My guest today is Abeba Birhane. Abeba is pursuing a PhD in Cognitive Science at University College Dublin. Her interdisciplinary research, which includes embodied cognition, digital technology, and critical data science, explores the relationships between individuals, society, and technology. She is a contributor to Aeon Magazine and blogs regularly about cognition, AI, ethics, and data science.

In this podcast, Abeba and I talked about automated predictive systems in law, criminal justice, and healthcare, and we explored some of the problems we have to think through when it comes to navigating a world where we’re increasingly tracked, monitored, and surveilled. Abeba’s research in cognitive science and the philosophy of mind, on the one hand, and the ethics and social implications of technology, on the other, puts her in a unique position of being able to address some of these questions head on.