Spark

It's possible that the propensity to convince ourselves we have control over things —even when we don't— is the most uniquely human thing there is. But as we speed ever faster toward an AI world, will true agency even matter as long as we believe we have it?

What does play mean in a digital age, when so much happens on our all-consuming phones, and tech erases the boundaries between work and play?

We keep hearing that AI is going to revolutionize jobs. But what if the language of inevitable automation hides the ongoing need for distinctly human skills?

In a world where our digital tools keep an accurate record of handy facts and events, what is our fragile, fallible human memory good for?

How long do you wait to text after a date? What did that emoji really mean? Is it healthy to feel emotionally attached to an AI chatbot or celebrity you follow on social media? Our tech nourishes intimacy, but it can also be a minefield. A look at intimacy in our digital age.

Despite the growing digital dimension of our lives, death is still a largely analog experience. A look at the uses and limits of tech at the end of life and in the afterlife.

Artificial intelligence can be an artistic collaborator, but can it be thought of as creative on its own? Or even as understanding creativity? And if you're a human creator, and you want to create for other PEOPLE, how do you reach them in a digital system run by algorithms? We look at the nature of creativity in digital culture.

For this final new episode of the show, we looked to the creator for direction (the creator of Spark - Nora Young!) She wanted it not to be a look back at what we've done, but forward-facing and positive. Sad as we are to end this show at a time when you could argue it's needed most, we bring you an episode with three reasons to be hopeful about the future. Thank you for listening and being part of the greater Spark community.                         

It's possible that the propensity to convince ourselves we have control over things —even when we don't— is the most uniquely human thing there is. But as we speed ever faster toward an AI world, will true agency even matter as long as we believe we have it?

The Olympics are just around the corner, and this summer in Paris, officials are planning a suite of security tools bolstered by AI — from spotting abandoned packages to predicting the movement of crowds. But as AI security rolls out for major public events, and at our borders, how do we balance safety, security, and privacy and guard against this becoming the new normal? 

From paying for the privilege of "luxury surveillance" to workplace monitoring for long-haul truckers, this week, we're tracking the growth of surveillance solutionism – the idea that we can solve personal, social and economic problems with mass monitoring. With guests Karen Levy, Chris Gilliard and Albert Fox Cahn.

In this instalment of The Butterfly Effect, we hear the long tale of the mixtape: How the Sony Walkman paved the way for the iPod and streaming a million songs, TV shows and movies from our smartphones. Featuring Michael Bull, professor of sound studies at University of Sussex; Todd Green, associate professor of marketing at Brock University; and Josh Viner, founder of The Creative Lab, Toronto.

Big Tech aims to solve large social issues, from housing to urban transportation. We discuss tech solutionism with Paris Marx, host of Tech Won't Save Us podcast, author of Road to Nowhere: What Silicon Valley Gets Wrong About the Future of Transportation. And, with massive layoffs happening all over Silicon Valley, and the sale of Twitter throwing social media into chaos, is it time to rekindle the cooperatives movement in tech? Nathan Schneider, professor of media studies at University of Colorado, Boulder and director of the Media Enterprise Design Lab, talks about tech co-ops. Then, Greg Lindsay, urban tech fellow at Cornell Tech University and a senior fellow at MIT’s Future Urban Collective, talks about peer-to-peer solutions focused on mutualism and solidarity in times of crisis.

A look at the evolutionary psychology of friendship with science journalist and author of Friendship: The Evolution, Biology, and Extraordinary Power of Life's Fundamental Bond Lydia Denworth. Then, Tiffany Petricini, assistant teaching professor at Penn State Shenango and author of Friendship and Technology: A Philosophical Approach to Computer Mediated Communication, talks about how digital tech has shaped our friendships and our fundamental sense of togetherness. (This is a repeat of an episode that first aired in Feb. 2022, and has been updated to reflect that.)

We've seen remarkable gains in artificial intelligence – but only in specific, narrow domains, like fraud prevention or navigation. One reason for that is the way AI innovations get adopted. Another is our poor ability to distinguish between real progress and so-called AI snake oil. This week, we demystify AI with guests Ajay Agrawal, professor in University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management, founder of the Creative Destruction Lab, and co-author of a new book, Power and Prediction: The Disruptive Economics of Artificial Intelligence; and Arvind Narayanan, professor of computer science at Princeton University and co-author of the newsletter and forthcoming book called AI Snake Oil.

When it comes to adapting to climate change, we tend not to think about the energy demands of our digital technologies. But data centres – the physical structures that store and process our digital information – are very resource-intensive and vulnerable to extreme weather events. Host Nora Young discusses data centre design with Lauren Bridges, critical data studies researcher and Ph.D. candidate at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania; Chheng Lim, an associate at Chicago-based Sheehan Nagle Hartray Architects, who specializes in data-centre design; and Simon Harris, head of critical infrastructure at Business Critical Solutions, a data centre consultancy firm in the U.K.

It's impossible to imagine life these days without the humble battery. So as part of our ongoing Butterfly Effect series, this week we talk about the past, present and future of the battery, and how the need for stored energy became one of the biggest demands of our time. Featuring Linda Nazar, University of Waterloo professor of chemistry and Canada Research Chair in Solid State Energy Materials; Jeff Dahn, co-inventor of the lithium-ion battery and principal investigator at NSERC/Tesla Canada/Dalhousie Alliance Grant, Dalhousie University; and James Morton Turner, professor of environmental studies at Wellesley College, Mass., and author of Charged: A History of Batteries and Lessons for a Clean Energy Future.

We explore the tech that helps us understand the language of plants and animals, and how it may hold the key to protecting biodiversity. With guests Karen Bakker, professor of geography at the University of British Columbia, and author of The Sounds of Life: How Digital Technology is Bringing Us Closer to the Worlds of Animals and Plants; and Tom Mustill, wildlife videographer and author of How to Speak Whale: A Voyage into the Future of Animal Communication. Plus, a documentary about DNA barcoding from Spark contributor David Kattenburg, featuring Guelph, Ont. genomics researcher Dirk Steinke, UBC professor of obstetrics and gynaecology Deborah Money, and Dutch DNA barcoder Kevin Beentjes.

A new crop of innovators are using digital platforms to address housing equity, from improving mortgage terms to providing homelessness resources. But do technical answers work for social questions? Michelle Boyd and Alina Turner discuss if and how technology can address the housing crisis. This is a repeat of an episode that first aired in December 2021, and has been updated to reflect that.

The web of the '90s and early '00s has inspired many nostalgic projects, but it's not just the aesthetics that people miss. This week, we take a look at the efforts to build a new, open, decentralized web. Canadian programmer Mike Killingbeck talks about building RE-AOL, a re-creation of the beloved early-web platform. Writer, COMPOSTmag editor and senior organizer with DWeb projects at the Internet Archive Mai Ishikawa Sutton, and Alicia Urquidi Díaz, metadata & data services librarian at University of Toronto's Scholars Portal and volunteer archivist at DWeb camp, discuss the ideas of the decentralized web.