Evan Ratliff: Our Future with Voice Agents

Episode 139 I spoke with Evan Ratliff about: * Shell Game, 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. Subscribe to The Gradient Podcast:  Apple Podcasts  | Spotify | Pocket Casts | RSSFollow The Gradient on Twitter 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: * Evan’s homepage and Twitter * Shell Game, Evan’s new podcast * Longform Podcast Get full access to The Gradient at thegradientpub.substack.com/subscribe