Episode 139
I spoke with Evan Ratliff about:
* <a href="https://open.substack.com/pub/shellgame" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Shell Game</a>, 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 <a href="https://twitter.com/spaniel_bashir" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter</a> 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:
* Evan’s <a href="https://cazart.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">homepage</a> and <a href="https://x.com/ev_rat" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter</a>
* <a href="https://www.shellgame.co/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Shell Game</a>, Evan’s new podcast
* <a href="https://longform.org/podcast" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Longform Podcast</a>
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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. [&hellip;]