Search Engine

Latest Episodes:

Vladimir Putin's Forkiverse Oct 02, 2026

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Nine months ago, three podcasters attempted to build a better internet. Today -- they confront foreign adversaries on a digital battlefield.

Watch the Machine Gods trailer.

Instructions for moving your Forkiverse account to a different server.

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Search Engine x Better in Person Sep 29, 2026

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Search Engine has some exciting news about the moving image to announce, and we’re sharing an interview we loved with an unusual architect.

Check out the video version on Freakonomics' YouTube page.

Bollywood Dreams Sep 18, 2026

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An email hits our inbox with the subject line: “My Dad is making a Bollywood Movie… is he being scammed?” We investigate.

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Why’s everybody going to Japan? Sep 11, 2026

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A Japanese listener gets so many houseguests she starts a spreadsheet to try to figure out what's going on. Why has American tourism to Japan gotten so out of control? The story of a government plot.

Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S. by Roland Kelts

Ametora: How Japan Saved American Style by W. David Marx

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The Killing of the Gaza Chef Aug 28, 2026

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Mahmud Almadhoun ran a soup kitchen in the north of the Gaza Strip. In November 2024, he was killed. A reporter tries to answer a big question. Was Mahmud intentionally targeted? And if so, what does that mean about the future of war?

Listen to The Gaza Chef.

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The Chosen One Aug 21, 2026

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A listener asks: whose penis gets the top spot on the Wikipedia page for penis?

Our quest for an answer takes us on a surprisingly philosophical journey — where we learn about the cutthroat fight to be number one and the extremely overthink-y debate that precedes the coronation.

Wikipedia page for Lane Rasberry.

Wikipedia page for penis.

Wikipedia page for human penis.

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A road trip through the data center debate Aug 11, 2026

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The midterms are approaching, and as the discourse heats up, one of the big new villains is: a kind of building. Data centers. Reporter Jasmine Sun took a road trip through two swing states to meet the people living at the center of these debates, and to understand where this all might be headed.

no data centers in my backyard by Jasmine Sun

The machines are learning… to do crimes? Aug 06, 2026

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For the first time, an AI model has autonomously hacked a company. This week, an evolving story, a postcard from a strange, frightening moment in the story of our technology.

A big week for AI denialism by Casey Newton

Its AI agent spent days hacking a company, but sources say OpenAI did not notice for a week by Deepa Seetharaman, Raphael Satter, and Kenrick Cai

Cheating behaviour in frontier model evaluations by AI Security Institute

More On An Internal OpenAI Model Hacking Into HuggingFace by Zvi Mowshowitz

What’s in your cocaine and the questions Search Engine CAN’T answer Jul 24, 2026

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An interview with a cocaine salesman about cocaine adulterants, plus – questions Search Engine can’t answer, with special guest Kelefa Sanneh.

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How to pursue excellence … in noodles (unlocked bonus) Jul 17, 2026

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The world right now, seems tilted towards the good enough. The AI-written wedding toast, the half-assed attempt. Despite this, a handmade noodle shop is trying to make perfect noodles. Trying so hard that they have signs admonishing their customers to ONLY EAT THEIR SPICY NOODLES THE CORRECT WAY, DO NOT TAKE THEM TO-GO, THE EXPERIENCE WILL BE RUINED.

Why do some people still want to do small things perfectly, even at the expense of profits? An interview with Jason Wang, of Xi'an Famous Foods.

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