What Next - What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future – The Problem With Facebook Is Facebook

On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser and Will Oremus talk about the Senate’s stand on net neutrality and why Congress is set to renew a major piece of internet government mass surveillance legislation. The hosts are joined by Siva Vaidhyanathan, a professor of Media Studies at University of Virginia, to talk about Facebook’s big news feed changes and what they might mean for the way we read the news and talk to one another online. And on Don’t Close My Tabs: Google’s gorilla problem and “authentic” Instagram ads.

Don’t Close My Tabs:

The Verge: Google ‘fixed’ its racist algorithm by removing gorillas from its image-labeling tech

The Atlantic: The Strange Brands in Your Instagram Feed

Podcast production by Max Jacobs.

If Then plugs:

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 Then is presented by Slate and Future Tense, a collaboration among Arizona State University, New America, and Slate. Future Tense explores the ways emerging technologies affect society, policy, and culture. To read more, follow us on Twitter and sign up for our weekly newsletter.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What Next - What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future – Live from CES: Our Dumb “Smart” Future

On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser and Will Oremus are at CES, the huge trade show put on by the Consumer Technology Association in Las Vegas. They talk about all the weird, wonderful, and unnecessary gadgets and tech they seen so far the convention, like the laundry folding robots that might not be very good at folding laundry, bizarre tech for your pets, drones and self driving cars, smart mirrors, and even a smart couch. The hosts will talk about the cybersecurity concerns surrounding Intel and how they’ve handled the situation so far, and the big battle between Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s new AI assistants.

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 Then is presented by Slate and Future Tense, a collaboration among Arizona State University, New America, and Slate. Future Tense explores the ways emerging technologies affect society, policy, and culture. To read more, follow us on Twitter and sign up for our weekly newsletter.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts - The Right Not to Vote

Sometimes the technical stuff is how you get to the crucial stuff. Next week, the Supreme Court will hear a case about Ohio’s voter purge, and the case rests on some sticky statutory interpretation questions. Up to 1.2 million voters may have been purged from Ohio’s rolls after they sat out a couple of elections and in this episode of Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick does a deep dive into the technicalities of the case. Dahlia and her guests also use this moment to take stock of the state of voting rights in the US. Dahlia talks with Mayor Joseph Helle of Oak Harbor, Ohio, a veteran who came home to find he’d been purged from the rolls after not voting while on active duty, and to the director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, Dale Ho. Ho even cites his favorite Justice Antonin Scalia opinion.

Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members several days after each episode posts. To learn more about Slate Plus, go to slate.com/amicusplus.

Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook. Our email is amicus@slate.com.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts - The Right Not to Vote

Sometimes the technical stuff is how you get to the crucial stuff. Next week, the Supreme Court will hear a case about Ohio’s voter purge, and the case rests on some sticky statutory interpretation questions. Up to 1.2 million voters may have been purged from Ohio’s rolls after they sat out a couple of elections and in this episode of Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick does a deep dive into the technicalities of the case. Dahlia and her guests also use this moment to take stock of the state of voting rights in the US. Dahlia talks with Mayor Joseph Helle of Oak Harbor, Ohio, a veteran who came home to find he’d been purged from the rolls after not voting while on active duty, and to the director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, Dale Ho. Ho even cites his favorite Justice Antonin Scalia opinion.

Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members several days after each episode posts. To learn more about Slate Plus, go to slate.com/amicusplus.

Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook. Our email is amicus@slate.com.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What Next - What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future – Science Fiction by ABBA

On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser and Will Oremus talk about a key detail in the new tax plan that could have a huge effect on gig workers in the tech sector—and maybe even robots. They also discuss Apple’s “batterygate” iPhone situation, what happened, and what can we take from their unusual apology? The hosts are also joined by Slate’s Future Tense editor Torie Bosch to talk about the anthology she co-edited What Future: The Year’s Best Ideas to Reclaim, Reanimate & Reinvent Our Future.

Podcast production by Max Jacobs.

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 Then is presented by Slate and Future Tense, a collaboration among Arizona State University, New America, and Slate. Future Tense explores the ways emerging technologies affect society, policy, and culture. To read more, follow us on Twitter and sign up for our weekly newsletter.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts - #MeToo in the Courts

The cultural whirlwind of #MeToo has reached the judiciary, reluctantly bringing Dahlia Lithwick into the fray along with it. In a piece for Slate, she detailed her firsthand experiences with Judge Alex Kozinski. Dahlia’s was one of many accounts that that have now surfaced. Heid Bond was one of the first women prepared to go on the record. A former clerk to Judge Kozinski, she now writes romance novels under the name Courtney Milan. You can read Bond’s piece here and Judge Kozinski’s statement here. We speak with three of Kozinski’s accusers—Heidi Bond, Emily Murphy, and Leah Litman—and hear their ideas about what needs to change to allow women to work safely and successfully in a system often shrouded in secrecy. Then Dahlia is joined by Mark Joseph Stern for a run through the headline arguments and decisions from the Supreme Court in 2017 and a look ahead at what to expect in 2018. 

Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members several days after each episode posts. To learn more about Slate Plus, go to Slate.com/amicusplus.

Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook. Our email is amicus@slate.com.

Podcast production by Sara Burningham.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts - #MeToo in the Courts

The cultural whirlwind of #MeToo has reached the judiciary, reluctantly bringing Dahlia Lithwick into the fray along with it. In a piece for Slate, she detailed her firsthand experiences with Judge Alex Kozinski. Dahlia’s was one of many accounts that that have now surfaced. Heid Bond was one of the first women prepared to go on the record. A former clerk to Judge Kozinski, she now writes romance novels under the name Courtney Milan. You can read Bond’s piece here and Judge Kozinski’s statement here. We speak with three of Kozinski’s accusers—Heidi Bond, Emily Murphy, and Leah Litman—and hear their ideas about what needs to change to allow women to work safely and successfully in a system often shrouded in secrecy. Then Dahlia is joined by Mark Joseph Stern for a run through the headline arguments and decisions from the Supreme Court in 2017 and a look ahead at what to expect in 2018. 

Transcripts of Amicus are available to Slate Plus members several days after each episode posts. To learn more about Slate Plus, go to Slate.com/amicusplus.

Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook. Our email is amicus@slate.com.

Podcast production by Sara Burningham.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What Next - What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future – What’s a Firefox?

On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser and Will Oremus talk with the executive director of Mozilla about how Firefox competes with Chrome and the biggest threats to the Open Web. They break down the fallout from the FCC’s 3-2 vote to kill net neutrality and what it means for mega-mergers like Fox and Disney. And they speculate on the motivations behind Uber’s misdeeds, why Apple’s AirPods are sold out, and why the Koch brothers are trying to kill municipal broadband.

Stories discussed on the show:

BuzzFeed: Uber Accused Of Espionage, Bribery, Hacking, And More In Bombshell Letter

Slate: The Fight for the Open Internet Isn’t Over

Mozilla: Privacy Not Included: A Guide to Make Shopping for Connected Gifts Safer, Easier, and Way More Fun

If Then’s “Don’t Close My Tabs” recommendations:

MacRumors: Apple is Currently Sold Out of AirPods Until January

Wired: KOCH BROTHERS ARE CITIES' NEW OBSTACLE TO BUILDING BROADBAND

Podcast production by Laura Flynn.

If Then plugs:

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 Then is presented by Slate and Future Tense, a collaboration among Arizona State University, New America, and Slate. Future Tense explores the ways emerging technologies affect society, policy, and culture. To read more, follow us on Twitter and sign up for our weekly newsletter.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What Next - What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future – Beanie Babies for Geeks

On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser and Will Oremus talk a little about why everyone is freaking out about Bitcoin. And in the run up to Thursday’s critical net neutrality decision from the FCC, the hosts speak with Columbia law professor Tim Wu - who actually coined the term net neutrality - about why it’s so crucial to save it, and what we might expect from legal challenges stemming from Thursday’s FCC announcement.

If Then’s “Don’t Close My Tabs” recommendations:

TechCrunch: Patreon’s New Service Fee Spurs Concerns that Creators will Lose Patrons

Slate: Netflix Releases Rare Ratings Info to Mock Obsessive Fans of its Own Movie

Podcast production by Max Jacobs.

If Then plugs:

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 Then is presented by Slate and Future Tense, a collaboration among Arizona State University, New America, and Slate. Future Tense explores the ways emerging technologies affect society, policy, and culture. To read more, follow us on Twitter and sign up for our weekly newsletter.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.