#327 Social Media: Menace or Blessing? Robby Soave

Not long ago, most of us embraced social media as a life-changing opportunity to connect with friends and family all across the world. Today, public opinion, including members of Congress from both parties, has turned far more negative. Facebook, Twitter, Google, YouTube, and other tech giants are accused of corrupting our democracy, spreading disinformation, and fanning the flames of hatred.

Our guest is Robby Soave, a libertarian author and journalist who is a senior editor for Reason and the author of two books: "Panic Attack: Young Radicals in the Age of Trump" and his latest, "Tech Panic: Why We Shouldn't Fear Facebook and the Future."

Robby is highly skeptical of most efforts to reform or break up technology firms. In a lively conversation we explore some of the biggest issues animating both right and left: bias, censorship, disinformation, privacy, screen addiction, crime, and more.

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#322 Scary Smart. The Future of Artificial Intelligence. Mo Gawdat

Imagine a future where smart machines are more intelligent than humans. That future may be coming much faster than we think. The stark implications are considered in this podcast.

The former Chief Business Officer at Google X, Egyptian entrepreneur Mo Gawdat has long been at the heart of the artificial intelligence revolution, deeply involved in engineering, robotics and AI. Mo is also a podcaster with a focus on how we can promote happiness. In his latest book, "Scary Smart", he argues that AI reflects our values, and that unless humans change their online behavior, the consequences could be terrifying.

"The true pandemic of our times is not COVID-19, Mo tells us. "AI is the real pandemic. It's at its infancy and will grow in intelligence until a point where it is undisputed that they will be the leaders."

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#321 Taming Big Tech. How We Can Reboot. Jeremy Weinstein and Mehran Sahami

This episode addresses a great problem of our age: How do we curb the enormous power of giant technology companies and limit the disruption caused by them and their products

20 years ago, we lived in an era of digital utopianism when most people thought that the internet would give us a new freedom to find information. But we didn't anticipate many of the most disturbing technological changes. Today, a handful of firms control most internet communication. Social media platforms amplify division more than they spread knowledge.

Our guests are two Stanford University professors, Mehran Sahami and Jeremy Weinstein. Along with philosophy professor Bob Reich, they wrote the new book, "System Error: Where Big Tech Went Wrong and How We Can Reboot."

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