Predicting political violence is a painstaking job. Now AI is helping analysts look for clues and throwing up fascinating insights into the shifts that may indicate a strike is coming. Why Cuba could be heading towards economic and social collapse (11:01). And our correspondent visits Odessa where Ukrainians are rediscovering the beach (18:54).
The Democratic National Convention organizers really rolled out the blue carpet for influencers this year. Today on the show, WIRED senior reporter Makena Kelly joins from Chicago to talk about the Democrats’ strategy of favoring creators over journalists, and whether it will help them win votes. Plus, behind the scenes at the influencer after-parties.
Leah Feiger is @LeahFeiger. Makena Kelly is @kellymakena. Write to us at politicslab@WIRED.com. Be sure to subscribe to the WIRED Politics Lab newsletter here.
In 330 BC, Alexander the Great conquers the city of Persepolis, the ceremonial capital of the Persian Empire. His troops later burn it to the ground, capping centuries of tensions between the Hellenistic Greeks and Macedonians and the Persians.
That event kicks off Rachel Kousser’s book Alexander at the End of the World: The Forgotten Final Years of Alexander the Great (Mariner Books, 2024), which tells the story of how Alexander—the unbeaten military genius and the most powerful man in that part of the world—decided to keep going, chasing rebellious ex-Persians and launching an unprecedented invasion of India.
But what drove Alexander to keep marching? What was the kind of empire Alexander wanted to build? And why did he eventually turn back at the Indus River, his soldiers begging for him to return home?
Rachel Kousser is the chair of the Classics department at the Graduate Center, City University of New York and a professor of ancient art and archaeology at Brooklyn College. She is also the author of The Afterlives of Greek Sculpture: Interaction, Transformation, Destruction (Cambridge University Press: 2017) and Hellenistic and Roman Ideal Sculpture: The Allure of the Classical (Cambridge University Press: 2008).
When Alexander the Great died, one of his generals and best friends, Ptolemy, took Alexander’s corpse and went to Egypt to establish a new Pharaonic dynasty.
One of the things he did during his reign was to begin construction on what would become one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
It stood for over a thousand years and was unlike the world had ever seen.
Learn more about the Lighthouse of Alexandria and what eventually happened to it on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
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The Democratic National Convention continued Wednesday night as Tim Walz formally accepted the nomination for Vice President. He went full "coach mode," whipping supporters into a frenzy as Vice President Kamala Harris prepares to receive the nomination as the Democratic Presidential candidate on Thursday. Meanwhile, protestors outside the convention center continue to challenge Democrats from the left on issues like the war in Gaza, reproductive rights, and LGBTQ freedom. Chicago journalist Shawn Allee brings us the perspectives of young voters from the convention as they share which issues matter most to them at the ballot box.
In anticipation of Vice President Kamala Harris' nomination, we talked to Jay Caspian Kang, a staff writer for the New Yorker, about the Harris campaign's lack of details on policy proposals. With just over two months remaining until election day, we asked him what people want to hear from Harris as she gives her much-anticipated acceptance speech this evening.
We're talking about Gov. Tim Walz's big introduction at the Democratic National Convention and which one of former President Trump's competitors is expected to endorse him this week.
Also, we'll break down a long-awaited government report about how high levels of fluoride could be affecting kids.
Plus, a strike in Canada threatens the economy all over North America; students still seem to be struggling with school attendance, and pumpkin spice season has arrived.
Those stories and more news to know in about 10 minutes!
Paris Marx is joined by Molly White to discuss why the crypto industry is spending millions on this election cycle and Coinbase’s potential breach of election finance law.
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. Support the show on Patreon.
The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.
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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme and Rob Gunther.
It’s been 2 1/2 years since Russia invaded Ukraine. The war has taken an unexpected turn in the past two weeks as Ukrainian troops launched a successful incursion into Russia and have now taken control of over 400 square miles in the Kursk region, which borders Ukraine in southwestern Russia.
After months of gridlock in the fighting, the successful incursion could be a critical turning point in the war.
“There's certainly always a chance,” Victoria Coates said when asked if Ukraine can win the war.
Coates, vice president of the Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy at The Heritage Foundation says the question now is, “Has the administration and our major NATO partners been supplying Ukraine in a way to set them up for victory?”
“That's what's not clear to me,” Coates said, answering her own question.
Coates told “The Daily Signal Podcast” she has further concerns over the current silence from the Biden-Harris administration.
“I searched,” Coates said, “for any statement from the president, from the vice president, who's now the nominee of the Democrat Party for president, from the secretary of state, from the secretary of defense. Not a peep about the fact that the Ukrainians have done something rather extraordinary and gone into Russian territory.”
Coates joins the show to explain why the Biden administration might be silent on Ukraine’s incursion into Russia and the likelihood of a Ukrainian victory.
