To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Did you know that the U.S. military has a long history of working with psychics to try to discover enemy secrets? We examine this history and take a deep dive into the paranormal. Guests: Joe McMoneagle,Annie Jacobson,Marge Bradley,Paul Selig,Tanya Luhrmann,Michael Shermer,Tiya Miles Interviews: Spooks and Psychics: Inside the Military's Top-Secret ESP Unit,What Do You Do With The Family Ghost Stories? An Investigation Into The Paranormal,Uncovering the Buried History of Savannah's "Ghost Tours"

Remember virtual reality? Back in the 1990’s, it was going to be the technology of the future.  Today, it’s here. But we're still figuring out what to do with it. Guest: Will Smith,Simon Parkin Interviews: Where We're Going, We Don't Need Talk Show Sets,The Most Boring Video Game Ever Made

Home entertainment options have never been richer, but public places like movie theaters and performance spaces are suffering. What do we lose when everyone stays home? Guests: Matt Lambros,Matt Conboy,Jes Skolnik,Hans Ulrich Obrist,Tracy Fullerton,Will Smith,Mark Riechers,Laurie Gebhard Interviews: An Old-Fashioned Movie House Wedding,The Modern Ruins Of American Movie Palaces,The Sudden Demise of a Beloved DIY Venue,Saved By The Scene, In Real Life or Online,A Fast-Talking Curator's Great Escape From Galleries Into The Real World,Press Start To Reflect On Walden Pond,Where We're Going, We Don't Need Talk Show Sets

For centuries, mathematicians have been looking for the deep design, the mathematical code to explain everything from microorganisms to spacetime. But it’s a dangerous quest. Guests: Margaret Wertheim,Shlomo Maital,Frank Wilczek Interviews: Crocheting the Unknowable Geometry of Spacetime,Going Deep Into the Kabbalah,A Physicist Tries To Answer The "Beautiful Question"

Psychedelic science is back — and they could help heal people with addictions, PTSD and end-of-life anxiety. Guests: Ayelet Waldman,Stephen Ross,Katherine MacLean,Daniel Kasza,William Richards Interviews: Ayelet Waldman Talks about Depression, LSD, and Her Marriage With Michael Chabon,How Psychedelic Drugs Will Revolutionize Psychiatry,Lessons from a Psychedelic Guide,On A Mountain Top, With Ayahuasca And Frog Poison,Psychedelics and God,Psychedelics: The Next Revolution in Psychiatry?

If everyone’s a critic online, does it mean that cultural criticism doesn’t matter anymore? Guests: Ann Powers, A.O. Scott, Mark Greif, Chuck Klosterman Interviews: Talking About Sex Is Hard. Singing About It Is Easier., A.O. Scott Recommends "The Film Criticism of Otis Ferguson", What Turns A Man Against Everything?, Chuck Klosterman Says You Will Be Defined By Your Greatest Failure

If everyone’s a critic online, does it mean that cultural criticism doesn’t matter anymore? Guests: Ann Powers, A.O. Scott, Mark Greif, Chuck Klosterman Interviews: Talking About Sex Is Hard. Singing About It Is Easier., A.O. Scott Recommends "The Film Criticism of Otis Ferguson", What Turns A Man Against Everything?, Chuck Klosterman Says You Will Be Defined By Your Greatest Failure

Why We War The Worth of War; War is Beautiful; War is Revenge; Is War Inevitable?; 50th Anniversary of "A Love Supreme".

Automated machines are taking over our lives. They're not the scary robots you see in movies, but more and more of today's technology - from smart phones to airplanes - is automated. And some of the world's biggest companies are racing to come up with a "master algorithm" - a formula that will let machines learn anything. This could lead to self-driving cars and even a cure for cancer. But do we want to give machines so much control? The Quest for the Master Algorithm; App Intelligence; Is Automation Ruining Our Lives?; They Had Androids in the Enlightenment?; Stephen Wolfram on Computer Creativity; Garth Hallberg's "City on Fire".

We explore our complicated relationships with our digital devices in this hour. Mourning Our Lost And Broken Technology; The Internet Has Made Dying More Miserable; How Can Digital Citizens Reclaim Their Voices Online?; Why We're Alone Even When We're Together; The Bad Sort Of Time Travel.