The Company We Keep: Dogs, Partners and Algorithms

From ancient partnership to modern companionship, dogs have shaped human life in remarkable ways, but how did we become so attached to them? This talk explores the story of our bond with dogs—how it began, how dogs help and comfort us today, what science is revealing about how they think and feel, and why they hold such a unique place in our hearts

We often think of love and desire as personal and private matters. Yet they are deeply shaped by—and in turn shape—social, cultural, and political forces. This talk draws attention to how intimate relationships such as marriage, family, and partnership are governed through broader structures of power, within which desires, obligations, and possibilities are unevenly distributed.

Most of us have interacted with AI by now, but are we approaching an era where machines don't just talk to us, but work together in social groups? As a neuroscientist, I study the neural circuits that drive our social decisions, and am intrigued by AI models that appear to mimic human behavior. By analyzing how the brain and AI tackle the same social challenges, I’m searching for an answer to two questions: Will AI ever truly socialize like us? And what is it that makes the human experience uniquely social?