Podcasts
Table of contents
Data Skeptic
I have been listening to the Data Skeptic podcast chronologically and am about a third of the way through during the time I write this. It is structured in two parts: mini-episodes in which Kyle Polich, the host, breaks down a data concept with his wife, Linh Da (who is not from the field) as his sounding board, and longer interviews with experts from various fields who heavily work with data. There are some one-off deep-dive episodes as well, in which Kyle explains a complicated concept in detail. While the interviews are undoubtedly fascinating, I must admit the mini-episodes are my favourite. His wife being a non-data person means that Kyle has to come up with explanations that are simple and intuitive to understand - no jargon, no fluff. I’ve read reviews saying that the mini-episodes were too dumbed-down and that their format should be changed. I am not far enough into the podcast to know if they actually ended up listening to these reviewers, but I sure hope they did not.
Machine Learning Guide
Tyler Renelle is a man I greatly respect. He has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. Almost freshly out of college, he made Habitica (previously known as HabitRPG), a gamified approach to building better habits. I used to be a Habitica user and found it to be very well thought out and developed. He has since become a self-taught ML Engineer, but the hands-on projects haven’t stopped. He made this podcast while he was still self-studying ML. In it, he gives us an overview of basic concepts in ML and prescribes us mandatory and recommended reading and online courses. I remember him drawing the following parallel in one of the episodes: His podcast gives us a view of the forest that is ML; the curriculum he prescribes give us a closer look at the individual trees and branches in that forest. No better way to put it. I have listened to the podcast twice without following the additional curriculum, because I have only wanted an overview till now. I might go the whole way and take a look at the individual trees and branches in the coming years. He has exemplified learning by doing and I hope to be like him over time. The project he currently has in the works is an online journal called Gnothi that uses NLP to help you introspect and find the right resources to help you with possible issues.
Outrage + Optimism
With our existence on this planet getting increasingly threatened with each passing day, not staying up to date on climate news almost feels morally wrong to me at this point. The Outrage + Optimism podcast is hosted by three of the most authoritative voices in the discussion on climate action, Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac and Paul Dickinson. They also invite other experts in the field, from scientists to policy makers, in every episode. Its objective is to keep its listeners informed about actions of groups of people (small activist groups to large corporations and nations) which affect the environment. The name of the show comes from the nature of these actions - they can either induce outrage or awaken optimism. It’s upon us as a civilisation to let the latter outstrip the former.
Hidden Brain
Hidden Brain’s own website describes the purpose of the podcast quite well: “[It] explores the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior and questions that lie at the heart of our complex and changing world.”