Slate Technology

For Spotify, the last month has seen a cascade of controversies around its exclusive podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience. Is it time for the streaming service to rethink its role as a podcast publisher? And is it even possible to moderate podcast misinformation?

Guest: Evelyn Douek, lecturer at Harvard Law School, and Affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society

Host: Lizzie O’Leary

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Ten years ago, IBM made a gamble. Through a monumental advertising and PR campaign, it promised that its AI technology–Watson–would transform the health care industry as we know it. A decade and billions of dollars later, Watson Health is being sold for parts. 

What went wrong with IBM’s “moonshot?” And what does Watson’s failure tell us about the promise of AI for health care?

Guest: Casey Ross, national technology correspondent for STAT

Host: Lizzie O’Leary

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A recent advertisement for crypto.com, featuring Matt Damon, was met with widespread mockery online. But Damon’s ad is only the most visible example of a much broader—and more insidious—trend of celebrity cryptocurrency endorsements. Is the partnership between crypto and Hollywood really dangerous? And what separates the trend from run-of-the-mill salesmanship?

Guests: Jacob Silverman, staff writer for the New Republic and Ben McKenzie, actor, writer, and director.

Host: Lizzie O’Leary

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Today on What Next TBD: What is going on with little kids' vaccines? Why don’t they seem to be a priority for the government or the pharmaceutical companies, while parents are stressed to a breaking point? We discuss with Meg Tirrell, health and science correspondent for CNBC, and co-host of the Readout Loud podcast.

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Elizabeth Holmes was found guilty of defrauding investors this week in federal court. The former CEO, wunderkind, and blood mogul has been the subject of intense legal interest and public fascination ever since her company, Theranos, was beset by scandal in 2015. Today on What Next: TBD we follow-up with Rebecca Jarvis, host of “The Dropout” podcast and ABC News Chief Business, Technology & Economics Correspondent. We dig into the verdict and ask if Silicon Valley will finally confront the elements of its culture that allowed Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos to run wild with investor’s money, and patient’s health. You can listen to “The Dropout: Elizabeth Holmes on Trial” now wherever you get your podcasts.

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Using experimental technology to pull gigatons of carbon out of the air and bury it deep beneath the Earth sounds like a bad sci-fi plot point. If things don’t change soon, it also might be one of our only options.

Guest: Clive Thompson, journalist and author of Coders: The Making of a New Tribe and the Remaking of the World

Host: Lizzie O’Leary

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The U.S. civil court system doesn’t get as much attention as the criminal courts, but it would be hard to overstate its importance. In 2018, for example, 47 percent of respondents to a Pew survey said they had dealt with the system in one way or another; from eviction proceedings, to debt collection, to child-support modifications. 

What happened when the pandemic upended such an important pillar of the justice system? Did new technologies fix existing problems—or just create new ones?

Guest: Qudsiya Naqui, officer at the Pew Charitable Trust

Host: Lizzie O’Leary

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On Monday, Jack Dorsey stepped down as CEO of Twitter. It’s not the first time he’s left the job. 

Is this really the end for the man who guided Twitter through the Trump era? And how will the platform change without him at the helm?

Guest: Nick Bilton, special correspondent at Vanity Fair

Host: Lizzie O’Leary

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This episode originally aired in January 2021

The story of how GameStop went from the verge of a bankruptcy to a $15 billion market value isn’t an easy one to wrap your head around. But it helps to go back to the beginning; almost three years ago, in a subreddit called r/wallstreetbets.

Guests:

Brandon Kochkodin, reporter at Bloomberg

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Over the weekend, Russia tested a new weapon​​—a type of missile that can fly into space and destroy a satellite in orbit. 

The test created thousands of pieces of debris, which will hurtle around the Earth’s orbit for years to come. What’s the real risk of the rapid increase in space junk? And is there anything to be done about it?

Guest:

Laura Grego, Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow at MIT

Host: Seth Stevenson

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