Have A Nice Future | WIRED

Gideon Lichfield and Lauren Goode talk to education journalist and author of The Inequality Machine, Paul Tough about the future of higher education. Even as many Americans return to college campuses this month, rising costs and a lower return on investment has raised uncomfortable questions about just what those classes are all leading towards. Can college be saved? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gideon Lichfield and Lauren Goode talk to Cory Doctorow, a writer, internet activist and the author of The Internet Con: How To Seize the Means of Computation. As the US government takes Google to court in an anti-trust case this week, Doctorow explains why he believes monopoly power has made the internet a miserable place and what we can do to get our digital lives back. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gideon Lichfield and Lauren Goode talk to Chris Urmson, CEO of the self-driving truck company Aurora. They discuss new legislation in California that could help or hinder a driverless future, whether or not self-driving vehicles are actually safer and the consequences for the transportation industry if (human) truck drivers become unnecessary. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gideon and Lauren talk to Noah Raford, a futurist. Raford spent nearly 15 years working as the UAE’s chief futurist where Noah’s job was to predict what was coming down the pike and offer suggestions on how to prepare for it. His advice? Get comfortable with discomfort. This episode originally aired on April 26, 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gideon Lichfield and Lauren Goode talk to Kristen Ghodsee, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Everyday Utopia: What 2000 Years of Wild Experiments Can Teach Us About the Good Life. Ghodsee outlines why the traditional nuclear family is failing us and how we can restructure care to build a better future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gideon Lichfield and Lauren Goode talk to Mustafa Suleyman, the co-founder of DeepMind and InflectionAI. They discuss his new book, The Coming Wave, which outlines why our systems are not set up to deal with the next great leap in tech. Suleyman explains why it's not crazy to suggest that chatbots could topple governments and he argues for a better way to assess artificial intelligence (hint: it has to do with making a million dollars). The Coming Wave: Technology Power and the 21st Century’s Greatest Dilemma is available on September 5th. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gideon Lichfield and Lauren Goode are joined by c, or as she is more widely known, Grimes. Earlier this year, she launched elf.tech, a website where her fans can use AI to build their very own Grimes songs based on her vocals and stems. They talk about why c wants to push the boundaries of AI art, and why, despite being a techno-optimist at heart, she’s worried about our AI future. Check out the Big Interview with c by Steven Levy in the September issue of WIRED. If you missed our episode with Puja Patel, the editor in chief of Pitchfork, about the new wave of generative AI in music—and AI-generated Drake—you can catch up here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gideon Lichfield and Lauren Goode talk to Aaron Perzanowski, a University of Michigan Law Professor and author of two books on our shifting definitions of ownership, The End of Ownership and The Right to Repair. They dive into why “buying” something means less than it used to and if consumers have any hope of clawing back some semblance of ownership rights from big corporations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gideon Lichfield and Lauren Goode talk to Andrew Hessel, a scientist, writer and entrepreneur who is working to push forward the field of synthetic biology — the science of genetically modifying organisms for everything from vaccines to food production. They discuss how modified viruses can be used to treat a range of cancers, and the wide ranging, science-fiction-like implications of the field. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gideon Lichfield and Lauren Goode talk to author Stephen Markley about his book The Deluge, a 900 page epic that attempts to lay out the next couple of decades of the climate crisis. They discuss what our climate future may entail and how future histories like Markley's help us all process and imagine a way through the coming catastrophes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gideon Lichfield and Lauren Goode talk to Gül Dölen, a neuroscientist at Johns Hopkins whose most famous work centers on how psychedelics affect octopus brains. Recently, her lab’s research has shown promising results regarding how psychedelics could help humans recover from everything from PTSD to a stroke. You can find Rachel Nuwer's profile on Gül Dölen in WIRED. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Have a Nice Future is off this week, so instead we're sharing an episode of WIRED's other podcast, Gadget Lab. Its hosted by Have a Nice Future cohost Lauren Goode and WIRED senior editor Michael Calore. Each week they unpack new developments in consumer technology and talk about how they will affect our lives.  On this episode, Lauren and Micheal are joined by Alden Wicker whose new book is called “To Dye For: How Toxic Fashion is Making Us Sick—And How We Can Fight Back”. They discuss the wide range of chemicals, dyes, and treatments that get put into our clothes, and offer tips on how to avoid the worst offenders while shopping for a new wardrobe. This episode originally aired June 29, 2023. Listen to every episode of Gadget Lab wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gideon Lichfield and Lauren Goode talk to Celine Halioua, the founder and CEO of Loyal — a company that researches drugs to extend the lifespan of dogs. They talk about the real meaning of longevity and when these drugs might be given to humans in the future. You can find Tom Simonite’s profile on Celine Halioua and Loyal in WIRED. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gideon Lichfield and Lauren Goode talk to Jamie Beard, the founder of the Project Innerspace, about why geothermal energy could help solve the climate crisis -- but only if environmentalists and the oil and gas industry cooperate. You can find Maria Streshinsky's profile on Jamie Beard online at Wired.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gideon Lichfield and Lauren Goode discuss how parking has shaped the American city with writer Henry Grabar. His new book Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World explores how the abundance of free parking in our urban centers may be holding them back. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gideon Lichfield and Lauren Goode are joined by WeightWatchers CEO Sima Sistani to talk about how we should think about diet culture and weight management when sophisticated appetite suppressing drugs like Ozempic are on the rise. You can read Lauren's Big Interview online at Wired.com and in the July issue of the magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gideon Lichfield and Lauren Goode are joined by Ethan Zuckerman, a leading scholar of how people form communities online and the founder of the Institute for Digital Public Infrastructure at UMass Amherst. Zuckerman talks about why Twitter isn't dead just yet, and what the future of the "digital public square" might look like. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's our first-ever crossover episode! This week Gideon Lichfield and Lauren Goode sit down with Puja Patel, co-host of The Pitchfork Review podcast, to discuss how AI is changing music. But first, they start with a pop quiz -- can our hosts differentiate between artists and their AI imposters? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gideon Lichfield and Lauren Goode talk to MIT institute professor Daron Acemoglu about his new book Power and Progress, why we’re not necessarily destined for an AI takeover and why the writers' strike could be a harbinger for the rest of us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gideon Lichfield and Lauren Goode talk to Meredith Whittaker, the president of the Signal Foundation, about whether we’re really doomed to give up all of our private information to tech companies. Whittaker, who saw what she calls the “surveillance business model” from the inside while working at Google, says we don’t need to go down without a fight and outlines strategies for getting our privacy back. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices