Wild Wild Tech

Will we eventually reach a point in technology where realistic sex dolls can become suitable companions? This week, Joshua and Jordan speak with Erin Griffith, an investigative journalist who came face-to-face with Henry, a sex bot from RealBotix that could be a glimpse into the future of human companionship. RealBotix, founded by Matt McMullen, is working on creating the perfect realistic humanoid that McMullen claims is not just about sex. Once fully completed, Henry should be able to have in-depth conversations with his human counterpart, assuming that person can afford the hefty $12,000 price tag. But the hyper-sexualized dolls littering the RealBotix warehouse, and the fact that most of the people in the company are male, indicates there's still an issue with inclusion. So could sex bots like Henry be the cure for loneliness in the future, especially for women who are often forgotten in this field, or will our real-world biases and a male-dominated tech industry create the same issues that plague us today?

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You may not realize it, but that smartphone in your pocket has influenced how you and much of the world speaks to each other. This week, Jordan and Joshua speak with two linguists to discuss how internet culture and even the act of texting has completely morphed the way the world communicates with each other. First, linguist David Crystal discusses how language has always evolved and changed, but the rapid-fire evolution of communication technology has thrown that change into hyperdrive. Plus, linguist Gretchen McCulloch explains more specifically how internet lingo has created a new form of language, merging written and spoken language, which is creating a generational gap, even between people born within a few years of each other. Whether you like it or not, the way you speak has been influenced by the technology around us. The question is, is this just a natural progression that has happened since the beginning of spoken language, or a sign of the decay of our society?

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If you missed out on your chance to purchase a PS5 or Xbox Series X, you are not alone. In fact, you might find it a lot harder to find any hot ticket item this holiday season, and potentially every major shopping event in the future, all thanks to bots. Jordan and Joshua explore the world of online shopping bots, programs that cut the line of any major sale to purchase highly anticipated products, such as gaming consoles, major and small appliances and sneakers, with the sole purpose of profit. They speak with VICE writer Patrick Klepek whose article shone light on these insidious tools being used to snag all the stock of your favorite items. This new form of online shopping is giving the unfair advantage to those who use these programs, and take items out of the hands of brick-and-mortar shoppers. So are these bots cheating or is it all fair in the world of capitalism?

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The FBI estimates that as many as 40% of homicides go unsolved, with no national database to keep track. But what if an algorithm could help identify trends and even potentially bring the number of unsolved murders down? This week, Joshua and Jordan delve into the Murder Accountability Project, a nonprofit group dedicated to mapping unsolved homicides in the United States. They speak with one of the founders of the M.A.P., Thomas Hargrove, who was able to create an algorithm that mapped clusters of murders in various areas around the U.S. His work was even able to identify a previously-unknown serial killer in Gary, Indiana, and could help solve more unsolved cases in the future. Thomas's work has revealed startling issues in how police across the country fail to keep track of unsolved murders when this data is crucial in understanding crime, and even helping prevent it, as well as how murders that remain unsolved disproportionately affects women and people of color.

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Amidst the influencers, cute animals, memes and other videos on Instagram lives a bizarre, dark and strangely legal underworld where people buy and sell human skulls, bones and body parts. Jordan Erica Webber and Joshua Rivera dig deep into this macabre marketplace where they meet with Henry Scragg, proprietor of curiositiesfromthe5thcorner, and actual buyer and seller of human skulls and other death-related oddities. They also learn that the trading of human bones is nothing new and actually dates back to about the 1800s. Writer Oscar Schwartz's article outlines the history of the troublesome practice as it was used in phrenology and other outdated sciences, and attributes it to cultural appropriation. And although Instagram is now the go-to to buying marketplace, it began on eBay and other sites in the early days of the internet, and is showing no signs of slowing. Oscar explains how this trading in body parts is a remnant of colonialists who exploited and even killed indigenous people, but Henry defends his business as embracing death as part of life, detailing how one can be a responsible and discerning skull-trader. So is the trading of human remains just another legitimate-albeit-unusual business, or is it perpetuating an outdated practice that exploits disenfranchised people and their culture?

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On this special pre-election episode, Jordan Erica Webber and Joshua Rivera explore the cloud of misinformation that is affecting the country, more specifically, how it's targeting the state of Florida and the Latinx community that resides therein. They speak with Sabrina Rodríguez, Florida native and politics writer for Politico, who wrote an article detailing how wild conspiracy theories are directly warping the political attitudes of the varied Latin demographics in Florida, and how conspiracy theories have begun to appear in local media publications in the Sunshine State. Joshua also speaks with his uncle Ezequiel Rivera, a resident of Florida, who is directly affected by the misinformation campaign flooding local media and even WhatsApp. Though this contentious election is affecting everyone around the country, Jordan and Joshua offer helpful ideas to fight against misinformation and bring peace back to our democratic process. Now, go out and vote!

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This week, Jordan and Joshua explore the light and dark sides of the deepfakes phenomena, synthesizing audio and video to replace the likeness of one person with another. Jordan and Joshua speak with Paul Shales AKA The Fakening about how he's built a career on swapping voices and faces of celebrities, and how the burgeoning technology is only getting better and harder to detect. On the other side, Dr. Hany Farid of UC Berkely and Mary Anne Franks, professor and founder of the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative discuss how this deep learning technology could have dire consequences in the wrong hands. Writer Samantha Cole of VICE recounts her discussions with proprietors of deep fake pornography and how revenge porn is exploiting women without their consent or knowledge. Plus, target of revenge porn and former congresswoman Katie Hill discusses her fight to make the creators of this content more accountable and how we need to get a handle on this technology before it's too late. So are deepfakes harmless fun and expressions of our free speech or will they be the end of legitimacy on the internet as we know it?

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How is it possible that a restaurant that doesn't exist could become the top-rated restaurant on TripAdvisor? We get the answer from Oobah Butler, artist and prankster, who created "The Shed at Dulwich," a restaurant that served microwaved mac and cheese and boxed soup, but still managed to be the most-hyped restaurant in London. Jordan Erica Webber and Joshua Rivera explore how reliant we all are on reviews to make decisions for just about everything, even if reviews cannot always be trusted. They also talk to James Kay, Director of Communications for TripAdvisor, to hear their side of the story. And, Josh and Jordan speak with Davide Cerretini aka the One Star Chef, who after Yelp attempted to strongarm him in to pay for advertising, used Yelp's reviewing system against them to create the most popular one-star restaurants in the world. 

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TikTok - a place of short, fun viral videos that's constantly on the edge of being banned. But for some of the LGBTQ community, TikTok is the new Tinder. Jordan Erica Webber and Joshua Rivera explore why lesbians are turning to this social media app as an ad hoc dating app. They speak with Megan Mitchell, a news anchor in Cincinnati, who met her girlfriend through TikTok, Lena Wilson, a journalist whose article in the New York Times explores this new phenomenon, and Elizabeth Lovett, a writer who's writing a book about the precursor to TikTok and dating apps for lesbians before the age of the internet. Plus, Wild Wild Tech runs it's own dating experiment for the podcast to see if our single-and-looking test subject can find love via TikTok.

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You ever get so immersed in the world of a video game you start to believe you could live in that world? Well, the U.S. Army is betting on that. The United States Army has a long history of using video games as a tool for recruiting the next generation of soldiers. Activist Jordan Uhl alleges that recently the military is preying on vulnerable potential recruits by glamorizing war through their Twitch. Jordan Erica Webber and Joshua Rivera speak with Jordan Uhl about how he was banned from the Army's Twitch stream, how they use misleading links and prize offers to direct people to recruitment forms, and why he has taken his cause up through the U.S. courts to curb these practices. The U.S. Army refused to talk to us about this, but we'll keep digging as the story continues to develop.

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