In just a few short years, the Chinese fast fashion company Shein upended the way countless young women shop online. It?s approach could soon shape the way everyone else shops, too.  Guest: Louise Matsakis, freelance technology reporter Host: Lizzie O?Leary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Facebook?s first crack at the metaverse has a problem: kids. Underage users seem to be flooding Horizon Worlds, potentially putting themselves at risk.  Is Meta doomed to repeat Facebook?s mistakes? Guest: Will Oremus, technology news analysis writer for the Washington Post.  Host: Lizzie O?Leary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Banks, healthcare providers, and retailers around the world still rely on COBOL, a programming language originally developed in the 1960s. By all accounts the code is powerful, practical, and very rarely problematic. But the small group of people who still know the language are aging out of the workforce.  What happens when there are no more COBOL coders left? Guest: Clive Thompson, journalist and author of "Coders: The Making of a New Tribe and the Remaking of the World." Host: Lizzie O?Leary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For Spotify, the last month has seen a cascade of controversies around its exclusive podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience. Is it time for the streaming service to rethink its role as a podcast publisher? And is it even possible to moderate podcast misinformation? Guest: Evelyn Douek, lecturer at Harvard Law School, and Affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society Host: Lizzie O?Leary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ten years ago, IBM made a gamble. Through a monumental advertising and PR campaign, it promised that its AI technology?Watson?would transform the health care industry as we know it. A decade and billions of dollars later, Watson Health is being sold for parts.  What went wrong with IBM?s ?moonshot?? And what does Watson?s failure tell us about the promise of AI for health care? Guest: Casey Ross, national technology correspondent for STAT Host: Lizzie O?Leary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A recent advertisement for crypto.com, featuring Matt Damon, was met with widespread mockery online. But Damon?s ad is only the most visible example of a much broader?and more insidious?trend of celebrity cryptocurrency endorsements. Is the partnership between crypto and Hollywood really dangerous? And what separates the trend from run-of-the-mill salesmanship? Guests: Jacob Silverman, staff writer for the New Republic and Ben McKenzie, actor, writer, and director. Host: Lizzie O?Leary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today on What Next TBD: What is going on with little kids' vaccines? Why don?t they seem to be a priority for the government or the pharmaceutical companies, while parents are stressed to a breaking point? We discuss with Meg Tirrell, health and science correspondent for CNBC, and co-host of the Readout Loud podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Elizabeth Holmes was found guilty of defrauding investors this week in federal court. The former CEO, wunderkind, and blood mogul has been the subject of intense legal interest and public fascination ever since her company, Theranos, was beset by scandal in 2015. Today on What Next: TBD we follow-up with Rebecca Jarvis, host of ?The Dropout? podcast and ABC News Chief Business, Technology & Economics Correspondent. We dig into the verdict and ask if Silicon Valley will finally confront the elements of its culture that allowed Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos to run wild with investor?s money, and patient?s health. You can listen to ?The Dropout: Elizabeth Holmes on Trial? now wherever you get your podcasts. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Using experimental technology to pull gigatons of carbon out of the air and bury it deep beneath the Earth sounds like a bad sci-fi plot point. If things don?t change soon, it also might be one of our only options. Guest: Clive Thompson, journalist and author of Coders: The Making of a New Tribe and the Remaking of the World Host: Lizzie O?Leary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The U.S. civil court system doesn?t get as much attention as the criminal courts, but it would be hard to overstate its importance. In 2018, for example, 47 percent of respondents to a Pew survey said they had dealt with the system in one way or another; from eviction proceedings, to debt collection, to child-support modifications.  What happened when the pandemic upended such an important pillar of the justice system? Did new technologies fix existing problems?or just create new ones? Guest: Qudsiya Naqui, officer at the Pew Charitable Trust Host: Lizzie O?Leary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Monday, Jack Dorsey stepped down as CEO of Twitter. It?s not the first time he?s left the job.  Is this really the end for the man who guided Twitter through the Trump era? And how will the platform change without him at the helm? Guest: Nick Bilton, special correspondent at Vanity Fair Host: Lizzie O?Leary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode originally aired in January 2021 The story of how GameStop went from the verge of a bankruptcy to a $15 billion market value isn?t an easy one to wrap your head around. But it helps to go back to the beginning; almost three years ago, in a subreddit called r/wallstreetbets. Guests: Brandon Kochkodin, reporter at Bloomberg Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the weekend, Russia tested a new weapon???a type of missile that can fly into space and destroy a satellite in orbit.  The test created thousands of pieces of debris, which will hurtle around the Earth?s orbit for years to come. What?s the real risk of the rapid increase in space junk? And is there anything to be done about it? Guest: Laura Grego, Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow at MIT Host: Seth Stevenson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A recent poll showed that about a third of parents of younger children would get their kids vaccinated, a third would not, and the final third said they wanted to wait and see how the vaccines worked. Public health officials are asking: what will it take to convince that third group that now is the time to vaccinate?  Guests: Julie Hamill Dr. Aaron Carroll, pediatrician and professor of pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine Host: Lizzie O?Leary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In schools across the country, tighter digital controls were put in place to keep kids on task during the pandemic. Are they here to stay? Guests: Priya Anand, reporter at Bloomberg Host: Lizzie O?Leary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The bots aren?t just buying cool sneakers. They?re buying concert tickets. Tickets to basketball games and Broadway shows. At the beginning of the pandemic, they were buying hand sanitizer and face masks. And later, they were booking vaccine reservation spots. Why are bots taking over certain markets? And is there anything we can do to slow them down? Guests:  Derreck Johnson, designer at Slate Eric Budish, economics professor at the University of Chicago Host: Seth Stevenson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Between April and June of this year, Zillow bought nearly 4,000 homes. And they had no intention of holding onto them. The plan was to flip houses, often and at scale, joining the ranks of companies like Opendoor and Offerpad, also known as iBuyers.  So, why did Zillow put their plans on pause last weekend? Can online middlemen really change the way we buy and sell houses? Guests:  Tony Santos, homeowner Patrick Clark, reporter at Bloomberg Host: Henry Grabar Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the last month, the domain company Epik and the streaming service Twitch have fallen prey to massive-scale hacks. The hackers revealed not just email addresses, but detailed personal information too. For Twitch, it was the entire source code for their site.  But the attackers aren?t holding this data for ransom. In fact, they don?t seem to want much of anything. What?s motivating this new wave of activist hacks? And who suffers? Guest: Drew Harwell, tech reporter at the Washington Post Host: Lizzie O?Leary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The last month has seen a steady drip of leaked documents from inside Facebook, each seemingly more damning than the next. This week, the whistleblower behind the leaks revealed her identity. What motivates Frances Haugen? And can she do real damage to the social media giant? Guest: Jeff Horwitz, tech reporter at the Wall Street Journal.  Host: Lizzie O?Leary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since 2018, internal research teams at Facebook have been studying the effect on Instagram on mental health. Their results couldn?t be more clear: Instagram is causing problems, especially for teen girls.  Why has it taken so long for their research to surface? And what can be done to improve the relationship between kids and the platform? Guest: Georgia Wells, tech reporter at the Wall Street Journal.  Host: Lizzie O?Leary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the U.S., the PCR test is the gold standard for COVID testing. Common knowledge would have it that the test is more accurate?and therefore more effective at containing the spread of the dease?than the rapid antigen test.  What if that isn?t quite true?  Guest: Michael Mina, assistant professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health  Host: Lizzie O?Leary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Recently, China restricted video game playing to just three hours a week for its young people: 8pm to 9pm, Friday through Sunday. And that?s not the only change. Over the last few months, private tutors, diehard celebrity fans, and tech giants have all faced fresh restrictions from Beijing. What?s behind this new wave of crackdowns? Guest: Brenda Goh, technology correspondent for Reuters Host: Lizzie O?Leary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey Secret History fans! We thought you might like this episode of What Next: TBD. What Next is Slate?s daily news show. And every Friday, What Next: TBD turns the news of the present into a glimpse of what tomorrow holds. From fake news to fake meat, augmented reality to MRNA, in each episode host Lizzie O'Leary talks to an expert about the technology that?s reshaping our world. In this episode: The Biden administration says a third dose of vaccines for all American adults will end the pandemic faster. And experts say there is evidence of waning vaccine effectiveness against mild-to-moderate disease. But globally, what?s the best use of the next available dose?  If you like this episode, subscribe to What Next or What Next: TBD on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Guest: Saad Omer, director of the Yale Institute for Global Health.  Host: Lizzie O?Leary This episode was produced by Alyssa Edes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey Secret History listeners! We'd like to introduce a new show from Slate, Thrilling Tales of Modern Capitalism. Each episode dives into the history of a brand that shapes the way we live and work. This first episode is about The Carnival Corporation, the biggest cruise company in the world. Carnival made headlines at the start of the covid-19 crisis when its ships harbored some of the world?s first coronavirus outbreaks. But it turns out the cruise industry is no stranger to disaster--on the contrary, mishaps have plagued Carnival since its very first voyage. How has cruising remained a popular way to vacation, in the face of one disaster after another? Listen to find out, and if you like it, subscribe to Thrilling Tales of Modern Capitalism on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Podcast production by Jess Miller and Asha Saluja. Slate Plus members get ad-free podcasts and bonus episodes of shows like Dear Prudence and Slow Burn. Sign up now to listen and support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, Secret History fans! Here's an episode of another show we think you might like: Cautionary Tales from Pushkin Industries. Learning from our mistakes can be hard. Learning from other people?s mistakes...well, that?s a lot more fun. In Cautionary Tales, from Pushkin Industries, economist and journalist Tim Harford retells true stories of unexpected outcomes, from the development of tanks in modern warfare to the accidental crowning of La La Land at the 2017 Oscars. Some of these tales are tragic, some are comic, but like the great fables and parables, each has a moral. Tim takes you aboard a doomed airship, sits you on a concert stage in front of a broken piano, and puts you in a room with cult members counting down the final seconds before the end of the world. A cast of actors joins him in telling these stories. You?ll hear the famous Alan Cumming, Archie Panjabi, who won an Emmy award for The Good Wife, and Russell Tovey from The History Boys.  Cautionary Tales from Pushkin Industries. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Trust me, it would be a mistake not to. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey Secret History of the Future fans! We're excited to introduce you to another show we think you'll like. It's called What Next: TBD, and it's a weekly show about tech, power, and the future. Secret History's very own Seth Stevenson guest hosted this episode. Check it out, and then subscribe here: https://slate.com/podcasts/what-next-tbd or wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Radio was originally a social medium, as early radio sets (each of which could transmit as well as receive) turned cities into giant chatrooms, populated by Morse Code-tapping enthusiasts. But the excitement of this democratic, digital platform did not last, and radio was tamed by corporate interests in the 1920s. The utopian dream of platforms that are open and meritocratic has been reborn in the internet era in the form of blogging, and more recently podcasting. But can it ever come true? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The first mechanical clocks were made to summon monks to prayer. Ever since, timekeeping technology has often been about control and obligation. But underneath a mountain in Texas, a new kind of clock is being built that?s meant to alter the way we think about time. Can it force us to connect our distant past with our distant future, tick by tick? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At the dawn of the 20th century, chemists dreamed of extracting nitrogen from the air and turning it into a limitless supply of fertiliser. Sceptics thought they were crazy -- it was possible in theory, but it was unclear if it could be done in practice. What happened next changed the course of 20th-century history, and provides inspiration to innovators pursuing a different dream today: sucking carbon dioxide out of the air to avert climate change. Might they not be quite so crazy after all? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The first ever computer program was written in 1843 by Ada Lovelace, a mathematician who hoped her far-sighted treatise on mechanical computers would lead to a glittering scientific career. Today, as we worry that modern systems suffer from ?algorithmic bias? against some groups of people, what can her program tell us about how software, and the people who make it, can go wrong? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the 19th century, young people wooed each other over the telegraph. But meeting strangers on the wires could lead to confusion, disappointment, and even fraud. Do modern online dating apps have anything to learn from telegraph romances? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Polar exploration was the Victorian equivalent of the space race. Major powers vied to outdo each other, funding expeditions to the most inhospitable parts of the world as demonstrations of their supremacy over nature and each other. Today, the resulting tales of triumph and tragedy hold valuable lessons about what to do?and what not to do?as human explorers plan missions to Mars. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The potato seemed strange and unappetizing when it first arrived in Europe. But it grew into a wonder food that helped solve the continent?s hunger problems. Can its journey tell us what to expect from current efforts to replace animal meat with societally healthier meat alternatives made from plants, insects, or cells grown in petri dishes? Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the early 20th century a new forensic technique?fingerprinting?displaced a cruder form of identification based on body measurements. Hailed as modern, scientific, and infallible, fingerprinting was adopted around the world. But in recent years doubts have been cast on its reliability, and a new technique?DNA profiling?has emerged as the forensic gold standard. In assuming it is infallible, are we making the same mistake again? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For thousands of years we sailed our cargo across oceans using zero-emission, 100 percent renewable wind. Then we switched to ships that run on oil, creating a global maritime fleet that pumps greenhouse gases into the sky. Could we go back to wind-powered ships by rediscovering a clever nautical innovation that we abandoned a century ago? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 19th century invention of the phonograph left composers worried they might not be paid for recordings. The 20th century proliferation of digital sampling outmoded old copyright laws. Can these previous tech disruptions of the music business teach us how to handle a 21st century onslaught of computers that can compose their own songs? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What can 19th century polar exploration teach us as humans plan missions to Mars? Do modern online dating apps have anything to learn from romances over the telegraph wires? Dig into the past, and you?ll find surprising lessons about what?s next for our modern world. Season 2 of The Secret History of The Future drops July 03, 2019. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Renaissance scholars couldn?t keep up with new information (?Have you read the latest Erasmus book?? ?I don?t have time!?) and needed a better way to organize it. Thus came the invention of tables of contents, indexes, book reviews, encyclopedias, and other shortcuts. What kinds of technological solutions might help us cope with the information overload we all experience today? Guests include: Stewart Butterfield, CEO of Slack; Nathan Jurgenson, Snapchat sociologist. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some people thought the laying of the transatlantic cable might bring world peace, because connecting humans could only lead to better understanding and empathy. That wasn?t the outcome, and recent utopian ideas about communication (Facebook might bring us together and make us all friends!) have also met with a darker reality (Facebook might polarize us and spread false information!). Should we be scared of technology that promises to connect the world? Guests include: Robin Dunbar, inventor of Dunbar?s Number; Nancy Baym, Microsoft researcher.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the Victorian era, plaster casts became a way to preserve important artifacts in 3-D. Now, virtual reality promises to preserve places and experiences. But who decides what gets preserved? And is the technology an accurate recreation of the experience, or does it fool us into thinking we?ve encountered the real thing when we?ve done nothing of the sort? Guests include: Jaron Lanier, VR pioneer; Nonny de la Pena, VR artist; Tristram Hunt, director of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1714, British parliament offered a huge cash prize to anyone who could find a way to determine longitude at sea. And it worked, sort of ... several decades later. Are modern contests (DARPA challenges, the X Prize) offering riches and glory an effective way to spur technological innovation? Guests include: Dava Sobel, author of Longitude. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1969, an anthropologist introduced photographs and films to people in Papua New Guinea who?d never seen themselves represented in media before. It changed their conception of the world. In modern society, social media floods us with imagery at a pace we?ve never encountered before, and powerful video manipulation technology threatens to blur the line between real and fake. Are we the new Papuans, about to be overwhelmed by a wholesale media shift? Guests include: Nathan Jurgenson, Snapchat?s in-house sociologist; Hany Farid, Dartmouth computer science professor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The French telegraph system was hacked in 1834 by a pair of thieves who stole financial market information -- effectively conducting the world?s first cyber attack. What does the incident teach us about network vulnerabilities, human weakness, and modern-day security? Guests include: Bruce Schneier, security expert. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The first pedestrian killed by a car in the western hemisphere was on New York?s Upper West Side in 1899.  One newspaper warned that ?the automobile has tasted blood.? Today, driverless cars present their own mix of technological promise and potential danger. Can the reaction to that 1899 pedestrian tragedy help us navigate current arguments about safety, blame, commerce, and public space? Guests include: Missy Cummings, Navy fighter pilot and head of the Duke Humans and Autonomy Lab. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It took a long time for the fork to go from weird curiosity to ubiquitous tool. How long will it take for current technologies -- like the Japanese-style bidet toilet, or heads-up displays such as Google Glass -- to go from oddities to everyday necessities? Guests include: Astro Teller, Google?s Captain of Moonshots; Margaret Visser, author of The Rituals of Dinner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We?ve used electricity to treat our brains for thousands of years, from placing electric fish on our heads to cure migraines to using electroconvulsive therapy to alleviate depression. But over time, our focus has shifted from restoring health to augmenting our abilities. Should we be wearing battery-powered caps to improve our concentration, or implanting electricity-emitting devices to expand our thinking capacity? Guests include: Brian Johnson, CEO of Kernel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the 18th century, a device called the Mechanical Turk convinced Europeans that a robot could play winning chess. But there was a trick. It?s a trick that companies like Amazon, Google, and Facebook still pull on us today. Guests include: Jaron Lanier, futurist. Luis von Ahn, founder of CAPTCHA and Duolingo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Examine the history of tech to uncover stories that help us illuminate the present and predict the future.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices