If Elon Musk owns Twitter, what are the risks and what are the opportunities? In order for Twitter to support democracy — and Musk’s goal of becoming a multi-planetary civilization — we need a radical redesign that goes beyond free speech. 

Note: this conversation was recorded on April 21, 2022. That was 3 days prior to the official purchase announcement, which revealed that Elon Musk will buy Twitter for $44 billion.

Spotlight — A Bigger Picture on Elon & Twitter

In our podcast, Your Undivided Attention, co-hosts Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin explore the unprecedented power of emerging technologies: how they fit into our lives, and how they fit into a humane future.

Join us every other Thursday as we confront challenges and explore solutions with a wide range of thought leaders and change-makers — like Audrey Tang on digital democracy, neurotechnology with Nita Farahany, getting beyond dystopia with Yuval Noah Harari, and Esther Perel on Artificial Intimacy: the other AI.

Your Undivided Attention is produced by Executive Editor Sasha Fegan and Senior Producer Julia Scott. Our Associate Producers are Sara McCrea and Kirsten McMurray. We are a top tech podcast worldwide with more than 20 million downloads and a member of the TED Audio Collective.

Society & Culture

Personal Journals

History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

Technology

Tech News

Podcasting

Gadgets

Software How-To

News

Suicides. Self harm. Depression and anxiety. The toll of a social media-addicted, phone-based childhood has never been more stark. It can be easy for teens, parents and schools to feel like they’re trapped by it all. But in this conversation with Tristan Harris, author and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt makes the case that the  conditions that led to today’s teenage mental health crisis can be turned around – with specific, achievable actions we all can take starting today.

Jonathan Haidt On How to Solve the Teen Mental Health Crisis

Beneath the race to train and release more powerful AI models lies another race: a race by companies and nation-states to secure the hardware to make sure they win AI supremacy.

Chips Are the Future of AI. They’re Also Incredibly Vulnerable. With Chris Miller

Is there a vision of our future where AI can help our democracies thrive, rather than just survive?  With election season underway, Taiwan’s Minister of Digital Affairs Audrey Tang returns to the podcast to discuss how to create a resilient democracy in the age of AI.

Future-proofing Democracy In the Age of AI with Audrey Tang

Was it political progress, or political theater? The recent Senate hearing with social media CEOs led to astonishing moments — including Mark Zuckerberg’s public apology to families who lost children following social media abuse. Our panel untangles the explosive hearing, and what might come next.

U.S. Senators Grilled Social Media CEOs. Will Anything Change?

Ninety-six percent of deep-faked images and videos are sexually explicit and non-consensual. Legal scholar Mary Anne Franks and journalist Laurie Segall discuss the AI-enabled rise in deep fake porn, and what we can do about it.

Spotlight — A Bigger Picture on Elon & Twitter

Download our free app to listen on your phone