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.

Follow UpScrolled on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and their website. Follow Ramesh on Instagram, TikTok, Bluesky, X, YouTube, LinkedIn, and on his website.

Questions or comments? Email podcastutopias@gmail.com.

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.

Follow Habib Khan Totakhil on X.

Questions or comments? Email podcastutopias@gmail.com.