When the tech industry started rounds of layoffs this year, almost half of the people let go were women—even though they make up a much smaller percentage of the workforce. What does this say about women in tech, and efforts to diversify the industry overall? Guest: Emma Goldberg , a reporter who covers the future of work for the New York Times. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of...
Jul 23, 2023•27 min
To keep places like Phoenix habitable, we need to have air-conditioning. But to have air-conditioning, we need a functional, modern electrical grid. With America’s grid already aging—and more demand coming in the form of electric cars and more A/C for hotter weather—what will it take to keep it going as the weather gets more extreme? Guest: Dr. Joshua Rhodes , research scientist at the University of Texas at Austin studying energy systems and how they interact with our environment, climate, and ...
Jul 21, 2023•24 min
Pedestrian deaths in America have been rising for the last decade, while dropping in Europe and Japan. What makes the U.S. so dangerous for pedestrians? Guest: Jessie Singer , author of There Are No Accidents: The Deadly Rise of Injury and Disaster―Who Profits and Who Pays the Price . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Jul 16, 2023•32 min
Contract negotiations between the Teamsters and UPS broke down last week and now a strike looms. With time running out, can both sides reach a deal? Guest: Noam Scheiber , labor reporter for the New York Times. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextp...
Jul 14, 2023•30 min
Andrew Tate’s gross mix of self-help, toxic masculinity and misogyny captured the minds of young boys on the internet. It also led to indictments in Romania on human trafficking and rape charges. Guest: Lisa Miller , contributing editor at New York magazine. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on W...
Jul 09, 2023•34 min
It seems like with each new Musk innovation, a new Twitter replacement appears in response. But Threads is backed by Meta and available in just a few clicks for an Instagram user. Could it be the one? Guest: Mike Isaac , technology reporter for the New York Times. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do her...
Jul 07, 2023•24 min
Even if you like the convenience of your phone unlocking after it reads your face, there are reasons to be wary of the TSA bringing facial recognition technology to the airport. Guest: Geoffrey Fowler , technology columnist for the Washington Post. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next T...
Jul 02, 2023•21 min
A shortage of basic chemotherapy drugs to treat cancer is jeopardizing the care of hundreds of thousands of patients. The drugs aren’t expensive, or patented—so where are they? Guest: Ed Yong , science journalist at The Atlantic. Host: Lizzie O'Leary If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next...
Jun 30, 2023•31 min
Semaglutide, better known by its brand name Ozempic, has been making headlines as a weight loss drug – despite only having FDA approval to treat diabetes. Now, some say it doesn’t just quell cravings for food – it helps quiet cravings for alcohol, drugs, and other compulsive behaviors. For years, researchers have been studying semaglutide's effectiveness as an addiction cure in animals. What have they found? And – does it actually work? Guest: Sarah Zhang covers health and medicine for The Atlan...
Jun 25, 2023•27 min
On Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission sued Amazon, accusing the online giant of “tricking and trapping people into recurring subscriptions.” The complaint says Amazon “knowingly duped millions of consumers into unknowingly enrolling in Amazon Prime." With murmurs of a larger antitrust probe against Amazon just around the corner, how serious is this suit for the tech giant? Guest: Leah Nylen , antitrust reporter at Bloomberg If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. ...
Jun 23, 2023•23 min
One son was preparing to take over George Soros’s multi-billion-dollar empire. Then, there was a falling out, and a new heir-apparent was chosen. Who is Alex Soros? And, as he takes over for one of the most influential figures in American politics, what can we expect from him? Guest: Gregory Zuckerman , special writer at the Wall Street Journal Host: Emily Peck If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, b...
Jun 18, 2023•25 min
Across Reddit, thousands of forums have gone “private” and effectively disappeared. Users are protesting the site’s plan to capitalize on its data, which has been enjoyed for free by people making third-party apps for Reddit, as well as some of the world’s biggest companies training their A.I. Guest: Sarah Needleman , reporter for the Wall Street Journal who writes about interactive entertainment and social media Host: Emily Peck If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus....
Jun 16, 2023•24 min
As “deep fakes” have demonstrated, it’s getting easier and easier to swap an actor for a digital likeness—something that contributed to the Screen Actors Guild voting to authorize joining the writers on strike. Guest: Heather Tal Murphy , Slate writer covering tech, business, and A.I. Host: Lizzie O'Leary If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—a...
Jun 11, 2023•29 min
This week, the SEC sued Binance, the largest crypto exchange in the world, and Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in the US. Is it a sign that the glory days of crypto are gone? Guest: Stacy-Marie Ishmael , managing editor for crypto at Bloomberg News Host: Lizzie O'Leary If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the wor...
Jun 09, 2023•31 min
Until recently, Nvidia was a company known for graphics cards—a brand name among gamers but not necessarily the general public. But as part of the A.I. boom, Nvidia’s stock has skyrocketed, putting the company in Silicon Valley’s trillion-dollar valuation class with Apple, Meta, and Alphabet—briefly, at least. Guest: Don Clark , freelance reporter specializing in chips and enterprise tech. Host: Emily Peck If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get ...
Jun 04, 2023•21 min
When someone posts a photo of you online without your consent, it should be easy to have it taken down or confront the person who posted it. But what if the poster is your parent, and it’s not just one photo, but your entire childhood that’s readily available online? And as social media algorithms evolve to push content in front of as many people as possible, what happens when a temper tantrum goes viral? Guest: Kathryn Lindsay , technology and culture writer. Host: Emily Peck If you enjoy this ...
Jun 02, 2023•25 min
How the music streaming business opened the door to billions of dollars in fraud. Guest: Ashley Carman , Bloomberg News reporter covering the podcasting, music, and audio beat. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Host...
May 28, 2023•19 min
How Twitter’s new CEO Linda Yaccarino finds herself on the edge of “the glass cliff”: when a woman is sent in to fix a big mess. Guest: Vittoria Elliot , reporter for Wired, covering platforms and power If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to h...
May 26, 2023•21 min
From the coffee shop to the salon to the grocery store, Americans feel like they’re being prompted and prodded for tips more than ever—and they’re starting to resent it. Guest: Kelly Phillips Erb , tax and law reporter for Forbes. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next TBD. Sign up now at...
May 21, 2023•29 min
Out of the smoky backrooms, Vegas and clandestine dens, and straight to your phone—how did gambling on sports go from forbidden to inescapable seemingly overnight? Guest: John Holden, associate professor at Oklahoma State’s Spears school of business If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next ...
May 19, 2023•25 min
Space might seem to be heading from the domain of big government programs to a playground for billionaires. But just below the surface, a world of start-ups are getting ready to launch. Guest: Ashlee Vance , business columnist and author of When the Heavens Went on Sale: The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach . If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow...
May 14, 2023•30 min
Artificial intelligence—as it already exists today—is drawing from huge troves of surveillance data and is rife with the biases built into the algorithm, in service of the huge corporations that develop and maintain the systems. The fight for the future doesn’t look like war with Skynet; it’s happening right now on the lines of the Writer’s Guild strike. Guests: Meredith Whittaker , president of the Signal Foundation, co-founder of the AI Now Institute at NYU If you enjoy this show, please consi...
May 12, 2023•29 min
Meta’s reached a sort of mid-life crisis. Between the layoffs, the stagnant metaverse and Facebook’s dwindling profile, does Zuckerberg have a plan here? Guests: Naomi Nix , Washington Post reporter If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help ...
May 07, 2023•29 min
When television and screenwriters went on strike in 2007, Netflix had just started offering the option to stream content. This week, the Writer’s Guild of America went on strike to update pay structures for the streaming era—and to get ahead of A.I. and the changes it may bring. Guests: Michelle Dean , television writer and journalist Anousha Sakoui , entertainment industry writer for the Los Angeles Times If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get ...
May 05, 2023•27 min
Two gig workers standing side-by-side can be offered the very same job and get offered two different wages. Set by an algorithm and based on calculations that are never explained to the workers themselves, this unequal pay for equal work is already subject to lawsuits that call it a form of price fixing and wage discrimination, but the tech is being tested in other industries. Guests: Veena Dubal , law professor at the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco Sergio Avedian, se...
Apr 30, 2023•22 min
Twitter’s “blue check” verification went from something you applied for, to something you could pay for, to something you had to pay for…to something that many celebrities wouldn’t even accept for free. Master of horror Stephen King told us he wouldn’t pay for a blue check, but he’s not going to fight it either—he just doesn’t really understand what’s going on. Does anyone at Twitter understand? Guests: Alex Heath , deputy editor of The Verge Jon Favreau , co-founder of Crooked Media, speechwrit...
Apr 28, 2023•30 min
Weather apps can be frustrating. And with how much we rely on them to know if we should wear pants or shorts, they'll still leave you in the rain. But as the climate gets wilder, the questions of how to tell people what they need to know—and quickly—can be an issue of life or death. Guest: Charlie Warzel , staff writer at the Atlantic Daniel Swain , UCLA climate scientist Host: Lizzie O'Leary If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like ...
Apr 23, 2023•21 min
Reddit announced it will start charging companies to use its huge, ever-growing trove of text to train A.I. chatbots. It’s another expense for the fledgling tech and another knock against the “open internet” ideals that Reddit once embodied. Guest: Mike Isaac , tech reporter for the New York Times. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’...
Apr 21, 2023•22 min
A new law in Utah that goes into effect next year states that anyone under 18 needs parental permission to use social media. Is it a necessary step to protect children from harms associated with social media, or are we blunting a tool of expression for the youth? Guest: Dr. Mitch Prinstein , chief science officer at American Psychological Association Host: Lizzie O’Leary If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate ...
Apr 16, 2023•30 min
Discord is a place to share a community online. Most often, it's for gaming. So why did classified intelligence from the Pentagon end up on a small server whose main interests seem to be video games, military equipment and memes? And how? Guest: Shane Harris , intelligence and national security reporter for the Washington Post. Host: Lizzie O’Leary If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes...
Apr 14, 2023•30 min
