Computer Says Maybe

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Latest episodes

• Beware the AI Prophets: Hype, Doom, and Prediction as Tools of Control w/ Carissa Véliz

  October 2, 2026 · 45 min

  When a tech executive says AI will be doing your job next year, it sounds like a forecast. Dr. Carissa Véliz argues it's something else: a command, delivered in advance, that works only if enough of us obey it. If you believe the…

• The Kids Are Online: Are Social Media Bans the Answer? w/ Cori Crider and Pamela Wisniewski

  September 25, 2026 · 53 min

  Almost everyone studying kids’ safety online agrees that a blanket social media ban won't work. And nearly every government moving on the issue is passing one anyway. This week, a researcher and a policy lawyer dig into why - and what…

• When Kids Can’t Consent: The Case Against Tech in the Classroom w/ Andrew Liddell

  September 18, 2026 · 49 min

  No tech that your kid uses in the classroom was designed for their benefit. Not the tablet, not the "learning app," not the AI chatbot helping with homework. It was designed to benefit the company that made it — and your kid's data…

• The Battle for Power Inside Big Tech: Against Tech Oligarchy w/ JS Tan & Clarissa Redwine

  September 15, 2026 · 56 min

  Over the last decade, tech workers have staged walkouts, signed open letters by the tens of thousands, and built more than a dozen new unions across the industry. And yet, over that same decade, tech companies have ramped up carbon…

• Meet the Mom Winning Against AI in Schools w/ Ifeoma Ozoma

  September 11, 2026 · 53 min

  Imagine dropping your kid off at school, assuming they’ll spend the day being taught by… teachers, of course. But then you find out that part of their day is actually spent talking and reading out loud to a cute, cartoonish AI avatar named…

• The Digital Delusion: The False Promise of Ed Tech w/ Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath

  September 4, 2026 · 43 min

  A screen is built to do one thing well: split your attention across as many things as possible, as fast as possible. A developing brain needs the opposite— sustained, undivided focus— to learn anything at all. Cognitive neuroscientist Dr…

• Meet the Guy (Actually) Passing Tech Laws

  August 28, 2026 · 55 min

  You've likely heard of the National Sexual Assault Hotline. What you might not know is that it's operated by RAINN, an organization that has become one of the more unlikely players in tech policy. Since the pandemic, RAINN has seen a sharp…

• How Anduril Tried to Kill Democracy in Ohio (& How Farmers Fought Back)

  August 21, 2026 · 52 min

  In Madison Township, Ohio, families have farmed the same land for generations. Then a commercial real estate company started buying up their neighbors' fields under the code name "Project Thor." They wouldn't find out until later that the…