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
American Life is a Highway
America is caught in a vicious cycle of trying to alleviate traffic by expanding and building more highways, only for them to clog right up with more cars. How do you beat the traffic?
Guest: David …
00:23:56 |
Sun 29 Sep 2024
Big Tech Fears Her
Over the last decade, the European Union has been the vanguard regulating Big Tech, and the push has been led by Margrethe Vestager. As she steps down, Vestager is looking both back at the battles sh…
00:31:56 |
Fri 27 Sep 2024
Trump Called. Laura Loomer Answered.
Given Laura Loomer’s history of saying outright offensive and often bewildering things, how did she get into the Trump campaign’s inner circle?
Guest: Ken Bensinger, New York Times politics report…
00:26:15 |
Sun 22 Sep 2024
Can Instagram Really Keep Kids Safe?
Instagram’s new default privacy settings for teenagers are designed to keep kids safe from strangers online. It’s a worthy endeavor, but are privacy settings enough? And what about all the other haza…
00:30:37 |
Fri 20 Sep 2024
Is Boeing Lost in Space?
Boeing’s Starliner has now landed successfully—but Butch and Sunny weren’t on it. With a pair of astronauts still stuck on the ISS, when will NASA be ready to bring them back? And how?
Guest: Micah …
00:24:36 |
Sun 15 Sep 2024
TikTok Goes to Court
The law has been passed and signed by the president: TikTok’s parent company must sell or divest from the app. But that’s not happening without a legal fight.
Guest: Emily Baker-White, investigati…
00:26:09 |
Fri 13 Sep 2024
The Misguided Buzz About Mosquitoes
An outbreak of eastern equine encephalitis in the northeast made headlines, but as far as mosquito-borne illnesses go, EEE is serious but still rare. What’s getting way too common is the mosquito its…
00:24:29 |
Sun 08 Sep 2024
US v. Google… Again
A month after a federal judge declared that Google was operating as a monopoly because of its search engine, the Justice Department has alleged that Google’s ad business was breaking antitrust law as…
00:23:47 |
Fri 06 Sep 2024
Telegram's CEO Just Got Arrested. Huh?
Telegram was supposed to be the platform with the freest of free speech, which meant it was also rife with the worst the internet has to offer—"criminal activity” puts it lightly. But are French auth…
00:28:30 |
Sun 01 Sep 2024
Back To School… Without Phones
Since the pandemic, schools have been reporting that their students are more anxious and having trouble learning. How much does simply removing cell phones from the classroom address these problems?
…
00:30:22 |
Fri 30 Aug 2024
Who’s Going to Regulate AI?
Why are national politicians like Nancy Pelosi lining up alongside artificial intelligence companies to oppose safety regulations on this new industry proposed in California’s state legislature?
Gu…
00:22:50 |
Sun 25 Aug 2024
Crypto Courts the 2024 Vote
The last crypto boom left the industry cash-rich and reputation-poor, so they’re doing what any beleaguered industry does—donating to politicians.
Guest: Zeke Faux, investigative reporter for Bloomb…
00:26:26 |
Fri 23 Aug 2024
The Rise of Off-Brand Ozempic
GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy are in high demand and short supply. The internet makes it easy for you to have a compounding pharmacy whip you up a batch—but should you?
Guest: Kate Knibbs, sen…
00:22:31 |
Sun 18 Aug 2024
Elon Musk’s Bully Pulpit
Since Elon Musk took over Twitter - now X - in 2022, he’s increasingly used it to push his conservative views. A suit against a non-profit brand safety group of advertisers and an exclusive interview…
00:25:25 |
Fri 16 Aug 2024
Tesla’s Out of Juice. But Are EVs?
The hype has slowed but electric vehicles aren’t going away—once the infrastructure is in place, they’ll go everywhere.
Guests:
Nitish Pahwa, associate writer for business and tech at Slate.
Paula …
00:26:30 |
Sun 11 Aug 2024
Google’s a Monopoly. What About The Rest?
Should the other Silicon Valley giants be worried following the Department of Justice’s decisive win against Google?
Guest: Leah Nylen, antitrust reporter at Bloomberg
Want more What Next TBD? Sub…
00:23:32 |
Fri 09 Aug 2024
If They Can Get Sydney Sweeney They Can Get You
Earlier this month, AT&T was hit by the largest telecom hack ever. Not long after, Sydney Sweeney’s phone number was stolen by criminals, who used it to hack her social media and promote a memecoin. …
00:26:14 |
Sun 04 Aug 2024
Why Are More Young People Getting Cancer?
The age when you need to start being screened for cancers may need to be updated, as rates among younger people are on the rise. New testing methods could make the process a lot easier than, say, a c…
00:26:06 |
Fri 02 Aug 2024
The Panopticon Olympics
How France changed its own laws to have the safest, most pervasively surveilled Olympics ever—and why some are worried the new security system will stay in place long after the games end.
Guests:
A…
00:29:23 |
Sun 28 Jul 2024
Is Silicon Valley Trump-Vance Country?
For years, Silicon Valley has felt like a liberal enclave.. This election, a handful of powerful voices like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel are expressing support for the Trump-Vance ticket. Is this a shi…
00:24:01 |
Fri 26 Jul 2024
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