Today's podcast looks at the Biden administration's effort to do something—anything—to address the crisis at the southern border and examines how the problems we face really began with the Obama administration's determination to do something good and noble. Beware! Also, why is the Surgeon General talking about loneliness? And Day Two of our new feature, Commentary Picks. Give a listen.
Ellis Hamburger is Snap's ex-head of marketing strategy, where he spent seven years before moving to The Browser Company. He joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss his view on why social media apps inevitably move from differentiated, and at times delightful, to something where all of them look a lot like TikTok. Hamburger breaks down the cycle: start with a novel format, scale, try to justify expectations, and then capitulate to market forces. Join us for an insider's perspective on the past, present, and future of social media.
Texas manhunt over as authorities arrest mass killing suspect. CA campus stabbing spree. Fed expected to hike rates a quarter percentage point. CBS News Correspondent Steve Kathan has today's World News Roundup.
Real estate investor Twenty Lake Holdings bought the land Chicago’s Greyhound station is situated on last year and plans to turn the plot into residential developments. If the station were to close, Chicago would become the largest metropolitan area without an inter-city bus terminal. Reset discussed the implications of a closure or relocation on riders with Lee Bey, Chicago Sun-Times editorial board member and architecture critic.
It’s just Jay and Tammy this week, going long on two of our favorite topics: U.S.-Korea relations and progressive media. [3:15] First, we address the carefully crafted viral moment from Korean President Yoon’s debut at the White House, and the sanitizing of human rights realities in Asia. [17:30] Next, we discuss the controversy over an article about Tucker Carlson published by the American Prospect—and mea culpa’d by the top editor following online criticism. We touch on [28:10] virtue-signaling disclaimers and [38:55] the tiptoeing endemic to our fractured news industry.
In this episode, we ask:
Why did a misogynistic, anti-labor president get such a glowing White House welcome?
Do we agree with the central argument of the Prospect article: that there is some value to Tucker Carlson types’ espousing of “populist” views on Fox News?
How do our bodies build our bodies? What does a stem cell look like? How do they know what to do? What diseases could stem cells cure? And why is Canada such a hot place for research? Dr. Samantha Yammine – known by many as Science Sam – is a stem cell biologist and science communicator and takes us back to the discovery of stem cells, chats ethical questions, spotting scams, cloning, gene-edited babies, helping your body heal faster and what advancements are being made, albeit by slowly growing in a dish.
Geoffrey Hinton, a legend of artificial-intelligence research, wants to be able to speak his mind about the technology’s risks. We ask whether those steeped in a field are best-placed to judge it. It has long been clear Ukraine needs more fighter jets; we look at the ones it may get at last. And the first video game about the Holocaust.
For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, try a free 30-day digital subscription by going to www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer
Aviram Hassan started hacking his way into stuff at a young age, primarily from online multiplayer games. The first game was a fan based game for Pokemon, when he was 8 years old, which was helpful for him to learn English. He served in the Israeli military, prior to become a startup solution architect and backend developer. Outside of tech, he is a family man with a 6 month old, born around the same time as his startup. He also really enjoys coffee, but he admits, he is not obsessive or overly enthusiastic about it.
Given their background, Aviram and his co-founder wanted to build a product based company. In their last company, they didn't really have a developer environment, as it was hard to maintain and didn't represent real data in the production environment. They started thinking about how they could solve this sort of problem.
Peter Thiel doesn’t shy away from taking big bets. From Facebook (he was the company’s first outside investor) to Gawker (he successfully conspired to put the website out of business) and, of course, to Trump (he threw his support behind the nominee in 2016).
Unlike many in the Silicon Valley set, who often say the popular thing in public and the thing they actually believe behind closed doors, Thiel has used his voice and his fortune to steer the country in the direction he believes is right—despite tremendous blowback. That was true in last year’s midterms, when Thiel threw his support behind two anti-establishment Republican candidates: Arizona’s Blake Masters and Ohio’s JD Vance.
But the billionaire entrepreneur and investor tells me in this conversation that he’s changing course. When I asked him who he’d back in 2024, he demurred. He says he’s decided to step away from supporting select politicians and instead is urging the political right to shift its focus from the culture wars to issues he believes matters more: like economic growth and tech innovation.
We cover a lot in this conversation. Why does Thiel believe that Democrats are the evil party and Republicans are the stupid party? Why is our infrastructure so far behind other nations? And why are Americans so impressed by the apps on our phones instead of dreaming of the next Sputnik?
Also: A.I., China, TikTok, Twitter, the right way to defeat what Elon Musk musk calls the “woke mind virus” and what Thiel’s going to bet on next.
Season four of Unsolved delves into the disappearance of Alexis Patterson, a 7-year-old girl who disappeared on her way to school in 2002. At first, there was a massive search and sympathy for her family, but that quickly changed as her parents became suspects. Over the years, there have been conspiracy theories and false leads and cases of mistaken identity. Still, her mom has never given up hope that Alexis will come home again someday.
Unsolved, a true crime podcast series from USA TODAY and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, guides listeners through these real-life mysteries, uncovering new clues along the way.
