Prediction
The human brain was built to predict the future. If you can’t see what’s coming, you can’t survive. Tea leaves, entrails, and complicated algorithms are just a few of the ways humans have tried to divine the future for personal gain. Today on our show we have three stories about various attempts to look into the future. A Berkeley undergraduate tries to beat the racetrack, economists attempt to predict recessions, and a software that can listen to a song and predict whether it’s going to be a hit. Guess which one is the most successful, and who forgot about a couple very important variables.
Host: Charlie Mintz
Producers: Charlie Mintz, Daniel MacDougall, Bonnie Swift Jonah Willihnganz
Featuring: Sarah Rizk, Sam Alemayehu, Paul David, Howard Schwartz, Mike McCready, Jadena, Koji Gardiner, Eleanor Safridge Fields, Kasiana McLenaghan, Robert Mintz
Music: Koji Gardiner, Ian Burrell, Andy Seymour, Jeff Striker, Pascel, Boomsnake
URLs: Gambler’s Book Shop
Release Date: 26 February 2009
Story 1: Are you a hit?
Undergraduate researchers Sarah Rizk and Sam Alemayehu take a look at a new software that actually predicts the next big music sensation, and even take some local talent to the test. Does this mean the end of true artistic integrity and creativity?(note: this piece also aired on our “Form Follows Function” show)
image via flickr
Story 2: If I Major in Econ, Can I Tell the Future?
The recent/current financial crisis is an example of misunderstanding economic trends. However, many experts claimed to have predicted the downturn in the economy, locally and globally. By interviewing her professors, economics student Kasiana McLeneghan gets an inside perspective on what role her field can play on predicting the future trends in our global financial system.
image via flickr
Story 3: Rudimentary Computers Will Make You Money
Charlie Mintz’s dad became obsessed with horse races when he learned that some people could predict them better than others. He learns what it costs to become a master of prediction, as well as how much it can earn him. (note: the first several minutes of this story appears at the beginning of the episode, and the rest of it appears at the end of the episode)
image via flickr
UnValentine’s Day
Normally Valentine’s Day is a time to celebrate coming together, but today we’re exploring the reasons people drift apart. In four stories, we explore all the reasons we fail to click. We have a story about a Stanford student who tried, and failed, to sell her eggs to an elite donation agency, an investigation into the paradoxical allure of French women, a radio play about the perils of matchmaking, and an essay on love that offers an unusual take on arranged marriages.
Host: Charlie Mintz
Producers: Charlie Mintz, Hannah Krakauer, Rachel Hamburg
Featuring: Eva Glasrud, Paula England, Harville Hendrix, Stuart Blaire and Art Tosborvorn
Music: George Pritzker, Jeff Striker, Snuffaluffagus
Video Podcast: ‘Song of a Sperm Donor’ by Emmaunel Dayan
Release Date: 12 Febrary 2009
Listen to the Full Show:
Intro Story: These Are Not Just Ordinary Eggs
One Stanford undergrad goes on a quest to sell her eggs for a price of up to $100,000. Featuring Eva.
Story 1: The Elusive Allure of the French Female
Why is it so hard to click with French women? Or… is it??? Produced by Hannah Krakauer
Story 2: So… How did you two meet?
A radio drama of matchmaking gone terribly wrong. Produced by Charlie Mintz
Story 3: Arranged Success
We take a look at American expectations for love and ask whether arranged marriages might be best, in hopes of explaining the maddening tendencies of the human heart. Produced by Stuart Blaire and Art Tosborvorn
Intro Story image via flickr | Story 1 image via cowbird | Story 2 image via flickr | Story 3 image via flickr
Questions of Travel
What happens to us when we travel? How do we get beyond the brochure (and should we)? Poets, a professor of ecology, an observer of the Malaysian meat market, and a researcher who studies sense of place work toward answers and share stories of discovery on the road.
Host: Elizabeth Bradfield
Producers: Elizabeth Bradfield, Daniel Hirsch
Featuring: Joshua Rivkin, John Evans, Laura McKee, Peter Vitousek, Nicole Ardoin, Samantha Wai, Michelle Traub, Selena Simmons-Duffin, Daniel MacDougall
Music: Volunteer Pioneer, Johnny Hwin, Natalie Dawn, Eli Herwitz, The Reiterators, and Midawe
URLs: Peter M. Vitousek, Nicole Ardoin
Release Date: 5 February 2009
Listen to the Full Show:
Story 1: Where Men Dance Wildly
We hear from three Stegner Fellows in Poetry who have lived and taught abroad. They share poems written from afar, and wrestle with how to see a foreign world without making oneself its center.
Story 2: Who’s a Tourist?
Peter Vitousek talks about bringing Stanford Students to Hawaii, and makes a compelling argument that tourism, the cheesy stuff, isn’t so bad.
image via flickr
Story 3: What’s Normal Becomes Strange
Samantha Wei guides us into the chaos of malaysia’s Pasar Pagi, and then returns to California with new eyes.
image via flickr
Story 4: Priceless People
Nicole Ardoin shares stories from her research on sense of place, and from her work as an educator on the Galapagos and the Grand Canyon.
image via flickr