Datafying (full episode)

Today, we generate data with every mouse click, phone call, and even every breath. This week on State of the Human, you'll hear about how an 18th century historian, a poet, a computer scientist, a composer, and a mysterious future being are all trying to interpret that data to understand something about the human experience. We're asking: what do we learn from seeing ourselves as data? And what is lost in translation? Host: Kate Nelson Producers: Rachel Hamburg, Miles S, Charlie Mintz, Kate Nelson, Rosie La Puma Featuring: Dr. Daniel Rosenberg, Naomi Shihab Nye, Jonathan Berger, Raven Jiang, Alec Glassford Music used during transitions: Aboombong (Drag Along Behind), Chuzausen, Koona (Starkey), Kai Engel Story 1: Straws on the River of Time Description: Joseph Priestley was an 18th Renaissance man who helped discover oxygen. But he also invented something: the Chart of Biography. Here’s why he shouldn’t get too much credit for doing either of those things. It’s a story about one of the first times that people were turned into data. Producers: Jess Peterson and Charlie Mintz Featuring: Dr. Dan Rosenberg Music: Jared C Balogh, Ergo Phizmiz, Dexter Britain, and Circus Marcus. Story 2: Exposed Description: Kyle is on a mission to scrape every last piece of his data off the internet. He’s devoted to navigating cyberspace without leaving a trace - but privacy has a cost. Producers: Niuniu Teo and Charlie Mintz Featuring: Haha, like we’d tell you Music: Rod Hamilton (Bird); Pork Secret (Cool Crocs); Podington Bear (Operatives, Clouds Pass Softly); Marcel Pequel (Seven) Story 3: The Stories that Feed Us Description: Naomi Shihab Nye is a novelist, songwriter, and wandering poet. She tells a story about staring at people on planes, and how googling strangers can lead to a bigger life. Producers: Justine Beed, Jack Dewey, and Will Rogers Featuring: Naomi Shihab Nye Music: Podington Bear Story 4: Breathing Data Link to Image: composition Description: Jonathan Berger, a composer, teams up with a radiologist who needs to figure out a way to help calm anxious patients. His solution - have patients listen to their own data. Producer: Kate Nelson Featuring: Dr. Jonathan Berger Music: Advent Chamber Orchestra, SJ Mellia, deef, Plurabelle, ZOE.LEELA, Gustav Landin Sounds?: Coffee Shop, Deep Breath Story 5: A Single Lifetime Description: A new consciousness has just emerged - a product of all data and the interactions between it. That consciousness exists as a detached force, until falling in love teaches it to be human. Producer: Alec Glassford and Rachel Hamburg Featuring: Alec Glassford, Raven Jiang Music: YACHT (Ring the Bell (Instrumental), The Afterlife), Podington Bear (Rythn), The Shivers (Kisses, Only Mine)