What can weird fiction teach us about navigating a reality shaped by technology, environmental crisis, and the shifting boundaries between human and non-human perspectives?

In this episode of the Tech Humanist Show, the conversation focused on the power of “weirdness” as both a signal from the future and a way to make sense of our rapidly changing world. Special guest Kate Marshall, professor of English at the University of Notre Dame and author of Novels by Weird: Tales and the 21st Century, joins to explore how weird fiction, genre hybridity, and non-human narration can offer unique insights into technology, scale, and what it means to stay human as reality grows stranger.

Dive into how stories, genres, and the unexpected “weird” help us make sense of complex systems and imagine better futures.

Topics Covered

• Weirdness as a lens for the future
• The evolution of “weird fiction” and its historical context
• Non-human narration and narrative experiments
• Genre’s role in conceptual thinking
• Scale and the challenge of representing catastrophe
• The reading crisis and cultural shifts in reading
• AI, storytelling, and the transformation of narrative
• Speculative fiction as a thinking tool
• Weirdness as data and a signal from the future
• Balancing melancholy and optimism for the future

Connect with Kate Marshall
Website
Linkedin
Novels by Aliens: Weird Tales and the Twenty-First Century

Episode Chapters
00:00: Introduction to the Tech Humanist Show and the concept of weirdness
01:55: Kate Marshall on taking weirdness seriously
04:40: How 21st-century novels are getting weirder
06:09: The rise of non-human perspectives in contemporary fiction
09:48: Genre as a space for novelists to wrestle with scale
13:54: Genre fragments as creative encounters with societal wreckage
16:00: Scale: Representing catastrophe and individual experience
20:27: Tension between decentering the human and human narration
23:18: How non-human perspectives shift agency and responsibility
25:50: The contemporary crisis in reading and criticism
28:03: AI, large language models, and the future of reading/writing
31:32: Genre, language models, and the future of literary creativity
36:16: Story moves for imagining and building better futures
38:56: Treating weirdness as data, not doom
40:46: Optimism, storytelling, and hope for the future
43:22: Outro and thanks

What does it really mean for AI governance to be more than just buzzwords—and how do we build systems that are worthy of our trust?

This week on the Tech Humanist Show, we get candid with responsible AI expert and Algorithmic Justice League advisor, Rebekah Tweed. Together, we explore the not-so-glamorous (but oh-so-crucial) world of AI governance—think less “theater,” more real talk on trust, transparency, and protecting our privacy.

Topics covered:
The evolution of responsible AI as a corporate function
Balancing safety and privacy in AI applications
Algorithmic harms in everyday life (hiring, healthcare, security)
Why harm in AI is more than just a technical bug
Organizational trust and accountability in AI governance
Practical evidence of responsible AI practices
The importance of transparency, literacy, and public trust
Building AI governance that is operational—not just performative
Roles for government and open source in shaping responsible AI
What gives hope for the future of AI and public infrastructure


Connect with Rebekah Tweed
AJL Website
AJL United LinkedIn
Rebekah’s LinkedIn




Episode Chapters:
00:04 Introduction to the Tech Humanist Show
00:17 Responsible AI Becomes an Organizational Norm
01:29 Rebekah Tweed’s Journey from Music Industry to AI Governance
03:36 AI’s Impact on the Creative Arts and Early Influences
04:57 The Rise of AI Governance Teams and Job Roles
06:12 Building Responsible Tech Career Development
07:38 What Responsible AI Means in Human Terms
09:36 Algorithmic Harms in Ordinary Life and Public Response
15:38 When AI Harm is a Deeper Systems Problem
18:57 How to Build Genuine, Non-Theatrical AI Governance
25:16 Evidence That AI Governance Is Real
29:12 Cultural Weirdness, Systems Strangeness, and Literacy
35:13 Speed, Trust, and What Leaders Need to Know
37:42 What Gives Hope for a Responsible AI Future
40:22 Outro and Credits

How do our everyday digital traces—social posts, check-ins, photos—shape our identities, relationships, and the very nature of privacy in a hyper-connected world?

Kate O’Neill sits down with Lee Humphreys, professor and Chair of the Department of Communication at Cornell University and author of The Qualified Self: Social Media and the Accounting of Everyday Life. The conversation explores the rich history and surprising continuity of documenting daily life, from centuries-old diaries and photo albums to today’s social media and sensor-driven platforms.

Topics Covered:

• The history and meaning of phatic communication
• Social media as an extension of historical practices (diaries, notebooks, albums)
• Privacy, data, and the networked self
• The context collapse of online identities
• Location-based sharing and identity work
• Algorithmic identities and platform agency
• The impact of digital spaces on rituals and remote work
• Policy, power, and responsibility in platform design
• Hopeful uses of technology to build community

Connect with Lee Humphreys
Cornell Website
LinkedIn
”The Qualified Self – Social Media and the Accounting of Everyday Life”

Episode Chapters:

00:04 Introduction to the Tech Humanist Show & guest
00:17 The concept of phatic communication
02:27 Lee’s route into communication technology
04:42 From photo manipulation to tech distrust
06:00 Diaries, Twitter, and the origins of media accounting
12:10 Social reinforcement vs. narcissism in social media
13:33 Location sharing and its role in identity
16:35 Parasocial relationships and context collapse
19:53 Data, experience, and mismatched realities
22:33 The shifting meaning of place and time in data
24:31 Networked privacy and the collective dimension
27:39 Incentives, policy, and platform accountability
30:01 Algorithmic identity and the “qualified self”
35:26 Digital rituals, remote work, and connection
40:31 Closing thoughts: technology, humanity, and hope
41:04 Lee’s story of hope and innovation through tech
42:58 Episode wrap-up and thanks