Tech Policy Podcast

Richard Morrison (Competitive Enterprise Institute) joins the show, in a crossover episode with the Free the Economy podcast. Topics include: - The history of podcasts - The rise of micro media (find a thousand true fans!) - Performative tech doomerism - The idleness of romanticizing the past - The quest for online community - Conservatives in the Technium Links: Free the Economy (

It’s the episode you’ve been waiting for: TechFreedom’s Corbin Barthold and Ari Cohn talk about pornography and free expression. Topics include: - The Founding Fathers: epic porn fiends (j/k) - Obscenity law, a brief history - Do conservatives still want to ban James Joyce? - “I know it when I see it”—Worst. Legal standard. Ever. - Is there a moral case against porn? (S

Ryan Scirocco is the spacesuit business development lead at Collins Aerospace. Collins, an RTX business, is, along with its partners ILC Dover and Oceaneering, developing a new generation of spacesuits for NASA. Ryan discusses everything that goes into keeping people alive in a freezing zero-gravity vacuum far outside the biosphere. Topics include: - A spacesuit is a mini-spaceship

Corbin Barthold (TechFreedom) discusses, in exquisite detail, the First Amendment problems with H.R. 7521, the House bill to ban TikTok. Topics include: - Your First Amendment right to read crazy shit - TikTok ban bros: throwing spaghetti at the wall - Foreign broadcast-ownership rules: so passé - “iT’S nOT sPEech, It’S CoNDuCt” - H.R. 7521: Least. Tailored. Law. Ever. - B

Daphne Keller (Stanford Cyber Policy Center) and Corbin Barthold (TechFreedom) discuss the Supreme Court oral argument in Murthy v. Missouri (government jawboning of social media platforms) and the NetChoice cases (state content moderation laws). Links: Six Things About Jawboning (https://tinyurl.com/4jhbkhy7) The Lies the 5th Circuit Told You About the Government ‘Pressuring Soc

Samuel Hammond (Foundation for American Innovation) discusses his essays on “AI and Leviathan.” Can government institutions cope with the coming technological disruption of AI? Topics include: - AI’s trajectory - New Deal agencies in an AI world - Public Choice Theory vs. the AI juggernaut - Uber and micro-regime changes - Government as a network of smart contracts - Techno-t

Byron Tau (NOTUS) discusses his new book Means of Control: How the Hidden Alliance of Tech and Government Is Creating a New American Surveillance State. Topics include: - Some history: four generations of data brokers - The continuing evolution of data collection and technological surveillance - The great danger: data fusion / comprehensive data profiles - Why won’t Congress regu

Brandon Gorrell (Pirate Wires) joins the show to discuss The White Pill, his optimistic (and mind-blowing) newsletter covering “the frontiers of tech, science, space, and more.” Topics include: - Combatting the overwhelming negativity on social media. - Lasers are amazing. - Why space exploration? - Did the Big Bang really happen? - The Pirate Wires brand — beautiful vibe! -

It’s a big picture episode! One day (soon?), technology will enable convenient, low-cost gender transition. What does that say about human “nature”? What are the implications for society? What are (some) people getting so upset about? Jason Kuznicki (TechFreedom) joins the show to discuss. Gender as Essence and as Economic Choice (http://tinyurl.com/2p9byb5d) Cosmos + Taxis i

Mike Masnick (Techdirt) and Leigh Beadon (Techdirt) join the show to discuss their new report on the Internet’s (beneficial!) effect on art, entertainment, and culture. The Sky Is Rising: 2024 Edition (http://tinyurl.com/5adh8nbs) Rather than Destroying Culture, the Internet Has Saved the Content Industries (http://tinyurl.com/2v7w7p3j) Filterworld Is a Confused Critique of Algor