Iconic podcast Masters of Scale spins out a new series in partnership with Quartz to look at how technology is impacting our humanity.

NEW YORK, Feb. 7, 2019 /PRNewswire/ —  WaitWhat, the creators of the 2018 Webby-award winning podcast Masters of Scale, and Quartz, guide to the new global economy, today announced Should this Exist?, an original podcast hosted by Caterina Fake — the Silicon Valley investor and Internet pioneer who is known for being a rare and eloquent dot-connector on technology and the human condition.

Premiering on Thursday, February 21, Should this Exist? leads a new conversation to answer the question of our times: How is technology impacting our humanity? On each episode, an entrepreneur or scientist with a radical new technology will join Caterina on a journey to peer around corners, and glimpse their technology's wildest potential to change human lives for the better — and the hidden forces that might send their vision sideways. Starting today, interested listeners can visit the Should this Exist? page on Apple Podcasts for a sneak preview of the first season.

"Technology moves so fast we've become accustomed to the idea that nearly everything can exist, but too few of us stop to ask 'should this exist?', says host Caterina Fake. What kind of world do we want to build? Let's guide our inventions towards their best possible future."

The show's first season will include the visionaries behind a headset that hacks your brain with electric fields so you can learn like a kid again; a fully automated chatbot that offers one-on-one therapy; a next-generation supersonic plane; a device that can read the expression on your face and know how you're feeling; software that will translate between human and animal languages; and a scientific approach that allows humans to modify entire species of animals in the wild —among other unprecedented firsts.

Should this Exist? models a new kind of conversation between the entrepreneur or inventor and the world. Drawing on a wide range of fields — history, psychology, philosophy, the arts — Caterina leads the inventor through a conversation that sets aside the business model and examines the human case more closely.

"In creating Masters of Scale, this question about how technology impacts our humanity keeps coming up," said June Cohen, Co-Founder of WaitWhat and the show's Executive Producer. "We've reached a turning point where entrepreneurs are leaning in to engage around these questions of unintended consequences. It's the right moment for a show that explores how creators of unprecedented technologies can move their vision toward its best possible future."

The larger questions examined in Should This Exist? are a core part of Quartz's mission to investigate and inform the way we live and conduct business in the future through journalism that cuts across industries and moves beyond conventional thought. Quartz will use its suite of digital products to complement the audio experience of the podcast, including but not limited to qz.com, the Quartz Obsession email, the community-based Quartz app, and Quartz-owned social channels. Listeners will be invited to share, and be recognized for, their viewpoints about the significance of these new technologies entering our lives.

"Should This Exist? isn't just another media launch. It's an important model for how inventors and entrepreneurs—and all of us, really—can grapple in a structured way with the trade-offs between technology's fullest potential and its pitfalls," says Kevin Delaney, Editor in Chief of Quartz. "The show will create a new kind of conversation around invention that we should have been having for years."

In addition to Caterina, the series taps a range of experts in different fields, to think alongside the inventor. Experts in Season One include Comic and Cultural commentator Baratunde Thurston, Harvard Professor Sarah Lewis, MIT Media Lab Director Joi Ito; Poet, Coder and Algorithmic Justice League Founder Joy Buolamwini; Y Combinator President Sam Altman; and Quartz Editor in Chief Kevin Delaney, among others.

The series is sponsored by Accenture, a leading global professional services company. Through a series of "three-act" story-driven ads, Accenture will offer eyewitness testimony of nascent technologies — from quantum computing, to a pair of dynamic earbuds that morph inside your ears — and reveal both the underlying trends they represent and the commercial and ethical implications to consider in the face of disruption.

With astounding technology, and great stories, Should this Exist?  will give listeners the opportunity to think, laugh, and forecast the future.

About Caterina Fake

Caterina Fake is Silicon Valley's most eloquent commentator and dot-connector on technology and the human condition. As a humanist with a deep passion for history, literature, arts and culture, she has a unique perspective on the myriad unforeseen ways technology can impact our world. And as a celebrated tech pioneer herself, Caterina brings a deep knowledge of technology and an optimistic enthusiasm for entrepreneurs. In the early 2000s, Caterina co-founded Flickr and introduced many of the innovations — newsfeeds, hashtags, "followers," "likes" — that laid the foundation for modern social media. (Though she's quick to point out where social media has gone wrong). As an angel investor, advisor and board member, she helped build companies like Etsy, Kickstarter and Stack Overflow — which defined and nurtured new types of human-centered online communities. She's now co-founder of Yes VC, an investment fund in search of ideas that elevate our collective humanity. For Caterina, hosting Should This Exist? reflects her career-long dedication to help technology fulfill its promise.

About WaitWhat

WaitWhat — founded by former TED executives June Cohen and Deron Triff — is a media invention company that invests in, develops, produces and distributes wholly-owned media properties with the specific purpose of creating new genres, categories and formats of content that scale. WaitWhat creates and owns the Webby award-winning Masters of Scale podcast — hosted by LinkedIn Co-founder Reid Hoffman.  The company is founded upon a culture of possibility-thinking, courageous experimentation, originality, integrity and diversity.  

About Quartz

Quartz is a news platform designed for the leaders of the new economy. Founded in 2012 by Atlantic Media, Quartz uses bracingly creative and intelligent journalism to help its audience see around corners, navigate disruption in their industries, build fulfilling careers, broaden their views of the world, and enjoy lives rich with culture. Today's staff numbers more than 240 around the world, including more than 100 journalists, with significant presence in New York, Washington, DC, London, New Delhi, Hong Kong, and San Francisco. More than 40 different languages are spoken by the newsroom, reflecting Quartz's global perspective and belief in a more open and connected world.

More than 20 million people read, listen to or watch Quartz every month and more than 400 blue chip brands have chosen Quartz as a vehicle to connect with this community through advertising to product and content solutions to research and strategy. Quartz is led by co-CEOs, Editor in Chief Kevin J. Delaney, and Publisher Jay Lauf.

SOURCE WaitWhat

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