Natural language processing, artificial intelligence, and algorithms with Xiaochang Li

Natural language processing, artificial intelligence, and algorithms with Xiaochang Li

On the origins of natural language processing and how corporations like IBM leaned into predictive algorithms. References and suggested readings: * Xiaochang Li. 2026. Divination Engines: Natural Language Processing, Artificial Intelligence, and the Making of Algorithmic Culture [https://bookshop.org/a/116260/9780226837017]. University of Chicago Press. * Anil Seth. July 15, 2026. “Once again we are told AI may be conscious – I study consciousness, and I have my doubts [https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jul/15/ai-consciousness-anthropic-claude-dawkins].” The Guardian. * Paul Kockelman. 2024. Last Words: Large Language Model and the AI Apocalypse [https://bookshop.org/a/116260/9781734643558]. Prickly Paradigm Press. * Lief Weatherby. 2025. Language Machines: Cultural AI and the End of Remainder Humanism [https://bookshop.org/a/116260/9781517919320]. University of Minnesota Press. * Carlo Ginzburg. 2026. The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth Century Miller, 50th anniversary edition [https://bookshop.org/a/116260/9781421454634]. Johns Hopkins University Press. * Kate Crawford. 2022. Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence [https://bookshop.org/a/116260/9780300264630]. Yale University Press. * Chris Wiggins and Matthew L. Jones. 2024. How Data Happened: A History from the Age of Reason to the Age of Algorithms [https://bookshop.org/a/116260/9781324074588]. W. W. Norton. * Christopher Manning and Hinrich Schütze. 2026. Foundations of Statistical Natural Language Processing [https://bookshop.org/a/116260/9780262058858]. MIT Press. * Danial Jurafsky and James Martin. 2026. Speech and Language Processing [https://web.stanford.edu/~jurafsky/slp3/]. * Xiaochang Li’s faculty page [https://sts.stanford.edu/people/xiaochang-li] and @xiaochang@bsky.social [xiaochang@bsky.social] Text the show here! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2396665/fan_mail/new] Support the show [http://www.patreon.com/americancampuspodcast] Browse the American Campus bookshelf [https://bookshop.org/lists/american-campus-podcast]

Tragedy of the education commons with Guy Standing

References and suggested readings: * Guy Standing. 2026. Human Capital:  The Tragedy of the Education Commons [https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/130622/guy-standing]. Penguin Press.  * “Linda McMahon slaps her daughter Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley: RAW IS WAR, Apr. 17, 2000 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WutKGeQZDPI]” * Nafeez Ahmed, Peter Jukes,  and Hardeep Matharu. July 9, 2026. Palantir Co-Founder Peter Thiel and Reform UK’s Cambridge University Recruitment Pipeline Project Revealed [https://bylinetimes.com/2026/07/09/peter-thiel-and-reform-uks-cambridge-university-pipeline-project/]. Byline Times. * Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway. 2011. Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Climate Change [https://bookshop.org/a/116260/9781608193943]. Bloomsbury. * Ralph Wilson and Isaac Kamola. 2021. Free Speech and Koch Money: Manufacturing a Campus Culture War [https://bookshop.org/a/116260/9780745343013]. Pluto Press. * Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff. 2026. Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed [https://bookshop.org/a/116260/9780063484320]. Harper. * Hannah Arendt. The Human Condition [https://bookshop.org/a/116260/9780226586601]. * Guy Standing. 2021. The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class Special Covid-19 Edition [https://bookshop.org/a/116260/9780755637072]. IB Taurus & Co. * Guy Standing. 2023. The Blue Commons: Rescuing the Economy of the Sea [https://bookshop.org/a/116260/9780241475881]. Pelican. * Guy Standing’s website [https://www.guystanding.com/] Text the show here! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2396665/fan_mail/new] Support the show [http://www.patreon.com/americancampuspodcast] Browse the American Campus bookshelf [https://bookshop.org/lists/american-campus-podcast]

Revilo Oliver and the academic freedom of white supremacists with Matthew C. Ehrlich

References and suggested readings: * Matthew C. Ehrlich. 2021. Dangerous Ideas on Campus: Sex, Conspiracy, and Academic Freedom in the Age of JFK [https://bookshop.org/a/116260/9780252086243]. University of Illinois Press. * Matthew C. Ehrlich. 2024. The Krebiozen Hoax: How a Mysterious Cancer Drug Shook Organized Medicine [https://bookshop.org/a/116260/9780252088117]. University of Illinois Press. * Pseudoscience and the ethics of academic medicine [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2396665/episodes/16007055] episode with Matthew C. Ehrlich * Michael Bérubé and Jennifer Ruth. 2022. It’s Not Free Speech: Race, Democracy, and the Future of Academic Freedom [https://bookshop.org/a/116260/9781421443874]. Johns Hopkins University Press. * Mary Anne Franks. 2024. Fearless Speech: Breaking Free from the First Amendment [https://bookshop.org/a/116260/9781645030539]. Bold Type Books. * Beware of FIRE (and institutional neutrality) [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2396665/episodes/18045017] episode with Mary Anne Franks * Jacob Holmes. June 9, 2026. “Auburn board takes control of curricula, dissolves faculty senate [https://www.alreporter.com/2026/06/09/auburn-board-takes-control-of-curricula-dissolves-faculty-senate/].” Alabama Political Reporter. * Thomas Milan Konda. 2019. Conspiracies of Conspiracies: How Delusions Have Overrun America [https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/C/bo28959391.html]. University of Chicago Press. * John Durham Peters. 2020. Courting the Abyss: Free Speech and the Liberal Tradition [https://bookshop.org/a/116260/9780226717784]. University of Chicago Press. * Jim Windolf. 2026. Where the Music Had to Go: How Bob Dylan and the Beatles Changed Each Other—and the World [https://bookshop.org/a/116260/9781668075562]. Scribner. * Matthew C. Ehrlich’s faculty page [https://media.illinois.edu/ehrlich-matthew/] Text the show here! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2396665/fan_mail/new] Support the show [http://www.patreon.com/americancampuspodcast] Browse the American Campus bookshelf [https://bookshop.org/lists/american-campus-podcast]

Disrupting White Noise: Challenging Beliefs about Race on Campus with Zak Foste and Lauren N. Irwin

References and suggested readings: * Zak Foste and Lauren N. Irwin. 2026. Disrupting White Noise: Challenging Beliefs about Race on Campus [https://hep.gse.harvard.edu/9798895570722/disrupting-white-noise/]. Harvard Education Press. CODE FOR 20% OFF: HCPR26   * Elijah Anderson. 2023. Black in White Space: The Enduring Impact of Color in Everyday Life [https://bookshop.org/a/116260/9780226826417]. University of Chicago Press. * Beverly Daniel Tatum. 2025. Peril and Promise: College Leadership in Turbulent Times [https://bookshop.org/a/116260/9781541606616]. Basic Books. * Sarah J. Mass. 2023. Throne of Glass [https://bookshop.org/a/116260/9781639730957]. Bloomsbury. * Colin Diver. 2022. Breaking Ranks: How the Rankings Industry Rules Higher Education and What to Do about It [https://bookshop.org/a/116260/9781421443058]. Johns Hopkins University Press. * Follow Lauren N. Irwin [https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurennirwin] and Zak Foste [https://www.linkedin.com/in/zak-foste-609a4330] on LinkedIn Text the show here! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2396665/fan_mail/new] Support the show [http://www.patreon.com/americancampuspodcast] Browse the American Campus bookshelf [https://bookshop.org/lists/american-campus-podcast]

Creating the Black high school with Alexander D. Hyres

References and suggested readings: * Alexander D. Hyres. 2026. Protest and Pedagogy: Charlottesville’s Black Freedom Struggle and the Making of the American High School [https://bookshop.org/a/116260/9780820375304]. University of Georgia Press.  * Alex Hyres’s faculty page [https://profiles.faculty.utah.edu/u6019505] * Heather Andrea Williams. 2007. Self-Taught: African American Education in Slavery and Freedom [https://bookshop.org/a/116260/9780807858219]. University of North Carolina Press. * James D. Anderson. 1988. Education of Blacks in the South, 1860-1935 [https://bookshop.org/a/116260/9780807842218]. University of North Carolina Press.  * Jarvis R. Givens. 2023. Fugitive Pedagogy: Carter G. Woodson and the Art of Black Teaching [https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674278752]. Harvard University Press. * Vanessa Siddle Walker. 1996. Their Highest Potential: An African American School Community in the Segregated South [https://bookshop.org/a/116260/9780807845813]. University of North Carolina Press. * School Yearbook: A Cringey Tradition and Its Digital Afterlife [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2396665/episodes/18332222] episode with Kate Eichhorn  * Scott Anderson. 2025. King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution: A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation [https://bookshop.org/a/116260/9780385548076]. Doubleday. * Instagram @hyres376 [https://www.instagram.com/hyres376/] Bluesky @hyres376.bsky.social [https://bsky.app/profile/hyres376.bsky.social], linktree  [https://linktr.ee/hyres376] Text the show here! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2396665/fan_mail/new] Support the show [http://www.patreon.com/americancampuspodcast] Browse the American Campus bookshelf [https://bookshop.org/lists/american-campus-podcast]