On this episode of Virtual Sentiments, host Kristen Collins chats with Alice Siu on how deliberative polling fosters informed, respectful public dialogue. They discuss the method’s use in both in-person and on AI-assisted virtual forums, its role in shaping policy, and its potential to reduce polarization. Alice highlights the importance of teachin…

On this episode of Virtual Sentiments, host Kristen Collins chats with Hannah Gais on the far-right rallies and social media presence on platforms like Telegram and X. Hannah explores the events of the Unite the Right rally, the storming of the capital on January 6th, the far-right in the wake of the first and second Trump presidencies, and the dan…

On this episode of Virtual Sentiments, host Kristen Collins chats with Eileen Hunt on her latest book, The First Last Man: Mary Shelley and the Postapocalyptic Imagination (2024), which focuses primarily on Mary Shelley's 1826 novel, The Last Man, the first major modern pandemic novel. Hunt explains the tragic life events that motivated Mary Shelle…

On this episode of Virtual Sentiments, host Kristen Collins chats with Roos Slegers on the uncanny valley, Freud, and cyborg science fiction. They explore the uncanny valley and Freud’s concept of the uncanny, connecting them to ETA Hoffmann’s “The Sandman”, Donna Haraway’s “Cyborg Manifesto”, and contemporary AI debates. While Mori’s uncanny valle…

Season 3 is here! On this episode of Virtual Sentiments, host Kristen Collins interview Kris Rose on deliberative democracy and Meta's community forums. Kris discusses Meta’s efforts to incorporate public input into decision-making through the Oversight Board and Community Forums. The Oversight Board, an independent body with binding authority over…

Meet Carrie Linden (she/they), the bisexual, disabled Communications Manager at Snowbright Studio, an LGBTQ+ game studio focused on making heartwarming, family-friendly games. Dinositters is available for presale now! Send out your two, teenage, dino siblings to collect food and friends for the hatchlings in your nest and prove that you're the best…

Meet Dr. Nersi Nikakhtar, MD (he/him), an internist and board game content creator who talks me through the nuances of sex, gender, and Blood on the Clocktower. YouTube Dinositters is available for presale now! Send out your two, teenage, dino siblings to collect food and friends for the hatchlings in your nest and prove that you're the best Dinosi…

Meet Maia Thomas (she/her), a lesbian, trans woman who works in the tabletop industry as a game designer, graphic designer, and illustrator. Instagram Dinositters is available for presale now! Send out your two, teenage, dino siblings to collect food and friends for the hatchlings in your nest and prove that you're the best Dinositter before the pa…

Meet Bez Bonnie-Beth Shahriari (she/her), a Glaswegian, pansexual, graysexual, trans woman with autism, likely ADHD, and a history of depression. Bez is an author, artist, and game designer who makes the world a little more fun, one game at a time. Website Instagram X Dinositters is available for presale now! Send out your two, teenage, dino siblin…

A special thanks to our listeners for joining us, and please enjoy the final episode of Season 2. We hope to see you again soon! On this episode of Virtual Sentiments, host Kristen Collins interviews Lida Maxwell on whistleblowers, queer love, and outsider truth-telling. Lida uses Chelsea Manning, a representative outside truth-teller, as a case st…

On this episode of Virtual Sentiments, host Kristen Collins interviews Samantha Cole on her book, How Sex Changed the Internet and the Internet Changed Sex. Their conversation features discussion on the origins of deepfake technology, nonconsensual pornography, the rights of sex workers, concerns regarding sexual content bans, the importance of sex…

Meet Jamie Sabriel (they/them), the queer, nonbinary game designer at Triple Rainbow Games, a moderator for Break My Game and Protospiel Online, and rotating co-host of the board game documentary podcast Building the Game. Website Building the Game Dinositters is available for presale now! Send out your two, teenage, dino siblings to collect food a…

On today's episode of Virtual Sentiments, host Kristen Collins interviews John Kaufhold on the history of image recognition and deep learning. With over 30 years of experience in the artificial intelligence and machine learning world, John shares his history starting from his early days in speech recognition in the 90s. He covers the ImageNet Big B…

Meet Isaac Vega (he/him), the gay, Latinx, co-founder of Rose Gauntlet Entertainment and designer of Dead of Winter, Forgotten Waters, and Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn. Twitter Instagram Rose Gauntlet Entertainment Dinositters is available for presale now! Send out your two, teenage, dino siblings to collect food and friends for the hatchlings in…

On today's episode of Virtual Sentiments, host Kristen Collins interviews Salomé Viljoen on relational data, governance, and privacy. Salomé shares insights into some of the key positions and debates about legal reforms relating to digital privacy and data governance, particularly the relational nature of digital data. In this conversation, Salomé …

Meet Connor Alexander (he/him), the queer, Indigenous publisher of the Coyote & Crow roleplaying game. Website Facebook Twitter Dinositters is available for presale now! Send out your two, teenage, dino siblings to collect food and friends for the hatchlings in your nest and prove that you're the best Dinositter before the parents return. Check out…

Kristen Collins interviews Eric Schliesser on playing, liberty, and the Das Adam Smith Problem. In their conversation, they discuss the "Das Adam Smith Problem" which addresses the perceived inconsistency between Smith's works, "Wealth of Nations" and "The Theory of Moral Sentiments," as well as other topics including Smith's critique of Stoicism, …

Meet James Kniffen (he/him), a gay, Senior Game Designer for Fantasy Flight Games whose published titles include Star Wars: Armada, Sid Meier's Civilization: A New Dawn, Forbidden Stars, and Twilight Inscription. Dinositters is available for presale now! Send out your two, teenage, dino siblings to collect food and friends for the hatchlings in you…

Kristen Collin interviews James Goodrich on data monopolies and the neo-Brandeis movement. They begin their conversation by addressing the political nature of algorithmic bias and how we define data property rights. They discuss how certain firms have a sort of monopoly power over behavioral data gathering and converse on consumer welfare and marke…

Meet Aaron Vanderbeek (he/him), a gay game designer living in Germany whose games include Castell and Extravaganza. Instagram Twitter Extravaganza: The Board Game Dinositters is available for presale now! Send out your two, teenage, dino siblings to collect food and friends for the hatchlings in your nest and prove that you're the best Dinositter b…

On this episode, Kristen Collins interviews Boris Litvin on spectatorship, memes, and Rousseau. Kristen and Boris delve into the relevance of Rousseau's insights on politics and the public stage, relating them to today's social media-driven democracy. They explore the concept of "audience democracy" coined by Bernard Manin, which distinguishes betw…

Season 2 is here! On this episode, host Kristen Collins chats with Christopher Coyne on the history of surveillance state from the early 20th century to now and surveillance capitalism, where user data is sold or used for advertisement targeting. They also discuss foreign intervention, the interdisciplinary work on surveillance, his work on Tyranny…

On the last episode of Season 1 of Virtual Sentiments, Kristen Collins interviews Eileen Hunt, a Professor and Political Theorist at the University of Notre Dame, on Mary Shelley and the Ethics of AI. Hunt begins by providing historical context of Mary Shelley regarding her parents and Shelley as a child of the Enlightenment. Hunt explains the inte…

On this episode of Virtual Sentiments, Kristen Collins interviews Lucia Rafanelli on global justice and biased technology. Rafanelli is an Assistant Professor of Political Science & International Affairs at the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University. Rafanelli begins by describing “reform intervention,” how it e…

On this episode of Virtual Sentiments, Kristen Collins interviews Theodore Lechterman, an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at IE University, on automating the democratic process. Lechterman begins by discussing his book on philanthropy, The Tyranny of Generosity: Why Philanthropy Corrupts Our Politics and How We Can Fix It, and its intersection wi…

On this episode of Virtual Sentiments, Kristen Collins interviews Leilani Gilpin, an Assistant Professor at the University of California Santa Cruz, on self-explaining machines and autonomous cars. Gilpin begins by highlighting the limits of artificial intelligence, detailing how machine learning struggles with interpreting details with reference t…

On this episode of Virtual Sentiments, Kristen Collins interviews Hans Noel, an Associate Professor in the Government Department at Georgetown University, on the increasingly polarized nature of politics in the current age. Noel begins by examining the nature of polarization and the many ways in which it manifests itself. He then points to changes …

On this episode of Virtual Sentiments, Kristen interviews Jennifer Forestal, the Helen Houlahan Rigali Assistant Professor of Political Science at Loyola University Chicago, on the role that digital spaces play in a democratic environment. They discuss the ways in which the design of digital spaces can incentivize or discourage certain types of spe…

On this episode of Virtual Sentiments, Kristen interviews Emerson T. Brooking, a resident senior fellow at the Digital Forensic Research Lab of the Atlantic Council, on the presence of disinformation in social media. Brooking gives his definition of disinformation and highlights particular aspects of social media that frequently interact with the r…

On this episode of Virtual Sentiments, Kristen interviews Martin Gurri, a visiting research fellow at the Mercatus Center, on the relationship between politics and media. Martin explains his concept of how communications technology evolves in great leaps, instead of incremental steps, and identifies what he considers to be the five great epochs in …

On this episode of Virtual Sentiments, Kristen interviews Weifeng Zhong of the Mercatus Center on his work with the Policy Change Index (PCI), a series of open-source machine learning projects that predict authoritarian regimes’ major policy moves by “reading” their propaganda publications. Weifeng explains how his shocking revelation about the Tia…

Whether it is the intensification of polarization, the dissemination of disinformation, or the expansion of surveillance, today’s digital technologies seem to radically disrupt liberal democratic politics. But what if the problems we face are less new than they first appear? In this podcast series, Kristen Collins interviews scholars and practition…

Meet Alara Cameron (fay/fae/she), a trans fem, non-binary, lesbian game designer and developer. Twitter Website Dinositters is available for presale now! Send out your two, teenage, dino siblings to collect food and friends for the hatchlings in your nest and prove that you're the best Dinositter before the parents return. Check out the campaign pa…

Meet Bree Horstkamp (she/they), the pansexual, asexual, aromantic, polyamorous, nonbinary, trans female founder and game designer of Mako Games. Twitter Facebook Ko-Fi Dinositters is available for presale now! Send out your two, teenage, dino siblings to collect food and friends for the hatchlings in your nest and prove that you're the best Dinosit…

Meet Theo Strempel (he/him), the gay, disabled tabletop content creator known as Geeky Gaymer Guy. YouTube Instagram: @geekygaymerguy Twitter: @geekygaymerguy Facebook Dinositters is available for presale now! Send out your two, teenage, dino siblings to collect food and friends for the hatchlings in your nest and prove that you're the best Dinosit…

Meet Justin (he/him) and Austin (he/him), two queer designers at Pops & Bejou Dinositters is available for presale now! Send out your two, teenage, dino siblings to collect food and friends for the hatchlings in your nest and prove that you're the best Dinositter before the parents return. Check out the campaign page here!…

Meet Maggie (she/her), Megan (she/her), and Chris (he/him), the queer content creators of We're Playing Games Dinositters is available for presale now! Send out your two, teenage, dino siblings to collect food and friends for the hatchlings in your nest and prove that you're the best Dinositter before the parents return. Check out the campaign page…

Meet Omari Akil (he/they), a black, demi, polyamorous musician, game designer, and the founder of Colorway Game Labs Dinositters is available for presale now! Send out your two, teenage, dino siblings to collect food and friends for the hatchlings in your nest and prove that you're the best Dinositter before the parents return. Check out the campai…

Meet Brenna Noonan (she/her), a pansexual developer for Quillsilver Studio Dinositters is available for presale now! Send out your two, teenage, dino siblings to collect food and friends for the hatchlings in your nest and prove that you're the best Dinositter before the parents return. Check out the campaign page here!…

Meet Leona Neelam Maple (she/her), a South Asian, queer, pansexual, demiromantic and founder of Maple Intersectionality Consulting Dinositters is available for presale now! Send out your two, teenage, dino siblings to collect food and friends for the hatchlings in your nest and prove that you're the best Dinositter before the parents return. Check …

Meet Nikki Valens (they/them), a non-binary, polyamorous, asexual, lesbian and board game designer Dinositters is available for presale now! Send out your two, teenage, dino siblings to collect food and friends for the hatchlings in your nest and prove that you're the best Dinositter before the parents return. Check out the campaign page here!…

Meet Seppy Yoon (he/him) a biracial, gay, game designer and publisher with Fight in a Box. Contains some mature content Dinositters is available for presale now! Send out your two, teenage, dino siblings to collect food and friends for the hatchlings in your nest and prove that you're the best Dinositter before the parents return. Check out the cam…

Meet Grace Kendall (they/them), a non-binary, asexual, panromantic game designer and co-founder of the Tabletop Mentorship Program Dinositters is available for presale now! Send out your two, teenage, dino siblings to collect food and friends for the hatchlings in your nest and prove that you're the best Dinositter before the parents return. Check …

Meet Crystal Dax (she/her), a bisexual, polyamorous content creator and co-host of the Board Game Blitz podcast Dinositters is available for presale now! Send out your two, teenage, dino siblings to collect food and friends for the hatchlings in your nest and prove that you're the best Dinositter before the parents return. Check out the campaign pa…

Meet Nersi Nikakhtar (he/him), a Persian, gay, sometimes doctor and board game reviewer for Nersi Games Dinositters is available for presale now! Send out your two, teenage, dino siblings to collect food and friends for the hatchlings in your nest and prove that you're the best Dinositter before the parents return. Check out the campaign page here!…

Meet Matt Molandes (he/him), a queer, polyamorous marketing manager for Kolossal Games, community manager for Brotherwise Games, and social media manager for Grail Games and Maple Games Dinositters is available for presale now! Send out your two, teenage, dino siblings to collect food and friends for the hatchlings in your nest and prove that you'r…

Meet Xoe Allred (it/its), an aromantic, neurodivergent, trans mom and game designer for Kife Bunny Games Dinositters is available for presale now! Send out your two, teenage, dino siblings to collect food and friends for the hatchlings in your nest and prove that you're the best Dinositter before the parents return. Check out the campaign page here…

Meet Maxwell Freud (he/him), a gay, Minneapolis-based, board game designer and the host of Hatched This Way as he is interviewed by his friend and co-designer, Joel Bodkin (him/him) of Featherstone Games. Dinositters is available for presale now! Send out your two, teenage, dino siblings to collect food and friends for the hatchlings in your nest a…