Building Tomorrow

American research universities have been a powerhouse of innovation, especially once the government stopped sitting on grant-funded patents

Without immigrants, Silicon Valley would be a shell of what it is today. Yet bad restrictionist policies threaten to undermine American dominance in tech and stymie innovation.

Does piracy have a catastrophic effect on how music, movies, and books are distributed?

The US Social Security system can’t fulfill its promises, but Australia’s system gives its people a better shot at a comfortable retirement.

Food is deeply emotional, which is why Impossible Foods is trying it’s best to create the best, sustainable, meat-like product.

There is promising technology that will be able to take care of us as we age, but only if the FDA does not get in the way.  

While people in the US have the first world privilege to complain about wasting time on their phones, millions of people in the developing world are using their cellphones to pull themselves out of poverty. 

Hal Varian, Chief Economist at Google, joins the show today to talk about Google’s market dominance and the future of work.

Brian Rosenwald joins the show to discuss the history of talk radio and how it formed our media landscape today. 

Susan Schneider joins the show to challenge our preconceived notions of consciousness and whether machines can achieve it. 

Finn Brunton is on the show today to talk about why cryptocurrency has emerged as more than science fiction in the last decade.

Timothy McLaughlin joins us to describe the history of 8chan and its association with recent mass shootings. 

Alex Tabarrok explains that dominant assurance contracts can help markets provide more public goods.

Why is my smartphone cheap while my healthcare is crazy expensive? Alex Tabarrok explains the Baumol Effect.

Paul and Matthew discuss the history of, and threats to, Section 230. Jennifer Huddleston rebuts the argument that Section 230 was a gift to big tech.