Scott Carney Investigates

Cursing Peter Thiel

Thu, 29 Oct 2026 16:31:00 -0000

I recently traveled to Ireland to the site of an ancient megalithic cursing site to lay a curse on the billionaire oligarch and techno fascist Peter Thiel. Before you turn the page to another story in your feed, I would like to disabuse you of the notion that this was an idle vacation side quest - a silly stunt perfected for the Halloween season.

Because curses are real.

And I know that with a little help from my friends here on the Internet that we can absolutely cause Peter Thiel to develop an itch that will never go away.

Let’s talk about the science of my little incantation. Curses are one of the most studied cultural practices in anthropology since the founding of the discipline with cases of lethal curses going back at least to the 1500s.

The most famous scholarly article on the subject was written by Walter Cannon in 1942 titled “Voodoo” Death.

In it Cannon discussed dozens of accounts of lethal black magic that resulted in people actually dying from curses. He referred to autopsies of the victims and posited the likely mechanism of action was a over-stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system leading to a cascade of physiological changes leading to organ failure. Notably, Cannon wrote that the cases of “Voodoo Death” he documented were nearly identical to soldiers in World War I who died of a condition that was then known as “shell shock.”

Cannon was hardly the only anthropologist to write about it. Notable works on cursing and the mechanisms of magic were penned by Claude Levi-Strauss, Malinowski, E.E. Evans-Pritchard as well as more contemporary accounts by Wade Davis and my former professor Neil Whitehead. In Whitehead’s case, some people have suggested that a curse he picked up in Guyana from Kanaima Shaman may have contributed to his own early death by colorectal cancer in 2012.

To boil it down to its most basic components: curses work because people believe in them in the same way that they believe in the placebo effect to help them heal from illness (this is called the “nocebo effect” in medical literature). And, just like with the placebo effect, curses work even if you know that what you are getting is “just a nocebo”.

All of that to say, when I traveled to Ireland to visit the site of the Killinagh Bullaun Stone my plan was not to kill Peter Thiel, but to cause him to develop an uncontrollable itch that would never go away. And I have reason to think that if somehow this video actually reaches him, there is chance that it actually works.

This isn’t because of whatever magical powers exist in the stone (if such powers exist on earth at all) but because the collective power of the people invested in the idea that Thiel is curse-able will seep into his superstitious mind.

I’m posting this video for free on Substack a few days before I launch it officially on YouTube. I hope it prompts you to get into the fine spirit of the season. Perhaps you can help spread the word so we can worm our way onto Thiel’s skin.

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I changed my mind about peptides

Thu, 22 Oct 2026 20:35:00 -0000

Over the past four months, I tested GLP-1 peptides to document my personal weight-loss journey, navigated compounding pharmacies, sudden side effects, and had unexpected setbacks. Along the way, the experiment completely transformed my view on the rising peptide craze and the clash between big pharma and grey-market alternatives. Watch until the end to see the real results, the hidden risks, and why the outcome wasn't what I expected.Tirzepatide on Iron Peptides: https://bit.ly/4z0vwlTCode: scottcarneyGet Early Access on Substackhttps://sgcarney.substack.com/Donate to This Channel (tip) https://donateopen.com/@scott_carneyPaypal: https://www.paypal.biz/scottcarney176Venmo: https://account.venmo.com/u/sgcarney

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The "Huberman Kick" and other weird sleep protocols

Mon, 19 Oct 2026 21:22:56 -0000

The second video in my ongoing series reviewing Huberman's new book "Protocols.

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Auditing Andrew Huberman's "Protocols" (Part 1)

Thu, 08 Oct 2026 22:59:00 -0000

This first in a series where we peer review Andrew Huberman's new book. Get Early Access on SubstackDonate to This Channel (tip) Donate Open Paypal: Venmo: Join the Discord:

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The Grounding Grift

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 12:34:00 -0000

Will Touching Grass make you healthier?

SPONSOR: Get 60% Off Incogni Code: scottcCheck out Kati Rae's "The Healing Delusion" Get Early Access on Substack

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AI Designed a Lethal Virus Never before seen in Nature. . . Now What?

Fri, 25 Sep 2026 09:09:00 -0000

00:00 – Intro: AI-Designed Viruses and the Stanford Breakthrough02:10 – The Dual-Use Dilemma & Biosecurity Frontiers04:15 – Recreating Pathogens: Horse Pox & Smallpox Precedents06:25 – Anthropic Report: AI Exploits and Bioweapon Risks08:38 – Gain of Function, Geopolitics, and Asymmetric Threats11:35 – Interview Begins: Kevin Esvelt on CRISPR Gene Drives14:00 – The Inventor's Dilemma & Countering Gene Drives17:10 – Eradicating Malaria vs. Regulatory Challenges19:07 – Analyzing the Stanford Bacteriophage Experiment22:38 – The Threat of Limitless AI-Generated Pandemic Variants24:14 – Ordering 1918 Flu DNA: Testing Gene Synthesis Screening30:26 – Regulatory Loopholes in Select Agent Screening33:35 – Legislative Solutions & DNA Fragment Oversight35:50 – Designing Competent Bioweapons vs. Natural Pathogens38:28 – State Actors, Biopreparat, and "Dead Hand" Switches42:30 – Targeted Pathogens & The Probability of AI/Bio Catastrophe (p(doom))47:20 – Biodefense Solutions: PPE, Hadrien Project, and Critical Infrastructure51:24 – Far-UVC Lighting & Glycol Misting to End Airborne Disease57:42 – Closing Thoughts & Where to Find Kevin Esvelt's Work

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Big Tech's Civil War

Thu, 17 Sep 2026 16:01:00 -0000

An Interview with Gil Duran on his new book "The Nerd Reich"SPONSOR LINK: PlaudAI 10% code code: CARNEY

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How OJ Simpson Made the Modern World.

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 14:28:00 -0000

The OJ Simpson case is so much stranger than you think. SPONSOR LINK: PlaudAI 10% off with code: CARNEY Notepro Amazon: CODE: CARNEY

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Is the AI Drone War Inevitable?

Wed, 26 Aug 2026 14:48:53 -0000

From Palmer Luckey to Google's Eric Schmidt, the Murderbot Revolution is already here. TAKE ACTION: https://safe.ai/CORRECTION: The indicator “Land Now” was incorrectly identified as part of a drone’s targeting system. It is in fact an indicator of low battery life. I regret the error. Get Early Access on Substackhttps://sgcarney.substack.com/Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/gz2fFkj6MwJoin this channel to get access to perks:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3PyxGKt94kLzVqkkjEgRFw/joinScott Carney Homepage:https://www.scottcarney.comPatreon: https://patreon.com/sgcarneySPONSOR THIS CHANNEL:(Rate Sheet) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LOz25S7rwCUI8pf6_-LKnTd9IywCCOMw/view?usp=sharingDISCLAIMER: (Updated Mar 2026): All content herein constitutes commentary and opinion based on investigative journalism conducted with (i) publicly available documents, (ii) interviews, and (iii) other verifiable sources. References to “scams,” “fraud,” “theft,” or related terms should not be taken as definitive findings of fact or legal conclusions. Facts, evidence, and independent analysis are used in this program to draw strongly opinionated conclusions, but it is important to draw a sharp distinction between the facts and evidence presented, and the opinions drawn based on such material. No statement can or should be interpreted as a categorical declaration that any person has violated civil or criminal law unless a court has so ruled. Viewers are encouraged to examine the cited materials and reach their own conclusions.Anyone featured who believes a statement is inaccurate or incomplete may contact us at our business email with supporting documentation under the SUBJECT: “CORRECTION REQUEST”. We will promptly review substantiated concerns and, where appropriate, issue corrections or updates. ©Foxtopus, Inc (2026)ALTERNATE TITLESExposing the $1 Trillion AI Drone GriftWho's Getting Rich Off Killer Drones?I Investigated The Murderbot EconomyThe Dark Reality Of The Murderbot EconomyThe Hidden Murderbot EconomyWho's Getting Rich Off Killer Drones?Who's Getting Rich Off Murderbots?AI Killer Drones Are Worse Than You ThinkAI Drones Are Worse Than You ThinkKiller AI Drones Are Worse Than You ThinkAI Drones Are TerrifyingAI Drones Should Terrify YouHow Murderbots Became Big BusinessKiller AI Drones Are Getting CheaperHow To Make a Killing From AI DronesThe Killer AI Drone Goldrush Has StartedThe Killer Drone Goldrush Has Started4 in 5 War Deaths Are Now Drone StrikesThe Billionaires Quietly Getting Rich Off SlaughterbotsDrones Now Kill 5x More People Than FentanylEric Trump Is Building Killer Robots for the PentagonPeter Thiel and Eric Trump are Getting Rich Off MurderbotsThe Dark Reality Of The Killer Robot EconomyThe Hidden Slaughterbot EconomyWho's Quietly Getting Rich Off Killer Drones?The Truth About Killer Drone Billionaires

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Did I witness a miracle?

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:56:00 -0000

Late last month I came across an elderly man in an alley who was in serious distress. He’d been collapsed on the ground in the middle of a thunder storm for at least an hour and no one was coming to help him. The only reason I was there was because my cat lost his collar in a tussle with another cat and I decided to go looking for it. This is a video about the strange synchronicities in life that resist rational explanations.

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The Deadly Secret of the "Kardashian" Doctor | Mark Hyman, Jordan Peterson & Adeel Khan

Thu, 06 Aug 2026 14:38:00 -0000

The full and complete story of the celebrity doctor to the stars.

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Did Only Fans Eclipse the American Dream?

Fri, 31 Jul 2026 09:43:00 -0000

For close to 100 years if you were young and beautiful and talented the American Dream had a specific shape. You went to Los Angeles. You waited tables. You sent headshots. You hoped — you prayed — that someone powerful noticed you. A producer. An agent. A studio executive. In the darkest iterations it was someone like Harvey Weinstein: the man with a casting couch and a contract. Access to this dream depended on someone deciding whether you were worth making famous. It’s no secret here’s Carrie Fischer at George Lucas’s tribute in a joke about something that was all too real, saying “I hope I slept with you to get the job because if not who the hell was that guy.”

But the old ways are dying. The new American dream is stranger, more subversive, and depending on your perspective maybe more troubling, than the old one. In some versions it looks like this: a 50 foot woman played by a legitimate celebrity depicting an only fans star while terrorizing an urban area in revealing clothing.

I kid you not. This same scene appears in two different hit shows featuring the DIY porn industry.

No one exemplifies the new celebrity economy better than Sophie Rain. She grew up on food stamps, joined OnlyFans and made ninety-five million dollars. Not from a long standing career. Not with a record deal or a film franchise. Ninety-five million dollars, from her bedroom, talking directly to the people who believed they could gain a sliver of her personal attention. No power broker decided she was worth taking a risk on. It was just her, and the audience, and a platform that takes twenty cents on the dollar. And, yeah, I know we’re talking about pornography here, but we are also talking about fame itself because technological adaptations that happen in that space eventually get adopted everywhere else, too. And something strange is happening on Only Fans.

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The Hollywood Shaman who Became a Grifter King

Fri, 24 Jul 2026 16:00:00 -0000

How Shaman Durek went from Arsonist, to Shaman to Goop Influencer to Norwegian Royalty.Kati Rae's Substack: https://substack.com/@thehealingdelusionGet Early Access on Substackhttps://sgcarney.substack.com/Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/gz2fFkj6MwJoin this channel to get access to perks:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3PyxGKt94kLzVqkkjEgRFw/joinScott Carney Homepage:https://www.scottcarney.comPatreon: https://patreon.com/sgcarneySPONSOR THIS CHANNEL:(Rate Sheet) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WZcGlb0r3d4iZjduPcVcqEqF05vsGdHO/view?usp=sharing

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Vulture Capitalism and the Monopoly Mindset

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 09:58:00 -0000

Matt Stoller and discusses America's Monopoly rule. Get Early Access on Substackhttps://sgcarney.substack.com/Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/gz2fFkj6Mw

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MAHA's Gas Station Heroin

Wed, 08 Jul 2026 15:58:00 -0000

How Botanic Tonics' Feel Free partnered with the DOJ and RFJ Jr. Get Early Access on Substackhttps://sgcarney.substack.com/Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/gz2fFkj6MwJoin this channel to get access to perks:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3PyxGKt94kLzVqkkjEgRFw/joinScott Carney Homepage:https://www.scottcarney.comPatreon: https://patreon.com/sgcarney

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The Griftoverse Explained | A Compilation

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 11:16:00 -0000

A Grand Theory on Monetization of Lying0:00 Introduction1:38 Grifting: The Monetization of Lying: https://youtu.be/egj_7Bwl01I14:24 A Brief History of Mind Control: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCtxgBL3t5c37:57 Why Did the Supreme Court Legalize Wellness Scams https://youtu.be/3ZRAP4UBkLM52:54 How Wellness Grifters Took Over America | From RFK Jr and Trump to Gary Brecka and Grant Cardone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkEmeTJNGDg1:46:35 Peak Grift https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpfDk-8vIbE1:58:35 The Evolution of Lying https://youtu.be/DbG13rZA0XMGet Early Access on Substackhttps://sgcarney.substack.com/Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/gz2fFkj6MwJoin this channel to get access to perks:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3PyxGKt94kLzVqkkjEgRFw/joinScott Carney Homepage:https://www.scottcarney.comPatreon: https://patreon.com/sgcarney

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Peptide Grifters Asked Me for an "Honest Review"

Wed, 24 Jun 2026 11:22:00 -0000

They had no idea what they were getting themselves into.

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Why "Christians" Hate Dan McClellan

Tue, 16 Jun 2026 17:37:00 -0000

At some point you’ve probably heard someone say “the Bible clearly states” followed by. . . well, just about anything. Does God hate gays or love them? Is Jesus the prince of peace [Isiah 9:6], or does he come to bring the sword [Matthew 10:34]? Whatever your political or religious persuasion there always seems to be a passage to back it up. But what does the Bible, REALLY say? Well, to understand that you sort of need to know where the bible comes from.Dan McClellan on YouTube: @maklelan

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The Kid who Exposed Stanford's Fraud Pipeline

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 08:37:00 -0000

An interview with Theo Baker on his new book "How to Rule the World"

Get Early Access on Substackhttps://sgcarney.substack.com/Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/gz2fFkj6MwJoin this channel to get access to perks:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3PyxGKt94kLzVqkkjEgRFw/join

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The Incredible Failure of the Enhanced Games

Wed, 03 Jun 2026 15:56:37 -0000

It lost $800 Million in RECORD Time. Get Early Access on SubstackJoin the Discord:

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Wait...are most jobs fake?

Wed, 27 May 2026 09:15:00 -0000

In 2013 the anthropologist David Graeber examined one of the strangest contradictions in modern capitalism: despite exponential gains in productivity, people were working even harder that ever. In his landmark essay called “On the Preponderance of Bullshit Jobs” and then a book a few years later, Graeber showed how as much as 37% of all jobs in capitalist societies are, well, bullshit. Or, to use his own words “where even the person doing the job secretly believes the job really shouldn’t exist.(...) But nonetheless, part of the conditions of employment is that you have to pretend that it does.”

Graeber wasn’t the first to notice the problem. Back in 1930 the economist John Maynard Keynes predicted that ever-increasing industrial output from factories would make it possible for everyone on earth to work 15 hours a week. Within a few decades the economy met his expectations, but people’s workloads didn’t get lighter.

Fast forward to today, and the question of Bullshit jobs is once again on everyone’s lips. Everyone from Bill Gates to Sam Altman and Elon Musk have heralded AI as the new harbinger of the 15 hour work week. After all, the very things that AI is supposedly good at—getting rid of menial intellectual labor and automating digital tasks—are exactly the sorts of things that will get automated away.

But here’s the thing, what if bullshit work isn’t a bug in industrial captialsim? But that it is it’s key feature?

In this week’s video I dig into why Bullshit work is almost definitely here to stay despite the promises of tech barons.

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Peter Thiel's (Idiotic) Plan to Destroy the Free Speech

Wed, 20 May 2026 09:37:00 -0000

Peter Thiel's quest to destroy journalism is just getting started. SPONSOR LINK: PlaudAI https://bit.ly/3OAlAO9 10% c

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Get Early Access on Substackhttps://sgcarney.substack.com/Discord Invite: https://discord.gg/gz2fFkj6MwJoin this channel to get access to perks:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3PyxGKt94kLzVqkkjEgRFw/joinScott Carney Homepage:https://www.scottcarney.comPatreon: https://patreon.com/sgcarneySPONSOR THIS CHANNEL:(Rate Sheet) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WZcGlb0r3d4iZjduPcVcqEqF05vsGdHO/view?usp=sharing

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Did The Most Promising Longevity Drug Fail? | Brad Stanfield

Thu, 14 May 2026 15:06:21 -0000

Dr. Brad Stanfield, a primary care physician from New Zealand and friend of this channel, did something heroic. He crowdfunded over $720,000 to put the “miracle drug” to the test. The results are finally in, and they aren’t what anyone expected. I brought @DrBradStanfield onto the show to talk about what they mean. Get Early Access on Substackhttps://sgcarney.substack.com/Join this channel to get access to perks:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3PyxGKt94kLzVqkkjEgRFw/join

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The Maxwell-Blanche Testimony, Reenacted

Wed, 06 May 2026 09:36:00 -0000

Todd Blanche, who is now the acting attorney general of the United States of America interviewed Ghislaine Maxwell in July 2025. SPONSOR LINK: PlaudAI https://bit.ly/3OAlAO9 10% code code: CARNEY Notepro Amazon: https://amzn.to/4t6t6hESee the PlaudAI Summary of this video: https://bit.ly/4ukdoABSUBSTACKS:Nina Burleigh: https://substack.com/@americanpoliticalfreakshowScott Carney: https://sgcarney.substack.com/

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Jordan Peterson's Daughter Grifts off His Illness

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 14:34:00 -0000

Mikhaila Peterson called me a “moron.” Probably because she doesn’t want me to talk about her own health advice and control over her father’s medical care could be making him sicker than he already is.

Get Early Access on Substackhttps://sgcarney.substack.com/Join this channel to get access to perks:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3PyxGKt94kLzVqkkjEgRFw/joinScott Carney Homepage:https://www.scottcarney.comPatreon: https://patreon.com/sgcarneySPONSOR THIS CHANNEL:(Rate Sheet) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WZcGlb0r3d4iZjduPcVcqEqF05vsGdHO/view?usp=sharingDISCLAIMER: (Updated Mar 2026): All content herein constitutes commentary and opinion based on investigative journalism conducted with (i) publicly available documents, (ii) interviews, and (iii) other verifiable sources. References to “scams,” “fraud,” “theft,” or related terms should not be taken as definitive findings of fact or legal conclusions. Facts, evidence, and independent analysis are used in this program to draw strongly opinionated conclusions, but it is important to draw a sharp distinction between the facts and evidence presented, and the opinions drawn based on such material. No statement can or should be interpreted as a categorical declaration that any person has violated civil or criminal law unless a court has so ruled. Viewers are encouraged to examine the cited materials and reach their own conclusions.Anyone featured who believes a statement is inaccurate or incomplete may contact us at our business email with supporting documentation under the SUBJECT: “CORRECTION REQUEST”. We will promptly review substantiated concerns and, where appropriate, issue corrections or updates. ©Foxtopus, Inc (2026)

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Andrew Huberman: King of the Griftoverse (a compilation video series)

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 10:28:00 -0000

This is a four hour compilation video about the reliability of the neuroscientist Andrew Huberman.04:19 Documenting Andrew Huberman's Lies https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0thkoCYhJnc32:49 Liquid IV, LMNT, and the "Dehydrated Soda" Business Model https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5Tv_22ojbw49:17 Why did Huberman endorse Susanna Søberg's bad science? https://youtu.be/dODmftCtLtc1:13:31 Huberman's Outrageous Conflict of Interest at Cell Reports Medicine https://youtu.be/Pqv4MMZkuiw1:18:50 What's Wrong with Andrew Huberman's Science? | ft Dr. Andrea Love https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ws96_jZrNw2:17:30 What will Happen to Andrew Huberman Now? https://youtu.be/d1oTcX7SoE82:30:40 Introducing Joe Rogan's Deleted Huberman Footage (I sat through 3 hours so you didn't have to) https://youtu.be/o7eCX_W7oAo3:06:12 Huberman Finally Responds https://youtu.be/0RHaNpOprNc3:47:57 Why I fell for Andrew Huberman and Wim Hof https://youtu.be/K6WiWWG93-4Get Early Access on Substackhttps://sgcarney.substack.com/Join this channel to get access to perks:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3PyxGKt94kLzVqkkjEgRFw/joinScott Carney Homepage:https://www.scottcarney.comPatreon: https://patreon.com/sgcarneySPONSOR THIS CHANNEL:(Rate Sheet) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WZcGlb0r3d4iZjduPcVcqEqF05vsGdHO/view?usp=sharingDISCLAIMER: (Updated Mar 2026): All content herein constitutes commentary and opinion based on investigative journalism conducted with (i) publicly available documents, (ii) interviews, and (iii) other verifiable sources. References to “scams,” “fraud,” “theft,” or related terms should not be taken as definitive findings of fact or legal conclusions. Facts, evidence, and independent analysis are used in this program to draw strongly opinionated conclusions, but it is important to draw a sharp distinction between the facts and evidence presented, and the opinions drawn based on such material. No statement can or should be interpreted as a categorical declaration that any person has violated civil or criminal law unless a court has so ruled. Viewers are encouraged to examine the cited materials and reach their own conclusions.Anyone featured who believes a statement is inaccurate or incomplete may contact us at our business email with supporting documentation under the SUBJECT: “CORRECTION REQUEST”. We will promptly review substantiated concerns and, where appropriate, issue corrections or updates. ©Foxtopus, Inc (2026)

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The Degenerative Medicine of Adeel Khan

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 10:06:00 -0000

There's something wrong at the Stem Cell Doctor to the Stars.JOIN CROWDHEALTH: https://www.joincrowdhealth.com/?referral_code=CARNEYGet Early Access on Substackhttps://sgcarney.substack.com/Join this channel to get access to perks:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3PyxGKt94kLzVqkkjEgRFw/joinScott Carney Homepage:https://www.scottcarney.comPatreon: https://patreon.com/sgcarneySPONSOR THIS CHANNEL:(Rate Sheet) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WZcGlb0r3d4iZjduPcVcqEqF05vsGdHO/view?usp=sharingDISCLAIMER: (Updated Mar 2026): All content herein constitutes commentary and opinion based on investigative journalism conducted with (i) publicly available documents, (ii) interviews, and (iii) other verifiable sources. References to “scams,” “fraud,” “theft,” or related terms should not be taken as definitive findings of fact or legal conclusions. Facts, evidence, and independent analysis are used in this program to draw strongly opinionated conclusions, but it is important to draw a sharp distinction between the facts and evidence presented, and the opinions drawn based on such material. No statement can or should be interpreted as a categorical declaration that any person has violated civil or criminal law unless a court has so ruled. Viewers are encouraged to examine the cited materials and reach their own conclusions.Anyone featured who believes a statement is inaccurate or incomplete may contact us at our business email with supporting documentation under the SUBJECT: “CORRECTION REQUEST”. We will promptly review substantiated concerns and, where appropriate, issue corrections or updates. Copyright Filing Case #: 1-15138256261April 9, 2026©Foxtopus, Inc (2026)

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Exposing the Regenerative Medicine Scam: Stem Cells, Peptides, Exosomes, and Fake Science

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 09:13:00 -0000

Is regenerative medicine a scam? Or is the science of stem cells just taking off?Get Early Access on Substackhttps://sgcarney.substack.com/Join this channel to get access to perks:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3PyxGKt94kLzVqkkjEgRFw/joinScott Carney Homepage:https://www.scottcarney.comPatreon: https://patreon.com/sgcarneySPONSOR THIS CHANNEL:(Rate Sheet) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WZcGlb0r3d4iZjduPcVcqEqF05vsGdHO/view?usp=sharingDISCLAIMER: (Updated Mar 2026): All content herein constitutes commentary and opinion based on investigative journalism conducted with (i) publicly available documents, (ii) interviews, and (iii) other verifiable sources. References to “scams,” “fraud,” “theft,” or related terms should not be taken as definitive findings of fact or legal conclusions. Facts, evidence, and independent analysis are used in this program to draw strongly opinionated conclusions, but it is important to draw a sharp distinction between the facts and evidence presented, and the opinions drawn based on such material. No statement can or should be interpreted as a categorical declaration that any person has violated civil or criminal law unless a court has so ruled. Viewers are encouraged to examine the cited materials and reach their own conclusions.Anyone featured who believes a statement is inaccurate or incomplete may contact us at our business email with supporting documentation under the SUBJECT: “CORRECTION REQUEST”. We will promptly review substantiated concerns and, where appropriate, issue corrections or updates. ©Foxtopus, Inc (2026)

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Why is Jordan Peterson Dying?

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 10:38:00 -0000

Part 2 of my series on Regenerative Medicine, Mark Hyman, Jordan Peterson and Adeel Khan.

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Why are the Wellness Elite Getting Sepsis?

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 13:15:00 -0000

Mark Hyman wants you to believe he’s biologically 39 years old. The 66-year-old functional medicine guru and twelve-time New York Times bestselling author has built an empire on the promise that the right combination of supplements, lifestyle changes, and cutting-edge treatments can literally reverse aging. “We can reprogram our genes back to a younger you,” he states in one way or another in countless podcasts. “[At] 63 I could use certain transcription factors and turn my biological clock back to 25. Make my wrinkles go away, my hair turns black, my joints get healthier.”

But earlier this year, Hyman revealed something that threatens to undermine his entire brand: he almost died.

Not from old age. Not from some unavoidable disease. From sepsis—a severe infection that spread through his spine after what he vaguely described as “a pretty common injection” for back pain.

And he’s not alone. Jordan Peterson, the pop psychologist who promotes anti-wokeness as a key to mental well-being, was also hospitalized for sepsis as well. Peterson remains largely out of the public eye, and it’s unclear whether he’ll ever fully return.

Here’s where it gets interesting: both men share the same doctor—Adeel Khan, a regenerative medicine physician who runs a string of stem cell clinics out of Mexico, Dubai, and Japan. Khan’s patient roster reads like a who’s who of celebrity wellness: the Kardashians, Tony Robbins, and yes, both Hyman and Peterson.

Over the past two months, I’ve been investigating a story that these three highly public medical professionals have taken great pains to keep under wraps. It’s a story about how two of the most prominent wellness influencers in the world promoted Khan’s dubious stem cell therapies, then nearly died while under his care. And even after their close calls, they’ve remained largely silent—because admitting what happened would undermine the very grift pipelines that fund their lifestyles.

However, since their legal team has already been in touch, I would like to offer you a necessary disclaimer.

Important disclaimer: Everything I present here is my opinion based on investigative work using publicly available information, interviews, and independent analysis. I haven’t directly inspected private medical records, so my conclusions are circumstantial. References to “scams,” “fraud,” or “lies” should not be taken as definitive findings of fact or legal conclusions. No statement should be interpreted as a categorical declaration that any person has violated civil or criminal law unless a court has so ruled. I encourage you to examine the evidence and reach your own conclusions.

With that said, let me tell you what I found.

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Liars, Cheaters and Thieves: A Compilation of Wellness Scammers

Tue, 17 Mar 2026 11:16:00 -0000

Sit back and relax for three and a half hours of health-grifting exposes. Get Early Access on Substack https://sgcarney.substack.com/

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Epstein, Putin, Trump and $60 TRILLION in Dark Money

Tue, 10 Mar 2026 16:07:00 -0000

The Epstein files are a spotlight into the twisted life of the world’s most notorious sex trafficker and the billionaires and oligarchs that took advantage of young women and children. Even the redacted trove of more than 3 million documents by the Department of Justice proves that his ring of abuse went much farther than just to satisfy his sadism, but that the things that went on in his island were vitally connected to a pool of a dark money empire that exists in parallel to the ordinary economy. But what happens when we look beyond the official government releases and cross reference information in the Epstein files with another investigative journalism goldmine: a 2017 trove of leaked banking documents called “The Paradise Papers”. Read together, these two archives of material tell an even darker story about the real importance of Jeffrey Epstein. Which is why I’ve brought Craig Unger onto the show today. He’s an investigative journalist, former editor of the Boston Magazine and a multi-new york times best selling author who, like the rest of the independent journalists trying to survive the media apocalypse, now writes on Substack. A few weeks ago he broke the Paradise Papers - Epstein connection in a piece titled “Jeffrey Epstein’s Really Big Short.” Craig Unger's Substack: https://craigunger.substack.comEpstein's Really Big Short: https://craigunger.substack.com/p/jeffrey-epsteins-really-big-shortGet Early Access on Substackhttps://sgcarney.substack.com/

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The Unfortunate Truth about Wim Hof

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 10:28:00 -0000

This is my final report on Wim Hof—the charismatic ice-guru who exposed me to the magic of breathwork and cold exposure. Since I first met Hof in 2013 he has become increasingly erratic and even dangerous. Today a new edition of my New York Times bestselling book What Doesn’t Kill Us is officially for sale and I’d love you to pick up a copy or download the audiobook on Audible. (Incidentally, if you already have a copy from Audible you can just re-download the book to access the new files for free).I’m setting the record straight about Hof because of the prominent endorsements I gave him over the course of a decade. I still believe in the transformative power of various environmental exposure and breathwork regimens, it’s just that Wim can no longer be the face of the movement. Over the last two years I’ve collected archival footage of Hof, interviewed dozens of people whose family members’ died following Wim’s instructions and endured near-constant abuse from his cult-like devotees who would rather call me “Judas” in the pantheon of Hof than look at the evidence with clear eyes. The video I’m putting out today collects the most important pieces of Hof’s story that ultimately made me change my mind about him.Official Book Page: https://www.scottcarney.com/what-doesnt-kill-usAudible: https://www.audible.com/pd/B01N5NNZF8/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-077506&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_077506_rh_usAmazon: https://www.amazon.com/What-Doesnt-Kill-Environmental-Conditioning/dp/1635652413/?tag=Foxtopus-20Get Early Access on Substackhttps://sgcarney.substack.com/

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The AI Trust Problem

Tue, 24 Feb 2026 21:46:00 -0000

Would you invest in something that you fundamentally don’t trust? I’m not just talking about money here. I’m talking about investing every ounce of your life’s work, the safety of your family, your children’s future. I’m talking about everything.

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The High Cost of Cheap Salt: Inside the $39 Billion Hydration Scam

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 17:55:00 -0000

How Salt, Sugar, Potassium and Vitamin B took over the Influencer Economy.Get Early Access on Substackhttps://sgcarney.substack.com/Join this channel to get access to perks:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3PyxGKt94kLzVqkkjEgRFw/join

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Trump's Diabolical Plan to Gut Women's Rights

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 16:59:45 -0000

You’ve heard of Project 2025: the manifesto that has become the de facto guiding light for the second Trump administration. Its twisted Christian-nationalist agenda has brought us a wave of ICE raids across America, tax cuts for billionaire, gutted climate policies and using the FBI to prosecute and harass political opponents. Project 2025 was written by the conservative DC think tank, the Heritage Foundation, which recently released a new vision for women’s role in society called “Saving America by Saving the Family: A Foundation for the Next 250 Years” that aims to severely curtail women’s rights, including the right to divorce and maybe even vote. To talk about it today I’ve brought on the New York Times opinion columnist and author of the book “Screaming on the Inside: The Unsustainability of American Motherhood” Jessica Grose onto the show today.Jess Grose on Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/jessgrosewrites/Her website: https://jessicagrose.com/Get Early Access on Substackhttps://sgcarney.substack.com/Join this channel to get access to perks:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3PyxGKt94kLzVqkkjEgRFw/join

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How Epstein Made Peter Attia

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:22:10 -0000

Browse all the Epstein Files at jmail.world Get Early Access on Substackhttps://sgcarney.substack.com/

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How to Join the Resistance | A conversation with an Infantryman

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 11:09:00 -0000

When thousands of ICE agents descended on Minneapolis and began kidnapping people off the streets, the residents didn’t just stand by and let it all happen. Ordinary citizens like you and me spontaneously organized on Signal chats and began tracking ICE’s movements through they city. They warned their most vulnerable neighbors with whistles and car alarms and video taped arrests across the city. Friends of mine began delivering food to people too scared to leave their houses and carpooled their children to school. All of this happened in the face of ever-increasing violence from a fascist-anti-democratic state with seemingly unlimited resources to spend on harassing ordinary Americans. On today’s show I wanted to reflect on the miraculous organization of an effective citizen resistance in Minneapolis and offer hope to people in other cities who have not yet had ICE land on their doorstep. The murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti have supercharged the active resistance movement in across America. The lessons of Minneapolis will spread across the country. In this video I’m going to discuss how you can get involved and join the resistance more actively than just posting angry messages on social media. My guest today is Jack Jones, better known as Quadzilla. He’s an ex-army infantryman and wild land firefighter who has been organizing information about the decline of America’s democratic order and fall into totalitarianism. When I first started following him a year ago my thoughts were–oh man, this guy is extreme. He was telling Americans to arm themselves and get ready for occupation. I think that Jack was something of an oracle who saw what was happening before anyone wanted to believe he was right. Get Early Access on Substackhttps://sgcarney.substack.com/

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AI's Psychosis Epedemic

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 11:08:00 -0000

As tech companies attempt to deploy artificial intelligence into every possible facet of life–from education, to scheduling your calendar, to responding to emails, answering random questions, decoding DNA and even psycho therapy–we really have no idea how mass adoption of LLMs for basically every task will affect society at large. It’s sort of like we’re running a giant experiment on humanity with no control group and just the hope that immeasurably wealthy tech companies will steward in a brighter future. But we all know that cracks have been showing up in the AI facade. And one of those cracks is what psychologist have begun to term “AI Psychosis” – which is ….well…let’s leave that for the guests on the show today. Ragy Girgis and Amandeep Jutla are two professors of clinical psychiatry at Columbia university on the forefront of the discussion on how AI models are driving some of us….mad.Get Early Access on Substackhttps://sgcarney.substack.com/

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The Problem with Trump’s Brain

Wed, 21 Jan 2026 10:12:00 -0000

The mental health of the American president is critical to the future of the country–and it’s clear to even a casual observer of Donald Trump that his patterns of speech, inability to state the truth on just about any subject, and the apparent joy he gets out of watching other people suffer–indicate that something strange is going on in the way he perceives the world.Psychiatrists are often reluctant to speculate diagnosing someone in the absence of a face-to-face clinical exam. And yet, it appears that Trump has taken several such exams–including brain scans and mental acuity tests–that he brags about, but never releases reports on. Which is why I have brought Frank George, Ph.D. onto the show today. George holds a PhD in Psychology and Neuroscience from the University of Colorado Boulder, and was formerly the Chief of Behavioral and Biochemical Genetics at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He’s an expert on narcissistic personality disorder and writes a popular substack that focuses on Trump’s Mental state called “The Gaslight Report” which I highly recommend you take a look at.Get Early Access on Substackhttps://sgcarney.substack.com/Join this channel to get access to perks:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3PyxGKt94kLzVqkkjEgRFw/join

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Unveiling the AI Hype Cycle's Inevitable Collapse

Tue, 13 Jan 2026 12:03:00 -0000

The AI boom is a bubble and more important: when it’s most likely to finally pop.Venture capitalists and governments have invested almost a Trillion dollars in AI tech and infrastructure which has translated to AI companies being responsible for 92% of the stock market growth in 2025. Both the biggest AI boosters AND its most ardent detractors agree that the bull run will end in radical changes to the economy, politics and maybe even human civilization. alt title: Is the AI Boom the Biggest Ponzi Scheme in History?Get Early Access on Substackhttps://sgcarney.substack.com/

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The Strange Story of a Buddhist Penis Cult

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 11:55:00 -0000

The first thing that you will notice when entering into the once-forbidden kingdom of Bhutan are its stunning landscapes. The second thing that will probably catch your eye are the tremendous number of erect phalluses that people paint on their walls. In today’s report, I want to explain why the man responsible for the striking designs might just be the original spiritual grifter. Drukpa Kunley was a former monk who, in the 1400’s, promised more than 1000 women than he would give them the gift of enlightenment just so long as they slept with him.

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Don't Let Anthropic f*ck you.

Fri, 02 Jan 2026 15:26:42 -0000

Don't Let Anthropic Take YOU to the Cleaners. Links below. Join James Bartolemi and I here:https://www.duncanfirm.com/anthropic-copyright-settlement-options/OPT OUT BY JANUARY 15:https://www.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com/Emails: scott@foxtopus.inkjames@duncanfirm.comGet Early Access on Substackhttps://sgcarney.substack.com/

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60. Exposing the American Gulag

Tue, 30 Dec 2025 15:12:00 -0000

What REALLY happens after ICE detains you?American GulagExposing the ICE GulagFollow Taylor: https://linktr.ee/socialworkerforthepeopleGet Early Access on Substackhttps://sgcarney.substack.com/

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59. The Junk Science of Athletic Greens

Tue, 23 Dec 2025 13:08:00 -0000

A year ago I exposed the criminal past of the founder of AG1. Now we're going to talk about the science.Check out Alexis Léveillé's instagram post:https://www.instagram.com/p/DJ7SWK6vmyU/?img_index=1And subscribe to @nobullshitphysio https://www.instagram.com/nobullshitphysio/Athletic Greens is a green supplement powder that claims to meet “all your nutritional needs” with a daily $3 slurry of vitamins and adaptogenic buzzwords. If you’ve listened to just about any health-forward podcast in the last ten years, you’ve no doubt heard of it. And, if you’ve been following this channel for a while you probably also know that last year I exposed the criminal past of the founder who founded the company after we fled New Zealand for running a real estate scam. A few months after that report came out Chris Ashenden stepped down from his role as CEO. I also heard through the grapevine that they lost $45 million in subscription revenue because of my report.Even so, AG1 continues to be one of the most prominent financial backers of grifty podcasters — from Andrew Huberman and Peter Attia to Rich Roll and Tim Ferris. They offer lucrative sponsorship opportunities to anyone who is willing to repeat their health claims with a straight face.Part of their pitch is that unlike other supplement powders, they have actual science backing them up. While my earlier report posited the idea that you can judge the character of a company by the character of its founder, many people wrote to me that all they really cared about was whether or not AG1 actually works. They wanted to hear the science.Last week Alexis Maxence Léveillé (who goes by NoBullshitPhysio in Instagram) reached out to me saying that he had a scoop about AG1’s scientific integrity and asked me to collaborate. We have spent the last few days combing through scientific studies, interviewing scientists and talking with representatives over at AG1.And, I have to say, we sort of found a bombshell hidden in plain sight in their academic research.In the video above we examine AG1’s claims up close and report that they knowingly use an active placebo called maltodextrin as the baseline to determine if AG1 actually works. It’s true that many microbiome studies also have used maltodextrin in the past, research that they cite from 2022 proves that maltodextrin actually harms gut health. While they could have simply used inert water as a baseline, they specifically chose to use a placebo that would inherently make their supplement line look better.Even with their home-team advantage, the only published study on humans they have in their lineup actually showed no substantial difference between maltodextrin and AG1. In other words: despite claiming great things on their website, it was pretty much a wash.But wait, it gets even weirder.Once I reached out to AG1’s PR team and their entire slate of scientists, the research page began to morph in real time. They started posting about upcoming publications that haven’t been peer reviewed or published, and vastly expanded their section on research ethics.There’s a lot more to the story, but I don’t want to ruin your enjoyment of the video I have posted above.Get Early Access on Substackhttps://sgcarney.substack.com/

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58. The Truth Behind Trump's Assassination

Tue, 16 Dec 2025 12:03:00 -0000

Over the last few months a theory around the assassination attempt on Trump's life has circulated across the internet suggesting that the whole thing might have been faked in order to gain sympathy and turn the election to his favor. Let's look at the facts. Get Early Access on Substackhttps://sgcarney.substack.com/

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57. Documenting Andrew Huberman's Lies

Tue, 09 Dec 2025 09:57:00 -0000

A few weeks ago Andrew Huberman announced that he had partnered with the sports and eyewear company Roka. Together they’ve put out a specially branded blue-blocking glasses that are designed to help you wind down and get better sleep at night. If that sounds weird to you, you’re not alone. Over the years Huberman, who a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology, has repeatedly said that that he didn’t believe that blue blocking classes did all that much. Was it possible that a giant financial windfall could have changed his mind on settled science? It’s not totally surprising that leading influencers might themselves be influenced by tidal wave amounts of cash. As @TaylorLorenz mentions, we’ve always doctors on industry payrolls shilling everything from sugar to cigarettes. What’s new is that social media engenders para-social relationships with specific influencers whose own opinions, protocols and prognostications tend towards cult-like power over their followers. With more than 15 million combined followers across his social media accounts, Andrew Huberman is likely the most powerful scientific voice on the planet. So when he says something is settled science and then changes his mind for a cash grab, it undermines the public faith in information writ-large.It’s just one small step from trusting to untrusting Huberman to someone trusting and then untrusting scientific explanations from anyone. (Incidentally, Benn Jordan just did a great piece on misinformation and explicit propaganda that shows how global powers capitalize on the general distrust of authorities).The thing that I find hardest to understand about Huberman’s most recent grift is now that it happened, but why he would need money at all. What motivates his endless greed when it comes at the expense of his integrity? Stanford professors of his caliber make about $250,000 according to Glassdoor.com. That’s a pretty solid amount of money all on its own. YouTube ads run automatically and pay about $5.50 per thousand views with what amounts to a strict firewall between his editorial content and the sponsor’s demands. (THIS NEXT SENTENCE CONTAINS AN ERROR, PLEASE SEE THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH) Given that he has 365 million views on his channel, it’s a simple calculation to figure out that he is bringing in about $7M a year from adsense alone. That means he’s already making 28 times his ordinary salary without the need for any ethical compromises on his part. All told, the Huberman Lab podcast has generated at least $20 million over the course of its three year run to date. (CORRECTION THIS PREVIOUS PARAGRAPH CONTAINS AN ERROR: @hubermanlab I calculated that Huberman made $20M on YouTube ads based on his 365M combined views which make around $5.50 CPM. My math was seriously off. The true total would have been only $2M from ad sense. So instead of making 28x the standard Stanford salary, he only was making 3x. I regret the error and will issue a video correction)That’s an unfathomable, wasteful and frankly obscene, amount of money from my perspective. Even so, Huberman didn’t think that it was enough. The Roka deal will likely give Huberman a sizable payment of $1-2 million over its lifetime. Meanwhile, He has a further 13 paid sponsors on his show which, we can guess net him another $6 million (actually, just $600,000) or so a year. That mindset is what’s fundamentally broken with the information universe we live in. Instead of being an upstanding credible vehicle for science, Huberman made the, probably unconscious, decision that money was the most important metric for success. The only silver lining here is that at least we can document exactly when and where he changed his mind on science.I hope that you enjoy the video.

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56. Mel Robbins and Jay Shetty are Evil (Geniuses)

Sat, 29 Nov 2025 15:03:21 -0000

A deep dive into all the ways that Mel Robbins and Jay Shetty manipulate you into promoting their content. It's both diabolical and awe inspiring.

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55. Trump and Epstein: The Cover-up Explained

Thu, 04 Sep 2025 13:59:16 -0000

You already know something about the relationship between Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein. The story has come your way in countless short clips, tweets, social media posts and YouTube videos. There’s so much information about the two of them that it’s easy to lose the big picture in the onslaught of constant updates. So, over the last two weeks I combed over hundreds of documents and videos and put together a comprehensive dossier on the President’s relationship with the most notorious sex trafficker in history. #epsteincase #epsteinlist #trump

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54. Inside the Insane Doomsday Cult that Tried to Destroy the Planet

Tue, 29 Apr 2025 16:38:31 -0000

In March 1995 members of a doomsday cult released sarin nerve gas on subway lines all across Tokyo killing 13, and injuring more than 1,000 others. Shoko Asahara, the leader of Aum Shinrikyo, taught that an apocalypse would return the world to a pristine state. This end-times ideology eerily mirrored the accelerationist beliefs of the present day technological elites who aim to break down present day economic and social systems to establish a techno-futurist New World Order.Aum Shinrikyo is a cautionary tale of how far independent religious organizations can go to carry out destructive ends. Still, few people know how far the group was really willing to go. Over the course of several years the group raised more than a billion dollars, recruited biological, chemical and nuclear scientists and set them to work developing truly catastrophic plans. They bought a ranch in the Australian outback dedicated to weapons testing. They eventually accumulated thousands of tons of both Sarin and VX. They used the gas in both subway attacks and in targeted murders.While those details are well-known, there is evidence to suggest that Asahara was working on even bigger plans — ones that seemed to be pulled right out of the pages of science fiction. In the early 1990s Aum Shinrikyo sent emissaries into the former Soviet Union to train their group with discarded military weaponry. Intelligence analysis reported that they also made efforts to acquire several of the hundred suitcase sized nuclear weapons that disappeared after the fall of the Berlin wall. The plan may have been to turn the device into a seismic weapons that would set off a cataclysmic earthquake in Japan which, they believed, would also begin the world down the path of nuclear war.In the video above I discuss the evidence, history and science behind tectonic weapons and show how Aum Shinrikyo was probably trying to make one work.While the world ultimately didn’t end, Aum Shinrikyo’s tactics and capabilities need to remain at the front of our mind. The barriers to creating world-ending technologies through gene-editing, autonomous drones, nuclear weaponry and biological agents get lower every year. As more groups adopt extreme ideologies it is easier than ever to find one who might take the next step.#cult #accelrationism #prophecy #aumshinrikyo

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53. The True Story of Ashley Black's $175 Million Fasciablaster Anti-Cellulite Scam

Fri, 01 Nov 2024 09:28:00 -0000

A crooked self-help wellness guru named Ashley Black sold a skin-detaching anti-cellulite device to millions of woman since 2014. When thousands of her former-customers joined a watchdog group that claimed her device detached their skin from the underlying muscle, Black did what successful bullies always do--she went on the attack. Black sued her former customers alleging that their truthful Facebook posts were defamation and undermined her bottom line. She lost every case--all the way to the Texas supreme court. Now Ashley Black has fled to a mansion in Costa Rica and has raised millions of dollars in a crowdfunding campaign that looks as unlikely to be real as everything else Black has done in her career. With special appearances from:Richard Coffin "The Plain Bagel" @ThePlainBagel Alexis Maxence Léveillé (Physio-Debunker) https://www.youtube.com/@nobullshitphysioChris DaPrato (Physical Therapist) https://www.instagram.com/cuptherapy/Marty Carney MD (Plastic Surgeon) https://www.instagram.com/drmartincarney/Voice Overs by:Laura Krantz (whistleblower) https://www.instagram.com/krantzlm/Ron Doyle (Texas judge) https://www.instagram.com/rondoyle/#cellulite #fasciablaster #scamGet Early Access on Substackhttps://sgcarney.substack.com/Join this channel to get access to perks:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3PyxGKt94kLzVqkkjEgRFw/joinPatreon: https://patreon.com/sgcarneyScott Carney Investigates Podcasthttps://www.scottcarney.com/podcastYouTube https://www.youtube.com/@sgcarneyBooks:⁠The Wedge⁠ https://www.scottcarney.com/the-wedge⁠What Doesn't Kill Us⁠https://www.scottcarney.com/what-doesnt-kill-us⁠The Enlightenment Trap⁠https://www.scottcarney.com/the-enlightenment-trapThe Vortexhttps://www.scottcarney.com/the-vortexThe Red Markethttps://www.scottcarney.com/the-red-marketListen to the Scott Carney Investigates Podcast on:YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2TVEkr1lWIJp6zZijbuZE8xTn5Edur-7Apple:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/scott-carney-investigates/id1675685319Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/5Eez65bpNJSDLCYQb7yck5Anchor:https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/12a9Xdpn6ybSocial Media:Threads: https://www.threads.net/@sgcarneyInstagram https://www.instagram.com/sgcarney/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/scottcarneyauthorTwitter https://twitter.com/sgcarneyBluesky https://staging.bsky.app/profile/sgcarney.bsky.social#ashleyblack #askashley #bethemovement #howdoyoulikeusnow #heartbuttchallenge #fitfasciachallenge #fasciablaster #faceblaster #brianamichel#fasciablaster #ashleyblackguru #fasciablasterblackfriday#ashleyblackexperience#kardashian#fasciaqueen ©PokeyBear LLC (2024)

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52. Hot Girls Updated: Why "Pornstar" Rachel Bernard wants to talk ten years after the Netflix hit

Tue, 15 Oct 2024 07:41:00 -0000

In 2015 Netflix aired a documentary about the seedy underbelly of the Miami porn industry called Hot Girls Wanted. Two filmmakers and executive producer Rashida Jones followed the stories of three 18 and 19 year olds who answered craigslist ads to have sex on camera. Over the course of the next three months the women were pulled ever-deeper into disturbing and even violent scenes in what is known as “abuse porn.”

I was horrified.

Statistics they showed by the Kinsey Institute showed that 40% of online pornography features violence against women. The average porn star barely lasts three months in the industry. The end credits reported that all three women left the business shortly after the documentary wrapped up.

Since principle photography began about ten years ago, and I wanted to know where the women from the film ended up. I reached out to all three filmmakers and never got a response. But I did manage to connect with Rachel Bernard the woman featured in the film poster who went by “Ava Taylor” at the time.

She recounted how the filmmakers had a very specific agenda behind their project that required her to look like a victim, when the reality was much more complicated. After the film’s release they flew her out to a university campus to talk about the horrors that she experienced, but unlike what the film reported, Bernard was still actively performing, and according to her, thriving.

During the meeting Rashida Jones asked her if she was “going to quit the industry” now, and offered to pay for Bernard to pursue her dream of becoming a photographer at the Art Institute of Chicago. Bernard was excited by the generous offer and accepted it on the spot. But once she began tweeting about her complex feelings about the film the tuition payments dried up.

In our interview, Bernard tells me how while the filmmakers Ronna Gradus and Jill Bauer ostensibly wanted to expose the dark side of the porn industry, they also ended up exploiting the 18-year-old women who they were covering. In one jarring irony as the filmmakers were taking the cover shot for movie poster (and thumbnail in Netflix’s queue) the session followed the same scripted playbook of the actual pornography shoots she did for her day job.

“They told me to ‘pose a little more sexy’ and now look ‘sad’ while she sat in her own bedroom in in her underwear. The net effect was a series of compounding exploitations.

Not only were the women being pressured to perform increasingly violent acts on camera for actual pornographers, but the Bauer, Gradus and Jones used Bernard’s story to sell multi-million dollar film production deals at Netflix.

In this interview with Bernard we talk about how her life has moved on over the course of ten years, her thoughts on ethical porn consumption, the good and bad parts of the industry and the rise of OnlyFans where girls like her have more control over how they appear online.

And what she told me made me reconsider almost everything about my initial reaction to the show when I first watched it. Bernard speculates that Jone’s offer was really a ploy for the documentary crew to sell a follow-up TV series to Netflix that eventually aired under the title Hot Girls Wanted: Turned On. Bernard had to drop out of school and take a minimum wage job to cover her expenses.

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51. The Master Plan to Legalize American Corruption

Tue, 10 Sep 2024 11:04:00 -0000

It’s easy to get disillusioned with American politics. There’s a two party system that makes everything seem intractable, a general lack or transparency, and an overwhelming sense that corporate greed somehow controls everything. But it didn’t have to be that way.

This week I had the great privilege to interview investigative journalist David Sirota about his brand new limited series podcast Master Plan. In it he traces the roots of our current political deadlock back more than 50 years to Nixon administration where the destined-to-be-impeached president took a bribe on tape from the Milk lobby.

When the news came out that dairy farmers were funneling vast sums of cash into the Nixon campaign American politicians did something almost unheard of: they passed new laws on campaign finance that made this exact thing illegal. What could have been the beginning of a new era of transparency in government ultimately had the opposite effect. Frightened by the possibility of clean politics a soon-to-be supreme court justice named Lewis Powell cooked up a document that became the vision of corporate oligarchs to legalize corruption. Sirota and his team of talented journalists (which includes my wife Laura Krantz) follow the story from the infamous Powell Memo through a series of backroom deals, pivotal supreme court decisions and bad faith efforts all the way to the penning of the Republican manifesto “Project 2025” in this year’s election.

I don’t want to give too much away, except to say that the show elegantly covers a huge breath of American history and will make you think about politics in an entirely new way.

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50. The True Story of David Sinclair's Longevity Lie

Wed, 14 Aug 2024 06:25:00 -0000

The Harvard geneticist sold a fake miracle pill to GlaxoSmithKline for $720,000,000, and now wants the world to believe that he has discovered a new immortality molecule. Everyone wants to live a long and healthy life. No one wants to die. The oldest scam in history is the longevity lie. The first writing recorded on Sumerian clay tablets recounts the story of Gilgamesh’s failed quest to bring his friend back from the dead. The immutable fact of mortality has dogged human kind since its very beginning. And yet every age has brought with it its own crop of magicians, alchemists and scientists promising eternal life. Their pitch is always the same: everyone who came before them was a charlatan, but they have the secret sauce. The most famous longevity grifter of our age is no different. If you’ve ever heard a news story that a glass of red wine might make you live longer, it was because of his groundbreaking research. Harvard geneticist David Sinclair is one of the most decorated scientists on the planet. He’s listed as an author on more than 500 papers, his work has been cited more than 96,000 times and he holds 50 patents. He was the editor of the journal Aging. Resume aside, David Sinclair is no different than any other health grifter throughout the ages, and great fortunes have been squandered in pursuit of his “science.” In this week’s video I dive into his 25 year history of scientific mistakes, lies and fraud. I show how he used disproven research on the chemical “resveratrol” to sell a best selling book and, ultimately, a company to the pharmaceutical drug maker GlaxoSmithKlein for $720,000,000. Two years after the sale, the research was proven to not work, and Sinclair became one of the richest scientists in America. Now, ten years after that work fell apart, Sinclair is at it again selling the idea of a new immortality molecule called NMN. This video took me three weeks to put together, but it was worth the wait.

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49. Y Tu Peter Attia?

Tue, 16 Jul 2024 09:28:00 -0000

A recent lawsuit by Peter Attia against his former sponsor OURA ring is a total bombshell--not because the outcome matters much one way or another, but because it outlines exactly how health influencers get paid to alter their messaging on behalf of companies and even alter the direction of scientific studies. Through the court filings I found out that he is sponsored by at least ten companies and is somehow also involved in a $200 Million "blank check company" in the Cayman Islands which does...well...who know's what? The most important part of this lawsuit is that it's likely a blueprint for how every other health influencer out there ALSO gets paid. The same basic contracts likely fill the bank accounts of Andrew Huberman, David Sinclair, Andy Galpin, Lex Friedman, Dave Asprey, Mark Hyman, Rangan Chatterjee, Tim Ferris, Matthew Walker and so many more.

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Follow along by reading the legal complaint with me here: Attia's Blank Check Company in the Cayman Islands: #peterAttia #hubermanlab #darkmoney

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48. The Brainwashing Cult of Joe Dispenza

Tue, 09 Jul 2024 11:25:00 -0000

In 1985 a scientist in France named René Peoc'h very nearly proved that love can alter the quantum state of matter with an ingenious experiment involving newly hatched chickens and a robot. If you think that sounds unbelievable, then just you wait until you find out what the chiropractor to the stars Joe Dispenza did with the results. #quantum #healing #joedispenza

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47. Exotic Plants, Deadly Consequences | The Feel Free Story

Tue, 02 Jul 2024 07:21:00 -0000

Chances are that you have never heard of Feel Free before. It comes in a shiny blue bottle sold at convenience stores across the country as a social lubricant and substitute for alcohol. It proudly proclaims that it’s primarily kava—a south east asian tree root that has lots of traditional uses. But until recently, it was less forthright about its other, much more powerful ingredient: kratom. A few years ago I started seeing signs for kratom at my local head shop and figured that it was some sort of cheap marijuana substitute, but I didn’t give it another thought. What I didn’t know is that since 2016 the FDA has been trying ineffectively to get the addictive opioid-esque leaf off the streets, while a powerful drug lobby has used a familiar playbook to keep it legal(ish). The kratom industry is worth approximately $1.5 billion today. In an amazing investigative series, the Tampa Bay Times tracked Kratom production from farms and ports in Malaysia and Thailand through shipping routes to Oakland and then overland to processing and distribution centers in Colorado, Georgia and Florida. They uncovered documents attributing kratom, at least in part, to more than 500 deaths in Florida alone. Back of the envelope math suggests the national total would be in the thousands. And while kratom is having its heyday in the press, the various health elixirs based off of it are getting a lot less attention. I only became aware of Feel Free once people started sliding into my DMs from a reddit board called https://www.reddit.com/r/Quittingfeelfree/ While scientists are already hard at work researching the nuances of kratom addiction, posters told me Feel Free was somehow much worse than they could have ever imagined. Because whatever the issues people were having with kratom, Feel Free was somehow different. People who had been using kratom on its own for years without a problem said that this blue bottle tipped them over the edge into dependency. One woman whose daughter died with blue bottles all around her called it “Evil Incarnate.” Botanic Tonics, the company that makes Feel Free uses a proprietary blend of ingredients that synergies into a concoction that users tell me feels almost tailor made to foster addiction. It was only after I started looking into the founder’s background that things started to click. . .

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46. The True Story of Athletic Greens (and the Real Estate Scam that Started it All)

Wed, 26 Jun 2024 15:22:17 -0000

If you’ve listened to just about any podcast in the last few years you’ve probably come across a green slurry macro-nutrient shake called AG1 (formerly Athletic Greens). The supplement shake has garnered endorsements from the most influential people in science communications—from Andrew Huberman and Peter Attia—and just about every health and wellness influencer open to an affiliate deal. AG1’s popularity stems from the simplicity of its marketing: claiming that one delicious powder-based smoothie can sort out all of your hidden nutrient deficiencies. For just three dollars a day you can start your morning right and thrive where you used to falter. Who wouldn’t want that? AG1 recently achieved a $1.2 billion valuation, but has experiences a bit of a backlash as experts and scientist have started to wonder if its claims of being the best formulated bio-available nutrient shake in the world really check out. The criticisms are fair and to some degree expected, with everyone from the Today Show to the New York Times (as well as a battalion of YouTube videos and blogs) digging into the company’s specific claims. But there is one story that they all missed. No one looked into the background of AG1’s founder. . .

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45. Power, Sex and Psychopathy with Dr. Kate Balestrieri

Tue, 23 Apr 2024 20:43:00 -0000

Today we're going to talk about some hard subjects--adultery, violence, power, and psychopathy. During the last few weeks I've been in touch with many amazing people from all around the internet who are trying to understand how deep the problems with Andrew Huberman really go. One of the people I met was the sex and relationship counselor Kate Balestreri and I'm so glad that we had some time to sit down together. Kate Balestrieri: https://www.threads.net/@drkatebalestrieri Modern Intimacy: https://www.modernintimacy.com

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44. The New Science of Ice Bathing | Brad Schoenfeld

Tue, 09 Apr 2024 07:20:00 -0000

The science of ice bathing has been evolving a lot in the last few years. Brad Schoenfeld is a PhD in physiology and hypertrophy (literally building muscle) who just completed a metastudy analysis that showed that ice bathing after working out could kill the muscle gains. Read more on his blog post about it here: https://www.lookgreatnaked.com/blog/ #exercise #fitness #coldexposure #icebath

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43. What's Wrong with Huberman's Science? | ft Dr. Andrea Love

Tue, 02 Apr 2024 21:26:00 -0000

So maybe you don't care about what happens in Andrew Huberman's personal life. So long as his science checks out, what's the harm? Well, I hate to break it to you but his science doesn't really check out either. From cherry-picked results to quack "protocols" Huberman frequently overextends his knowledge and starts shilling pseudoscience. This week on the show I talk to the immunologist Dr. Andrea Love to set the record straight. You can find out more about Dr. Love at her website: Website: https://www.immunologic.org/ Threads: https://www.threads.net/@dr.andrealove
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42. The Skeleton Business's Murderous Legacy

Thu, 28 Mar 2024 17:43:00 -0000

At its height, the bone factories in Calcutta exported more than 60,000 anatomical skeletons a year to medical programs all over the world. Most of the bones had been looted from graves and burning ghats. Still, anatomy processors made millions of dollars stealing and then exporting those bodies abroad. Today, those hundreds of tons of human remains are in closets and specimine collections all around American and Europe...and now we need to decide what to do with them. Today my guest is Sabrina Agarwal a professor and the chair of the department of anthropology at the University of California-Berkeley who specializes in bioarchaeology. She just wrote an article in Nature digging into the ethical dilemma we all face when thinking about how to deal with the legacy of the skeleton trade. "The bioethics of skeletal anatomy collections from India" in Nature

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41. How Sholto David took on a $1.7 Billion Pharma Behemoth

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 16:00:00 -0000

How many scientific papers are rotten with fake data? It turns out a lot more than you might think. Even some of the most well-respected medical institutions in the world have been caught out making things up in what should have been life-saving cancer research. Citizen sleuth, David Sholto came on the show today to talk about his role in unmasking more than 2000 papers that are either full of mistakes, or are outright frauds. Tune in to this riveting show to see how he uses artificial intelligence and good-old-fashioned reasoning to hold billion dollar pharmaceutical enterprises to task.

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40. Why did the USA pay $500 Billion to Nigerian Hackers? | ft. Jack Rhysider of Darknet Diaries

Tue, 12 Mar 2024 09:08:00 -0000

Why did the US Government give $500 billion to Nigerian hackers? What is Pig butchering? How will artificial intelligence change the the way hackers operate? What is the future of cyber warfare? These are all true stories from the dark side of the internet. Today I had the opportunity to talk with Jack Rhysider--the amazing host of the podcast Darknet Diaries ( @darknetdiaries7259 ). This conversation will change the way you think about you own privacy on the internet.

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39. Gurus, Gatekeepers, and the Conspirituality Wellness Cult with Derek Beres of the Conspirituality Podcast

Tue, 05 Mar 2024 08:57:00 -0000

This week the author and hose of the Conspirituality podcast, Derek Beres joins me to talk about the strange axis between spirituality, wellness and conspiracy theories that have taken over the internet. We don't pull any punches in this conversation, touching on the rise of anti-vaccine conspiracies, lizard people, coffee enemas, and how the neuroscientist Andrew Huberman has seemed to shuck off the aura of respectability and turned into a full-throated pseudoscientist.

Conspirituality Webpage: https://www.conspirituality.net/

Podcast: Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/conspirituality/id1515827446

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2imIsM2NZRPpQvI56TLdM5

Book:https://amzn.to/48rQWKy

Derek Beres on Threads: https://www.threads.net/@derekberes

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38. The Night Hag: Sleep Paralysis in the Age of Insomnia

Tue, 27 Feb 2024 10:40:00 -0000

Have you ever woken up while you were dreaming, only to find that you couldn't move a muscle? Or, perhaps even more terrifying: have you woken up and felt a deep weight on your chest and sensed that an evil creature was pushing down on your chest? That, my friend, is the night hag--another name for sleep paralysis. I recently had a chance to chat with Kate Kavanaugh @katekavanaughmbs --a world famous butcher and host of the Mind, Body, Soil Podcast about the strange things that happen when we close our eyes at night. I've known Kate from a few interviews that we've done together over the years, and this is a re-broadcast of her show on my channel. So when you're done checking it out, go on over and subscribe to her amazing feed and find her other amazing conversations. Kate KAvanaugh's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@UCQplPRm_Z0bEWdqfWtMGaQw Mind Body Soil Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mind-body-and-soil/id1615122217 Kate Kavanaugh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kate_kavanaugh Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3PyxGKt94kLzVqkkjEgRFw/join Get Exclusive Updates on Patreon: https://patreon.com/sgcarney Substack https://sgcarney.substack.com/

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37. Captured by Pirates

Thu, 08 Feb 2024 09:02:00 -0000

In 2011 the journalist Michael Scott Moore was on assignment in Somalia on an assignment to document the spread of piracy in the Gulf of Aden. Just before he took a flight home, gunman stopped his car and forced him to get out. This was the beginning of 977 days in captivity. I had the opportunity to speak with Moore before he left for Somalia on his initial trip, and once he was freed. This is a recording of our conversation. #somalia #piracy #hostage #journalism The Desert and the Sea: Moore's Website : Get Exclusive Updates on Patreon: My weekly newsletter on Substack

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36. The Neuroscientist Who Dared to tell the truth about Meditation

Wed, 03 Jan 2024 19:45:03 -0000

When Willoughby Britton set out to study the potential negative side effects of meditation she never expected that the community would want to hound her out of her job. But that's what happened after her study on the "Varieties of Contemplative Experience" came out and she documented how one out of every ten people who start meditating have a clinically significant negative side effects. Clinical and Affective Neuroscience Lab Cheetah House Support this show on Patreon and get exclusive EARLY ACCESS and access to a private discord server: Read my Substack Newsletter Scott Carney Investigates Podcast Books: ⁠The Wedge⁠ ⁠What Doesn't Kill Us⁠ ⁠The Enlightenment Trap⁠ The Vortex The Red Market Social Media: YouTube Instagram Facebook Twitter Bluesky ©PokeyBear LLC (2023)

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35. Can Technology Save us from Climate Change?

Sat, 25 Nov 2023 20:16:51 -0000

Bigger storms, receding coastlines, and unlivable heat: climate change is coming and sometimes it feels like there's nothing we can do to stop it. This week I talk with Stephen Miller who has combed the history of humankind's attempts to control nature. He has some ideas about what adaptation will look like and how big tech projects have faired over generations. Read his new book: Over the Sea Wall. More about Stephen Miller. Support this show on Patreon and get exclusive EARLY ACCESS and access to a private discord server: Subscribe to my newsletter Scott Carney Investigates Podcast Books: ⁠The Wedge⁠ ⁠What Doesn't Kill Us⁠ ⁠The Enlightenment Trap⁠ The Vortex The Red Market Social Media: YouTube Instagram Facebook Twitter Bluesky ©PokeyBear LLC (2023)

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34. How Eric Hinman Went from Schlubby at 27 to Shredded at 43

Sun, 19 Nov 2023 10:34:00 -0000

Most people seem to age in a predictable direction, but Eric Hinman seems to be an exception. In this video I dive deep into how Eric quit his corporate job selling life insurance and decided to dedicate himself full time to health and happiness. In this podcast he gives us his tips on what it means to be fit in your 40's, how to make friends at any age and how much money a person can make on social media.

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33. Dr. Casey Fiesler, and the Monkey Selfie that Shook the World

Sun, 05 Nov 2023 07:15:00 -0000

This week I spoke to Casey Fiesler, a tech ethicist, professor and rather famous TikTokker about the parallel universe of copyright litigation, fair use arguments, revenge pornography and so much more. Find more out about Fiesler's academic work here:

Website |

YouTube

TikTok

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32. The Cult that Demands Two Slaves a Month

Sat, 28 Oct 2023 08:51:00 -0000

I'd never heard about Dahn Yoga until Chris Flanders reached out to me. When I started digging in I learned how seriously dangerous this organization really is.

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31. Is Dan Ariely a Scientific Fraudster, or just misunderstood? The Exclusive Interview.

Mon, 23 Oct 2023 07:42:00 -0000

This is the full and unedited interview with Dan Ariely where we talk about the fraud allegations against him, the meaning of truth and so much more. Make up your own mind about what happened. Get Dan's new Book "Misbelief" here: https://amzn.to/3ZXxoLw #danariely #fraud #science

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30. Shocking Stories from the Emergency Room: A conversation with Dr. Rob Orman and the strange things he's removed from people's backsides.

Sat, 14 Oct 2023 09:59:00 -0000

The one question that Emergency Room Doctors get more than any other is "what sorts of objects have you pilled out of people's rectums." I've known Dr. Rob Orman for several years now and he has stories galore: from the proper technique to remove rectal foreign bodies without damaging his patients, to how to keep up his bedside manner when operating on a known criminal with a horrible record. You don't want to miss this show. Listen to Rob Orman's Stimulus Podcast: https://roborman.com/stimulus-podcast/

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29. The Story that almost Killed Me | How Organized Crime taught me about the Future of Mainstream Media

Sun, 08 Oct 2023 08:51:00 -0000

Before I interviewed a well-known hitman in Bangalore in 2008 I told my editor at WIRED that if I didn't report back in 12 hours that he needed to call a cop that was known to shoot first and ask questions later because I was already probably dead. This story is not only about the risks that reporters take in the field, but how the changing distribution of journalism is going to fundamentally alter the types of stories that you hear.#mafia #MarhsallMcluhan #media

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28. The Secret History of the Mongols

Tue, 03 Oct 2023 09:43:00 -0000

The largest and most successful empire in history wasn't Rome: it was the Mongols. This week I interview Jack Weatherford the New York Times bestselling author of "Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World" about what made the Mongolian Empire so successful. . . and what is REALLY hidden in Genghis Khan's grave.

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27. How a Fake Guru founded a Real Cult | An Interview with the Filmmaker VIkram

Sat, 23 Sep 2023 09:56:00 -0000

The filmmaker Vikram Gandhi wanted to expose the fake spirituality of the American wellness movement by impersonating the Hindu priests he grew up around. He invented a fake yoga, intoned Sanskrit chants that were translated from the marketing materials of Nike Sneakers, the US Army and G.I. Joe and told people to trust their intuition. What he didn't expect was that some of his followers started to believe that he really WAS god. #guru #cult #breathwork Watch Kumaré on Amazon:
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26. Why Liars Win

Fri, 15 Sep 2023 09:35:00 -0000

How do we reconcile the fact that lying is an incredibly effective strategy with our shared desire for truth? In the natural world all sort of creatures lie about how dangerous they are in order to survive. The Allied command lied in WW2 to confuse the Nazis before D-day, and most of us would say that the lying was justified. But lying also erodes the social fabric in general.
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25. The Death of Expertise with Jamie Carlin Watson

Sat, 09 Sep 2023 07:34:00 -0000

What is an expert? For that matter, why don't we trust them? In this week's episiode I interview Jamie Carlin Watson, a bioethicist and professor with a whole host of academic credentials at the end of his name who also happens to be an expert on the very notion of expertise. We discuss the madness that gripped the world during the COVID-19 epidemic, the fall of credenitalism and why both of us have zoom backgrounds full of prestigious looking books to show how smart we are.

Find out more about Jamie Carlin Watson on his website: https://jamiecarlinwatson.weebly.com/

#expertise #covid #bioethics

SPOTIFY

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24. How Doctors Think: From Medical Barbarism to Artificial Intelligence with Adam Rodman M.D.

Sat, 02 Sep 2023 08:53:00 -0000

How does the barbaric history of medicine shed light on the future of artificial intelligence? How will computers transform the way doctors think? Will patients benefit from the placebo effect if they're talking to a robot?

Adam Rodman M.D.

http://bedside-rounds.org/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AdamRodmanMD

Bedside Rounds https://open.spotify.com/show/6GcbCZtWqmggsH70qlhaUU

Books Mentioned:

"Beyond Measure," James Vincent https://amzn.to/3L6KboN

"Medical Thinking," Lester King https://amzn.to/47ZwiCk

"Allegory of the Cave," Plato https://amzn.to/3Z1uJzP

"The Decision Tree," Thomas Goetz https://amzn.to/45QiFUn

"The Premonition," Michael Lewis https://amzn.to/3PlrqjG

"Viruses, Plagues and History," Michael Oldstone https://amzn.to/3PlrqjG

#Medicine #BedsideRounds #ArtificialIntelligence

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23. I am Become Death: Oppenheimer and the Kali Yuga

Sat, 19 Aug 2023 08:57:00 -0000

The father of the first atom bomb quoted an ancient Hindu scripture when he saw the mushroom cloud exploding over the New Mexico desert. His immortal quote "I am Become Death, destroyer of worlds," framed the dawning of the age we live in today. I recently saw the Chirstopher Nolan's film on Robert Oppenheimer and it got me wondering about the famous passage. It's not just a badass phrase, but a deep philosophical consideration about the very meaning of Duty. In this week's episode I talk with the Sanskrit scholar and warrior-poet Surendriya Rao about the Bhaagavad Gita and Oppenheimer's fateful decision to open up the world to nuclear warfare. Find out more about Surendriya Rao at his website: www.shiningdarkly.com.

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#oppenheimer #bhagavadgita #religion

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22. How to Start a Cult

Sat, 12 Aug 2023 09:56:00 -0000

In 2004 I was invited to join in sexual union with a room full of beautiful people in robes at the Osho compound in Pune. When I arrived there a few days earlier I saw hundreds of people speak in tongues together as they accessed their own spiritual truths. This was my first, by hardly my last, experience from the inside of cultic thinking and practices. This month a new TV show appeared Netflix staring Peter Dinklage called "How to Become a Cult Leader." It was a great show, but I thought they missed a few salient points. This EP is meant to fill in some of the gaps.

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21. Awe and Self-Transformation

Fri, 04 Aug 2023 08:18:00 -0000

Do psychedelics actually make you a better person, or do they just make you feel like you're a better person. In this show I begin with the notion that spaceflight fundamentally transforms the consciousness of astronauts who blast off the surface of earth, the tendency for space tourists to snap selfies with the planet, and the marginal utility of getting 1% better every time you take a cup of ayahuasca.

David Yaden, The Overview Effect: Awe and Transcendence in Space Flight (2016)

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20. Exorcism, EXvangelicalism and Private Jets: How Josiah Hesse Came to Reject Jesus and Stop Worrying about the Rapture

Sat, 29 Jul 2023 19:35:27 -0000

Josiah Hesse memorized his bible, let the Holy Ghost into his heart, and tithed 10% of everything to his evangelical church. It was only later when he realized how wrong it all had been. Now a pioneer of the EXvangelical movement, Denver-Journalist Josiah Hesse explains how it all went down, and what it means for the rest of christian America.

More about Josiah Here:

Josiah Hesse's Website

Runner's High

Josiah's Instagram.

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⁠The Wedge⁠

⁠What Doesn't Kill Us⁠

⁠The Enlightenment Trap⁠

Social Media:

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19. Darkness and Deep Time: An interview with Clark Strand

Fri, 21 Jul 2023 15:26:00 -0000

Electric illumination changed humanity's relationship with darkness. Clark Strand, author of Waking Up to The Dark wants us to reclaim lost human states of consciousness by turning off the lights.

Find out more about Clark Strand.

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Scott Carney Investigates Podcast

Books:

⁠The Wedge⁠

⁠What Doesn't Kill Us⁠

⁠The Enlightenment Trap⁠

Social Media:

#evolution #darkness #Buddhism

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18. Fame is a Mental Illness

Sat, 15 Jul 2023 09:03:00 -0000

What is it about being famous that turns people into shadows of their former-selves? And what does that mean for the rest of us who seek micro-levels of fame on social media platforms?

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Scott Carney Investigates Podcast

Books:

⁠The Wedge⁠

⁠What Doesn't Kill Us⁠

⁠The Enlightenment Trap⁠

Social Media:

#fame #mentalhealth #socialmedia

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17. The Future of Legal Psychedelics

Mon, 10 Jul 2023 11:59:00 -0000

Joshua Kappel helped lead the effort to legalize psychadelic drugs in Colorado, and what happened here might be a model for what happens in the rest of the country. Are we ready for mail order MDMA?

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Scott Carney Investigates Podcast

Books:

⁠The Wedge⁠

⁠What Doesn't Kill Us⁠

⁠The Enlightenment Trap⁠

Social Media:

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16. How Not to Die From Breathwork: A conversation with Patrick McKeown

Sat, 01 Jul 2023 09:16:00 -0000

This week I talk with Patrick Mckeown, the best selling author of The Oxygen Advantage and The Breathing Cure about looming problems in the broader breathwork community as the global movement gains in popularity. Mckeown has studied the Buteyko method for 21 years and worries that some of the more dramatic breathing practices that have gained popularity around the world can lead to serious consequences.

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Scott Carney Investigates Podcast

Follow Patrick McKeown at @OxygenAdvantage

Oxygen Advantage

Buteyko Clinic:

Books:

⁠The Wedge⁠

⁠What Doesn't Kill Us⁠

⁠The Enlightenment Trap⁠

Social Media:

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15. The Rise and Fall of the Wim Hof Empire

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 09:00:00 -0000

Thirteen deaths; a $67 million lawsuit; lies, cover-ups and a near-fatal enema. After being Wim Hof's most public proponent and doing his method for ten years, investigative journalist Scott Carney reveals the story he never wanted to tell about what he thinks might be the impending demise of the Wim Hof method. Get Exclusive Updates, Behind the Scenes Peeks and Advanced Content on Patreon Subscribe to my newsletterListen to the Scott Carney Investigates Podcast on:YouTube | Apple | Spotify | AnchorVideo Chapters:01:20 A Comfortable Myth15:18 The Guru in You19:51 An Important Message for Truth21:54 The Accident39:00 Tragedy Strikes44:00 Lawsuit47:52 Baptism on the Winter Travels51:16 Enahm: Son, CEO and a Cover-up56:39 A Recipe for DisasterBooks by Scott Carney:⁠The Wedge⁠ ⁠What Doesn't Kill Us⁠⁠The Enlightenment Trap⁠Related Videos on YouTubeDoes the Wim Hof Method Cause Tinnitus?How Ten Years of the Wim Hof Method Changed My LifeWim Hof and the Snezka Conspiracy How Wim Hof Lost His MethodReferences:

Suspected Wim Hof-Related Deaths Enahm's Sniezka Coverup Conversation $67 Million Lawsuit Wim Hof's Response after "How Wim Hof Lost His Method" ReleaseFull Interview with Wim Hof Dec 9, 2022Official Wim Hof Method WebsiteEnahm’s Comment on "How 10 Years of the Wim Hof Method Changed My Life"Innerfire “Wim Hof Manifesto”The Yogi Show Podcast: Interview with Enahm HofEnahm listed as CEO Innerfire BV Registration Wim Hof Trademark FilingEnahm Hof Praising himself on Wim’s on instagramJoe Rogan #865 with Wim HofVice: The Superhuman Life of Wim Hof LinkTree

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14. Our Simulated Universe

Sat, 17 Jun 2023 14:00:00 -0000

What does it mean to live in a simulation? Is it a simulated universe that lives on the silicone chips of an alien computer (or a future computer invented by humanity itself)? Is it a simulated universe that runs on the karmic seeds described in ancient Hindu and Buddhist texts? Or are we a Blotzman Brain floating through the ether long after the heat-death of the universe? I think those are all far-fetched ideas in their own ways, but one undeniable truth is that the neurology of our brains absolutely create unique simulations that we live in all of their owns.

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Scott Carney Investigates Podcast

Books:

⁠The Wedge⁠

⁠What Doesn't Kill Us⁠

⁠The Enlightenment Trap⁠

Social Media:

#neruoscience #buddhism #simulation

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13. Divine Mathematics

Sat, 10 Jun 2023 06:00:00 -0000

Probabilistic math makes the same assumption that shamans, Catholics, Mormons, Hindus and every other faith all make--that there's a fundamental force in the world that makes the world what it is. In this podcast I examine the assumption that physicists make that randomness correctly describes the most basic structure of the universe. Some people won't like this.

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Scott Carney Investigates Podcast

Books:

⁠The Wedge⁠

⁠What Doesn't Kill Us⁠

⁠The Enlightenment Trap⁠

Social Media:

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12. The Real Hero of the Alamo: Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna

Sat, 03 Jun 2023 16:04:32 -0000

Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna is the most important person in the history of North America that you probably know nothing about. If you have any impression at all about the "Napoleon of the West" it's that he executed all of the defenders of the Alamo and Goliad. You might think of him as a murderer and a traitor. Mexicans think of him as one of the most corrupt dictators in their country's history. But the true story of Santa Anna is much more complex--and much more interesting--than you would ever imagine. In this episode I'm going to try to convince you that we've gotten Santa Anna wrong all along.

If you loved this show, come an be part of the future of this podcast and join a growing community of journalism enthusiasts at Patreon.

#history #alamo #mexico #santaanna

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11. The Monk who F*cked Everything: a Brief History of Print Capital from the Tibetan plateau to Modern America

Fri, 26 May 2023 15:00:00 -0000

This is the story of the convoluted path that Buddhism took form India Tibet, and Tibet into your yoga studio at home.

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The Enlightenment Trap

Theos Bernard, The White Lama of Tibet

Drukpa Kunley

#buddhism #history #spirituality #tibet

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10. Forget Brown Fat. Forget Wim Hof. Neuroscientist Otto Muzik redefines the secrets of the placebo effect

Fri, 19 May 2023 22:47:29 -0000

Otto Muzik is best known to me for his research papers on Wim Hof's abilities that connected the iceman's abilities to the mysterious power of the placebo effect. The Wim Hof method website frequently cites the study and there is another paper in the works. But Muzik has a lot to say about the science of brown fat and the organization around him called "InnerFire" that might make you think twice about what Muzik's endorsement really means about the Wim Hof Method.

The Wedge

Otto Muzik's Website

Paper on Wim Hof's BAT

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29438845/

The Dawn of Everything

https://amzn.to/3WnZNZs

#wimhofmethod #Innerfire #brownfat #neruoscience #hubermanlab #tonyrobbins

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9. DNA is not a Blueprint

Fri, 12 May 2023 06:00:00 -0000

The language that we use to discuss the role that DNA has in creating the proteins that make up our body is incredibly deterministic and not at all what actually happens at the cellular level. When you build a house a single centralized set of instructions makes a lot of sense. But when you consider that DNA exists in every single cell--we have to reassess what it means to build an organism where the parts are calling the shots.

8. The Power of Lightly-Held Beliefs

Mon, 01 May 2023 14:19:37 -0000

What makes a good skeptic? Is it dismissing things that don't conform to your own beliefs about how the world should work from a scientific perspective? Or is there a more nuanced approach that allows you to -- occasionally-- change your mind? This episode is about how I think we should all take a step backward and realize that much of what we think we know about the world is probably wrong, anyway.

Book Reference:

Carl Sagan (1996) "The Demon-Haunted World"

#beliefs #science #humility

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7. The True Origins of the Wim Hof Method

Mon, 24 Apr 2023 15:58:46 -0000

Depending who you ask, the Wim Hof method either originated out of Hof's mind after he first jumped into ice water, or it's part of an ancient tradition of breathwork and ice bathing that goes back to human pre-history. I've decided to dig into the question to compare Wim's practices to existing Yogic practices as well as listening to Wim's own accounts of where this all started for him. The truth is not quite what you might expect.

References:

Videos:

How Wim Hof Lost his Method

Wim Hof's Yoga Manuscript and the Meaning Behind it

Books:

The Wedge

What Doesn't Kill Us

The Enlightenment Trap

#wimhof #breathwork #yoga

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6. The Law of Speedy Gains

Mon, 17 Apr 2023 14:43:54 -0000

You've probably heard of the Law of Diminishing Returns where acquiring new skills ultimately tapers off until further gains are harder and harder to achieve. But what if you flipped that logic on its head? The flip side of the same phenomenon is what I call "The Law of Speedy Gains" where you can opt to harvest the easy-upside of taking on new things and then move on to other skills that you might what to develop once you hit the first stages of the plateau.

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Scott Carney Investigates Podcast

Books:

⁠The Wedge⁠

⁠What Doesn't Kill Us⁠

⁠The Enlightenment Trap⁠

Social Media:

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5. All Medicine is Mindful Medicine

Mon, 03 Apr 2023 16:00:26 -0000

Western medicine and alternative approaches are a lot more similar than you might think. In fact, every disease state that a person subjectively feels initiates a process of seeking out care, presenting symptoms, identifying signs and leading to diagnosis that is more or less identical whether or not you're going to a start of the art medical facility in Boston or visiting a shaman in a tent in the northern most reaches of Siberia. Patients, no matter where they are, want relief from their symptoms. The truly fascinating thing is that when one treatment doesn't work, the very act of seeking out another treatment itself has healing properties.

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4. Curse Psychobiology

Mon, 27 Mar 2023 16:02:52 -0000

This is the story of the three times I've been cursed and the strange events that happened in their wake. Anthropologists have known that curses have real-world effects for more than a hundred years. E.E. Evans-Pritchard wrote about how curses form the world view of the Azande while Wade Davis demonstrated how the curse of the Zombi in Haiti produced real-world zombis. In 2014 I was cursed by a rogue Tibetan Buddhist group and a series of unfortunate events his me personally and professionally. I had to find a way to unwind the spell--even as I wasn't entirely convinced that curses were real.

Learn more about it in my book The Enlightenment Trap (available on audio)

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#curses #anthropology #spells

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3. Inside the Underground Trade in Human Remains

Wed, 22 Mar 2023 17:07:52 -0000

Have you ever wondered about the skeletons that are hiding in your doctor's closet? I spent six years investigating the illegal world of organ trafficking and in this video I want to tell you about the anatomy riots that rocked European and American medical schools in the 1700 and 1800's and how the trade in human skeletons eventually migrated to India where the bone business eventually started exporting 60,000 human skeletons every single year.

Listen to the Red Market Audiobook

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2. We are the Descendents of Evolutionary Winners

Wed, 15 Mar 2023 18:51:53 -0000

Consciousness is a tool for biology to identify and interact and make decisions about the world at large. In this podcast I examine the concept of The Wedge and how we can use it to control and program the way our nervous systems operate on autopilot to build resilience in the face of adversity. If you want to know more about these concepts check out my two books on the topic: The Wedge and What Doesn't Kill Us.

Books:

The Wedge https://www.scottcarney.com/the-wedge

What Doesn't Kill Us https://www.scottcarney.com/what-doesnt-kill-us

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1. The Enlightenment Trap

Sat, 04 Mar 2023 18:34:22 -0000

In 2012, thirty-eight-year-old Ian Thorson's search for spiritual transcendence ended in tragedy on a remote Arizona mountaintop. His wife, a woman anointed as a goddess by an eccentric Buddhist community, held him in her arms as he slowly died from dehydration and dysentery. For Carney, a journalist and anthropologist who lived in India for six years, Thorson's death was just the most recent iteration of an unspoken epidemic that connected intensive meditation and mental instability.

The Enlightenment Trap explores how Tibetan Buddhism in the West morphed from its roots in the Himalayan foothills into a fundamentally new American religion. For Thorson the entry point into this new faith was Geshe Michael Roach, the supreme spiritual leader of Diamond Mountain University.

Carney unravels the cult-like practices of Diamond Mountain to illuminate the uniquely American tendency to mix and match Eastern religious traditions like LEGO pieces. The result is that for some, enlightenment is a synonym for almost god-like powers and achieving it can become more important than life itself.

Aided by Thorson’s private papers and cutting-edge neurological research, the book reveals the profound impact of intensive meditation on the brain. Carney exposes stories of miracles and black magic, sexualized rituals, and tantric rites from former Diamond Mountain acolytes. The Enlightenment Trap is a gripping work of investigative journalism that reveals how the path to enlightenment can be riddled with danger.

Download the audiobook (or get the print book) for The Enlightenment Trap at Scottcarney.com

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This is an Emergency Broadcast

Fri, 03 Mar 2023 23:34:09 -0000

This is an emergency Broadcast. In light of recent attacks on my YouTube channel it is obvious that I need to get my information out on as many channels as possible. Stay tuned to this feed to see what happens next. ©PokeyBear LLC

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