What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future
Every Friday and Sunday, Slate’s popular daily news podcast What Next brings you TBD, a clear-eyed look into the future. From fake news to fake meat, algorithms to augmented reality, Lizzie O’Leary is your guide to the tech industry and the world it’s creating for us to live in.
- Update frequency
- every 3 days
- Average duration
- 28 minutes
- Episodes
- 601
- Years Active
- 2017 - 2025
Tesla’s No Good, Very Bad Year
Elon Musk was promising an “epic” Q4 at Tesla last year. But 2022 ended closer to what might be considered an “epic fail,” with the stock price down 65 percent. In an uncertain economic environment l…
00:31:37 |
Sun 15 Jan 2023
Why the Feds Want to Kill Noncompetes
You might think of noncompete agreements as mostly limited to highly skilled, highly paid tech workers to protect trade secrets. But one-third of workers bound by noncompetes make $13/hour or less: f…
00:22:12 |
Fri 13 Jan 2023
How War in Taiwan Could Short-Circuit U.S. Tech
Roughly 95 percent of advanced semiconductor chip manufacturing happens in Taiwan, leaving the U.S. vulnerable to supply chain shocks and national security threats. Is the Biden administration’s $280…
00:25:41 |
Sun 08 Jan 2023
Will Southwest Be Held Accountable?
Over the holidays, thousands of passengers were left stranded or delayed when Southwest Airline’s outdated re-booking software broke down. Who can be held accountable, and why don’t airlines invest m…
00:28:47 |
Fri 06 Jan 2023
One Year - 1942: The Most Hated Man in America
At the beginning of World War II, the greatest threat to the American war effort wasn’t the Nazis or the Japanese—it was runaway inflation. The man in charge of stopping it was the country’s “price c…
00:47:45 |
Fri 23 Dec 2022
Are You Ready For Lab-Grown Meat?
The Food and Drug Administration gave an important thumbs up to lab-grown chicken, which means we could start seeing it in stores as soon as next year. While billions of dollars have been spent devel…
00:32:09 |
Sun 18 Dec 2022
SBF's Worst Week Yet
Even in a crazy year for crypto, Sam Bankman-Fried’s story is undeniably the most bananas. And even in the context of the implosion of FTX, getting arrested has got to make this week his worst yet. W…
00:37:26 |
Fri 16 Dec 2022
San Francisco’s Self-Driving Mess
Self-driving cars and robotaxis are starting to appear on the streets of San Francisco. While we have a whole regulatory system in place for drivers, who’s making sure these new cars are safe?
Guest…
00:28:51 |
Sun 11 Dec 2022
Let’s Talk, Chatbots
Artificial intelligence is growing in leaps and bounds, and everywhere from Big Tech companies like Google to small teams like OpenAI are developing more and more convincing chatbots. Is the world re…
00:31:23 |
Fri 09 Dec 2022
Big Tech’s Boogeymen In Washington
The Biden administration’s Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission are both staffed with accomplished progressives who are proving more aggressive than their predecessors in either the Tru…
00:38:01 |
Sun 04 Dec 2022
Twitter's Vulnerabilities, Exposed
Dating back to the Arab Spring, Twitter’s potential for real-time organizing has been a selling point. But trying to find information on China’s “Zero COVID” protests reveals just how vulnerable the …
00:30:14 |
Fri 02 Dec 2022
The Trap of Buy Now, Pay Later
The option to “buy now and pay later” over installments exploded over the past two years, thanks to people being flush with stimulus cash and shopping online during the pandemic. But is this new, und…
00:33:43 |
Sun 27 Nov 2022
The End of the Tech Boom
After decades as America’s booming industry, tens of thousands of tech workers have been laid off in November alone. Is the venture-capital, low-interest-rate wind leaving the sails temporary or is t…
00:30:10 |
Sun 20 Nov 2022
The Case Against Climate Reparations
At this year’s annual UN conference on climate change, they are discussing “climate reparations,” wherein the rich countries that grew their wealth burning fossil fuels pay money to poorer and more v…
00:32:10 |
Fri 18 Nov 2022
Is This The Cryptocalypse?
The (once) third-largest cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, collapsed in stunning fashion this week, highlighting why consumers really do want regulation, and why old financial institutions remain wary of…
00:31:20 |
Sun 13 Nov 2022
Senator Chris Murphy on Elon's Acquisition of Twitter
The second largest investor in Twitter, after Elon Musk, is the Saudis, which raises questions about what kinds of “free speech” Musk is really committed to. But it also raises questions around natio…
00:19:05 |
Fri 11 Nov 2022
Why Are So Many Little Kids Sick Right Now?
It’s been a rough autumn for parents of little kids, as non-COVID respiratory diseases are taking advantage of the first fall since 2019 where schools and daycares are full again, and America’s strai…
00:25:03 |
Sun 06 Nov 2022
So How’s It Going, Elon?
One week in as head honcho of Twitter and Elon Musk is in a tight spot: how do you balance the desires of advertisers with your ostensible zeal for free speech? How do you make something for which yo…
00:28:51 |
Fri 04 Nov 2022
Big Brother, Big Tech and China
There are some 400 million surveillance cameras installed in China, one for every three to four civilians. Built with the help of American tech companies, the surveillance state was pitched to the pu…
00:41:07 |
Sun 30 Oct 2022
Twitter Is Dead; Long Live Twitter
Twitter has been a lot of things—where you posted your lunch, where you met your people, where you were subjected to a harassment campaign. Now, as Elon Musk prepares to take the reins, where is it h…
00:39:41 |
Fri 28 Oct 2022
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