Remote Control

Elon Musk has claimed that AI is humanity’s “biggest existential threat.” Paradoxically, Musk is also working to create artificial intelligence. Why? Jill Lepore tours through a century of imagined robot rebellions, and argues that these stories are never only about robots. So wh ...  Show more

In 2022, Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion, and renamed it X. When asked why he wanted to own the social media network, Musk talked a lot about something he called the “woke mind virus.” Where does the idea of a mind virus come from? Jill Lepore looks to Cold War science f ...  Show more

As we near the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission many have started to reflect on the legacy of the moon landings. However, in 2019 it's hard to discuss this amazing human achievement without mentioning that it has also been the subject of one of the most tenacious and wid ...  Show more

With the Assassination of John F. Kennedy, a plan for a joint mission to the moon between the United States and Russia was cancelled before it began. Decades later, as NASA's documents on the moon landing became declassified, some came to suspect that Kennedy's assassination occu ...  Show more

The foundational text for all moon landing conspiracy theories is a humble little book called We Never Went To The Moon. It was self-published by the author, Bill Kaysing, in 1976 and soon became the de-facto bible of moon landing deniers. In this book Kaysing collects a handful ...  Show more

It's episode 100, LET'S GO TO THE MOON! The 1969 Apollo 11 landing was iconic, but what happened to the earlier missions? What kind of impact did it have on pop culture and the Cold War? Why are there so many conspiracy theories? And most importantly - who was the first person to ...  Show more