Unintended Consequences

By Patrick

Every weekday, one true story of good intentions gone sideways. From cobra bounties in colonial Delhi to recommendation algorithms, each episode follows a single case through the original idea, how it... more

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FAQs about Unintended Consequences:

How many episodes does Unintended Consequences have?

The podcast currently has 103 episodes available.

Unintended Consequences episodes:

July 29, 2026 Ep 73: Open-plan offices promised collaboration but a Harvard study found face-to-face interaction…
Open-plan offices promised collaboration but a Harvard study found face-to-face interaction fell roughly seventy percent once the walls came down.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
In the spring of 2013, a large pharmaceutical company in Cambridge, Massachusetts, moved several hundred researchers from traditional offices into a newly renovated open-plan floor. ...
AI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.
📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page
🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.
...more
10min
July 28, 2026 Ep 72: Seatbelt laws saved drivers by the thousands, yet feeling safer may have led some to drive faster and shift risk onto everyone else.
Seatbelt laws saved drivers by the thousands, yet feeling safer may have led some to drive faster and shift risk onto everyone else.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
In the spring of 1985, New York became the first American state to require drivers and front-seat passengers to buckle up. Within months, observed belt use jumped from roughly 16 percent to over 50 percent in many areas. ...
AI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.
📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page
🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.
...more
10min
July 27, 2026 Ep 71: Cigarette filters were added in the 1950s to ease health fears — and instead prompted smokers to inhale more deeply while creating the world’s most common plastic litter.
Cigarette filters were added in the 1950s to ease health fears — and instead prompted smokers to inhale more deeply while creating the world’s most common plastic litter.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
In 1952, the Lorillard Tobacco Company introduced the Kent cigarette with its new “Micronite” filter, advertising it as a barrier that removed a significant portion of the smoke’s irritants. ...
AI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.
🎬 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GxGbOhoApI
📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page
🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.
...more
9min
July 26, 2026 Ep 70: Reformers ended cash bail to free the poor before trial — and found that removing one flawed tool requires designing what comes next.
Reformers ended cash bail to free the poor before trial — and found that removing one flawed tool requires designing what comes next.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
In January 2020, a man arrested in New York City on a low-level drug charge walked out of court without posting bail under the state’s new reform law. Weeks later he was rearrested on a more serious allegation, one of several cases that quickly entered political debate. ...
AI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.
📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page
🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.
...more
9min
July 25, 2026 Ep 69: Uber set out to free drivers from taxi medallions with flexible, well-paid work — and left millions earning below minimum wage in algorithm-driven jobs.
Uber set out to free drivers from taxi medallions with flexible, well-paid work — and left millions earning below minimum wage in algorithm-driven jobs.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
In the summer of 2010, a small team in San Francisco began dispatching black town cars through an app that let riders request a ride with a few taps. The founders believed they were replacing a broken system of medallions, radio dispatch, and unpredictable fares with something cleaner and more efficient. ...
AI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.
📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page
🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.
...more
8min
July 24, 2026 Ep 68: Facial recognition was installed at airports to speed security and catch the right people — then the same systems started watching schools, stadiums, and protests.
Facial recognition was installed at airports to speed security and catch the right people — then the same systems started watching schools, stadiums, and protests.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
In the spring of 2018, a man named Robert Williams was arrested in his Detroit driveway after a facial-recognition match linked him to a department-store theft he had not committed. ...
AI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.
📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page
🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.
...more
11min
July 23, 2026 Ep 67: Marketed as an indestructible shield against fire, asbestos fibers remained in lungs for decades and triggered a slow epidemic of cancer that regulators could not see in time.
Marketed as an indestructible shield against fire, asbestos fibers remained in lungs for decades and triggered a slow epidemic of cancer that regulators could not see in time.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
In 1943, welders at the Brooklyn Navy Yard sprayed a gray, fibrous mixture onto the bulkheads of destroyer escorts so the ships could survive torpedo hits and engine-room fires. The material was light, cheap, and advertised as permanent. ...
AI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.
📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page
🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.
...more
8min
July 22, 2026 Ep 66: D.A.R.E. placed uniformed officers in classrooms to teach millions of children to refuse drugs, yet repeated evaluations found the program produced little measurable change in behavior.
D.A.R.E. placed uniformed officers in classrooms to teach millions of children to refuse drugs, yet repeated evaluations found the program produced little measurable change in behavior.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
In the spring of 1984, Los Angeles Police Department officers stood at the front of fifth-grade classrooms holding plastic bags of marijuana and cocaine while students recited pledges to stay drug-free. ...
AI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.
📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page
🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.
...more
8min
July 21, 2026 Ep 65: Plastic bag bans cut visible litter but drove shoppers to buy more trash liners and thicker “reusable” bags that often lasted no longer.
Plastic bag bans cut visible litter but drove shoppers to buy more trash liners and thicker “reusable” bags that often lasted no longer.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
In 2015 a woman in a London supermarket reached for a pack of small white bin liners that had not existed on the same shelf two years earlier. The plastic carrier bag she once carried home and then used for kitchen waste now cost five pence at the till, so she bought dedicated liners instead. ...
AI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.
📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page
🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.
...more
8min
July 20, 2026 Ep 64: Malcolm McLean’s shipping container slashed the cost of moving goods worldwide — and emptied the working waterfronts that had sustained port cities for generations.
Malcolm McLean’s shipping container slashed the cost of moving goods worldwide — and emptied the working waterfronts that had sustained port cities for generations.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
On an April morning in 1956, the converted tanker Ideal X left Newark for Houston carrying fifty-eight aluminum boxes lashed to its deck. Within a decade those boxes had cut the cost of loading a ton of cargo from roughly $5 to less than 50 cents. ...
AI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.
🎬 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBdiXzvh_qA
📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page
🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.
...more
9min

FAQs about Unintended Consequences:

How many episodes does Unintended Consequences have?

The podcast currently has 103 episodes available.