Slate Books - Future Tense Fiction: Live. Love. Die. Repeat?

On this month’s episode of Future Tense Fiction, host Maddie Stone talks to David Iserson about “This, but Again.” The story follows Marcus, who is forced to relive his life over and over again in a never-ending computer simulation. Thanks to a glitch, Marcus already knows everything that will happen—but he can change almost nothing. That is until he meets Sara, who helps him break from the simulation’s script. But that, as you might expect, is not without consequences.After the story, Iserson and host Maddie Stone discuss what it would really be like to live in a computer simulation (and why it may actually be more hopeful than dystopian).

Guest: David Iserson, film and television writer-producer and author of Firecracker, a novel

Story read by David Iserson

Podcast production by Tiara Darnell

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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - TBD | Stephen King Is Just as Confused About Blue Checks as You Are

Twitter’s “blue check” verification went from something you applied for, to something you could pay for, to something you had to pay for…to something that many celebrities wouldn’t even accept for free. Master of horror Stephen King told us he wouldn’t pay for a blue check, but he’s not going to fight it either—he just doesn’t really understand what’s going on. Does anyone at Twitter understand?


Guests: 

Alex Heath, deputy editor of The Verge

Jon Favreau, co-founder of Crooked Media, speechwriter for President Barack Obama

Stephen King, freelancer author


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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - Fighting for the Right to Die

A self-described activist had late-stage, fallopian tube cancer. She didn’t live in one of the 11 jurisdictions that allows terminally-ill patients the choice to medically end their own lives. But rather than relocating, she argued Vermont’s residency restrictions were unconstitutional. 


Guest: Lynda Bluestein, a 75-year-old woman seeking to end her life on her terms, who successfully sued Vermont over their residency requirement in their “Patient Choice At End of Life” law.


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Slate Books - The Waves: Making Friends As An Adult

On this week’s episode of The Waves, finding friends as an adult. Slate executive editor Susan Matthews is joined by author, comedian, and musician Lane Moore to talk about Moore’s new book You Will Find Your People. They dig into the necessity of healthy boundaries, letting go of old friendships that no longer serve you, and the importance of deep friendships that require work.


In Slate Plus, unpacking celebrity friendships.

 

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth with editorial oversight by Daisy Rosario and Alicia Montgomery.

Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to thewaves@slate.com.


If you liked this episode, check out: Make Movies Horney Again.


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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - The Ballad of Tucker Carlson

Tucker Carlson has now completed the holy trinity of cable TV news: joining — and leaving — MSNBC, CNN, and now Fox News. Why did Fox oust him so abruptly? And how did he create a feedback loop that made Fox millions — and changed American politics forever?


Guest: Nicole Hemmer, Director of the Rogers Center for the Study of the Presidency at Vanderbilt University.


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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - Beyond Stand Your Ground

“Stand Your Ground” laws have expanded across the country over the past 20 years, allowing people to use deadly force even when they could safely retreat from a perceived threat. But when someone shoots a person standing on their porch, or as they turn around in a driveway, or in a crowd, the claim that these laws exist for self-defense doesn’t seem to wash.


Guest: Tamara Lave, professor of criminal law at the University of Miami and a former public defender.


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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - Why Evan Gershkovich Went to Russia

Evan Gershkovich is the first foreign journalist arrested in Russia as a spy since the Cold War. When the war in Ukraine began, Evan - like most journalists - left the country. But then, he went back. Why?

 

Guest: Drew Hinshaw, senior reporter at the Wall Street Journal


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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - TBD | “Crap Apps”: Why Weather Apps Suck

Weather apps can be frustrating. And with how much we rely on them to know if we should wear pants or shorts, they'll still leave you in the rain. But as the climate gets wilder, the questions of how to tell people what they need to know—and quickly—can be an issue of life or death.


Guest: Charlie Warzel, staff writer at the Atlantic

Daniel Swain, UCLA climate scientist

 

Host: Lizzie O'Leary


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Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts - John Roberts’ Unfunny Stalking Jokes at SCOTUS

As laughter ricocheted around the Supreme Court chamber Wednesday, Professor Mary Anne Franks wondered if she could quite believe her ears. The matter of some hilarity, it seems, were messages sent by a convicted stalker to his victim. Individual messages that were among what one detective estimated to number in the hundreds of thousands - possibly as many as one million messages - sent by Billy Raymond Counterman to singer Coles Whalen. Counterman’s campaign of harassment drove Whalen away from performing, indeed drove her away from her home state. She moved across the country to get away. On this week’s Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Professor Mary Anne Franks to discuss Counterman v Colorado and how the details of a cyber-stalking case were lost to free speech concerns about trigger warnings and "sensitivity". You can read Prof. Franks’ powerful piece on this here


In this week’s Amicus Plus segment, Dahlia is joined by Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern to discuss the big fat settlement Dominion got in its defamation case against Fox News, and why it feels so unsatisfying, the religious liberty case you probably missed at the court this week, Groff v DeJoy. They also talk about how Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s continued absence from the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Senate Democrats’ workarounds for it, are like bringing a bubble blower to a knife fight. 


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Slate Books - Political Gabfest Reads: The Art of Writing Political Satire

David Plotz talks with author Alexandra Petri about her new book, Alexandra Petri’s US History: Important American Documents. They discuss how to transform staid history documents into rollicking parodies, how Petri found her “voice” multiple times, and her grander ambitions for the book. Plus, Petri reads some choice selections.


Tweet us your questions @SlateGabfest or email us at gabfest@slate.com. (Messages could be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)


Podcast production by Cheyna Roth.

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