The Monkey Dance

46 | Are we thinking about stress the wrong way?

Can we tease apart physiological and psychological stress?   Stress in the mind and stress in the body are each comprised of a complex set of phenomena. Is it possible to experience one without the other? And how do they each impact the other functions of the body? Nida Ali [https://www.nida-ali.com/] joins the podcast to talk about her work trying to understand the relationship between the different types of stress and the immune system.    We talk about the autonomic and endocrine stress responses, their relationship to the subjective experience of stress, and the long term impacts of both. We also chat about gender differences in both the physiological expression and the emotional experience of stress, what happens when you're overheating, and why it is your hands tremble when you're nervous.   Guest: Nida Ali [https://www.nida-ali.com/]   Cohost: Arianna Curioni [https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=aPTU2JMAAAAJ&hl=it] To hear about Arianna's work, check out Episode 13 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQmTMCxCdDg]

45 | Human migration as a complex system

Ola Ali [https://csh.ac.at/ola-ali/] joins the podcast to chat about modeling the legal journey of persons who migrate across borders. With a background in physics and complex systems, Ola's work tries to describe the dynamics of migration, specifically the legal and institutional experience of someone who migrates. We chat about how long it takes to gain legal stability in a new country and the differences in the legal journey based on nationality. We also discuss housing, access to rights and healthcare, and forced mobility.   Guest: Ola Ali https://csh.ac.at/ola-ali/

A10 | Investigating systemic corruption

There is a lot of money behind keeping corruption difficult to track, but there are also plenty of folks working hard to build better tools for tracking it. The only problem is that exposing it can be extremely dangerous. In this episode from 2 years ago, we sit with Irene Tello Arista [https://dsps.ceu.edu/people/irene-tello-arista] and chat about how to define corruption, the systemic pressures that allow it to take hold, and discuss how grand corruption and petty corruption are different not only in scale but in methods. We cover a bit of Irene's background in Mexico starting an NGO to uncover corruption networks, human behavior more generally, and how corruption looks different in different places.   Full show notes on the website [https://www.monkeydancepod.com/episodes/episode-10]

A5 | The evolution of cooperation

Cooperation is deeply embedded in the genetics of our species. Looking at the evolution of cooperation can teach us a lot about how to build better societies. Given the state of the world, this episode with Nikhil Chaudhary [https://www.nikhilchaudhary.co.uk/] from February 2024 is more relevant than ever. - What can evolutionary anthropology teach us about ourselves? We sit down with Nikhil Chaudhary [https://www.nikhilchaudhary.co.uk/] and chat about everything from the formation of the self to societal pressures. We cover cooperation and collaboration, hunter-gatherer societies, how to think about thinking, managing uncertainty, cultural narratives, and everything in between.   Show notes on the website! [https://www.monkeydancepod.com/episodes/episode-5]

A6 | Can we hold AI accountable for its actions?

With AI increasingly being used in wars, the glaring question regulators face as a society is one of allocating responsibility when an autonomous tool of war commits a war crime.   Little progress has been made on this front over the past few years despite the increased military applications of AI. That's why I wanted to repost the Episode 6, from our archive, with Pelin Kasar: [http://philosophy.ceu.edu/people/pelin-kasar]   Who is responsible for the actions of machines? We chat with Pelin Kasar about the current state of philosophical debates around how to approach the ethical considerations of machines that seem to think.   More show notes on the Monkey Dance Website [https://www.monkeydancepod.com/episodes/episode-6]