24 episodes

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.

Should This Exist‪?‬ WaitWhat

    • Technology

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.

    Introducing: Ingenious with Caterina Fake

    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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    • 2 min
    Introducing Spark & Fire Season 2

    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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    • 2 min
    Can we trip our way to better mental health?

    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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    • 32 min
    Nuclear power in a six-pack

    Nuclear power in a six-pack

    Small-scale nuclear reactors could help wean us off fossil fuels, but first they need to overcome the public fear shaped by nuclear accidents.

    • 34 min
    Cloud brightening for climate fever

    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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    • 34 min
    The promise of a bioartificial kidney

    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. 

    Get the Should This Exist? newsletter! Discussion questions, reading list, more: http://eepurl.com/gnZTf9

    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    • 34 min

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