Our Virtual Reality

Our Virtual Reality

Author: Wisconsin Public Radio August 28, 2021 Duration: 51:46

Not everyone has a nice, big yard to stretch out in while sheltering in place from COVID-19. But maybe you don't need one. People are using virtual spaces to live out the real experiences they miss — like coffee shops, road trips, even building your own house on a deserted island, or Walden Pond. In a world where we're mostly confined to our homes and Zoom screens, does the line between virtual and real-life space mean much anymore?

Original Air Date: May 16, 2020

Guests:

Mark RiechersTracy FullertonSimon ParkinJane McGonigalDonald D. HoffmanSuzanne O’Sullivan

Interviews In This Hour:

There's No Pandemic In Animal CrossingI Went To The Woods To Level Up DeliberatelyThe Most Boring Video Game Ever MadeWant to be Happier? Turn Everyday Tasks Into a Game How We Fool Ourselves With The Concept of 'Reality'

Further Reading:

NYAS: Reality Is Not As It Seems


There’s a certain kind of conversation that doesn’t just skim the surface of a topic but wades into its complexities and contradictions. That’s the space where you’ll find To The Best Of Our Knowledge, a Peabody award-winning production from Wisconsin Public Radio. This isn’t a lecture or a simple interview series; it’s a curated exploration of the ideas shaping our world, hosted through thoughtful dialogue. Each episode brings you voices you might not otherwise encounter in the same room: a poet might illuminate a scientific concept, while a historian’s perspective could reframe a current event. You’ll hear from novelists, software engineers, activists, and philosophers-people united not by their field, but by the depth and passion they bring to their work. Listening to this podcast feels like being part of a nuanced, ongoing discussion that challenges assumptions and invites curiosity. It’s for anyone who believes that understanding culture, society, and the human condition requires looking at them from multiple, sometimes surprising, angles. The result is a consistently engaging audio experience that treats ideas as living, evolving things to be examined with care and genuine interest.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

To The Best Of Our Knowledge
Podcast Episodes
Reading While Young [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:47
Remember when reading still felt magical? When a book could sweep you off your feet into another world? It might be that the best way to find your way back the magic is through a kid’s book. We talk to authors about Wond…
If Your Clothes Could Talk [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:05
Whether you know it or not, your closets are filled with personal information. About your identity, your values, your personality. And every day, you wear it all right out the door for the whole world to see. Do you thin…
Rethinking the Holidays [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:48
We’re in the holiday season of the worst pandemic of our lives. Canceling our gatherings is the safe thing to do. But, how can we still — creatively and safely — connect with the people we love? Maybe there are some oppo…
Shapeshifting [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:58
There are old folktales and legends of people who can become animals. Animals who can become people. And there’s a lesson for our own time in those shapeshifting stories — a recognition that the membrane between what's h…
Living With Loneliness [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:51
After a pandemic year of social isolation, we knew loneliness would be a problem. But public health officials have been warning for years that in countries all over the world, rates of loneliness are skyrocketing. How di…
Decolonizing the Mind [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:47
Colonization in Africa was much more than a land grab. It was a project to replace — and even erase — local cultures. To label them inferior. Music, arts, literature and of course language. In other words, it permeated e…
Generation Witch [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:58
As a culture we’ve long been fascinated by witchcraft, with witches through the ages practicing magic and making spells. Even through the spread of misinformation, and when they’ve been hunted and silenced. We take you f…
Solace of Nature [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:44
Rustling of leaves, sploshing of water, birds calling, bees buzzing. Wherever you live — city or country, East coast, West coast, or in between — we share common, contemplative experiences on our walks outside. In this h…
Mysteries of Migration [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:53
If you had to travel 500 miles across country, on foot, with no map, no GPS, without talking to anyone — to a destination you've never seen, could you do it? It sounds impossible, but millions of creatures spend their li…
Jazz Migrations [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:37
Music crosses boundaries between traditional and modern, local and global, personal and political. Take jazz — a musical form born out of forced migration and enslavement. We typically think it originated in New Orleans…