Understood

Non-consensual deepfake porn is becoming increasingly pervasive, and it didn’t just come out of nowhere. These deepfakes were created and curated by people, on platforms, inside online subcultures. And they were allowed to spread, while governments dragged their feet, tech companies shrugged, and the targets — almost always women — paid the price.

Tech journalist Sam Cole has been covering deepfake porn since its inception. In this season of Understood, she follows the trail all the way to the source, tracing an investigation across three countries and four newsrooms into the very real person behind the world’s largest deepfake porn website: Mr. Deepfakes himself.

Finally, we launch into Musk’s ultimate quest — his desire to colonize Mars — and how he went from wanting to save earth to wanting to escape it. We hear the origin story of SpaceX, including why one astrophysicist calls Musk’s Earth-exiting plan “delusional.” Is the red planet the ultimate “bubble” of total control, or does it represent a level of hubris that’s out-of-this-world?

Guests in this episode include:
Robert Zubrin, aerospace engineer and Mars-exploration advocate
Tom Moline, former SpaceX employee and co-signer of an open letter against Musk’s antics
Adam Becker, journalist with a background in Astrophysics, Mars mission skeptic

Topics in this episode include:
How Mars Society advocates courted Elon Musk in his PayPal days, but soon went from patron to self-appointed messiah of the movement
The origin and history of SpaceX, its “toxic” and loudest-voice-wins culture, and its plans to colonize Mars and turn humanity into a "multi-planetary species"
The ethics and feasibility of space colonization, Elon’s open fascination with Sci-fi and fantasy — especially utopian ideas and Isaac Asimov’s book Foundation
The very real challenges of colonizing Mars, from poison dirt to high radiation to the unpredictable impacts on human biology, fertility and psychology
Planet B and the idea of Mars as the ultimate, engineered "bubble" — and why even optimists like Zubrin are troubled by the scope of Musk’s promises, calling them “bat guano crazy.”

What does Musk, father of 14, expect from his “legion” of children? We unravel his quest for genetic optimization, including alleged embryo screening, and his pronatalist views. And we hear from his estranged daughter, Vivian.

Voices in this episode include:
Julia Black, journalist who broke the story about Musk’s twins with Shivon Zilis.
Vivian Wilson, Elon Musk's estranged daughter (archival/podcast clip)
Dvija Mehta, ethicist working on emerging technologies.

Topics in this episode include:
Elon Musk's 14 children and views on pronatalism, dysgenics, embryo screening, IVF (in vitro fertilization), surrogacy and genetic optimization (via Orchid)
The film Idiocracy and its influence on Musk
Elon Musk’s trans daughter Vivian Wilson, on her transition, estranged relationship with her father, and reaction to his public statement that she was killed by the "woke mind virus"
Neuralink and Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI), Nolan Arbaugh’s experimental surgery, and ethical concerns over thought privacy and “cyborg” rhetoric

Could Musk’s authoritarian streak trace back to his Canadian grandfather? Before Joshua Haldeman brought his family to South Africa, he made waves as part of the radical 1930s Technocracy movement. And while the two men’s lives only overlapped for three years, we find echoes of Elon’s worldview in Haldeman’s pro-tech, anti-democratic ideology.

Guests in this episode include:

Geoff Leo, senior investigative journalist for CBC
Derek Proudian, early investor in Zip2.com
Will Shoki, South African journalist and writer
Adrienne LaFrance, executive editor of The Atlantic

Topics in this episode include:

The life and lasting influence of Elon Musk’s Canadian grandfather, Joshua Haldeman; his influence within the Technocracy movement and his historical context (the Great Depression and the dust bowl)
Elon Musk's early career moves, including his time at Zip2.com, PayPal and the "PayPal Mafia,” and the Baasskap (bossism) management style
The relationship between techno-optimism and authoritarianism, and Marc Andreessen’s “Techno-Optimist Manifesto”

Where did Elon Musk’s epic ambitions begin? In search of clues we return to his sheltered youth in apartheid South Africa, a world engineered for white supremacy. Along the way, we connect the dots between a bizarre White House ambush of South African president Cyril Ramaphosa to teenage Elon’s ego-powered quests in video games. Finally, was his “draft dodge” from military service a moral act or an opportunist’s exit?

Guests in this episode include:
Rudolph Pienaar, childhood friend of Elon Musk
Will Shoki, South African journalist and writer

Topics in this episode include:
Donald Trump’s Oval Office ambush of President Cyril Ramaphosa with conspiracy theories about an anti-white Afrikaaner farmer genocide, or “white genocide” in South Africa
Elon Musk's South African childhood, including his time at Pretoria Boys High School and his approach to fantasy role playing video games
Apartheid and structural white privilege/supremacy
The South African Border War, conscription and draft-dodging