Economists and Societies is the first book to systematically compare the profession of economics in the United States, Britain, and France, and to explain why economics, far from being a uniform ...science, differs in important ways among these three countries. Drawing on in-depth interviews with economists, institutional analysis, and a wealth of scholarly evidence, Marion Fourcade traces the history of economics in each country from the late nineteenth century to the present, demonstrating how each political, cultural, and institutional context gave rise to a distinct professional and disciplinary configuration. She argues that because the substance of political life varied from country to country, people's experience and understanding of the economy, and their political and intellectual battles over it, crystallized in different ways--through scientific and mercantile professionalism in the United States, public-minded elitism in Britain, and statist divisions in France. Fourcade moves past old debates about the relationship between culture and institutions in the production of expert knowledge to show that scientific and practical claims over the economy in these three societies arose from different elites with different intellectual orientations, institutional entanglements, and social purposes. Much more than a history of the economics profession, Economists and Societies is a revealing exploration of American, French, and British society and culture as seen through the lens of their respective economic institutions and the distinctive character of their economic experts.
How do machines learn? Learning is fundamental to artificial intelligence. It’s how computers can recognise speech or identify objects in images. But how can networks of artificial neurons be ...deployed to find patterns in data, and what is the mathematics that makes it all possible? This is the second episode in a four-part series on the evolution of modern generative AI. What were the scientific and technological developments that took the very first, clunky artificial neurons and ended up with the astonishingly powerful large language models that power apps such as ChatGPT?Host: Alok Jha, The Economist’s science and technology editor. Contributors: Pulkit Agrawal and Gabe Margolis of MIT; Daniel Glaser, a neuroscientist at London’s Institute of Philosophy; Melanie Mitchell of the Santa Fe Institute; Anil Ananthaswamy, author of “Why Machines Learn”.On Thursday April 4th, we’re hosting a live event where we’ll answer as many of your questions on AI as possible, following this Babbage series. If you’re a subscriber, you can submit your question and find out more at economist.com/aievent. Get a world of insights for 50% off—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What is intelligence? In the middle of the 20th century, the inner workings of the human brain inspired computer scientists to build the first “thinking machines”. But how does human intelligence ...actually relate to the artificial kind? This is the first episode in a four-part series on the evolution of modern generative AI. What were the scientific and technological developments that took the very first, clunky artificial neurons and ended up with the astonishingly powerful large language models that power apps such as ChatGPT?Host: Alok Jha, The Economist’s science and technology editor. Contributors: Ainslie Johnstone, The Economist’s data journalist and science correspondent; Dawood Dassu and Steve Garratt of UK Biobank; Daniel Glaser, a neuroscientist at London’s Institute of Philosophy; Daniela Rus, director of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory; Yoshua Bengio of the University of Montréal, who is known as one of the “godfathers” of modern AI.On Thursday April 4th, we’re hosting a live event where we’ll answer as many of your questions on AI as possible, following this Babbage series. If you’re a subscriber, you can submit your question and find out more at economist.com/aievent. Get a world of insights for 50% off—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
After years of people fleeing in droves, keen to escape extortionate rent, rampant crime and poor schools, San Francisco is experiencing a revival. The boom in AI is luring brainy types back to the ...city. Can the city seize this second chance and solve any of its problems? Hosts: Alice Fulwood, Mike Bird, Tom Lee-Devlin. Guests: Aryn Braun and Callum Williams from The Economist; London Breed, Mayor of San Francisco; and Christina Melas-Kyriazi, Partner at Bain Capital Ventures in San Francisco. Get a world of insights for 50% off—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+
Centuries after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius entombed the Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum, archaeologists have amassed hundreds of scrolls from an ancient library known as the “Villa of the ...Papyri”. The scrolls had been carbonised by the hot volcanic gases that had left them too damaged to unravel, let alone read. But artificial intelligence has come to the rescue. Computer scientists deciphered the first letters from the scrolls in 2023 and, more recently, entire paragraphs of text and could soon open a new window into the past for historians. Host: Alok Jha, The Economist’s science and technology editor. Contributors: Tom Standage, The Economist’s deputy editor; Luke Farritor, a computer scientist and Vesuvius challenge winner; Adrienne Mayor, a historian of science at Stanford University. Get a world of insights for 50% off—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
While the focus in the Middle East is on war and regional conflict, it’s easy to forget that it wasn’t always this way. There was a time when Jews, Christians and Muslims shared the same land and the ...same story. Until they were scattered and divided by borders imposed by foreign powers. On this episode of The Weekend Intelligence, Maroua Abudhagga, a Palestinian from Gaza, and Samy Ibrahim, her Egyptian Jewish husband, tell a story of a marriage and shared heritage that bridges divides. Get a world of insights for 50% off—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In China, investors are feeling the pain everywhere you look. The housing market has seized up and more than $1trn in market value has been wiped from exchanges in China and Hong Kong since the start ...of the year. And no government rescue package seems to be on the way. So how worried should people be? Hosts: Mike Bird and Alice Fulwood. Guests: The Economist’s China business and finance editor, Don Weinland; Yuen Yuen Ang from Johns Hopkins University and Ben Fanger, founder of ShoreVest Partners. Get a world of insights for 50% off—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+
Are we on the cusp of a new internet era? Social media apps built on top of open public blockchains technology are becoming a reality–they offer a radical new model for content sharing, in which ...users own and control what they contribute. If they take off they could undercut the dominance of Meta, Google and other tech giants. In his new book, “Read Write Own”, Chris Dixon, one of the biggest names in Silicon Valley venture capital, argues this would be a force for good. This week, we speak to Mr Dixon and Stani Kulechov of Avara, who is busy building a blockchain based social platform. Hosts: Alice Fulwood, Mike Bird and Tom Lee-Devlin. Guests: Chris Dixon, partner at a16z and author of ‘Read Write Own’; and Stani Kulechov, founder of Avara. Get a world of insights for 50% off—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+
India’s government wants the country to surpass the World Bank’s high-income threshold by 2047, a century after its independence from Britain. Becoming a world-class scientific player will help to ...solve India’s most pressing challenges, such as improving sanitation and poor air quality. The applications from a booming scientific field—from vaccines to rockets—will also generate new industries, ensuring that the country continues to prosper. But to achieve that, India needs to get better at basic scientific research. That means addressing several challenges that stand in the way—such as crushing bureaucracy and a lack of private sector investment. Host: Alok Jha, The Economist's science and technology editor. Contributors: Leo Mirani, The Economist's Asia correspondent; Caroline Wagner, a professor of science policy at the Ohio State University; Yamuna Krishnan, a professor of chemistry at the University of Chicago; Adar Poonawalla, boss of the Serum Institute of India. Sign up for a free trial of Economist Podcasts+. If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
All over social media are videos of women building cabinets, stripping floors and putting up trim. After the covid pandemic, people took on more home improvement projects and a new wave of female DIY ...influencers arrived. Survey data corroborates the idea that there has been a surge in women spending time on DIY. Why have women taken to the tool shed? And how is the industry adapting to changing demographics? Hosts: Alice Fulwood and Mike Bird. Guests: Jake Kalnitz, SVP of Merchandising and Inventory at the hardware and home improvement retailer True Value; and Nicole Gibbons, Founder and CEO of the paint company Clare. Sign up for a free trial of Economist Podcasts+. If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
