Ft Tech Tonic

David Reich, professor of genetics at Harvard, talks to Clive Cookson, the FT's science editor, about how the genomic revolution is affecting paleontology and the study of human pre-history.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Psychologist Julia Shaw talks to John Thornhill about her research into the fragility of human memory and how this helped her design a software tool that can be used to record and report workplace harassment  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How can we fix the digital future? Writer and Silicon Valley critic Andrew Keen tells John Thornhill our best resource is human agency and the power of consumers to reject products that they have lost faith in  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The big tech platforms where many people get their news wield significant power. How do they work with publishers, and are they doing enough to combat "fake" news? FT global media editor Matt Garrahan put the questions to a panel of experts at the FT's Future of News conference in New York earlier this month. Guests are Campbell Brown, head of news partnerships at Facebook, Emily Bell, director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University, Jason Kint, chief executive of Digital Content Next and Richard Gingras, vice president of news at Google.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Kriti Sharma talks to John Thornhill about her work for the UK software company Sage and about her mission to bring greater diversity and accountability to the algorithms that guide our decisions.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes joins the FT's Hannah Kuchler to talk about economic inequality in the age of "big tech", and his proposal to shrink the income gap in the US. It's the subject of his book Fair Shot: Rethinking inequality and how we earn.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

John Thornhill talks to Erel Margalit, founder and chairman of Jerusalem Venture Partners, about his plan to help create a regional hub for tech startups and how he believes business collaboration in the region can help ease tensions when politicians fail.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Clive Cookson, FT science editor, discusses the possibility of alien life and whether we would recognise it if we encountered it with British astrophysicist Paul Davies.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this encore episode, John Thornhill talks to author and historian Yuval Noah Harari about his vision of a future when humans are no longer the smartest algorithm on the planet.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

John Thornhill talks to nuTonomy's Gretchen Effgen about why the company chose Singapore as well as Boston to test its self-drive cars and why it uses a formal methods approach to developing its software.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

John Thornhill talks to the head of Singapore's GovTech about her work in advancing the country's Smart Nation ambitions  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

John Thornhill talks to leading astrophysicist Martin Rees about why he thinks we need to pay greater attention to the risks posed by environmental damage and the rapid adoption of new technologies.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Historian Leslie Berlin talks to the FT's Hannah Kuchler about the generation of entrepreneurs and investors, from Mike Markkula to Sandra Kurtzig, who transformed the tech hub in the 1970s and 1980s. It's the subject of her latest book "Troublemakers: Silicon Valley's Coming of Age".   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Business and science fiction writer Calum Chace talks to John Thornhill about the exponential growth of AI and why we need to start planning now for a world without work.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How is the use of mobile technology and social media affecting the lives of children and adolescents? Sonia Livingstone, professor of psychology at the LSE in London, examined the issue in her book: The Class: Living and Learning in the Digital Age. She talks to Madhumita Murgia about her findings.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Artificial intelligence is an important tool, but human beings have to be creative to understand how best to make use of it, former world chess champion Garry Kasparov tells John Thornhill  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Army veteran and cyber security expert Rick Howard talks to the FT's Hannah Kuchler about the current state of cyber security, what we have learned from recent large-scale attacks known as WannaCry and NotPetya and what companies can do to try to guard against the next attack.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Phil Libin, former chief executive of Evernote, tells John Thornhill why he thinks artificial intelligence will soon be part of the fabric of all our lives and about his plan to create a global AI incubator  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Elisabeth Mason, founding director of the Stanford Poverty & Technology Lab, talks to the FT's Hannah Kuchler about solving problems such as education inequality and job retraining the Silicon Valley way.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Internet pioneer Martha Lane Fox talks to John Thornhill about her work in trying to ensure that the technology lives up to its early ideals and serves the interests of people rather than big companies.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.