What Next | Daily News and Analysis

Bats have been linked to a “greatest hits” list of infectious diseases—not just COVID-19, but SARS, Marburg, and even ebola. And now, 1.8 billion people are living in “jump zones” where the next viral spillover may occur.Guest: Ryan McNeill, London-based deputy editor for the Reuters global data-journalism team.If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From the coffee shop to the salon to the grocery store, Americans feel like they’re being prompted and prodded for tips more than ever—and they’re starting to resent it.Guest: Kelly Phillips Erb, tax and law reporter for Forbes. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Out of the smoky backrooms, Vegas and clandestine dens, and straight to your phone—how did gambling on sports go from forbidden to inescapable seemingly overnight? Guest: John Holden, associate professor at Oklahoma State’s Spears school of business If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work.Check out AWS Insiders here: https://link.chtbl.com/awsinsiders?sid=podcast.whatnexttbd Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When a Democratic pro-choice representative defected from her party, North Carolina Republicans instantly secured a veto-proof supermajority in the state legislature. Then, they quickly sent a bill that restricts abortion to their Democratic governor’s desk, and overrode his veto, ending North Carolina’s time as an abortion destination in the southeastern United States.Guest: Rebecca J. Kreitzer, associate professor of public policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and expert on abortion politics and policy.If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The shooter who killed 8 people at an Allen, Texas mall had Nazi tattoos and left behind an online diary filled with white supremacist beliefs. He also was Latino. Guest: Tanya Katerí Hernández, professor of law at Fordham University School of Law and author of Racial Innocence: Unmasking Latino Anti-Black Bias and the Struggle for EqualityIf you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has run Turkey in some capacity for 20 years. Even after his government’s slow, incompetent response to an earthquake and an ongoing economic crisis, the presidential election is heading to a run-off in two weeks. How does Erdogan keep hanging on? And could he finally be unseated? Guest: Suzy Hansen, author of Notes on a Foreign Country: An American Abroad in a Post-American WorldIf you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Much of the media world looked on with a sinking feeling as Donald Trump held forth in a primetime CNN event. More than most candidates, Trump seems to feed off media attention. Journalists have a responsibility to cover the leading Republican presidential candidate—so how can they do it responsibly?Guest: David Folkenflik, NPR’s media correspondent.If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Space might seem to be heading from the domain of big government programs to a playground for billionaires. But just below the surface, a world of start-ups are getting ready to launch. Guest: Ashlee Vance, business columnist and author of When the Heavens Went on Sale: The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Artificial intelligence—as it already exists today—is drawing from huge troves of surveillance data and is rife with the biases built into the algorithm, in service of the huge corporations that develop and maintain the systems. The fight for the future doesn’t look like war with Skynet; it’s happening right now on the lines of the Writer’s Guild strike. Guests: Meredith Whittaker, president of the Signal Foundation, co-founder of the AI Now Institute at NYUIf you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced that June 1 is the “drop dead date” by which the American government has to either raise the debt ceiling or run out of money to pay its obligations. Can President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy come to an agreement that will mollify their bases and keep the government working? And why does it feel like we have to go through this ritual every couple of years? Guest: Jordan Weissmann, Washington editor at Semafor.If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.