Should This Exist?

WaitWhat

It's the question of our times: How is technology impacting our humanity? "Should This Exist?" invites the creators of radical new technologies to set aside their business plan, and think through the human side: What is the invention’s greatest promise? And what could possibly go wrong? Show host Caterina Fake (Partner, Yes VC; Cofounder Flickr) is a celebrated tech pioneer and one of Silicon Valley’s most eloquent commentators on technology and the human condition. Joined by a roster of all-star expert guests who have a knack for looking around corners, Caterina drops listeners into the minds of today’s ingenious entrepreneurs and guides them through the journey of foreseeing what their technology might do to us, and for us. Should This Exist? is a WaitWhat original series in partnership with Quartz.

  • 1 minute 58 seconds
    Introducing: Pioneers of AI

    We’re excited to launch WaitWhat's newest weekly series, Pioneers of AI — your guide to the latest technological frontier. Hosted by AI thought leader, scientist, and investor Rana el Kaliouby, tune in for insights from industry trailblazers, explore the ethical considerations of AI, and get ahead of what’s to come as the technology continues to develop. Head to the Pioneers of AI feed now to hear Rana's latest conversations alongside Masters of Scale's Reid Hoffman and Dr. Joy Boulamwini. New episodes of Pioneers of AI release every Wednesday. Pioneers of AI is made possible with support from Inflection AI.

    Subscribe to Pioneers of AI: https://listen.pioneersof.ai/Subscribe

    Learn more about Pioneers of AI: http://pioneersof.ai/

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    18 September 2024, 9:00 am
  • 20 minutes 34 seconds
    Introducing: Offsite Adventures

    From the team behind Should This Exist?, we're happy to share the first episode of Offsite Adventures, our newest show uncovering the gems, magical moments, and unique learnings in iconic business travel destinations.

    Three minutes before midnight in Times Square, one of the most trafficked commercial centers in the world momentarily transforms into a vibrant digital art installation, providing a refreshing pause for locals and tourists alike. It’s called the Midnight Moment, and you won’t believe how something so unexpected came together. In this episode, Janet digs into the history of this unique collaboration between the advertising and arts communities before experiencing it herself with innovative, boundary-breaking artist Shahzia Sikander.

    Offsite Adventures is a Masters of Scale Production presented in alliance with Capital One Business.

    Special thanks to Jean Cooney and Times Squares Arts and artists featured as part of the Midnight Moment episode:  

    Artist: Shahzia Sikander | Title: Reckoning | Video by Tatyana Tenenbaum 

    Artist: Nora Maité Nieves | Title: Eyes of the Sea | Video by Tatyana Tenenbaum

    Artist: LuYang | Title: DOKU: Digital Reincarnation | Video by Phatt Features

    Special thanks to composer Du Yun for music featured in this episode.

    See this story come to life in our video series on YouTube. Click here to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERpUrWKdCjE

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    17 April 2024, 9:00 am
  • 2 minutes 30 seconds
    Introducing: Ingenious with Caterina Fake

    Renowned creator, entrepreneur and pioneer Caterina Fake brings together some of the most brilliant and visionary figures of our time, many of them friends and colleagues, for deep discussions about inspiration, humanity, technology, and the future of the world. With Ingenious, she explores the sources of inspiration and the hopes fueling luminaries working on the cutting edge of creativity, art, entrepreneurship, and technology. Shaping the outcome of global conflicts, climate change, education, and other forces acting upon the future, Caterina poses essential questions about where we are headed and how our ingenuity can solve some of the world’s thorniest problems.

    You can listen to Ingenious here https://link.chtbl.com/ingenious_ste

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    26 September 2023, 9:00 am
  • 2 minutes 50 seconds
    Introducing Spark & Fire Season 2

    If you love Should This Exist?, we have exciting news to share: From the same company behind our show, the podcast Spark + Fire is back for Season 2! Spark + Fire explores what really happens on the road to creative success. In their own words, creative icons share the moments of inspiration and setback, the collaborations and the pivots, the breakthroughs and the dead ends along the hero's journey to bring something new into the world. Regardless of your own field, there are endless discoveries in each story that could transform the way you approach your practice of creative thinking and innovating.

    Stories from comedian Patton Oswalt, "Wicked" composer Stephen Schwartz, actor and producer Joseph Gordon-Levitt, best-selling author Ann Patchett, "Frozen" composers Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, Pixar director Domee Shi, and many more.

    Subscribe at sparkandfire.com or your favorite podcast platform.

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    21 November 2022, 10:00 am
  • 32 minutes 42 seconds
    Can we trip our way to better mental health?

    You’d be forgiven for being surprised if your doctor wrote you a prescription for ecstasy, ayahuasca, magic mushrooms, or LSD. But a recent resurgence in psychedelic research shows that a number of mental health conditions can be treated directly and effectively with potent psychoactive drugs. Dr. Dave Nichols has been studying the chemistry of these drugs for over 40 years, and he’s convinced of their therapeutic potential — and aware of the dangers of abuse. After a long psychedelic winter, are we ready to welcome these drugs back into the psychiatric fold?

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    23 December 2020, 10:00 am
  • 34 minutes 26 seconds
    Nuclear power in a six-pack

    When you think of nuclear power, what do you envision? For many people, the answer is Chernobyl or Fukushima: massive meltdowns that turned vast areas into radioactive wastelands. But those were meltdowns — and without meltdowns, nuclear power could be a valuable source of clean energy. Dr. Jose Reyes, the co-founder of NuScale, has designed a small, modular reactor that, he claims, cannot melt down. A six-pack of these reactors could power a good-size city, and though that power comes at a higher price than natural gas or renewables, the cost might be offset by the gains in climate goals. Bottom line: How safe is safe enough for nuclear power?

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    16 December 2020, 10:00 am
  • 34 minutes 5 seconds
    Cloud brightening for climate fever

    Kelly Wanser is a climate activist who wants to use a strategy called cloud brightening to fight climate change, using a naturally occurring process to bounce rays from the sun back out to space. She and others have described it compellingly as “emergency medicine for the earth’s climate fever,” and suggest it could buy us more time to implement policies addressing the root causes of climate change. But climate change is a planetary problem – so who gets to decide what countries or groups are allowed to take the risk of geoengineering to fix it? How can one country pursue a risky mitigation strategy if neighboring countries would be the most adversely affected if things went wrong?

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    9 December 2020, 10:00 am
  • 34 minutes 2 seconds
    The promise of a bioartificial kidney

    UCSF bioengineer Shuvo Roy and his team have created the world’s first bionic kidney. The coffee-cup-sized device includes a silicon nanotechnology filter to cleanse the blood, while living kidney cells grown in a bioreactor perform the other functions of a natural kidney. A bioartificial kidney could save kidney patients from being stuck on a dialysis machine for life – or dying while waiting for a rare transplant. But is the promise of such a life-changing device enough to convince investors to bring such a thing to market? We talk through the ethics of artificial organs. 

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    2 December 2020, 10:00 am
  • 34 minutes 22 seconds
    A world without our devices

    Could you, would you, go one full hour without your phone? The average American spends one-third of their waking hours on a smartphone; we’ve been told our devices make life better, faster, and easier. What happens when we choose to live without them – or when we are forced to? In this episode, we’ll talk to media studies professor Douglas Rushkoff, get the down low from a U.S. senator who sat in a “digitally sequestered” hearing for three weeks (guess which one) – and travel to the WiFi-free town of Green Bank, West Virginia, to find out exactly what happens when we unplug.

    Listen to Douglas Rushkoff’s podcast Team Human: http://teamhuman.fm

    Get Douglas’ book Team Human: https://rushkoff.com/books/team-human-book

    Find more resources about this episode at shouldthisexist.com

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    25 November 2020, 3:00 am
  • 32 minutes 37 seconds
    Could this game replace the SAT?

    Standard college admissions tests are:

    a. based on an outdated model of intelligence;

    b. exclusionary;

    c. a lucrative business and a near-monopoly;

    d. all of the above.

    28-year-old Harvard dropout Rebecca Kantar is disrupting the paradigm of pencil-and-paper tests like the SAT and ACT by designing interactive scenarios that play like video games, and that test for qualities like grit and creativity. But is another test the answer? Given the spotty history of aptitude tests, maybe it’s time to completely reevaluate how colleges evaluate prospective frosh.

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    18 November 2020, 10:00 am
  • 36 minutes 5 seconds
    VR vs. PTSD

    A VR system called Bravemind allows combat veterans with PTSD to confront and process their trauma in a virtual environment. The therapy, developed by psychologist Skip Rizzo, shows promise for PTSD and potential for other issues like phobias and addiction – and it may have applications to help healing more broadly. But does the potential for harm from virtual self-medication outweigh the good it can do in a clinical setting? And given what we know about how VR affects the brain – is it as safe as it seems? 

    Find an episode transcript at shouldthisexist.com

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    11 November 2020, 10:00 am
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