Booming
Booming
Booming is a weekly podcast about the economic forces shaping our lives here in the Pacific Northwest. The Seattle area's been home to many booms over the years. It’s brought jobs, people, and wealth to the region, but also real growing pains that people here feel every day. In Booming, KUOW economy reporters Joshua McNichols and Monica Nickelsburg help listeners make sense of our ever-changing ec…Follow the podcast:
What happens to Seattle if the AI bubble pops?
You may have heard that the economy is maybe... definitely... probably... in an “AI bubble.” Companies are spending hundreds of billions of dollars to build the AI infrastructure of the future. The hope is all that spending will pay off with super-advanced AI that will more than cover the cost of…
20:38
BONUS: The future of Seattle's highways
Happy Thanksgiving! We hope you enjoy this bonus episode. The Booming team recorded a live event a few weeks ago at the Seattle Public Library about the future of Seattle’s highways – so we wanted to drop it in the feed in case you missed it. Booming's Joshua McNichols co-hosted the event with …
57:37
Can the power of a star lower our electric bills?
Our power grid is maxing out. We're plugging in electric cars, massive data centers, and heat pumps all at once. And it's not stopping anytime soon. Demand is expected to grow by 30% over the next ten years. And the increasing demand is spiking our energy bills. But Big Tech is betting on a solu…
16:08
Is coding dead? This professor doesn't think so
On our most recent episode, we reported on how tons of young people are choosing trade school over college out of fear of white-collar jobs drying up. Companies appearto be making big bets that AI can replace huge chunks of their workforces. It seems like “go to trade school” has become the new “…
16:10
Is AI fueling a trade school boom?
When it comes to the white-collar workforce, warning signals are blinking red. That uncertainty has more kids going blue collar. Trade schools are booming. On today's episode, as artificial intelligence and economic uncertainty reshape the labor market, could trade schools be the new ticket to the…
20:13
Nine families, one roof: Urban cohousing in Seattle
Seattle has more single people living alone than any major U.S. city. The average new apartment size in Seattle is just 650 square feet -- that’s the smallest in the nation. If you’re single, that might work for you. But if you want to raise a family in a larger space, that can get expensive: $350…
16:17
Babies aren't booming. Is that a problem?
Seattle and Portland are wrestling for the title of the city with the lowest birth rate. But it's not just the Pacific Northwest. Birth rates are declining across the country. Environmentalists say there are benefits to slowing population growth, like less consumption and strain on resources. But…
19:17
Can AI really cure cancer?
In the debate over how fast we should be embracing artificial intelligence, one thing comes up again and again. The claim from tech CEOs that AI can cure cancer. So can it? On today's episode, we get into what new AI developments in Seattle's biotech industry could mean for finding a cure. Sig…
16:03
Does AI mean game over for video game developers?
Electronic Arts (EA), one of the largest video game companies in the world, just sold for $55 billion, a record for a leveraged buyout. The sale is sending shockwaves through Seattle's video game industry. Not just because a lot of people in Seattle worked on EA games, but because the company is …
22:44
The cleanup crew mopping up AI slop
Coding looks like one of the first real-world skills AI is close to mastering. And AI coding tools are helping a lot more people build apps and websites – no technical expertise required. But there’s a problem. It turns out, handing the keyboard over to a robot can end up costing more time and m…
18:14