In this season of interviewing special guests on my podcast (all part of the research for my new book) I get to talk to many amazing and inspiring people and I deeply appreciate their time and input. So it was a special privilege and pleasure to talk to one of my favourite writers and friend Audrey Watters .
Audrey, Kin and I first met over a decade ago during my time working for ALT and organising events, and over the years we survived a couple of the more ‘interesting’ industry conferences on the edtech circuit together from Berlin to Reykjavík. As you will hear in the interview, I am a big fan of Audrey’s thinking and writing, although nowadays it’s less about edtech and more about dog walk moments, pancakes and running.
So join me for a wonderfully rich conversation with Audrey as we talk about the culture of trying to measure everything from workout metrics to workplace productivity, and what it means to resist living life conforming to algorithmic templates. Along the way, we chat about dog walking, making pancakes for second breakfast, avoiding a world run by Clippy and Audrey’s new writing project about AI in education.
Mentioned in this episode:
- Audrey’s newsletter Second Breakfast, which explores health technologies, new and old, with a particular eye to the ways in which Silicon Valley seeks to engineer our bodies and brains.
- Learn more about the work of Audrey Watters .
P.S. Fierceness, kindness, hope
Since we recorded the episode I have begun a new run training plan, an endeavour which I have blogged about many times of the past few years and which, for a whole number of reasons, have all ended after only a few weeks. But this time starting to run again feels different. I’ve found a new kind of inspiration as I was listening back to the interview whilst editing the episode. It’s a sense of fierceness, kindness and hope that burns brightly. This I take away from this inspiring conversation with thanks 🙂