kill switch

Elon Musk has spent his career turning improbable ideas into companies that reshape the world. To some, the entrepreneur behind Tesla and SpaceX is an engineering genius whose ambitions have transformed electric cars and space travel. To others, his politics and extraordinary influence raise serious questions about the future he is building. Either way, the world’s first trillionaire is betting Tesla’s future on AI and humanoid robots, and SpaceX’s on life beyond Earth.

In this season’s debut episode, Walter asks Musk about DOGE regrets, why he believes robots will solve America’s national debt, and the dark politics that have consumed his own platform, X. Along the way, Musk shares why living in a simulation demands that we all be less boring. A candid conversation about the imagination, drive and contradictions of a man determined to turn his vision into our future.

Interview taped August 6, 2026.

And be sure to pick up Walter Isaacson’s The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution, wherever fine books are sold.

ABOUT THE HOST
Walter Isaacson is the bestselling author of biographies of Elon Musk, Jennifer Doudna, Leonardo da Vinci, Steve Jobs, Benjamin Franklin, and Albert Einstein. He is a professor of history at Tulane University and previously served as CEO of the Aspen Institute, chair and CEO of CNN, and editor of Time. He was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2023.

IN THIS SEASON
Elon Musk (Tesla, SpaceX, xAI)
Peter Thiel (Founders Fund, PayPal, Palantir)
Mustafa Suleyman (Microsoft AI, DeepMind)
Dario Amodei and Daniela Amodei (Anthropic)
and more!

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When an astrologer tells Mangesh that he’ll (probably) die early, he takes it in stride. But his family and friends (not to mention all the Don’t Die longevity influencers on his FYP) feel differently… and besides, if science can keep his brain sharp and his tennis game strong for longer, why not take advantage? So he visits Dr. Nir Barzelai, the world’s leading aging researcher, and Dr. Ron Primas, an elite longevity doctor, to figure out what he should do. Plus: A chat with Ken Reid from TV Guidance Counselor about age in pop culture, from the Golden Girls to “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.”

Disclosure: The experts we spoke with want to be clear that although they have some minor quibbles with Bryan Johnson, they’re grateful for the fact that he’s started the conversation on longevity. Any insinuation that he’s got weird vibes is ours.

• Listen to Ken Reid’s podcast, TV Guidance Counselor
• Learn more about Nir Barzelai’s Longevity Genes Project and his book, Age Later
• Learn more about Ron Primas’s longevity and concierge medicine practice
• Read Cynthia Kenyon’s groundbreaking 1993 study of worm longevity
• Check out the Ray Kurzweil Library

Special thanks to Azadi Records and Bliss Samsa for their beautiful tracks, and Botany for the score. 

Episode collage art by Vahini Shori.

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Here’s a recent favorite of ours from our friends at the Uncanny Valley podcast.

Actor Ben McKenzie (The O.C.) is out with a new documentary, Everyone Is Lying to You for Money, which follows his journey into becoming an anti-cryptocurrency advocate. He says we should all stop trying to unmask the presumed original developer(s) of bitcoin known as Satoshi Nakamoto because it benefits only the mysterious inventor. The actor-director talks with Katie about why he thinks crypto is a scam, and why he says people are falling for it. 

Listen and subscribe to Uncanny Valley here: https://swap.fm/l/wired-uv-drop

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Your brain is the last place companies don’t have access to… yet. But that’s changing fast. Nita Farahany, professor of law and philosophy at Duke University and author of The Battle for Your Brain, explains why the sci-fi future of mind-reading technology is here, and already sitting on the shelves at Best Buy. Dexter talks to Nita about how AI is learning to decode your mental state, how employers are using neurotechnology to monitor workers, and why this might be our last chance to protect the one thing that’s still private: what’s actually going on inside your head. 

And be sure to listen through the end of the episode for a note from Dexter.

Hit us up: [email protected], or @killswitchpod on IG, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

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Discord announced it would start scanning users' account data to guess their age and if it couldn't figure out how old you were, it would ask for your government ID or a face scan. Gamers lost it, and within weeks, Discord backed down. But the fight isn't over. Dexter talks with Rin Alajaji of the Electronic Frontier Foundation about why age verification doesn't actually protect kids, how California's new Digital Age Assurance Act means your next laptop might card you before you can turn it on, and why a policy that started with gamers is quietly becoming everyone's problem.

Hit us up: [email protected], or @killswitchpod and @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Links: 

• EFF’s Age Verification and Age Gating: Resource Hub: https://www.eff.org/issues/age-verification

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This week, we’re sharing a clip from another podcast we’re excited about. Two Percent with Michael Easter is a deep dive into the science of living better, balancing rigorous evidence with a healthy dose of skepticism to cut through the noise of the modern wellness industry.

In this episode, Michael takes a nuanced look at vices and whether some of them might actually enhance your life when you use them the right way. We don't have to live like monks to live a good life.

We’re sharing the first segment of the episode featuring Dean Stattmann, a GQ reporter who spent three months sober and wrote a now-viral piece titled "Why My 2026 Resolution Is to Start Drinking Again." His Whoop scores got better, but his friendships, his marriage, and his mood got worse. Dean explains what alcohol actually does for human connection, what anthropologists call "costly signaling," and why moderate drinking might not be the villain the internet has made it out to be.

Check out the rest of the episode and the show, Two Percent with Michael Easter, wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube.

Hit us up: [email protected], or @killswitchpod and @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

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The wellness and health tech space is more crowded and confusing than ever – influencers are selling dubious health and beauty products and tech companies are developing wearables that track everything, from your sleep to your blood. Victoria Song, senior reviewer at The Verge, calls it the “wellness wild west.” Dexter talks to Victoria about the growing wellness trends online, the gray area between medical devices and wellness devices, and the mental health consequences of it all that no one talks about.

Hit us up: [email protected], or @killswitchpod and @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Links: 

• Victoria’s newsletter, Optimizer: https://www.theverge.com/optimizer-newsletter
• kill switch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@killswitch_pod

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AI agents can do stuff for you: like organize meetings or, accidentally delete your hard drive. Is this the future Silicon Valley wants for us? To get a preview of what it might be like, Evan Ratliff launched a startup with almost exclusively AI employees and documented the whole thing in his podcast Shell Game. Dexter talks with Evan about what it feels like to have a robot apologize for interrupting your lunch, why Clawdbot and Moltbook weren’t as groundbreaking as you might think, and why he thinks fellow journalists should consider using AI agents. 

Hit us up: [email protected], or @killswitchpod and @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Links: 

• Shell Game on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shell-game/id1753117762 
• kill switch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@killswitch_pod

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Direct File promised a free and easy way for Americans to file their taxes, but after two successful tax seasons, it was shut down. Dexter talks with Merici Vinton, who helped build Direct File, about the project's development, why it was an example of a good government program, and how lobbying from private tax companies and DOGE’s involvement ultimately led to its downfall. Could Direct File make a comeback, or has the opportunity for free tax filing already passed? 

Hit us up: [email protected], or @killswitchpod and @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Links: 

• Merici’s Direct File story: https://fas.org/publication/end-of-irs-direct-file/  
• kill switch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@killswitch_pod

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Wartime propaganda isn’t new – but the use of AI slop in churning out propaganda videos is. And in this proxy war, Iran is winning. Dexter talks to Matthew Gault, who recently wrote about the Iran-US slopaganda war for 404 Media, about the strategy behind Iran’s videos, why the US is losing online, and how AI has amplified an age-old war tactic.

Read Matthew’s piece for 404: https://www.404media.co/iran-is-winning-the-ai-slop-propaganda-war/

Hit us up: [email protected], or @killswitchpod and @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

This episode was livestreamed on YouTube. Catch the next one live by subscribing to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/@killswitch_pod

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