Triangulation 421: John Hodgman: Medallion Status - True Stories and Complimentary Upgrades

In a wide-ranging conversation, Leo Laporte talks with Dr. George Church about the history and future of genome sequencing. Dr. Church explains why he is very excited about how they made an organism resistant to all viruses- both known and unknown.

New York Times bestselling author Daniel Suarez returns to talk with Leo Laporte about the second book in his 'Delta-v' novel series, 'Critical Mass,' where a group of pioneering astropreneurs must overcome never-before-attempted engineering challenges to rescue colleagues stranded at a distant asteroid—kicking off a new space race in which Earth's climate crisis could well hang in the balance.

Writer/activist Cory Doctorow and scholar Rebecca Giblin join Leo Laporte to talk about their latest book Chokepoint Capitalism: How Big Tech and Big Content Captured Creative Labor Markets and How We'll Win Them Back. They argue that we're in a new era of "chokepoint capitalism," with exploitative businesses creating insurmountable barriers to competition that enable them to capture value that should rightfully go to others.

Tripp Mickle joins Leo Laporte to discuss his new book, "After Steve: How Apple Became a Trillion-Dollar Company and Lost Its Soul". They discuss the shift in Apple's dynamic and approach to products after the passing of Steve Jobs from a company of innovation with Jony Ive, to a company of efficiency under Tim Cook.

Amy Webb joins Leo Laporte to discuss her new book, "The Genesis Machine." Webb explains synthetic biology, tells the story of golden rice, and shares a glimpse of the future and the changes we can expect.