Britt Young is a geographer and tech writer based in the Bay Area. She also has what's called a "congenital upper limb deficiency." In other words, she was born without the part of her arm just below her left elbow. She's used different sorts of prosthetic devices her whole life, and in 2018, she celebrated the arrival of a brand new, multi-articulating prosthetic hand. This prosthetic hand has a sleek carbon fiber casing, with specific pre-programmed grips that she can control just by flexing the muscles in her residual limb. She can use a precision pinch to pick a hairpin off of the table, or a Hulk-style power fist to squeeze objects. This kind of assistive technology has been life-changing for a lot of people who have limb differences. But for Britt, in particular, it hasn't been life-changing at all. In fact, her cutting-edge bionic arm has been a pretty major disappointment. "It's just not what you imagine. It's not like I'm like everyone else now, it's something different."
The Lows of High Tech
In The Unlikely Event
You've Got Enron Mail!
The Lost Cities of Geo
Take a Walk
99pi Presents The Next Billion Users
Sign Stealing
For the Love of Peat
Exploring The 99% Invisible City
Goodnight Nobody
The Address Book
Highways 101
Where Do We Go From Here?
Podcast Episode
The Revolutionary Post (Repeat)
Policing the Open Road
California Love Scared Straight
Valley of the Fallen
The Dolphin that Roared
A Side of Franchise
Freedom House Ambulance Service
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
This is Love
Planet Money
Radiolab
Pride and Prejudice
The War of the Worlds
Today, Explained
Stuff You Should Know