
Exponent
A podcast about tech and society, hosted by Ben Thompson and James Allworth
Latest episodes

Jan 19, 2018 • 1h 6min
Episode 137 — Addicted to Facebook
Ben and James discuss Facebook’s algorithm change, the difference between Facebook and Snapchat, and what the company’s motivations might be.
Presented by WordPress.com: Get 15% off on a new site by visiting WordPress.com/Exponent.
Links
Ben Thompson: Facebook’s Motivations — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Mobile Makes Facebook Just an App; That’s Great News — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Facebook and the Feed — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Facebook, Phones, and Phonebooks — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Popping the Publishing Bubble — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Defining Aggregators — Stratechery
Tyler Cowen: A Simple Theory of Moore’s Law and Social Media — Marginal Revolution
Farhad Manjoo: It’s Time for Apple to Build a Less Addictive iPhone — New York Times
Hosts
Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review
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Jan 12, 2018 • 55min
Episode 136 — It’s All 1s and 0s
Ben and James discuss the Meltdown and Spectre bugs and what they say about processors, technology, and even society.
Presented by WordPress.com: Get 15% off on a new site by visiting WordPress.com/Exponent.
Links
Ben Thompson: Meltdown, Spectre, and the State of Technology — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Alexa: Amazon’s Operating System — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: The Arrival of Artificial Intelligence — Stratechery
Nicholas Kristof: Why 2017 Was the Best Year in Human History — New York Times
Hosts
Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review
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Dec 22, 2017 • 1h 24min
Episode 135 — Two Is Better Than One
Ben and James discuss Disney’s recent history, its acquisition of Fox, Netflix’s power, and why more and more policy decisions are about choosing the worst of two options.
Note: This episode was recorded on Monday, December 18, 2017.
Presented by WordPress.com: Get 15% off on a new site by visiting WordPress.com/Exponent.
Links
Ben Thompson: Disney and Fox — Stratechery
From Intel to Disney — Exponent
Ben Thompson: Why Disney and ESPN Will Be OK — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Aggregation Theory — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Netflix and the Conservation of Attractive Profits — Stratechery
The Netflix Backlash: Why Hollywood Fears a Content Monopoly — Hollywood Reporter
Ben Thompson: The Department of Justice Sues to Block the AT&T-Time Warner Acquisition, The DOJ’s Case, AT&T’s Objections — Stratechery Daily Update
Hosts
Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review
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Dec 8, 2017 • 59min
Episode 134 — Human Problems
Ben and James discuss why effective content moderation is so hard, how it can be done, and why it sometimes shouldn’t be. Plus, how tech optimists and tech critics make the exact same mistake.
Presented by WordPress.com: Get 15% off on a new site by visiting WordPress.com/Exponent.
Links
Ben Thompson: The Pollyannish Assumption — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: The Pollyannish Assumption and Bright Lines, YouTube’s Market Power, Google vs Amazon — Stratechery Daily Update
Ben Thompson: Tech’s Person of the Year; Uber at the End of 2017; Fowler’s True Impact, and Means — Stratechery Daily Update
The Laborers Who Keep Dick Pics and Beheadings Out of Your Facebook Feed — Wired
Hosts
Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review
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Presented by WordPress.com

Dec 2, 2017 • 1h 7min
Episode 133 — Two Terrible Options
Ben and James discuss the net neutrality debate and why both sides of the issue at hand involve making difficult tradeoffs; the bigger problem is broken governance. Please listen to the end!
Presented by WordPress.com: Get 15% off on a new site by visiting WordPress.com/Exponent.
Links
Ben Thompson: Pro-Neutrality, Anti-Title II — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: “Light Touch”, Cable, and DSL; The Broadband Tradeoff; The Importance of Antitrust — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Netflix and Net Neutrality — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Net Neutrality and Zero Rating — Stratechery Daily Update
Ben Thompson: Comcast’s Inevitable Data Caps, T-Mobile Offers Free Video, America Versus Europe on Net Neutrality — Stratechery Daily Update
Ben Thompson: The Department of Justice Sues to Block the AT&T-Time Warner Acquisition, The DOJ’s Case, AT&T’s Objections — Stratechery Daily Update
Hosts
Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review
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Presented by WordPress.com

Nov 17, 2017 • 1h 1min
Episode 132 — Successful Disappointments
Ben and James discuss IPOs, including those of Stitch Fix, SendGrid, and Blue Apron, and the importance of understanding what type of company you are.
Presented by WordPress.com: Get 15% off on a new site by visiting WordPress.com/Exponent.
Links
Ben Thompson: Stitch Fix and the Senate — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Why (Most) IPOs are Under-Price — Stratechery Daily Update
Ben Thompson: Waze Winners and Losers — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: SendGrid IPOs — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Venture Capital and the Internet’s Impact — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Blue Apron Files for IPO — Stratechery Daily Update
Hosts
Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review
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Nov 10, 2017 • 1h 5min
Episode 131 — Head-on is Hard
Ben and James break down the differences between new market and low end disruption and how they apply — or don’t — to Apple and the iPhone.
Links
Ben Thompson: Apple at Its Best — Stratechery
Apple’s iPhone X Parts Cost $115 More Than iPhone 8, IHS Says — Bloomberg
Ben Thompson: What Clayton Christensen Got Wrong — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Beyond the iPhone — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Apple’s Organizational Crossroads — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: The Android Detour — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Apple and the Oak Tree — Stratechery
Hosts
Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review
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Nov 3, 2017 • 59min
Episode 130 — The 50,000 Foot View
Ben and James walk through the history of Stratechery to explain why Facebook is inescapable for a podcast about tech and society.
Links
Ben Thompson: Tech Goes to Washington — Stratechery
John Gruber: Blackberry vs. iPhone — Daring Fireball (note: I said on the podcast this was written in 2007; it was written in 2008)
Ben Thompson: What Clayton Christensen Got Wrong — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: The State of Consumer Technology at the End of 2014 — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Peak Google — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Revisiting Peak Google, Again — Stratechery Daily Update
Ben Thompson: More Spectacles Mea Culpas — Stratechery Daily Update
Ben Thompson: Mobile Makes Facebook Just an App; That’s Great News — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Google’s Earnings — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Aggregation Theory — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: TV Advertising’s Suprising Strength — and Inevitable Fall — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: The Brexit Possibility — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Dollar Shaving Club and the Disruption of Everything — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: The Voters Decide — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Tech Goes to Washington — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: The Facebook Epoch — Stratechery
Facebook’s Earnings Call — Seeking Alpha
James Allworth: Founders and Motivations — Stratechery Daily Update
Ben Thompson: Manifestos and Monopolies — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: The Super-Aggregators and the Russians — Stratechery
Hosts
Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review
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Oct 27, 2017 • 1h 3min
Episode 129 — The Disruption Antidote
Ben and James discuss why acquisitions should be the focus of tech regulators in the context of Facebook buying tbh today, and Instagram and WhatsApp previously.
Links
Ben Thompson: Why Facebook Shouldn’t Be Allowed to Buy TBH — Stratechery
Marco Arment: The Impossible Dream of USB-C — Marco.org
Ben Thompson: Peak Google — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Mobile Makes Facebook Just an App; That’s Great News — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Revisiting Peak Google, Again — Stratechery Daily Update
Ben Thompson: Defining Aggregators — Stratechery
Hosts
Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review
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Oct 20, 2017 • 53min
Episode 128 — Counterfactuals
Ben and James discuss the structure that leads to gatekeepers and abusers like Harvey Weinstein, and why it is so dangerous to accept as fact that the world was better before the Internet.
Links
Ben Thompson: Goodbye Gatekeepers — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Gatekeepers Follow-Up, Hollywood and Venture Capital — Stratechery Daily Update
Ben Thompson: The Justin Caldbeck Affair, The Enablers — Stratechery Daily Update
Ben Thompson: Venture Capital and the Internet’s Impact — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: In Defense of the New York Times — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: The Voters Decide — Stratechery
As U.S. Confronts Internet’s Disruptions, China Feels Vindicated — The New York Times
Ben Thompson: Fake News — Stratechery
Hosts
Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review
Podcast Information
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Presented by MailChimp