Tag: interview

The Question-Driven Data Scientist: Why Social Science is Key in the AI Era (Conversation with Eesha Iyer)

In my conversation, Eesha Iyer, an economist-data scientist, discusses how machine learning and artificial intelligence have changed what is possible. We are seeing a transition both from static inferential models common in economics for decades to dynamic, interactive systems that adjust in real-time.

We are also seeing a revamping of the workflow with AI systems clearing up time to do rudimentary programming tasks. Trivial programming tasks that once took quite a bit of a data scientist’s time are easier than ever, so now the key issue is becoming, What kinds of questions should we ask of the data? Qualitative and social science thinking are crucial for this new space. For Eesha, gone are the days when data scientists were technical workers spending hours writing code. In the current era, the question becomes how to formulate relevant research avenues to explore. For this, social scientists are more useful than ever.

In our conversation, we explore the implications all this has on the field of data science. She also advises how to learn data science in this shifting landscape. I hope you enjoy.

Dignity in Dialogue: Indigenous Voices, Education, and the Fight for Self-Determination

Metseri Alba tells the story of how she discovered that her family was secretly indigenous/Native* while working with indigenous communities in Mexico City. In this two part interview series, she describes both her background, why her grandfather hid that background from her, others in their family, and the rest of the world. She also relates her current passion working with indigenous communities in Mexico and her current research in New York City.

Indigenous communities face frequent attempts by Mexican authorities to speak on behalf of them, teach their ways to them, and otherwise impose their will on them. This can manifest as top-down government programs and discrimination by regular people, and even in indigenous urban-dwellers choosing to hide their identity to “get by” in life. Metseri chronicles various ways she has seen indigenous people respond resiliently to this.

While doing so, she weaves in her own story growing in up Mexico City, working with various indigenous communities, and now living in New York City. Through it all, her own sense of identity has evolved as she encounters different ways the communities in each of the places that she lives react to attempts to box them.

(*In Mexico, indigena is the common word for peoples whose heritage proceeds the arrival of Europeans; whereas, in US English, Native has become the preferred word. Out of respect for the Mexican communities themselves, I have decided to use “indigenous,” the closest English parallel to the Spanish term.)

Brazil’s Unique Place in Latin America’s Cultural Tapestry

Many years ago, Larissa Mehl went on a pilgrimage around South America to discover the Latin American identity and herself in the process. In this conversation, she discusses what she learned. She also describes the societal dynamics influencing her home country of Brazil, and what makes it unique among Latin American countries.

From Breadth to Depth: How to Create Opportunities in a Dynamic World (Part Two of My Conversation with Quynh Xuan Nguyen)

The world has been changing rapidly, so how can you develop your skills to work in such an environment? In this second part of our conversation, Quynh describes how she strategizes between depth and breadth in learning new skills in order to adapt to the changes in our world, whether those be limited job prospects or new AI technologies like ChatGPT changing the nature of work. Also, how do you find your way while still remaining true to yourself?

Her strategy has been to use breadth by developing skills across a wide variety of contexts to decide what she most likes to do in life and to adapt to the ways new technologies change work itself and the skills necessary for such work. As she gets older and more established, she then uses this to decide what areas she would like to explore in depth of the what she discovers that she enjoys most in life and also seems to pay well enough in the current economy. This is a resilient strategy in today’s changing world.

Here is more information about her life coaching, yoga, and self-improvement initiatives: https://songthanhthoi.me.

The Hustle of Finding Your Way in Life: Part One of My Conversation with Quynh Xuan Nguyen

How can you build a career for yourself when you have many interests in life? Quynh Xuan Nguyen has had many, many passions and is not the type of person who easily focuses on only one activity or job all day, everyday. In the first part of our interview, she describes how she developed multiple interests overtime to build several side hustles and careers ranging from becoming a yoga instructor to a banker to a data analyst, worked for different companies around the world, and what she learned from her adventures.

Multiple side hustles, I have found, are particularly common in Southeast Asia, like in Vietnam where Quynh lives. There many young adults such as her often must develop multiple careers and income streams to withstand unreasonable jobs, limited opportunities for advancement, changing economic conditions, and other societal trends she discusses in our conversation. These problems definitely occur in other parts of the world as well and may well be something you have faced. Not everyone enjoys doing one thing, or has the ability to do so in the contemporary economy, and her life provides helpful inspiration for how exploring multiple paths at once can build self-satisfaction and resilience.

Here is more information about her life coaching, yoga, and self-improvement initiatives: https://songthanhthoi.me.

The Shifting Gears: Women’s Voices and Generational Change in South Korea’s Workplace (Interview Part 4)

In this final part of our conversation, SungHee Oh discusses how she learned she was passionate about union work and how she became the Director of International Affairs at the KPTU.

Over the course of our entire conversation, SungHee, Director of International Affairs at the KPTU, discusses gender-based discrimination women have encountered since entering the transportation industry, generational shifts among the youth changing societal dynamics in South Korea, and the increase in gig workers in the transportation industry. She explains how the comparatively more senior KPTU has sought to adapt to these contemporary changes to the transportation industry.

This is the second interview in a new podcast interview series in which I talk with experts about the social issues that help shape our world. You can see the first interview in the series about the, at the time, upcoming 2024 election here.

Disclaimer: I was having some technical issues, so that’s why during parts of the interview, I may sound a little glitchy. Luckily, SungHee sounds mostly fine.

Links of the Materials We Discuss:

KPTU website: https://kptu.net/english/index.aspx

KPTU FB page: https://www.facebook.com/kptu00

The Shifting Gears: Women’s Voices and Generational Change in South Korea’s Workplace (Interview Part 3)

What are some of the biggest issues currently facing workers in South Korea, particularly in the transit industry? This third part of our conversation focuses some of the overall concerns women face within South Korean society.

Over the course of our entire conversation, SungHee, Director of International Affairs at the KPTU, discusses gender-based discrimination women have encountered since entering the transportation industry, generational shifts among the youth changing societal dynamics in South Korea, and the increase in gig workers in the transportation industry. She explains how the comparatively more senior KPTU has sought to adapt to these contemporary changes to the transportation industry.

This is the second interview in a new podcast interview series in which I talk with experts about the social issues that help shape our world. You can see the first interview in the series about the, at the time, upcoming 2024 election here.

Disclaimer: I was having some technical issues, so that’s why during parts of the interview, I may sound a little glitchy. Luckily, SungHee sounds mostly fine.

Links of the Materials We Discuss:

KPTU website: https://kptu.net/english/index.aspx

KPTU FB page: https://www.facebook.com/kptu00

Analyzing the 2024 Election: How Democrats Lost the Working Class and What It Means for America’s Future

What happened in the 2024 election, and what can we expect from Donald Trump during these next four years? In our follow-up conversation, Kyle Morrison describes why Kamala Harris and Democrats lost favor among many US Americans and how US voters shifted during the 2024 election. Even though we talked in January, 2025 in the weeks before Trump was sworn into office, his predictions of what to watch out for during a Trump second term still remain salient.

He also describes what Democrats can do to win back power. Voters tend to vote based on how they feel, and he discusses how to resonate with voters in political campaigns in the current age of social media.

Kyle is an anthropologist specializing in US moderate conservative movements, particularly conservatives who do not support Donald Trump or the contemporary Republican party (sometimes also called “Never Trumpers”). He also has years of experience conducting grassroots organizing and developing consensus across competing political perspectives to promote equitable labor practices.

The Shifting Gears: Women’s Voices and Generational Change in South Korea’s Workplace (Interview Part 2)

What are some of the biggest issues currently facing workers in South Korea, particularly in the transit industry? This second part of our conversation focuses on the issues South Korean women have faced as they enter the workforce within the transportation industry.

Over the course of our entire conversation, SungHee, Director of International Affairs at the KPTU, discusses gender-based discrimination women have encountered since entering the transportation industry, generational shifts among the youth changing societal dynamics in South Korea, and the increase in gig workers in the transportation industry. She explains how the comparatively more senior KPTU has sought to adapt to these contemporary changes to the transportation industry.

This is the second interview in a new podcast interview series in which I talk with experts about the social issues that help shape our world. You can see the first interview in the series about the, at the time, upcoming 2024 election here.

Disclaimer: I was having some technical issues, so that’s why during parts of the interview, I may sound a little glitchy. Luckily, SungHee sounds mostly fine.

Links of the Materials We Discuss:

KPTU website: https://kptu.net/english/index.aspx

KPTU FB page: https://www.facebook.com/kptu00

The Shifting Gears: Women’s Voices and Generational Change in South Korea’s Workplace (Interview Part 1)

What are some of the biggest issues currently facing workers in South Korea, particularly in the transit industry? This first part of my conversation with SungHee Oh focuses specifically on the development of gig workers and generational shifts among South Korean youth within the South Korean transportation sector.

Over the course of our entire conversation, SungHee, Director of International Affairs at the KPTU, discusses gender-based discrimination women have encountered since entering the transportation industry, generational shifts among the youth changing societal dynamics in South Korea, and the increase in gig workers in the transportation industry. She explains how the comparatively more senior KPTU has sought to adapt to these contemporary changes to the transportation industry.

This is the second interview in a new podcast interview series in which I talk with experts about the social issues that help shape our world. You can see the first interview in the series about the, at the time, upcoming 2024 election here.

Disclaimer: I was having some technical issues, so that’s why during parts of the interview, I may sound a little glitchy. Luckily, SungHee sounds mostly fine.

Links of the Materials We Discuss:

KPTU website: https://kptu.net/english/index.aspx

KPTU FB page: https://www.facebook.com/kptu00