NEW FROM THE BUILDERS: Elon Musk: "Humans Won't Be in Control" When AI Becomes Smarter Than Us

Here’s a recent favorite of ours from our friends at the Uncanny Valley podcast. Actor Ben McKenzie (The O.C.) is out with a new documentary, Everyone Is Lying to You for Money, which follows his journey into becoming an anti-cryptocurrency advocate. He says we should all stop trying to unmask the presumed original developer(s) of bitcoin known as Satoshi Nakamoto because it benefits only the mysterious inventor. The actor-director talks with Katie about why he thinks crypto is a scam, and why he says people are falling for it. Listen and subscribe to Uncanny Valley here: https://swap.fm/l/wired-uv-drop See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Your brain is the last place companies don’t have access to… yet. But that’s changing fast. Nita Farahany, professor of law and philosophy at Duke University and author of The Battle for Your Brain, explains why the sci-fi future of mind-reading technology is here, and already sitting on the shelves at Best Buy. Dexter talks to Nita about how AI is learning to decode your mental state, how employers are using neurotechnology to monitor workers, and why this might be our last chance to protect the one thing that’s still private: what’s actually going on inside your head. And be sure to listen through the end of the episode for a note from Dexter. Hit us up: [email protected], or @killswitchpod on IG, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Discord announced it would start scanning users' account data to guess their age and if it couldn't figure out how old you were, it would ask for your government ID or a face scan. Gamers lost it, and within weeks, Discord backed down. But the fight isn't over. Dexter talks with Rin Alajaji of the Electronic Frontier Foundation about why age verification doesn't actually protect kids, how California's new Digital Age Assurance Act means your next laptop might card you before you can turn it on, and why a policy that started with gamers is quietly becoming everyone's problem. Hit us up: [email protected], or @killswitchpod and @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky. Links: EFF’s Age Verification and Age Gating: Resource Hub: https://www.eff.org/issues/age-verification See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, we’re sharing a clip from another podcast we’re excited about. Two Percent with Michael Easter is a deep dive into the science of living better, balancing rigorous evidence with a healthy dose of skepticism to cut through the noise of the modern wellness industry. In this episode, Michael takes a nuanced look at vices and whether some of them might actually enhance your life when you use them the right way. We don't have to live like monks to live a good life. We’re sharing the first segment of the episode featuring Dean Stattmann, a GQ reporter who spent three months sober and wrote a now-viral piece titled "Why My 2026 Resolution Is to Start Drinking Again." His Whoop scores got better, but his friendships, his marriage, and his mood got worse. Dean explains what alcohol actually does for human connection, what anthropologists call "costly signaling," and why moderate drinking might not be the villain the internet has made it out to be. Check out the rest of the episode and the show, Two Percent with Michael Easter, wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube. Hit us up: [email protected], or @killswitchpod and @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The wellness and health tech space is more crowded and confusing than ever – influencers are selling dubious health and beauty products and tech companies are developing wearables that track everything, from your sleep to your blood. Victoria Song, senior reviewer at The Verge, calls it the “wellness wild west.” Dexter talks to Victoria about the growing wellness trends online, the gray area between medical devices and wellness devices, and the mental health consequences of it all that no one talks about. Hit us up: [email protected], or @killswitchpod and @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky. Links: Victoria’s newsletter, Optimizer: https://www.theverge.com/optimizer-newsletter kill switch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@killswitch_pod See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.