Oct 3, 2026 · 53 min
Why tomorrow’s technology keeps missing its deadline
The Tech of Tomorrow That Never Arrived & The Remarkable History of Teeth - SYSK Choice
The episode pairs a reality check on futuristic technology with a history of teeth, showing how design, biology, and everyday behavior shape what lasts.
- 1Technologies that work in laboratories often fail when regulation, infrastructure, cost, and human habits stand in the way.
- 2Teeth reveal how evolution adapts anatomy to diet while leaving humans vulnerable to decay and dental disease.
- 3Oral health is tied to social status, physical well-being, and possible links between gum disease and cognitive decline.
Don't miss
Bill Schutt explains why wisdom teeth became problematic as human jaws shortened without losing their full set of teeth.
The brief
The episode opens with practical grocery-saving advice, then turns to a larger question: why do technologies that seem inevitable so often fail to become ordinary life?
Nicole Kobie argues that flying cars, amphibious vehicles, driverless cars, humanoid robots, and smart cities face more than engineering problems; regulation, infrastructure, cost, and social habits matter too.
The technology conversation separates today’s useful artificial intelligence from hypothetical artificial general intelligence, while considering poorly controlled systems, AI relationships, and the quieter technologies already working around us.
Bill Schutt’s history of teeth moves from dentin, enamel, and animal adaptations to human decay, processed sugar, dental care, social status, and the myths surrounding George Washington’s dentures.
The sharpest biological twist is that wisdom teeth became troublesome as human jaws shortened while tooth counts stayed fixed, leaving evolution and modern life out of sync.
Schutt also discusses teeth used for defense and construction, venom-delivery systems, the narwhal tusk, and research connecting gum bacteria and poor dental health with cognitive decline.
Featuring
Nicole KobieMentioned
The Jetsons
Federal Aviation AdministrationBooks & mentions
The Long History of the Future: Why Tomorrow's Technology Still Isn't Here
A deeper account of why flying cars and other expected technologies remain out of reach.
Bite: An Incisive History of Teeth from Hagfish to Humans
A fuller evolutionary and cultural history of the teeth discussed in the episode.
Listen to the full episode and explore every guest, topic, and moment on PodLume.