safe to eat

Susan Athey, The Economics of Technology Professor at Stanford's Graduate Business School, talks with host Auren Hoffman. Susan serves as the Founding Director at Stanford's Golub Capital Social Impact Lab, using technology and social science to improve the effectiveness of social sector organizations, and is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Athey was the first Chief Economist at Microsoft. She's also on the Board of Directors of Expedia, Lending Club, Ripple, Rover, Turo, and more. Susan and Auren dive into the role of tech economists, machine learning, and causal inference.

In this episode of the a16z Podcast, we take a deep dive into the world of drug development—specifically 'undruggable drugs': a category of protein, protein family or even piece of RNA that’s so difficult to target that many researchers don’t even want to touch it.Jay Bradner, President of the Novartis Institute for BioMedical Research, shares with a16z General Partners Jorge Conde and Vijay Pande, and a16z's Hanne Tidnam, all the new tools, technologies and breakthroughs which are causing the science of therapeutics to explode in some of these areas where it's been incredibly difficult (even impossible) in the past. From molecular glues to cell and gene therapies, Bradner shares the behind-the-scenes science stories of what it really takes to make a new drug that shatters the category of an 'undruggable' target.

Paul and Rich have a follow up discussion about Marc Andreessen’s newest article and ask the important question: How can we connect and empower people to create crucial tools for society when the industry has become so transactional? Are we able to create necessary social momentum when there’s no money involved? Paul puts out a plea for Postlight to create a software development kit for education at a platform level. It remains to be seen if venture capitalists are ready to shift their focus to do the same. (Perhaps that’s an idea for Marc Andreessen to think about!)

Kevin Kelly is a writer and a founding executive editor of. He is the author of, and.“I always try to write about the future—and it became harder and harder because things would catch up so fast. If you read now, I’ve heard that people say, ‘well, this is obvious.’ I have to tell you, it was dismissed as entirely pie-in-the-sky, wild-eyed craziness twenty-five years ago.

Friction is introspection: This week on Track Changes Paul and Rich sit down with UX designer Cliff Kuang and co-founder of Dalberg Design Robert Fabricant to talk about their new book User Friendly. We discuss the history of the concept and how it’s become something that we demand yet often take for granted. We also chat about the greater paradigm shift that led to the popularity of user experience design and about why we should maybe start to question the view that ease equals progress.

Jane, Dara, and Matt discuss the possibility of 'human challenge trials' to speed vaccine development. Resources: 'How Anthony Fauci Became America’s Doctor' by Michael Specter, The New Yorker 'What Each Side of the COVID-19 Debate Should Understand About the Other' by Brian Doherty, Reason 'Special Report: Peruvian coca farmers to Paris pushers, coronavirus upends global narcotics trade' by Gabriel Stargardter, Drazen Jorgic, Reuters White paper Hosts: Matt Yglesias (@mattyglesias), Senior Correspondent, Vox Jane Coaston (@cjane87), Senior politics correspondent, Vox Dara Lind (@DLind), Immigration reporter, ProPublica Credits: Jeff Geld, (@jeff_geld), Editor and Producer Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a contribution to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts About Vox Vox is a news network that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Follow Us: Vox.com Facebook group: The Weeds Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of's Arbiters of Truth series on disinformation, Kate Klonick and Quinta Jurecic spoke with Charlie Warzel, an opinion writer at large at the New York Times. He’s written about the internet, disinformation, privacy and platform governance—and recently he’s been focusing on how these collide with COVID-19 and the uncertainty and anxiety of living through a pandemic. They talked about what the pandemic shows us about the role of big tech companies and how the spread of a deadly disease in the midst of a polarized information environment may be a worst-case scenario for disinformation.

When will social distancing end? When will life return to “normal”? And what will it take to get there? Scott Gottlieb is a physician and public health expert who served as Donald Trump’s first FDA commissioner, where he was the rare Trump appointee to win plaudits from both the left and the right. Now he’s a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute where he’s emerged as a leading voice on the coronavirus response. Gottlieb is one of the lead authors of a comprehensive roadmap for what it would take to end social distancing and reopen the American economy. The report divides coronavirus response into four distinct phases (we are currently in phase one, which requires the strictest social distancing measures) and documents key “triggers” that states need to meet if they want to advance to a phase with less intense social distancing and a somewhat normal economy. It’s exactly what we need right now: a specific proposal for what comes next that we can actually analyze and debate. Two themes drive this conversation. First, what are the challenges to simply getting out of lockdown? Why don’t we have enough tests yet? What’s stopping us from making more? And second, what does the world look like out of lockdown but before we get to a vaccine? What’s being imagined here isn’t a return to normal, either socially or economically, but a kind of limbo that it’s not clear we have the political will to sustain and that has few answers for the most vulnerable among us. For more on this topic, I looked at not just the AEI plan but three others for this piece. I thought immersing myself in the plans to reopen the economy would be some comfort. Boy, was I wrong. Resources: ''A road map to re-opening'' by Scott Gottlieb, Caitlin Rivers, Mark McClellan, Lauren Silvis, and Crystal Watson, AEI ''I’ve read the plans to reopen the economy. They’re scary.'' by Ezra Klein, Vox The Weeds - How does this end? Want to contact the show? Reach out at [email protected] Please consider making a contribution to Vox to support this show: bit.ly/givepodcasts Your support will help us keep having ambitious conversations about big ideas. The Ezra Klein Show is a finalist for a Webby! Make sure to vote at https://bit.ly/TEKS-webby New to the show? Want to check out Ezra’s favorite episodes? Check out the Ezra Klein Show beginner’s guide (http://bit.ly/EKSbeginhere) Credits: Producer/Editor - Jeff Geld Researcher - Roge Karma Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices