What’s Your Problem?
Ed Conway is an economics journalist and author of the book “Material World: The Six Raw Materials that Shape Modern Civilization.”
On today’s show, Ed reveals how three of those often-overlooked materials—iron, copper, and sand—shaped human advancement from the Renaissance to the Industrial Revolution to the digital age. And he talks about what they mean for our future.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Could a Robot Make Your Salad?
Stephen Klein is the co-founder and CEO of Hyphen, a company that is developing an automated make line. Stephen’s problem is this: How do you make restaurant food from fresh ingredients… cheaper? Chipotle invested in…
What the Industrial Revolution Teaches Us About the AI Revolution
Simon Johnson is an MIT economist and the co-author of a new book called “Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle over Technology and Prosperity”. Simon’s problem is this: How do you create the conditions for…
Can AI Tutors Help Kids Learn? Khan Academy Thinks So
Sal Khan is the founder and CEO of Khan Academy. Sal’s problem is this: How do you design an AI that can give students the kind of benefits they’d get from working with a human…
Smallpox: Gone but Not Forgotten from Incubation
What can we learn from the centuries-long quest to eradicate smallpox, once the scourge of humanity? And how did it set the stage for all vaccines to come? First we meet Edward Jenner, a doctor…
Going to the Doctor Sucks. Can AI Make it Better?
Allon Bloch is the co-founder and CEO of K Health. Allon’s problem is this: Can you use AI to make seeing a doctor easier and more helpful? Today, thousands of patients a month are treated…
Spotting Wildfires with AI
Sonia Kastner is the founder and CEO of Pano. Sonia’s problem is this: How do you use data and machine learning to mitigate the damage caused by climate change? Pano mounts cameras on remote mountaintop…
Is the Era of Free Returns Over?
Amit Sharma is the founder and CEO of Narvar. Narvar works with companies such as Sephora, Lululemon and Home Depot to manage the post-purchase phase of online shopping — tracking, alerts and returns. Around 10 percent…
Creative Technology at Pixar
Danielle Feinberg is a Visual Effects Supervisor at Pixar Animation Studios. Danielle’s problem is this: How do you optimize technology so that you can spend more time being creative? Danielle Feinberg has worked at Pixar…
How To Make AI Safer & More Reliable
Yaron Singer is the founder and CEO of Robust Intelligence. Yaron’s problem is this: How do you reduce AI’s security and reliability risks? Yaron was a computer science professor at Harvard and worked at Google…
Quantum Computers Could Change Everything
Chris Monroe is the co-founder and chief scientist of IonQ. Chris’s problem is this: How do you build a quantum computer that will actually work? Quantum computing has the potential to transform fields from drug…
