Episode 139
I spoke with Evan Ratliff about:
- , Evan’s new podcast, where he creates an AI voice clone of himself and sets it loose.
The end of the Longform Podcast and his thoughts on the state of journalism.
Enjoy!
Evan is an award-winning investigative journalist, bestselling author, podcast host, and entrepreneur. He’s the author of the The Mastermind: A True Story of Murder, Empire, and a New Kind of Crime Lord; the writer and host of the hit podcasts Shell Game and Persona: The French Deception; and the cofounder of The Atavist Magazine, Pop-Up Magazine, and the Longform Podcast. As a writer, he’s a two-time National Magazine Award finalist. As an editor and producer, he’s a two-time Emmy nominee and National Magazine Award winner.
Find me on Twitter for updates on new episodes, and reach me at editor@thegradient.pub for feedback, ideas, guest suggestions.
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Outline:
(00:00) Intro
(01:05) Evan’s ambitious and risky projects
(04:45) Wearing different personas as a journalist
(08:31) Boundaries and acceptability in using voice agents
(11:42) Impacts on other people
(13:12) “The kids these days” — how will new technologies impact younger people?
(17:12) Evan’s approach to children’s technology use
(20:05) Techno-solutionism and improvements in medicine, childcare
(24:15) Evan’s perspective on simulations of people
(27:05) On motivations for building tech startups
(30:42) Evan’s outlook for Shell Game’s impact and motivations for his work
(36:05) How Evan decided to write for a career
(40:02) How voice agents might impact our conversations
(43:52) Evan’s experience with Longform and podcasting
(47:15) Perspectives on doing good interviews
(52:11) Mimicking and inspiration, developing style
(57:15) Writers and their motivations, the state of longform journalism
(1:06:15) The internet and writing
(1:09:41) On the ending of Longform
(1:19:48) Outro
Links:
Shell Game, Evan’s new podcast
Evan Ratliff: Our Future with Voice Agents