Episode Overview

Podcast: New Books Network
Host: Gregory McNiff
Guest: Daniel K. Sodickson, author of The Future of Seeing: How Imaging is Changing the World (Columbia University Press, 2025)
Date: October 3, 2025

This episode explores Daniel K. Sodickson’s ambitious new book, which unpacks the science, history, and profound implications of imaging—how we see, how we’ve built machines to see beyond human limits, and how imaging is poised to transform healthcare, science, and society in the age of AI. Covering foundational biology, pivotal inventions like X-rays and MRI, advances in astronomy and photonics, and the promise (and perils) of AI-driven imaging, Sodickson presents an accessible but profound narrative about how imaging changes our world and, potentially, ourselves.

Main Themes and Purpose

• How imaging extends natural human senses and underpins modern science and medicine.
• The crucial history and breakthroughs in imaging—from eyes to X-rays, MRIs, and beyond.
• The convergence between biological vision and technological imaging.
• The transformative role of AI, information theory, and the future democratization (“everywhere scanners”) of imaging.
• Reflections on the ethical and societal dilemmas posed by ever more powerful imaging technology.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Why Write The Future of Seeing? [02:48–04:03]

• Sodickson aims to “give imaging back to everyone,” highlighting how foundational “seeing” is across daily life, medicine, and science. The field’s complexity, he argues, unfairly places imaging “in the domain of specialized experts.”
• Imaging illuminates our lives, “but it’s seldom under the spotlight itself” [03:20].
• The timing is crucial in the AI era: “Imaging has shaped science and healthcare… it’s going to do so even more in an even more transformative way in the era of AI.” [03:47]

2. Defining Imaging [04:03–04:42]

• “I like to think of images as spatially organized information… a map… of what is where in the world around us or within us.” —Daniel Sodickson [04:26]

3. Evolution of Seeing and Human Biology [05:43–10:38]

• The journey from simple sensing to the development of “eyes” as a competitive biological advantage (Cambrian explosion).
• The split between “compound eyes and camera eyes” as divergent evolutionary paths, with humans inheriting the latter.
• The retina’s rods, cones, and “opsins” that convert light into brain signals.
• Stereopsis—seeing in stereo (two eyes, two vantage points) is crucial for perceiving depth and became a recurring design principle in man-made imaging:

  “If you can see something from two different perspectives, you can tell a lot more about it than if you just see it from one.” [09:23]

4. Why Light? [10:57–11:57]

• Light’s unmatched speed, ubiquity, and the richness of the information it conveys make it “the ideal evolutionary means for conveying information.”
• “In some ways, light is the ideal spy.” [11:52]

5. Man-Made Imaging: X-Rays and Tomography [11:57–19:49]

• The serendipitous discovery of X-rays by Wilhelm Roentgen, which allowed the first glimpses inside the living body—a truly “revelatory” moment in science and society.
• The global explosion of “X-ray fever”: “Within a year… there was an amazing outpouring of interest. Over a thousand scientific papers… 50 books.” [15:32]
• The advent of tomography: taking many “projections” from different angles to build 3D images (CT, MRI, PET, ultrasound).

  “Don’t just look at something one way, look at it in lots of different ways—ended up being a revolutionary concept…” [10:04]

6. MRI: Physics, Projections, and Personalities [19:49–28:32]

• How MRI makes us “living, breathing radio transmitters” by aligning atomic nuclei (hydrogen protons) in a magnetic field and detecting their radio signals.
• Recognition of Nobel winners, and the “bitter, personal… all out fights” that sometimes follow [20:20], revealing the human drama of scientific discovery.
• Technical clarifications: projection gathering, the mathematics of Radon transforms, and the development of “spin warp imaging.”
• The massive clinical impact: “If you can see it, then you can understand it and ideally you can cure it.” [27:16]

7. Imaging Quality and the Tyranny of Perfection [28:22–31:42; 55:05–57:16]

• Optimization for “signal-to-noise ratio”—the difference between clarity and randomness in an image.
• The tension between maximizing image quality vs. prioritizing actionable information emerges as a central theme:

  “If we keep focusing on getting the very best quality in each pixel… we’re going to basically end up with exactly the same type of devices we’ve been optimizing for years. I think instead… what information do we need…? How can we use all the other information… to clarify the picture?” [55:39]

• Example: The “clunk” heard in MRI machines is due to shifts in magnetic gradients collecting different projections. [28:32–30:23]

8. Imaging Across Scales: Medicine, Astronomy, and “From Cells to Galaxies” [31:42–36:41]

• Radio astronomy’s use of imaging to understand cosmic phenomena (e.g., the Crab Nebula).
• Striking mathematical kinship: “We were describing… how an MRI machine works or how a radio telescope worked… essentially the exact same equations on the page.” [34:50]

  “It was like discovering a long lost sibling… A radio telescope is basically the same as an MRI machine from the outside in.” [36:07]

9. Surpassing Limits: Photonics, Diffraction, Interferometry [36:41–40:59]

• Overcoming physics’ “diffraction limit” in microscopy by manipulating light or using multiple views.
• Astronomers’ use of “interferometry” and distributed arrays to effectively create Earth-sized telescopes.

10. Speeding Up Imaging: Parallel Imaging & Compressed Sensing [41:29–44:51]

• Sodickson’s own breakthrough: parallel MRI, making imaging dramatically faster by acquiring many projections at once.
• “If I’m just going to compress my image… why am I spending so much time gathering [all the data] in the first place?” [43:18]
• Compressed sensing: acquire only the minimum, random, most “information-rich” samples possible.

11. The Future: Imaging Differently & Reimagining Access [44:51–49:27; 57:16–61:07]

• To democratize imaging globally, we need to move beyond the “bigger, better, more” paradigm and deploy smarter, leaner, AI-supported methodologies.
• “Rather than just saying… big or small, we need to start thinking: how do we coordinate information differently? How do we apply AI to get us what we want… without always focusing on a perfect image right now?” [45:17]
• Vision for the next decade: earlier, more accessible, and more personalized diagnostics through networked, miniaturized “everywhere scanners.”

  “The more we see you, the faster and better we can image you and the better we can predict the trajectory of your health.” [58:49]

Everywhere Scanners: Types 1, 2, and 3 [59:09–61:00]

• Progressive layering of baseline imaging, low-cost future images, and even wearables/embedded sensors to mark personal health change.
• “Maybe just the information from the sensors is enough to tell us if there is a change from your baseline… The more we see you, the better we know what’s normal for you, and the cheaper and cheaper the technology we need in order to detect change.” [60:22]

12. The Rise of AI: Self-Supervised Learning and Sense of Change [47:05–51:22]

• Move beyond classic “labeled” training; self-supervised learning can exploit the massive troves of unlabelled data, similar to how children gain a world model.
• Medical imaging’s future is not just accuracy but tracking relevant “change”: “If you see something that’s a little bit suspicious, you better report it… But a really simple expedient is to look back at a previous image and see, hey, is this finding the same as it was last time? If so, it’s your normal.” [50:53]

13. Learning from Bats: Beyond Human Vision [51:22–55:05]

• Drawing inspiration from nature—bats as exquisitely-evolved imagers—urges us to develop more continuous, “on the fly,” adaptive imaging.
• New MR techniques (e.g., fingerprinting, multitasking) move toward dynamic, real-time, “streaming” acquisition.

14. Societal and Ethical Crossroads: Utopia, Dystopia, and Evolution [61:10–65:09]

• Imaging technology offers both utopian (early disease detection, expanded senses) and dystopian (surveillance, privacy erosion) futures.
• “Every time our species has expanded its vision, we’ve also expanded our minds… but we need to be very vigilant and not just give away our privacy without thought…” [61:51]
• The next imaging revolution may look something like a new stage of evolution: integrating artificial sensors and neural interfaces directly into human experience.

15. Human Stories and Gratitude [65:09–67:17]

• Personal reflections: collaboration, recognition, and highlighting a diversity of scientists (including a shoutout to his brother, emergency radiologist Aaron Sodickson [65:35]).
• Book’s acknowledgement of the importance of community, mentors, and family.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Imaging illuminates our lives… but it’s seldom under the spotlight itself.” —Daniel Sodickson [03:20]
• “If you can see it, then you can understand it and ideally you can cure it.” —Daniel Sodickson [27:16]
• “Inner space and outer space are way more connected than we might realize… essentially the exact same equations.” —Daniel Sodickson [34:58]
• “If we keep focusing on getting the very best quality in each pixel… we’re going to basically end up with exactly the same type of devices we’ve been optimizing for years.” —Daniel Sodickson [55:39]
• “The more we see you, the better we know what’s normal for you, and the cheaper and cheaper the technology we need in order to detect change.” —Daniel Sodickson [60:22]
• “Every time our species has expanded its vision, we’ve also expanded our minds.” —Daniel Sodickson [61:32]

Key Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment / Topic | |-------------|---------------------------------------------------| | 02:48–04:03 | Why the book? Societal impact of imaging | | 05:43–07:39 | Evolution of seeing & human vision | | 09:15–10:38 | Stereopsis & multiple perspectives | | 11:57–16:54 | X-ray discovery and cultural impact | | 17:20–24:28 | Tomography, MRI fundamentals, innovations | | 28:22–30:23 | MRI noises & sounds | | 31:42–36:41 | Imaging in astronomy, “cells to galaxies” insight | | 36:41–40:59 | Photonics, diffraction, interferometry | | 41:29–44:51 | Parallel imaging & compressed sensing | | 47:05–49:27 | Self-supervised AI learning & implications | | 51:22–55:05 | Bats, “imaging on the fly,” inspiration for MR | | 55:05–57:16 | Tyranny of quality vs. actionable information | | 57:26–61:07 | Next 5-10 years: everywhere scanners, equity | | 61:10–63:30 | Utopia/dystopia—the ethics of powerful imaging | | 63:30–65:09 | Imaging as evolution; “new senses” | | 65:09–66:46 | Personal stories; the collaboration of imaging |

Tone and Language

Sodickson’s language is lucid, wide-ranging, humble, and sometimes playful—he delights in “space age names like spin warp imaging” [25:33] and marvels at the apparent “magic” of MRI even as an expert.

There’s a deep sense of optimism and wonder, balanced by sober attention to privacy, equity, and societal impact. The episode is highly accessible, inviting lay listeners to appreciate science’s beauty and social implications.

Final Reflection

Daniel Sodickson’s appearance on the New Books Network offers an engaging journey through how imaging transforms not just medicine but our very understanding of the world—from the inner workings of our bodies to the far reaches of space, and, potentially, to new senses and ethical frontiers. With clarity, authority, and warmth, he makes a compelling case for why the “future of seeing” is a story everyone should know.