Radio Motherboard

By VICEScience Technology

Radio Motherboard episodes

June 04, 2015 Mad Max, Ex Machina, and Tomorrowland—Motherboard's Summer Sci-Fi Bonanza Extravaganza
It's only June, and it's already been a very good summer for sci-fi. From the soaring optimism of Tomorrowland to the postapocalyptic dreariness of Mad Max to the outright unsettling nature of Ex Machina, there's already been plenty of speculative fiction to chew through. But we at Motherboard had been too busy making the site to enjoy any of the summer's biggest films. So we decided to change that with one back-to-back-to-back nine hour movie marathon. Before, during, and after the marathon, we discussed how these three looks at the future fit into the sci-fi canon, what they have to say about our future (and our present), whether they succeeded at creating a believable world, and whether they were actually any good.
Radio Motherboard is sponsored by Casper Mattresses. You can enter code VICE for $50 off any mattress:
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1 hr 18 min
May 28, 2015 Elon Musk's Plan for Humanity

We talk about Elon Musk and his companies, SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity all the time, but what is Musk's longterm plan? How do the companies fit together and, should Musk manage to create a reusable rocket or launch an array of internet-providing satellites, what happens then? Radio Motherboard talks to Ashlee Vance, author of a new biography about Musk, about how you write a book about one of the most fascinating (and busy) humans on Earth. We even try to give Musk a call.
Radio Motherboard is sponsored by Casper Mattresses. You can enter code VICE for $50 off any mattress: https://casper.com/?utm_source=vice&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=motherboard&cvosrc=podcast.podcast.motherboard
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57 min
May 22, 2015 The History of Bitcoin
In this episode of Radio Motherboard, we talked to New York Times reporter Nathaniel Popper about the process of researching his new book about Bitcoin. We also spoke to Courtney Marie Warner, who loves Bitcoin, even though it put her boyfriend in prison. And we spoke to some random people at a park to see just how far we have to go before Bitcoin is truly mainstream.
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42 min
May 15, 2015 See, Click, Kill
*This podcast contains spoilers for the movie Good Kill*
The military's drone pilots are physically removed from the battlefield, but, seven days a week, they spend 12-hour days staring at a screen, waiting for orders to kill from above. And then they go home, or to the bar, or to their daughter's dance recital.

Good Kill and Grounded, a new movie and play starring Ethan Hawke and Ann Hatheway, respectively, take a look at the psychological toll being a drone pilot takes on a person. Motherboard talks with Hawke and director Andrew Niccol about the making of the film, its accuracy, and its importance as a first step toward showing Americans the brutal truth behind the targeted killing program.
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55 min
May 08, 2015 Are We Living in a Simulation?
The world seems real, but is it really? As humans get better at simulating artificial intelligence, it seems at least plausible that we could create life that is both conscious and has free will. And if we can create conscious life, who's to say that the universe, as we know it, wasn't created by superintelligent artificial intelligence who wanted to simulate their past?
We talk to Nick Bostrom, the Oxford University philosopher who originally came up with this theory. Then we switch gears ever so slightly to talk with Craig Hogan, a Department of Energy researcher who is actively trying to prove that we're living not in a simulation, but in a hologram, which is a completely different thing. Finally, the Motherboard staff talks about glitches in the Matrix or moments that seem totally unreal.
Radio Motherboard is sponsored by Casper Mattresses. You can enter code VICE for $50 off any mattress:
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
1 hr 5 min
April 30, 2015 Embedding With the Internet's Worst Trolls

Why would someone willingly spend years hanging out with people who make fun of recently dead teens? To write a book about the experience, of course. Motherboard meets Whitney Phillips, a Humboldt State University researcher and author of 'This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things,' an academic look at why internet trolls act the way they do.
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58 min
April 23, 2015 The Human Head Transplant

In 2017, Valery Spiridonov hopes to become the first human to have his head transplanted onto a new body. We talk to Val, his would-be surgeon Sergio Canavero, and Arthur Caplan, a bioethicist about the process. Then, Motherboard's staff talks about Cookie Clicker, our new office obsession.
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1 hr 2 min
April 16, 2015 Goodbye, Meatbags!
Do we have to die? The world's first transhumanist candidate for president doesn't think so.
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1 hr 15 min
March 07, 2015 Everything You Need to Know About the Silk Road Trial
The Silk Road trial has only been going on for two weeks, and already it’s had its fair share of drama: There have been setups by the prosecution, accusations and alternative theories tossed out by the defense, and, yes, selfies. Motherboard’s Kari Paul has been at the trial every day of the week, and our reporters have been covering Silk […]
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31 min
March 07, 2015 Copyright Law Is a Beautiful Trainwreck
If you see the words “copyright” and “law” juxtaposed next to each other, and your eyes glaze over, we don’t necessarily blame you. But copyright law is insane, and a wonderful, constant source of nutty human interest cases that explore every part of art, culture, and greediness. This week on Radio Motherboard, we invited the Electronic Frontier […]
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29 min