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PODCAST

kill switch

Were we sleeping when everything changed? Seems like the technologically driven future is already here. On kill switch, we explain the right NOW of our super charged technological lives. New host Dexter Thomas answers questions big and small – like who’s behind Shrimp Jesus, and could you get arrested by a computer? kill switch also brings the DIY back to tech – “How to Now” on everything from how to run your own LLM to tips to keep your data safe. Because the more

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All Episodes

30:27

why is the government fighting with claude?

kill switch ·

2026/03/05

kill switch went live on March 4th to cover one of the newsier topics of the week: the fight between the US government and Anthropic, the company behind Claude. Dexter talked to WIRED senior writer, Will Knight, to discuss what exactly is happening, why, and the stakes for all of us. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to catch our next live episode: https://www.youtube.com/@killswitch_pod Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on

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34:11

silicon valley’s plan to make the “perfect baby”

kill switch ·

2026/02/25

The 1997 science fiction film Gattaca depicts a dystopian future where genetic technology creates a two-tier society: people who were born with the “best” genes selected vs. people who were conceived naturally. This was a cautionary tale, showing us a future we don’t want. But now, Silicon Valley is heavily investing in making this technology real. Dexter talks to Amanda Gerut, West Coast editor at Fortune, about the rise of polygenic screening companies, the investment in gene

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63:38

are we all going to end up in AI relationships?...

kill switch ·

2026/02/18

This week, we have a special collab episode with our friends at Panic World: From research to vibe coding to therapy to girlfriends and boyfriends, how are we using AI these days? Dexter joins Ryan Broderick on Panic World to talk about the interesting relationships people are forming with AI — for better and (mostly) worse. Check out Panic World wherever you get your podcasts, or on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@panicworldpod Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up

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35:24

a tour of the year’s worst new tech

kill switch ·

2026/02/11

Tech companies are constantly putting out new products to chase the hype – but they’re not all winners. Each year, nonprofit consumer advocates put on an award ceremony recognizing the lousiest of the bunch, called the Worst in Show. Dexter talks with Liz Chamberlain, who runs Worst in Show, about this year’s awards, the products that earned them (spoiler: a product featured during the Super Bowl is on the list), and what we risk when we chase the hype (read: add AI to everything)

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36:54

how the internet learned to extract

kill switch ·

2026/02/04

For a while, the internet felt like it might actually work. Dexter talks with legal scholar and author Tim Wu about his new book The Age of Extraction and how that early optimism faded as companies learned how to extract value from just about everything. Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky. Read + Watch: The Age of Extraction, by Tim

en-US

32:38

how an editor uncovered an AI journalist

kill switch ·

2026/01/28

When an editor at a local magazine in Toronto received a pitch from a promising new freelancer, he didn’t expect it to spiral into an obsessive investigation. What followed was a deep dive into a web of fake interviews, impossible bylines, and fake reporting. Dexter talks with Nicholas Hune-Brown to trace how he uncovered an AI journalist and what it reveals about journalism today. Got something you’re curious about? Hit us upkillswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on

en-US

35:15

the hack that broke myspace

kill switch ·

2026/01/21

In 2005, Myspace pages were flooded with the saying “Samy is my hero” and then suddenly, the platform went dark. Dexter talks with Jack Rhysider, host of the podcast Darknet Diaries, about Samy Kamkar, how he accidentally took down the biggest social media platform at the time, and how it changed the modern Internet. Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky. Listen: Jack’s Darknet Diaries

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32:30

everything’s a game… even baptisms

kill switch ·

2026/01/14

From language learning to investments to Amazon leaderboards, it seems like everything has become a game. But are these gamified things actually fun, or are we the ones being played? Dexter talks to philosopher C. Thi Nguyen, who recently wrote a book about why gamification can suck the life out of things called The Score. They talk about why the same mechanism in games and gamified metrics – the scoring system – works so differently, why gamification can trick you into caring about the

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33:14

how to: protect yourself from online harassment

kill switch ·

2026/01/07

Journalists, public figures, and just about anyone with an online presence today can suddenly face harassment: ranging from nasty posts and replies to real life threats like doxxing. Dexter talks with Ramy Ghaly, a security professional, about how online harassment has gotten worse, how to respond if it happens to you, and what you can do, right now, to prepare and protect yourself. Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG

en-US

45:46

The App Where Strangers Lend Each Other Money |...

kill switch ·

2025/12/31

We’re sharing a preview of another podcast we think you’ll enjoy: What’s Your Problem? Hosted by former Planet Money host Jacob Goldstein, What’s Your Problem? asks entrepreneurs and engineers about the problems they’re trying to solve to build a bigger and brighter future. In this episode: How do you build an app where strangers lend each other money? Nina Mohanty, CEO of Bloom Money, explains how centuries-old saving and lending global traditions—often used by

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21:30

from ‘click here’: an illusion of control

kill switch ·

2025/12/24

This week, we’re sharing an episode from the podcast Click Here, from our friends at Recorded Future News and PRX: Jake Gallen was a rising star in crypto. Then, after what seemed like a routine YouTube interview, his digital world unraveled. His NFTs? Liquidated. His social accounts? Hijacked. It turns out, the hackers didn’t need phishing links or fake job offers. They needed something much simpler: a Zoom invite. Subscribe to Click Here on Apple Podcasts

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33:50

now you can bet on real life. but should we?

kill switch ·

2025/12/17

Betting used to be something you did in a casino. Now it lives in your pocket and you can bet on just about anything: sports, Labubus, elections, and even forest fires. Dexter talks with Emily Stewart, senior correspondent at Business Insider, about why betting is everywhere, how any of it is legal, and if it’s changing how we experience real world events. Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky. Read:

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38:09

social media reveals life behind bars. prisons want...

kill switch ·

2025/12/10

Social media has gotten a bad rap over the past decade – we blame it for our growing loneliness, shorter attention spans, and polarized politics. But for incarcerated people, social media can still live up to its original promise of connection. And for those on the outside, contraband cell phones give us an unprecedented look into what life is like behind bars. Dexter talks to Jeremy Busby, an incarcerated journalist, about how social media has helped to force positive changes in jails and

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31:39

when the ref’s a robot

kill switch ·

2025/12/03

In the high-stakes world of sports, referees have always been under intense scrutiny… but what if tech could take some of the pressure off? Or will we lose something by replacing the referee with a robot? In this episode Dexter talks with Joe Lemire, senior writer at Sports Business Journal, to explore how new technologies like Hawk-Eye are reshaping sports officiating. Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or

en-US

33:30

new from kaleidoscope: shell game (season 2)

kill switch ·

2025/11/26

This week, we’re sharing an episode from another podcast we’re excited about. In Season 2 of Shell Game, journalist Evan Ratliff tells a story of entrepreneurship in the AI age; or, how he tried to build a real company, run by fake people. In episode one, we meet Kyle Law and Megan Flores, Evan’s AI agent cofounders, as he puts to the test the claims about an emerging future in which AI employees work alongside — or instead of — humans. Over the course of the season,

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36:34

who is profiting from scam texts – and can we stop them?

kill switch ·

2025/11/19

If it feels like you’re getting more scammy texts in the past few years, you’re not imagining it. Scam texts have exploded since 2020, and the operation behind them has become a massively lucrative industry. Dexter talks to Eric Priezkalns, a self-proclaimed ‘troublemaker’ in the telecommunications world and founder of the website Commsrisk, about the new technology that’s making scam texts easier than ever, what some of the weirder, long-game schemes are after,

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28:37

‘my peptide guy’ is the new tech bro flex

kill switch ·

2025/11/12

Forget building the next app – Silicon Valley’s tech bros are now trying to rebuild themselves. Peptides are the new frontier into biohacking, promising better sleep, sharper focus, and maybe even eternal youth. Dexter talks to Zara Stone, a culture reporter at The San Francisco Standard, about her reporting on the Bay Area’s underground peptide scene, and what happens when tech’s obsession with optimization turns inward. Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up

en-US

33:26

‘my internet bed is broken’ is just the start

kill switch ·

2025/11/05

A few weeks ago on Monday, October 20, a major outage in Amazon Web Services took down a bunch of the Internet. How did an error in one data center in Virginia affect everything from Snapchat and Reddit to ‘smartbeds’ to government services? Dexter talks to Dr. Corinne Cath, a cultural anthropologist and technology researcher, about how the “cloud,” and therefore the Internet, became mostly controlled by 3 big tech companies – Amazon, Microsoft, and Google – why

en-US

29:26

workslop: how AI is making you hate your coworkers

kill switch ·

2025/10/29

Corporate America has bet on AI to make work faster and cheaper. Companies like Meta and Microsoft are laying off employees, hoping it will save them money. But a new study has found that there’s a growing wave of “workslop” and AI is actually making more work for the people left in these organizations. It’s also costing companies millions. Dexter talks with one of the authors of the study, Kate Niederhoffer, to give us an inside look into the details of the study, what

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34:54

maybe ICEBlock was 'activism theater,' but is banning...

kill switch ·

2025/10/22

ICEBlock was an app created to help people report ICE sightings. Then, Apple pulled it from the App Store. But in between those events, there was a semi-public fight over whether the app was actually helpful to immigrants. Dexter talks with security researcher and journalist Micah Lee about why he criticized ICEBlock (calling it “activism theater”), why he still supports the app’s developer in fighting censorship, and what all this means for your ability to use your phone how you

en-US

61 results

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