Q3 - AI in Data, Behavior, and Human Systems with Jathan Sadowski, PhD

Sorted, Scored, and Steered: The Political Economy of AI With a Real Luddite Paths of Curiosity in an AI WorldYou've been sorted, scored, and steered by systems you never agreed to. Someone built those systems. Someone profits from them. And the word we've been taught to use as an insult is actually the most precise tool we have to fight back.In this episode, we continue our AI, Data, Behavior, and Human Systems miniseries with Dr. Jathan Sadowski, Associate Professor and ARC Future Fellow at Monash University's Emerging Technologies Research Lab and author of Too Smart: How Digital Capitalism is Extracting Data, Controlling Our Lives, and Taking Over the World, and The Mechanic and the Luddite: A Ruthless Criticism of Technology and Capitalism.Together, we explore:What the original Luddites actually believed — and why recovering that history changes how you think about AI resistance todayHow smart technologies from school laptops to John Deere tractors are built around two imperatives: extracting data and expanding controlWhat it means that your data isn't just collected but accumulated like capital — and what that means for someone who has been datafied since childhoodThe landlord model of tech platforms, and how AI deepens a system where you rent access to the infrastructure your life depends onWhy "the algorithm did it" is always a lie — and who is actually making decisions about your life behind itWhat the Marie Kondo test for technology actually looks like in practiceDr. Sadowski also shares his own sliding-door moment: a single philosophy elective at a technology university that pulled him out of a polymer chemistry degree and onto a path he never could have planned — studying the systems that shape all of our lives before most people knew those systems existed.This conversation will change how you think about every platform you use, every form you sign, and every choice a company tells you that you're making freely.Because in a world designed to prevent you from thinking critically about it, the most radical thing you can do is ask: does this thing actually make my life better?Paths of Curiosity in an AI World Exploring tomorrow’s careers through the lens of AI Follow us: @pathsofcuriosityWebsite: https://pathsofcuriosity.com/Youtube: youtube.com/@PathsofCuriosityX: https://x.com/PathsCuriosityLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paths-of-curiosity-in-an-ai-world-2117803aa/