48 episodes

Named a best podcast of 2023 by Vulture, Time, The Economist, & Vogue.
No question too big, no question too small. On Search Engine, host PJ Vogt answers the kinds of questions you might ask the internet when you can't sleep. If you find the world bewildering, but also sometimes enjoy being bewildered by it, we're here for you. Edited by Sruthi Pinnamaneni.

Search Engine PJ Vogt, Audacy, Jigsaw

    • Society & Culture
    • 4.9 • 170 Ratings

Named a best podcast of 2023 by Vulture, Time, The Economist, & Vogue.
No question too big, no question too small. On Search Engine, host PJ Vogt answers the kinds of questions you might ask the internet when you can't sleep. If you find the world bewildering, but also sometimes enjoy being bewildered by it, we're here for you. Edited by Sruthi Pinnamaneni.

    Should this creepy search engine exist?

    Should this creepy search engine exist?

    After stumbling on a new kind of search engine for faces, we called privacy journalist Kashmir Hill. She’s been reporting on the very sudden and unregulated rise of these facial search engines. Here’s the story of the very first one, the mysterious person who made it, and the copycats it helped spawn.
    Support the show: searchengine.show

    To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

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    • 1 hr
    What do trigger warnings actually do?

    What do trigger warnings actually do?

    A listener’s brother dies by suicide, and afterwards, she finds herself angered by trigger warnings about suicide. She wants to know — are these actually helping other people? Or is it just something we do because we think we’re supposed to?
    Support the show: searchengine.show

    To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    • 59 min
    Where's my flying car?

    Where's my flying car?

    Since not long after the car was invented, we have wanted to stick wings on them and fly them through the sky. This week, we interview writer Gideon Lewis-Kraus about the surprisingly long history of actual, working flying cars in America. Plus, what it's like to actually fly in a modern flying car.
    Read Gideon's article! Support the show!

    To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

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    • 55 min
    Do political yard signs actually do anything?

    Do political yard signs actually do anything?

    It’s an election year and so Search Engine’s campaign desk is answering the questions you really want answers to: all the political yard signs in your neighbors’ yards … do they do anything besides make everyone like each other less?
    An experiment that definitively answers this question.
    Support the show!

    To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

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    • 37 min
    Why are there so many illegal weed stores in New York City? (Part 2)

    Why are there so many illegal weed stores in New York City? (Part 2)

    In part two of our story, we watch the state of New York try to pull off something we rarely see in America: a kind of reparations. A very ambitious dream encounters a thicket of details and complications. The whole time, cameras roll, broadcasting the meetings on YouTube.
    Help support the show!

    To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    • 1 hr 8 min
    Why are there so many illegal weed stores in New York City? (Part 1)

    Why are there so many illegal weed stores in New York City? (Part 1)

    In 2021, New York legalized cannabis for adults. It was supposed to be the start of a legal market, led by people arrested during prohibition. Instead, a strange new market has flourished, seemingly every formerly empty store in the city now sells weed. How'd that happen? In part one, the history of prohibition and how it helps explain the mess we're in now.
    If you enjoyed the episode, consider supporting the show at searchengine.show

    To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

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    • 52 min

Customer Reviews

4.9 out of 5
170 Ratings

170 Ratings

Dets!n ,

Definitely make time to listen to at least one.

I like this podcast so much I actually redownloaded the apple podcast app (I listen on Spotify) just so I could leave a 5 star review.
I started with the bitcoin episode (Where did the $8mil go?) and was hooked.

I love that the topics can be quirky, but are also so well researched, insightful and very human.

Thanks PJ & Sruthi - keep it coming!

rpeachykeen ,

Search Engine is a gift

I was ecstatic to see PJ and Sruthi back with a new show and as soon as I discovered it, binged all the existing episodes. I listened on my way to work, while walking my dog, on a flight home from Singapore… my wife and I even agreed on “Astronaut time” at home where we go into our headphones and pretend we’re alone at home while we do our own things (a perfect introvert recharge) to listen more.

I know a show takes a team and there’s a lot of brilliant people working on this show - thank you everyone - but my favourite part is absolutely PJ’s style, takes/wrap ups and deep insights. PJ is a fantastic, entertaining, witty, intelligent (and yet wholly relatable) host and the topics Search Engine covers are just, incredible. So clever. I’ve listened to some episodes twice; Search Engine becomes a sort of comfort listen in the way you drift back to the sitcom you watch when you were 20.

I don’t subscribe to any other types of media (yet - the latest episode has inspired me to change), but am stoked to have Incognito Mode and hope many more people listen and subscribe so we can have MORE SEARCH ENGINE! 💖

belley7834278346794 ,

Loved the ADHD episode

Super interesting podcast.

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