Ep. 059 _ Edward Tenner _ 'The Efficiency Paradox'

Ep. 059 _ Edward Tenner _ 'The Efficiency Paradox'

Author: Sean Lally March 4, 2019 Duration: 37:54

'The Efficiency Paradox: What Big Data Can't Do'.  Edward Tenner is a distinguished scholar of the Smithsonian's Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation and a visiting scholar in the Rutgers University Department of History. His essays and reviews have appeared in The New York TimesThe Washington PostThe Wall Street JournalThe AtlanticThe Wilson Quarterly, and Forbes.com.


In a world where the very ground we stand on and the bodies we inhabit are becoming malleable territories for design, Night White Skies offers a necessary space for conversation. Host Sean Lally guides these discussions, which venture far beyond traditional architectural discourse to ask what kind of future we are actually building. This podcast thrives on the friction and insight generated by bringing together an unexpected mix of voices-from philosophers and scientists to policy makers and science fiction authors. You’ll hear how a cultural anthropologist’s research on ritual intersects with a material scientist’s work on smart environments, or how a novelist’s vision of tomorrow clarifies the ethical dilemmas faced by urban planners today. Each episode is a deep, meandering exploration, avoiding easy answers in favor of nuanced, often surprising connections. The aim is to piece together a broader, more complex picture of the transformations currently unfolding around and within us. By engaging with such a diverse range of thinkers, the Night White Skies podcast doesn't just report on change; it actively participates in the difficult, essential work of imagining what comes next.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 108

Night White Skies
Podcast Episodes
Ep. 078 _ John May _ 'Signal, Image, Architecture' [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:32
This week is a conversation with John May and we're discussing a book he recently wrote called 'Signal, Image, Architecture. It's a short book with an objective to define the playing field today for this discussion. The…
Ep. 077 _ Holly Jean Buck _ 'After Geoengineering' [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 47:53
Today is a conversation with Holly Jean Buck and we're discussing her book After Geoengineering: Climate Tragedy, Repair and Restoration. I think for many of us that like to think we're working in at least the general wh…
Ep. 076 _ James Bradley _ 'Ghost Species' [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:13:59
James Bradley is an author and critic. His books include the novels, Wrack, The Deep Field, The Resurrectionist and Clade, a book of poetry, Paper Nautilus and the Penguin Book of the Ocean and of course most recently Gh…
Ep. 075 _ Sylvia Lavin _ 'Postmodernization' [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:49
Today is a conversation with Sylvia Lavin and we're discussing her recent book 'Architecture Itself and Other Postmodernization Effects'. Book Sylvia Lavin is Professor of History and Theory of Architecture at Princeton…
Ep. 074 _ Natasha Sandmeier _ 'Stranger than Fiction' [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:32
Natasha Sandmeier's work and research straddles the worlds of architecture and visualization – with a long-standing interest the role of media within the creation and production of speculative architectures and environme…
Ep. 073 _ Jeffrey Nesbit _ 'Extraterrestrial' [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:29
Just yesterday two astronauts launched into outer space from the United States for the first time in 9 years. Interesting side note, this launch was the first time in 40 years that NASA astronauts launched in a new space…
Ep. _072 _ Jane Hutton _'Reciprocal Landscapes' [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:32
Jane Hutton is a landscape architect and Assistant Professor at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture. Her research looks at the extended material flows of common construction materials and their social and e…
Ep. 071 _ Larry D. Busbea _'Responsive Environments' [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 44:16
Larry Busbea is Associate Professor of Art History at the University of Arizona. He is the author of Topologies: The Urban Utopia in France, 1960-1970 (MIT Press, 2007), The Responsive Environment: Design, Aesthetics, an…
Ep. 070 _ Fred Scharmen _ 'Space Settlements' [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:36
Fred Scharmen teaches architecture and urban design at Morgan State University's School of Architecture and Planning. He is the co-founder of the Working Group on Adaptive Systems, an art and design consultancy based in…
Ep. 069 _ Christopher Schaberg _'Searching for the Anthropocene' [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:22
Christopher Schaberg is Dorothy Harrell Brown Distinguished Professor of English at Loyola University New Orleans, USA. In addition to his new book Searching for the Anthropocene: A Journey into the Environmental Humanit…