logo
episode-header-image
Mar 2023
52m 50s

How corporations got all your data

Vox
About this episode
Sean Illing speaks with Matthew Jones, historian of science and technology, and co-author (with data scientist Chris Wiggins) of the new book How Data Happened. They discuss the surprisingly long history of data from the 18th century to today, in service of explaining how we wound up in a world where our personal information is mined by giant corporations fo ... Show More
Up next
Nov 17
How to survive awkward encounters
We all know what awkwardness feels like. It's that jolt of discomfort when the social script breaks down, and no one knows what to do next. But what if awkwardness isn’t a flaw to fix but a window into how we live together?  Sean’s guest today is Alexandra Plakias, associate p ... Show More
56m 52s
Nov 10
Truth in an age of doublethink
We use “Orwellian” to describe everything from campus dust-ups to authoritarian crackdowns. But what did George Orwell actually stand for, what did he get wrong, and what can we learn from him about our age of surveillance capitalism and distraction? Sean’s guest is Laura Beers, ... Show More
52m 16s
Nov 3
The case against free will
We all think of ourselves as authors of our lives. The difference between our happy ending and someone else’s tragic one are the choices we each make. But what if none of that’s true? Sean’s guest today is Robert Sapolsky, a biologist and neuroscientist at Stanford University and ... Show More
58m 50s
Recommended Episodes
Sep 2023
Blame Capitalism: Profit over everything
Economist Milton Friedman published an essay in 1970 arguing that the job of a corporation was solely to make money for its shareholders. General Electric CEO Jack Welch pushed that idea about as far as it would go — and broke capitalism. This episode was produced by Miles Bryan, ... Show More
26m 6s
May 2023
Documentary #15: The Myth of Freedom Under Capitalism
<p dir="ltr">Although its intellectual handmaidens love to insist otherwise — capitalism is not a system that truly embodies freedom. We all feel it, of course — that nagging sense that we lack any agency over the choices that shape our lives, the frustration we feel at our bosse ... Show More
1h 39m
Jun 2024
594. Your Brand’s Spokesperson Just Got Arrested — Now What?
<p>It’s hard to know whether the benefits of hiring a celebrity are worth the risk. We dig into one gruesome story of an endorsement gone wrong, and find a surprising result.</p><p> </p><ul><li><strong>SOURCES:</strong><ul><li><a href="https://economics.cornell.edu/john-cawley">J ... Show More
43m 38s
Jan 2021
WHY WE NEED TO DREAM – Award-Winning Author Gary Younge on MLK, Inequality and Race
<p>A remarkable conversation with a great thinker and giant of journalism who has covered the great stories of our time. We ask what can be learnt from MLK about the fight against inequality? What holds back change and what is the role of journalism?&nbsp;How can America heal und ... Show More
28m 47s
Oct 2020
Fake news and data lies: how to win an election
<p>Fake news, conspiracy theories, and weaponising data to influence elections are all aspects of contemporary politics. But Amol Rajan explores their historical roots with two eminent historians, Jill Lepore and Sir Richard Evans.</p><p>Decades before Silicon Valley tech compani ... Show More
42m 11s
Dec 2019
Les Murdoch, tabloïds et grandes oreilles
<p><strong>Dans « Succession », la série à succès produite par HBO, la richissime famille Logan, l’une des plus puissantes des Etats-Unis, est à la fois cimentée et déchirée par l’argent.</strong> Impossible de nier que l’histoire de ce clan de milliardaires est inspirée de la ré ... Show More
17m 59s
Apr 2023
The Library of Alexandra
<p>How much does knowledge cost? While that sounds like an abstract question, the answer is surprisingly specific: $3,096,988,440.00. That’s how much the business of publishing scientific and academic research is worth. </p> <p>This is the story of one woman’s battle against a gl ... Show More
43m 48s
Mar 2021
William J. Bernstein on Crowd Behavior (Podcast)
Bloomberg Opinion columnist Barry Ritholtz speaks with the financial theorist and retired neurologist William J. Bernstein, who co-founded the investment management firm Efficient Frontier Advisors and has written several books on finance and economic history. His titles include ... Show More
1h 6m
Mar 2023
How Data Happened: Professors Chris Wiggins and Matthew L. Jones on the History of Data
<p>Chris Wiggins and Matthew Jones, authors of the new book <em>How Data Happened: A History from the Age of Reason to the Age of Algorithms</em>, join Patrick to discuss the history of data, why enumerating things isn't a neutral act, and the ethics of building a world on the fo ... Show More
59m 16s
May 2020
#96 – Stephen Schwarzman: Going Big in Business, Investing, and AI
<p>Stephen Schwarzman is the CEO and Co-Founder of Blackstone, one of the world&#8217;s leading investment firms with over 530 billion dollars of assets under management. He is one of the most successful business leaders in history, all from humble beginnings back in Philly. I re ... Show More
1h 10m
Listen to millions of songs and podcasts on Anghami