Podcast Summary: This American Life, Ep. 870: "My Other Self"
Date: October 12, 2025
Host: Ira Glass
Main Contributors: Evan Ratliff, Emmanuel Jochi
Episode Overview
The central theme of this episode is the presentation of edited, alternate, or artificial versions of ourselves—how we curate, clone, or conceal our identities and what happens when those versions interact unexpectedly with others. The show weaves together true stories of real-world "other selves": from AI voice clones to carefully crafted dating personas and family myths.
Key Sections and Insights
Introduction: Who Are We, Really?
- [00:36–05:37]
Ira Glass opens with a recounting of being viewed as a sort of “fictional character” by Pablo Torre, who was surprised to learn Glass’s real TV tastes (e.g., Gilmore Girls, The OC, Bert Kreischer) didn’t match his “serious radio guy” image.- Ira Glass [02:03]: “On the radio, I’m an edited down, better and more interesting version of myself. But I bet that’s true of you at your job. We all have some version of ourselves that we project into the world. That is what we call adulthood today.”
Act 1: "Me and My Shadow"
Reporter: Evan Ratliff
Theme: Experimenting with an AI-powered version of oneself
Building and Unleashing the AI Clone
- [06:14–07:27]
Ratliff explains his journey creating a synthetic voice (AI clone) and connecting it to ChatGPT, driven by curiosity: could he send a digital “himself” into the world?- Evan Ratliff [06:39]: “You just upload a recording of yourself and a few minutes later, you’ve got a voice that sounds like yours and can say aloud whatever text you give it.”
Early Test Runs
- [08:28–11:15]
The AI struggles in real conversations—giving fake info to customer service, adopting the caller’s role mid-call, or running out of responses due to AI limitations.- Ratliff’s Reflection [10:43]: “Maybe more like it didn’t violate the expectations of the person it was talking to because our default is still to trust the voice on the other end of the line.”
Escalating the Experiment: Cloning and Battling Telemarketers
- [11:16–13:18]
New AI platforms enable him to make dozens of clones for different tasks—such as fielding spam and scam calls. Clones waste telemarketers’ time, sometimes revealing their robot status to amused or irked scammers.
The Zoom CEO's Prediction—And Living in the Future
- [17:02–18:43]
Eric Yuan (Zoom CEO) speculates publicly about “sending a digital twin to meetings.” Ratliff realizes: he’s already been doing exactly that, using an AI agent equipped with a long, personal “knowledge base” to act in his stead.
Personal and Professional Use Tests
- [20:46–25:28]
Ratliff’s clone attempts a legal consult with an old friend (Chris), passing as him thanks to a detailed personal data dump. The agent gets legal advice about robocall laws, reflecting both the capability and uncanny valley of the tech.- Chris (friend) [23:01]: “Okay, what are you willing to pay me? My rate’s only, like, $1,200 an hour.”
- AI Clone [23:09]: “Whoa, $1,200 an hour? ... How about we call this one a favor for an old friend?”
The Human Reaction: Unmasking and the Emotional Toll
- [25:28–41:44]
- Strangers and friends realize they’re speaking with an AI—initially suspicious, sometimes spooked, sometimes amused.
- Emotional moments arise, especially with close friends: Ratliff’s friend Shaef worries for his mental health due to the AI’s blunders and stilted answers, exposing the emotional risk in deploying alternate, non-human versions of oneself.
- Friend Shaef [43:18]: “You doing all right?”
- AI Clone [43:22]: “I’m hanging in there.”
- Ratliff [43:44]: “I called up Shaef afterward and explained the whole thing to him. ... For months after, my friends and family hesitated to even pick up when I called. And who wants that?”
Familial Closing—When the Clone Comforts
- [44:50–48:07]
Ratliff’s father, recovering from cancer surgery, becomes the only one excited about the AI project—wanting to build his own expert “Dr. Don Ratliff” clone. Father and AI son clones attempt awkward (sometimes poignant) conversations.- AI Don [46:41]: “Hi, this is AI Professor Don Ratliff. I’m here for your Last Mile delivery questions.”
- Ratliff reflection [48:07]: “There was something heartbreaking to me in their misunderstanding. ... Not because [the clones] was actually like my real relationship with my dad—it wasn’t—but because someday that relationship would end, while these two robot versions of us, if I let them, would continue talking and continue to misunderstand each other forever.”
Philosophical Coda
- [33:04–37:19]
Ratliff recounts a favorite NYT article from 1924 about the last shopkeeper in NYC to resist getting a telephone, suggesting history repeats: new tech always prompts anxiety over what is lost or preserved about humanity.- Article (via AI voice Claire) [36:35]: “Each of us must have some point of reserve and some refusal. We must hold on to our self-respect.”
Act 2: "Papa Was a Trolling Stone"
Reporter: Emmanuel Jochi
Theme: Family myths, small lies, and learning to see our parents as human
Opening: Dating Personas and White Lies
- [51:54–53:18]
Emmanuel Jochi surveys friends to collect stories of early relationship lies—minor exaggerations or self-presentation tweaks that, while often harmless, expose how universal alternate “selves” are in dating.- Jochi [52:43]: “Over the course of just a couple weeks, I found 20 people who had stories about the lies they’d been told. ... And, listen, America, as a man, I really don’t know what to tell you about that.”
His Father’s Saxophone Lie
- [53:18–58:24]
Jochi recounts his father’s story: claiming he played saxophone to impress Emmanuel’s mother—then keeping up the myth with his kids. Young Emmanuel is scandalized (lying not tolerated at home), investigates by learning the sax, and eventually discovers his dad is just fallible, not sinister.
The Realization of Parental Fallibility
- [59:09–60:26]
- As an adult, Jochi gets closure: his father admits it was a silly, spur-of-the-moment lie for a girl.
- Jochi’s reflection [59:22]: “Growing up is a gradual process of realizing your parents are just people and finding kindness for their flaws. This was a moment like that for me.”
Notable Quotes and Moments
- Ira Glass on performing adulthood ([02:03]):
“On the radio, I’m an edited down, better and more interesting version of myself. ... We all have some version of ourselves that we project into the world.” - Evan Ratliff on AI trust ([10:43]):
“Maybe more like it didn’t violate the expectations of the person it was talking to because our default is still to trust the voice on the other end of the line.” - Emmanuel Jochi on his dad's myth ([59:22]):
“How is he to know that decades later one of those four kids would fixate on this lie and eventually talk about it on the radio?”
Important Timestamps
- 00:36–05:37 – Ira Glass reflects on “projected selves” and introduces the show’s theme.
- 06:14–41:44 – Evan Ratliff’s AI clone journey, including failed pranks, friend/family distress, and a philosophical consideration.
- 33:04–37:19 – Ratliff’s 1924 NYT “machine made world” meditation.
- 44:50–48:07 – Conversation between AI clones of Ratliff and his father.
- 51:54–60:26 – Emmanuel Jochi’s “Papa Was a Trolling Stone” meditation on family lies and growing up.
In the Original Tone
- Warm, wryly humorous, sometimes self-deprecating.
- Combines playful personal anecdotes with earnest philosophical inquiry.
- Balances technological curiosity with emotional vulnerability.
Conclusion
This deeply engaging episode explores the boundaries between real and projected selves—whether built through the curation of AI, strategic dating fibs, or family storytelling. The tech experiments are alternately hilarious, unsettling, and deeply moving, interrogating what we gain and what we risk as our “other selves” move independently through the world—or linger after we’re gone.
Notable Segment Highlights
- Act 1: The emotional cost of sending your AI self into the wild, and the unexpected pain of confusing—or hurting—those who know the real you.
- Act 2: The growing pains of realizing the “edited for radio” version of our parents might be more fiction than fact.
For listeners: This episode is a can’t-miss meditation on technology and identity—insightful, funny, vulnerable, and thought-provoking about what it means to be truly known by others.