AI can do amazing things – write your term papers, sequence your genes, maybe replace your therapist. But even super-intelligence has limits. So, does AI really have a mind — or a soul? We'll explore the frontiers of artificial intelligence — from robots painting masterpieces to software engineers trying to create god-like machines.

Original Air Date: March 30, 2024

Interviews In This Hour:
Stop worrying about deepfakes — Does AI have a soul? — Can robots paint a masterpiece?

Guests:
Walter Scheirer, Meghan O’Gieblyn, Sougwen 愫君 Chung

Never want to miss an episode? Subscribe to the podcast.
Want to hear more from us, including extended interviews and favorites from the archive? Subscribe to our newsletter.

Every click on your computer, every swipe on your smartphone, leaves a data trail. Information about who you are, what you do, who you love, the state of your mind and body… so much data about you, expanding day by day in the digital clouds. The question is—do you care? Would owning your data, or having more digital privacy, make life better? And what happens to all that data when you die?

Original Air Date: November 22, 2024

Interviews In This Hour:
A former child test subject seeks the data that shaped her life — In an age of surveillance, do you still care about your privacy? — When you die, what will happen to your data?

Guests:
Susannah Breslin, Lowry Pressly, Carl Öhman

Never want to miss an episode? Subscribe to the podcast.
Want to hear more from us, including extended interviews and favorites from the archive? Subscribe to our newsletter.

We all feel better after a good cry. In fact, humans are the only animals who cry emotional tears. But what about people who don't cry? And have you ever wondered why a sad song or movie makes you cry?

Original Air Date: August 05, 2023

Interviews In This Hour:
Hip-hop artist Dxtr Spits on teaching men to cry — The evolution and neuroscience of tears — What happens when an actor cries

Guests:
Dxtr Spits, Michael Trimble, Jen Plants

Never want to miss an episode? Subscribe to the podcast.

Want to hear more from us, including extended interviews and favorites from the archive? Subscribe to our newsletter.

Sometime in the last couple of years, America’s collective morning routine shifted. We used to start the day with coffee. Now it’s coffee and Wordle. Or Spelling Bee. Or both, plus the crossword. We’re living in a golden age of word games – which is fun, and one way to get just a tiny bit of relief when the world feels out of control. 

Original Air Date: November 09, 2024

Interviews In This Hour:
Getting into the puzzle mindset — Welcome to my crossworld

Guests:
A. J. Jacobs, Anna Schectman

Never want to miss an episode? Subscribe to the podcast.
Want to hear more from us, including extended interviews and favorites from the archive? Subscribe to our newsletter.

For all the talk about how psychedelics might transform psychiatric care, there's still a fascinating question at the heart of psychedelic science. Is it the mind-blowing experience that fundamentally changes a person’s outlook on life? Or is it the powerful molecules that rewire the brain?

Original Air Date: December 16, 2023

Interviews in this hour:
Does psychedelic therapy need the trip? - Will psychedelics replace antidepressants? - Spiritual warriors in the psychedelic underground

Guests:
David Olson, Charles Raison, Rachel Harris

Never want to miss an episode? Subscribe to the podcast.
Want to hear more from us, including extended interviews and favorites from the archive? Subscribe to our newsletter.

As a culture we’ve long been fascinated by witchcraft, with witches through the ages practicing magic and making spells. Even through the spread of misinformation, and when they’ve been hunted and silenced. We take you from the 17th century to the online witch communities of today.

Original Air Date: October 30, 2021

Interviews in this hour:
WitchTok, the super-connected coven - Are you now, or have you ever been, a witch? The witch hunt of Kepler's mother - From alchemy to internet witchcraft - the thousand-year history of magic - Spellcraft, field hockey and Emilio Estevez - the girl power of novelist Quan Barry's teen witches

Guests:
Honey Rose, Rivka Galchen, Chris Gosden, Quan Barry

Never want to miss an episode? Subscribe to the podcast.
Want to hear more from us, including extended interviews and favorites from the archive? Subscribe to our newsletter.

What’s the last dream you remember having? Some of us dream every night. But we’re in too much of a hurry to remember our dreams or think about them the next day. Others of us are dream-deprived. What if we embrace our dreams — and our night selves —  as a way to understand ourselves better, to connect to each other, even to lead a better life?

Original Air Date: February 24, 2024

Interviews In This Hour:
The perils of a 'wake-centric' world — The lives we live inside our dreams — A dreaming mind, illustrated — Embracing your night self

Guests:
Rubin Naiman, Kelly Bulkeley, Roz Chast, Annabel Abbs-Streets

Never want to miss an episode? Subscribe to the podcast.
Want to hear more from us, including extended interviews and favorites from the archive? Subscribe to our newsletter.

What would it be like to live in a world where magic is still alive? Not weird, not woo-woo, just ordinary. 400 years ago, consulting a magician in downtown London was as unremarkable as calling a plumber today. Even now, there are places where magic never died – like Iceland, where 54 percent of the population believes in elves, or thinks they might exist. 

Original Air Date: October 12, 2024

Interviews In This Hour:
Why do Icelanders believe in elves? — Deborah Harkness uncovers the real history of witches — Practical magic and the “cunning folk” of Tudor England

Guests:
Nancy Marie Brown, Deborah Harkness, Tabitha Stanmore

Never want to miss an episode? Subscribe to the podcast.
Want to hear more from us, including extended interviews and favorites from the archive? Subscribe to our newsletter.

In 2020, Donald Trump won 84 percent of the white evangelical vote. Lately, he’s been leaning even more deeply into the rhetoric of Christian nationalists. Who are they, and what’s their role in the evangelical church? We talk with some Southern Baptists today, whose views may surprise you. 

Original Air Date: March 09, 2024

Interviews In This Hour:
The 'simmering violence' of Donald Trump and Christian nationalism — Examining the role of Southern Baptist women — Why one Black pastor left the Southern Baptists

Guests:
Jeff Sharlet, Beth Allison Barr, John Onwuchekwa

Never want to miss an episode? Subscribe to the podcast.
Want to hear more from us, including extended interviews and favorites from the archive? Subscribe to our newsletter.

In the world of internet influencers and YouTube stars, it’s not enough to be ordinary anymore. You need to be special. But where did this craze for personal branding come from? Why are we so obsessed with ourselves? To understand this cult of the self, we need to go back to 19th century spiritual movements and the rise of the huckster — and also the myth of rugged individualism. But if we’re always shouting “Me me me,” what are we losing? What has it cost us?

Original Air Date: February 03, 2024

Interviews In This Hour:
If nobody sees you online, do you exist? — How personal branding became an American religion — Why rugged individualism is a dangerous myth — The philosophers who invented the modern self

Guests:
Angelo Bautista, Tara Isabella Burton, Alissa Quart, Andrea Wulf

Never want to miss an episode? Subscribe to the podcast.
Want to hear more from us, including extended interviews and favorites from the archive? Subscribe to our newsletter.