Why is tech so hard to regulate? A conversation with Ryan Calo at Ada’s on Monday, Dec. 8 at 6 PM

You’re invited to a conversation with Ryan Calo (Law, UW Seattle) about the frictions between law and technology in honor of the launch of his new book, Law & Technology: A Methodical Approach (Oxford University Press), on Monday, December 8, 2025 at 6 PM at Ada’s Technical Books & Café (425 15th Ave E, Seattle, WA 98112).

Why is technology hard to regulate? What can be done about this? Join us for a cool walk-through of a framework to understand and address legal challenges posed by technologies at Seattle’s geekiest bookstore with UW’s leading scholar of technology and law.

No registration required.

Please feel free to share widely with colleagues, students, and friends who
might be interested.

Next in Salon Series: At the Bioethics Table with Implantable Technologies | Dec. 4, 2025 | 3:30 – 6 PM

On Thursday, December 4, 2025 at 3:30 PM, Society + Technology at UW heads down to the Department of Bioethics & Humanities at UW Medicine for an afternoon salon devoted to thinking with and about implantable technologies.

From cardiac devices and contraceptive implants to neural interfaces and experimental sensors, technologies that live in or under the skin raise complicated questions about consent, autonomy, commercial interests, and more.

At the Bioethics Table with Implantable Technologies will bring together philosophers, sociologists, policy experts, artists, and clinical practitioners to a long table for an enriching discussion, and we may even have edible implants.

Stay tuned for the updated speaker list!

About Salons

An S+T Community Program, salons are a conversation series held in-person or online designed to elevate the S+T’s cross-campus and cross-disciplinary perspectives on technologies. Each Salon is a one-hour and fifteen-minute conversation between three to five affiliates from the S+T network, with a moderator. The purpose is to recognize and honor live, arranged encounters as a meeting of the minds, to give greater visibility to the S+T network, and to cultivate intellectual conditions for deeper collaborations. Would you like to present your work in a Salon? Email mmjones@uw.edu. Interested in notifications about future Salons? Subscribe to the S+T Calendar

Signals & Society conversation on love, law, and LLMs in Ballard at Old Stove, Nov. 10, 2025, 5:30 PM

Online dating is nothing new, but in 2025, the promise and peril of finding love online—and the work of designing technologies to facilitate amore—now include artificial intelligence writers in the mix.

Consider this, and more, over a pint at the next event in Signals & Society, a new public-facing traveling series co-organized by Ryan Calo (Law, UW Seattle), on Mon., Nov. 10, 2025, at 5:30 PM at the Old Stove Brewery Gardens in Ballard (1550 NW 49th Street, Seattle, WA 98107).

This conversation features Jevan Hutson (Law, UW Seattle) to discuss how digital intimacies are shaped by commercial, legal, and interpersonal forces.

Add to your calendar; no registration required.

STSS Mixer for UW Community on Emergences — Tues. Nov. 25, 2025, 3:30 PM

The University of Washington’s interdisciplinary Science, Technology, and Society Studies (STSS) community will host its fall mixer on Tuesday, November 25, 2025, at 3:30 PM at the Simpson Center for the Humanities (CMU 202).

This fall’s theme, “Encounters,” invites STSS faculty, staff, and students from UW Seattle, Bothell, Tacoma, and the School of Medicine to share what they’ve been doing with STS across research, teaching, mentorship, and leadership work.

Join for outtakes from the 2025 4S Reverberations conference, the First Monday STSS Reading Group, the graduate certificate program, and the UW Bothell major and minor, and stay for an interactive component to spark conversation about emerging research directions and collaborations between participants.

We are deciding if we should make the mixer hybrid to best include all our colleagues from across our campuses and we want to hear from you about that, and more. We’ve also got a table reserved for a no-host drink at a local brewery after.

Please share your meeting style preferences, projects, and updates by filling out this STSS MIXER form by Tuesday, Nov. 18 to help us best plan an inclusive experience!