The Why Files: Operation Podcast

COMPUTER PREDICTS WORLD WILL END IN 2040   In 1704, using a series of calculations, Isaac Newton predicted the world would end sometime around the year 2060.   Almost 300 years later, in 1973, a computer at MIT made the prediction that life as we know it will end around the year 2040.   It also predicted that some of the first signs would be seen in the year 2020.   Some of its predictions have come true and scientists are taking this seriously.   But can we trust the study? Can we trust ANY study?   Probably not.   Let's find out why. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thewhyfiles/support

THE COMPUTER THAT PROVED TIME TRAVEL | THE DODLESTON MESSAGES   In December 1984, Ken Webster, a high-school teacher, was living with his friend Nic and girlfriend Debbie in the small village of Dodleston. One evening, the three were walking home from the local pub when they saw a pulsing green light emanating from their cottage windows.   When they got inside, they saw something that terrified them.    Though their computer wasn't connected to any network, and everyone in the house was gone all night, a strange message was written on the screen. A message addressed to them, by name.   Over the next few months, more messages appeared. Eventually, Ken and his friends begin corresponding with the person on the other side.    At first, Ken thinks this is a hoax or a prank. But over time, he comes to believe that not only are the messages real, they're being written by someone living in the very same house -- in the year 1541.   Let's find out why. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thewhyfiles/support

There are over 7 billion people living on the earth right now. Tens of millions are born and die each year. Every single one of us leaves signs of our existence in the air, water, soil -- even space.   But these signs won't last forever. Our buildings will be gone in a few hundred years. Our stone monuments, plastic, styrofoam, twinkies, even evidence of our inevitable nuclear destruction will eventually be gone.   So how can we be sure that we were the first advanced civilization on earth?  Well, according to the Silurian Hypothesis: we can't.   Let's find out why. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thewhyfiles/support

In 1924, Paul Amadeus Dienach had been teaching the German language in Greece. Dying of tuberculosis, he wanted to return home to Switzerland. Before he left, he gave hundreds of pages of handwritten notes to his favorite language student Georgios Papachatzis.    Dienach thought translating his notes would help Papachatzis in his study of the German language. They said goodbye and never saw each other again.  Papahatzis began translating the pages. There were whole passages about a coming nuclear war, colonizing Mars, and a global government. Sections about flying vehicles, holographic technology, and contact with alien life. Papchatzis thought it was a science fiction novel.    But as more and more of the text was revealed, Papahatzis was shocked at what he discovered. This wasn't a novel at all. This was actually Dienach's personal diary. Dienach wrote about how he went into a coma and woke up 2000 years in the future.  It seems that Paul Amadeus Dienach had experienced some kind of time slip that caused him to fall asleep in the year 1921, and wake up in the year 3906.   He spent a *whole year* in the future. And he wrote down everything he saw.   This is his story. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thewhyfiles/support

ATLANTIS, WORLD WARS AND THE POLE SHIFT  Terrifying predictions of Edgar Cayce  Edgar Cayce gave over 14,000 psychic readings. He made a number of predictions about future events — many of which have come true.   And some of them are terrifying. Some people are worried.   Let's find out why. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thewhyfiles/support

KGB, BIGFOOT or ALIENS? WHAT REALLY HAPPENED AT DYATLOV PASS?   When the helicopter rescue team arrived at the Dyatlov Pass in February 1959, the nine missing hikers had been dead for weeks.   The more the investigators tried to piece together what happened, the more the story didn't seem to add up.   Their tent had been cut open from the inside and abandoned, but there was no sign of a struggle.   Over a half-mile away, two victims were almost completely naked. Though temperatures were 30 below zero that night. Other bodies were found even farther away.   Two had fractured skulls, two more had major chest injuries, one was missing his eyes; another was missing her tongue. And reports show that two of the hikers had been exposed to unusually high amounts of radiation.   Soviet investigators listed the cause of death as "a compelling natural force," and closed the case a few weeks later.   The Dyatlov Pass Incident has been a mystery for over 60 years. Theories include a military cover-up, a KGB operation gone wrong, a bigfoot attack and of course -- aliens.   One researcher believes he knows what happened that night.   Others are not so sure.   Let's find out why. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thewhyfiles/support

PROJECT STARGATE: CIA, PSYCHICS, MARS AND ... TIME TRAVEL   When the first human visits Mars, it will be the biggest scientific breakthrough since landing on the Moon. Probably bigger.   But what if I told you the CIA and United States Military have already been to Mars?   But they didn't use space-ships to get there. They used psychics.   Let's find out why. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thewhyfiles/support

FOR SEVEN YEARS, SOVIET AGENTS SPIED ON THE AMERICAN EMBASSY UNDETECTED   In 1945, Soviet children presented the ambassador with a gift to commemorate the friendship of the US and the Soviet Union. A hand-carved wooden replica of the Great Seal of the United States.   The ambassador was so pleased with the carving that he hung it in his office at the official ambassador residence in Moscow: the Spaso house.  But the wooden carving was more than just a decoration.   Now hanging on the wall, just behind the ambassador's desk was a state of the art, high-frequency listening device that was completely undetectable.  The intelligence community called the device "The Thing".    And The Thing was on the office wall of five different ambassadors over 7 years.   This was an electronic listening device that -- didn't require electricity.   Let's find out why. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thewhyfiles/support

Do some horror movies use sounds of a *specific frequency* to amp up the scare factor? Yes.  Can infrasound and ultrasound damage the human body? Yes.  Has sound been used as a real-world weapon? Yes.  Is sound being deployed by America's enemies to cause serious physical harm? Yes.  Let's find out why. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thewhyfiles/support

When will we upload our consciousness to the cloud?   As long as people have been alive, they've wanted to stay alive.    For centuries, explorers have searched for the fountain of youth. And today, scientists are hard at work researching technology that can extend the human lifespan, stop or reverse aging; and even preserve a terminally ill person indefinitely, until a cure for their disease is discovered.  But what if -- instead of preserving our *bodies* -- we could preserve our *consciousness*; by uploading it to a powerful computer.   This is called *mind uploading*. And one startup has developed a procedure to do exactly this. It's scientifically sound, there's a waiting list to participate, and the procedure -- is one hundred percent fatal.   Let's find out why. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thewhyfiles/support