Scott Carney Investigates

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

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/@nobullshitphysio Chris 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 #scam Get Early Access on Substack https://sgcarney.substack.com/ Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3PyxGKt94kLzVqkkjEgRFw/join Patreon: https://patreon.com/sgcarney Scott Carney Investigates Podcast https://www.scottcarney.com/podcast YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@sgcarney Books: ⁠The Wedge⁠ https://www.scottcarney.com/the-wedge ⁠What Doesn't Kill Us⁠ https://www.scottcarney.com/what-doesnt-kill-us ⁠The Enlightenment Trap⁠ https://www.scottcarney.com/the-enlightenment-trap The Vortex https://www.scottcarney.com/the-vortex The Red Market https://www.scottcarney.com/the-red-market Listen to the Scott Carney Investigates Podcast on: YouTube https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2TVEkr1lWIJp6zZijbuZE8xTn5Edur-7 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/scott-carney-investigates/id1675685319 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Eez65bpNJSDLCYQb7yck5 Anchor: https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/12a9Xdpn6yb Social Media: Threads: https://www.threads.net/@sgcarney Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sgcarney/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/scottcarneyauthor Twitter https://twitter.com/sgcarney Bluesky 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)

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.

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.

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.

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. Get Early Access and Support this Channel on Substack Follow along by reading the legal complaint with me here: Attia's Blank Check Company in the Cayman Islands: #peterAttia #hubermanlab #darkmoney

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 Get Early Access on Substack

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. . . Support this show and get early access on Substack

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. . . Support this channel on Substack

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 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)

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 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)

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 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)

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 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)

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. 

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. 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)

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 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)

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/

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

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)

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)

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.  

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

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. 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)

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

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/

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

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. 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)

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: 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)

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. 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)

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 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)

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 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)

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. 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) #oppenheimer #bhagavadgita #religion

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. 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)

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) 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)

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. 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)

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. 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  #evolution #darkness #Buddhism ©PokeyBear LLC (2023)

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? 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  #fame #mentalhealth #socialmedia ©PokeyBear LLC (2023)

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? 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)

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. 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 Follow Patrick McKeown at  @OxygenAdvantage  Oxygen Advantage Buteyko Clinic: 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)

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 newsletter Listen to the Scott Carney Investigates Podcast on: YouTube | Apple | Spotify | AnchorVideo Chapters: 01:20 A Comfortable Myth 15:18 The Guru in You 19:51 An Important Message for Truth 21:54 The Accident 39:00 Tragedy Strikes 44:00 Lawsuit 47:52 Baptism on the Winter Travels 51:16 Enahm: Son, CEO and a Cover-up 56:39 A Recipe for Disaster Books 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 Life Wim Hof and the Snezka Conspiracy How Wim Hof Lost His Method References: Suspected Wim Hof-Related Deaths Enahm's Sniezka Coverup Conversation$67 Million LawsuitWim Hof's Response after "How Wim Hof Lost His Method" Release Full Interview with Wim Hof Dec 9, 2022 Official Wim Hof Method Website Enahm'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 Hof Enahm listed as CEO Innerfire BV Registration Wim Hof Trademark Filing Enahm Hof Praising himself on Wim's on instagram Joe Rogan #865 with Wim Hof Vice: The Superhuman Life of Wim HofLinkTree #wimhof #breathwork #investigation MIRRORS: Spotify: Rumble: ©PokeyBear LLC (2023)

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. 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  #neruoscience #buddhism #simulation ©PokeyBear LLC (2023)

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. Support this show on Patreon and get exclusive access to some amazing perks. 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)

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

This is the story of the convoluted path that Buddhism took form India Tibet, and Tibet into your yoga studio at home. Get exclusive EARLY ACCESS on Patreon The Enlightenment Trap Theos Bernard, The White Lama of Tibet Drukpa Kunley #buddhism #history #spirituality #tibet

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

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. Related reading: DNA is not a Blueprint by Sergio Pistoi https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/dna-is-not-a-blueprint/ Braiding Sweetgrass #genetics #DNA #superorganism

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

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

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. Get Exclusive Updates on Patreon:  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 

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.

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) Subscribe to my newsletter #curses #anthropology #spells