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Hiring is becoming less human. Companies large and small are turning to a suite of automated tools to help them find, recruit, interview, and select the right candidates for open positions. So, the next time you apply for a job, it’s possible that you’ll go through many different phases of the hiring process without ever talking to a real person. What could go wrong? Presented by Deloitte Episode art by Vicky Leta

The failure of Silicon Valley Bank sent shockwaves throughout the tech and banking sector. The bank had played a pivotal role with venture capitalists, tech companies, and—in a lofty sense—America’s new ideas. The ripple effects were so enormous, the US government had to bail out depositors while allowing the bank itself to collapse. But what if the government was involved from the get-go? What if there was another option to financing America’s latest and greatest innovations? Episode art by Vicky Leta

In the US, voting is seen as a civic duty. It’s voluntary, but it’s an act of patriotism and a democratic responsibility. But there are many barriers to voting—one might have to take off from work, find childcare, or travel long distances to cast a ballot. Wouldn’t voting online instantly expand access to millions of people? Perhaps, but only if we can build a system that’s secure enough to handle it. Presented by Deloitte Episode art by Vicky Leta

Everywhere you go, there’s plastic: plastic water bottles, plastic coffee cups, plastic grocery bags... And recycling plastic is notoriously tricky—what do any of those little numbers even mean on the bottom of a container? We’ve long known that single-use plastics are a problem, but why is it so often the duty of consumers to do something about it? And if producers ultimately do start to take real action, how can they make a dent in this pressing environmental problem? Presented by Deloitte Episode art by Vicky Leta

ChatGPT isn’t always right. In fact, it’s often very wrong, giving faulty biographical information about a person or whiffing on the answers to simple questions. But instead of saying it doesn’t know, ChatGPT often makes stuff up. Chatbots can’t actually lie, but researchers sometimes call these untruthful performances “hallucinations”—not quite a lie, but a vision of something that isn’t there. So, what’s really happening here and what does it tell us about the way that AI systems err? Presented by Deloitte Episode art by Vicky Leta

Apple’s early App Store ads famously proclaimed, “There’s an app for that”—anything you wanted to do on your phone, the company insisted, you could do through an app. That marketplace ethos still holds today. But when smartphones came to China, there was just one app that really mattered—WeChat, the self-styled “superapp.” In China, people use WeChat for just about everything, so why did the US and Chinese embrace such different mobile ecosystems? And why is the dream of building a superapp in the West so persistent? Presented by Deloitte Episode art by Vicky Leta

Making one’s home “smart” may appear to be a logical step for modern dwellings, but with virtual assistants triggered by voice prompts, refrigerators that sense when your food is running low, and vacuum cleaners that zip around your home crashing into walls, we have substituted the home of the past for something altogether different. But is the smart home actually smart? And, if it’s not there yet, what could do the trick? Presented by Deloitte Episode art by Vicky Leta

Once the globe’s largest festival, World’s Fairs provided a glimpse into inventors’ newest creations, technologies, and human-contrived feats. The 1893 Chicago World’s Fair alone debuted electric irons, sewing machines, and laundry machines, along with the Ferris Wheel and Thomas Edison’s Kinetoscope, an early device for displaying motion pictures. So why do we no longer gather at massive exhibitions to show off our latest and greatest inventions? And what does the rise and fall of the World’s Fair tell us about the way technology and society are changing? Presented by Deloitte Episode art by Vicky Leta

This season, host Scott Nover and Quartz journalists around the world are checking in on how technology will, won’t, or simply shouldn’t change our lives in the next decade.

In many parts of the world, you’ve got a number attached to your name, and the value of that number acts as a gatekeeper between you and the things you want and need. Credit scores are determined by complicated math done by private companies so that other private companies can decide if they’ll lend to you, and if so how much, and at what rate. With a long history of bias and intractability, and in a global economy that runs on debt, the credit score system works…until it doesn’t. Episode art by Vicky Leta

Leather is tough to greenify—vegan leather saves animals, but is largely made of petroleum-based plastic that doesn’t biodegrade. Plus, it doesn’t hold a candle to the look, feel, and smell of the real thing. But one day soon, you could be sporting shoes made of fungi, and you may even prefer it to the animal skin variety. The fashion industry just needs to decide it’s time to invest in mycelium. Presented by EY Episode art by Vicky Leta

What drives the global economy? Any student of economics is likely to mention the “invisible hand”—the collective self-interest that acts as the market’s guiding force in a more powerful and beneficial way than government intervention can. Legendary 18th century Scottish philosopher Adam Smith coined the usage of this term, and one major economics textbook popularized it. But a closer look at context suggests Smith was saying something else entirely. Presented by EY Episode art by Vicky Leta

In the past few years in the US, the transition to digital medical data records has made access to one’s own medical history both easier and, somehow, harder. Your test results are a couple of clicks away—if you remember on what site or app they are, and how to get on it. And the system is so complicated and regulated that in some cases, health providers are still using the humble fax machine to send records back and forth. This is the story of how far the US got with digital medical record keeping in a relatively short time—and how far it still has to go. Presented by EY Episode art by Vicky Leta

Space business is often associated with rockets, space tourism, and attention-seeking billionaires. But the most impactful industry to launch into space in the past decade doesn’t have much to do with any of the above. Their focus is observing Earth, via the many satellites that we use to monitor what is happening on our planet. From weather patterns to human rights violations to chlorophyll production, there is a lot about the world we can learn by looking in from the outside. Presented by EY Episode art by Vicky Leta

Wildfires are getting larger, closer to human settlements, and more frequent. America’s west coast is especially vulnerable, which has Silicon Valley paying close attention. Its answer? Firetech, a whole new startup industry focused on developing technology to control and prevent fires. Presented by EY Episode art by Vicky Leta

Humans have been burying their dead for at least 40,000 years. But in the last couple of centuries, especially in Western countries, the practice has become toxic: From embalming fluids to casket materials, burials can contaminate soil and groundwater, and endanger the health of funeral workers. Enter green burials, an industry devoted to handling death in an ecologically sustainable way. Presented by EY Episode art by Vicky Leta

Nuclear fusion has long been a futuristic power source of sci-fi: clean, non-radioactive, bountiful energy capable of exceeding all of humanity's needs. And a recent breakthrough has shown it's surprisingly within reach. This promising new source of energy could power desalination and better carbon capture, and revolutionize our approach to consumption and climate change. Presented by EY Episode art by Vicky Leta

Tree planting certainly seems like a wholesome, tidy way to make up for carbon emission. Take a flight? Plant a tree. Emissions: gone. But reforestation has gone from a radical political movement to a convenient corporate gimmick to encourage conscience-free consumption in the age of climate change. But not only is tree planting not that helpful in offsetting carbon emissions—it might even be counterproductive. Sponsored by EY Episode art by Vicky Leta

Episode Five of our sister podcast: Work Reconsidered from Quartz. We all want to achieve great things. But in the wake of the pandemic, some of us have stopped to reconsider: What's the cost of all this collective desperation to succeed? From treating burnout to resisting oppressive systems, how can we get the things we want in life without sacrificing too much time, energy, and psychological well-being? Logo by Jo Minor

Episode Four of our sister podcast: Work Reconsidered from Quartz. A growing number of companies and countries are experimenting with reducing the number of working days per week from five to four. For many organizations and their employees, there can be clear benefits. But reducing the work week doesn’t affect everyone equally, and that means not everyone wins. Logo by Jo Minor