Introducing Better Worlds

Verge producer Will Poor attempts to fix up his family’s Mac Classic. The journey takes him to the finer points of soldering, message board flame wars, and a 2,000 year old Greek thought experiment. Links:  The Vintage Computer Federation The “40th Anniversary Macintosh” Follow Jason's tech adventures: @compu_85 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Congress is in the process of passing a non-partisan bill to increase support for enforcement against illegal pirate radio operations: Fines can now go as high as $2 million, and the FCC will fund “enforcement sweeps” in major radio markets. Does this target well-intentioned community radio, designed to speak to immigrant communities? Episode three of The Verge's Pirate Radio mini-series featuring Bijan Stephen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How the Hmong diaspora uses the world's most boring technology to make something weird and wonderful. Episode two of The Verge's Pirate Radio mini-series featuring Mia Sato. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When the US entered Afghanistan, local DJs were hired to help with the war effort. And when the American military pulled out, they abandoned those voices, leaving many of them for dead. Episode 1 of The Verge's Pirate Radio mini-series featuring Chris Harland-Dunaway. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to Better Worlds, The Verge's new series of short fiction, audio, and animation that explores how technology can shape our society and environment in better, more equitable ways. "Machine Of Loving Grace" is the fifth and final installment of the Better Worlds audio adaptations that will appear in Verge Extras. Katherine Cross' story features an AI designed to moderate video games that goes rouge. For more videos, audio adaptations, and written stories from Better Worlds, go to theverge.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to Better Worlds, The Verge's new series of short fiction, audio, and animation that explores how technology can shape our society and environment in better, more equitable ways. "Skin City" is part four of five audio adaptations of Better Worlds that will appear in Verge Extras. In Kelly Robson's story, a street performer gets into trouble after falling for a radical privacy devotee. For more videos, audio adaptations, and written stories from Better Worlds, go to theverge.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to Better Worlds, The Verge's new series of short fiction, audio, and animation that explores how technology can shape our society and environment in better, more equitable ways. "The Burn" is part three of five audio adaptations of Better Worlds that will appear in Verge Extras. In Peter Tieryas' story, “The Burn,” people around the world fall victim to a mysterious illness called the Burn. Eventually, AR researchers begin to suspect a pattern. For more videos, audio adaptations, and written stories from Better Worlds, go to theverge.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to Better Worlds, The Verge's new series of short fiction, audio, and animation that explores how technology can shape our society and environment in better, more equitable ways. "Monsters Come Howling In Their Season" is part two of five audio adaptations of Better Worlds that will appear in Verge Extras. In Cadwell Turnbull’s story, “Monsters Come Howling In Their Season,” a journalist travels to St. Thomas in the aftermath of a massive hurricane and sees firsthand how the island’s residents are coping with the help of a community-based AI system called Common. For more videos, audio adaptations, and written stories from Better Worlds, go to theverge.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to Better Worlds, The Verge's new series of short fiction, audio, and animation that explores how technology can shape our society and environment in better, more equitable ways. "Online Reunion" is part one of five audio adaptations of Better Worlds that will appear in Verge Extras. In “Online Reunion,” author Leigh Alexander imagines a world in which a young journalist is struggling with a compulsive “time sickness,” so she sets out to write a tearjerker about a widow reconnecting with her dead husband’s e-pet — but she finds something very different waiting for her in the internet ether. For more videos, audio adaptations, and written stories from Better Worlds, go to theverge.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to Better Worlds, The Verge's new series of short fiction, audio, and animation that explores how technology can shape our society and environment in better, more equitable ways. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices