Episode 139I spoke with Evan Ratliff about:* Shell Game, Evan’s new podcast, where he creates an AI voice clone of himself and sets it loose. * The end of the Longform Podcast and his thoughts on the state of journalism. Enjoy!Evan is an award-winning investigative journalist, bestselling author, podcast host, and entrepreneur. He’s the author of the The Mastermind: A True Story of Murder, Empire, and a New Kind of Crime Lord; the writer and host of the hit podcasts Shell Game and Persona: The French Deception; and the cofounder of The Atavist Magazine, Pop-Up Magazine, and the Longform Podcast. As a writer, he’s a two-time National Magazine Award finalist. As an editor and producer, he’s a two-time Emmy nominee and National Magazine Award winner.Find me on Twitter for updates on new episodes, and reach me at [email protected] for feedback, ideas, guest suggestions. Subscribe to The Gradient Podcast:  Apple Podcasts  | Spotify | Pocket Casts | RSSFollow The Gradient on TwitterOutline:*

Intro*

Evan’s ambitious and risky projects*

Wearing different personas as a journalist*

Boundaries and acceptability in using voice agents*

Impacts on other people*

“The kids these days” — how will new technologies impact younger people?*

Evan’s approach to children’s technology use*

Techno-solutionism and improvements in medicine, childcare*

Evan’s perspective on simulations of people*

On motivations for building tech startups*

Evan’s outlook for Shell Game’s impact and motivations for his work*

How Evan decided to write for a career*

How voice agents might impact our conversations*

Evan’s experience with Longform and podcasting*

Perspectives on doing good interviews*

Mimicking and inspiration, developing style*

Writers and their motivations, the state of longform journalism*

The internet and writing*

On the ending of Longform*