KQED's Forum

Our digital lives are increasingly dominated by a handful of powerful tech platforms. Once promising prosperity and democracy, the internet has instead allowed companies like Google, Amazon and Meta to extract money, data and attention from users on an unparalleled scale. Tim Wu, a former technology advisor to President Biden, argues that the government is failing us while tech monopolies deepen wealth divides and enable authoritarianism. We talk to him about how we can take back power from Big Tech. Wu’s new book is “The Age of Extraction: How Tech Platforms Conquered the Economy and Threaten Our Future Prosperity.”

Guests:

Tim Wu, professor of law, Columbia Law School

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The pothole is the bane of any commuter’s day. In Oakland, the city has paid over $35 million in the last 10 years in pothole litigation. And according to a new study, nearly one quarter of San Francisco’s streets are rated below standard. We’ll talk to experts about road maintenance and why it’s so expensive. And we’ll hear from you: What’s a road in your town that needs some attention?

Guests:

Carla Short, director, San Francisco Public Works

Jose Fermoso, reporter, Oaklandside - Fermoso road safety and transportation for Oaklandside

Doanh Nguyen, Acting Chief Deputy Director, Caltrans Bay Area Office

John Goodwin, spokesman, Metropolitan Transportation Commission - the transportation planning, coordinating and financing agency for the Bay Area

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California synth-pop duo PRXZM joins us in studio for a live musical performance. Classically trained musicians Nick Ortega and Emma Maidenberg host a weekly livestream where fans can watch them compose in real-time and offer feedback. PRXZM’s latest project? Remixing our Forum theme song! We’ll talk to them about the process of remixing and what it’s like to collaborate so closely with their fans.

Guests:

Nick Ortega, synth, PRXZM

Emma Maidenberg, vocals, PRXZM

Daniel Reiter, guitar, PRXZM

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Salman Rushdie is one of the most consequential living writers – artistically, culturally and politically. “The 11th Hour” is his latest collection of short stories and his first work of fiction after being stabbed, nearly to death, at a speaking event in 2022. We talk to Rushdie about his reflections on mortality, the limits of language and what he believes literature provides us with in times of uncertainty.

Guests:

Salman Rushdie, novelist and essayist

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re now in the longest shutdown in U.S. history after lawmakers on Tuesday again failed to advance a deal to extend health care subsidies and re-open the government. As President Trump calls for an end to the filibuster to force a resolution and as Democrats dig in after decisive election victories, we talk about the latest political maneuverings. And we’ll hear from Republican Congressman Kevin Kiley about what he thinks it will take to bring the warring parties to the table.

Guests:

Nicholas Wu, congressional reporter, Politico

Kevin Kiley, U.S. Congressman representing California's 3rd District

Russell Berman, staff writer, The Atlantic

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This summer, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said he’d like to see psychedelic therapies for depression, trauma and other hard-to-treat disorders approved for use within the next 12 months. Last year the FDA rejected psychedelic-assisted therapy for use in treating PTSD. We check in with long-time researchers about how state and federal governments can influence the momentum of their field, how they’re reconciling the new right wing support, and what it all means for the future of psychedelic research and therapy.

Guests:

Michael Silver, director, UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics

Marlena Robbins, Indigenous public health and policy consultant; doctor of public health candidate, UC Berkeley

Berra Yazar-Klosinski, founder and CEO, Yazar Lab, LLC; former chief scientific officer, Lykos Therapeutics

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We look at how California voted on Proposition 50, which would temporarily redraw the state’s congressional districts to favor Democratic candidates. Governor Gavin Newsom and other top Democrats, including Barack Obama, back the measure, calling it a response to Republican-led redistricting efforts in Texas. We talk to KQED’s politics team about what the results mean for voters across the state and look at the impacts of consequential races in Virginia, New Jersey and New York City.

Guests:

Guy Marzorati, correspondent, KQED's California Politics and Government Desk

Marisa Lagos, politics correspondent, KQED - co-host of KQED's Political Breakdown

Benjamin Oreskes, reporter, New York Times

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“AI may not simply be 'a bubble,' or even an enormous bubble. It may be the ultimate bubble,” writes tech journalist Brian Merchant. In the first half of the year, AI contributed to 1.1% of GDP growth and eight tech companies are now valued at $1 trillion or more. While investors are giddy at the pace of growth, many economic analysts are more sober. We get to the bottom of the bubble and what might happen if it pops.

Guests:

Charlie Warzel, staff writer, The Atlantic. Warzel is also the author of "Galaxy Brain," a newsletter about the internet and big ideas. - he co-authored the piece "Here is How the AI Crash Happens"

Brian Merchant, tech journalist, writes the "Blood in the Machine" newsletter, author, "Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion against Big Tech; his most recent piece in Wired is "AI is the Bubble to Burst Them All"

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist Mike Rothschild has for the last decade studied and written about the rise and spread of conspiracy theories, hoaxes and scams. But after he lost his home in Altadena to the Eaton fire, Rothschild witnessed firsthand how conspiracies take hold of people in the throes of a traumatic event. We talk to him about why his community was vulnerable to disinformation about the causes of and responses to the fire — and why conspiracy theories spread when major disasters strike. His new piece for MIT Technology Review is “What it’s like to be in the middle of a conspiracy theory (according to a conspiracy theory expert).”

Guests:

Mike Rothschild, journalist and expert on conspiracy theories and disinformation, author, “The Storm Is Upon Us" and “Jewish Space Lasers"; His new article in MIT Technology Review is “What it’s like to be in the middle of a conspiracy theory (according to a conspiracy theory expert)”

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More than 350,000 Californians are now behind on their student loan payments – the highest delinquency rate for any type of debt in over two decades, according to the California Policy Lab. Experts say the missed payments are a symptom of a financial safety net that was already broken before the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted loan payments and is now further unraveling as borrowers face higher bills, fewer repayment options, inconsistent eligibility for loan forgiveness, and a very confusing system. We talk to a researcher tracking student debt, an advocate fighting on behalf of borrowers in court, and a former government official who has seen the system from the inside. Do you have a student loan? Tell us what you’ve been experiencing.

Guests:

Evan White, executive director, California Policy Lab, University of California-Berkeley

Julie Margetta Morgan, president, The Century Foundation, independent think tank that researches public policy - Morgan served as the associate director of research, monitoring, and regulations at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)

Mike Pierce, executive director and co-founder, Protect Borrowers

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices