#labor-ethics
17 episodes
#5288: Slideware, Vaporware, and the Founders Who Never Built Anything
Builder.ai raised $450M with AI that was mostly humans. Here's how pitch decks became the product.
#5280: What Chemicals Do to Workers in 2026
2.9 million work-related deaths a year — and 2.58 million of them are disease, not injuries. What workers still don't know about the air they breathe.
#5238: Robber Barons: Builders or Plunderers?
Rockefeller cut kerosene prices by 90% — and the top 1% owned half of America. Both facts are true. So why can't we agree?
#5173: Why Actors Keep Auditioning: The Grit Behind the Craft
Most SAG-AFTRA members earn under $26K from acting. So why do they keep auditioning? Research on grit and calling offers surprising answers.
#3982: Can AliEver Be Ethical?
Why a package from China arrives faster than one from 20km away — and what that says about sustainable shopping.
#3852: The Hidden Workforce Behind AI's Intelligence
Behind every "intelligent" AI system are millions of workers in Kenya, India, and the Philippines doing repetitive tasks for poverty wages.
#3796: Why Electricians and Lawyers Used to Be the Same Thing
Why do we call some skilled work a profession and other work a trade? The medieval answer might surprise you.
#3704: Can Pornography Ever Be Regulated Fairly?
The labor conditions behind adult films and whether real regulation is possible — or just a fantasy.
#3561: Working for the Ultra-Wealthy: Inside the Hidden Labor Market
What it’s really like to manage the lives of the ultra-wealthy—the pay, the burnout, and the strange emotional toll.
#3433: The Same 12 Faces: Inside Israel's Tiny Acting Market
Why the same actors appear everywhere in Israeli TV—and what it means for working actors.
#2809: What Enforcement Leaves Behind
How border enforcement fractures economies, families, and institutions in ways the headlines miss.
#2658: The Legal Definition of Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway isn't just smaller Broadway—it's a different legal, economic, and artistic universe defined by seat counts.
#1513: The Death of the Passion Tax: Non-Profits Go Professional
Stop paying the "passion tax." Discover how 2026’s mission-led organizations are finally reaching salary parity with the private sector.
#1512: The Sustainability Wand: Rewiring a Broken Civilization
What if we could permanently delete the ten most unsustainable habits of modern life? We explore the structural flaws pushing Earth to the brink.
#1446: Why Laws Meant to Protect Sex Workers Often Fail Them
Explore the "prohibition paradox" and how global legal models—from the Nordic to the German systems—impact worker safety and the sex trade.
#510: The Hidden Costs of the Electric Vehicle Revolution
Are electric vehicles truly green? From 1900s dominance to the ethics of cobalt mining, we explore the complex reality of the EV revolution.
#390: The Hidden Price of a Click
Herman and Corn dive into the hidden environmental and ethical price of ultra-cheap global shipping and the dilemma of the modern consumer.