Technology

Code

Machines that program themselves are all around us and they get smarter every day. But are you ready for the master algorithm that can tell a machine how to learn anything?

Are we too reliant on phone apps?

Robots that clean the bathroom, cars that drive themselves, computers that diagnose disease. They may sound appealing, but technology writer Nicholas Carr warns that the new age of automation could mean we'll lose basic life skills.

Automatic

Automated machines are taking over our lives. They're not the scary robots you see in movies, but more and more of today's technology — from smart phones to airplanes — is automated. But do we want to give machines so much control?

Apps

App Intelligence? Santa Fe Institute president David Krakauer says we're on the verge of abdicating our free will to everyday apps.

oscilloscope

As media historian Jonathan Sterne tells Craig Eley, signal processing shapes the sound of all vocal media, from your telephone calls to the music of T-Pain.

Twins

Bioethicist Julian Savulescu says we have a moral obligation to use new technology to create the best possible children.

 

Mr. Moneybags Monopoly graffiti

Checking someone else’s privilege can be a form of hostility. Checking your own can be an act of humility. Does anyone actually benefit from talking about privilege? This hour, the benefits and drawbacks of talking about privilege.

texting people in the dark

Could being digitized be a way for all of us to become immortal? Maybe, but not in a way we would particularly enjoy, as this story from listener Mark Pantoja illustrates.

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