We hear enough about our problems. Let’s solve them. Every Monday, journalist, analyst and entrepreneur Henry Blodget interviews leading thinkers across business, tech, politics and beyond about their big ideas for how to build a better future. Part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Latest episodes
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1 h 01
What Broke Trust in Journalism & How to Fix It, According to Ken Auletta
The media industry is under assault. This week, we turn to one of the world’s most experienced and trusted media observers for a solution: Ken Auletta, who has covered the industry…
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40 min
Are Psychedelics on the Verge of Going Mainstream?
President Trump surprised many people a few weeks ago when he signed an executive order accelerating research into psychedelics. Compounds like psilocybin, LSD, MDMA, ketamine, and…
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1 h 06
Why AI Will Never Be Conscious, According to a Consciousness Expert
Anil Seth is concerned about the “mythology of conscious AI” – the growing argument that LLMs and other AI systems might one day achieve consciousness. Seth is a Professor of Cogni…
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47 min
An Extraordinary Gene Editing Treatment Could Mark a Turning Point in Medicine
In the summer of 2024, a baby named KJ was born with a rare disease with a 50% mortality rate. Six months later, he became the first patient to receive personalized gene editing th…
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34 min
Wildfires Are Only Getting Worse. What Can We Do?
Dr. Kira Hoffman once fought fires as a firefighter. Now she works on starting them - for the sake of wildfire prevention. Dr. Hoffman is a fire ecologist at the University of Brit…
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46 min
Is U.S. Air Travel in Crisis?
Recent high-profile tragedies, FAA understaffing and underinvestment, and ballooning TSA lines during the government shutdown have many questioning whether U.S. air travel is as sa…
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41 min
Most Americans Support Legal Immigration. Why Can't We Enact Clear Policy?
One of the biggest issues in the last few elections has been… immigration. And yet: most Americans support legal immigration and a path to citizenship, and aren't worried about imm…
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46 min
The Jagged Frontier: How AI Will Transform Your Job, According to Wharton's Ethan Mollick
Ethan Mollick, a Wharton professor and author of the Substack One Useful Thing, describes today’s AI systems as a “jagged frontier," where AI outperforms humans in some tasks but f…
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44 min
We Can Live Forever Through Digital Twins. But Should We?
What’s it like to talk to a “digital twin” of a relative who died before you were born? How will the increasingly lifelike digital representations of people change how we grieve? A…
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1 h 09
Reasons to be an AI Jobs Optimist
More than three years into the AI era, the predictions of an AI job apocalypse are still coming fast and furious. Here are reasons to be more optimistic. Harvard economist and rese…
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50 min
Why AI Robots Shouldn't Look Like Humans
Elon Musk says humanoid robots represent the biggest business opportunity in the history of the world. But what problems do these robots actually solve? And why do they have to loo…
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54 min
Could AI Doctors Be Better Than Humans? This Physician Thinks It’s Possible.
Dr. Robert Wachter has been a physician for decades, and he thinks that in the future, you might prefer an AI doctor over him (at least sometimes). Dr. Wachter is the Chair of the…
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48 min
China Is Winning. How Can the U.S. Catch Up?
The U.S. is falling behind in its economic competition with China. One potential solution? An expansion of executive power. That’s according to investor and contributing New York T…
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50 min
The Future of Mind-Controlled Computers, According to Neuralink’s Rival
When Elon Musk started Neuralink in 2016, he tapped leading neurosurgeon Ben Rapoport to join as a co-founder. But two years later, citing safety and scalability concerns, Rapoport…
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47 min
Solving the College AI Crisis
Jeff Selingo is not impressed with how colleges are responding to AI. Selingo has spent decades covering higher education and work, and recently spoke with dozens of professors, ad…
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51 min
Legendary VC Bill Gurley: How to Thrive in Your Career
Bill Gurley is a legendary venture capitalist known for backing Uber, Zillow, GrubHub, and many others. But when he started his career, he thought he was going to be a computer eng…
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54 min
Why OpenAI Won’t Survive an AI Crash
Venture capitalist, writer, and researcher Paul Kedrosky thinks it's likely that in the near future, an AI crash will cause widespread damage to the economy—but he's still optimist…
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47 min
How to Stop a Global Economic “Doom Loop”
Economist Eswar Prasad believes the world’s economic order is stuck in a doom loop. While globalization has increased global prosperity, it’s also left many people behind. That has…
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58 min
Your Devices Are Already Tracking Your Brain Waves. Should You Be Worried?
Your devices could soon be decoding your most intimate thoughts. It’s just a matter of time, according to neurotechnology expert Nita Farahany. There are already devices on the mar…
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56 min
Lessons from the Crash of 1929 for the AI Bubble
If we're truly in an AI bubble close to bursting, how do we avoid economic catastrophe? That's a question we bring to Andrew Ross Sorkin this week, whose new book, 1929: The Inside…