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PJ Vogt

We try to make sense of the world, one question at a time. No question too big, no question too small. Hosted by PJ Vogt, edited by Sruthi Pinnamaneni.
***Named one of the best podcasts by Vulture, Time, The Economist, & Vogue. (OK, in 2023, but still...)***

Search Engine

A man walks into an airport body scanner, and with eerie consistency, the machine flags the exact same part of his body. What could be going on? Search Engine investigates a Bermuda Triangle.

Incognito Mode⁠, our ad-free, no-rerun, bonus episode feed.
 
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A Perfectly Average Anomaly

As a special, one-time holiday treat, we're sharing something we only usually offer on our premium feed, Incognito Mode. Our annual board meeting! We talk about what shopping a podcast has been like in this environment, our internal stats, and… Yes, Yes, No.

Incognito Mode, our ad-free, no-rerun, bonus episode feed.
 
To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy
 
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Unlocked: The State of Search Engine 2025

For years, the must-have phone for the discerning drug trafficker or hitman was a brand you may not have heard of: AN0M. Reporter Joseph Cox tells us the story of the AN0M phone, its sudden rise and shocking fall, and the shadowy group behind its invention.

Joseph's new book: Dark Wire.

Incognito Mode, our ad-free, no-rerun, bonus episode feed.
 
To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy
 
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What's the best phone to do crimes on? (classic)

This week, in honor of the holiday season — can you, should you change your family’s politics through holiday conversation. If so, how? A conversation with Ezra Klein.

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How to talk (or not talk) politics at family holidays

In part two of our story about Elon Musk’s growing data center empire, we visit the battle between people in Memphis and xAI. And we try to understand a strange, untested assumption at the heart of the AI financing boom.

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Colossus 2

Tech billionaires have made an enormous bet on AI, the biggest bet that tech has made on anything in a very long time. Reporter Sruthi Pinnamaneni goes on a journey – from Data Center Alley to the shadow of Colossus – to see what the money’s being spent on, and to learn what happens if things go wrong.

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Colossus 1

A reporter spends a year diving into a subculture of young men online who unite around their extreme commitment to constant, unadulterated porn consumption. Why are they doing this, what is it doing to them, and what does their existence tell us about the internet we’re all stuck on?

The Goon Squad by Daniel Kolitz for Harper’s Magazine

Daniel’s Twitter

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An Anthropology of Gooners

People review everything, but they almost never review what it’s like to live in another country. Until now. 

We interview a writer who’s lived in China, covered China, and has had to choose between life here and there. What are the big misconceptions Americans have about China? How could America learn to build trains and bridges as fast as China does? And how should the two countries actually be copying each other? 

Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future by Dan Wang

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America vs. China

Can you tickle your way to victory in an MMA fight? An investigation into a sports scandal with journalist Pablo Torre.

See videos mentioned in this episode.

Check out Pablo Torre Finds Out on Youtube or Spotify. 

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Comment on this episode.

 
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The Rage in the Cage

Last week, OpenAI released an app that quickly shot to the #1 spot in Apple's App Store. Sora is like TikTok, except all the videos are AI generated. Is this ... what we're doing now? What's the business case for a fake AI video platform? 

Check out Casey Newton's newsletter (Platformer) and podcast (Hard Fork)

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Cocomelon For Adults

Ezra Klein joins Search Engine this week to answer a question that's increasingly confounded us: how do I use the internet now? How do I get information about the things I care about, without getting sucked into a vortex of opinion, unearned certainty, and yelling?

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Is there a sane way to use the internet?

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