Building Tomorrow

Your home is full of technological miracles, devices that your ancestors would have regarded as near magic because of the life of relative ease they provide us with. However, something is changing. In the past, we got richer by owning more stuff; but in the future, we will have more by owning less. In this final episode of Building Tomorrow, Paul talks with Cory Doctorow, Michael Munger, Ruth Cowan, and Chelsea Follett about the past, present, and future of material possession. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

If you're the kind of person who carefully sorts out your recyclables from your trash, cleans it, and puts it out in the blue bin for pickup, you probably don't realize that as much as 90% of that material either just ends up in a landfill or, worse, is dumped into the ocean. Indeed, much of the plastic litter in the Pacific Ocean is the result of our well-intentioned but misplaced efforts at recycling since the 1990s.In this episode, we talk to an environmental economist, landfill scientist, and blockchain engineer about the future of our waste. We can efficiently sort and store our plastics in landfills for future mining operations, incentivizing good behavior via cryptocurrency rewards. We can incinerate our waste in hyper-efficient facilities that power cities and reduce our carbon footprint. Building Tomorrow means building more and better landfills. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

People are afraid. Afraid that they are consuming too much, emitting too much, having too many kids, and running the planet into the ground. Eight billion people seems like too many. But a growing number of experts are sounding the alarm that a far worse problem is on the horizon, an underpopulation crisis. People are having fewer kids and countries are aging. For example, by the end of the century Japan will halve its population. Those who remain will be older and poorer. We need more people, not fewer, if we want to find innovative solutions to climate change and resource crunches. For music attributions see: https://www.libertarianism.org/podcasts/building-tomorrow/underpopulation-crisis See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

What happens when a raw material that is valueless suddenly becomes valuable? If it's bird guano in the 19th century, you mine it and save the agricultural economy. If its data in the late 20th century, you collect it and create a new digital economy. Music attributions can be found here: https://www.libertarianism.org/podcasts/building-tomorrow/guano. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Building Tomorrow podcast is back in a new format. This season we will be focusing on wanting more. The desire for more embraces a prosperity mindset, the belief that growth and wealth are not a zero-sum game. We will release one in depth episode per month for 6 months. We would love for you to listen along as we long for more immigrants, more data, more houses, more mammoths, and more. Happy listening! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We have a special announcement about the future of Building Tomorrow. Stay tuned. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

If voting leaves you feeling tired and vaguely dissatisfied, you're not alone. Over 60% of voters aren't happy with the two party duopoly that dominates US politics; others hate the flood of negative campaign ads or feel that politics is too big or too distant to be able to effect via the voting process.But there is hope! This week, Paul talks to two political scientists, Lee Drutman and Daniel Bowen to talk about how ranked choice voting, multi-member legislative districts, and packing the House of Representatives could save our democracy from its dire situation. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

There are some things that even a pandemic cannot stop. One of those things is political pressure to "do something" about Big Tech. Paul checks in with Matthew Feeney and Will Duffield to get an update on the state of the techlash. Furthermore, this year many of the major social media platforms have ramped up their fact-checking operations in an attempt to combat disinformation about the pandemic and partisan politics, but it is possible that they have opened a Pandora's Box of unintended consequences by doing so. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In the 18th century, something sparked a wave of technological innovation and economic growth that has transformed the world for the better. Economists have argued about what that something was ever since. Our guest today, Professor Joel Mokyr, argues that it was a change in western European cultural attitudes that provided that spark. Enlightenment curiosity fomented a belief that practical knowledge could improve the world in tangible and permanent ways.Do we assume that progress will always happen? What threatens the concept of progress? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Spend any time on social media and odds are that you've interacted with at least one bot account; given how advanced they've become, you might not even have noticed. Paul interviews bot programmer Max Sklar about why bots are a big part of the future of online interaction and why that's not necessarily a bad thing. They also discuss machine learning, artificial intelligence, and the deurbanization of New York City.What is a geofence? Do we have an obligation to give data to apps for their user research? What is machine learning? Who or what is a marsbot?? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

It's time to stop politely asking the State to give us our freedoms back. We can just...take them. New technologies like smart contracts, cryptocurrency, and anonymized identification systems are challenging the State's near monopoly on jurisprudence, currency, and trust provision. Two of the authors of The New Technologies of Freedom, economists Chris Berg and Darcy Allen, join the show to discuss the radical transformation that is already under wayWhat is adversarial liberty? Why do even libertarian think tanks get caught in a statist mindset? How do new blockchain based technologies work together to challenge State control? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

There's growing, bi-partisan support for government regulation of the internet. The Left wants to censor hate speech while the Right wants to prevent platforms from downvoting conservative speech. Both approaches are filled with free speech landmines. And even a cursory look at the history of government regulation of mass media shows just how even the most well-intended government action can easily turn into suppression of political dissent, regulatory capture, and gross violation of civil liberties. John Samples, from Facebook's independent oversight board, joins the show again to discuss a paper he co-wrote with host Paul Matzko about several of those sordid episodes and the lessons we should have already learned. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Guess what's bad for innovation? Telling the brightest minds in the world that you don't want them to come work with you. As obvious as that should be, that's precisely what the Trump administration's policy towards high skilled immigrants has done, most recently by attempting to deny visas to foreign-born university students. Caleb Watney joins the show to discuss exactly how self-harming these policies will be for America's lead in global innovation, an era that we may soon be speaking of in the past tense instead of in the present. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

If you’re listening to this show, you’re likely an ardent supporter of the First Amendment. Yet at the same time, you probably wouldn’t want your social media feeds filled with pornography and hate speech; removing such content requires tech companies to engage in content moderation. Are those two values in tension? Can content moderation coexist with free speech? John Samples, who is on Facebook’s independent oversight board, joins us to discuss how he tries to balance his obligation to promoting free speech while giving users the moderation that most of them want.How far should we protect free speech online? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

New York City's population dropped by 5% in just two weeks because of COVID-19, a drop concentrated among white collar professionals and Wall Street workers. But it's not just a New York City story as companies across the country have experimented with telework on a massive scale because of the pandemic.The question is what comes next. Will workplace norms snap back into place with knowledge economy workers continuing to cluster in high cost of living urban areas? Or will the future of the workplace remain remote, with a growing number of white collar professionals working from home at least part of the week?But cities rely heavily on high income taxpayers to fund government services and to propel growth; even a small number exiting cities could have vast ripple effects. Cato economist Peter Van Doren joins the show to discuss the possible de-urbanization of America and offer some thoughts on what those effects might be. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Have you wondered whether a particular public health intervention during the COVID-19 pandemic has actually been worth it? Perhaps you then felt a bit ghoulish for asking the question, given that lives are at stake.Well, you're in luck because this episode of Building Tomorrow asks about that price tag. After all, resources are finite and we all routinely trade risk for convenience; there are some interventions that would not be worth the opportunity cost. Answering the question of how much a human life is worth is the first step to figuring out whether the shutdown and other measures during the pandemic have been worthwhile. Cato economist Peter Van Doren joins the pod to help us think through the topic. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Have you wondered whether a particular public health intervention during the COVID-19 pandemic has actually been worth it? Perhaps you then felt a bit ghoulish for asking the question, given that lives are at stake.Well, you're in luck because this episode of Building Tomorrow asks about that price tag. After all, resources are finite and we all routinely trade risk for convenience; there are some interventions that would not be worth the opportunity cost. Answering the question of how much a human life is worth is the first step to figuring out whether the shutdown and other measures during the pandemic have been worthwhile. Cato economist Peter Van Doren joins the pod to help us think through the topic. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A generation before the rise of talk radio and hosts like Rush Limbaugh, there was another wave of right-wing radio. But the reason why few remember them is that they were the target of a hugely successful government censorship campaign implemented by President John F. Kennedy using IRS audits and the FCC’s “Fairness Doctrine.”But as our host, Paul Matzko—whose book on the subject comes out next week—this isn’t just a question of history. Today, there is a growing, bi-partisan push for government regulation of the internet that resembles the way the State regulated radio in the 1960s and which could just as easily be hijacked in order to advance partisan interests. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

While universities debate whether to re-open on schedule for the fall semester, it’s expected that hundreds of colleges that were in financial distress will shutter their doors. While that might seem like obvious evidence of decline in higher education, economist Bryan Caplan suggests otherwise. In his controversial book, The Case Against Education, he argues that higher ed does relatively little, well, ‘ed.’ COVID-19 might just help expose the systemic failures of higher education in America.Could COVID-19 help us rethink how we do higher-ed? What was wrong with higher education before the pandemic that we could fix now? how is higher education just a signaling mechanism to employers? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Because of the COVID-19 shutdown, tens of millions of American households have suddenly been forced to do school at home. Education policy expert and homeschooling aficionado Kerry McDonald joins the show to discuss why she believes this experience will lead many more families to consider educational alternatives even after the shutdowns ease. Additionally, Kerry and Paul discuss the incendiary Harvard Magazine broadside against homeschooling, Tara Westover’s best-selling novel Educated, and why the history of public schooling should make us leery of critics who accuse homeschoolers of failing to be good citizens. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Complaints about the control that social media companies exercise over their platforms has risen over the past couple of years. Some users complain that platforms like Facebook and Twitter should remove more offensive content; others complain that they remove too much, resulting in censorship of politically unpopular views.There is an alternative to this kludgy, top-down model of content moderation. Minds.com is a more decentralized social network with a First Amendment standard for moderation that allows users to appeal bans to a jury of their digital peers. Minds also has a different revenue model from the big platforms, allowing users to boost posts with proprietary cryptocurrency payments. Our interview with Bill Ottman, founder and CEO of Minds, is a reminder that the future of the internet could look very different from the present.What is the most successful social network? Who is innovating in the social media space? Why should you switch social media platforms? How does social media giants come between you and your audience? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Matt Ridley joins the show today to talk about his new book, How Innovation Works. He argues that innovation is the defining feature of the modern age, but it is still very hard for us as a society to wrap our heads around that fact. Ridley argues that we need to see innovation as an incremental, bottom-up, fortuitous process that happens to society as a direct result of the human habit of exchange.How has innovation transformed public health? What is the difference between an invention and an innovation? Is innovation slowing down? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Technologist Alec Stapp joins the show to discuss why the US lagged weeks behind South Korea in testing for COVID-19. While the failures of the FDA and CDC have been grim, the show does find a silver lining in the crisis, that technology has greatly eased the transition into social distancing for many Americans.How is our internet surviving during this global pandemic? How has the private industry stepped up to the plate to tackle COVID-19? Why was the United States late to the game to test patients for COVID-19? Is the FDA to blame for the lack of U.S. testing? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Stop me if you’ve ever heard some version of the following argument: government mandates and funding gave us the __________ [insert: space shuttle, internet, Silicon Valley], so the government should spend $ __ billions/trillions on stimulating innovation and shaping industrial policy today.But that argument is built upon a simplistic and sometimes flawed understanding of what actually happened in the past. The true story is much more complex. In this episode, Paul talks with historian Christophe Lecuyer about the military’s role in the creation of Silicon Valley. And he then sits down with Cato’s Peter Van Doren to discuss the track record for government industrial policy in the decades since.What is silicon logic, user logic and competitive logic? Does the military use new technologies first? What are the advantages of Pentagon contracts compared to private contracts? What is the difference between research and development contracts and manufacturing contracts? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

If you watched the 2018 blockbuster Black Panther, then you’ve encountered a genre known as Afro-Futurism, in which predominately African-American authors use science fiction to explore black liberation in a technological advanced future. These are the kinds of stories that spark the creative energy of the next generation of engineers, scientists, and entrepreneurs.For this episode, we interview Dr. Moradewun Adejunmobi about Afro-Futurism and what it signals about future expectations. Then we talk to Justin Hamilton from Zipline, a drone startup in Africa that is making science fiction into science fact.What is the power of science fiction? What is Afrofuturism? Why can't a drone delivery company who delivers life-saving treatments test their product in the United States? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

It’s easy to assume that things naturally improve. After all, in our lifetimes technology has advanced, life expectancies have risen, and standards of living have improved. Yet in historical terms, progress is a relatively new phenomenon, only invented a few centuries ago. And the danger is that if we take the idea of progress for granted, we might slow or even reverse the rate of progress. That would be a disaster given that we have an obligation to leave a society to future generations that is in better shape than we received it. Technologist Jason Crawford joins the show to talk about the ethical obligation to pursue progress.What are the different types of progress? What is the history of progress? Is progress uniform? What progress have we made that is universally good? Is there an ethical imperative to pursue progress? What is sustainable progress? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

While fans of the show Silicon Valley might not have much regard for the role of venture capital in technological innovation, the reality is that venture capitalists do more than act as ATMs for startups. They provide crucial business, marketing, and legal expertise, all of which are necessary to actually get a product to market.But while venture capital might seem obvious to us today, it was a radical idea in the mid-20th century. Paul interviews Spencer Ante about his biography of the founding father of venture capital, Georges Doriot, a French immigrant who revolutionized the way startups are funded.What is the relationship between venture capital and start-up owners? Who was Georges Doriot and how did he change the world of venture capital? How is venture capital regulated by the SEC? What barriers do venture capitalists face? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Most Americans have some idea that our university system, as expensive as it is, is still the envy of the world and a source of science and engineering innovation. But that wasn’t always so. Margaret O’Mara joins the show to discuss how these tech hubs developed in the mid-20th century through a combination of military funding and private research centers. The incentive for university-based research received another major boost in 1980, when Congress deregulated its patent holding policy.This is the second in a three part series on the origins of Silicon Valley.Why did California play such a surprising role in America’s innovation economy? How did World War II shape the growth of Silicon Valley? What is a non-compete agreement in an employer contract?Further Reading:The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America, written by Margaret O’MaraAnimated timeline shows how Silicon Valley became a $2.8 trillion neighborhood, written by Corey Protin, Matthew Stuart, and Matt WeinbergerThe Origins of Silicon Valley: Why and How It Happened Here, Stanford EngineeringRelated Content:Immigrants Built Silicon Valley, Building Tomorrow PodcastOn Innovation: Don’t Ask for Permission, Building Tomorrow PodcastOut of Poverty: Sweatshops in the Global Economy, Free Thoughts Podcast See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This is the first of a three part series looking at the origins of Silicon Valley and how it became synonymous with technological innovation. The first pillar of Silicon Valley’s success is immigration. We bring on Alex Nowrasteh to discuss how immigration reform in the 1960s opened the door to a wave of skilled engineers and entrepreneurs from around the globe. Even today, a significant portion of tech startups are founded and staffed by foreign-born talent.However, the recent turn towards immigration restrictionism is worsening the already problematic bottleneck on attracting global expertise to the US. Caleb Watney joins us to talk about how the flawed H-1B visa system is responsible both for worsening that shortage and for widening a competitive moat around the Big Tech companies that have the resources to navigate the visa morass.What is the H-1B visa? Does our immigration system favor entrepreneurship? How many American college students are immigrants? What does our student visa system look like?Further Reading:Why Silicon Valley Wouldn’t Work Without Immigrants, written by Farhad ManjooTech as We Know It Would Not Exist Without Immigrants, written by Tom HumberstoneWhy We Need State‐​Based Immigration Visas, written by Alex NowrastehRelated Content:You Are Now Free to Move About the Planet, Free Thoughts PodcastTrump’s Immigration Crackdown, Free Thoughts PodcastThe Libertarian Argument for Open Borders, written by Grant Babcock See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

As the cultural economy (music, movies, television, and books) digitized around the turn of the 21st century, many critics worried about severe negative consequences, including declining creative output because of piracy and decreased aesthetic quality. Joel Waldfogel joins Paul and Aaron to discuss why those fears were wrong. Digitization has actually stimulated a renaissance in the cultural economy as both the number and perceived aesthetic quality of film, television, and books have soared. It has been a triumph of technological innovation enabling an expansion of the marketplace for the ultimate benefit of producers and consumers.Are we overproducing movies because of digitization? Are we consuming culture too fast? Is piracy a customer service problem? Does the business model of Spotify prevent piracy of music? Why did music take such a huge hit from piracy when TV and movies took a much smaller hit in comparison? Do we want ownership of products or the ability to have access to stream of service? Why are people unbundling their cable services? Should we get rid of all copyright?Further Reading:Digital Renaissance: What Data and Economics Tell Us about the Future of Popular Culture, written by Joel WaldfogelHow Does Spotify Make Money?, written by Rameez M. SydeekMusic Piracy Remains a Problem in the Spotify Era, written by Anne SteeleRelated Content:In the Economy of the Future, You Won’t Own Your Kitchen, written by Pamela J. HobartIntellectual Privilege, Free Thoughts PodcastIs Netflix Ruining Culture?, written by Pamela J. Hobart reviewing Joel Waldfogel’s book Digital Renaissance See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Most Americans, including working class Americans, could retire millionaires…if we fixed Social Security. Instead, we are facing a financial crisis when Social Security runs out of money in the mid-2030s and are forced to decided between massive tax increases or major benefit cuts. There is a country that’s a peak into our possible future if we start making smarter choices. Australia enacted major reforms to their retirement system in the 1990s that are just starting to bear fruit. Their superannuation system, though flawed in some ways, shows just how much better a market-based system of individual accounts would be for retirees.What is the Social Security Trust Fund? When is Social Security suppose to run out? When did we attempt to fix our Social Security problem? What is superannuation?Further Reading:Millennials and Super: The Case for Voluntary Superannuation, written by Simon CowanSocial Security Is Running Dry, And There’s Only One Politically Viable Option To Save It, written by Patrick W. WatsonFixing Social Security, Commentary from Michael TannerRelated Content:Social Security vs. Private Retirement, Antony DaviesBringing Wealth to the Poor (with Michael Tanner), Free Thoughts PodcastAmerica’s Middle Class Gets More Welfare Than the Poor, written by Michael Tanner See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

If a bear eats a burger in the woods and doesn’t realize it’s not from a cow, does it care? Until bears evolve the ability to communicate, I suppose we’ll never know. It’s an impossible question, but not as impossible as the Impossible Burger it just ate.The future of meatless meat is here! So we asked the closest thing we have to a bear in the woods at Building Tomorrow, our producer Landry Ayres, to taste test two burgers, one an Impossible Burger and the other a traditional burger. Check out the episode to find out whether Landry guessed between them correctly, then stay for our interview with an Impossible Foods representative about the environmental benefits of this burger that is made from soy protein yet still ‘bleeds’ when you bite into it.How do you define meat? Does Impossible Burgers taste like regular burgers? What is the environmental impact of the Impossible Burger? What is the key ingredient to the Impossible Burger? Is it possible to make the Impossible Burger at the same price as a regular burger? What is the difference between lab grown meat and the Impossible Burger?Further Reading:Impossible FoodsImpossible Burger: Here’s what’s really in it, written by Laura ReileyCan a Burger Help Solve Climate Change?, written by Tad FriendRelated Content:The FDA Ruins Everything You Eat, Free Thoughts PodcastPopping Techno-Utopian Bubbles, Building TomorrowWhen Is a Market Failure Not a Market Failure?, written by Jon Murphy See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The world is rapidly aging and, since people have fewer kids, that means we are facing an eldercare crisis. People will live longer, but have fewer family checking in on them, driving them to doctor’s appointments, and catching the early warning signs of serious illnesses. There is no perfect solution for that crisis, but new technology promises to take better care of us as we age. We have two interviews in today’s episode with startups that can passively track the health of elderly users to watch for Alzheimer’s, dementia, blood pressure, and heart attacks. These technologies can both save lives and improve the quality of life for many elderly people and, potentially, for the not so elderly as well, but that innovation will be delayed if the Food and Drug Administration fails to remove the regulatory barriers that inhibit medical device experimentation.Are there innovative ways to spot the early stages of Alzheimer’s? As the global population ages, how are we able to create technologies that will help us take care of the elderly?Further Reading:Hanamura Mirror ConciergeResearchers use AI to detect early signs of Alzheimer’sRelated Content:Health Care without Health Insurance, Building Tomorrow PodcastWearable Tech: Health Care of the Future, Building Tomorrow PodcastOn Innovation: Don’t Ask for Permission, Building Tomorrow Podcast See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

If you had to choose one technology that has done the most to transform peoples’ lives for the better in the past forty years, you could make a strong argument for cellphones. While people in the US have the first world privilege to complain about wasting time on their phones, millions of people in the developing world are using their cellphones to pull themselves out of poverty, move from subsistence farming to global markets, access credit and bank the unbanked, and learn about the broader world.In this episode, Paul is joined by Katherine Clayton, founder and CEO of Omnivis, a startup that has created a smartphone-based device to cheaply and quickly test for cholera in water. Then he is joined by Marian Tupy and Chelsea Follett from Human Progress to talk about the transformative effects of cellphone technology.What is the social and economic impact of cellphones in the developing world? How can cellphones be used as medical devices for people who do not have access to medical facilities? Do we rely too much on cellphones?Further Reading:OmniVis, Rapid Cholera Detection PlatformHuman ProgressThe Miracle that Is the Smartphone, written by Marian L. TupyMobile Connectivity in Emerging Economies, by Laura Silver, Aaron Smith, Courtney Johnson, Jingjing Jiang, Monica Anderson, and Lee RainieRelated Content:Has Your Phone Hacked Your Brain?, Building Tomorrow PodcastThe World is Getting Better (with Marian Tupy), Free Thoughts PodcastMaking the World Better, written by Aaron Ross Powell See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Matthew Feeney and Peter Van Doren interview Hal Varian about his professional experience starting with his economics column at the New York Times. They also cover other topics like the Google search engine, autonomous vehicles, and working in the age of automation. Varian even suggests that problem with autonomous vehicles is not the vehicle, but the humans that interfere with them.Is there a market for search engines? How do people use search engines? Is Google a monopoly? Which country has the shortest workweek in the developed world? Is our labor market tightening?Further Reading:Sometimes the Stock Does Better Than the Investor That Buys the Stock, written by Hal R. VarianGooglenomics: A long-read Q&A with chief economist Hal Varian, written by James PethokoukisGoogle chief economist Hal Varian says a robot isn’t after your job, written by Olivera PerkinsHal Varian on Taking the Academic Approach to Business (Ep. 69), Conversations with TylerRelated Content:Will Artificial Intelligence Take Your Job?, Building Tomorrow PodcastDoes More Technology Create Unemployment?, written by A.D. Sharplin and R. H. MabryThe Ethics of Artificial Intelligence is Best Left to Researchers, written by Ryan Khurana See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How did Limbaugh change the radio business? How did the conservative opinion media come to be? Who were the left-wing talk radio hosts while Rush Limbaugh was gaining more and more listeners? Is NPR political advocacy media? What is media bias? Who is Howard Stern and what is “guy talk”? Why are liberal podcasts succeeding in the Trump era?Conservative talk radio has become an assumed presence in American media and politics, but in this manifestation it is only about three decades old. Historian Brian Rosenwald joins the show to discuss his latest book, Talk Radio’s America: How an Industry Took Over a Political Party that Took Over the United States, which explores the rise of entertainers like Rush Limbaugh from the margins to having incredible influence in national politics. That surprising story has implications for other media, including the future of podcasting, which is allowing previously marginalized voices, from socialists to libertarians, to have greater voice, for good or for ill. Further Reading:Talk Radio’s America: How an Industry Took Over a Political Party That Took Over the United States, written by Brian RosenwaldRush Limbaugh’s Problem: How The Internet Changed Talk Radio, written by Brian RosenwaldWhy All The Talk-Radio Stars Are Conservative, written by Abram BrownRelated Content:Talking Across Political Divides (with Arnold Kling), Free Thoughts PodcastIs Netflix Ruining Culture?, written by Pamela J. HobartThe Fairness Doctrine Was Terrible for Broadcasting and It Would Be Terrible for the Internet, written by Paul Matzko See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

People may not really know what artificial intelligence is but they are convinced that it will either utterly destroy humankind or lead us into a utopian Singularity between man and machine. But, as philosopher Susan Schneider reminds us, there’s much we don’t know about artificial intelligence, including the nature of consciousness itself. And consciousness, while it may be hard to identify, entails significant ethical obligations, a point that any fan of the HBO show Westworld will quickly grasp. These kinds of questions have been the object of philosophical debate for millennia and it’s a line of inquiry that we should understand before, and not after, we program the first conscious artificial intelligence.What does it mean to design a mind? What is the ‘problem of other minds’? Why does the consciousness of AI matter? Can machines be conscious? Do you think Androids are conscious? Would we ever have anything like a Westworld with true violence? How much do you replace and you are still you?Further Reading:Artificial You: AI and the Future of Your Mind, written by Susan Schneider‘Westworld’ Science Advisor Talks Brains and AI, written by Jeremy HsuTranscending the Brain? AI, Radical Brain Enhancement and the Nature of Consciousness, Susan Schneider at the Harvard Carr Center for Human Rights PolicySpacetime Emergence, Panpsychism and the Nature of Consciousness, written by Susan SchneiderRelated Content:The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence is Best Left to Researchers, written by Ryan KhuranaWill Artificial Intelligence Take Your Job?, Building Tomorrow Podcast See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Cryptocurrency is, ultimately, science fiction. That isn’t an insult. It is science fiction in the sense that decades before you could set up a cold wallet, trade crypto, or hodler Bitcoin, the idea that one day there would exist a vast, distributed digital currency as an alternative to fiat money was a fiction, a thing that existed only in the imaginations of a handful of geeks, programmers, and weirdos. And it is science inasmuch as those same people, through generations of trial and error, actually made that fiction reality.Professor Finn Brunton joins our show to discuss his latest book, Digital Cash, which is about those innovators—anarchists, socialists, libertarians, and everything in between—and the stories that they told, stories powerful enough to fabricate something worth billions of dollars out of nothing and, possibly, permanently transform the future of money for good or for ill.How is digital data valuable? How do you find ways that can limit the ways that data can circulate? What does ‘passing current’ mean? What role does trust play in the exchange of currency?Further Reading:Digital Cash: The Unknown History of the Anarchists, Utopians, and Technologists Who Created Cryptocurrency, published by Princeton University Press & written by Finn Burton.Digital Cash: The Unknown History of the Anarchists, Utopians, and Technologists Who Created Cryptocurrency, written by Finn BruntonStuff and Money in the Time of the French Revolution, written by Rebecca L. SpangRelated Content:The Future of Banking, written by Pascal HügliWhat’s in Your (Crypto) Wallet?, Building Tomorrow PodcastFacebook Friends Libra, Building Tomorrow Podcast See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The recent shootings in El Paso and Gilroy are a reminder of the power of the internet to build communities for niche interests, from vampire fan fiction aficionados to neo-Nazis. The El Paso shooter posted his manifesto to 8chan, a hub for dank memes and hateful content alike. Timothy McLaughlin joins the show to explain where 8chan came from and the personalities people behind its founding.Then Paul, Matthew, and Will discuss the ways that online radicalization of the alt-Right is both similar to past waves of terrorist radicalization and dissimilar in that it is stochastic and requires less organizational structure. Finally, they caution against government overreaction to the legitimate problem of online radicalization, given that most of the proposed measures wouldn’t work, might even backfire, and would create significant, ill, and unintended consequences for positive online social movements.What is 8chan? How is 8chan organized? Who created 8chan and what was its’ original purpose? How should forms of exchange be regulated in the wake of horrific events? Does the use of mass communication inspire people to commit terrible acts of terror? Why are criminal manifestos posted on 8chan? What is stochastic terrorism? How should government respond to the problem of online radicalization?Further Reading:The Weird Dark History of 8Chan, written by Timothy McLaughlinTrump wants social media to detect mass shooters before they commit crimes, written by Rani Molla‘Shut the Site Down,’ Says the Creator of 8chan, a Megaphone for Gunmen, written by Kevin RooseRelated Content:Haters Gonna Hate Speech, Building Tomorrow PodcastHow the FOSTA Rules Create a “Bootleggers and Baptists” Scenario for the 21st Century, written by Paul MatzkoWhat Made the Internet Possible?, Building Tomorrow Podcast See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

If you, as a private citizen, want to build a bridge across the river to shorten your commute, you run into a few problems. The incredible cost of the proposed bridge puts it beyond your limited resources, so you try and convince thousands of your neighbors to chip in donations. But you don’t want to contribute money unless you reach the total amount necessary to build the bridge; a half-built bridge is worse than no bridge at all.One answer to this problem is to use the State to coerce contributions (taxes) from the community, but that comes with ethical problems and inefficiencies from bureaucracy and regulatory capture. Recently, new internet-based alternatives like Kickstarter have fueled the rise of private sector crowdfunding (properly known as assurance contracts), solving the fundraising problem by guaranteeing that contributors will only be debited if total contributions reach the required amount.However, there is still a free rider problem given that people who want the bridge will be unwilling to contribute since there’s a chance that the bridge will be built regardless of whether they, personally, contribute. They can have a bridge without paying, thus the temptation to free ride. To mitigate that problem, Alex coined the idea of the dominant assurance contract, which gives potential free riders an additional incentive to contribute. And dominant assurance contracts could be combined with smart contracts on the blockchain to remove the need for as much trust in the good intentions of strangers.What is a dominant assurance contract? What is a public good? How much of each public good do we want? How are assurance contracts just like crowdfunding? What is Kickstarter?Further Reading:Making Markets Work Better: Dominant Assurance Contracts and Some Other Helpful Ideas, written by Alex TabarrokKickstarter and the NEA, written by Tyler CowenThe private provision of public goods via dominant assurance contracts, written by Alex TabarrokRelated Content:What Theory Won’t Tell You About Public Goods, written by Jon MurphyPrices Are Too Damn High, Building Tomorrow PodcastModern Liberalism and the Paternalism of Things, written by Jason Kuznicki See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

One of the most remarkable aspects of the last few generations is that for the first time in human history, at least to this degree, stuff has been getting cheaper while human labor gets more valuable. It’s a technology-enabled humanist revolution! At the same time, labor-intensive sectors like healthcare and education have become more expensive relative to the declining price of goods. Economists call this the “Baumol effect,” though it’s sometimes referred to as the “cost disease.” But economist Alex Tabarrok joins the show to discuss how that curse might actually be a blessing in disguise and how the Baumol effect radically disrupts our preconceived notions about effective government policies.Why are some prices getting higher while innovation causes the lowering of other prices? Why has the price of education gone up? What is the Baumol Effect? How can we substitute for skilled labor?Further Reading:Why Are the Prices So Damn High?, written by Eric Helland and Alexander TabarrokMarginal RevolutionStubborn Attachments, written by Tyler CowenRelated Content:The Automation Revolution is Upon Us, Building Tomorrow PodcastWill Artificial Intelligence Take Your Job?, Building Tomorrow PodcastOn Innovation: Don’t Ask for Permission, Building Tomorrow Podcast See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

As the threat of government regulation of the internet mounts from both the political Left and Right, Paul and Matthew sit down to talk about the foundational law that made the internet as we know it possible. Ironically, Section 230 was one of the few bits of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 that wasn’t struck down by the courts as a violation of the First Amendment, giving the internet more legal protection than it would have if the moral scolds of the 1990s hadn’t passed the law in the first place. Then, Paul talks with Jennifer Huddleston from the Mercatus Center about her research into the common law origins of Section 230, which rebuts claims that the amendment was some kind of unprecedented “gift” to tech companies.What was the primary purpose of the Communications Decency Act? What are the ramifications of Section 230? Without Section 230, what would the internet look like? Why is censorship important to the conservative movement?Further Reading:What Senator Hawley Gets Wrong about American Identity, written by Aaron Ross PowellSection 230 Is the Internet’s First Amendment. Now Both Republicans and Democrats Want To Take It Away, written by Elizabeth Nolan BrownWhat Republicans are getting wrong about Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, written by Zachary MackRelated Content:Free Speech Online: Unfriended, Building Tomorrow PodcastHow the FOSTA Rules Create a “Bootleggers and Baptists” Scenario for the 21st Century, written by Paul MatzkoNew Conspiracism and Modern Politics (with Russell Muirhead), Free Thoughts Podcast See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Parenting is a wonderful, terrifying, joyful, horrible, lovely thing. And one of the more annoying aspects is the firehose-worth deluge of information about what you should and should not do with your children, the thousands of books, websites, and expert all clamoring with advice. Emily Oster, best-selling author of Cribsheet, offers a way to wade through the often contradictory advice without losing your mind. In short, she’ll teach you how to approach parenting like an economist and data scientist.How do parents making parenting decisions based off of data? How important is data in parenting decisions? Is anyone an actual parenting expert? Why are infant mortality rates so much higher in the U.S. compared to other developed countries?Further Reading:Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool, written by Emily OsterExpecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom Is Wrong—and What You Really Need to Know, written by Emily OsterEconomist Emily Oster explains the science of parenting, written by Angela ChenRelated Content:Overparenting & Bad Public Policy, Free Thoughts PodcastWhy Schools Haven’t Changed in Hundreds of Years, Free Thoughts PodcastThe Best Work/Family Arrangements Come from Families, Not Governments, written by Steven Horwitz See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Facebook and a coalition of major tech and financial companies are planning on creating a new crypto-currency called Libra that promises to make online payment processing swifter, safer, and less expensive. Diego Zuluaga joins Paul to discuss how Libra differs from other crypto-currencies and to provide some calm, rational analysis about a topic that has provoked intense knee-jerk reactions.What is Libra? What are the constitutional behaviors of Libra? What is Libra’s structure of governance? How do you switch from U.S. dollars and your Libra account? How can Libra help you send money to your families in other countries? How will Libra be regulated?Further Reading:Of Libras and Zebras: What Are the True Financial Risks of the Facebook-led Digital Currency (Part I: Systemic Risk), written by Diego ZuluagaFacebook’s Libra Is Part of a Welcome Trend, written by Diego ZuluagaFacebook has a second chance to sell Libra on Capitol Hill today, written by Clare DuffyRelated Content:What’s in Your (Crypto) Wallet?, Building Tomorrow PodcastHow a Honey Bear Is Reinvigorating Cryptocurrency Mining, written by Spencer NealeDecentralization and Privacy Are Inevitable — in Tech and in Government, written by Aaron Ross Powell See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

As recent scandals on social media platforms have shown, content moderation is hard, thankless work. The lines between political satire, hate speech, historical documentation, and obscenity get blurry very quickly even in a single country, let alone when trying to create a one-size-fits-all global moderation standard. Companies like Facebook and Twitter are attempting to routinize their content moderation processes, but Matthew and Paul discuss whether those efforts—however well-intentioned—are too little, too late.What happened between Crowder and Maza? What debates are happening in the tech space about content moderation? How do we determine hate? How does Facebook respond to questionable content? What is too radical to be posted online? What are the limits to hate speech?Further Reading:YouTube’s week from hell: How the debate over free speech online exploded after a conservative star with millions of subscribers was accused of homophobic harassment, written by Benjamin Goggin.Where’s the Real Harm from Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple?, written by Ryan BourneRelated Content:Free Speech Online: Unfriended, Building Tomorrow PodcastSpeech Police, Building Tomorrow PodcastPractical Problems with Regulating Tech in the Public Interest, written by Will Rinehart See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

It is an accident of history that so many tech and social media companies are based in the United States. For example, Facebook has several times more users than there are citizens of any nation in the world. Thus, when a company like Facebook sets rules for content moderation of things like hate speech and pornography, it has truly global implications. David Kaye, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, joins the show to argue that supranational tech companies should adopt supranational standards for content moderation, namely the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with hopes that doing so will constrain governments from limiting basic speech rights.What is the interaction between surveillance and free speech? What is the digital access industry & what role do they play? Is there a tolerable censorship? What is the Google Spain, “right to be forgotten” case? How do we think of democratization of social media platforms? What is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?Further Reading:Speech Police: The Global Struggle to Govern the Internet, written by David KayeMr. David Kaye, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Press Release from the United NationsUN Expert: Content moderation should not trample free speech, written by David KayeRelated Content:Free Speech Online: Unfriended, Free Thoughts PodcastToward an Uncensored Internet, written by Sonya MannThe Brazilian People Reject Censorship, written by Mauricio F. Bento See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

HBO’s show about the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster is the highest rated show on IMDB of all time in part because of its ability to make otherwise dull topics—meetings, shoveling, courtroom exposition—riveting. To suss out fact from fiction, Paul and Matthew invited Matt Crozat from the Nuclear Energy Institute to discuss the show’s portrayal, the history of nuclear plant disasters—including Three Mile Island and Fukushima—and the future of the nuclear energy in America and around the world.How accurate was the HBO show Chernobyl? Why was Chernobyl so catastrophic? What is considered a high radiation level? Should we be optimistic about nuclear power? Have we come a long way since Chernobyl? How is Chernobyl a story about toxic leadership?Further Reading:Why HBO’s “Chernobyl” Gets Nuclear So Wrong, written by Michael ShellenbergerChernobyl and the dangerous ground of ‘dark tourism’, written by Francesca StreetPhotographs capture an abandoned world inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, written by Oscar HollandRelated Content:The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels, Free Thoughts PodcastA Libertarian Approach to the Green New Deal, Building Tomorrow PodcastCapitalism Can Save the Environment, Free Thoughts Podcast See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

More than 48 billion robocalls bombard American phones each year, taking the ‘phone’ out of ‘smartphone’ for many consumers. Yet while the problem has drastically worsened over the past several years, there may be hope on the horizon. Private, third party companies are giving consumers ways to divert or even combat robocalls. And the FCC has finally cleared up the regulatory confusion that contributed to phone carrier reluctance to directly address the problem themselves. We can hope that in ten years, the robocall scourge will seem as quaint as worries about spam email do today, despite being just as seemingly intractable an issue in the 1990s.What is spoofing? What is audio fingerprinting? Why don’t cell phone carriers prevent robocalls? How serious is the problem of spam calls? How has email spam become more manageable? How did email change the world?Further Reading:Why Robocalls Are Even Worse Than You Thought, written by Tim HarperRobocalls are overwhelming hospitals and patients, threatening a new kind of health crisis, written by Tony RommRoboKiller AppHow to Stop Robocalls— Or At Least Slow Them Down, written by Lily Hay NewmanRelated Content:Practical Problems with Regulating Tech in the Public Interest, written by Will RinehartThe Social Consequences of Multilevel Marketing, written by Pamela J. HobartHas Your Phone Hacked Your Brain, Building Tomorrow Podcast See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How will people respond to artificial intelligence taking their jobs? The rise of political radicalism on both Left and Right in the early twenty-first century is in part a reaction to rising income inequality and slower wage growth despite the increasing automation of jobs and gains in productive efficiency. We are in an ‘Engels pause,’ the lag between new technology that benefits whole economies and the moment those gains filter down to the families of displaced workers. Something similar happened during the industrial revolution during the 19th century, the moment that birthed Marxism. Paul interviews economic historian Carl Frey to discuss what we can learn about our present moment of technological innovation and the social reaction to it from the history of industrialization.What is the technology trap? Why didn’t the industrial revolution happen earlier? Who are the beneficiaries of technological progress? Can algorithms be creative? What is the difference between originality and creativity?Further Reading:The Technology Trap: Capital, Labor, and the Power in the Age of Automation, written by Carl Benefikt FreyEngel’s Pause: A Pessimist’s Guide to the British Industrial Revolution, written by Robert Allen and Robert C. AllenCapital in the Twenty-First Century, written by Thomas PikettyRelated Content:Industrial Revolution, written by Deirdre McCloskeyWill Artificial Intelligence Take Your Job?, Building Tomorrow PodcastWill Algorithms Replace the Price System?, written by Adam Gurri See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The gig economy is transforming cities. Companies like Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, and TaskRabbit are hiring thousands of workers on a contract basis rather than as formal employees, a legal distinction with broad implications for both workers and the future of the American economy. Matthew and Paul discuss the reasoning behind the contractor classification and whether it will be a net benefit to gig economy workers. They also talk about smart policy fixes—including expanded access to portable health insurance and various benefits-focused startups—that can address the downsides of contingent labor.What is the gig economy and how is it different than the regular economy? What is rent-seeking behavior and how is it threatening the gig economy? What is the best interests of consumers? What is the precautionary principle?Further Reading:New Employment Regulations Could Destroy California’s Gig Economy, written by Christian BritschgiGig workers are fighting to be classified as employees. Trump’s Labor Department just came out against this., written by Chavie LieberThe Truth About the Gig Economy, written by Annie LowreyRelated Content:On Innovation: Don’t Ask for Permission, Building Tomorrow PodcastWelcome to the Sharing Economy, Free Thoughts PodcastRide-Sharing Services Aren’t a Problem, They’re a Solution, written by Aeon Skoble See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Over the past several years, conservative complaints about social media bias have grown. Some conservatives allege that platforms like Facebook, Google, and Twitter have tweaked their algorithms in ways that effectively downgrade conservative content or that they have “shadow-banned” conservative voices. In this episode, Paul and Will are joined by Zach Graves and Ryan Radia, both from the Lincoln Network, to discuss to what extent these allegations are legitimate and to weigh subsequent calls for government regulation.Is news structurally biased? How do conservatives and liberals respond differently to their content being censored online? Is Facebook a legitimate moderator of its’ own platform? What are the bounds of debate in our country? What is a “quality” experience on a social media platform? What is Section 230? What is the Fairness Doctrine?Further Reading:Why I’m Suing Twitter, written by Meghan MurphyThe Impossible Job: Inside Facebook’s Struggle to Moderate Two Billion People, written by Jason Koebler and Joseph KoxGoogle News results favor left-leaning media, report finds, written by Cat HofackerRelated Content:Free Speech Online, Free Thoughts PodcastToward an Uncensored Internet, written by Sonya MannFor Bad Speech, Is Sunlight Really the Best Disinfectant?, written by Christian Barnard See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.