Big Technology Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Elon Goes To Delaware — With The Chancery Daily Sep 14, 2022

Show notes

The Chancery Daily is an independent, daily newsletter that covers the Delaware Court of Chancery, the place where Twitter is trying to force Elon Musk to buy it. As this case winds its way through the court's legal process, an editor from The Chancery Daily joins us to break down where the case stands, whether Musk's arguments are working, how Delaware Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick is approaching the case, and what the likely result is. Give this episode a listen and you'll be able to follow the case with far more context than you'd get through just the headlines.

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Is AI Dangerously Overhyped? — With Gary Marcus Sep 07, 2022

Show notes

Gary Marcus is the author of Rebooting AI and an artificial intelligence entrepreneur who's a loud critic of many of the field's biggest promises. Marcus joins Big Technology Podcast this week to discuss the high profile breakthroughs such as LaMDA and Dall-E, and explain why putting too much faith in the field's ability may be dangerous. We begin with a discussion of the AI-generated art piece that won a competition in Colorado last week.

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YouTube's Uneasy World Domination — With Mark Bergen Aug 31, 2022

Show notes

Mark Bergen is a Bloomberg reporter and author of Like, Comment, Subscribe: Inside YouTube's Chaotic Rise to World Domination. The book releases next week and Bergen joins to preview what's inside, delivering a wide range of insights on YouTube's battle with TikTok, its algorithmic programming, and its appeal (and peril) for kids. Stay tuned for the second half where we discuss whether old media can cover YouTube (and its fellow digital challengers) without bias.

You can find the book here.

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Kevin Kelly's Life Lessons — With Kevin Kelly Aug 24, 2022

Show notes

Kevin Kelly is the founding executive editor of Wired magazine and a longtime tech writer who's covered technology for decades. Kelly joins Big Technology Podcast for a fun episode, unpacking a series of lists of advice that he’s written. These lists contain short but insightful observations about life, and Kelly goes through a number of his points at greater length in this show. Stay tuned for the second half, where we discuss his essay about 1,000 true fans — a seminal work that helped launch the passion economy — and how it holds up today.

Relevant links:

1,000 True Fans

68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice

99 Additional Bits of Unsolicited Advice

103 Bits of Advice I Wish I Had Known

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This Is Your Brain On iPhone — With Dr. Anna Lembke Aug 17, 2022

Show notes

Dr. Anna Lembke is a professor of psychiatry at Stanford University's School of Medicine and chief of its Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic. She's also the author of Dopamine Nation, a bestseller that uses neuroscience to explain why the pursuit of pleasure so often leads to pain. In this episode, we discuss Dr. Lembke's fascinating thesis about what happens to our brain chemistry each time we pick a device. Stay tuned for the second half, where we discuss whether a more invigorating but less happy life is worth it.

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What Social Media Influence Really Gets You — With Nuseir Yassin Aug 10, 2022

Show notes

Nuseir Yassin is the force behind Nas Daily — and CEO of Nas Company — which more than 50 million people follow across six different social media platforms. He joins Big Technology Podcast to talk about what such a large social media audience makes possible. Our conversation dives into why "YouTuber" is such a desirable occupation for kids today, what his fame really costs, and what it takes to build an audience online.

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Meta's Awkward Pivot, Crypto's Future, Amazon's Challenge — Crossover With Techmeme Ride Home Aug 06, 2022

Show notes

Techmeme Ride Home is a top-rated tech news podcast and its host, Brian McCullough, joins us for a crossover episode airing on both feeds. In this bonus episode, we discuss Meta's attempts to turn Instagram into TikTok, how Amazon can handle its next chapter under CEO Andy Jassy, and what the future of crypto looks like after the crash. Stay tuned for our travel hacks at the end of the show!

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Okay, Maybe Social Media Isn't That Bad For Us — With Brendan Nyhan Aug 03, 2022

Show notes

Brendan Nyhan is a presidential professor at Dartmouth College's department of government. He joins Big Technology Podcast for a discussion that pushes back on the notion that social media is destroying our society and making us stupid. With this thoughtful analysis, Nyhan adds a bunch of nuance to the discussion. This episode is effectively pt. 2 of our conversation with Prof. Jonathan Haidt a few weeks back. While Haidt believes social media is breaking our society and threatening democracy, Nyhan says hold up just a second.

By the way, here's a new thing I did: For a behind-the-scenes look into some of my research for this episode, you check out my Pocket Collection (which is filled with the links) at: getpocket.com/bigtechnology

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Meet The Ex-Google Engineer Who Called Its AI Sentient — With Blake Lemoine Jul 27, 2022

Show notes

Blake Lemoine is an ex-senior software engineer at Google who was fired right before he taped this episode of Big Technology Podcast. Lemoine told his superiors at Google that he believed the company’s LaMDA chatbot technology was sentient. Then, after making little headway within Google, he went public. In this wide-ranging interview, Lemoine introduces us to LaMDA, which (or who?) he calls a friend, and explains why his belief in its sentience became too hot for Google to handle.

Washington Post: The Google engineer who thinks the company’s AI has come to life

Big Technology: Google Fires Blake Lemoine, Engineer Who Called Its AI Sentient

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Is Social Media Making Our Society Stupid? — With Jonathan Haidt Jul 20, 2022

Show notes

Jonathan Haidt is a professor of ethical leadership NYU's Stern School of Business and author of a number of books, including The Coddling of the American Mind. His recent story in The Atlantic, "Why The Past 10 Years Of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid," sparked a debate about whether social media was bad for society, and how we know for sure. Haidt joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss why he thinks social media is indeed responsible for our "structural stupidity," digging through the research and answering critics' objections. Stay tuned for the second half where we actually discuss some solutions.

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You can read Haidt's article here: Why The Past 10 Years Of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid

You can review the collaborative Google Doc here: Social Media and Political Dysfunction: A Collaborative Review

And here's my story on the Retweet button: The Man Who Built The Retweet: “We Handed A Loaded Weapon To 4-Year-Olds”

Please review the podcast to help us get more great guests!

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