How To Know What’s Real Podcast: Exposing Misinformation, Deepfakes, Illusions & Conspiracies

  Two generations ago, print magazines existed as a primary form of communication, cultural exchange, and social commentary. The advent of the digital age has issued a terminal notice to print magazines with only limited methods for recovery.

 The Atlantic is an American magazine that has an exceptionally long and storied history. It was founded in 1857 in Boston as The Atlantic Monthly, a literary and cultural magazine that published leading writers' commentary on education, the abolition of slavery, and other major political issues of that time. Its founders included Francis H. Underwood and prominent writers Ralph Waldo Emerson, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and John Greenleaf Whittier. James Russell Lowell was its first editor.

On July 28, 2017, The Atlantic announced that billionaire investor and philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs (the widow of former Apple Inc. chairman and CEO Steve Jobs) had acquired majority ownership through her Emerson Collective organization, with a staff member of Emerson Collective, Peter Lattman, being immediately named as vice chairman of The Atlantic. David G. Bradley and Atlantic Media retained a minority share position in this sale. In December 2020, former Wired editor-in-chief Nicholas Thompson was named CEO of The Atlantic.

Like many legacy print companies -- New York Times, Conde Nast --  The Atlantic has developed a podcast strategy. Its signature podcast -- Radio Atlantic --"road tests the big ideas that both drive the news and shape our culture. Through conversations—and sometimes sharp debates—with the most insightful thinkers and writers on topics of the day, Radio Atlantic complicates overly simplistic views. It will cut through the noise with clarifying, personal narratives. It will, hopefully, help listeners make up their own mind about certain ideas."

Radio Atlantic says: "The national conversation right now can be chaotic, reckless, and stuck. Radio Atlantic aims to bring some order to our thinking—and encourage listeners to be purposeful about how they unstick their mind."

 The Atlantic's How to Know Series podcast continues the framework built by Radio Atlantic with this smart, probing, and often prescriptive podcast. Started in late 2021, this podcast offers listeners a different focus for every season. The podcast began in 2021 with a series called How To Build A Happy Life.

  In this season, How to Know What’s Real co-hosts Megan Garber and Andrea Valdez explore the proliferation of misinformation and the rise of deepfakes and even illusions, hoping to understand what’s real and what’s not. Now that the internet, social media, and AI are integrated into much of our lives, it’s easy to lose our grip on reality.

 What is “real life,” now that the internet and AI are integrated into so much that we do? In the new season of The Atlantic’s How To series, the podcast explores the web’s effects on our brains and how narrative, repetition, and even a focus on replaying memories can muddy our ability to separate fact from fiction.

How do we come to believe the things we do? Why do conspiracy theories flourish? And how can we train our brains to recognize misinformation online?

In the May 13th episode, the podcast focuses on how social media has made it easier to build more parasocial relationships with celebrities and influencers. What impact are those connections having on our relationships IRL? And how do they shift our understanding and expectations of intimacy and trust?

Florida State University assistant professor Arienne Ferchaud defines parasocial relationships and discusses how new technologies are changing the role of entertainment in our lives.

Check out How to Know What’s Real. The previous seasons on time, happiness, and expectations are worthwhile, informative, and thoughtful listens.