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In this special bonus episode, Dave interviews author Peter Pomerantsev about his new book "How to Win an Information War: The Propagandist Who Outwitted Hitler." The book explores the work of Sefton Delmer, a journalist who developed unique ways to destabilize Hitler's propaganda programming. Their conversation was recorded on October 28, 2024, at Bird In Hand Books in Baltimore, Maryland.
Pomerantsev is the author of two other books on disinformation and propaganda, "Nothing Is True and Everything is Possible," and "This Is Not Propaganda." He is currently based at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University.
Pomerantsev also delivered a TED Talk at TEDxMidAtlantic in Washington, D.C. in June 2024.
Links:
TED Talk (2024)
How To Win an Information War (2024)
This Is Not Propaganda (2019)
Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible (2014)
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The term "October Surprise" has come to mean any kind of shock that might upend a November election. But the original October Surprise was in 1980, when Ronald Reagan's campaign operatives conspired with the fundamentalist Iranian regime to keep 52 American hostages in Tehran until after the presidential election of 1980 — all but ensuring a loss for incumbent candidate Jimmy Carter.
This is the account provided by author Craig Unger, who has been following the "October Surprise" story since 1991, and during that time has been able accumulate evidence to confirm that yes, the October Surprise really happened. This almost unbelievable story is documented in his new book, "Den of Spies: Reagan, Carter, and the Secret History of the Treason That Stole the White House, " recently published by Harper Collins.
Craig joins Dave for a fascinating discussion of this complicated history, and its implications on American politics today.
Purchase: Den of Spies
Follow Craig Unger on X
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No joke: Peter Thiel envisioned PayPal as a way to challenge to the global political order. And that vision is just now coming into place in 2024. In this election cycle, cryptocurrency interests have surpassed $120 million, surpassing even big oil, in trying to capture candidates from both political parties. This episode features a recording of a Twitter (X) space recorded on September 12, 2024 exploring this set of topics. The space was coordinated by Jake Donoghue, and includes several leading crypto critics: me, David Gerard, Mark Hays, John Reed Stark, and Mark R. Smith.
Follow on X: @JDonoghueAuthor, @JohnReedStark, @DavidGerard, @AmScream, @Miercoles_Hays, @davetroy
Jake Donoghue Twitter Space
Peter Thiel at Libertopia 2010
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The secretive Catholic sect Opus Dei seems to be popping up everywhere. But what is it? Many people are familiar with it from depictions in fiction like "The Davinci Code," but the reality is both more mundane and in many ways, more sinister.
Dave is joined by financial journalist Gareth Gore, who got into the story by covering the failure of Spanish bank Banco Popular. He found that the bank led to a rabbit hole — and in the center of it was Opus Dei. Part classic authoritarian mind control cult, part spiritual organization, part fraud, and part geopolitical powerhouse, Gore's new book "Opus: The Cult of Dark Money, Human Trafficking, and Right-Wing Conspiracy inside the Catholic Church" is a page-turning account of one of the most influential groups in the last 100 years.
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Generative Artificial Intelligence has topped tech headlines for the last two years, but it's possible we may be reaching a limit of what can be achieved using current approaches. Concerns about reliability and now, return on investment for the countless billions invested in the sector, may put AI's short-term future in doubt.
Dave interviews AI expert Gary Marcus, a psychologist, cognitive scientist, and author, known for his research at the intersection of cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence. He's also a professor emeritus of psychology and neuroscience at New York university.
While both Gary and Dave notably have a pro-tech stance, they also want to ensure that we build tools that work well, are sustainable, and are ethically sound. They explore this topic and more in a wide ranging discussion.
Gary Marcus: X Substack TED
GenAI: Too Much Spend, Too Little Benefit? (Goldman Sachs)
The Hardware Lottery by Sara Hooker
KAN: Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks (multiple authors)
Keywords: AI, LLMs, OpenAI, GenAI, Gary Marcus, ROI, truth, System 1, System 2, Kahneman, hardware lottery, Sara Hooker.
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It's shaping up to be the hottest July on record, and things couldn't be more strange in the political realm. From multiple bombshell rulings from the Supreme Court to widespread speculation about whether Joe Biden should step aside after his halting debate performance, it feels like things couldn't get any crazier. Yet, that's entirely possible.
Dave talks with Jack Bryan, director of the film ACTIVE MEASURES and creator of the podcasts AMERICAN PSYOP and LAWYERS, GUNS, and MONEY about what's happened, what's at stake, and where things might go next. Recorded during the July 4th holiday, at the beach in Delaware.
Keywords: SCOTUS, Immunity, Chevron, SEC, Jarkesy, debate, Biden, convention, institutions, rule of law, democracy, autocracy, authoritarianism, Trump, fascism.
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For decades, a highly entrepreneurial group of researchers, scientists, and journalists has been at the center of the movement to “disclose” the existence of extraterrestrial visitors to Earth — and they’ve scored what may be their biggest legislative victory yet.
The 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), passed in December, includes a provision that requires the federal government to provide any and all records on UAP.
Activists hope that a deluge of new UAP information will be disclosed later this year — smack in the middle of election season. The new law requires that all UAP-related records created more than 25 years ago must be made public — unless personally blocked by President Biden.
Dave talks with researcher Jack Brewer and veteran journalist Art Levine in two separate interviews, to hear each of their perspectives on what's going on. It's a rich, detailed conversation you won't want to miss.
Is a UFO Hoax a Ticking Time Bomb for Biden by Dave Troy, Washington Spectator
Spaceship of Fools by Art Levine, Washington Spectator
AARO Historical Report (March 2024)
Expanding Frontiers Research
Keywords: Danny Sheehan, NDAA, Robert Bigelow, Brandon Fugal, Skinwalker Ranch, Luis Elizondo, Hal Puthoff, Russell Targ, Institute of Noetic Sciences, Christopher Mellon, Timothy Mellon, RFK Jr., Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Donald Trump, Michael Flynn, Roger Stone, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Noosphere, Vladimir Vernadsky, Vladimir Putin, KGB, UFO, UAP, Noosphere.
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American society seems to be devolving into two bitterly opposed and diametrically polarized camps. Not just around politics, but around culture as well.
Jonathan Stray studies conflict, and tries to identify ways in which we can learn to conflict with each other more productively. He is a researcher at the Center for Human Compatible AI at the University of California Berkeley, where his work looks at a range of scientific and academic study of conflict and online behaviors.
He talks with Dave about his work, why Americans are so divided, and what we might do about it. They also discuss where some of his funding comes from, and the messy world of think tanks.
Keywords: conflict, polarization, social media, online interaction, CHAI, Center for Human Compatible AI, Jonathan Stray, Better Conflict Bulletin, University of California Berkeley, Mercatus Center.
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On January 8, 2024, Dave hosted a space on "X" (formerly Twitter) for an overview of what to expect in geopolitics in 2024. In this wide ranging monologue, Dave covers many topics including the US elections, Russia's war against Ukraine, the brewing conflict in the Middle East, and rising tensions in Asia between Taiwan, China, and Japan.
Keywords: geopolitics, 2024, election, Russia, Ukraine, Putin, Iran, Israel, Gaza, Palestine, China, Taiwan, Japan, Trump, RFK Jr, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Red-Brown Alliance, Dugin, conscious evolution, history, atomic bomb, Leo Szilard, Robert Oppenheimer, Katechon, Eschaton, Eschatology, Nuclear War, Apocalypse, end times, Christian Nationalism, Barbara Marx Hubbard, New Age, cults.
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Psychedelic drugs are having a moment, like SSRI's and Valium did decades before. What if there's a simple way for people to feel happier and more connected to the world while ushering in world peace at the same time? That's what many advocates of psychedelic drugs claim, but the reality is a lot more complicated.
Dave talks with Neşe Devenot, a writer and early psychedelics advocate who has increasingly become a critic of the attitudes and capital that are lining up behind the popularization of these drugs. While they do hold some promise, some are advocating that they be used as a salve to dampen the negative externalities caused by crony capitalism and extractive resource use. Devenot and her co-authors on multiple papers think that's not okay — and we get to explore all the reasons why.
TESCREAL hallucinations: Psychedelic and AI hype as inequality engines
Dark Side of the Shroom: Erasing Indigenous and Counterculture Wisdoms with Psychedelic Capitalism, and the Open Source Alternative
‘More evolved than you’: Evolutionary spirituality as a cultural frame for psychedelic experiences
Right-Wing Psychedelia: Case Studies in Cultural Plasticity and Political Pluripotency
"Starseed," by Timothy Leary
Spirituality & Psychedelics with Rick Doblin (The Marianne Williamson Podcast)
Keywords: Rick Doblin, MAPS, Marianne Williamson, Neşe Devenot, LSD, Ketamine, MDMA, DMT, Ecstasy, Rebekah Mercer, Elizabeth Koch, Elon Musk, Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Conscious Evolution, Fundamentalism, Jules Evans, Teilhard, Vernadsky, Noosphere, Psilocybin, Magic Mushrooms, Ayahuasca, Mescaline, TESCREAL, AI, Longtermism, Artificial Intelligence, Silicon Valley, hierarchy, aristocracy, metanoia, overview effect.
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No discussion of the ways that the dollar and the United States are under attack would be complete without a contemporary exploration of the world of cryptocurrencies.
Zeke Faux, an investigative journalist with Bloomberg News, joins Dave to discuss his new book, "Number Go Up: Inside Crypto's Wide Rise and Staggering Fall," which is part research, part travelogue, and filled with bizarre schemes and colorful characters.
Number Go Up on Goodreads
Zeke Faux on X
NumberGoUpBook.com
Keywords: Bitcoin, Tether, NFTs, Crypto, FTX, Sam Bankman Fried, Axis, Brock Pierce, Pig Butchering, El Salvador, Bukele, Binance, CZ, Giancarlo Devasini, Jean Chalopin, Jean-Louis van der Velde, Inspector Gadget, Steve Bannon, Miami, Bored Ape, Libertarian, Gold Standard, Gamestop, Russia, Musk.
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The League of Nations was established in the wake of The Great War to prevent another war like it from ever happening again. While it was a noble effort, it became clear as Hitler and Mussolini rose to power, that such a design would not be capable of curbing rampant nationalism and conflicting national interests.
And Clarence Kirschman Streit saw it all unfold before his eyes. As a journalist for the New York Times covering the League of Nations in Geneva, he observed its operations in detail. At first, he thought he could offer ideas on how to fix it. But he came to realize that a new design was needed. He settled on a federated union, and wrote up his proposal in a book published in 1939 called "Union Now." It was well-received, but too late to prevent the horrors of World War II from unfolding.
In this episode, Dave talks with Dr. Tiziana Stella, Executive Director of the Streit Council, which works to help advance Clarence Streit's ideas. The fundamental design flaws he outlined in the 1930's are still threatening us today, and have left a door open for autocratic leaders like Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.
If we want a peaceful, democratic future, we would do well to listen to the lucid analysis of Clarence Streit.
More info:
https://www.streitcouncil.org/
https://twitter.com/tizistella
Union Now:
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.262135
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Everyone's talking about AI, how it will change the world, and even suggesting it might end humanity as we know it. Dave is joined by Dr. Timnit Gebru and Émile Torres, two prominent critics of AI doomerism, to cut through the noise, and look at where these ideas really came from, and offer suggestions on how we might look at these problems differently. And they also offer a picture of the darker side of these ideas and how they connect to Eugenics and other ideologies historically.
Together Émile and Timnit coined an acronym called TESCREAL, which stands for Transhumanism, Extropianism, Singularitarianism, Cosmism, Rationalism, Effective Altruism, and Longtermism — and yeah, that's a lot of -isms. But it ties into other topics that we have covered in this series, including Russian Cosmism and Longtermism.
Dr. Gebru came to prominence in 2020 after she was fired from Google for speaking up about the company's lack of ethical guardrails in its AI development work. Émile Torres studies existential risk and has been a critic of the "longtermist" movement for several years. Dave last spoke with them last year in Season 1, Episode 23.
Here are some relevant articles from Timnit and Émile.
On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots: Can Language Models Be Too Big? (Bender, Gebru, McMillan-Major, Schmitchell)
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3442188.3445922
The Acronym Behind Our Wildest AI Dreams and Nightmares
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-acronym-behind-our-wildest-ai-dreams-and-nightmares/
Longtermism and Eugenics: A Primer, by Émile Torres
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/longtermism-and-eugenics-a-primer/
The Wide Angle: Understanding TESCREAL — the Weird Ideologies Behind Silicon Valley’s Rightward Turn, by Dave Troy
https://washingtonspectator.org/understanding-tescreal-silicon-valleys-rightward-turn/
Google Researcher Says She Was Fired Over Paper Highlighting Bias in A.I. (New York Times; Cade Metz, Daisuke Wakabayashi)
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/03/technology/google-researcher-timnit-gebru.html
Keywords: existential risk, artificial intelligence, TESCREAL, Yudkowsky, Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Peter Diamandis, Ray Kurzweil, Timnit Gebru, Émile Torres, Gary Marcus, OpenAI, Google, doomerism.
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As the United States faces yet another showdown over the federal debt ceiling, we examine the roots of the conflict by looking at the "North/Paul Strategy," a decades-old plan to provoke a financial collapse and then seize power. Rooted in libertarian economic theory and Christian Reconstructionist doctrine, Gary North and Ron Paul's ideas laid the foundation for the Tea Party and later, January 6th.
Dave chats with James Scaminaci III, a scholar and expert on Fourth Generation Warfare, and Frederick Clarkson, who has been studying religious extremism for decades, and is an expert on the New Apostolic Reformation.
They look at why economic eschatology is a persistent feature of American political life, and how we might break the vicious "cycle of doom."
James Scaminaci III
TwitterNorth/Paul Strategy PaperFrederick Clarkson
TwitterThe Spirit Of January 6th -
SEASON 2, "The War on the Dollar"
We begin season two by following the ongoing assaults on the dollar by Xi, Putin, and the BRICS nations, and looking at how that might play into Elon Musk's long game with Twitter.
Rich with clips from across the media spectrum, we'll be exploring the underlying forces that shape our world — and what we might do to respond to them.
Segments: The End of Twitter, The War on the Dollar, the Grinding Nuclear Threat, Katechon vs. Eschaton.
Keywords: Twitter, dollar, X.com, Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey, Michael Flynn, Alex Jones, Foster Gamble, Jack Lew, Robert Kiyosaki, BBC, Donald Trump, Lance Wallnau, John Trump, nuclear war, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, AOC, Steve Bannon, Wall Street Bets, Gamestop, AMC, GME.
Source of Musk and Dorsey clips:
https://www.thebword.org/c/track-2-Bitcoin-As-A-Tool-For-Economic-Empowerment
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Dave wraps up 2022 with a roundup of the most important stories in meta-politics. This is the show to listen to if you want to get ramped up on what to expect in 2023. Topics covered include Ukraine, Elon Musk, Russian Cosmism, Twitter, Dollar, Crypto, Debt Ceiling, Noosphere, Politics, the "how to fix it" part, Mastodon, and honestly a whole lot more. Along with some interesting audio clips that help put things into context!
Paper: Disinformation and its effects on social capital networks
Keywords: Ukraine, Musk, Dollar, Crypto, Debt Ceiling, Noosphere, Politics, Mastodon, Social Capital, Disinformation, Omnibus, HIMARS, Patriot, Golden Billion, Putin, Eurasianism, Cosmism, Traditionalism, Nuclear, SXSW, Tsiolkovsky, Longtermism, Multiplanetary species, Tesla, Saudi Arabia, COVID, oil/gas, Twitter, Rogozin, Roscosmos, Fiona Hill, Burnt Hair, Hierarchy, Dollar, Foster Gamble, Thrive, BRICS, gold, Zoltan Pozsar, Bretton Woods III, Golden Ruble 3.0, Sergey Glazier, Petroyuan, China, GCC, Taiwan, mBridge, CBDC, Bitcoin, Luna, FTX, NFTs, Trump, Debt Ceiling, Tom Emmer, Gold, Noosphere, Jeffrey Sachs, Sacha Stone, Sustainable Development Goals, SDG, MDG, New Earth, Shock therapy, Barrick Gold, David Sacks, Metaphysics, DeStantis, January 6, Mastodon, Toad Social, Wide Angle, Washington Spectator, Medium.
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Russian Nationalism — a heady mix of Eurasianism, Russian Cosmism with esoteric and occult beliefs — is reflected in the Putin regime's information warfare.
In recent episodes we covered a diverse range of topics, from longtermism to libertarian exit, to Bucky Fuller. But what do these things have in common, and what does it all mean?
Dave is joined by Joe Szimhart who helps unpack the details behind Eurasianism, Russian Cosmism, and many other syncretic religious and occult ideas at the heart of Russia's war on the West. The picture helps provide a framework for better understanding what's going on, how to respond, and why this conflict is difficult to resolve.
This episode is long and packed with information — you may find that it's useful to listen more than once to pick up on all the details. Feel free to send questions for future episodes to [email protected].
Follow Joe on Twitter at @jszimhart, and Dave at @davetroy.
Relevant books and papers:
Mysteries of Eurasia by Jafe Arnold
Russian Nationalism: Imaginaries, Doctrines, and Political Battlefields
Books Instead of Lineage: Mystic Underground in the USSR (1960s–1980s)
Don’t Immanentize the Eschaton: Against Right-Wing Gnosticism
Keywords: Syncretism, Eurasianism, Cosmism, Noosphere, Putin, Noocracy, Anton Vaino, Nooscope, Gnosticism, System 1 and 2 thinking, Völkisch Occultism, Russian Orthodox Church, Shambhala, Atlantis, Yuzhinsky Circle, Alexander Dugin, Yuri Mamleev, Psychotronics, Initiation, Libertarian Exit, Ayn Rand, Galt's Gulch, Hyperborea, Thule Society, Vril, Hitler, UFOs, Guenon, Fascism, Evola, Gurdjieff, Ahnenerbe, Tsiolovsky, Chizevsky, Fyodorov, Vernadsky, Teilhard De Chardin, Eduoard LeRoy, Gaia, Lovelock, Margulies, Sagan, Theosophy, Anthroposophy, Hare Krishnas, Hindu Nationalism, Gandhi, Nehru, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Marilyn Ferguson, Aquarian Conspiracy, Stepanov, Harmonic Convergence, Jose Arguelles, Birth 2012, Michael Beckwith, NESARA/GESARA, QFS, QAnon, The Event, Eschaton, Eschatology, Immanentize, Omega Point, Kurzweil, Russia 2045, Transhumanism.
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Buckminster Fuller was a designer, inventor, thinker, and a true American original. Alec Nevala-Lee is the author of a new detailed and deeply honest biography of Fuller, "Inventor of the Future: The Visionary Life of Buckminster Fuller."
Dave talks to Alec about Bucky's life, the unusual cast of characters he attracted, and starts to get into some questions that help inform why Bucky's outsized personality might have attracted people who later went on to become attracted to various kinds of disinformation campaigns — a topic we'll explore in some later episodes.
Follow Alec on Twitter at @nevalalee — and buy the book wherever books are sold.
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/59571984-inventor-of-the-future
Keywords: Buckminster Fuller, Bucky Fuller, Inventor of the Future, Alec Nevala-Lee, Margaret Fuller, Geodesic Dome, Tensegrity, Gurdjieff, Roerich, Montreal Expo, Spaceship Earth, EPCOT, Bare Maximum, Dymaxion, 4D, Trim Tab, Robert Kiyosaki, Critical Path, Synergetics, Grunch of Giants, Werner Erhard, est training, John Denver, Ellen Burstyn, The Hunger Project, Stewart Brand, Whole Earth Catalog, Rich Dad Poor Dad, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos
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The idea of leaving society to start up a new one isn't exactly new... history is full of people leaving to go start new countries. But the idea became especially fashionable in 20th century America and was jump-started as a reaction to the counterculture in the 1960's, and given new life by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs in the 2000's.
Dave talks with Raymond Craib, professor of history at Cornell University, about his new book "Adventure Capitalism: A History of Libertarian Exit from the Era of Decolonization to the Digital Age" which covers the upsurge in these ideas in the 60's to today, and their connection to everything from Brexit to Seasteading.
Learn more about Ray Craib's work on Twitter (@raycraib) and at his Cornell faculty page:
https://history.cornell.edu/raymond-b-craib
Adventure Capitalism (Book):
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/57700808
Keywords: Libertarian exit, libertarianism, Murray Rothbard, Friedrich Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, Milton Friedman, Michael Oliver, Werner Stiefel, New Atlantis, Tonga, Minerva Reefs, Abaco, Bahamas, Mitchell WerBell, Andrew St. George, Phoenix Foundation, Azores, New Hebrides, Vanuatu, Stefan Mandel, Mondragon, David Duke, Bayou of Pigs, Peter Thiel, Seasteading, Joe Quirk, Patri Friedman, Balaji Srinivasan, Nick Land, Curtis Yarvin, Mencius Moldbug, Urbit, Hans-Herman Hoppe, James Dale Davidson, William Rees Mogg, Jacob Rees Mogg, Brexit, Sovereign Individual, Longtermism, Effective Altruism, Honduras, ZEDEs, Charter Cities, Liz Truss, Shankar Singham, Barbara Kolm, Mises Institute.
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The New Apostolic Reformation is a Christian movement that most people have never heard of, but it has an out-sized influence in American, and even global, politics and culture. Bruce Wilson has been researching and writing about religion and its influence on politics and culture for decades, and Jennifer Cohn has been working to document threats to democracy and election integrity. They join Dave to discuss the NAR, what it is, where it came from, and the risks it may pose to pluralistic democracy.
Read more:
Underreported And Massive Theocratic Movement Joins Forces With Michael Flynn And Roger Stone by Jenny Cohn
Fighting Demons, Raising The Dead, Taking Over The World by Bruce Wilson
Twitter: @brucewilson @jennycohn1
Keywords: New Apostolic Reformation, NAR, Charismatic, Pentecostal, Christian, right, libertarian, libertarianism, WCF, World Congress of Families, Peter Wagner, Lance Wellnau, Lauren Boebert, Jim Garlow, John Eastman, Seven Mountains, Dominionism, apostolic governance.
- Se mer
