Inside the Hive

Technology has a history of starting out with good intentions, and eventually being leveraged for quite the opposite. On this week’s episode, Adam Fisher, author of Valley of Genius, joins Nick to explain how Silicon Valley--an industry created to advance war research and governmental capacities--was co-opted for commercial, and often sinister, purposes, from election-meddling operatives to racist trolls. Fisher also explains what Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey, and Elon Musk can learn from their predecessors, before they destroy the world. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

On the face of it, it seems like America is currently more divided than anytime since the Civil War. But back in 1968, America was embroiled in chaos, torn over the war in Vietnam, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., and later, the murder of Robert Kennedy, the brother of JFK. Marc Smerling and Zac Stuart-Pontier, the team behind Crimetown and The Jinx, join Nick to explain how the murder of RFK, in 1968, might have been a government conspiracy, and why it changed the shape of America forever. Also: Vanity Fair’s Abby Tracy explains what’s going to happen with Brett Kavanaugh, Trump’s Supreme Court pick, and what the Democrats can do to stop the court from overturn Roe vs Wade. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Are Tom Arnold and Michael Cohen, as one recent tweet could have been construed to suggest, teaming up to take down Donald Trump? The famous comedian and Trumpworld scold joins Nick to explain how he plans to take down the president, what it was like being married to Rosanne, and how he recently tried to fight Cohen outside the Regency hotel.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

A few years ago, a chance encounter between Christopher Steele, of the now-famous Steele Dossier, and an FBI agent who was working on a gambling case at Trump Tower, opened the door to a multi-year investigation into the massive corruption taking place at FIFA, the soccer federation. Ken Bensinger, author of the new book, “Red Card: How the U.S. Blew the Whistle on the World's Biggest Sports Scandal,” joins us to tell a wild and crazy story that involves the mob, British spies, a 450-pound informant who gets around on a mobility scooter with a parrot on his shoulder, Vladimir Putin, Robert Mueller, a soccer-obsessed IRS agent in Orange County, and tangentially, none other than Donald Trump. We also discuss if Putin might have already fixed who will win this year’s World Cup. Hint: Russia. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

While Americans watched in horror as innocent children, as young as 9-months-old, were torn from their parents arms, Ivanka Trump was posting photos of her and her children, as happy as could be. Is she oblivious? A mean girl? Or is she unable to speak publicly about how she really feels out of fear of her father? Emily Jane Fox, author of the new book, Born Trump: Inside America’s First Family, joins Nick to talk about what Ivanka and her brothers, Donny Jr. and Eric, are really like in person. She offers salacious and wild stories about how these children grew up, about whether they liked each other, and if they really care about how their dad is ruining the country. Also: Nick and Jon Kelly talk about how Russia is planning to disrupt the 2018 and 2020 elections, and why Bob Iger is happy spending tens of billions of dollars on Fox. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Robby Mook, former campaign manager for Hillary Clinton, joins Nick this week to discuss how Russian is planning to drive more discourse in our democracy, and the 2018 election. Mook also discusses how the Republican party is simply a rubber stamp for Trump, afraid of what he might do or say to them; and who the Democratics will elect in 2020. Finally, Mook talks about the best and worst times during the 2016 campaign, and what he and his old boss, Hillary, still text each about. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Silicon Valley is notoriously full of founders who exaggerate, intentionally lie to the media, and dupe investors, and even Congress. But there are few stories that rival the fraud behind Theranos, the blood-testing company once worth $10 billion, and now worth nothing. John Carreyrou, author of a new book, "Bad Blood," joins us to explain how the company's CEO, Elizabeth Holmes, defrauded everyone who came into her orbit, how she might still end up behind bars, and he answers the question on everyone's mind: Is Holmes a sociopath? Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Should it be legal to sell mild drugs, like weed and magic mushrooms, on the Internet? What about heroin? Handguns? AR-15s? Even murder-for-hire? Nick Bilton sits down with Tom Conrad, former product director of Snap and co-founder of Pandora, to discuss Nick's book, “American Kingpin;” if Silicon Valley CEOs are moral at heart, or more concerned with their profits and their legacy; and if Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the Silk Road website, is any different from other CEOs in tech. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Why are we here? Is there a God? A reason to it all? How, and why, did the universe begin, and how, and why, will it end? Sean M. Carroll, a cosmologist and physicist specializing in dark energy and general relativity, joins Nick to answer the questions that plague us all, including, if there's a chance that somewhere out there in the cosmos, there is another extraterrestrial Donald Trump ruling over a planet of little green aliens.   Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Donald Trump has always been a blatant liar, making up stories about his worth to how many people were at his inauguration, but do people actually like it when Trump lies to them? Amanda Carpenter, author of a new book, "Gaslighting America: Why We Love It When Trump Lies To Us," joins Nick to talk about why Republicans, and evangelicals, still love Trump, even after all these lies, how Trump actually pulls off these outright deceptions, and why they are only going to get worse in 2020 as Trump does everything possible to try and maintain control of the White House. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices