The Golden Rule

Radiolab

WNYC Studios

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

4.6 • 43.5K Ratings

🗓️ 28 April 2023

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

At first glance, Golden Balls was just like all the other game shows — quick-witted host, flashy set, suspenseful music. But underneath all that, each episode asked a very serious question: can you ever really trust another person? Executive producer Andy Rowe explains how the show used a whole lot of money and a simple set of rules to force us to face the fact that being good might not end well.

The result was a show that could shake your faith in humanity — until one mild-mannered fellow unveiled a very unusual strategy, and suddenly, it was a whole new ball game. With help from Nick Corrigan and Ibrahim Hussein, we take a closer look at one of the strangest moments in game show history.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, this is Radio Lab.
0:02.1	I'm Lottip Nasser.
0:03.1	I'm just going to start with a quick announcement.
0:05.2	Our senior producer and correspondent Simon Adler is doing a live show at the one and only
0:10.7	hot docs festival in my hometown of Toronto on May 5.
0:16.0	You probably remember his Mixed Tape series about how the cassette tape changed everything.
0:22.2	This is sort of that and is more than that.
0:25.0	It's so good from self-help tapes to mixed tapes to a lonely recording made on the flipside
0:32.4	of the moon.
0:33.9	This show is all about the tension between sort of collective shared experience and the
0:43.2	kind of bespoke made for you media bubble that we all kind of inhabit now.
0:49.3	The show is called Radio Lab Live, how the cassette tape changed us.
0:53.2	Meaning once again in Toronto hot docs cinema May 5th, I've seen it.
0:58.0	It's good.
0:59.0	Go go go.
1:00.0	I myself may be making a little virtual appearance.
1:03.8	Tickets are still available.
1:05.5	Let's pivot here from that live show to another live show.
1:08.8	We have a rewind for you.
1:10.6	A golden oldie if you will.
1:13.4	Now that I think about it probably also recorded on a cassette tape, it is a story about
1:18.6	a maddeningly tense showdown between two people in front of a live audience but it's
	...

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