Baby, You Can Self-Drive My Car
What Next | Daily News and Analysis
Slate Podcasts
4.3 • 2.4K Ratings
🗓️ 9 May 2018
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus and April Glaser talk about the hedge fund that’s gutting the newsrooms of local newspapers across the country—and racking up huge profits. They also discuss the futuristic news out of Google’s annual developer conference, including an AI that can hold a conversation and book you a dinner reservation.
Oremus is joined by Professor Raj Rajkumar, a self-driving car expert who serves as co-director of Carnegie Mellon’s autonomous driving research lab. They discuss the future of self-driving cars, but also the current moment—how today’s technology stacks up to human drivers in terms of safety, and what’s behind the recent spate of crashes.
Don’t Close My Tabs
The New York Times: Yes, It’s Bad. Robocalls, And Their Scams, Are Surging.
The Atlantic: I’m not Black, I’m Kanye
Podcast production by Max Jacobs.
If Then plugs:
You can get updates about what’s coming up next by following us on Twitter @ifthenpod. You can follow Will @WillOremus and April @Aprilaser. If you have a question or comment, you can email us at ifthen@slate.com.
If Then is presented by Slate and Future Tense, a collaboration among Arizona State University, New America, and Slate. Future Tense explores the ways emerging technologies affect society, policy, and culture. To read more, follow us on Twitter and sign up for our weekly newsletter.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to If Then, the show about how technology is changing our lives and our future. |
| 0:10.0 | I'm April Glitzer. |
| 0:11.0 | And I'm Will Oremus. Hey everyone, welcome to If Then. |
| 0:26.5 | We're coming to you from Slate and Future Tense, a partnership between Slate, Arizona State University, and New America. |
| 0:33.2 | We are recording this on the afternoon of Tuesday, May 8th. |
| 0:36.4 | On today's show, we'll talk about the hedge fund that's gutting the newsrooms of local newspapers across the country and racking up enormous profits at the same time. |
| 0:45.1 | We'll bring you the futuristic news out of Google's annual developer conference, including an AI that can hold a conversation and book you a dinner reservation. |
| 0:53.3 | Then we'll be joined by Professor Raj Raj Raj Kumar, a self-driving car expert who serves as |
| 0:58.3 | co-director of Carnegie Mellon's Autonomous Driving Research Lab. |
| 1:02.1 | He'll talk not just about the future of self-driving cars, but the present, how today's |
| 1:06.8 | technology stacks up to human drivers in terms of safety and what's behind the recent spate of |
| 1:11.5 | crashes. |
| 1:12.5 | And we'll close with don't close my tabs. |
| 1:14.9 | Some of the best things we've seen online this week. |
| 1:18.0 | All right, April, how are you doing this week? |
| 1:19.7 | And actually, where are you this week? |
| 1:21.7 | Oh, I'm just a little down south, so a bit closer to you. |
| 1:24.7 | I'm in Los Angeles, recording from the historic home of A. Quincy |
| 1:29.8 | Jones, not the one who created thriller, but the architect. And so that's why it might sound |
| 1:37.7 | a little funky, but we're still doing the podcast. And you're in Santa Barbara? Yes, I am here as |
| 1:44.0 | usual. And before we start, I? Yes, I am here as usual. |
| 1:44.6 | And before we start, I want to thank the listeners who have written in. |
... |
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