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Technology

Search Engine

by PJ Vogt
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Oct 1#41

About the show

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 of all time by Time Magazine

Latest episodes

  • Search Engine x Better in Person

    September 29, 2026 · 43 min

    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

    September 18, 2026 · 1 hr 5 min

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

  • Why’s everybody going to Japan?

    September 11, 2026 · 51 min

    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…

  • The Killing of the Gaza Chef

    August 28, 2026 · 49 min

    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…

  • The Chosen One

    August 21, 2026 · 48 min

    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…

  • A road trip through the data center debate

    August 11, 2026 · 39 min

    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…

  • The machines are learning… to do crimes?

    August 6, 2026 · 38 min

    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…

  • What’s in your cocaine and the questions Search Engine CAN’T answer

    July 24, 2026 · 1 hr 1 min

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