Every Friday and Sunday, Slate’s popular daily news podcast What Next brings you TBD, a clear-eyed look into the future. From fake news to fake meat, algorithms...
As someone whose companies receive billions of dollars from the government, it’s worth asking why Elon Musk is so zealous about cutting government spending.
Guest: Max Chafkin, features editor and tech reporter at Bloomberg Businessweek and cohost of the Elon, Inc podcast.
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Podcast production by Evan Campbell and Patrick Fort.
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36:31
Can You Pay Attention, Please?
The infinite scroll has no purpose other than keeping your attention. But that doesn’t mean it’s value-neutral.
Guest: Chris Hayes, MSNBC news anchor and author of “The Siren's Call: How Attention Became The World's Most Endangered Resource.”
Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.
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30:07
Is Elon Actually Trying to Buy OpenAI?
Is Elon Musk’s $97.4 billion offer to buy OpenAI genuine—or an irresistible opportunity to troll Sam Altman?
Guest: David A. Fahrenthold, investigative reporter for the New York Times
Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.
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27:09
Why Trump’s Data Purge is a Digital Book Burning
Using Github, you can watch as government websites are brought into compliance with Donald Trump’s executive orders. Out goes the word “equity;” in comes “fair.” And health and science data, once publicly available, disappears.
Guest: Jason Koebler, cofounder of 404 Media.
Jeremy Prokop, data science advisor in the Midwest
Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.
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29:50
Bonus: The Discourse | Why is Elon Musk Cheating at Video Games?
Elon Musk is supposed to be running several companies and a new government department—so why is he also spending money to pretend to be good at video games?
Guest: Drew Harwell, tech reporter for the Washington Post.
This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock exclusive episodes of What Next TBD—you’ll also access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the What Next show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.
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Every Friday and Sunday, Slate’s popular daily news podcast What Next brings you TBD, a clear-eyed look into the future. From fake news to fake meat, algorithms to augmented reality, Lizzie O’Leary is your guide to the tech industry and the world it’s creating for us to live in.
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