The world is complicated and confusing, and there’s just SO MUCH we’re supposed to keep track of these days. And in many cases, the risk or consequences or importance of certain things are hard to understand. Why should I care about 5G? Why should I care about sending my DNA to a private company? Why should I care about crediting images or Wikipedia or the design of dollar bills or memes? This podcast will help people understand why even seemingly small things matter, and make the case for why you should care about everything from the helium shortage to concrete.
Host: Aubrey Plaza, suspected nihilist, actually funny good person.
Executive Producer: Rose Eveleth
It’s Like: You’re Wrong About meets The Weeds.
Sample Episode 1: Why Should I Care About Facial Recognition?
Okay, my face is being scanned, so what? I’m not a murderer or a criminal, I’m not stealing stuff off people’s doorsteps, why should I care? This episode features Joy Buolamwini explaining to Plaza why even non-serial-killers should care about facial recognition technology.
Sample Episode 2: Why Should I Care About Typography?
The Substack default font is Spectral (although it gets converted to whatever your email client font is in your inbox). Who cares? Why does the shape of lettering matter? Aren’t people who care about fonts just snobs? This episode features Liz Jackson, founder of The Disabled List and known defender of Comic Sans, explaining to Plaza why fonts and typography actually do matter, and why you should care.
Audience: People who want to be informed citizens but sometimes can’t really figure out what all the fuss is about. They read The Atlantic and listen to The Daily but sometimes can’t quite figure out why they are consuming all of this stuff. Why does this matter again? They really want to be able to fiercely defend something other people dismiss at dinner parties.
These podcast ideas are for fun. Hosts and guests have not signed on in any way. I’m making stuff up here! If you like an idea enough to be tempted to steal it, don't do that. Be cool. Send me an email: rose@roseveleth.com.
Long live independent podcasts. Long live bad ideas.
