The 1997 science fiction film Gattaca depicts a dystopian future where genetic technology creates a two-tier society: people who were born with the “best” genes selected vs. people who were conceived naturally. This was a cautionary tale, showing us a future we don’t want. But now, Silicon Valley is heavily investing in making this technology real. Dexter talks to Amanda Gerut, West Coast editor at Fortune, about the rise of polygenic screening companies, the investment in gene editing of embryos, and how close we are to creating designer babies.

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Read + Watch: 

• Amanda’s article, “Silicon Valley sets its sights on building the perfect baby” - https://fortune.com/2025/11/29/ivf-silicon-valley-billionaire-baby/
• WSJ's reporting, “Genetically Engineered Babies Are Banned. Tech Titans Are Trying to Make One Anyway.” - https://www.wsj.com/tech/biotech/genetically-engineered-babies-tech-billionaires-6779efc8
• kill switch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@killswitch_pod

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, we have a special collab episode with our friends at Panic World: From research to vibe coding to therapy to girlfriends and boyfriends, how are we using AI these days? Dexter joins Ryan Broderick on Panic World to talk about the interesting relationships people are forming with AI — for better and (mostly) worse.

Check out Panic World wherever you get your podcasts, or on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@panicworldpod

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Read + Watch: 

• Our episode on AI therapy: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/kill-switch/id1449757372?i=1000725849687
• Our episode on Only Fans chatters: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/your-onlyfans-girlfriend-might-be-a-guy-or-a-robot/id1449757372?i=1000731948555
• Our episode on VTubers: https://youtu.be/8bCU8MkO420?si=RXwh0aP8_BVcYXAT
• kill switch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@killswitch_pod

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tech companies are constantly putting out new products to chase the hype – but they’re not all winners. Each year, nonprofit consumer advocates put on an award ceremony recognizing the lousiest of the bunch, called the Worst in Show. Dexter talks with Liz Chamberlain, who runs Worst in Show, about this year’s awards, the products that earned them (spoiler: a product featured during the Super Bowl is on the list), and what we risk when we chase the hype (read: add AI to everything).

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Read + Watch: 

• This year’s Worst In Show: https://www.ifixit.com/News/115344/worst-in-show-returns-at-ces-2026-calling-out-gadgets-that-make-things-worse
• Worst In Show website: https://www.worstinshowces.com/ 
• kill switch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@killswitch_pod

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For a while, the internet felt like it might actually work. Dexter talks with legal scholar and author Tim Wu about his new book The Age of Extraction and how that early optimism faded as companies learned how to extract value from just about everything. 

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Read + Watch:

• The Age of Extraction, by Tim Wu: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/691177/the-age-of-extraction-by-tim-wu/
• kill switch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@killswitch_pod

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When an editor at a local magazine in Toronto received a pitch from a promising new freelancer, he didn’t expect it to spiral into an obsessive investigation. What followed was a deep dive into a web of fake interviews, impossible bylines, and fake reporting. Dexter talks with Nicholas Hune-Brown to trace how he uncovered an AI journalist and what it reveals about journalism today. 

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Read: 

• “Investigating a Possible Scammer in Journalism’s AI Era”  https://thelocal.to/investigating-scam-journalism-ai/ 
• “The Fallout From Our AI Freelancer Investigation” https://thelocal.to/fallout-from-ai-freelancer-investigation/
• The Local’s recent issue, “The Cost of Care” https://thelocal.to/winter-2026/ 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 2005, Myspace pages were flooded with the saying “Samy is my hero” and then suddenly, the platform went dark. Dexter talks with Jack Rhysider, host of the podcast Darknet Diaries, about Samy Kamkar, how he accidentally took down the biggest social media platform at the time, and how it changed the modern Internet. 

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Listen: 

• Jack’s Darknet Diaries episode with Samy: https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/61/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From language learning to investments to Amazon leaderboards, it seems like everything has become a game. But are these gamified things actually fun, or are we the ones being played? Dexter talks to philosopher C. Thi Nguyen, who recently wrote a book about why gamification can suck the life out of things called The Score. They talk about why the same mechanism in games and gamified metrics – the scoring system – works so differently, why gamification can trick you into caring about the wrong thing, and how this phenomenon hits everything… even baptisms.

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Read:

• C. Thi Nguyen’s book, The Score: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/735252/the-score-by-c-thi-nguyen/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Journalists, public figures, and just about anyone with an online presence today can suddenly face harassment: ranging from nasty posts and replies to real life threats like doxxing. Dexter talks with Ramy Ghaly, a security professional, about how online harassment has gotten worse, how to respond if it happens to you, and what you can do, right now, to prepare and protect yourself.

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Resources:

• Pen America’s Online Harassment Field Manual: https://onlineharassmentfieldmanual.pen.org/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’re sharing a preview of another podcast we think you’ll enjoy: What’s Your Problem?

Hosted by former Planet Money host Jacob Goldstein, What’s Your Problem? asks entrepreneurs and engineers about the problems they’re trying to solve to build a bigger and brighter future. 

In this episode: How do you build an app where strangers lend each other money? Nina Mohanty, CEO of Bloom Money, explains how centuries-old saving and lending global traditions—often used by immigrant communities—are being rebuilt for the modern financial system. It’s a conversation about trust, access, and what the future of money might look like when banks aren’t the center of it. 

Find What’s Your Problem? on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts.

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, we’re sharing an episode from the podcast Click Here, from our friends at Recorded Future News and PRX:

Jake Gallen was a rising star in crypto. Then, after what seemed like a routine YouTube interview, his digital world unraveled. His NFTs? Liquidated. His social accounts? Hijacked. It turns out, the hackers didn’t need phishing links or fake job offers. They needed something much simpler: a Zoom invite.

Subscribe to Click Here on Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/click-here/id1225077306) or wherever you get your podcasts.

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.