Black Box

Radiolab

WNYC Studios

History, Science, Documentary, Natural Sciences, Society & Culture

4.6 • 44.5K Ratings

🗓️ 21 October 2022

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode, first aired in 2014, we examine three very different kinds of black boxes — spaces where we know what’s going in, we know what’s coming out, but can’t see what happens in that in-between space. From the darkest parts of metamorphosis to a sixty-year-old secret among magicians, and the nature of consciousness itself, we shine some light on three questions. But for each, we contend with an answerless space, leaving just enough room for the mystery and magic… always wondering what’s inside the Black Box. Episode credits:Reported by Tim Howard and Molly WebsterProduced by Tim Howard and Molly WebsterCitations:Radio Show: ABC's Keep Them Guessing (https://tinyurl.com/9r9zmftr) Our newsletter comes out every Wednesday. It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Sign up (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)! Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today. Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing radiolab@wnyc.org. Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation Initiative, and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Latif, working at Radio Lab.
0:03.4	There are questions everywhere.
0:06.0	You know, it almost feels like you take a step in any direction at work and then you look
0:12.8	at the bottom of your shoe and there's a question stuck there.
0:16.3	What's it like to look through the eyes of a mantish shrimp?
0:19.5	What are babies thinking?
0:21.4	How does Thailand all work?
0:22.8	You know, so often we know the input, we know the output, but despite all of our most
0:28.0	advanced science, we don't really know what happens in the in-between.
0:32.6	The episode I'm about to play for you, if first aired back in 2014, it's about those
0:37.6	in-between spaces.
0:39.4	It's a trio of stories that celebrates the mystery and the magic of the black box.
0:47.9	Enjoy.
0:48.9	Hey, wait, you're listening to Radio Lab from WNYC.
1:07.7	Batting first, pretty certain powered.
1:09.7	Oh, wait, I'm just going to get my level here.
1:13.9	Ta-ta-pap-da-pap-do.
1:15.9	It is such a beautiful day.
1:17.4	Beautiful, I think it's got to be like 75 degrees out or something.
1:20.5	Sunny.
1:21.5	This is Patrick Perdin.
1:22.5	He's a professor in anesthesia at Harvard Medical School and works at Mass General Hospital.
	...

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