Shows
Creative Language TechnologiesEcological Psychology and Artificial IntelligenceThis is episode #31 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 27th of April, 2023. My invited guest this month is Tony Chemero, a Distinguished Research Professor of Philosophy and Psychology at the University of Cincinnati (UC), and a primary member of both the Center for Cognition, Action, and Perception and the Strange Tools Research Lab. In his research, both philosophical and empirical, he addresses questions related to nonlinear dynamical modeling, ecological psychology, complex systems, phenomenology, and social cognition. He is the author of more than 100 articles and the books Radical Embodied Cognitive Science (2009, MIT Press) and, with Ste...
2023-04-3053 minCreative Language TechnologiesObjective Measures, Subjective Experience, and MetacognitionThis is episode #30 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 23rd of March, 2023. A couple of month ago, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Stephen Fleming, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience and Royal Society at the Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, where he leads the Metacognition Group. He is also a Group Leader at the Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Principal Investigator at the Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging. The group’s research focuses on understanding the relationship between objective measures (behaviour and brain activity) and subjective experience and metacognition. Steve’s resea...
2023-03-241h 07Creative Language TechnologiesRepresenting Reality: Implications for Artificial IntelligenceThis is episode #29 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 16th of February, 2023. A couple of month ago, I had the pleasure to interview Dr. Bernardo Kastrup, a scientist with a Ph.D. in philosophy (ontology, philosophy of mind) and another Ph.D. in computer engineering (reconfigurable computing, artificial intelligence). Bernardo is particularly known for his work at the forefront of the modern renaissance of metaphysical idealism, the notion that reality is essentially mental. Covered in detail in many academic papers and books, his ideas have been featured on 'Scientific American,' the 'Institute of Art and...
2023-02-171h 30Creative Language TechnologiesOn Experience, Socio-Cultural Practices, and TechnologyThis is episode #28 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 26th of December, 2022. My invited speaker is Dr. Erik Myin, professor of philosophy at the University of Antwerp. He has published extensively on philosophy of mind and cognition, sometimes alone, sometimes with scientists or other philosophers. With Dan Hutto he wrote "Radicalizing Enactivism" and "Evolving Enactivism", both published with MIT Press. In these books, they defend the point that cognition is embodied interaction rather than being necessarily computational or representational. Currently, Erik has just finished writing a co-authored book in Dutch on embodiment and technology, and ha...
2023-01-0555 minCreative Language TechnologiesEmbodied Cognitive Science and Artificial IntelligenceThis is episode #27 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 17th of November, 2022. My invited speaker today is Dr. Mark James, a philosopher and theoretical cognitive scientist who adopts an embodied approach to questions about the development of habits in both individuals and collectives. Specifically, he is interested in how the designed world shapes such habits, and how we can leverage this understanding to address questions of well-being. More recently, Mark has begun researching how psychological flexibility, our ability to switch between habits, is scaffolded by our bodies and environments. Mark hosts the Connectomics podcast, wherein he...
2022-11-2456 minCreative Language TechnologiesCharity fundraising: Storytelling, Engagement, and Immersive TechnologiesThis is episode #26 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 29th of September, 2022. Today I sat down with Dr. Andrea Macrae, a researcher in the fields of cognitive narratology and stylistics at Oxford Brookes University, in Oxford, England. She works on literature and on non-literary discourse - most recently the discourse of charity fundraising. In her research she studies the relationships between text, readers' interpretations, and broader socio-cultural narratives and ways of thinking.Our discussion theme was the discourse of charity fundraising — a timely topic, as we live in a hyperconnected world where everybody fights for ou...
2022-10-1045 minCreative Language TechnologiesOn Intersubjectivity, Lived Experience, and AIThis is episode #25 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 22nd of September, 2022. My invited speaker today is Dr. Aleš Oblak, who identifies himself as a cognitive scientist more than any other field relating to the sciences of the mind. He likes to describe himself as someone who holds somewhat incompatible views about the nature of the human mind: on the one hand, he believes human beings are irreducibly complex and require a qualitative approach; on the other hand, he argues that our behavior can be productively understood by complex machine learning analyses. Currently his work revo...
2022-09-2358 minCreative Language TechnologiesDiagnostic Agents and Sensory Knowledge: Views from Ethnography and Immersive TechnologiesThis is episode #24 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 25th of August, 2022. My invited speaker today is Dr. Anna Harris, an anthropologist and Associate Professor in the Department of Society Studies at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. Previously, she worked as a doctor in Australia and the UK. For the past 10 years she has been doing ethnographic studies of medicine.Her approach to the social study of medicine is grounded in ethnographic studies of contemporary medical practices, to which she adds her clinical experience working in hospitals, as well as collaborations with historians, doc...
2022-08-2659 minCreative Language TechnologiesToward a Science of Experience: Excursions in Phenomenology and Immersive TechnologiesThis is episode #23 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 11th of August, 2022. Today, I talked with Dr. Camila Valenzuela-Moguillansky. She graduated with a PhD in cognitive sciences from the Université Pièrre et Marie Curie (Paris), a Master in cognitive sciences from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (Paris) and a degree in biology from the University of Chile. In parallel to her academic training, Camila has a background in bodywork: she has been a dancer and yoga practitioner for more than twenty years, and currently works with touch therapy that brings together elemen...
2022-08-1247 minCreative Language TechnologiesDigital Sensory-enabling Technologies: A Marketing PerspectiveThis is episode #22 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 28th of July, 2022. My guest today is Dr. Carlos Velasco, associate professor in the Department of Marketing, BI Norwegian Business School (Norway), and the co-founded of the Centre for Multisensory Marketing. Carlos received his D.Phil. in Experimental Psychology from Oxford University, after which he worked in a number of postdoctoral and consulting projects in Europe, Asia, and North and South America. His work is situated at the intersection of Psychology, Marketing, and Human–Computer Interaction, and focuses on understanding, and capitalizing on our multisensory experiences and t...
2022-07-2955 minCreative Language TechnologiesSubjective Experience, Consciousness, and Artificial IntelligenceThis is episode #21 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 7th of July, 2022. My guest today is Dr. Matthias Michel, a philosopher working at the Center for Mind, Brain, and Consciousness at the New York University. Although most of his research focuses on the scientific study of consciousness, he is also interested in non-human / animal consciousness. Matthias has also worked in the domain of 'philosophy of measurement' as it applies to the measurement of mental properties, especially in psychiatric research (for instance, in the measurement of fear and anxiety).We started the show by def...
2022-07-081h 07Creative Language TechnologiesWearable Fitness-Trackers and Data Sensing: Learning from Endurance AthletesThis is episode #20 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 23rd of June, 2022. Today I sat down, virtually, of course, with Dr. Michael Mopas, Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario. He is cross-appointed to the Institute of Criminology and Criminal Justice and the Department of Law and Legal Studies, and serves as a member of the Duncombe Studio for Social and Cultural Research. Most of Michael’s work is in the area of science, technology, and law with a focus on 'sound'. In his spare time, he plays...
2022-06-2350 minCreative Language TechnologiesThe Felt Experience of Reading: From Realist Fiction to Immersive Technologies (Part II)This is episode #19 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 9th of June, 2022. I interviewed Dr. Elaine Auyoung, Donald V. Hawkins Professor and Associate Professor of English at the University of Minnesota, and Affiliate Faculty of the Center for Cognitive Sciences. She is the author of “When Fiction Feels Real: Representation and the Reading Mind”, recently released in paperback from Oxford University Press. In addition to the project on “Unselfing” described on her faculty webpage, Elaine is also working on a book project on “Becoming Sensitive”, which uses cognitive research on expertise and perceptual learning to show how traini...
2022-06-1033 minCreative Language TechnologiesThe Felt Experience of Reading: From Realist Fiction to Immersive Technologies (Part I)This is episode #18 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 26th of May, 2022. Today, I interviewed Dr. Elaine Auyoung, Donald V. Hawkins Professor and Associate Professor of English at the University of Minnesota, and Affiliate Faculty of the Center for Cognitive Sciences. She is the author of “When Fiction Feels Real: Representation and the Reading Mind”, recently released in paperback from Oxford University Press. In addition to the project on “Unselfing” described on her faculty webpage, Elaine is also working on a book project on “Becoming Sensitive,” which uses cognitive research on expertise and perceptual learning to show how train...
2022-05-2736 minCreative Language TechnologiesStorytelling and Relational Identity: Lived Experiences in Medical Education (Part II)This is episode #17th of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 12th of May, 2022. I sat down with Dr. Sally Warmington, a retired medical doctor and narrative researcher from Melbourne, Australia with a deep interest in the encounter between health professionals and those seeking care. Her experiences as a doctor, student, teacher and patient inform her research at the intersection of anthropology, cultural theory and linguistics. Her book "Storytelling encounters as medical education: crafting relational identity" demonstrates the key role of storytelling in medical education and practice and its potential to promote collaborative, better quality care.
2022-05-1335 minCreative Language TechnologiesStorytelling and Relational Identity: Lived Experiences in Medical Education (Part I)This is episode #16 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 28th of April, 2022. Today, I sat down with Dr. Sally Warmington, a retired medical doctor and narrative researcher from Melbourne, Australia with a deep interest in the encounter between health professionals and those seeking care. Her experiences as a doctor, student, teacher and patient inform her research at the intersection of anthropology, cultural theory and linguistics. Her book "Storytelling encounters as medical education: crafting relational identity" demonstrates the key role of storytelling in medical education and practice and its potential to promote collaborative, better quality care.
2022-04-2941 minCreative Language TechnologiesNostalgia and Nostalgic Experience: Connecting the Past, the Present, and the FutureThis is episode #15 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 14th of April, 2022. My invited speaker today is Dr. Clay Routledge, an existential psychologist and the Arden and Donna Hetland Distinguished Professor of Business at North Dakota State University, the director of the Psychology of Progress Project, a faculty scholar at the Sheila and Robert Challey Institute for Global Innovation and Growth, a senior research fellow at Archbridge Institute, and an editor for Profectus, a periodic web-based magazine focused on civilizational progress and human flourishing.Our topic of discussion is nostalgia and nostalgic experience. Nostalgia is...
2022-04-1548 minCreative Language TechnologiesEnhancing Multisensory Experiences: Perspectives from the Food & Beverage, and Flavor & Fragrance IndustriesThis is episode #14 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 24th of March, 2022. My guest today is professor Charles Spence, a world-famous experimental psychologist with a specialization in neuroscience-inspired multisensory design. He has worked with many of the world’s largest companies across the globe since establishing the Crossmodal Research Laboratory (CRL) at the Department of Experimental Psychology, Oxford University in 1997. Prof. Spence has published over 1,000 academic articles and edited or authored, 15 books (a sample is provided in the Notes). His work focuses on the design of enhanced multisensory food and drink experiences, through collaborations with chefs...
2022-03-2554 minCreative Language TechnologiesIndigenous Perspectives in Planetary Health and the Preservation of Traditional MedicinesThis is episode #13 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 10th of March, 2022.My invited speaker today is Dr. Nicole Redvers, a member of the Deninu K’ue (“Deneh-noo-kweh”) First Nation in Denendeh. She has worked with Indigenous patients, scholars, and communities around the globe her entire career. Dr. Redvers is an assistant professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine and the Department of Indigenous Health at the University of North Dakota where she helped develop and launch the first Indigenous health PhD program. Dr. Redvers is co-founder and current board chair of Canadian charity...
2022-03-1148 minCreative Language TechnologiesOn Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts: What Can AI Do for Us?This is episode #12 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 24th of February, 2022.My guest today is Dr. Jay Friedenberg, Professor of Psychology at Manhattan College where he founded and directs the Cognitive Science Program, and where he had served as Department Chairperson for over a decade. Dr. Friedenberg is a vision researcher and has published articles on symmetry detection, center of mass estimation and empirical aesthetics. In addition, he has written a number of science books. These include undergraduate texts in cognitive science, artificial intelligence and non-linear dynamics. He is also an artist focusing on pas...
2022-02-2556 minCreative Language TechnologiesThinking Styles, Kinds of Knowledge, and the Senses: Learning from Scientists and Fiction-writersThis is episode #11 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 10th of February, 2022. It was my pleasure to talk today with Dr. Laura Otis who comes from a background in biochemistry, neuroscience, and laboratory research, but she is now an English Professor at Emory University. She is the author of multiple academic (but readable) books on the relationship between literature and science, and she has also published six novels. In her blog on creativity for Psychology Today, she writes about how the thinking of creative writers and scientists is connected. Laura tries always to write and talk so as...
2022-02-1156 minCreative Language TechnologiesWhat Can Darwin (Still) Teach Us about EmotionsThis is episode #10 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 27th of January, 2022. My invited speaker today is Dr. Daniel M. Gross, Professor of English and Affiliated Faculty in the Critical Theory Emphasis at UC Irvine, where he is also Campus Writing & Communication Coordinator. Daniel has been working on emotions-in-the-world for over two decades. His approach starts with his home discipline of Rhetoric – once understood as the art of moving souls by way of the passions – which he then mines for the sake of some pressing questions: How do we understand collective political emotions like gay pride, or the ang...
2022-01-2858 minCreative Language TechnologiesThe Felt Sense of the Other: Phenomenology and Immersive TechnologiesThis is episode #9 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 13th of January, 2022. Happy New Year, everyone! In today’s show, I am talking to Dr. Allan Køster, a philosopher focussing on applied Phenomenology in investigations of human suffering. He has worked broadly in the field of phenomenological psychopathology, but most recently has done research on the existentiality of grief/bereavement and on COVID-19 patients’ experiences of isolation during admission to intensive care units.The fascinating topic of discussion today is the felt experience of others, in their absence. Many of us have experienced this. We close...
2022-01-1453 minCreative Language TechnologiesOn the History of Emotions and Artificial Intelligence: Reshaping Practices of Emotion ResearchThis is episode #8 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 23rd of December 2021. In today’s show, I am talking to Dr. Rob Boddice, Senior Research Fellow at the Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence in the History of Experiences, Tampere University, Finland, and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Social Studies of Medicine, McGill University, Canada. He is the author or editor of 11 books, most recently ‘Humane Professions’ (2021), ‘Emotion, Sense, Experience’, with Mark Smith (2020), ‘A History of Feelings’ (2019), and ‘The History of Emotions’ (2018). ‘Feeling Dis-Ease in Modern History’, co-edited with Bettina Hitzer, will be published by Bloosmbury in the Spring of 2022. H...
2021-12-2446 minCreative Language TechnologiesThe Sense of Smell in Language and Society, and the Hope for a Multi-sensorial Future of TechnologyThis is episode #7 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 9th of December 2021. In today’s show, I am talking to Mr. Sayantan Ghosh, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the Hiralal Mazumdar Memorial College for Women, affiliated with West Bengal State University. He is currently involved in research in the Department of Sociology at Jadavpur University in Kolkata. Mr. Ghosh explores the Sociology of Smell, the study of smell and society, literature and society, Indian social thinkers, philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore, study of religion and society. He is a passionate researcher of the sense of smell, hoping for a be...
2021-12-0958 minCreative Language TechnologiesEmbodied Learning: A Paradigm for Education, and Hopefully, for Immersive Education TechnologiesThis is episode #6 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 25th of November 2021. In today’s show, I am talking to Dr. Mitchell J. Nathan, Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Learning Sciences in the Educational Psychology Department, Director of the MAGIC Lab, and a Fellow of the Teaching Academy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He studies how people think, teach, and learn, with special focus on the role that language and embodied processes play in understanding mathematics and engineering disciplines. His research explores the development of algebraic reasoning, expert blind spot in teaching, how cohesion processes support integrated STEM...
2021-11-2550 minCreative Language TechnologiesWhat Can Sensory History Teach Us about the Senses and Immersive ExperienceThis is episode #5 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 11th of November 2021. In today’s show, I am talking to Dr. Mark M. Smith, Carolina Distinguished Professor of History and Director of the Institute for Southern Studies at the University of South Carolina. Mark is the author of numerous books on history and the history of the senses - and in this show we are focusing on two of his most recent books: ‘Emotion, Sense, Experience’ (co-authored with Rob Boddice) and ‘A Sensory History Manifesto’. Starting with basic definitions of human experience, lived experience, and the history of the sense...
2021-11-1156 minCreative Language TechnologiesExploring Storytelling in the Future Modern Metaverse, as an Embodied Multi-modal and Multi-sensory Virtual SpaceThis is episode #4 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 28th of October 2021. In today’s show I am talking to Professor Rabindra (Robby) Ratan about the Metaverse and the Web 3.0. In addition to basic definitions and the etymology of the concepts, we explore various important aspects such as how is this virtual space governed, how are its contents moderated, and what kind of experience does and can the Metaverse give its users.As more and more companies are making their presence known in this so-called ‘embodied space’ (just to cite Mark Zuckerburg), we discuss the future o...
2021-10-2949 minCreative Language TechnologiesConnecting People: Creating a Culture of High-Risk Exploratory Collaborative PartnershipsHello creatives! This is episode #3 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 14th of October 2021. In today’s show I am talking to Professor Tim Cole about radical inter-disciplinarity: bringing in academics and researchers from across the Arts and Humanities - STEM divide as well as people with different expertise from beyond the university. Tim shares with us his stories of success with high-risk, experimental collaborative projects and with ‘creating a radically different culture within the academy’ as he likes to say. Professor Cole is a historian whose interests range widely over historical geographies, social and environme...
2021-10-1431 min
SPARTIE-Cast with Dr. Robby RatanDr. Robby gets Interviewed About the Metaverse by Prof. Roxana GirjuCROSSOVER EPISODE! When approached by Roxana Girju, professor of linguistics (and more, see below), requesting an interview for her podcast about the Metaverse, Robby thought, “Let’s kill two virtual birds with one grey oblong NFT!” In other words, the interview is being cross-posted and Robby finally gets to blah blah blah on his own podcast! Seriously though, this was a great opportunity to synthesize some of the amazing lessons learned from the previous SPARTIE-Cast guests combined with some personal explorations into the Metaverse Robby has done recently with friend and colleague Dar Meshi (@darmeshi). During...
2021-10-0759 minCreative Language TechnologiesThe Growing Connection between Technology and the ArtsHello creatives! This is episode #2 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 23rd of September 2021.I am Roxana Girju, your podcast host. In today’s show I am talking to Jax Deluca about bridging the digital divide between Arts and Technology. Jax is the Media Arts Director of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). She brings in twelve years of experience at the intersection of arts and community-building as an artist, non-profit administrator, and educator. In her position, she is in charge with the NEA’s grant portfolio and field-building resources for the arts organizations across the co...
2021-09-2434 minCreative Language TechnologiesExploring the Integration of the Humanities and Arts with Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in Higher EducationHello creatives! This is episode #1 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 9th of September, 2021. I am Roxana Girju, your podcast host. In today’s show, I’m talking to Dr. Ashley Bear about a National Academy of Sciences study on the importance of "The Integration of the Humanities and Arts with Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in Higher Education". Dr. Bear served as the study director of this initiative, working with an expert committee of artists, humanists, scientists, engineers, and doctors over a period of two years. She currently serves as the Acting Director of the National Academ...
2021-09-1028 minCreative Language TechnologiesPodcast TrailerIntroducing Creative Language Technologies The podcast explores the multifaceted aspects of this emerging field, at the intersection of Science, Technology, Engineering, Math and Medicine (STEMM) with the broader sector of Humanities, Social Sciences, Arts and Culture (HSSAC). We aim to revitalize technological imagination and promote creative and diverse themes with social impact. The first episode is coming the second Thursday of September and will help you understand what's going on in this space.
2021-08-2900 min