From dating shows to police interrogation rooms, the polygraph test has long been marketed as a way to detect deception. But can it really? And who decided we needed a truth machine in the first place? In this episode, a Throughline listener sends us on a quest to uncover the story of the lie detector.

Guests:

Ken Alder, professor of history at Northwestern University and author of The Lie Detectors: The History of an American Obsession

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