Dismantling New Age cults, wellness grifters, and conspiracy-mad yogis. At best, the conspirituality movement attacks public health efforts in times of crisis. ...
One of the top podcasts in the world—even beating out Rogan for a few hours—is popularizing a well-meaning intervention for non-speaking autistic people. Unfortunately, that intervention happens to be a proven failure, and may set autistic and disability rights discourse back by decades.
Filmmaker Ky Dicken’s The Telepathy Tapes podcast delves into the world of Facilitated Communication, in which non-speaking people are believed to miraculously gain access to complex written language after lives of silence. According to Dickson, non-speaking people can also gather in transdimensional spaces and channel spiritual knowledge.
But there’s a problem. Every controlled test shows that the messages produced through letterboards and iPads are coming from the facilitators—not the non-speaking persons.
In this episode, Matthew interviews experts in pseudoscience and autism, including Janyce Boynton, a former (now dissident) practitioner of Facilitated Communication who explains how seductive and promising it was to practice, but how it ultimately steals agency and dignity from the autistic client.
And... this is also a story about parents dealing with crushing levels of unpaid and invisible labour. They are already doing miraculous work. A fantasy is no replacement for true support and recognition.
Show Notes
Podcast About 'Telepathic' Autistic Children Briefly Knocks Joe Rogan Out Of No. 1 Spot
Ky Dickens Director | Filmmaker
Facilitated Communication—what harm it can do: Confessions of a former facilitator
MD25438 - Powell, Diane Hennacy, MD - OR License Verification - 01/12/2025 11:07:47 AM
The Telepathy Tapes: Separating Science From Pseudoscience In Autism Communication
Stolen Voices: Facilitated Communication Devalues Autism | Psychology Today Canada
Multiple method validation study of facilitated communication: II. Individual differences and subgroup results - PubMed
The Telepathy Tapes Prove We All Want to Believe
"The Telepathy Tapes" is Taking America by Storm. But it Has its Roots in Old Autism Controversies.
Mixed Messages: Validity and Ethics of Facilitated Communication | Disability Studies Quarterly
Is There Science Behind That? Facilitated Communication
Controlled Studies — Facilitated Communication
Served people with severe communication impairments — Obit for Rosemary Crossley
More Doubts over Disability ‘Miracle’
Katharine Beals
Jonathan Jarry MSc - Science Communicator
FCisNotScience - YouTube — Janyce Boynton’s awesome YouTube channel
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1:15:58
Relief Project #7: Sam Adler-Bell
The seventh installment of Matthew’s Five Big Questions Posed to an Extremely Thoughtful Person.
Sam Adler-Bell is a journalist, political theorist, and co-host of one of Matthew’s favourite podcasts, Know Your Enemy—a show about the American right. They discuss the normalization of genocide, the stark comforts of Freud and Janet Malcolm, the relief of DW Winnicott, how we can’t avoid playing the role of our own mothers, and also good advice from his dad, a labour lawyer who knows something about long, uncertain, but always worthwhile battles for the common good.
Show Notes
Sam Adler-Bell
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32:40
Bonus Sample: Calling Out Bullsh*t
Twitter Files journalist Alex Berenson recently published two articles claiming that Moderna covered up a child's death from a Moderna Covid booster trial—and the FDA is complicit. Children’s Health Defense then hosted him on their TV program to learn more about this outrageous scandal.
Do Berenson's claims hold up? All Derek did was click on the links in his own article to discover the "truth." He looks at this phenomenon through the lens of the 2020 book, Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World.
Show Notes
Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World
Alex Berenson’s article
Children’s Health Defense interview
The Lancet study on Covid vaccination in children
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3:53
Brief: Tech-Bro Mormonism (w/Blair Hodges)
We know Bryan Johnson gobbles 100 pills a day. He pumps his son’s plasma through his veins. He does light therapy on his junk and wants to live forever. But do we understand how Johnson’s fascinations reflect his Mormon heritage? No. No we don’t.
That’s why we called our very own Salt Lake City expert, Blair Hodges, host of the Relationscapes podcast.
Blair joins Matthew to discuss Johnson’s transhumanism, which has roots in the LDS but has also led him away from it. They cover the spirituality of his money, whether he’s trying to become a living god, and how his home gym has some distinctive Mormon temple elements. Also: is Bryan really as polite as he seems, or is he hiding
Blair has degrees in journalism, religious studies, and disability studies from the University of Utah and Georgetown University. He directed communications for the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Studies at Brigham Young University before moving to the nonprofit sector. He has served as communications director for Volunteers of America, Utah and RMHC of the Intermountain Area. He’s currently working on a research project on the history of intellectual disabilities in Mormon thought.
Show Notes
Relationscapes—Blair Hodges
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47:54
240: Bryan Johnson’s Impossible Blueprint
In January, 2023, Bloomberg published an article about how tech entrepreneur turned longevity stan, Bryan Johnson, spends $2 million a year in an attempt to live forever—or at least until age 200, as the goalposts shift. Then a Netflix documentary, Don’t Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever, dropped on January 1, taking a deep dive into Johnson’s quest and complex personal life. A strange thing happened along the way: Johnson felt much more personable and relatable than ever before to many viewers. Given the Bloomberg journalist is one of the producers, is this the latest propaganda piece by a supplements-pushing huckster, or is Johnson tapping into something much older and deeper about the human condition?
Show Notes
How to Be 18 Years Old Again for Only $2 Million a Year
Politico piece on Mayor Karen Bass and LA Fires
Anna Merlan on LA Fire conspiracies
Ally Carter Diddy-List Fire Conspiracy Theory Shared by Former Bush Official
Nutritionist Reviews The Blueprint Supplements
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Dismantling New Age cults, wellness grifters, and conspiracy-mad yogis. At best, the conspirituality movement attacks public health efforts in times of crisis. At worst, it fronts and recruits for the fever-dream of QAnon. As the alt-right and New Age horseshoe toward each other in a blur of disinformation, clear discourse, and good intentions get smothered. Charismatic influencers exploit their followers by co-opting conspiracy theories on a spectrum of intensity ranging from vaccines to child trafficking. In the process, spiritual beliefs that have nurtured creativity and meaning are transforming into memes of a quickly-globalizing paranoia. Conspirituality Podcast attempts to bring understanding to this landscape. A journalist, a cult researcher, and a philosophical skeptic discuss the stories, cognitive dissonances, and cultic dynamics tearing through the yoga, wellness, and new spirituality worlds. Mainstream outlets have noticed the problem. We crowd-source, research, analyze, and dream answers to it.
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