Happy New Year from the team here at The Future of Everything. To kick off 2024, we’re bringing you an episode that’s been one of our most popular. The timing is just right as many of us are headed into the new year thinking about how to live better. In this episode, Professor Helen Blau, a stem cell biologist, tells us all about how she’s recruiting stem cells to regenerate youthful muscle in older people. We’re thrilled to bring this episode out of the archives for another listen and renewed hope about possibilities ahead in the world of health.

Alex and Evelyn discuss CSAM in machine learning datasets, big DSA news from Europe, Meta's moderation around Israel & Hamas, Substack's Nazi problem, and another entry in the Netchoice Restatement of the Law.

A curated playlist of six episodes from our archive to accompany you through the holiday season.

Whether you’re thinking about giving during this season, ways to improve your health, or you’re simply excited to revisit compelling conversations with people who are impacting the future, we hope you’ll find something thought-provoking in this playlist. We are so grateful to you for taking the time to listen this year and we look forward to returning in the new year with more captivating discussions about the future of everything.

Alex and Evelyn discuss US military information operations, Threads testing ActivityPub integration, ridiculous statistics about TikTok, YouTube Magic Dust, the Meta Oversight Board moving with all deliberate speed, and First Amendment retaliation claims.

The holidays are here, and with that many of us are preparing to enjoy meals with family and friends. One of my previous guests on the show, Professor Michael Fischbach, tells us that the “gut biome” – that is, the complex community of bacteria that lives in our gastrointestinal tract – is what makes digesting and extracting nutrients from those meals possible. It’s a fascinating conversation about the important role bacteria plays in the human digestive system. I hope you’ll tune in.

Hi everyone, it’s your host, Russ here. We’re re-running our episode with Professor Stephen Quake today. Stephen’s research has helped countless patients avoid the pain and suffering that can come with invasive diagnostic testing. He’s developed a number of noninvasive blood tests to help detect preterm births, genetic disorders like Down Syndrome, cancer, and organ transplant rejection. It’s an episode that reminds us of the power of good science. I hope you’ll take another listen and enjoy.

Alex and Evelyn discuss whether telling your most important customers to go eff themselves is a good business strategy; the continual challenges of moderating CSAM; Meta's preparations for the 2024 elections; the injunction of Montana's TikTok ban; and the most important AI story no one is talking about.

Guest Percy Liang is an authority on AI who says that we are undergoing a paradigm shift in AI powered by foundation models, which are general-purpose models trained at immense scale, such as ChatGPT. In this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast, Liang tells host Russ Altman how foundation models are built, how to evaluate them, and the growing concerns with lack of openness and transparency.

Alex and Evelyn discuss the ongoing drama at OpenAI and how to think about AI safety; whether app stores should be doing age verification; India's jawboning of streaming platforms; rumours about rumours on TikTok; the scary threat to free expression coming from AGs investigating groups when Musk complains about them.

Guest Alex Konings studies fundamental links between the global cycle of water percolating into the ground and evaporating into the skies and a similar cycle of carbon moving through the world, shaping ecosystems, droughts, and fires. These cycles are inextricably bound, she says, and understanding how they function individually and in tandem is key to life on planet Earth. These important cycles may be easily overlooked but they cannot be ignored, Konings tells host Russ Altman on this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast.