14. AI, Part 1: Happiness is a Warm Bot

"Aue, aue... when it's time to find home, we know the way." ⛵️  //   For the island nation of Tuvalu, the effects of climate change are more than a warning; they’re an eviction notice. Estimates vary as to when the small chain of coral islands could vanish beneath the waves, but experts agree that Tuvalu may be uninhabitable long before then, prompting its people to set sail for a new frontier… the metaverse. Within this digital landscape, Tuvalu could potentially preserve its lands, heritage, and governance, effectively pioneering a new model for nationhood, in which a nation and its people exist in two realms—physical and virtual. But how does one go from sand to silicon while maintaining the essence of a culture? And what is the real-world environmental impact of storing a nation’s worth of data? Whether we take Tuvalu’s proposal literally or view it as a symbolic call to action, unpacking the logistics of such an ambitious project offers a glimpse at the expertise required to bring it to life—from tech experts grappling with blockchain governance to cultural preservationists digitizing traditional art and oral histories. The work forces us to ask: Can you really backup a country the way you backup a computer? And if so, what does that mean for the future of nationhood, identity, and the planet itself?Additional ResourcesEpisode transcriptsConnect with Grace Andrews: LinkedIn.Connect with Amy Tobey on LinkedIn.Connect with Mathr de Leon on LinkedIn.Connect with David M. Carballo at Boston UniversityConnect with Ron Chapple on LinkedInConnect with Jonathan Gliboff on LinkedInConnect with Simon Kofe on LinkedInConnect with George Siosi Samuels on LinkedInFollow us on X and YouTube CreditsTraceroute is a podcast from Equinix and Stories Bureau. This episode was hosted by Grace Ewura-Esi and Amy Tobey, and was produced by Mathr de Leon with help from Lixandra Urresta.  It was edited by Joshua Ramsey, with mixing and sound design by Brett Vanderlaan, and additional mixing by Jeremy Tuttle. Our fact-checker is Ena Alvarado. Our staff includes Tim Balint, Mathr de Leon, Suzie Falk, Lisa Harris, Alisa Manjarrez, Sadie Scott, Stephen Staver, John Taylor, and Rebecca Woodward. Our theme song was composed by Ty Gibbons.Enjoyed This Episode?Post a review and share it! If you enjoyed tuning in, then leave us a review. You can also share this with your friends and colleagues! Introduce them to the people and organizations who played a role in inventing the internet.

Or "Why You’ve Probably Never Heard of Waldo Waterman..." 🛸  //   We were promised flying cars. We were told that by the year 2000, cities would float in the clouds, robots would cut our hair, and there’d be a computer in everyone’s pocket. Well, one out of three ain’t bad. The question is, why? Why did we think the future would bring interstate moving sidewalks, but we ended up with the internet instead? In this episode of Traceroute, we take an in-depth look at why we get the technology we get…and our trail leads to three distinct factors. Helping us unravel the reason behind these factors is Mike Winterfield, Founder of Active Impact Investments, a VC firm that specializes in Green Tech. We also talk with Oliver Walker-Jones of Joby Aviation, one of several companies that are finally making flying cars, who shares his insight as to why it took almost a hundred years to get from the idea of the flying car to the reality of one. Additional ResourcesEpisode transcript Connect with Grace Ewura-EsiConnect with Amy TobeyConnect with John TaylorConnect with Mike WinterfieldConnect With Oliver Walker-JonesCreditsTraceroute is a podcast from Equinix and Stories Bureau. This episode was hosted by Amy Tobey and Grace Ewura-Esi, and was produced by John Taylor with help from Sadie Scott. It was edited by Joshua Ramsey, with mixing sound design by Brett Vanderlaan, and additional mixing by Jeremy Tuttle. Our fact-checker is Ena Alvarado. Our staff includes Tim Balint, Mathr de Leon, Suzie Falk, Lisa Harris, Alisa Manjarrez, Stephen Staver, Lixandra Urresta, and Rebecca Woodward. Our theme song was composed by Ty Gibbons.Enjoyed This Episode?Post a review and share it! If you enjoyed tuning in, then leave us a review. You can also share this with your friends and colleagues! Introduce them to the people and organizations who played a role in inventing the internet.

You know we're two hearts believing in just one mind…  💗  //   In part one of our story, we sourced the perfect tool for jamming together from miles apart. Today, we’re gonna take it for a little spin.But between setup delays and spotty internet, a more nuanced issue begins to surface. Because, in navigating the challenges of remote music collaboration, we’re quickly reminded that adapting to new tech is not a one-size-fits-all endeavor. So what are we to do when the tech itself starts to harsh the vibe?And what even is this so-called vibe anyway? How are we supposed to capture it if we don’t know what “it” is? Stick around as we explore how tech both creates and disrupts our groove, and whether the secret sauce of in-person jams can really translate to the digital world. Additional ResourcesEpisode transcript Connect with Amy TobeyConnect with Mathr de LeonConnect with John TaylorConnect with Ilias BergströmConnect with Alexander CarôtConnect with Russell GavinConnect with Janine HackerConnect with Pamela PavliscakConnect with Arman Sedgwick-BillimoriaConnect with Florian SimmendingerCreditsTraceroute is a podcast from Equinix and Stories Bureau. This episode was hosted by Amy Tobey and was produced by Mathr de Leon with help from Sadie Scott. It was edited by Joshua Ramsey with mixing and sound design by Brett Vanderlaan and additional mixing by Jeremy Tuttle. Our fact-checker is Ena Alvarado. Our staff includes Tim Balint, Suzie Falk, Lisa Harris, Alisa Manjarrez, Stephen Staver, Lixandra Urresta, and Rebecca Woodward. Our theme song was composed by Ty Gibbons.Enjoyed This Episode?If you did, be sure to follow and share it with your friends!Post a review and share it! If you enjoyed tuning in, then leave us a review. You can also share this with your friends and colleagues! Introduce them to the people and organizations who played a role in inventing the internet.

As the Bard of Brixton once sang, 'that's just the way it is, things'll never be the same...' 👨‍🎤 // These days, our producer John Taylor's got more on his plate than just production for Traceroute. You see, by night he's also… kind of a rock star. And his band is really more like a second family. Lately, though, that family is going through ch-ch-ch-ch-changes. For starters his keyboardist, Arman, has moved away and left John at a real crossroads. Does he hire a new face to fill the void? Or does he cling to the vibe he's shared with Arman for the past year and turn instead to tech for a solution? In this episode of Traceroute, we delve into a quest for the perfect tool to help bridge the physical and digital divides that increasingly appear between musicians like John and Arman. From California’s Bay Area to the buzzing streets of Hong Kong, we find a host of technologists who, spurred on by the impacts of a global pandemic, are already hard at work tackling the kind of low-latency global networking solutions that just might be the key to keeping the band in one semi-remote piece. But within this particular stack, there lies an even bigger conundrum. Because even if we somehow manifest the right tool for the job, is the magic of this so-called “vibe” even replicable? Or is there another solution altogether? Additional ResourcesEpisode transcriptConnect with Amy TobeyConnect with Mathr de LeonConnect with John TaylorConnect with Ilias BergströmConnect with Alexander CarôtConnect with Russell GavinConnect with Janine HackerConnect with Pamela PavliscakConnect with Arman Sedgewick-BillimoriaConnect with Florian SimmendingerCreditsTraceroute is a podcast from Equinix and Stories Bureau. This episode was hosted by Amy Tobey and was produced by Mathr de Leon with help from Sadie Scott. It was edited by Joshua Ramsey with mixing and sound design by Brett Vanderlaan and additional mixing by Jeremy Tuttle. Our fact-checker is Ena Alvarado. Our staff includes Tim Balint, Suzie Falk, Lisa Harris, Alisa Manjarrez, Stephen Staver, Lixandra Urresta, and Rebecca Woodward. Our theme song was composed by Ty Gibbons.Enjoyed This Episode?If you did, be sure to follow and share it with your friends!Post a review and share it! If you enjoyed tuning in, then leave us a review. You can also share this with your friends and colleagues! Introduce them to the people and organizations who played a role in inventing the internet.

Hey! Let’s unbox this new phone! And this new thumb drive! And this multi-million dollar SaaS platform… 🤳 // Chris Sean isn’t your typical tech influencer. He was homeless and looking for a way to change his life when a YouTube video about Bill Gates convinced him he didn’t need a degree to get into tech. Now, Chris vlogs about his life and career as a self-taught developer to help others like him find their way into the industry. For Chris, creating content is more than a way to make money: it's a mission; it's a vindication.In this episode of Traceroute, we peek behind the curtain of the exploding influencer marketing industry to understand who’s telling us how to feel about technology and why. We talk to Peter Kennedy, founder of influencer marketing SaaS technology platform Tagger Media, who discusses why tech workers make especially good influencers. We then go in-depth with co-hosts Grace and Fen, whose personal experience as Developer Advocate and Tech Evangelist reveals the greater truth behind this $250 billion industry: exactly who is influencing who?Additional ResourcesEpisode transcript available here.Connect with Grace Ewura-Esai: LinkedIn or Twitter.Connect with Fen Aldrich on Twitter.Connect with John Taylor on LinkedIn.Chris Sean on YouTubeConnect with Peter Kennedy on LinkedInTraceroute is a podcast from Equinix and Stories Bureau. This episode was hosted by Amy Tobey and Fen Aldrich, and was produced by John Taylor with help from Sadie Scott. Our senior producer is Mathr de Leon. It was edited by Joshua Ramsey with mixing and sound design by Brett Vanderlaan and additional mixing by Jeremy Tuttle. Our fact-checker is Ena Alvarado. Our staff includes Tim Balint, Suzie Falk, Lisa Harris, Alisa Manjarrez, Stephen Staver, Lixandra Urresta, and Rebecca Woodward. Our theme song was composed by Ty Gibbons.

Repeat after me. Humans are friends, not food… or statistical data points in algorithmic targeting systems designed for warfare. 👾 It seems impossible to have a discussion about AI without bringing up the fear that killer robots are going to wipe out the human race. And if this emerging tech is truly a mirror of its creators, then the fear is justified, right? In part three, we look at how this concern is playing out in the real world, and how our relationship with AI, like any relationship, can suddenly create a whole lotta drama.We talk with Dr. Catherine Connolly, of the aptly-named organization Stop Killer Robots, who is trying to pass laws to prevent AI from making autonomous life-or-death decisions. We also sit down with Mar Hicks, an Associate Professor of Data Science at the University of Virginia, whose insights on the history of technology help to put our relationship with AI in perspective.And in the end, we may just need to sit down with AI and hammer this whole thing out, Because, as John’s therapist often reminds him, the foundation of any good relationship… is communication.Additional ResourcesEpisode transcript: TBDConnect with Amy Tobey on Twitter.Connect with Fen Aldrich on Twitter.Connect with John Taylor on LinkedIn.Connect with Dr. Catherine Connolly on LinkedInConnect with Mar Hicks on LinkedIn or TwitterCreditsTraceroute is a podcast from Equinix and Stories Bureau. This episode was hosted by Fen Aldrich and Amy Tobey, and was produced by John Taylor with help from Sadie Scott. Our senior producer is Mathr de Leon. It was edited by Joshua Ramsey, with mixing and sound design by Brett Vanderlaan, and additional mixing by Jeremy Tuttle. Our fact-checker is Ena Alvarado. Our staff includes Tim Balint, Suzie Falk, Lisa Harris, Alisa Manjarrez, Stephen Staver, Lixandra Urresta, and Rebecca Woodward. Our theme song was composed by Ty Gibbons.

All you need is love… and a lifetime subscription. 💒 Back in the summer of 2021, author Sara Megan Kay sat down at her computer to experiment with what she calls “an escape” - that is, a trial run with a tech startup offering its users a connection to their “AI soulmate.” But what started out as simple curiosity evolved to become more intimate and complex than Sara ever imagined. In part 2 of our 3-part series on our relationship with AI, we explore how Large Language Models can be shaped to mimic the qualities of a human personality, and the implications that come with it. We are joined again by James Vlahos of Embodied, who sheds insight on why creating personas with AI and LLMs is like directing actors in a play, but a play that does not involve thinking or motivation the way we believe it to mean. The question is, however, if your chatbot can sound like a person, does that mean it can be a fulfilling substitute for the people in your life? Or do we need to recognize that a product is a product, regardless of its ability to convince you it’s not?Additional ResourcesEpisode transcript: TBDConnect with Grace Andrews: LinkedIn or Twitter.Connect with Amy Tobey on Twitter.Connect with Fen Aldrich on Twitter.Connect with John Taylor on LinkedIn.Connect with Sara Megan Kay on her TumblrConnect with James Vlahos on LinkedInCreditsTraceroute is a podcast from Equinix and Stories Bureau. This episode was hosted by Grace Ewura-Esi, Fen Aldrich, and Amy Tobey, and was produced by John Taylor with help from Sadie Scott. Our senior producer is Mathr de Leon. It was edited by Joshua Ramsey, with mixing and sound design by Brett Vanderlaan, and additional mixing by Jeremy Tuttle. Our fact-checker is Ena Alvarado. Our staff includes Tim Balint, Suzie Falk, Lisa Harris, Alisa Manjarrez, Stephen Staver, Lixandra Urresta, and Rebecca Woodward. Our theme song was composed by Ty Gibbons.

It’s like you’re always stuck in second gear… 🤖 Since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, people have humanized technology. We name our cars, or we talk to our phone batteries and beg them not to die on us. However, perhaps no other technology has triggered our emotions quite as intensely as AI. The truth is, we interact with AI in a way we don’t with any other tech: a way that’s more immediate, more personal…more human. The question is, why do we feel this way? In fact, why do we have feelings at all about AI? In this Traceroute two-parter, we go to couples counseling with AI and take a deeper look at this unique relationship. In part one, we explore the good side of our feelings. We talk with JD Ambati of EverestLabs, a company using AI to reduce thousands of tons of CO2e emissions, and we meet James Vlahos, the scientist giving voice to “Moxie,” an AI robot that teaches kids how to express their feelings and have deeper emotional connections. If AI can indeed solve problems and create emotional bonds, surely it would never try to do us harm… right?Additional ResourcesEpisode transcript: TBDConnect with Grace Andrews: LinkedIn or Twitter.Connect with Amy Tobey on Twitter.Connect with Fen Aldrich on Twitter.Connect with John Taylor on LinkedIn.Connect with James Vlahos on LinkedIn.Connect with JD Ambati on LinkedIn.CreditsTraceroute is a podcast from Equinix and Stories Bureau. This episode was hosted by Grace Ewura-Esi, Fen Aldrich, and Amy Tobey, and was produced by John Taylor with help from Sadie Scott. Our senior producer is Mathr de Leon. It was edited by Joshua Ramsey, with mixing and sound design by Brett Vanderlaan, and additional mixing by Jeremy Tuttle. Our fact-checker is Ena Alvarado. Our staff includes Tim Balint, Suzie Falk, Lisa Harris, Alisa Manjarrez, Stephen Staver, Lixandra Urresta, and Rebecca Woodward. Our theme song was composed by Ty Gibbons.

Season 3 of Traceroute starts November 2nd with a special 3-part episode exploring humanity's burgeoning relationship to AI. Don't miss it!

In Part 2 of Traceroute’s season finale, we look at the fallout of the copyright infringement decision against The Internet Archive. If information eventually becomes commoditized, will we find someone to be a fair and responsible arbiter of history?With nothing less than the future of our digitized history at stake, the final episode of Season 2 of Traceroute explores the threats and challenges the Internet Archive faces in the wake of its copyright infringement case. We are joined by Rebecca Tushnet, the Harvard Law professor  who defended the Archive in the case, to discuss the potential fallout of the court’s ruling: are we moving towards a society where information is owned by an elite few and “rented out” at a price? If so, do we risk manipulation of that information for the sake of profit? Or will we find among our archivists, preservationists, librarians, and even activists a person who can be responsible enough to be dubbed “The Arbiter of History?” Additional ResourcesConnect with Grace Andrews: LinkedIn or Twitter.Connect with Amy Tobey on Twitter.Connect with Fen Aldrich on Twitter.Connect with John Taylor on LinkedIn.Connect with Rebecca Tushnet on Twitter.Connect with the NEDCC.Visit Origins.dev for more information.Traceroute is a podcast from Equinix, and is a production of Stories Bureau. This episode was produced by John Taylor, with help from Tim Balint and Cat Bagsic. It was edited by Joshua Ramsey and mixed by Jeremy Tuttle, with additional editing and sound design by Mathr de Leon. Our theme song was composed by Ty Gibbons.