Feminist STS

 We had two meetings in preparation for our Podcast . The first meeting was on Teams on the 08th of May 2023 at 18h30. Where we roughly discussed how are we going to do the podcast and we all came up with ideas around the Podcast. Our second meeting was on the 10th of May 2023 in our everyday lecture venue and lecture time. This is where we discussed and practiced how the podcast will go. We agreed that each person must come up with two or more questions to ask during the podcast after they have given an overview of what their books are about. We also agreed that during our introduction we will give a bit of background about what is our individual research proposal about. Below are my questions for the podcast: 1. Who are the experts ? 2. Who is on the receiving end, who has excess to these technologies and Why? Good afternoon, My name is Lerato Priscila Sauhatsi. I had done my undergraduate studies at the University of Pretoria with majors in Psychology and Sociology. I am current...

 Hi everyone! I found a article  that I felt related to the talk on AI we went to. please see attached:  https://theconversation.com/can-a-machine-be-racist-artificial-intelligence-has-shown-troubling-signs-of-bias-but-there-are-reasons-for-optimism-197893 Below is a book that the article referenced (i thought this sounded interesting but also relates so well to Feminist STS).

 I have just completed my book; I thought it would be a good idea to store all of my thoughts (some of them whilst I read the book; others now that I have completed the book) in one place. I am also trying to tie everything together for myself, I thought to bring you along for the journey of doing this (in case you might want to read the book at some point, but also for my fellow peers who haven’t read the book yet to provide some more context - as well as hearing some of your thoughts). I think now is the time to warn you (if you do intend to read this book in the future), this blog post may contain some spoilers. I will link a bit to my previous blog post, as I fear that if I do not, I run the risk of being repetitive. In the previous blog post titled 'Podcast ideas and thoughts around my book' where I provided a short synopsis of the book as well as some things I found interesting (and vital to speak about in the blog).  Rating and reasons: Overall, I would rate Addiction b...

  In the seminar this week, we discussed the podcast and how we should start planning for it. We listened to some podcasts and discussed as a group our likes and dislikes, we then shifted the discussion to our podcast: discussing who we would want our key audience to be; how we would like to conduct our podcast; what are the things that we liked in other podcasts that we could implement; and how to avoid the things we did not like. The aim of this blog post is to take a deep look at the book I chose for the course and explore which aspects I would like to discuss within the podcast. The book I chose for the course is: Addiction by Design by Natasha Schüll. I will begin by providing a brief synopsis. This will be followed by the key things that have stood out to me so far and thirdly, what key elements I would like to bring to the podcast from my book and lastly, key things that stood out to me from other podcasts that I would love to bring into our group podcast.    Synop...

 It shocks me that I used to be such a book worm and a writer growing up. However, lately I cannot express my words in writing but rather in silence.  I studied science in high school and also my first degree was the Bachelors of Science in Human Physiology, Genetics and Psychology. Having to integrate this science degree with Psychology gave me an awakening or rather it challenged me to ask myself if science is really a solution to everything or an end to everything. Science cannot solve all our problems. While science can help battle things such as diseases, hunger and poverty when used properly. It does not do so completely and automatically. It is evident that most scientists are born. Most of them start at a young age by exploring things around them, experimenting on how things work etc. through observation of the physical world. Yet, understanding how the physical world works solves no problem. For example, it is through science that we know that excersing can lower your...

 What  I have found most interesting in my book is how operation 'Gcina amanzi' Zulu for operation save water became such a controversial initiative that people in Soweto opposed it for so many reasons. Rent Boycotts and they ended up duging out pipes as a counter campaign that activists called 'Operation Vul'amanzi' (Zulu for ' let the water flow)'.  The question that I will like to focus on is how did an infrastructure upgrading project become the subject of such passionate protests? Today, in the post apartheid South Africa we have a number of protests and they all came in to being because of one protest against prototypes in Soweto, against water meters. The book subsequently follows the prepaid meter into the post apartheid era to examine its role in recurrent service delivery protests, as well as to consider what it reveals about the history of neoliberal policies in South Africa more generally.  The book further explains the rent boycotts that began i...

How reproduction became central to governing the economy My book is called the Economization of life , and it explores reproduction and population control through the lens of the economy, capitalism, fiscal policies, and GDP. It introduces us to John Maynard Keynes. Keynes is a Cambridge economist who helped to bring macroeconomy into the world through his 1936 text The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money text. The Keynesian revolution is believed to have brought the invention of new terminology and units of analysis in economics. His stance on microeconomic would help govern capitalism and ensure that it maximises employment and wealth while minimising crashes and suffering. The aim of the economy is to use fiscal policies to control inflation, bring down unemployment and stimulate investment and Keynes theory plans against poverty and prepares for war and uses state spent money to build infrastructure such as roads, bridges, and immigration.  Keynes considered eugeni...