Human Error

On the 28th of October, 2021, Facebook announced The Future…aka, a corporate rebrand. By changing the name of their parent company to Meta, they set out a vision for a new internet. Here, you can meet your colleagues in a virtual meeting room, and/or fence with Mark Zuckerberg. It's all in a day's browsing....In this final episode of Series 1, comedian Olga Koch and journalist Hussein Kesvani ask: 'what exactly *is* the metaverse?' After all, it’s Meta’s world, we’re just living in it.Human Error is a Daddy’s SuperYacht production for BBC Sounds.

For as long as the internet has existed, there has been internet porn. From ‘tube’ sites to cam girls, to OnlyFans, X-rated material is as synonymous with life online as taking selfies and “getting cancelled”.In this episode, comedian Olga Koch and journalist Hussein Kesvani reflect on why exactly teenage Hussein was so keen to help his parents sort out the magazines in their shop, find out who exactly owns all the internet porn, and talk with sex worker, writer and activist Lydia Caradonna about how platforms can be less evil.Human Error is a Daddy’s SuperYacht production for BBC Sounds.

From the first person to ever teletext herself some eggs in 1984, it’s never been easier to click and collect anything your heart desires from that great big convenience store in the cloud. But is the ability to buy a complete DVD disk set of Sex And The City at 4am from anywhere in the world necessarily a good thing? Let’s find out!From online marketplaces to a new breed of pastel-pink loan sharks, in this episode comedian Olga Koch and journalist Hussein Kesvani get to the bottom of what online spending really costs.Human Error is a Daddy’s SuperYacht production for BBC Sounds.

The Flintstones sold us a vision for the ultimate human powered eco-vehicle, while The Jetsons promised us personal flying saucers, but when it comes to cars and technology: where have we actually parked?In this episode, comedian Olga Koch and journalist Hussein Kesvani review the marketing copy on Tesla’s website, consider the ethics of testing the Google Waymo, ask what it means to be a Top Gear dad these days, and pitch their ideas for Pixar's 'Cars 4'.Human Error is a Daddy’s SuperYacht production for BBC Sounds.

The history of music sharing has more twists and turns than a Richard Linklater film, following our protagonist (music) from sunrise (CDs) to sunset (Spotify). Torrenting might have heralded the end of physical media, but is the music industry’s shift from illegal file swapping to legal streaming really the answer musicians have been waiting for?In this episode, comedian Olga Koch and journalist Hussein Kesvani speak with musician and producer J Appiah about what impact technology has had on music, and Olga and Hussein reminisce about the glory days of buying a bootleg DVD in a Moscow metro station.Human Error is a Daddy’s SuperYacht production for BBC Sounds.

Once upon a time, we were sold the dream that cloud computing, e-readers and space travel might save us from our imminent climate crisis. Turns out, no. Far from being the earth’s heroes, tech might be driving us closer to environmental apocalypse faster than ever before. It’s bleak stuff, sure, but there are jokes as well.In this episode, comedian Olga Koch and journalist Hussein Kesvani speak to comedian and environmental economist Dr Matt Winning, author of ‘Hot Mess: What On Earth Can We Do About Climate Change?’ and finally get to the bottom of what’s going on in the Richard Linklater extended universe.Human Error is a Daddy’s SuperYacht production for BBC Sounds.

Space: the final frontier, or just a billionaire’s playground? As Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk compete to see who can be the first to save humanity (starting with the rich), we’re asking - what exactly is the correlation between divorce rates and wanting to launch a rocket into the sky?In this episode, comedian Olga Koch and journalist Hussein Kesvani ask how the space race can be both a cause of and the solution to climate change, interrogate which surprising celebrity Hussein would invite onto his shuttle, and speak to Fred Scharmen, author of ‘Space Forces: A Critical History of Life in Outer Space’ about the past and future of space exploration.Human Error is a Daddy’s SuperYacht production for BBC Sounds.

Is your pain causing you to purchase? In a world where medical establishments are woefully underprepared to deal with anyone who isn’t a very average man, more people than ever are turning to femtech, a multi-billion sector providing an ever-expanding selection of (expensive) wifi-enabled breast pumps and (intrusive) glittery gold period trackers.Join comedian and computer scientist Olga Koch and journalist Hussein Kesvani as they ask just how many details about your sex life you really need to hand over to any corporation, give your favourite products a femtech rebrand, and speak with software engineer and former startup founder Wendy Liu, author of ‘Abolish Silicon Valley: How to Liberate Technology from Capitalism’, about the demise of the girlboss.Human Error is a Daddy’s SuperYacht production for BBC Sounds.

Ahhh the heady days of the personal website, where 12-year-old Hussein wiled away the hours listing his favourite Pokemon for an audience of none. Now, it’s all just tweeting, ‘gramming and, if you’re an aunt over the age of 40, spreading terrifying conspiracy theories on Facebook.Join comedian Olga Koch and journalist Hussein Kesvani as they consider how and how the internet went from being a place of imagination, possibility and endless flash games, to being owned by a few, all-powerful tech giants. Human Error is a Daddy’s SuperYacht production for BBC Sounds.

Gone are the days when anyone can say anyone about anything…actually, scratch that: misinformation is rife, and social media has arguably facilitated a golden age of ‘fake news’ to rival Octavian defeated Mark Anthony in 30BC (at last, we’re taking down the Roman Empire).Join comedian Olga Koch and journalist Hussein Kesvani as they fact check Olga’s tweets, start a flame war with graphic designers and ask: why do so many virgins work at Time Magazine?Human Error is a Daddy’s SuperYacht production for BBC Sounds.

Are NFTs - Non-Fungible Tokens - the frontier of the modern art world, or just another place for tech bros to put their fake money?Join comedian Olga Koch and journalist Hussein Kesvani as they figure out exactly which meme is going to be the next Mona Lisa, with the help of tech journalist Kyle Chayka.Listeners can get their very own free Human Error NFT - one of 69 limited editions by digital artist Dylan Woodley - by heading to a website address mentioned in the podcast: humanerror.cool. NFTs are available to claim in strictly limited quantities until 6th October 2021.Human Error is a Daddy’s SuperYacht production for BBC Sounds.

Romance scams are on the rise, as more people than ever look to the internet for love.From an ex-military hottie who is allergic to video chat, to a small conglomerate of professional defrauders that you can call bae, comedian Olga Koch and journalist Hussein Kesvani run through the red flags that might let you know he’s *just not that into (refunding) you*.This episode features Catfish UK’s Oobah Butler on what to do if you think you’re being romance scammed, a surprisingly saucy choose-your-own-adventure written by Hussein, and a stunning confession about Slobodan Milošević.Human Error is a Daddy’s SuperYacht Production for BBC Sounds.

From Huel to SquarEat, the culinary landscape has never been more thrilling for people who like their meals compact, efficient and perfectly nutritionally balanced. For the rest of us…not so much.Join comedian and computer scientist Olga Koch and journalist Hussein Kesvani as they delve into failed innovations in food technology, invent the perfect food start-up, and get to the bottom of what exactly counts as soup.Human Error is a Daddy’s SuperYacht production for BBC Sounds.

Feel like you’ve seen this episode before? Once the undisputed kings of the video rental market, the demise of Blockbuster heralded the start of the age of streaming giants: from Netflix to Disney+, and even Quibi (RIP). Now we can watch whatever we want, wherever we are...without a single teenager telling us that the VHS of Face/Off is "essential viewing".Join comedian and computer scientist Olga Koch and journalist Hussein Kesvani as they consider why ‘data driven content’ might not be such a wild idea, and investigate how tech-backed content platforms are using their vast supply of big data about our viewing habits to produce dozens of films with ‘love’ in the title. Can they be stopped on their endless quest to create the most algorithmically perfect show in existence? Perhaps, but only once we’ve all finished watching The Office for the 100th time this year.

Do you even lift, bro? From 30 Days of Yoga With Adriene, to the #ChloeTing Summer Shred Challenge AND completing a hundred rides with Cody Rigsby on Peloton…frankly it’s a miracle you’ve got time to do anything else.In this episode, comedian and computer scientist Olga Koch and journalist Hussein Kesvani chart the rise of the fitfluencer - the online personal trainers selling us (and each other) the dream of a perfect body, a cute dog and a million-dollar business empire, for only the price of a small monthly subscription fee.How is the perfect gym body like a bowl of fine vegetarian chilli? You'll have to listen to find out!Human Error is a Daddy’s SuperYacht production for BBC Sounds.

Do you like to go online and share your silly opinions? We all do! But there is one small, quivering line of defence between your every passing thought and the entire rest of humanity: forum moderators.In this episode, comedian and computer scientist Olga Koch and Journalist Hussein Kesvani take a long, hard look at the big kids of the internet playground, asking once and for all if moderators are selfless heroes, or just crazed egomaniacs hell-bent on ruining our fun.A keen moderator himself (you might recognise him from his seminal work in an early ‘00s Beyblade forum), Hussein reflects on the glory days of forum culture, i.e. before knitting groups got really racist, while Olga recalls her early years spent chatting to lonely housewives in a local information group for the Russian city of Bratsk. Human Error is a Daddy’s SuperYacht production for BBC Sounds.

When you use your face to unlock your phone, set your profile picture or create sick memes for your friends and fans, are you unwittingly normalising the most intrusive surveillance technology ever created? Just something fun to think about!In this episode, comedian and computer scientist Olga Koch and Journalist Hussein Kesvani deep dive into Clearview AI, an ethically ambiguous piece of software that’s (literally) changing the face of policing by scraping all - and we mean *all* - your photos from the internet. We speak to Matthias Marx, a security researcher from Germany who (sort of) successfully sued Clearview AI about what we can all to do try and protect our faces from the small town police departments who are now running Terminator-level dystopian technology systems. Human Error is a Daddy’s SuperYacht production for BBC Sounds.

The global pandemic has gone digital, and we’re now in the midst of a national ‘pingdemic’. Who could have predicted that returning to work, school, silent discos and kissing competitions would result in a rise in exposure to the real virus...by which we obviously mean “other people”? In this episode, comedian and computer scientist Olga Koch and journalist Hussein Kesvani look at who built the NHS COVID-19 app, brainstorm other potential uses for the technology behind it, and consider how it really compares to the incredibly functional and successful Matt Hancock app. Human Error is a Daddy’s SuperYacht production for BBC Sounds.

Many of us have spent the last year working from home, but what about the 10.9 million people who went a step further? In this episode, comedian and computer scientist Olga Koch and Journalist Hussein Kesvani ask: ‘where are all the digital nomads?’ and more to the point, ‘what do they actually do?’If you’ve ever considered running a multi-level marketing scheme from a Swiss ski resort…this might just be the encouragement you need to get started. Get it, girlboss!Human Error is a Daddy’s SuperYacht production for BBC Sounds.

Meet Chip Girl, a Tik Tok influencer who can open doors using a microchip embedded in her hand. Sure, it’s literally just a key (first invented around 6000 years ago) but that doesn’t mean it’s not great content!Join comedian and computer scientist Olga Koch and journalist Hussein Kesvani in this first episode of their brand new technology podcast Human Error, as they get under the skin of biohacking. From Elon Musk to some guy in his bedroom with too much time on his hands, biohacking is the hot new trend that everyone who isn’t incredibly squeamish is getting into. And think of the possibilities! Today we’re opening doors, but tomorrow…we could be opening different doors. It really makes you think. Human Error is a Daddy’s SuperYacht production for BBC Sounds.