Future Knowledge

Computer scientist Sayash Kapoor joins legal scholar Kevin Frazier to discuss “AI as Normal Technology,” the paper he co-authored with Arvind Narayanan, arguing that artificial intelligence is not an apocalyptic superintelligence or miraculous cure-all, but a powerful, ordinary technology shaped by human institutions and incentives. Kapoor challenges today’s AI hype and panic, urging us to see AI less as destiny and more as infrastructure—and to focus on governance, accountability, and public benefit.
Grab your copy of AI as Normal Technology: https://knightcolumbia.org/content/ai-as-normal-technology
This conversation was recorded on 01/29/2026. Watch the full video recording at: https://archive.org/details/ai-as-normal-technology
Check out all of the Future Knowledge episodes at https://archive.org/details/future-knowledge

Author Edward Wilson-Lee joins Brewster Kahle to uncover the astonishing true story behind The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books. Wilson-Lee chronicles the adventures of Hernando Colón, who sailed with his father Christopher Columbus before setting out to build a library of everything ever printed—a quest marked by shipwreck, mutiny, and the relentless pursuit of knowledge.
Grab your copy of The Catalogue Of Shipwrecked Books from The Booksmith: https://www.booksmith.com/book/9781982111403
This conversation was recorded on 6/28/2022. Watch the full video recording at: https://archive.org/details/book-talk-the-catalogue-of-shipwrecked-books
Check out all of the Future Knowledge episodes at https://archive.org/details/future-knowledge

For years, the open access movement has promised a more equitable world for scholarship. But as more of our publishing infrastructure is shaped—or captured—by commercial incentives, a harder question keeps surfacing: if knowledge is openly available but controlled by the same market forces as before, has anything truly changed?
In Publishing Beyond the Market, Samuel Moore challenges us to rethink open access from the ground up. Guiding our conversation is Heather Joseph, the executive director of SPARC.
Grab your copy of Publishing Beyond the Market: https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/105971
This conversation was recorded on 12/04/2025. Watch the full video recording at: https://archive.org/details/publishing-beyond-the-market 
Check out all of the Future Knowledge episodes at https://archive.org/details/future-knowledge

While major recording artists are sued for alleged plagiarism and most creators earn pennies for their work, media industry profits continue to soar. Libraries face mounting barriers to providing access to ebooks—often while being sued by the very publishers whose books they buy.
In this episode of Future Knowledge, tech and culture writer Glyn Moody discusses his book Walled Culture: How Big Content Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Keep Creators Poor. Moody traces how copyright laws designed for a world of physical scarcity have been repurposed for the digital age—creating legal and technical “walls” that restrict access to knowledge, limit creativity, and overwhelmingly benefit large media corporations over creators and the public. Joining the conversation is Maria Bustillos, writer and editor at the Brick House Cooperative.
Grab your copy of Walled Culture: https://walledculture.org 
This conversation was recorded on 11/10/2022. Watch the full video recording at: https://archive.org/details/book-talk-walled-culture
Check out all of the Future Knowledge episodes at https://archive.org/details/future-knowledge

What do jazz, gene sequences, and the World Wide Web have in common? They all reveal what’s at stake when our cultural commons shrinks. In this episode, James Boyle, author of The Public Domain, joins Molly Shaffer Van Houweling to explore why the public domain is essential for creativity, innovation, and a healthy information ecosystem. From surprising case studies to the “range wars” of the digital age, Boyle explains how expanding intellectual property rights can stifle culture—and what it will take to protect the commons we all depend on.
This conversation was recorded on 12/18/2025. Watch the full video recording at: https://archive.org/details/the-public-domain
Check out all of the Future Knowledge episodes at https://archive.org/details/future-knowledge