Galaxy Brain

Tech companies like Google famously started with a culture and psychology centered on doing good and changing the world. But as Google expanded, it had to adapt to its growing money, power, and influence, and Claire Stapleton, who worked there during this hinge point, describes how that felt from the inside. In this episode, Stapleton talks through her perspective about what happened to the company—and how for her, the work went from being inspiring and mission-driven to what she came to feel was a “bullshit job.”

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Electronics are getting more expensive—and the culprit has a lot to do with generative AI. Amid all the talk of AI taking over people’s jobs, automating people’s workflows, and doing people’s homework, we’re learning that actually scaling this technology is a lot harder, and more expensive, than it seems. On this week’s episode, “Galaxy Brain” host Charlie Warzel talks to his Atlantic colleagues Hana Kiros and Alex Reisner about why AI is such an engineering disaster, and how this memory shortage is impacting everything from MRI machines to smart fridges to kids’ access to technology in schools.  

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Why does the World Cup endure in an age of fractured attention? Is FreddyLA7 a real person? Charlie Warzel speaks with Men in Blazers founder Roger Bennett to chart how the World Cup has become far more than a sporting event and how this year’s tournament marks a turning point for soccer in the United States. They talk about how social media is transforming fandom into an endless thread of storytelling—amplifying goals, celebrations, memes, local rituals, and fan “bits” around the world. On the eve of the final, Bennett breaks down what the World Cup has taught us about national pride, collective memory, and the internet in 2026.

Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener.

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Modern life is built to make things easier, faster, and more efficient. But what if, in smoothing away life’s everyday frictions, we’ve also lost something essential? This week on “Galaxy Brain,” Charlie Warzel talks with The Atlantic’s Ian Bogost about his new book, “The Small Stuff,” and why the tiny rituals, sensory pleasures, and routine interactions we tend to overlook may be the very things that make us feel connected—to one another, to the world around us, and to ourselves.

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Elon Musk isn’t just the world’s richest man—he’s one of the most influential people alive. His companies have transformed industries, his wealth has shattered records, and his politics now shape governments and public debate. But how did he become this powerful? And is his dominance really inevitable?

This week on “Galaxy Brain,” Charlie Warzel talks with the historian Quinn Slobodian and the technology writer Ben Tarnoff, the authors of “Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed,” about the ideas driving Musk’s rise. They unpack the mythology of the billionaire genius, the ideology behind his politics, and whether the world’s most powerful CEO is stronger—or more vulnerable—than he appears.

Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener.

This episode of “Galaxy Brain" was produced by Renee Klahr and engineered by Miguel Carrascal. Our theme is by Rob Smierciak. Hadley Robinson is our senior supervising producer. Claudine Ebeid is the executive producer of Atlantic audio, and Andrea Valdez is our managing editor.

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Do you wish you could read more books? You’re not alone. These days, fewer people are reading for pleasure, and even those who do tend to struggle with distractions. Is this a literacy crisis, or has our attention just been warped? And what can we do?

In this episode of “Galaxy Brain,” John Paul Brammer joins Charlie Warzel to talk about how he managed to ditch the allure of his screens and social media and rewild his attention. This is a conversation about how to reignite your curiosity, what deep reading does to your mind, and how anyone can learn to love to read again.

Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener.

This episode of “Galaxy Brain” was produced by Renee Klahr and engineered by Miguel Carrascal. Our theme is by Rob Smierciak. Hadley Robinson is our senior supervising producer. Claudine Ebeid is the executive producer of Atlantic audio, and Andrea Valdez is our managing editor.

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Cory Doctorow has a refrain: “The most important thing about a gadget isn’t what it does; it’s who it does it for and what it does it to.” In this episode of “Galaxy Brain,” he sits down with Charlie Warzel to talk about the AI boom, making the case that the hype, vision, and dreams of endless growth are unsustainable. Doctorow expands on his viral “enshittification” thesis: a critique of AI based around power and whether we are using AI tools or being used by them.

Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener.

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“Baseball” has never been synonymous with “change.” But in recent years, Major League Baseball has transformed radically, and this season it has embraced technology via the ABS pitch-tracking system (also known as “robot umpires”). Has the experiment worked? Can baseball evolve in the 21st century without losing a piece of itself? Does the tech make the game less human? On this week’s Galaxy Brain, Charlie Warzel brings on Jimmy O’Brien, founder of Jomboy Media, to talk about baseball’s overhaul, how to become a lip-reading legend on YouTube, and why Americans love slow sports.

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Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener.

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How do you build a winning campaign for the era of AI? In the aftermath of the 2024 race, Democrats have been struggling to adapt to the new logic of the attention economy. On this episode of “Galaxy Brain,” Rob Flaherty, deputy campaign manager for Kamala Harris’s campaign, joins Charlie Warzel to talk about what went wrong and how Democrats need to embrace a new theory of attention. They discuss AI’s collision course with electoral politics ahead of the midterms and how to identify candidates who can use the internet to their advantage.

Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener.

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Data centers are quickly becoming the most polarizing buildings in America. On this episode of Galaxy Brain, Charlie Warzel speaks with the reporter Jael Holzman about the backlash to the buildings powering the AI boom. Why have data centers become controversial? What are the environmental, economic, and political impacts? How does the backlash track along left/right party lines? This episode demystifies the data-center fight.

Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener.

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