Tools and Weapons, hosted by Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith, features conversations with leaders in government, business, and culture that explore the world’s most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society. This episode’s guest is Father Paolo Benanti, a Franciscan monk who is also a technology and bioethics professor and advisor to Pope Francis on the ethics of artificial intelligence. He and Brad discuss the Rome Call for AI Ethics, which has brought toge...
May 02, 2023•33 min
We’re shaking things up today and sharing a preview from Hot Money, a new podcast from our friends at Pushkin Industries and the Financial Times. When Financial Times reporter Patricia Nilsson started digging into the porn industry, she made a shocking discovery: Nobody knew who controlled the biggest porn company in the world. Now, Nilsson and her editor, Alex Barker, have figured out who the guy was, and much more. Their reporting reveals a shadowy power structure that includes billionaires, t...
Jun 14, 2022•34 min
With the continually rapid evolution of the technology around us and the advent of computers and smartphones, it would appear that the future is upon us. But is that necessarily a good thing? This week, Jordan and Joshua speak with writer and tech journalist Alexandra Samuel to discuss how our new reality was merely science fiction just a few years ago, and sometimes quite literally! Alexandra explains how Sci-Fi writers have actually predicted technology trends and have even shaped a lot of the...
Apr 21, 2021•46 min•Ep. 20
Nintendo is a household name, but how is that possible for a video game company that's over 100 years old? This week, Joshua and Jordan discuss the enduring legacy of Nintendo, a video game company that has found appeal across all levels of gamers, from casual to the most die-hard. Nintendo was started in 1889 as a playing card company, but they're mostly known for Mario's birthplace and consistently creating innovative games and gameplay. Listen as Jordan and Joshua explore their personal conne...
Mar 31, 2021•46 min•Ep. 19
What if you were offered the chance to speak with a lost loved one? New technology, namely the app Replika, is offering the chance to upload someone's data to recreate them in the digital form. Joshua and Jordan chat with journalist with Protocol, Mike Murphy, who has written extensively about the subject of recreating the digital self using data. Replika came into the public eye when founder Eugenia Kuyda shared the story of her friend Roman Mazurenko who passed away. Eugenia uploaded Roman's t...
Mar 17, 2021•50 min•Ep. 18
Ratatouille: The Musical started as a meme, then a viral TikTok video until ultimately becoming a hit Broadway musical that Disney approved. How is that possible, especially during a pandemic? This week, Jordan and Joshua talk to a few of the key players in turning a short internet video into a full-scale production. Jordan and Joshua speak with Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley, the writers of Ratatouille: The Musical (or Ratatousical if you'd like) to explain the incredible journey that this m...
Mar 03, 2021•42 min•Ep. 17
Gamestop, Robinhood, Hedge funds, Reddit; there's a good chance you've been hearing these terms being thrown around, but what exactly is going on? This week, Jordan and Joshua break down the timeline events of that made Gamestop stock soar and make redditors millionaires overnight. Journalist and writer for VICE MOTHERBOARD Matthew Gault simplifies how the stock market works, what "shorting" is, the major conflicted interest with Robinhood's involvement, and how savvy redditors banded together a...
Feb 17, 2021•44 min•Ep. 16
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-...
Jan 27, 2021•45 min•Ep. 15
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, l...
Jan 13, 2021•49 min•Ep. 14
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....
Dec 16, 2020•51 min•Ep. 13
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...
Dec 02, 2020•39 min•Ep. 12
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 da...
Nov 18, 2020•46 min•Ep. 11
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 conspirac...
Nov 02, 2020•41 min•Ep. 10
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...
Oct 21, 2020•43 min•Ep. 9
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. T...
Oct 07, 2020•41 min•Ep. 8
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 wh...
Sep 23, 2020•40 min•Ep. 7
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 A...
Sep 09, 2020•33 min•Ep. 6
We all agree music is art, but an algorithm is challenging that idea. Damien Riehl and Noah Rubin created the "All the Music" algorithm, and it's tirelessly making songs at the rate of over 200,000 melodies per second to prove music is merely math. If they succeed, it will be the end of music copyright law as we know it. Jordan Erica Webber and Joshua Rivera, talk to Damien to understand the murky world of music litigation, and why he's trying to destroy it. Kristelia Garcia, an associate law pr...
Aug 26, 2020•41 min•Ep. 5
Animal Crossing: New Horizons has captured the world's heart due to its cutesy animal neighbors, soothing island vibes, and unbridled capitalism? Hidden beyond Nook's Craney there's a black market emerging on the internet that involves the trafficking of certain characters, and bringing out the worst greed in some players. Joshua Rivera takes a visit to Jordan Erica Webber's island to see what the fuss is about the hit Nintendo Switch game. And we hear from Zach Reino about his crazy pursuit of ...
Aug 18, 2020•35 min•Ep. 4
You can't own an iPhone and be a bad person, at least according to Apple. Director of "Knives Out" and "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" Rian Johnson exposed Apple's strange product placement policy in a video online for Vanity Fair. But hosts Jordan Erica Webber and Joshua Rivera discover that this has been going on longer than most of us would expect. First we hear from Dean Browell, the creator of the The Macintosh Theory, who first noticed these spoilers in commercials and Fox's hit "24." Then Josh...
Aug 07, 2020•34 min•Ep. 3
If you noticed something hairy while watching Splash on Disney+, it wasn't just your imagination. Disney digitally added hair to cover Daryl Hannah's rear-end, and viewers are confused. Turns out, Disney has been altering it's content for decades to stay "family friendly." Jordan Erica Webber and Joshua Rivera chat with Josh Spiegel revealing this isn't the first time Disney hid their connection to Daryl Hannah's butt. And, we assemble a panel of parents to figure out how they feel about Disney+...
Aug 06, 2020•33 min•Ep. 2
In September 2005, World of Warcraft, a popular MMORPG, was struck with a virus called "Corrupted Blood." It spread uncontrollably, killing hundreds of thousands of players. And now, epidemiologists are studying players' reactions to this virtual pandemic, trying to predict human reactions to real contagions. Jordan Erica Webber and Joshua Rivera speak to a player from the Corrupted Blood Incident who became a super spreader, and Eric Lofgren, an epidemiologist who studied the World of Warcraft ...
Aug 05, 2020•34 min•Ep. 1
Would you be surprised if scientists are learning how to fight COVID-19 from World of Warcraft? What if I told you that I could spoil almost any movie based on who uses an iPhone? Did you know that Disney is afraid of butts? Well, that’s Wild Wild Tech, the podcast that brings you the wildest, most bizarre, the most interesting stories about tech and how it’s shaping our culture. Wild Wild Tech is hosted by Jordan Erica Webber and Joshua Rivera where every week we'll uncover infamous stories in ...
Aug 04, 2020•2 min
