California Dreaming: Silicon Valley's Moral Vision

Welcome back to Season 2 of the "Technically Human" podcast! In the first episode of this season, I talk to Dr. Morgan Ames about the concept of utopia and Silicon Valley's moral vision. We discuss the ideas and frictions at the heart of Silicon Valley's growth, we talk about the inequalities at the heart of technological culture, and Morgan describes how Silicon Valley became THE Valley.

 

Dr. Ames is an assistant adjunct professor in the School of Information at the University of California, Berkeley, where she teaches in Data Science and administers the Designated Emphasis in Science and Technology Studies in affiliation with the Center for Science, Technology, Medicine and Society. She is also affiliated with the Algorithmic Fairness and Opacity Working Group, the Center for Science, Technology, Society and Policy, and the Berkeley Institute of Data Science. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), Intel, and other organizations, and she has been invited to present her work at conferences around the world, including South by Southwest (SXSW).

 

Her next project explores the role that utopianism plays in discourses around childhood, education, and 'development' in two geographically overlapping but culturally divided worlds: developer culture of Silicon Valley and the working-class and immigrant communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. 

 

This week's episode was produced and edited by Emily Bowden and Erin Jeffs.