The Virtual Jewel Box

Dr. Strangelove, the Cold War, and American culture, with Matt Basso and Megan Weiss

Matt Basso and Megan Weiss discuss the iconic film, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. They explore the film’s historical context, its satirical take on Cold War politics, and its depiction of gender. The Red and Lavender Scares, consumerism, and militarization all helped set the stage for the Cold War culture lampooned in Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 film. 
Matt Basso is Associate Professor of History and Gender Studies, and Megan Weiss is a doctoral candidate in History, at the University of Utah. 
This episode was recorded in anticipation of the Tanner Humanities Center’s screening of the London National Theatre’s production of Dr Strangelove, starring Steve Coogan. You can find out more about the Center’s NTL screenings, and other public programming, at tanner.utah.edu. 
Episode edited by Ethan Rauschkolb. Named after our seminar room, The Virtual Jewel Box hosts conversations at the Obert C. and Grace A. Tanner Humanities Center at the University of Utah. Views expressed on The Virtual Jewel Box do not represent the official views of the Center or University. 

Cultures of the Black diaspora, with Louis Chude-Sokei and Scott Black

Louis Chude-Sokei, author of Floating in a Most Peculiar Way, discusses the Black diaspora, sound, accent, masculinity, Afrofuturism, dub music, and AI with Scott Black. Links: 
Louis Chude-Sokei, Floating in a Most Peculiar Way
Louis Chude-Sokei, The Last “Darky”: Bert Williams, Black-on-Black Minstrelsy, and the African Diaspora 
Louis Chude-Sokei, The Sound of Culture: Diaspora and Black Technopoetics
Carnegie Hall’s Afrofuturism festival 
Anarchic Artificial Intelligence 
Louis Chude-Sokei is George and Joyce Wein Chair in African-American and Black Diaspora Studies, and Director of the African-American and Black Diaspora Studies Program, at Boston University. Scott Black is Director of the Tanner Humanities Center. 
Episode edited by Ethan Rauschkolb. Named after our seminar room, The Virtual Jewel Box hosts conversations at the Obert C. and Grace A. Tanner Humanities Center at the University of Utah. Views expressed on The Virtual Jewel Box do not represent the official views of the Center or University.

Writing in the age of AI, with Lizzie Callaway and Scott Black

Why learn to write in the age of artificial intelligence? Elizabeth Callaway, Assistant Professor of English at the University of Utah, talks with Scott Black about writing pedagogy with and about AI. Links: 
Josh Dzieza, “Inside the AI Factory” 
Ethan Mollick, “I, Cyborg: Using Co-Intelligence” 
NYT review of Chris Hayes, The Siren’s Call: How Attention Became the World’s Most Endangered Resource, and Nicholas Carr, Superbloom: How Technologies of Connection Tear Us Apart
Episode edited by Ethan Rauschkolb. Named after our seminar room, The Virtual Jewel Box hosts conversations at the Obert C. and Grace A. Tanner Humanities Center at the University of Utah. Views expressed on The Virtual Jewel Box do not represent the official views of the Center or University.

Oscar Wilde in Utah, with Randell Hoffman and Robert Carson

In 1882, Oscar Wilde visited Utah during his famous lecture tour of the United States. Local historian Randell Hoffman discusses the scandals of Wilde's visit, and the Victorian-era conventions that Wilde challenged. Robert Carson examines Wilde's lectures on the importance of beauty and his provocations about taste and artificiality.  
Links:
Michèle Mendelssohn, Making Oscar Wilde (Oxford University Press) 
The Mildred Berryman Institute
Utah Digital Newspapers, by the J. Willard Marriott Library at the University of Utah 
 
Episode edited by Ethan Rauschkolb. Named after our seminar room, The Virtual Jewel Box hosts conversations at the Obert C. and Grace A. Tanner Humanities Center at the University of Utah. Views expressed on The Virtual Jewel Box do not represent the official views of the Center or University.

Sex and the Planet, with Peggy Battin and Jim Tabery

What if advances in technology were already changing the causal logic of human reproduction which is now taken for granted? Could pregnancy shift from an event which some opt out of through prevention or termination, to an intentional, elective choice? How should such a system work, and what would be its likely consequences?
These questions comprise the “opt-in conjecture” by University of Utah Distinguished Professor of Philosophy Margaret Pabst Battin, whose book, Sex and the Planet: What Opt-In Reproduction Could Do for the Globe was published by MIT Press.
In discussion with James Tabery (Professor of Philosophy), of the Center for Health Ethics, Arts & Humanities at the University of Utah.
Introduced by Scott Black, Director of the Tanner Humanities Center.
Episode edited by Ethan Rauschkolb. Named after our seminar room, The Virtual Jewel Box hosts conversations at the Obert C. and Grace A. Tanner Humanities Center at the University of Utah. Views expressed on The Virtual Jewel Box do not represent the official views of the Center or University.

Bloodborne and the Aesthetics of Video Games, with Nathan Wainstein and Michael W. Clune

Nathan Wainstein (Assistant Professor of English at the University of Utah) discusses his new book, Grant Us Eyes: The Art of Paradox in Bloodborne. Joining him is Michael W. Clune (Samuel B. and Virginia C. Knight Professor of Humanities at Case Western Reserve University). 
See also: Video Games: The Artistic Medium of the Future. 
Introduced by Robert Carson, Associate Director of the Tanner Humanities Center.
Episode edited by Ethan Rauschkolb. Named after our seminar room, The Virtual Jewel Box hosts conversations at the Obert C. and Grace A. Tanner Humanities Center at the University of Utah. Views expressed on The Virtual Jewel Box do not represent the official views of the Center or University.

On Death and Memory: Alice Dailey, author of Mother of Stories, with Lindsey Drager

Alice Dailey recounts the life and death of her mother, who was “a gifted teacher, a passionate reader, and a pathological liar.”
Dailey is Professor of English and Director of Faculty Affairs at Villanova University. She discusses her scholarly memoir, Mother of Stories: An Elegy, with Lindsey Drager (Assistant Professor of English, University of Utah). 
Episode edited by Matty Glasgow and Ethan Rauschkolb. Named after our seminar room, The Virtual Jewel Box hosts conversations at the Obert C. and Grace A. Tanner Humanities Center at the University of Utah. Views expressed on The Virtual Jewel Box do not represent the official views of the Center or University.

Introduction from the Tanner Humanities Center

Scott Black, Director / Robert Carson, Associate Director / Beth James, Administrative Director.
Episode edited by Ethan Rauschkolb. Named after our seminar room, The Virtual Jewel Box hosts conversations at the Obert C. and Grace A. Tanner Humanities Center at the University of Utah. Views expressed on The Virtual Jewel Box do not represent the official views of the Center or University.