THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
Social and computer scientists stand at the cusp of a revolution, poised to transform the next generation of social and computational research and teaching.
With disciplinary backgrounds spanning the social, physical, and natural sciences, as well as varied levels of expertise in computational methods and programming, MACSS students acquire the knowledge, skills, and expertise to innovate in and across social science fields. Immersed in a community of scholars across the social and behavioral sciences as well as computer science, the program’s flexible curriculum offers opportunities to tailor coursework and research interests for a distinctively UChicago degree.
Are we making AI too human?
Prof. James Evans, a UChicago sociologist and data scientist, believes we’re training AI to think too much like humans—and it’s holding science back. In this episode, Evans shares how our current models risk narrowing scientific exploration rather than expanding it, and explains why he’s pushing for AIs that think differently from us—what he calls “cognitive aliens.” Could these “alien minds” help us unlock hidden breakthroughs? And what would it take to build them?
