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The tech industry no longer serves human needs. According to legal scholar and writer Tim Wu, the tech industry has shifted away from providing services and now only exist to extract our money, data, and time. This week, Adam sits with Tim to talk about his new book, Age of Extraction. Together, they chart exactly how we came to find ourselves in this mess and what it might take for us to dig our way out of it. Find Tim's book at factuallypod.com/books--SUPPORT THE SHOW ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/adamconoverSEE ADAM ON TOUR: https://www.adamconover.net/tourdates/SUBSCRIBE to and RATE Factually! on:» Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/factually-with-adam-conover/id1463460577» Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0fK8WJw4ffMc2NWydBlDyJAbout Headgum: Headgum is an LA & NY-based podcast network creating premium podcasts with the funniest, most engaging voices in comedy to achieve one goal: Making our audience and ourselves laugh. Listen to our shows at https://www.headgum.com.» SUBSCRIBE to Headgum: https://www.youtube.com/c/HeadGum?sub_confirmation=1» FOLLOW us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/headgum» FOLLOW us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/headgum/» FOLLOW us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headgum» Advertise on Factually! via Gumball.fmSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
In Episode 463 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with media and technology historian Tim Wu about how the rise of platform power has become the defining economic event of our time, why it's responsible for much of the current dysfunction (from politics and media to housing and healthcare), and what we can do about it. Wu and Kofinas spend the first hour of their conversation discussing how platform power has become the central form of economic control in our era, why the Internet went from being a free-wheeling and optimistic ecosystem of entrepreneurship and creativity to one whose business models of extraction dominate it today, and how platforms have been weaponized against their users in order to capture and extract economic value rather than create it. The second hour is devoted to a discussion about the plethora of readily available solutions to our current predicament, like antitrust enforcement, "line of business" restrictions, utility rules and caps, mandated transparency of platform objective functions, and the need for alternative business models that don't treat human users like industrial farm animals to be milked and sheared until every exploitable moment of their attention has been harvested and exhausted. They discuss why the failure of democracy to address obvious economic problems makes the appeal of authoritarianism more attractive, examine the breakdown of healthcare delivery services resulting from platform extraction, and consider whether a publicly funded alternative to large social media platforms like Meta and X could serve the function of a digital public square by improving our public discourse rather than corrupting it. Subscribe to our premium content—including our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports—by visiting HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you'd like to join the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community—with benefits like Q&A calls with guests, exclusive research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners—you can also sign up on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed today's episode of Hidden Forces, please support the show by: Subscribing on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, CastBox, or via our RSS Feed Writing us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Join our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and support the podcast at https://hiddenforces.io. Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 02/09/2026
In this week's roundup of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Ben is joined by Dr Blake Hallinan, Professor of Platform Studies in the Department of Media & Journalism Studies at Aarhus University. Together, they discuss:On Section 230's 30th Birthday, A Look Back At Why It's Such A Good Law And Why Messing With It Would Be Bad (Techdirt)An 18-Million-Subscriber YouTuber Just Explained Section 230 Better Than Every Politician In Washington (Techdirt)Discord Launches Teen-by-Default Settings Globally (Discord)Media Literacy Parent's study (GOV.UK)EU says TikTok must disable ‘addictive' features like infinite scroll, fix its recommendation engine (Techcrunch)We Didn't Ask for This Internet with Tim Wu and Cory Doctorow (The New York Times)Despite Meta's ban, Fidesz candidates successfully posted 162 political ads on Facebook in January 9 (Lakmusz.hu)Claude's Constitution Needs a Bill of Rights and Oversight (Oversight Board)Account Closed Without Notice: Debanking Adult Industry Workers in Canada (ResearchGate)Play along with Ctrl-Alt-Speech's 2026 Bingo Card and get in touch if you win! Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.
It's Fun Day Monday (in name only) On today's program: Donald Trump faces massive backlash over his racist video that he reposted on Truth Social, depicting the Obamas as apes. A Three-time Trump voter calls into C-SPAN to apologize for his support of Trump. Columbia Law Professor, Tim Wu joins the show to discuss his book Age of Extraction: How Tech Platforms Conquered the Economy and Threaten Our Future Prosperity. In the Fun Half: A local CBS news outlet interviews a former ICE employee who quit over the abuse, over-crowding, and squalid conditions that detained immigrants are experiencing at a detention center in Baltimore. A masked ICE Agent in Minnesota claims that the blue state media refuses to cover the violent criminals they arrest because it doesn't fir the narrative. Trump says that will we are finally living in the Trump economy. Jon Ossoff calls out the Epstein class and spares no billionaire in his indictment of wealth inequality. The TPUSA alternative halftime show is an absolute disaster. all that and more To connect and organize with your local ICE rapid response team visit ICERRT.com The Congress switchboard number is (202) 224-3121. You can use this number to connect with either the U.S. Senate or the House of Representatives. Follow us on TikTok here: https://www.tiktok.com/@majorityreportfm Check us out on Twitch here: https://www.twitch.tv/themajorityreport Find our Rumble stream here: https://rumble.com/user/majorityreport Check out our alt YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/majorityreportlive Gift a Majority Report subscription here: https://fans.fm/majority/gift Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://am-quickie.ghost.io/ Join the Majority Report Discord! https://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Get the free Majority Report App!: https://majority.fm/app Go to https://JustCoffee.coop and use coupon code majority to get 10% off your purchase Check out today's sponsors: NFACTOR MEALS: Go to FactorMeals.com/majority50off and use code majority50off to get 50% off plus Free Breakfast for 1 Year TRUST & WILL: Get 20% off trustandwill.com/MAJORITY SUNSET LAKE: Now through February 9th you can use the code VALENTINE26 to save 30% on all of Sunset Lake's gummies, chocolate fudge, and Farmer's Roast infused coffee beans at SunsetLakeCBD.com Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattLech On Instagram: @MrBryanVokey Check out Matt's show, Left Reckoning, on YouTube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Check out Matt Binder's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/mattbinder Subscribe to Brandon's show The Discourse on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/ExpandTheDiscourse Check out Ava Raiza's music here! https://avaraiza.bandcamp.com
Ragebait, sponcon, A.I. slop — the internet of 2026 makes a lot of us nostalgic for the internet of 10 or 15 years ago.What exactly went wrong here? How did the early promise of the internet get so twisted? And what exactly is wrong here? What kinds of policies could actually make our digital lives meaningfully better?Cory Doctorow and Tim Wu have two different theories of the case, which I thought would be interesting to put in conversation together. Doctorow is a science fiction writer, an activist with the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the author of “Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It.” Wu is a law professor who worked on technology policy in the Biden White House; his latest book is “The Age of Extraction: How Tech Platforms Conquered the Economy and Threaten Our Future Prosperity.”In this conversation, we discuss their different frameworks, and how they connect to all kinds of issues that plague the modern internet: the feeling that we're being manipulated; the deranging of our politics; the squeezing of small businesses and creators; the deluge of spam and fraud; the constant surveillance and privacy risks; the quiet rise of algorithmic pricing; and the dehumanization of work. And they lay out the policies that they think would go furthest in making all these different aspects of our digital lives better.Mentioned:Enshittification by Cory DoctorowThe Age of Extraction by Tim Wu“Fighting Enshittification” by Josh RichmanBook Recommendations:Small Is Beautiful by E. F. SchumacherManipulation by Cass R. SunsteinThe Rise and Fall of the Great Powers by Paul KennedyCareless People by Sarah Wynn-WilliamsLittle Bosses Everywhere by Bridget ReadJules, Penny & the Rooster by Daniel PinkwaterThoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Annie Galvin. Fact-checking by Will Peischel. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Isaac Jones and Aman Sahota. Our executive producer is Claire Gordon. The show's production team also includes Marie Cascione, Rollin Hu, Kristin Lin, Emma Kehlbeck, Jack McCordick, Michelle Harris, Marina King and Jan Kobal. Original music by Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The director of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. And special thanks to Natasha Scott. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Smead Capital Management Chairman and CIO Bill Smead and CEO and Portfolio Manager Cole Smead sat down with author and Columbia Law School professor Tim Wu for a special live taping of the A Book with Legs podcast at today's Smead Investor Oasis. The three discuss Tim's new book, titled “The Age of Extraction.”The book unpacks one of the defining challenges of our time—the growing power of tech platforms. In this live episode, they explore the benefits and risks of that power, and what it will take to reclaim control and restore balance to the economy. Keep an eye out for a recording of the live episode, which will be posted today.
In the 1990s, we were promised that the internet was going to decentralize wealth and power. How did we end up with what feels like the exact opposite of that? Tim Wu, author of the new book, The Age of Extraction — an examination of how tech platforms extract value, shape attention, and concentrate power — joined Bradley earlier this month for a live discussion at P&T Knitwear, moderated by Nate Loewentheil, Managing Partner of Commonweal Ventures. "If you look through the history of democracy turning into dictatorship," says Wu, "a lot of it goes through the path of monopolization of key industries, the build-up of a huge amount of wealth and an anger among the people. When democracy cannot fix that or make the system seem fair, the strong man has a lot of appeal."This episode was taped at P&T Knitwear at 180 Orchard Street — New York City's only free podcast recording studio.Send us an email with your thoughts on today's episode: info@firewall.media.Be sure to watch Bradley's TED Talk on Mobile Voting at https://go.ted.com/bradleytusk.Subscribe to Bradley's weekly newsletter and follow Bradley on Linkedin + Substack + YouTube.
Guest host David Common speaks with The New York Times' David Sanger and The Economist's Rob Russo about where the world order is heading after a charged week at the World Economic ForumLegal scholar and former White House antitrust advisor Tim Wu charts how the open internet ideal gave way to platform power, and whether the tide can turn as the AI age dawnsAhead of the federal Conservative Party's national convention, strategists Regan Watts, Kate Harrison and former MP Monte Solberg explore what party needs to do to win back CanadiansRetired nurse Tilda Shalof and emerging nurse Lisa Mochrie share their hopes, fears and prescriptions for the future of their professionDiscover more at https://www.cbc.ca/sunday
The AI arms race is making Big Tech even bigger. Is their AI obsession bad for the U.S. economy? Host Carmel Crimmins talks to anti-trust scholar Tim Wu about Silicon Valley's big players and what their dominance of the digital economy means for consumers. Catch Reuters Morning Bid here Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter For information on our privacy and data protection practices visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Further listening Bubble talk – Part 1 Bubble talk – Part 2 American capitalism Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
En esta sesión hablamos más de atención y contenidos digitales on Fabienne Fourquet. Fabienne es cofundadora y CEO de 2btube, consultora digital ara creadores de contenido, marcas y plataformas. No sólo ha vivido la transición de los medios tradicionales a las últimas tendencias, si no que ha creado una empresa de éxito cuyos contenidos (propios y representados) suman miles de millones de visitas mensuales. Fabienne ha vivido en varios países y también es madre. Más sobre Fabienne en sus redes https://www.instagram.com/fabiennef/ Y más sobre el equipo de 2btube en https://2btube.com/equipo/ Un agradecimiento especial a Franccesca Tremolada, jefa de producción, por ayudarnos a planear todo, y a Roberto de Baltasar, realizador, editor y jefe técnico que se hizo cargo de la grabación para que podamos tener vídeo. Además es bajista de la banda Fuet! y tiene proyectos muy chulos en su web https://www.robertodebaltasar.com/ Recursos: Vídeos: Spot Comisión Europea por el cargador único https://youtu.be/jIyo29pjgDI?si=SrNV8-CVhlfjsiy0 Jaime Altozano - Análisis Banda sonora de El señor de los anillos (Comunidad) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5LLHZf9ebU Ter - una nueva unidad de medida (por qué Kim Kardashian está relacionada on la arquitectura) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thPGBuVRpPg Libros: The siren´s call - Chris Hayes https://www.amazon.com/Sirens-Call-Attention-Endangered-Resource/dp/0593653114?tag=masdivi-21 (En Castellano) El canto de las sirenas - Chris Hayes https://www.amazon.com/-/es/dp/B0G8QHZJDJ?tag=masdivi-21 Comerciantes de atención - Tim Wu https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Tim-Wu-ebook/dp/B086DNM7QS?tag=masdivi-21 La paradoja de la elección - Barry Schwartz https://www.amazon.com/Barry-Schwartz-ebook/dp/B000TDGGVU?tag=masdivi-21 Decoded - Phil Barden https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Phil-Barden-ebook/dp/B0BFD29L1X?tag=masdivi-21 Movimiento white mirror https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/white-mirror-community/posts/?feedView=all
Tim Wu, is one of America's leading thinkers on technology, power, and the history of monopoly powers. A Columbia Law School professor and former special assistant to President Joe Biden for technology and competition policy, Wu is best known for coining the term “net neutrality” and for his influential work in books like The Attention Merchants and The Curse of Bigness which explore the balance between innovation, corporate concentration, and the public good. On November 18, Wu came to Intelligence Squared to reveal the dangers of the new AI economy. Drawing from his new book The Age of Extraction he discussed why in the AI economy tech companies will amass unprecedented power and argued that breaking up tech monopolies is ultimately the only solution to unleash creativity and growth for the rest of society. He also discussed the history of monopoly power and offer a blueprint for an alternative AI future which would allow tech platforms to still play a major role in creating and sustaining an economic model of prosperity for everyone. --- If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full ad free conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events ... Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A cogent, insightful examination of how concentrations of economic power, primarily tech power, erode the stability of our society while enriching an unaccountable parasite class. The written version of this review can be found here (https://theworthyhouse.com/2026/01/02/the-age-of-extraction-how-tech-platforms-conquered-the-economy-and-threaten-our-future-prosperity-tim-wu/). We strongly encourage all listeners to bookmark our main site (https://www.theworthyhouse.com). You can also subscribe for email notifications, or subscribe at Substack. The Worthy House does not solicit donations or other support, or have ads. Other than at the main site, you can follow Charles here: https://x.com/TheWorthyHouse https://charleshaywood.substack.com/
Tim Wu, is one of America's leading thinkers on technology, power, and the history of monopoly powers. A Columbia Law School professor and former special assistant to President Joe Biden for technology and competition policy, Wu is best known for coining the term “net neutrality” and for his influential work in books like The Attention Merchants and The Curse of Bigness which explore the balance between innovation, corporate concentration, and the public good. On November 18, Wu came to Intelligence Squared to reveal the dangers of the new AI economy. Drawing from his new book The Age of Extraction he discussed why in the AI economy tech companies will amass unprecedented power and argued that breaking up tech monopolies is ultimately the only solution to unleash creativity and growth for the rest of society. He also discussed the history of monopoly power and offer a blueprint for an alternative AI future which would allow tech platforms to still play a major role in creating and sustaining an economic model of prosperity for everyone. --- This is the first instalment of a two-part episode. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full ad free conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events ... Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tim Wu, author, "The Age of Extraction" Kirk Pearson - "Theme from Techtonic" - n/a - "Mark's intro" - "Interview with Tim Wu" [0:01:06] - "Mark's comments" [0:50:46] KILN - "Uranium Lullaby" - Lemon Borealis [0:54:14] https://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/159555
Trump's Mad, Fact-Free Diatribe to the Nation Telling Us How Bad Biden Was and How Great He Is | A Tanker Blockade and the Venezuelan Navy Going Up Against the U.S. Navy: What Could Go Wrong? | The Former White House Tech and Competition Czar on How Tech Platforms Conquered the Economy and Threaten Our Future Prosperity backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss what will happen as the Supreme Court considers whether a president can remove leaders of independent agencies without cause, how the overt signals about immigration and “erasure” in the new National Security Strategy are meant to stir up cultural anxiety in Europe, and the high-stakes merger drama between Netflix, Paramount, and Warner Bros. with guest Tim Wu, professor at Columbia Law School and author of the new book The Age of Extraction: How Tech Platforms Conquered the Economy and Threaten Our Future Prosperity. For this week's Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, John, and David discuss a Consumer Reports and Groundwork Collective investigation that found Instacart quoting massive price differences for the same products, which they claim result from AI-enabled pricing experiments. In the latest Gabfest Reads, John talks with journalist and author Andrew Ross Sorkin about his new book, 1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History and How It Shattered a Nation — the story of speculation, debt, and the human drives that fueled the Wall Street crash that changed everything. Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.) Podcast production by Nina Porzucki Research by Emily Ditto You can find the full Political Gabfest show pages here. Want more Political Gabfest? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you'll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Political Gabfest show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or visit slate.com/gabfestplus to get access wherever you listen. Find out more about David Plotz's monthly tours of Ft. DeRussy, the secret Civil War fort hidden in Rock Creek Park. Follow @SlateGabfest on X / https://twitter.com/SlateGabfestSlate Political Gabfest on Facebook / https://www.facebook.com/Gabfest/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss what will happen as the Supreme Court considers whether a president can remove leaders of independent agencies without cause, how the overt signals about immigration and “erasure” in the new National Security Strategy are meant to stir up cultural anxiety in Europe, and the high-stakes merger drama between Netflix, Paramount, and Warner Bros. with guest Tim Wu, professor at Columbia Law School and author of the new book The Age of Extraction: How Tech Platforms Conquered the Economy and Threaten Our Future Prosperity. For this week's Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, John, and David discuss a Consumer Reports and Groundwork Collective investigation that found Instacart quoting massive price differences for the same products, which they claim result from AI-enabled pricing experiments. In the latest Gabfest Reads, John talks with journalist and author Andrew Ross Sorkin about his new book, 1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History and How It Shattered a Nation — the story of speculation, debt, and the human drives that fueled the Wall Street crash that changed everything. Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.) Podcast production by Nina Porzucki Research by Emily Ditto You can find the full Political Gabfest show pages here. Want more Political Gabfest? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you'll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Political Gabfest show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or visit slate.com/gabfestplus to get access wherever you listen. Find out more about David Plotz's monthly tours of Ft. DeRussy, the secret Civil War fort hidden in Rock Creek Park. Follow @SlateGabfest on X / https://twitter.com/SlateGabfestSlate Political Gabfest on Facebook / https://www.facebook.com/Gabfest/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss what will happen as the Supreme Court considers whether a president can remove leaders of independent agencies without cause, how the overt signals about immigration and “erasure” in the new National Security Strategy are meant to stir up cultural anxiety in Europe, and the high-stakes merger drama between Netflix, Paramount, and Warner Bros. with guest Tim Wu, professor at Columbia Law School and author of the new book The Age of Extraction: How Tech Platforms Conquered the Economy and Threaten Our Future Prosperity. For this week's Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily, John, and David discuss a Consumer Reports and Groundwork Collective investigation that found Instacart quoting massive price differences for the same products, which they claim result from AI-enabled pricing experiments. In the latest Gabfest Reads, John talks with journalist and author Andrew Ross Sorkin about his new book, 1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History and How It Shattered a Nation — the story of speculation, debt, and the human drives that fueled the Wall Street crash that changed everything. Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.) Podcast production by Nina Porzucki Research by Emily Ditto You can find the full Political Gabfest show pages here. Want more Political Gabfest? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you'll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Political Gabfest show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or visit slate.com/gabfestplus to get access wherever you listen. Find out more about David Plotz's monthly tours of Ft. DeRussy, the secret Civil War fort hidden in Rock Creek Park. Follow @SlateGabfest on X / https://twitter.com/SlateGabfestSlate Political Gabfest on Facebook / https://www.facebook.com/Gabfest/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The early internet was built on big hopes—access, openness, connection, and the belief that technology could make the world fairer. In this episode of The Radical Candor Podcast, Kim & Jason are in conversation with Steven Levy. His recent article, “I thought I knew Silicon Valley. I was wrong.”, becomes the lens through which they revisit tech's early promise and its reality today. They take an honest look at the optimism that shaped Silicon Valley's early culture and how those ideals unraveled. Kim & Steven candidly share their unique perspective of how it feels to recognize the gap between what they believed and what actually happened as two people who had a front row seat. If you're looking for a thoughtful, grounded, and honest conversation about how tech's story was written—and rewritten—in real time, and what today's leaders can learn from examining both intention and impact, this episode offers clarity and perspective you can apply right now. Get all of the show notes at RadicalCandor.com/podcast. Episode Links: "I Thought I Knew Silicon Valley, I was Wrong" About Steven Levy Steven Levy's Newsletter Steven Levy's Books "Virtual Love" by Kim Scott "Enshittification" by Cory Doctorow "The Age of Extraction" by Tim Wu Connect: Website Instagram TikTok LinkedIn YouTube Bluesky Chapters: (00:00) Introduction Kim, Jason, and Steven set the stage for a reflective look at Silicon Valley's promise and reality. (01:39) “I Thought I Knew Silicon Valley. I Was Wrong.” Steven shares what led him to write the article and how his perspective shifted. (03:38) From Idealism to Influence: When Tech's Culture Shifted Exploring the moment Silicon Valley's playful, rebellious spirit hardened into something more powerful—and less accountable. (06:30) Recalling the Internet We Hoped For Revisiting the early optimism that shaped the web and the disillusionment that followed. (12:27) The Claims of AI Examining the bold promises tech leaders make about AI—and why skepticism matters. (15:01) The Long Tail Early optimism about the internet's potential to democratize opportunity. (16:56) Enshittification & The Age of Extraction Cory Doctorow's framework, antitrust debates, and how market consolidation reshaped the online ecosystem. (20:05) Do a CEO's Values Matter? A look at how leaders like Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos have evolved—and what that means for their companies. (24:37) What to Do When You Don't Align With Your Company Reflecting on how to stay true to your values when the culture around you shifts. (29:36) Looking Back with Clearer Eyes Kim reckons with past choices, blind spots, and what accountability looks like now. (32:29) What Corrupted Silicon Valley When too much money and power are concentrated in too few hands. (33:56) Conclusion Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this Money Talks: Elizabeth Spiers is joined by Tim Wu to discuss his new book, The Age of Extraction, which breaks down how we ended up with an economy dominated by Big Tech and its purely profit-seeking mindset. They'll get into the slow erosion of optimism around the internet as a democratizing force, the state of antitrust enforcement in America, and what it might look like if we stop allowing big companies to nickel and dime the public unchecked. Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you'll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Slate Money show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/moneyplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Jessamine Molli and Cheyna Roth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this Money Talks: Elizabeth Spiers is joined by Tim Wu to discuss his new book, The Age of Extraction, which breaks down how we ended up with an economy dominated by Big Tech and its purely profit-seeking mindset. They'll get into the slow erosion of optimism around the internet as a democratizing force, the state of antitrust enforcement in America, and what it might look like if we stop allowing big companies to nickel and dime the public unchecked. Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you'll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Slate Money show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/moneyplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Jessamine Molli and Cheyna Roth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this Money Talks: Elizabeth Spiers is joined by Tim Wu to discuss his new book, The Age of Extraction, which breaks down how we ended up with an economy dominated by Big Tech and its purely profit-seeking mindset. They'll get into the slow erosion of optimism around the internet as a democratizing force, the state of antitrust enforcement in America, and what it might look like if we stop allowing big companies to nickel and dime the public unchecked. Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you'll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Slate Money show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/moneyplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Jessamine Molli and Cheyna Roth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this Money Talks: Elizabeth Spiers is joined by Tim Wu to discuss his new book, The Age of Extraction, which breaks down how we ended up with an economy dominated by Big Tech and its purely profit-seeking mindset. They'll get into the slow erosion of optimism around the internet as a democratizing force, the state of antitrust enforcement in America, and what it might look like if we stop allowing big companies to nickel and dime the public unchecked. Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you'll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Slate Money show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/moneyplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Jessamine Molli and Cheyna Roth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Lincoln Project’s Rick Wilson examines Trump’s indefensible pardons. Tim Wu details his new book The Age of Extraction: How Tech Platforms Conquered the Economy and Threaten Our Future Prosperity.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Can we reclaim control of our economy to make it work for everyone? What needs to be understood about the big tech platforms before that could even be attempted? Tim Wu has a plan. Wu, a scholar and the former White House official who coined the phrase “net neutrality,” has examined the rise of “platform power” and the risks and rewards of working within such systems. It's a topic he explores in his latest book The Age of Extraction. Drawing on lessons from recent history—from generative AI and predictive social data to the antimonopoly and crypto movements—Wu says the internet that was promised to be the provider of widespread wealth and democracy in the 1990s and 2000s instead created new economic classes and helped spread autocracy. Wu envisions a future in which tech advances can serve the greatest possible good, and he offers proposals for making a more balanced economy. Wu has been named one of Scientific American's 50 people of the year (2006), one of the “Politico 50” (2014 and 2015), one of The National Law Journal's “America's 100 Most Influential Lawyers” (2013) and one of 02138 magazine's 100 most influential Harvard graduates (2007). Put him on your list of people to see in-person when he returns to Commonwealth Club World Affairs in November. This program is supported by the Ken & Jaclyn Broad Family Fund. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this week's episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Kate Gordon about California's recent raft of climate policies. Gordon, the CEO of California Forward who also has held senior policy positions in California and the US Department of Energy, discusses the various Senate bills that have been proposed and passed recently in the state. She talks about the importance of considering energy affordability when addressing California's energy and climate concerns and what she's noticed as evolving perceptions of carbon management. Gordon also touches on specific bills that extend California's cap-and-trade program and ramp up permissions for oil drilling, sharing her own take on the current state of climate policy in California. References and recommendations: “California's Innovative Vision for Climate Policy and Energy Affordability” by Dallas Burtraw; https://www.resources.org/common-resources/californias-innovative-vision-for-climate-policy-and-energy-affordability/ Blog posts by Severin Borenstein through the Energy Institute at Haas; https://energyathaas.wordpress.com/author/severinborenstein/ “The Age of Extraction: How Tech Platforms Conquered the Economy and Threaten Our Future Prosperity” by Tim Wu; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/691177/the-age-of-extraction-by-tim-wu/9780593321249 Subscribe to stay up to date on news and research from Resources for the Future: https://www.rff.org/subscribe/
Marketplaces look different in the digital age and are controlled by a few large companies with immense economic and cultural power. Co-host Nicol Turner Lee is joined by legal scholar and tech expert, Tim Wu, to discuss his new book, “The Age of Extraction” and the future of these platforms. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Are we becoming a nation mined for our money, data, and attention? Author and legal scholar Tim Wu certainly thinks so. A key architect of President Joe Biden's antitrust policy, Wu joins WSJ's Christopher Mims and Tim Higgins on Bold Names to explain how a handful of tech platforms conquered the economy and why he fears Silicon Valley could become “inefficient, bloated, and bested by foreign competitors,” if the country doesn't rein in monopoly power. Wu shares insights from his new book, “The Age of Extraction,” which maps out a path toward restoring competition and rebuilding an economy that works for everyone. To watch the video version of this episode, visit our WSJ Podcasts YouTube channel or the video page of WSJ.com. Check Out Past Episodes: The World's Tech Giants Are Running Out of Power. This CEO Plans to Deliver. Why This Investor Says the AI Boom Isn't the Next Dot-Com Crash Inside Visa's Tech-Charged Future: From Crypto to AI Condoleezza Rice on Beating China in the Tech Race: 'Run Hard and Run Fast Let us know what you think of the show. Email us at BoldNames@wsj.com. Sign up for the WSJ's free Technology newsletter. Read Christopher Mims's Keywords column. Read Tim Higgins's column. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Did you know Amazon makes $37 billion a year—more than double the revenue of all the newspapers in the world combined—from its sponsored results alone? Yes, the same, spammy, sponsored results at the top of a search that bilk shoppers with fake or low-quality items and can starve legitimate businesses of traffic and revenue.This is one of the many insights shared by our guest this week, Tim Wu, in his new book, “The Age of Extraction: How Tech Platforms Conquered the Economy and Threaten Our Future Prosperity.” He argues that the defining story of the modern internet isn't openness or democratization, but rather wealth extraction: the ability of gatekeeping Big Tech platforms, such as Amazon, Facebook, or X, to take money from everyone else without actually providing net value in return. Platforms weaponize convenience, he writes, so switching to competitors or smaller platforms is designed to be exhausting. Add in AI technologies that foster emotional relationships with users, and our dependence on them may deepen even more.An author and professor at Columbia Law School, Wu served in the Biden administration as Special Assistant to the President for Technology and Competition Policy. He discusses with Bethany and Luigi why we should care about Big Tech value extraction and posits how Big Tech power arose in the first place: from centralized power to shareholder pressure, from poorly aligned corporate structures to nefarious intentions. Together, they also chart how we can make our way out of this era of extraction. They discuss the feasibility of treating Big Tech platforms like utilities, applying frameworks for structural separation between the platforms' various services, decentralizing digital network infrastructures through interoperability to allow users to switch more easily between different platforms, and how economic populism influences the political messaging around these issues. Ultimately, Wu makes the case for embracing a philosophy of decentralized capitalism to achieve a fairer and beneficial balance between public and private power. Read more from Tim Wu in ProMarket:The Consumer Welfare Standard is Too TaintedOver recent years, the antitrust law appears to be returning to its historical standard, the “competition and competitive process” standard, often referred to in the Supreme Court as the goal of “protecting competition.” In this post, Tim defends this trend for rule-of-law reasons and presents a realistic assessment of the legal system's capabilities and its limits.A Conversation with Tim WuA transcript of Tim Wu's keynote in conversation with Binyamin Appelbaum of The New York Times from the Stigler Center's annual Antitrust and Competition Conference archives. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Writer Tim Wu joins Joe and Alex to discuss the "Age of Extraction" - how Big Tech seems intent on sucking as much out of you as possible. How do we break the cycle - and get back to an Internet where everyone can thrive? Where do Joe and Tim think the future of tech is going - and how will it impact our politics? Turns out you have more power than you think. Read "The Age of Extraction" here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/691177/the-age-of-extraction-by-tim-wu/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Can radical optimism about AI truly shape our future, or are we stuck in a cycle of doom-and-hype? This episode features an unfiltered debate with Wired co-founder Kevin Kelly on why most fears about artificial intelligence might be missing the bigger picture. Vibe Coding' Named Word of the Year By Collins Dictionary OpenAI CFO Says Company Isn't Seeking Government Backstop, Clarifying Prior Comment Montana Becomes First State to Enshrine 'Right to Compute' Into Law - Montana Newsroom Sam Altman's Worldcoin Project Struggles Toward Billion-User Ambition With 17.5 Million Sign-Ups Meta's chief AI scientist Yann LeCun reportedly plans to leave to build his own startup Exclusive: US Army to buy 1 million drones, in major acquisition ramp-up Facebook Dating Is a Surprise Hit For the Social Network - Slashdot 12 Things I've Heard Boomers Say That I Agree With 100% The FBI has subpoenaed the domain registrar of archive.today, demanding information about the owner of the archiving site as part of a criminal investigation How Similar Are Grokipedia and Wikipedia? What We Can Learn From Brain Organoids If the US Has to Build Data Centers, Here's Where They Should Go LLM-Based Multi-Agent System for Simulating and Analyzing Marketing and Consumer Behavior No. 10's synthetic voters Tim Wu and Cory Doctorow's NPCs: Non-Player Consumers Eric Schmidt: This Is No Way to Rule a Country My torture for you Ohio State to hire 100 new faculty with AI expertise 'A frightening development': How AI-Articles are flooding the internet with fake news Internet Archive's legal fights are over, but its founder mourns what was lost YouTube TV deal reportedly hung up on ESPN pricing as Disney loses $30 million a week How people really use ChatGPT, according to 47,000 conversations shared online Tort Law museum visit Bread and Puppet Museum We're famous in Germany Brand new bridge Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Paris Martineau Guest: Kevin Kelly Download or subscribe to Intelligent Machines at https://twit.tv/shows/intelligent-machines. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: zapier.com/machines ventionteams.com/twit Melissa.com/twit agntcy.org
Can radical optimism about AI truly shape our future, or are we stuck in a cycle of doom-and-hype? This episode features an unfiltered debate with Wired co-founder Kevin Kelly on why most fears about artificial intelligence might be missing the bigger picture. Vibe Coding' Named Word of the Year By Collins Dictionary OpenAI CFO Says Company Isn't Seeking Government Backstop, Clarifying Prior Comment Montana Becomes First State to Enshrine 'Right to Compute' Into Law - Montana Newsroom Sam Altman's Worldcoin Project Struggles Toward Billion-User Ambition With 17.5 Million Sign-Ups Meta's chief AI scientist Yann LeCun reportedly plans to leave to build his own startup Exclusive: US Army to buy 1 million drones, in major acquisition ramp-up Facebook Dating Is a Surprise Hit For the Social Network - Slashdot 12 Things I've Heard Boomers Say That I Agree With 100% The FBI has subpoenaed the domain registrar of archive.today, demanding information about the owner of the archiving site as part of a criminal investigation How Similar Are Grokipedia and Wikipedia? What We Can Learn From Brain Organoids If the US Has to Build Data Centers, Here's Where They Should Go LLM-Based Multi-Agent System for Simulating and Analyzing Marketing and Consumer Behavior No. 10's synthetic voters Tim Wu and Cory Doctorow's NPCs: Non-Player Consumers Eric Schmidt: This Is No Way to Rule a Country My torture for you Ohio State to hire 100 new faculty with AI expertise 'A frightening development': How AI-Articles are flooding the internet with fake news Internet Archive's legal fights are over, but its founder mourns what was lost YouTube TV deal reportedly hung up on ESPN pricing as Disney loses $30 million a week How people really use ChatGPT, according to 47,000 conversations shared online Tort Law museum visit Bread and Puppet Museum We're famous in Germany Brand new bridge Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Paris Martineau Guest: Kevin Kelly Download or subscribe to Intelligent Machines at https://twit.tv/shows/intelligent-machines. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: zapier.com/machines ventionteams.com/twit Melissa.com/twit agntcy.org
Can radical optimism about AI truly shape our future, or are we stuck in a cycle of doom-and-hype? This episode features an unfiltered debate with Wired co-founder Kevin Kelly on why most fears about artificial intelligence might be missing the bigger picture. Vibe Coding' Named Word of the Year By Collins Dictionary OpenAI CFO Says Company Isn't Seeking Government Backstop, Clarifying Prior Comment Montana Becomes First State to Enshrine 'Right to Compute' Into Law - Montana Newsroom Sam Altman's Worldcoin Project Struggles Toward Billion-User Ambition With 17.5 Million Sign-Ups Meta's chief AI scientist Yann LeCun reportedly plans to leave to build his own startup Exclusive: US Army to buy 1 million drones, in major acquisition ramp-up Facebook Dating Is a Surprise Hit For the Social Network - Slashdot 12 Things I've Heard Boomers Say That I Agree With 100% The FBI has subpoenaed the domain registrar of archive.today, demanding information about the owner of the archiving site as part of a criminal investigation How Similar Are Grokipedia and Wikipedia? What We Can Learn From Brain Organoids If the US Has to Build Data Centers, Here's Where They Should Go LLM-Based Multi-Agent System for Simulating and Analyzing Marketing and Consumer Behavior No. 10's synthetic voters Tim Wu and Cory Doctorow's NPCs: Non-Player Consumers Eric Schmidt: This Is No Way to Rule a Country My torture for you Ohio State to hire 100 new faculty with AI expertise 'A frightening development': How AI-Articles are flooding the internet with fake news Internet Archive's legal fights are over, but its founder mourns what was lost YouTube TV deal reportedly hung up on ESPN pricing as Disney loses $30 million a week How people really use ChatGPT, according to 47,000 conversations shared online Tort Law museum visit Bread and Puppet Museum We're famous in Germany Brand new bridge Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Paris Martineau Guest: Kevin Kelly Download or subscribe to Intelligent Machines at https://twit.tv/shows/intelligent-machines. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: zapier.com/machines ventionteams.com/twit Melissa.com/twit agntcy.org
Can radical optimism about AI truly shape our future, or are we stuck in a cycle of doom-and-hype? This episode features an unfiltered debate with Wired co-founder Kevin Kelly on why most fears about artificial intelligence might be missing the bigger picture. Vibe Coding' Named Word of the Year By Collins Dictionary OpenAI CFO Says Company Isn't Seeking Government Backstop, Clarifying Prior Comment Montana Becomes First State to Enshrine 'Right to Compute' Into Law - Montana Newsroom Sam Altman's Worldcoin Project Struggles Toward Billion-User Ambition With 17.5 Million Sign-Ups Meta's chief AI scientist Yann LeCun reportedly plans to leave to build his own startup Exclusive: US Army to buy 1 million drones, in major acquisition ramp-up Facebook Dating Is a Surprise Hit For the Social Network - Slashdot 12 Things I've Heard Boomers Say That I Agree With 100% The FBI has subpoenaed the domain registrar of archive.today, demanding information about the owner of the archiving site as part of a criminal investigation How Similar Are Grokipedia and Wikipedia? What We Can Learn From Brain Organoids If the US Has to Build Data Centers, Here's Where They Should Go LLM-Based Multi-Agent System for Simulating and Analyzing Marketing and Consumer Behavior No. 10's synthetic voters Tim Wu and Cory Doctorow's NPCs: Non-Player Consumers Eric Schmidt: This Is No Way to Rule a Country My torture for you Ohio State to hire 100 new faculty with AI expertise 'A frightening development': How AI-Articles are flooding the internet with fake news Internet Archive's legal fights are over, but its founder mourns what was lost YouTube TV deal reportedly hung up on ESPN pricing as Disney loses $30 million a week How people really use ChatGPT, according to 47,000 conversations shared online Tort Law museum visit Bread and Puppet Museum We're famous in Germany Brand new bridge Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Paris Martineau Guest: Kevin Kelly Download or subscribe to Intelligent Machines at https://twit.tv/shows/intelligent-machines. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: zapier.com/machines ventionteams.com/twit Melissa.com/twit agntcy.org
Ravi sits down with Tim Wu, author of The Age of Extraction, to unpack how America's biggest tech empires rose—and why they might be due for a breakup. From Teddy Roosevelt's railroad wars to Amazon's pay-to-play marketplace, Wu traces how antitrust battles have shaped innovation for more than a century. He explains how Amazon's tactics—copycat products, buried listings, and punishing sellers—mirror the monopolies of the past, and what the FTC is trying to change. The episode ends on AI, asking whether Big Tech's wild spending is fueling progress—or just building smarter walls around its power. -- Ravi's Analog Writer's Group: https://www.ravimgupta.com/analog Tim Wu's The Age of Extraction -- Leave us a voicemail with your thoughts on the show! 201-305-0084 Follow Ravi at @RaviMGupta Notes from this episode are also available on Substack: https://thelostdebate.substack.com/ Read more from Ravi on Substack: https://realravigupta.substack.com Follow The Branch at @thebranchmedia Listen to more episodes of Lost Debate on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lost-debate/id1591300785 Listen to more episodes of Lost Debate on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7xR9pch9DrQDiZfGB5oF0F Listen to Where the Schools Went: https://thebranchmedia.org/show/where-the-schools-went/
Can radical optimism about AI truly shape our future, or are we stuck in a cycle of doom-and-hype? This episode features an unfiltered debate with Wired co-founder Kevin Kelly on why most fears about artificial intelligence might be missing the bigger picture. Vibe Coding' Named Word of the Year By Collins Dictionary OpenAI CFO Says Company Isn't Seeking Government Backstop, Clarifying Prior Comment Montana Becomes First State to Enshrine 'Right to Compute' Into Law - Montana Newsroom Sam Altman's Worldcoin Project Struggles Toward Billion-User Ambition With 17.5 Million Sign-Ups Meta's chief AI scientist Yann LeCun reportedly plans to leave to build his own startup Exclusive: US Army to buy 1 million drones, in major acquisition ramp-up Facebook Dating Is a Surprise Hit For the Social Network - Slashdot 12 Things I've Heard Boomers Say That I Agree With 100% The FBI has subpoenaed the domain registrar of archive.today, demanding information about the owner of the archiving site as part of a criminal investigation How Similar Are Grokipedia and Wikipedia? What We Can Learn From Brain Organoids If the US Has to Build Data Centers, Here's Where They Should Go LLM-Based Multi-Agent System for Simulating and Analyzing Marketing and Consumer Behavior No. 10's synthetic voters Tim Wu and Cory Doctorow's NPCs: Non-Player Consumers Eric Schmidt: This Is No Way to Rule a Country My torture for you Ohio State to hire 100 new faculty with AI expertise 'A frightening development': How AI-Articles are flooding the internet with fake news Internet Archive's legal fights are over, but its founder mourns what was lost YouTube TV deal reportedly hung up on ESPN pricing as Disney loses $30 million a week How people really use ChatGPT, according to 47,000 conversations shared online Tort Law museum visit Bread and Puppet Museum We're famous in Germany Brand new bridge Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Paris Martineau Guest: Kevin Kelly Download or subscribe to Intelligent Machines at https://twit.tv/shows/intelligent-machines. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: zapier.com/machines ventionteams.com/twit Melissa.com/twit agntcy.org
Can radical optimism about AI truly shape our future, or are we stuck in a cycle of doom-and-hype? This episode features an unfiltered debate with Wired co-founder Kevin Kelly on why most fears about artificial intelligence might be missing the bigger picture. Vibe Coding' Named Word of the Year By Collins Dictionary OpenAI CFO Says Company Isn't Seeking Government Backstop, Clarifying Prior Comment Montana Becomes First State to Enshrine 'Right to Compute' Into Law - Montana Newsroom Sam Altman's Worldcoin Project Struggles Toward Billion-User Ambition With 17.5 Million Sign-Ups Meta's chief AI scientist Yann LeCun reportedly plans to leave to build his own startup Exclusive: US Army to buy 1 million drones, in major acquisition ramp-up Facebook Dating Is a Surprise Hit For the Social Network - Slashdot 12 Things I've Heard Boomers Say That I Agree With 100% The FBI has subpoenaed the domain registrar of archive.today, demanding information about the owner of the archiving site as part of a criminal investigation How Similar Are Grokipedia and Wikipedia? What We Can Learn From Brain Organoids If the US Has to Build Data Centers, Here's Where They Should Go LLM-Based Multi-Agent System for Simulating and Analyzing Marketing and Consumer Behavior No. 10's synthetic voters Tim Wu and Cory Doctorow's NPCs: Non-Player Consumers Eric Schmidt: This Is No Way to Rule a Country My torture for you Ohio State to hire 100 new faculty with AI expertise 'A frightening development': How AI-Articles are flooding the internet with fake news Internet Archive's legal fights are over, but its founder mourns what was lost YouTube TV deal reportedly hung up on ESPN pricing as Disney loses $30 million a week How people really use ChatGPT, according to 47,000 conversations shared online Tort Law museum visit Bread and Puppet Museum We're famous in Germany Brand new bridge Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Paris Martineau Guest: Kevin Kelly Download or subscribe to Intelligent Machines at https://twit.tv/shows/intelligent-machines. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: zapier.com/machines ventionteams.com/twit Melissa.com/twit agntcy.org
Lawfare Senior Editors Kate Klonick and Alan Rozenshtein talk to Columbia law professor Tim Wu about this new book, “The Age of Extraction: How Tech Platforms Conquered the Economy and Threaten Our Future Prosperity.” The book is the final part of what Wu calls his trilogy—building on his prior best selling books “The Master Switch” and “Attention Merchants.” Klonick and Rozenshtein speak with Wu about how he sees the platforms as evolving in the 15 years since he started this series and what he sees as the future solution set for the problems that have developed out of the early promise of the digital era. To receive ad-free podcasts, become a Lawfare Material Supporter at www.patreon.com/lawfare. You can also support Lawfare by making a one-time donation at https://givebutter.com/lawfare-institute.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jason Howell and Jeff Jarvis discuss Yann LeCun's possible Meta exit, SoftBank unloading its Nvidia stake for an OpenAI investment, an AI-generated artist topping Billboard's country chart, OpenAI's talks with Washington over federal loan guarantees, Perplexity's stance on companion chat bots, Apple reportedly licensing Google's Gemini, Amazon launching Kindle Translate, and Google Photos expanding with Nano Banana features. CHAPTERS: 0:03:33: Meta chief AI scientist Yann LeCun plans to exit to launch startup, FT reports 0:09:03: Cambrian-S: Towards Spatial Supersensing in Video: by Li, LeCun, et al 0:10:11: Fei-Fei Li's World Labs speeds up the world model race with Marble, its first commercial product 0:16:45: SoftBank Sells Its Nvidia Stake for $5.8 Billion to Fund OpenAI Bet 0:20:10: Anthropic Is on Track to Turn a Profit Much Faster Than OpenAI 0:27:40: OpenAI discussed government loan guarantees for chip plants, not data centers, Altman says 0:29:19: @sama: I would like to clarify a few things. 0:38:51: Country's No. 1 Digital Song Is an AI Smash, But Who Is Breaking Rust? Jeff's Arxiv Showdown 0:47:13: How Similar Are Grokipedia and Wikipedia? 0:49:24: Brain Organoid Computing 0:49:45: What We Can Learn From Brain Organoids 0:51:18: LLM-Based Multi-Agent System for Simulating and Analyzing Marketing and Consumer Behavior 0:52:00: Shareholder Democracy with AI Representatives 0:53:00: No. 10's synthetic voters 0:55:03: Perplexity's CEO says he's worried about AI companionship apps: 'Your mind is manipulable very easily' 0:56:20: tangentially related; might not mention: Tim Wu and Cory Doctorow's NPCs: Non-Player Consumers 0:57:44: Apple Plans to Use 1.2 Trillion Parameter Google Gemini Model to Power New Siri - Bloomberg 0:59:05: Amazon launches an AI-powered Kindle Translate service for e-book authors 1:02:41: 6 new things you can do with AI in Google Photos 1:04:00: Remix makes sending photos to friends even more fun on Google Messages. 1:05:08: MotionStream AI Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Our digital lives are increasingly dominated by a handful of powerful tech platforms. Once promising prosperity and democracy, the internet has instead allowed companies like Google, Amazon and Meta to extract money, data and attention from users on an unparalleled scale. Tim Wu, a former technology advisor to President Biden, argues that the government is failing us while tech monopolies deepen wealth divides and enable authoritarianism. We talk to him about how we can take back power from Big Tech. Wu's new book is “The Age of Extraction: How Tech Platforms Conquered the Economy and Threaten Our Future Prosperity.” Guests: Tim Wu, professor of law, Columbia Law School Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy addresses the government shutdown's impact on travel and federal travel workers across the country as we enter the second month of the standstill in Washington, DC. Tim Wu, Columbia Law Professor and tech and competition adviser under President Trump, discusses the importance of competition in the big tech landscape. For him, the best foil for China's tech dominance and competition here in the United States. Plus, Kimberly-Clark will buy Tylenol maker Kenvue, SNAP food benefits could restart this week, and in an interview with 60 Minutes, President Trump discussed the government shutdown and Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, the crypto billionaire the President pardoned last month. Sec. Sean Duffy - 18:25Tim Wu - 32:28 In this episode: Sean Duffy, @SecDuffyTim Wu, @superwusterJoe Kernen, @JoeSquawk Andrew Ross Sorkin, @andrewrsorkinMichael Santoli, @michaelsantoliKatie Kramer, @Kramer_Katie Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
The Belgian surrealist René Magritte was a smart artist, but could the 20th century futurist really have predicted the end of the Worldwide Web age? Not exactly, of course. But according to That Was The Week publisher, Keith Teare, Magritte's 1929 painting, “The Treachery of Images” (featuring the image of a pipe with the immortal words “Ceci n'est pas une pipe”), is a helpful way of thinking about OpenAI's introduction this week of their new Atlas “browser”. It's not really a browser in the conventional way that we think about web browsers like Chrome, Firefox or Internet Explorer. And yet AI products like Atlas are about to once again revolutionize how we use the internet. They might even represent the end of the web age with its link architecture and advertising economics. So do we have words for what comes next? The not-a-browser age, perhaps. L'ère sans navigateur, to be exact. * The Browser Is Becoming an Agent, Not a Link Map - For thirty years, browsers like Netscape, Internet Explorer, and Chrome were rendering engines for HTML that displayed blue links to web pages. AI products like ChatGPT's Atlas and Google's AI mode in Chrome are transforming browsers into conversational agents that answer questions, summarize content, and even execute tasks like booking flights—pushing the traditional web “down a level” in the user interface hierarchy.* The Web's Trillion-Dollar Advertising Model Must “Reprice Fast” - The web's business model has been largely advertising-based, built on users clicking links that generate revenue. As AI interfaces replace link-based browsing, this nearly trillion-dollar annual revenue stream faces an existential threat. Publishers like Keith Teare and platforms like Google must figure out how to transition their economics to an AI-driven world where links aren't surfaced by default.* Google Deserves Its Stock Price for “Being Brave in Undermining Its Own Business Model” - While AI threatens to upend Google's AdWords cash cow, the company's stock has surged roughly 50% over the past year. Keith argues Google has earned this bullishness by aggressively investing in AI infrastructure (like Anthropic's $10 billion commitment to Google's TPUs) and integrating AI features into Chrome—even though these moves could cannibalize its core search advertising business.* The “Victim Here Is the Publisher, Not the User” - Keith acknowledges that while the shift to AI agents feels like “an absolute change of paradigm,” it's genuinely better for users who get more intuitive, conversational interfaces. Publishers and content creators are the ones facing disruption, as AI may eliminate their distribution channels without yet providing alternatives for reaching audiences or monetizing content. The challenge is that “most of the narrative that doesn't like it is publisher-centric.”* Tim Wu and Antitrust Regulators Are “Fighting Yesterday's War” - Columbia law professor Tim Wu's new book The Age of Extraction focuses on the monopolistic dangers of Google, Amazon, and Facebook—but Keith argues this framing is already obsolete. The real competitive battlefield is AI, where Google is a “laggard” behind OpenAI and Anthropic. The underlying internet architecture (TCP/IP) remains neutral enough to allow challengers to emerge, making heavy-handed government intervention both unnecessary and potentially innovation-killing, as seen in the over-regulated EU.Keen On America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe
Last time the anti-monopoly crusader Tim Wu appeared on the show, he was warning broadly about the road to serfdom. But in his new book, The Age of Extraction, Wu gets much more specific. The real road to serfdom, he warns, runs through Silicon Valley. Forget for a moment about surveillance capitalism, Wu suggests, and imagine that the most existential threat to 21st century freedom and prosperity is the “platform capitalism” of tech behemoths like Google and Amazon. These multi-trillion-dollar companies, he argues, have transformed the very places where we do business—digital marketplaces that once promised democratization—into sophisticated extraction machines. Like the robber barons of the late 19th century, today's tech platforms have concentrated unprecedented wealth and power, creating an economic system that lends itself to the most Hayekian of medieval metaphors. The Silicon Valley business model is turning us into digital serfs, he warns starkly. That's the extractive goal—the ‘Zero to One,' as its most prominent ideologue Peter Thiel would say—of platform capitalism.1. On the core thesis of extraction: Wu defines the economic reality that now dominates our digital economy and explains why “extraction” is the word that best captures our era.“We have entered a world where we tolerate extreme levels of concentrated private power who try in every way they can to extract from weaker entities as much as possible. Much of the economy has become a resource for extraction by economically powerful actors.”2. On tech billionaires as modern sovereigns: Wu describes the mindset that has emerged among Silicon Valley's elite and why their detachment from reality has become dangerous.“They desire to be treated like kings of small countries. They want immunity from ordinary laws. If no one ever says no to you, whether you're an autocrat or a tech billionaire, that starts to become very bad for your character.”3. On Silicon Valley's ideological transformation: Wu traces how the tech industry abandoned its founding principles and embraced the very monopoly power it once claimed to despise.“Silicon Valley once glamorized small inventive firms and brilliant scientists who gave their work to the public. Peter Thiel said every company should aim for monopoly. That's basically where we live today. Everyone wants to be the platform.”4. On the fragility of centralized systems: Wu warns that the concentration of power in a few platforms has made our entire economic system dangerously unstable.“Centralized systems tend to be very fragile. They offer great advantages, but when they crash, they tend to crash hard. Whether it's the economy or web services, I think we're in for a hard crash coming at some point.”5. On history's verdict: Wu issues his starkest warning about what happens if America fails to address concentrated economic power voluntarily.“If we can't find some way to redistribute economic power, I think that history will redistribute it for us. The main and most effective tool of fundamental redistribution across the scope of history has been world wars and major revolutions. In a sense, we're being tested.”Keen On America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe
Natasha Kermani is a director whose work includes Imitation Girl, Lucky, and V/H/S/85. Her latest feature, Abraham's Boys, is an atmospheric, emotionally grounded take on Dracula and Van Helsing, adapted from Joe Hill's short story.The film explores the lives of Van Helsing's sons, reframing familiar gothic mythologies through a new lens and examining the cost of obsession, legacy, and belief systems passed from parent to child. Abraham's Boys blends Western aesthetics, intimate drama, and horror mythology to create something quietly powerful — and wholly its own. Available to rent on VOD and coming soon to Shudder.In this episode, Natasha dives deep into the making of the film — from crafting a new visual language with her longtime DP Julia Swain, to working with horses and period locations, to adapting well-known material without undermining its origins. She also discusses the unpredictable nature of building a directing career, the importance of collaboration, and what it means to make films that ask questions instead of offering easy answers.On today's episode of The Nick Taylor Horror Show, here — without further ado — is Natasha Kermani.Key TakeawaysLA is the New LA.While many productions chase tax incentives out of state or overseas, Natasha shot Abraham's Boys in California—and reaped the benefits. An experienced LA crew made traditionally tricky elements—horses, children, and stunts—run smoothly. Her stunt coordinator even lived nearby on a ranch, with a horse-wrangler wife ready to step in. Local crews weren't learning on the job; they brought deep expertise, period-accurate resources, and an efficient workflow that protected high-risk days. In a time when LA has been nearly abandoned for cheaper pastures, the city's seasoned talent pool has become a niche advantage for those who stay.Test, Test, Test — Early and with Your Actual Actors. Natasha didn't just test lenses in a vacuum—she brought one of her lead actresses in costume for full camera tests. Seeing the lead actor's face under various lighting setups, with period wardrobe and the chosen LUTs, gave a true preview of the film's look. The process revealed not just what worked, but what didn't, allowing for informed, confident decisions before day one of shooting. Testing with real elements—actors, costumes, lighting—ensures you're dialing in the visuals of your movie, not a theoretical version of it.Prioritize Mental Health and Self-Kindness. Natasha reminds filmmakers that this industry is uniquely high-stakes, unpredictable, and expensive—and that sustaining creativity under those conditions is exhausting. Her advice: extend the same grace to yourself that you show others. Hustle culture can make rest feel like indulgence, but in a business this volatile, breaks and self-care aren't luxuries—they're survival tools. Replenishing your energy isn't stepping back from your career; it's what allows you to keep pushing it forward.Show NotesMovies DiscussedAbraham's BoysImitation GirlLuckyV/H/S/85Dracula (1931)Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)Annabelle: CreationDeadwoodBoschBooks & Stories20th Century Ghosts by Joe HillDracula by Bram StokerPeople & ResourcesJoe Hill (author)Julia Swain (DP)Jessie Rowland (AD)Dalton Simmons (stunt coordinator)Tim Wu (producer)Travis Tips (DP of Imitation Girl)LocationsBig Sky Movie Ranch (Simi...
In his New York Times review of the book, Columbia Law School professor and former White House official Tim Wu calls journalist Karen Hao's new book, Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI, “a corrective to tech journalism that rarely leaves Silicon Valley.” Hao has appeared on this podcast before, to help us understand how the business model of social media platforms incentivizes the deterioration of information ecosystems, the series of events around OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's abrupt firing in 2023, and the furor around the launch of DeepSeek last year. This week, Justin Hendrix spoke with Hao about the book, and what she imagines for the future.
The Gaslit Nation Media Committee, a watchdog against access journalism and regime propaganda, has developed this essential guide. We urge all members of the media to reject complicity in the erosion of democracy. The American crisis is a global struggle between democracy and fascism—one that threatens the entire world. Each of us has a role in defending freedom. If you work in media, use this guide to safeguard your integrity, your liberty, and the values we cherish—before it's too late. Doing your job well can save lives and democracy. 1. Don't Bury the Lede: Call It an Illegal Tech-Backed Coup To build trust, stick to the facts. When Trump's administration acts illegally, say it—especially in the headline. Call it what it is: a tech-backed coup that exposes Americans' most sensitive data and replaces federal workers with unsecured A.I. to establish a new surveillance state. 2. Make Private Prison Execs Famous Investigate the financial interests behind Trump's immigration system—expose executives, board members, and their connections. Pursue them with cameras; they can't hide behind profits while lives are ruined and civil liberties eroded. 3. Fascism Needs Ignorance From dismantling the Department of Education to the “War on Woke” in universities, Trump continues delegitimizing education. This isn't about competition with other countries—it's about giving everyone the chance to grow as independent thinkers who reject fascism. 4. Follow the Money Investigate Trump's major donors and their role in Musk's illegal purge of government services. Hold them accountable—ask how they view their investments amid the chaos. Track their contracts and regulatory benefits. 5. Expose National Security Threats Trump removed key military officials who prevented unlawful actions. Without them, who will stop him? Trump holds the nuclear football, cozying up to adversaries, sending bombs to Israel, and threatening wars against Canada and Greenland. Focus on how our adversaries are taking advantage. 6. Kleptowatch Focus on how companies exploit customers through greedflation and Amazon's payola for search visibility. While the Biden administration has much to answer for, the media must spotlight the absence of enforcement of investigations brought by Lina Khan and Tim Wu, leaving corporate kleptocrats unchecked. 7. Media Must Thoroughly Cover Media Journalists must cover media attacks, including blocked access to info and censorship (e.g., Ann Telnaes at WaPo). Report on media ecosystem shifts, address bias, and clarify distinctions between reporting, opinion, and lies. Provide context on media ownership. 8. Draw Historical Parallels Trump, Musk, and allies are enacting policies similar to dictators like Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin. The media must challenge their unfounded assertions. They are attacking the press and critics, reminiscent of regimes like Pol Pot's and Rwanda's genocide. 9. Trump is Trying to Turn America into an Autocracy: Act Like It Columbia Journalism Review shared 10 essential tips for journalists reporting from autocracies. Share these with your teams, including your company's lawyers—killing big stories and obeying in advance is self-destructive. 10. Shine a Light on Private Prisons The private prison industry needs scrutiny, especially with Trump's lack of oversight. Innocent people are caught in reckless immigration raids as the system grows unchecked. Regular coverage of Guantanamo Bay is crucial due to its history of unlawful detention and Trump's plan for a prison camp there for 30,000 people. 11. Gilead is Here The media has abandoned calling out Trump's toxic masculinity regarding reproductive rights and civil rights. Raise awareness of the deadly consequences for women, including trans women, and all nonwhite people. 12. Access Journalism is Betrayal Fascism's history includes journalists from major outlets becoming "masters of euphemism," (to quote Gareth Jones), downplaying atrocities and broken laws to protect access. History will remember you for doing your job or being bought. Doing your job well can save lives and democracy. 13. Family Members Deserve Special Attention Trump's administration is granting lucrative positions to family members of allies and donors, giving them undue influence over policy. These self-dealing networks must be mapped and exposed. 14. Unmask Voter Suppression Election analysis must address gerrymandering, unfair Senate representation favoring "red states," the Electoral College designed to protect elites, and the gutting of the Voting Rights Act. Don't treat our voter suppression crisis like "horse race" politics. 15. Focus on the 1% Expose extreme wealth inequality—how the 1% dodge taxes and exploit loopholes to preserve their wealth. Put a spotlight on how inequality fuels authoritarianism and is a direct threat to democracy. 16. Cover Protests Highlight actions challenging the White House's destructive crimes. People need to see that citizens care about the laws being broken by Trump's administration and that they're not alone. 17. They're Testing Boundaries: Say It When something is "unprecedented," that means they're testing boundaries, to see what they can get away with. Say it. 18. The Weird Fights Matter Trump renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America may seem "weird," but it's part of the fascist pageantry, like Mussolini's famous eyeliner and Putin's shirtless photos. Look to experts in autocracy to see which stories are being used as a distraction and which stories are important to cover. An expanded version of the Gaslit Nation Media Guide can be found here: https://www.gaslitnationpod.com/media-guide For More: Ten Tips for Reporting in an Autocracy American journalists have much to learn from colleagues in countries where democracy has been under siege. https://www.cjr.org/political_press/ten-tips-for-reporting-in-an-autocracy.php Want to enjoy Gaslit Nation ad-free? Join our community of listeners for bonus shows, ad-free episodes, exclusive Q&A sessions, our group chat, invites to live events like our Monday political salons at 4pm ET over Zoom, and more! Sign up at Patreon.com/Gaslit! Music Credit: "Tafi Maradi no voice" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Lina Khan, the youngest F.T.C. chair in history, reset U.S. antitrust policy by thwarting mega-mergers and other monopolistic behavior. This earned her enemies in some places, and big fans in others — including the Trump administration. Stephen Dubner speaks with Khan about her tactics, her track record, and her future. SOURCES:Lina Khan, former commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission and professor of law at Columbia Law School. RESOURCES:"Merger Guidelines" (U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, 2023)."The Rise of Market Power and the Macroeconomic Implications," by Jan De Loecker, Jan Eeckhout, and Gabriel Unger (National Bureau of Economic Research, 2019)."US Antitrust Law and Policy in Historical Perspective," by Laura Phillips Sawyer (Harvard Business School, 2019).The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age, by Tim Wu (2018)."Amazon's Antitrust Paradox," by Lina Khan (Yale Law Journal, 2017)."A Tempest In a Coffee Shop," by Tanya Mohn (New York Times, 2004). EXTRAS:"The Economics of Eyeglasses," by Freakonomics Radio (2024)."Should You Trust Private Equity to Take Care of Your Dog?" by Freakonomics Radio (2023)."Are Private Equity Firms Plundering the U.S. Economy?" by Freakonomics Radio (2023)."Is the U.S. Really Less Corrupt Than China — and How About Russia? (Update)" by Freakonomics Radio (2022).
It's an agonizing wait in Gaza and for Israeli hostage families, as a ceasefire proposal moves closer to reality. Former head of Israeli Military Intelligence Amos Yadlin joins the program from Tel Aviv to discuss. Also on today's show: Tim Wu, law professor, Columbia University; Derek Thompson, staff writer, The Atlantic; Joan Baez (from the archives) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
That's the worry. Even the humble eyeglass industry is dominated by a single firm. We look into the global spike in myopia, how the Lemtosh got its name, and what your eye doctor knows that you don't. (Part two of a two-part series.) SOURCES:Maria Liu, professor of clinical optometry at the University of California, Berkeley.Harvey Moscot, C.E.O. of MOSCOT Eyewear and Eyecare.Zachary Moscot, chief design officer of MOSCOT Eyewear and Eyecare.Cédric Rossi, equity research analyst at Bryan Garnier.Tim Wu, professor of law, science and technology at Columbia Law School. RESOURCES:"Meta in Talks to Buy Stake in Eyewear Giant EssilorLuxottica," by Salvador Rodriguez and Lauren Thomas (The Wall Street Journal, 2024)."The Story Behind Soaring Myopia Among Kids," by Manoush Zomorodi, Katie Monteleone, Sanaz Meshkinpour, and Rachel Faulkner White (Body Electric, 2024)."Why So Many People Need Glasses Now," by Christophe Haubursin (Vox, 2023)."Eyes on World Sight: Taking Action to Advance Eye Health in China," by EssilorLuxottica (2022)."Global Prevalence of Myopia and High Myopia and Temporal Trends from 2000 through 2050," by Brien A. Holden, Timothy R. Fricke, Serge Resnikoff, et al. (Ophthalmology, 2016)."Increased Prevalence of Myopia in the United States Between 1971-1972 and 1999-2004," by Susan Vitale, Robert D. Sperduto, and Frederick L. Ferris (Archives of Ophthalmology, 2009). EXTRAS:"The Economics of Eyeglasses," series by Freakonomics Radio (2024).
A single company, EssilorLuxottica, owns so much of the eyewear industry that it's hard to escape their gravitational pull — or their “obscene” markups. Should regulators do something? Can Warby Parker steal market share? And how did Ray-Bans become a luxury brand? (Part one of a two-part series.) SOURCES:Neil Blumenthal, co-founder and co-CEO of Warby Parker.Dave Gilboa, co-founder and co-CEO of Warby Parker.Jessica Glasscock, fashion historian and lecturer at the Parsons School of Design.Neil Handley, curator of the British Optical Association Museum at the College of Optometrists.Ryan McDevitt, professor of economics at Duke University.Cédric Rossi, equity research analyst at Bryan Garnier.Tim Wu, professor of law, science and technology at Columbia Law School. RESOURCES:"Leonardo Del Vecchio Dies at 87; Transformed Eyeglass Industry," by Jonathan Kandell (The New York Times, 2022).Making a Spectacle: A Fashionable History of Glasses, by Jessica Glasscock (2021)."Dave Gilboa and Neil Blumenthal: A Vision for Business," by Lucy Handley (CNBC, 2020)."The Roots of Big Tech Run Disturbingly Deep," by Tim Wu and Stuart A. Thompson (The New York Times, 2019)."The Spectacular Power of Big Lens," by Sam Knight (The Guardian, 2018).The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age, by Tim Wu (2018)."Statement of the Federal Trade Commission Concerning the Proposed Acquisition of Luxottica Group S.p.A. by Essilor International (Compagnie Generale d'Optique) S.A.," FTC File No. 171-0060 (2018).Cult Eyewear: The World's Enduring Classics, by Neil Handley (2011).A Far-Sighted Man, by Luca Goldoni (1991). EXTRAS:"Direct-to-Consumer Mattresses," by The Economics of Everyday Things (2024)."Are Two C.E.O.s Better Than One?" by Freakonomics Radio (2023).“Are We in a Mattress-Store Bubble?” by Freakonomics Radio (2016).