Kill Switch

Apr 09 2025 15 ep. 29 mins 2.6k
Kill Switch Podcast artwork

Were we sleeping when everything changed? Seems like the technologically driven future is already here. On Kill Switch, we explain the right NOW of our supercharged technological lives. Ask ourselves who is in control? Can we beat the computer or are we going to need to throw the kill switch? 

New host Dexter Thomas, Jr answers questions big and small – like who made Shrimp Jesus and why? To how and why you very well could get arrested by a computer. And we’ll be bringing the DIY back to tech – How to Now on everything from how to run your own LLM to tips to mitigate your exposure online. 

  Technology  News  Science
RSS feed Share
Copy RSS


Subscribe on Podcast Addict


Sleepwalkers Is Back

Apr 09 2025 7 mins  
Were we sleeping when everything changed? Not if you listened to the first season of this podcast, because a whole lot of what we explored is now reality. Seems like the technologically driven future is already here. So we've decided to bring the show back -- with a new host, Dexter Thomas Jr  and a new perspective.  On Kill Switch, we explain the right NOW of our su

Modern Alchemy

Aug 27 2021 21 mins  
We explore the hidden role of cobalt in the A.I. revolution. The element is a key ingredient of lithium-ion batteries, which power everything from cell phones to laptops to electric vehicles. But the way cobalt is mined is troubling. New Yorker journalist Nicolas Niarchos takes us to the Democratic Republic of Congo, which accounts for more than 70% of the world's cobalt supply. Th

Sleepwalkers at CES

Jan 24 2020 24 mins  
In this special bonus episode, Oz and Karah share their trip to the Consumer Electronics Show. They present excerpts from a conversation with Matt Monahan of The Washington Post about how to best harness the power of AI, while avoiding common pitfalls. Matt is head of product for Arc Publishing, which began life as The Post's internal publishing suite, and is now licensed by hundre

AI & Us

Jan 14 2020 26 mins  
In this special episode, Oz and Karah examine our evolving relationship with the technology we create. Karah meets Jason Cohen, CEO of Analytical Flavor Systems, to see if his team can hack her taste preferences, and use AI to create a new flavor of beverage that she will love. Oz and Karah also look ahead to Season 2, previewing stories they are excited to report, including algori

Deus Ex Machina

Jul 03 2019 44 mins  
The rules are changing. At a time when technology promises to allow the lame to walk and the blind to see, we're forced to ask: what makes us uniquely human? In this final episode of Season 1, we speak with the so-called "sage of Silicon Valley," Yuval Noah Harari, about humanity's future. We try out technology that claims to deliver on a miracle, and we meet the source of several

Algorithm, M.D.

Jun 26 2019 43 mins  
A.I. is already better than human doctors at diagnosing skin and breast cancer. And as machine learning advances, it's becoming able to decode more complex information, like brain waves and the human genome. A.I. is beginning to revolutionize medicine, and allowing us to see into the future of our bodies...but can we ever know too much about ourselves? What will happen when machine

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Jun 19 2019 42 mins  
War has been a driver of breakthrough technology for a long time. The first waves of artificial intelligence and even the internet came out of DARPA, a defense agency whose original mission was to keep the U.S. technologically ahead of the Soviet Union. But what happens when the battlefield is increasingly dominated by autonomous weapons, which don't require humans in the loop to s

Dull, Dirty, Dangerous

Jun 12 2019 30 mins  
Robots are coming for our jobs, and not just in factories. Artificial intelligence doesn't distinguish between blue collar and white collar work, which means that the economy of the future will look very different. And as it changes, we'll need to make big adjustments. But A.I. is also being used in the fight against world hunger. This episode, we speak with roboticists, inventors,

The New Deal

Jun 05 2019 37 mins  
We travel to Silicon Valley where Astro Teller welcomes us inside X, Google's secretive innovation laboratory, to explain how one of the most powerful companies on earth is building the future. X is working on everything from creating new antibiotics to restoring internet connectivity after natural disasters. And they're not alone. Tech companies are increasingly involved in buildi

Truth to Power

May 30 2019 38 mins  
It's getting harder to tell reality from fiction. Fake news and misinformation are all around us, and they're increasingly used as weapons of war. But what happens when A.I.-doctored videos are added to the mix? We meet the people fighting back against deep fakes, and even using them for good. And we visit Facebook headquarters to learn how Russian agents are trying to manipulate o