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Thinking On Paper

Tech Podcast Titans In The Making

Deep tech for the deeply curious. Every week, technology writer and worried parent Mark Fielding and musician turned data centre builder Jeremy Gilbertson speak with the founders, CEOs, scientists, engineers, writers and philosophers building our collective future. From AI and space tech to quantum computing, they get angry, passionate, defensive and deep. The question underlying it all? What's the impact of technology on you, me and the rest of humanity. All human. No hype. No BS.

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  • 21 episodes
  • Avg 41 min
  • English

Episodes 21

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  • April 24 · 59 min

    Tech CEOs Are Selling You the Future

    Carissa Véliz joins Thinking on Paper to examine how AI forecasts, platform algorithms and prediction markets can influence the future they claim only to predict. Predictions aren’t always neutral descriptions. When they come from powerful technology companies, executives, platforms or financial markets, they can change investment, policy and public behaviour. A forecast may become a self-fulfilling prophecy because people act as though its outcome is inevitable. The conversation begins with a broader question about the good life, curiosity and what the analogue world offers that digital systems often remove. It then turns to the institutions increasingly making predictions about people and society. In this episode, we discuss: How AI predictions influence human behaviour Why forecasts can become self-fulfilling prophecies How technology executives shape expectations about the future of AI Whether AI hiring tools reinforce existing assumptions about workers How TikTok and other recommendation systems direct attention Why engagement-maximising algorithms reward harmful content How prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket work Whether prediction markets measure beliefs or help create outcomes How platforms exploit the human desire for certainty and security What the Molly Russell case reveals about algorithmic recommendation Why comedy and serendipity resist predictive systems How citizens can make more deliberate choices about technology and belief What Epicureanism offers that digital optimisation cannot Carissa argues that people should treat influential predictions as interventions rather than passive forecasts. The more reach and authority a prediction has, the greater its ability to reorganise the world around itself. This conversation examines how to resist technological prophecy by preserving uncertainty, curiosity and the freedom to choose futures that algorithms haven’t already selected. Please enjoy the show. -- Thinking on Paper is a technology podcast about AI, computing, science, and the systems shaping the future. 📺 Watch On YouTube: 🎧 Listen to every podcast⁠ 📺 Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠ 🏠 Follow us on ⁠X⁠ 🏠 Follow Jeremy on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ To suggest guests or sponsor the show, please email: hello@thinkingonpaper.xyz -- CHAPTERS (00:00) Intro (01:00) What is the good life? (02:00) Why knowing yourself matters more than strategy (04:44) The analog world vs the digital world (06:45) How prophecies exploit our need for security (08:47) Ancient Rome (10:11) The illusion of safety (12:27) When predictions work (15:00) Altman, Amodei, Huang (28:29) How to resist prophecies (29:53) Prediction markets (31:49) TikTok, algorithms, and the Molly Russell case (36:08) Engagement algorithms (40:54) Self-fulfilling prophecies (43:44) Comedy (46:59) Seinfeld (52:16) Karikó (53:40) Serendipity (56:13) Why Epicurus beats the Stoics

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Showing 21–21 of 21 episodes