We're borrowing this brilliant title from a panel at QED, and while we're at it, we're also borrowing one of the panelists, Nicola Throp, to cover all things Menopause - what it is, why we need to talk about it, and the barriers that women face in not just its treatment, but the recognition of what is happening to them and diagnosis from their providers. This is a significant life event that half of the world will experience, and women have historically kept it to themselves. It's well beyond the time to break this taboo.
We're talking about efforts to get at least some people out of Gaza as the war between Israel and Hamas continues to escalate.
Also, we'll tell you what parts of the U.S. are dealing with especially cold weather for this time of year and how much longer it's expected to last.
Plus, how this year's World Series champions made history, why thousands of teachers are now on strike, and what to expect from a new Beatles song that's 45 years in the making.
The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt opened on Wednesday for the first time since the Israel-Hamas war began. The move comes after a deal was reached this week to allow foreign nationals, aid workers, and some injured Palestinians to leave the embattled enclave.
Representative George Santos of New York survived a House vote that would have removed him from Congress. But he isn’t off the hook just yet: he’s still under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, and his criminal trial for fraud and money laundering is tentatively scheduled for next September.
And in headlines: families of transgender teenagers asked the Supreme Court to block Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for youth, the Biden administration announced a narrower plan to forgive student loan debt, and teachers at Oregon’s largest school district are on strike for the first time ever.
Crooked Coffee is officially here. Our first blend, What A Morning, is available in medium and dark roasts. Wake up with your own bag at crooked.com/coffee
As the war between Israel and Hamas rages on, Jake Denton, research associate for The Heritage Foundation’s Tech Policy Center, breaks down what the role of artificial intelligence has been in the conflict. (The Daily Signal is the news outlet of The Heritage Foundation.)
“I think the one that everyone jumps to is the [artificial intelligence]-generated content, deepfakes, things of that nature,” Denton says.
“There’s a few stories of synthetic audio recordings of a general saying that an attack’s coming or those types of things that we’ve even seen in the Russia-Ukraine conflict,” Denon says. “They go around on Telegram or WhatsApp.”
“They’re taken as fact because they sound really convincing. You add some background noise, and suddenly it’s like a whole production in an audio file,” Denton adds. “And typically, what you’re picking up on in a video is like the lips don’t sync, and so you know the audio is fake. When it’s an audio file, how do you even tell?”
Denton also highlights social media platforms such as the Chinese-owned app, TikTok.
“And so, what you’re seeing right now, especially on platforms like TikTok, is they’re just promoting things that are either fake or actual real synthetic media, like a true deepfake from the ground up and altered video, altered audio, all these things are getting promoted,” Denton says, adding:
And kids, at no fault of their own, are consuming this stuff, and they’re taking as fact. It’s what you do.You see a person with a million followers that has 12 million likes and you’re like, “This is a real video.” You don’t really expect these kids to fact-check.
Denton joins today’s episode of “The Daily Signal Podcast” to also discuss President Joe Biden‘s executive order on artificial intelligence, what he views as social media companies’ roles in monitoring artificial intelligence and combating fake images and videos, and how people can equip themselves to identify fake images and videos online.
After building an empire, now Elon Musk wants us to believe he deserves it. He built a myth of his genius, and now he’s using the same to seed harmful ideologies into the public that justify how he hoards wealth to pursue the projects he should be central to humanity’s future, leaving behind a ton of suffering in their wake. But is Musk’s future really the one we want? This is episode 4 of Elon Musk Unmasked, a special four-part series from Tech Won’t Save Us.
Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.
Astrotopia author Mary-Jane Rubenstein, Human Extinction author Émile P. Torres, science fiction author Annalee Newitz, The Information reporter Julia Black, New York Times Johannesburg bureau chief John Eligon, Insider senior correspondent Linette Lopez, and environmental compliance expert Eric Roesch were interviewed for this episode.
Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson, Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance, and Liftoff by Eric Berger were the books cited.
Electric cars sales just hit a speed bump — Because Electric Cars are being treated like vaccines.
The iPod is back, baby: Urban Outfitters put 20-year-old iPods up for sale, and they sold out instantly — Because nostalgia follows a 20-year life cycle.
And The National Association of Realtors was just found guilty for fixing commissions at 6% — It’s an earthquake for the industry of 1.5M real estate agents.
If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work.
Hundreds allowed to leave Gaza as invasion intensifies. Fed rates remain unchanged. Donald Trump Jr. on the stand. CBS News Correspondent Jennifer Keiper with tonight's World News Roundup.
Earlier this fall, the Federal Trade Commission filed a high-stakes lawsuit against Amazon.
In that suit, the FTC claims Amazon is a monopoly, and it accuses the company of using anti-competitive tactics to hold onto its market power. It's a big case, with implications for consumers and businesses and digital marketplaces, and for antitrust law itself. That is the highly important but somewhat obscure body of law that deals with competition and big business.
And so, this week on Planet Money, we are doing a deep dive on the history of antitrust. It begins with today's episode, a Planet Money double feature. Two classic episodes that tell the story of how the U.S. government's approach to big business and competition has changed over time.
First, the story of a moment more than 100 years ago, when the government stepped into the free market in a big way to make competition work. It's the story of John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil, and a muckraking journalist named Ida Tarbell.
Then, we fast forward to a turning point that took antitrust in the other direction. This is the story of a lawyer named Robert Bork, who transformed the way courts would interpret antitrust law.
These episodes were produced by Sally Helm with help from Alexi Horowitz Ghazi. They were edited by Bryant Urdstadt. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.
