural-urban divide in Wisconsin. Follow us on iTunes (http://apple.co/2hW3B4c), Twitter (https://twitter.com/citedpodcast), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/citedpodcast/), and email feedback to cited.podcast@ubc.ca

The Democrats used to count on the white working class. Now they have to fight to win them back. Sam interviews Arlie Russel Hochschild about conservatives on the Louisiana Bayou and Alex talks to Katherine J. Cramer about the rural-urban divide in Wisconsin.

It’s the first episode of 2017. Happy new year! Alex interviews Duke University law professor Jedediah Purdy about the political history of nature and its uncertain future. Anywhere you look on the planet, you will find evidence of human behaviour: metalloids in the soil, greenhouse gases in the air, a vortex of trash in the oceans. That is why some scientists have proposed that we are now living in a new geologic epoch. It’s called the Anthropocene: the age of humans. Now that we are a literal force of nature, what world will we make? Jedediah Purdy wrestles with that question in his book, After Nature: A Politics for the Anthropocene (Harvard University Press). Jedediah Purdy in Grayson Highlands State Park, Virginia.

Alex interviews Duke University law professor Jedediah Purdy about the political history of nature and its uncertain future. It's the first episode of 2017. Happy new year! Anywhere you look on the planet, you will find evidence of human behaviour: metalloids in the soil, greenhouse gases in the air, a vortex of trash in the oceans. That is why some scientists have proposed that we are now living in a new geologic epoch. It's called the Anthropocene: the age of humans. Now that we are a literal force of nature, what world will we make? Jedediah Purdy wrestles with that question in his book, After Nature: A Politics for the Anthropocene (Harvard University Press). Cited is a podcast and radio show produced out the world class Michael Smith Laboratories at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. It is written, edited, produced and hosted by Sam Fenn, Gordon Katic and Alexander Kim. If you like the show, please subscribe, rate and review the show on iTunes; follow us on Twitter; like us on Facebook; and send us an email to let us know what you think at cited.podcast@ubc.ca. Cited is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. We thank them for their support.

Thanks to online marketplaces, consumers are no longer limited to a few brick-and-morter stores to buy their holiday gifts. Now, they can order practically any item from any corner of the Earth. Surely this increased competition means better prices? Ariel Ezrachi and Maurice E. Stucke warn that this might not be so. In their provocative new book, Virtual Competition: The Promise and Perils of the Algorithm-Driven Economy, they argue that big data, game theory, and behavioural psychology has created new opportunities to fix prices and rip you off (without you knowing it). They foresee a future where algorithms dramatically inflate prices, even without being intentionally programmed to do so. Stucke and Ezrachi, two legal scholars, say that under existing legislation, algorithmically-driven price fixing would not even be illegal.

Thanks to online marketplaces, consumers are no longer limited to a few brick-and-morter stores to buy their holiday gifts. Now, they can order practically any item from any corner of the Earth. Surely this increased competition means better prices? Ariel Ezrachi and Maurice E. Stucke warn that this might not be so. In their provocative new book, Virtual Competition: The Promise and Perils of the Algorithm-Driven Economy, they argue that big data, game theory, and behavioural psychology has created new opportunities to fix prices and rip you off (without you knowing it). They foresee a future where algorithms dramatically inflate prices, even without being intentionally programmed to do so. Stucke and Ezrachi, two legal scholars, say that under existing legislation, algorithmically-driven price fixing would not even be illegal. “There is just a nice facade. A nice eco-system that was created just for you. We refer to this as The Truman Show. If you remember the Truman Show, Truman lived relatively happy life in a universe that looked completely natural. Yet, it was the creation of a production company. And the only one who benefited were the producer and the company. And in many ways, in the modern era, when you go online, what you see is very much what Truman saw when he was walking in his neighbourhood.”  

Sam interviews Coll Thrush, Professor of History at the University of British Columbia, about his new book, Indigenous London: Native Travelers at the Heart of Empire. In Indigenous London, Professor Thrush retells the history of London with a focus on the indigenous men and women who visited the city over the course of 500 years. Many were brought to London as captives. Many were displayed as oddities. But once there, these visitors played an outsized role in shaping the heart of empire. Then their stories were forgotten. Indigenous London was published in October by Yale University Press. At the top of the show, Sam Fenn and Alex Kim chat about Cited's hot steak. And they deeply imply that you should subscribe if you haven't already... because... reasons. Sorry. Can't say yet. Cited is a documentary radio show/talk show produced out the world class Michael Smith Laboratories at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. It is written, edited, produced and hosted by Sam Fenn, Gordon Katic and Alexander B. Kim. If you like the show, please help us get discovered by others! Subscribe and rate and review the show on iTunes; follow us on Twitter; like us on Facebook; and send us an email to let us know what you think at cited.podcast@ubc.ca. Cited is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. We thank them for their support.

Sam interviews Coll Thrush, Professor of History at the University of British Columbia, about his new book, Indigenous London: Native Travelers at the Heart of Empire. In Indigenous London, Professor Coll Thrush retells the history of London with a focus on the indigenous men and women who visited the city over the course of 500 years. Many were brought to London as captives. Many were displayed as oddities. But once there, these visitors played an outsized role in shaping the heart of empire. Then their stories were forgotten. Indigenous London was published in October by Yale University Press. At the top of the show, Sam Fenn and Alexander Kim chat about Cited’s hot streak. And they deeply imply that you should subscribe if you haven’t already… because… reasons. Sorry. Can’t say yet. Listen to Sam Fenn and Gordon Katic get interviewed by the Doc Project’s Acey Rowe about what we’re trying to do on this show and how it all got started.  

Kaye Koichi Kaminishi is the last surviving member of the Vancouver Asahi, a Japanese Canadian baseball club. The team was disbanded in 1942, when the Canadian government interned 21,000 Japanese Canadians during the Second World War, including every member of the Asahi. A Proud Benchwarmer is Kaye’s story.