Solutions with Henry Blodget
Solutions with Henry Blodget is a weekly interview show hosted by journalist, analyst and entrepreneur Henry Blodget. Each Monday he sits down with leading thinkers from business, technology, politics and other fields to discuss their concrete ideas for fixing big problems. The focus is on solutions rather than simply restating the challenges society faces. The podcast is part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Episodes
What Broke Trust in Journalism & How to Fix It, According to Ken Auletta
The media industry is under assault. This week, we turn to one of the world’s most experienced and trusted media observers for a solution: Ken Auletta, who has covered the industry for almost 50 years for the New Yorker. Auletta has studied the rise of cable TV, the Internet, and today’s tech giants, and profiled figures such as Rupert Murdoch, Ted Turner, and Barry Diller. We discuss how trust i
Are Psychedelics on the Verge of Going Mainstream?
President Trump surprised many people a few weeks ago when he signed an executive order accelerating research into psychedelics. Compounds like psilocybin, LSD, MDMA, ketamine, and others have developed large and enthusiastic followings in the past decade, and some seem quite promising in the treatment of depression, PTSD, addiction and other conditions. Unusually, they are also one of the very fe
Why AI Will Never Be Conscious, According to a Consciousness Expert
Anil Seth is concerned about the “mythology of conscious AI” – the growing argument that LLMs and other AI systems might one day achieve consciousness. Seth is a Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex and a leading expert on consciousness. He’s skeptical that AI will ever achieve true consciousness, and argues there’s danger in perceiving these technical
An Extraordinary Gene Editing Treatment Could Mark a Turning Point in Medicine
In the summer of 2024, a baby named KJ was born with a rare disease with a 50% mortality rate. Six months later, he became the first patient to receive personalized gene editing therapy. He is now healthy and thriving. Dr. Jeff Coller, who directs the RNA Innovation Center at Johns Hopkins University, says KJ’s treatment could be the most important medical story of the decade. Today, Dr. Coller ex
Wildfires Are Only Getting Worse. What Can We Do?
Dr. Kira Hoffman once fought fires as a firefighter. Now she works on starting them - for the sake of wildfire prevention. Dr. Hoffman is a fire ecologist at the University of British Columbia and an expert in why wildfires are getting worse and the solutions that can mitigate their damage. We discuss why she forecasts a “dire” wildfire season this year, how fire policy has transformed over the pa
Is U.S. Air Travel in Crisis?
Recent high-profile tragedies, FAA understaffing and underinvestment, and ballooning TSA lines during the government shutdown have many questioning whether U.S. air travel is as safe as we've been told — but what's the reality? And how do we make it safer, cheaper, and more comfortable?
Darryl Campbell is the aviation-safety correspondent for The Verge. We discuss potentially privatizing the TSA
Most Americans Support Legal Immigration. Why Can't We Enact Clear Policy?
One of the biggest issues in the last few elections has been… immigration. And yet: most Americans support legal immigration and a path to citizenship, and aren't worried about immigrants taking their jobs. So why can't the U.S. enact clear policy?
Alexander Kustov, professor of migration at the University of Notre Dame, recently wrote a book entirely dedicated to this question and practical sol
The Jagged Frontier: How AI Will Transform Your Job, According to Wharton's Ethan Mollick
Ethan Mollick, a Wharton professor and author of the Substack One Useful Thing, describes today’s AI systems as a “jagged frontier," where AI outperforms humans in some tasks but falls short in others. This unevenness means the technology won’t replace all jobs, but it will reshape how we work and which skills matter most. In this episode, we discuss why management and delegation are becoming more
We Can Live Forever Through Digital Twins. But Should We?
What’s it like to talk to a “digital twin” of a relative who died before you were born? How will the increasingly lifelike digital representations of people change how we grieve?
Amy Kurzweil deeply considers these questions in her graphic memoir, Artificial: A Love Story. It's about her experience helping to create a chatbot based on her grandfather. Amy’s father, Ray Kurzweil — a technology in
Reasons to be an AI Jobs Optimist
More than three years into the AI era, the predictions of an AI job apocalypse are still coming fast and furious. Here are reasons to be more optimistic.
Harvard economist and researcher David Deming studies technology and the future of work. He’s dug into technological shifts of the past for clues about what might happen to the U.S. labor market now, and he’s even quantified the rapid rate of ad
Why AI Robots Shouldn't Look Like Humans
Elon Musk says humanoid robots represent the biggest business opportunity in the history of the world. But what problems do these robots actually solve? And why do they have to look like humans?
We pose those questions and more to Dr. Jonathan Hurst this week, one of the pioneers of modern robotics. He’s the co-founder and Chief Robot Officer at Agility, which makes a humanoid called “Digit," whi
Could AI Doctors Be Better Than Humans? This Physician Thinks It’s Possible.
Dr. Robert Wachter has been a physician for decades, and he thinks that in the future, you might prefer an AI doctor over him (at least sometimes).
Dr. Wachter is the Chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and a best-selling author. To report his most recent book, A Giant Leap: How AI Is Transforming Healthcare and What That Means for Our Future, he sp
China Is Winning. How Can the U.S. Catch Up?
The U.S. is falling behind in its economic competition with China. One potential solution? An expansion of executive power. That’s according to investor and contributing New York Times columnist Steven Rattner. Rattner served as counselor to the Treasury secretary in the Obama administration; he was known as President Obama’s “car czar,” for leading the team that saved the auto industry in the wak
The Future of Mind-Controlled Computers, According to Neuralink’s Rival
When Elon Musk started Neuralink in 2016, he tapped leading neurosurgeon Ben Rapoport to join as a co-founder. But two years later, citing safety and scalability concerns, Rapoport left to co-found a rival company: Precision Neuroscience. Today, we speak with his co-founder, Michael Mager, about what sets Precision apart, the future of brain–computer interfaces (BCIs), and what Precision has alrea
Solving the College AI Crisis
Jeff Selingo is not impressed with how colleges are responding to AI. Selingo has spent decades covering higher education and work, and recently spoke with dozens of professors, administrators, and students about what he calls “the campus AI crisis.” While some faculty are still trying to ban the new technology entirely, others struggle to build smart programs to teach students how to use AI. So w
Legendary VC Bill Gurley: How to Thrive in Your Career
Bill Gurley is a legendary venture capitalist known for backing Uber, Zillow, GrubHub, and many others. But when he started his career, he thought he was going to be a computer engineer. How did he make the pivot? That is just one story Gurley tells in his upcoming book, Runnin' Down a Dream: How to Thrive in a Career You Actually Love. In this episode, Gurley shares his words of wisdom, and, of c
Why OpenAI Won’t Survive an AI Crash
Venture capitalist, writer, and researcher Paul Kedrosky thinks it's likely that in the near future, an AI crash will cause widespread damage to the economy—but he's still optimistic about the technology anyway. Today, he tells us why, and shares his boldest predictions about AI, including why OpenAI won't last, and why he'd bet against any of the Mag 7, too.
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How to Stop a Global Economic “Doom Loop”
Economist Eswar Prasad believes the world’s economic order is stuck in a doom loop. While globalization has increased global prosperity, it’s also left many people behind. That has set off a global “politics of resentment,” enabling the rise of populist leaders who promise a return to economic independence and nationalism. So what do we do about it? Despite the title of Professor Prasad’s new book
Your Devices Are Already Tracking Your Brain Waves. Should You Be Worried?
Your devices could soon be decoding your most intimate thoughts. It’s just a matter of time, according to neurotechnology expert Nita Farahany. There are already devices on the market that track our brain waves, from rings to smartwatches to new products like Meta’s neural band. How do we safeguard our cognitive liberty?
Nita Farahany is a Professor of Law and Philosophy at Duke University and th
Lessons from the Crash of 1929 for the AI Bubble
If we're truly in an AI bubble close to bursting, how do we avoid economic catastrophe? That's a question we bring to Andrew Ross Sorkin this week, whose new book, 1929: The Inside Story of The Greatest Crash in Wall Street History, has as much to say about the present as it does the past. We ask Andrew what warning signs he sees in the market, how the government should respond to a crash, and wha
Why Companies Should Embrace Remote Work
The data is in: remote work is better for everyone. At least when it’s done right. Stanford Economics Professor Nicholas Bloom has been studying hybrid work since before the pandemic, and he says that companies that have embraced remote work have seen gains in productivity and retention while lowering costs. So why are executives at JP Morgan and Amazon ordering employees back? Today: Professor Bl
Scott Galloway Says Men Should “Protect, Provide, and Procreate”
Best-selling author, podcaster, and professor Scott Galloway is worried about men. He sees them falling behind and he thinks the left, especially, is overlooking their crises. So he’s provided his own guidance in a new book, “Notes on Being a Man.” Part memoir and part advice, Galloway argues that a man’s job is to “protect, provide, and procreate.” Today we ask: where does that leave women? What
How AI Data Centers are Raising Your Electric Bill
Electricity prices in the US are skyrocketing. What’s going on? We asked Vox correspondent Umair Irfan, who covers energy policy, to explain. Plus, why Irfan says clean energy could be a winning issue for Democrats. And not because it’s better for the planet, but because it’s cheap.
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Business Insider Embraced AI. How’s It Going?
Business Insider recently told its reporters they could use AI to write first drafts of their stories. It was a notable decision by editor-in-chief Jamie Heller, and made BI one of the first mainstream media outlets to embrace AI. We ask Heller what exactly AI is being used for in the BI newsroom. Plus: what skillsets still feel way out of ChatGPT’s reach, and why this is still a good time to get
How Can American Politics Recover from Trump?
John Harris, the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Politico, is a short-term pessimist and long-term optimist. In this episode, we appeal to his optimism and ask how the US can recover from its current politics of contempt. Harris shares his analysis of President Trump as the most successful third-party candidate in American history, casts doubt on the fantasy of the “rational center” candidate, a
It’s Time for Medicare for All
In the 1990s, Dr. Stephanie Woolhandler did something her colleagues at Harvard called “crazy:” she decided to work with a senator named Bernie Sanders on healthcare reform. Dr. Woolhandler had already founded an advocacy group called Physicians for a National Health Program, which declared the for-profit healthcare system broken and proposed one solution: single-payer national health insurance. (
Kids Should Have a Driver's License Before a Smartphone
Have smartphones destroyed a generation?
That was the title of a viral essay by Dr. Jean Twenge in The Atlantic in 2017, which first catapulted her work into the spotlight. For years before The Anxious Generation, Dr. Twenge (who now collaborates with Jonathan Haidt) was raising the alarm about social media use and teen mental health. Now, Dr. Twenge has released clear guidelines for parents on h
The New Digg Wants to Bring Back a Peaceful Internet
Roughly 20 years ago, Digg was known as the homepage of the internet. The social and news platform was so big that Alexis Ohanian, the founder of Reddit, referred to it as “the enemy.” But things have changed, and this year, the site's original founder Kevin Rose teamed up with Ohanian to revamp and relaunch Digg.
Now, in this age of AI, the new Digg is betting on the long-term value of real hum
You Can (And Should) Change Your Personality
Certain personality traits can determine how happy you are, sometimes more than income and IQ. That’s according to author and journalist Olga Khazan. Hoping to shed some of her more neurotic personality traits, Khazan recently set out to change her personality for the better… and succeeded. Today, Khazan tells us how. Plus: we hear about another recent discovery — why Khazan thinks she might be “d
The U.S. Needs a Democracy Movement
Anne Applebaum is an award-winning historian and journalist who studies democracy and dictatorship. Her latest book, Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World, explores how autocracies are working together to undermine democracy across the globe. Fortunately, Applebaum also considers how democracies can maintain their power against the siege of authoritarianism. Today, why is democr
How Mark Cuban Wants to Fix Healthcare
Billionaire investor Mark Cuban has set out to fix the broken U.S. healthcare system, and he’s starting with drug prices. In 2022, Cuban launched the online pharmacy Cost Plus Drugs, which aims to sell generic drugs at huge discounts. He explains the business, how it’s going, and why expensive hospital visits are next on his list. Plus, we get his takes on sports gambling, Silicon Valley’s turn to
How to Worry Less & Find Meaning with Happiness Expert Arthur Brooks
Arthur Brooks has spent years studying the exact components of a happy life. And now, the bestselling author and Harvard professor has collected his top findings into a new book: The Happiness Files. This week, we ask him how to worry less about money, find your calling, and what research tells us all happy people have in common.
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How to Actually Be Healthier
Dr. Jessica Knurick is a rare kind of academic: she's also very good at social media, and has recently gone viral for her criticisms of the MAHA movement. A registered dietitian with a PhD in nutrition science, Dr. Knurick says MAHA is right that Americans are notoriously unhealthy, but the movement has the solutions all wrong. This week, we turn to Dr. Knurick for the facts: what do we know about
How to Stop Russian Ops from Exploiting AI
According to a recent report from data collected in August, when prompted on divisive topics in the news, the top 10 AI chatbots spread false information 35% of the time — and even spread fake stories intentionally planted by Russian disinformation campaigns.
So why are LLMs vulnerable to disinformation and how have Russian operatives have learned to exploit them?
This week, an explanation and
How to Turbo Charge Your Career (And Not Give A...) with Kara Swisher
Confidence comes easy for Kara Swisher. It’s one of the reasons she walked out of class in second grade (she knew everything), and later built a career as one of Silicon Valley’s most feared and respected journalists.
Kara tells us her secrets to success, why she’s optimistic about the future of media vs. AI, and why so many powerful figures in tech still manage to maintain a victim mentality. P
How This Company is Building Flying Taxis
When will it be relatively normal to request a ride from a flying taxi? Within the next decade, at least according to our guests today: Stuart Simpson, CEO of Vertical Aerospace, and Jason Mudrick, the company’s largest shareholder and founder of Mudrick Capital Management. Vertical Aerospace is one of three companies trying to make flying taxis a reality now. This week, Stuart and Mudrick tell He
How to AI-Proof Your Job
Harvard economist and researcher David Deming studies technology and the future of work. Lately, he’s been doing a lot of research about AI: he’s dug into technological shifts of the past for clues about what might happen to the U.S. labor market now, and he’s even quantified the rapid rate of adoption of generative AI.
Deming doubts AI will cause a jobs apocalypse, but he does believe things wi
How Paul Krugman Would Fix The Economy
What would an actually good tariff policy look like? Can the U.S. ever bring back manufacturing jobs, and should it? How bad is the deficit and what can we do to address it?
In the first episode of Solutions, Henry asks Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman about the most pressing problems facing the U.S. economy — and how he would fix them.
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Introducing Solutions with Henry Blodget
It feels like we’re drowning in problems right now. But for every one of our problems, there are smart, enterprising people working hard to solve them. Which is why acclaimed journalist and entrepreneur Henry Blodget is launching a new podcast called Solutions. Every week, he’ll interview leading thinkers across business, tech, politics and beyond about their big ideas for building a better future
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