- Social:
New York University
Professor of urban informatics and head of the quantified community lab at New York University's Center for Urban Science and Progress
PROFILE
Constantine Kontokosta
Guest
FROM Constantine Kontokosta
To the Point
The Pros and Cons of "Smart Cities" Big tech companies including IBM and Cisco invented the idea of "smart cities" using Big Data to systematize public services and improve the quality of life. Complex networks of sensors and cameras would monitor everything from traffic congestion, crime and disease to temperatures and the weather. That's a hard sell to local officials with limited budgets — and it's raised concerns about the invasion of privacy and other abuses. But "The Internet of Things" offers limitless opportunities, and they're not going away. Neither are "smart cities." We get a progress report.
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To the Point
What happens when America retreats from the world? Is President Trump taking his "America First" agenda to extremes, withdrawing the country from the international stage on trade and climate change, distancing America from its traditional allies across the Atlantic and even threatening to physically isolate the country through the building of a wall along its southern border? León Krauze guest hosts.
To the Point
Human Rights in the era of Donald Trump President Trump’s UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, said today the US might pull out of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. Serious violators of human rights are members of the Council itself–and a US resignation could make things worse. Later on today’s show, now that he’s into his second term, comedian turned US Senator Al Franken is telling jokes again.
To the Point
Venezuela spirals into economic and political chaos Venezuela, a country whose potential for prosperity is unmatched, finds itself on the verge of civil war. What sustains the repressive government? With time running out, guest host León Krauze looks at what the international community can do to pull the country from the edge of collapse.
To the Point
The longest US war: Will Trump send more troops to Afghanistan? The Trump White House is divided over the Pentagon's request for more troops in Afghanistan—where the US has been fighting for the past 16 years. Is there a formula -- either for "victory" or a political settlement? Is there an end in sight for America's longest war?