The first Augur assassination markets have arrived.
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What scams? Ethereum’s vision for decentralized apps is only growing bolder.
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Bitcoin's price is nearing $10K on a single, troubled exchange. CoinDesk’s Anna Baydakova joins Editor-in-Chief Pete Rizzo to discuss the mysteries around WEX.
What does a decades-old ruling on the First Amendment tell us about the right of associational privacy today. Bradley Smith of the Institute for Free Speech comments on the ongoing relevance on the 60th anniversary of NAACP v. Alabama.
Is New Delhi playing catch-up with Beijing? Zimbabwean women standing in landmark elections; will Eritrea's political landscape change now that the war with Ethiopia is truly over?
On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus and April Glaser talk about what’s happening new with the proposed $3.9 billion dollar merger between Sinclair, the largest television station owner in the country and also happens to have an overt tilt in favor of Trump, and Tribune media. Thanks to an unexpected announcement from the FCC last week, that merger may be doomed.
The hosts are also joined by Claire Wardle, the executive director of First Draft, a nonprofit news literacy and fact-checking outfit with Harvard University. Wardle works hands-on with journalists and newsrooms around the world to find and responsibly debunk disinformation. They talk to Wardle about what we should be concerned about as the midterm elections approach, how false stories spread on social media to confuse readers, disenfranchise voters, or incite violence—even when Russian agents aren’t working behind the scenes.
You can get updates about what’s coming up next by following us on Twitter @ifthenpod. You can follow Will @WillOremus and April @Aprilaser. If you have a question or comment, you can email us at ifthen@slate.com.
If you're like millions of other people, you hate making phone calls. "Why can't I just text," you might think, "and only call if there's an emergency?" Google may soon have a solution with Duplex, a new technology for conducting natural conversations to carry out “real world” tasks over the phone. For many this feels like a startling and innovative convenience -- no more awkward conversations making appointments or routine check-ins, right? Yet critics of this concept warn we may be approaching something much bigger, and much more dangerous, than a simple piece of helpful software. If computers begin effectively impersonating you, how will you be able to prove your own identity?
You wouldn’t know it from the tired decor at TGI Fridays today, but this family restaurant has a sexy past. It was once a game-changing singles bar, which arrived on the cusp of the sexual revolution. We go back to the 60s and 70s to experience the original Fridays, and find out how it has changed the way we meet, date and marry.
Prepare to have your destiny as a listener reshaped by paternalistic influences! We have on a wonderful guest, David Kyle Johnson of the Great Courses series to talk about the Season 1 Finale of The Orville (available on Hulu) and the ethics of the prime directive, a classic of the Star Trek Universe. Also, does anyone get a Brigadoon vibe from the planet in this episode? Didn't get to bring that up in the show, so easter egg for folks who actually read these.
Next Week's Material: We're doing Dune finally!!!! I waited 15 whole episodes before subjecting Thomas to the David Lynch version. But now it's here! There's so much to cover it's almost certainly gonna be a two parter, so strap in.
