The Culture of Tech with Benj Edwards

Benj Edwards chats with actress and writer Felicia Day (The Guild, MST3K) about her personal tech history, favorite Ultima games, and the freedom of pursuing what comes to you naturally. They also discuss a special pink Commodore 64, the fate of the Prodigy archives, avatar rights, and much more. This interview took place May 2018.

As a historian, Benj Edwards often writes about the past. In this episode, Benj delves firmly into the future as he chats with futurist and VR enthusiast Jesse Damiani, Editor-At-Large of VRScout, about the world of VR, AR, blockchain, and beyond -- including the future of trust and the impact of having a permanent record of one's actions, and more. It's simultaneously scary, exciting, and enlightening. This interview took place November 2017.

In 2018, the future of journalism in the face of social media is unclear. In this episode, Benj Edwards chats with veteran journalist Adrienne LaFrance, Editor of TheAtlantic.com, about her career as a journalist, the interface between technology and journalism past and present, how the pace of news (and life) has changed over the past […]

Navigation is in Stan Honey's blood. In the late 1970s and early 80s, Honey pioneered nautical navigation systems that led him to become a championship yacht navigator. In the 1980s, he co-founded Etak, which created the world's first computerized in-car navigation system -- the ancestor of the GPS-based navigation systems we use today. And in the 1990s, he pioneered commercial applications of augmented reality by founding SportVision, which created real-time on-screen overlays for television sportscasts.

In this episode, Benj Edwards talks to Honey about these innovations and what it means if, as a species, we never have to get lost again. You'll also hear two new songs from Benj Edwards about the topic at hand.

In the 1980s, Richard Garriott (AKA Lord British) created a cultural innovation in computer games in Ultima IV by developing a system of secular virtues, which guided the main character beyond a wholesale slaughter of enemies and into an ethical dilemma of doing the right thing.

In this episode, Garriott (Lord British) and Benj Edwards discuss philosophy, ethics, religion, and the Origin of Ultima’s secular virtues.

Steve Wozniak is known for many things, but did you know that in addition to co-founding Apple, he also invented the universal remote control? In this podcast interview, I dig into that story and more as we talk about Woz’s personal history with Television. There's an original song at the end of the episode as well.