Aza Raskin is a technology ethicist and designer who graduated from the University of Chicago with a B.S. in Mathematics and Physics. He is the Co-Founder of the Center for Humane Technology which is focused on improving digital infrastructure to actually serve humanity, not exploit it. Raskin is also the founder of the Earth Species Project, an organization that is using AI to decode animal communication.

Raskin is most known for inventing the “infinite scroll” feature in the early 2000s. Since then, he has seen this tool become taken over by bad actors, and more importantly, bad incentives. Raskin recently testified in the New Mexico Meta child-safety trial, where Meta was accused of knowingly using addictive technologies to steer children towards harmful content.

Raskin is also the subject and architect of the double Emmy-award winning documentary The Social Dilemma and is a heavily featured expert in the new Netflix documentary The AI Doc: How I Became an Apocaloptimist. He co-hosts the TED produced podcast “Your Undivided Attention” with Tristan Harris.

Raskin joins Utopias to discuss ethical tech design, maintaining connection and creativity, and his advice for the next generation.

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Questions or comments? Email podcastutopias@gmail.com.

Issam Hijazi is a Palestinian-Jordanian-Australian technologist and the founder and CEO of UpScrolled, a social media platform meant to give users a greater degree of personal control over their online experiences and interactions, free from dictatorial algorithms. With professional experience at IBM, Oracle, and Hitachi, Hijazi founded UpScrolled in direct response to concerns over censorship and the covert suppression, or “shadow-banning,” of pro-Palestinian content on major social media platforms. UpScrolled has pledged never to covertly suppress content, functioning as an independent alternative to algorithm-driven social media. Since its launch, the platform has reportedly grown to 5 million users. Hijazi has since emerged as a prominent and necessary voice in the global technology conversation and was an opening-night keynote speaker at the 2026 Web Summit in Doha.

Tune in to the Utopias podcast for a conversation between Hijazi and Professor Ramesh Srinivasan on social media, censorship, free expression, technology, and the future of independent digital platforms.

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Habib Khan Totakhil is an Afghan journalist who has reported on the Afghan conflict for more than a decade with the Wall Street Journal, becoming one of the few reporters to have embedded with both government forces and the Taliban. His reporting has come at a steep personal cost, including being abducted and held by the Taliban. Totakhil was honored for "Courageous Journalism" by the East West Center in 2016 and won the Rumi Award for "Best International Reporter in Afghanistan" in 2014.

Beyond journalism, Totakhil is also the founder of the non-profit Afghan Peace Watch, which aims to deliver reliable research and information on what’s happening on the ground in Afghanistan. Notably, he was also a restaurant owner. His first business was a Mexican restaurant in Kabul’s green zone, and his other restaurant was the Cabul Meat House, a popular steakhouse in the Shahr-e-Naw neighborhood.

Join us for a conversation with Habib Khan Totakhil and Ramesh Srinivasan on the realities of living and reporting from inside a decades-long conflict, the ethics and risks of embedded journalism, and what two decades of war have meant for Afghanistan's future.

This episode was recorded in December of 2023.

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Questions or comments? Email podcastutopias@gmail.com.

Richard Wolff is an economist and professor emeritus of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Described by The New York Times Magazine as "America's most prominent Marxist economist," Wolff is known for his critiques of contemporary capitalism and his advocacy for alternative economic models, particularly worker-owned enterprises. Wolff is also a cofounder of Democracy At Work, a nonprofit that produces the program Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff.

His prominent publications include books like Occupy the Economy: Challenging Capitalism; Contending Economic Theories: Neoclassical, Keynesian, and Marxian; Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism; and Understanding Marxism.

Join us for a conversation on the state of the global economy, inequality, labor, and the enduring relevance of Marxist thought in the twenty-first century.

This episode was recorded on June 4, 2025.

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Questions or comments? Email podcastutopias@gmail.com.

This podcast may contain explicit language and content that is not suitable for all audiences.

Douglas Rushkoff is an author and documentarian who studies human autonomy in a digital age. His twenty books include Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires and Team Human, which is also the name of his podcast. Douglas was named one of the "world’s ten most influential intellectuals" by MIT.

This conversation was recorded on June 6, 2025.

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Questions or comments? Email podcastutopias@gmail.com.

This podcast may contain explicit language and content that is not suitable for all audiences.

Ethan Zuckerman is a professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst where he teaches public policy, communication and information. He founded the Initiative for Digital Public Infrastructure, an organization that studies the civic and social role of internet platforms, and advocates for approaches to digital infrastructures that treat platforms as public goods, not purely as profit-making ventures. He is the author of Mistrust: Why Losing Faith in Institutions Provides the Tools to Transform Them and Digital Cosmopolitans: Why We Think the Internet Connects Us, Why It Doesn't, and How to Rewire It.

This conversation was recorded on April 18, 2025

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Questions or comments? Email podcastutopias@gmail.com.

This podcast may contain explicit language and content that is not suitable for all audiences.

Yanis Varoufakis is a renowned Greek economist and bestselling author. He served as the Minister of Finance in Greece and co-founded the political party Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25). His books include Another Now and Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism. This is Yanis’ second time coming on the show.

This conversation – moderated by CNN Arabic Editor-in-Chief Caroline Faraj – was featured at Web Summit Qatar on February 3, 2026.

Learn more about Yanis and Caroline. Follow me on Bluesky, X, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and on my website.

Questions or comments? Email podcastutopias@gmail.com.

This podcast may contain explicit language and content that is not suitable for all audiences.

Kaiser Kuo is the founder and host of Sinica Podcast. He is a journalist for Beijinger magazine and a senior manager in public communications at Baidu. Kaiser also cofounded the Chinese rock band Tang Dynasty.

Tulin Chang Maltepe joined me as a co-host for this interview. Tulin is a third-year undergraduate student at UCLA pursuing a Bachelor's Degree in Public Affairs with a minor in Chinese Languages and Cultures. She is also the Director of Outreach for the show.

This conversation was recorded on November 14, 2025.

Follow Kaiser on Bluesky, X, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Follow me on Bluesky, X, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and on my website.

Questions or comments? Email podcastutopias@gmail.com.

This podcast may contain explicit language and content that is not suitable for all audiences.