What Next: TBD | The AWS Outage is Only the Beginning

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Slate Podcasts

News, News Commentary, Politics

4.6 • 6K Ratings

🗓️ 24 October 2025

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week’s AWS outage illustrates just how fragile and vulnerable our interconnected world really is—and how far we’ve fallen from the vision of a decentralized internet. Guest: Samanth Subramanian, author of “The Web Beneath the Waves: The Fragile Cables That Connect Our World.” Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Rayban Metaglasses come with open-ear audio, so you can listen to your favourite music without blocking out the world around you.
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0:10.5	You can also ask Meta AI questions.
0:14.5	Hey Mehta, when's Doja Cat's next concert?
0:18.0	Doja Cat is playing in London next Tuesday.
0:20.5	Sweet. Rayban Metaglasses, available Erepan Meta Glasses, available Doja Cat's next concert. Doja Cat is playing in London next Tuesday.
0:21.2	Sweet.
0:23.9	Rayban Metaglasses.
0:27.1	Available at Rayban stores and other authorised retailers.
0:32.3	300 sensors.
0:35.4	Over a million data points per second.
0:40.3	How does F1 update their fans with every stat in real time? AWS is how.
0:42.3	From fastest laps to strategy calls,
0:45.3	AWS puts fans in the pit.
0:48.3	It's not just racing, it's data-driven innovation at 200 miles per hour.
0:55.4	AWS is how leading businesses power next-level innovation.
1:04.7	If you're listening to this podcast, there's a decent chance you dealt with some kind of internet outage on Monday.
1:12.1	Snapchat, Roblox, OpenAI, Ring.
1:14.8	Some people couldn't get into their bank platforms.
1:16.9	They couldn't get their flight deals.
1:18.5	You know, like that freaked people out, considering parts of our very online world went kind of dark for a bit.
	...

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