The Ghost in the Machine

Vauhini Vara lost her sister when she was in college. Even though Vauhini’s a writer now, she’d never really been able to write about her sister. It’s hard to figure out what to say about something like that. Somehow, it was a computer program that helped her find the words. Tobin Low talked to her about it. (23 minutes)

We learned about this story from The Believer, which published a written version by Vauhini titled "Ghosts." She also has a book coming out which you can pre-order. It's called The Immortal King Rao.

For more than a decade, Boris Furman has meticulously tracked the whereabouts of his family members, averaging the latitude and longitudes to arrive at “The Family Average Location.” But nobody really knows why. Dana Chivvis looks into it.