Popular Culture Initiative

The Popular Culture Initiative: Can You Fall in Love with ChatGPT?

Can You Fall in Love with ChatGPT? Panel Discussion: Dan Rockmore, Anna Mae Duane, Stephen Dyson, and Jeffrey Dudas. October 23, 4:00pm. Konover Auditorium.

If you require accommodation to attend this event, please contact us at uchi@uconn.edu or by phone (860) 486-9057. We can request ASL interpreting, computer-assisted real time transcription, and other accommodations offered by the Center for Students with Disabilities.

The Popular Culture Initiative presents:

Can You Fall in Love with ChatGPT?

A Panel Discussion and Live Podcast Recording

October 23, 2023, 4:00pm
Konover Auditorium

A panel discussion and live podcast recording featuring AI expert Dan Rockmore (Dartmouth College), Anna Mae Duane (Director, UCHI), Stephen Dyson (Associate Director, UCHI), and Jeffrey Dudas (UConn Political Science).

How will current and next generation AI reshape our understanding of conversation, companionship, and even love? Taking in the latest technical developments and inspired by movies such as Spike Jonze’s Her, join us! Catered reception to follow. Sponsored by the Popular Culture Initiative of the University of Connecticut Humanities Institute.

Dan Rockmore is professor of mathematics and computer science at Dartmouth College, and the Director of the Neukom Institute for Computational Science. His writings on AI and the humanities have appeared in the New Yorker, LA Review of Books, and Slate.

Anna Mae Duane is Professor of English and Director of the UConn Humanities Institute. She teaches and writes in the fields of American Studies, African American Literature, and the Medical Humanities. She’s particularly interested in how definitions of youth and childhood shape culture and policy in ways that require the abdication of rights in order to claim care. She is the author or editor of six books including Educated for Freedom: The Incredible Story of Two Fugitive Schoolboys who Grew Up to Change a Nation, and Child Slavery Before and After Emancipation: An Argument for Child-Centered Slavery Studies. Her work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Fulbright Foundation, and the Japan-US Friendship Commission. Her public-facing scholarship includes publications in Salon.com, Slate.com, and an ongoing podcast.

Stephen Dyson is the associate director of the University of Connecticut Humanities Institute, and a professor of political science. Dyson’s work concerns the politics of popular culture, especially science fiction, and the psychology of political leadership. He is the author of Imagining Politics (University of Michigan Press, 2019); Otherworldly Politics (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015); Leaders in Conflict (Manchester University Press, 2014); and The Blair Identity (Manchester University Press, 2009). His work has appeared in Extrapolation, British Politics, International Security, and Political Psychology, among other venues.

Jeffrey R. Dudas is Professor of Political Science and Affiliate Faculty of American Studies at the University of Connecticut. He specializes in the areas of American law, politics, and culture and focuses, in particular, on the many facets of the American politics of rights. He joined the UConn Political Science department in 2004 after earning the M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Washington.

The Popular Culture Initiative Presents: Danielle Lindemann on What Reality TV Says about Us

What Reality TV Says About US: A Live Podcast Recording. Featuring Prof Danielle Lindemann, author of "True Story: What Reality TV Says About Us." September 13, 12–1pm, UCHI Conference Room, Homer Babbidge Library, Fourth Floor.

If you require accommodation to attend this event, please contact us at uchi@uconn.edu or by phone (860) 486-9057. We can request ASL interpreting, computer-assisted real time transcription, and other accommodations offered by the Center for Students with Disabilities.

The Popular Culture Initiative presents:

What Reality TV Says about Us

A Live Podcast Recording

September 13, 2023, 12:00pm
Homer Babbidge Library, Humanities Institute Conference Room

LIVE PODCAST RECORDING: Join us for a live recording of the UConnPopCast featuring Prof. Danielle Lindemann, author of True Story: What Reality TV Says About Us. How do The Bachelor, Survivor, RuPaul’s Drag Race, Project Runway, and other reality shows reinforce and challenge our views of class, race, family, couples, sexuality, and gender?

Participate in this live recording as an audience member—and ask Prof. Lindemann your question about reality TV—from 12-1pm on Wednesday, September 13, 2023 in the UCHI Conference Room (Homer Babbage Library, 4th Floor). FREE FOOD!

Prof. Danielle Lindemann is an associate professor of sociology at Lehigh University. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone, and CNN.com. She recently featured in the Amazon Prime documentary Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets.