Actually Useful

We demystify private equity in this first episode of a two-part series. Since the 2008 financial crisis, private equity has pillaged the economy by buying companies and public services. We break down how these shady...

<p>We demystify private equity in this first episode of a two-part series. Since the 2008 financial crisis, private equity has pillaged the economy by buying companies and public services. We break down how these shady...

<p>To mark the end of Google Search, which is soon to be replaced with “immersive AI experiences,” we chat about its history: its innovation era, its slide down the enshittification curve, and the multi-billion dollar...

To mark the end of Google Search, which is soon to be replaced with “immersive AI experiences,” we chat about its history: its innovation era, its slide down the enshittification curve, and the multi-billion dollar...

<p>This episode, we chat with feminist journalist Lyz Lenz about the agony of dating apps – their deceptive mechanics, the illusion of choice, their impact on gender inequity, and why the f*ck Trevor from Iowa thinks he...

<p>We chat with author Justin Feinstein about his new novel, Your Behavior Will Be Monitored, about how weird it is to accidentally predict the future, and the role science fiction plays in defining our expectations of...

<p>We chat with author Kate Crow about the economics and illusions of the self-publishing industry, how Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited program has changed both traditional publishing and book culture, and which art form is...

<p>We chat with Jeremy Carrasco (@jeremyfindsai) about the most common uses of AI-generated video, what to make of the US-Iran meme war, and why beloved intellectual property can only be what it is when it’s created by...

<p>We chat with Meta whistleblower Kelly Stonelake about Meta’s toxic culture being encoded into their products, how much they’re willing to exploit kids for profit at any cost, and what meaningful social media...

<p>We chat about “human fracking,” how little we actually know about human attention, and the growing Attention Liberation Movement – a radical idea of agency that you’re probably already practicing! In Falcon Mode, we...

<p>We chat about the explosive rise of sports betting, the underlying tech that makes it especially insidious, and how relentlessly gambling products are marketed to young men. In Falcon Mode, we give flowers to a...

<p>We chat with Natalie Ponte from Libro.fm about generative AI abolitionism, the cult of early big tech, and why book people are so obsessed with Libro.fm, the audiobook platform that supports independent bookstores...

<p>We chat with recruitment fraud expert Jay Jones about scam jobs, the grift of hustle posting, and how LinkedIn profits from unemployment. In Falcon Mode, an app Ariel has imagined for over a decade is finally brought...

<p>We chat with AI strategist Allen Martinez about constitutional AI, the cost of multiple AIs conflicting with one another, and how operators tasked with implementing AI can do it without making their product worse. In...

<p>We chat about Laura Bates’ incredible (and incredibly depressing) new book, The New Age of Sexism: How AI and Emerging Technologies are Reinventing Misogyny. Between deepfakes and nonconsensual image abuse, the child...