Human Evolution and the Power of the Mind: Science Compilation

This episode of the Wi-Files is brought. to you by Upside. Be safe, be kind, and know that you are. appreciated. What's going on? >> Code Cerulean, sir. We have to move. >> What? >> Now. >> Human, did he say Code Cerulean? Yeah, human. Human, did he did he say. Code Cerulean?

Human. Human. >> All right, we're off to an undisclosed. location. Uh someone's going to have to. take over the show. I'll see you guys. I'll see you guys in a couple of days.

>> Human. Human. Human. >> Welcome aboard. I'm Jesse. No, you are. not hallucinating. No, this is not a. deep fake, >> [music]. >> and it's certainly not a glitch in the. simulation. And yes, I'm aware that I'm. not AJ. I know, I checked, too. I'm the. host of the YouTube channel American. Alchemy, which means I'm already. uncomfortable asking weird questions on.

camera. Even better when that camera is. in a spaceship. AJ is out today with a. bad case of déjà vu. Hecklefish is. probably in his fishbowl hanging with. his trash-talking family, and I've been. handed the keys to a Wi-Files. compilation. So, I'm your substitute. teacher in the school of forbidden. knowledge. Today, we're looking at six. different ways reality messes with. consciousness. Genetics, synchronicities, mushrooms, radiation, mind control, and morphic resonance. We.

start with the most literal edit of all, molecular scissors aimed straight at the. human genome. As AJ's about to tell you. in this episode, the genetic genie's out. of the bottle. And of course, the powers. that be are already asking about. military applications, cyborg. superhumans, Gattaca, a brave new world. Let's go say hi. First episode up is the. genetics arms race, how CRISPR and AI. destroy the world.

Are you serious? >> Yes, I'm serious. >> Fuzzy Wuzzy was a woman? >> Human, human, we have a situation. >> Good morning to you, too. >> Someone's been stealing from the Fred. Hex inventory. >> Which inventory? >> The Blorbous. The Blorbous is going. missing. >> Well, how much are we talking? >> Uh significant quantities. And that's. not all, the groceries are also. disappearing. >> Well, you think the Blorbous and the. groceries are connected? >> Obviously. There's several other people. in this house, which means it's an.

inside job. I already narrowed down the. suspects. Wife's shifty, Morgan's too. quiet, and you got weird hours. I'm about to perform a forensic. fingerprint examination. >> That's your family. They wouldn't do. that to you. And do not put me on that. list. >> I can't rule anyone out, human. And just. the telling me not to put you on the. list brings you to suspect numero uno. And it's been shcapitalist. Also, I I I. need 5 grand. >> For what? >> Groceries keep disappearing, so I got to.

replace them. I made four runs this week. alone. Plus, I needed comfort food after. the interrogations, so I got take out. Not cheap, and gas isn't free, you know. >> You used my car, which you left empty, by the way. >> The point is, I'm financially. compromised. Also, Gertie goes through Funyuns like. you wouldn't believe. >> where all my Funyuns are going? You know, with every dollar you spent on. groceries, gas, takeout, you could have. earned cash back with Upside. >> Ow, did you just bag and receipt me into.

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back for every gallon on your first tank. of gas. That's an extra 25 cents back. for every gallon on your first tank of. gas using promo code the Wi Files. >> 25 cents back for every gallon on my. first tank? >> Yep. >> But it's enough to keep this. investigation alive. >> How's that going? >> Well, I set up hidden cameras and I'm. reviewing the footage now. Uh the. blooper see. that is groceries and even the Funyuns. Whoever did this has no shame.

>> Well, who is it? >> Yeah, uh. The uh. the footage is inconclusive. >> It's you, isn't it? >> The human, the less you know about last. night, the safer we both are.

>> The sun finally sets. You step out of. the abandoned warehouse keeping to the. shadows. You can't be seen. You're. what's called an imperfect. Your parents conceived you the. old-fashioned way without genetic. enhancements and without legal. permission. They meant well, but your. fate was sealed before you were born. You were 9 years old when the tracers. found them.

The last time we saw your parents, Dad. was shoving you down a hatch whispering. for you to run. Before you had time to. respond, he closed the hatch and covered. it with the carpet. When you heard your mother's muffled. screams, you took off down the tunnel. That was 17 years ago. You still cling. to the hope that they're alive in a. prison somewhere, but deep down you know. the truth. Your growling stomach snaps you out of. the daydream. Imperfect or not, you.

still have to eat and the factory. district has plenty of off-the-books. work. Sure, they pay you barely enough to. survive, but they don't want to visit. from the tracers any more than you do. It takes a long time to get to work. You. have to stay far away from the patrols. Tracers can smell sweat and even hear a. heartbeat half a mile away. Your heart. murmur is a dead giveaway of. imperfection. You hold back a sniffle as. a tear rolls down your cheek and wonder.

how the world came to this. Then you remember something your mother. said a long, long time ago. CRISPR. CRISPR changed. >> [music]. >> Mark and Grace desperately wanted to. have a child. In 2017, they attended a.

lecture in Shenzhen, China about genetic. editing. The guest speaker was Professor He. Jiankui, a Chinese genetic researcher. After the talk, the couple explained. their situation to Dr. He Jiankui. Mark. was HIV positive, Grace was not. Any. child they had would carry the disease. He Jiankui told the couple he could help. them with a revolutionary new therapy he. was developing. Through a gene editing. technology called CRISPR, he could make.

their children immune to HIV. The therapy would also make any. descendants of these children HIV. resistant forever. [music]. He Jiankui performed the procedure and. it was a success. Mark and Grace had two. healthy twin baby girls. But Dr. He Jiankui wasn't being. completely honest with them. CRISPR was. a revolutionary new technology, that was. true. But it was so new, no one in the.

world would have let him use it on. children. On November 25th, 2018, news of the. successful treatment was revealed to the. international scientific community. But He Jiankui and his breakthrough. success was not a cause for celebration. Scientists around the world were. horrified. They called him China's Dr. Frankenstein. He lost his job, was fined about half a. million dollars, and was sentenced to 3. years in prison by the Chinese. government.

He also made history. Human genes could now be altered. Unwanted genes could be removed, and. more desirable genes can be inserted. The genetic genie was out of the bottle. There was no going [music] back. CRISPR. gene editing worked, and people started. to wonder, "What else can it do?".

>> [music]. >> For decades, scientists debated the. cause of global warming. Trillions of dollars were invested in. clean energy, yet the warming continued. Birth rates were already crashing when. the planet was hit with pandemic after. pandemic.

Then, a breakthrough was made. A team of researchers discovered how to. use artificial intelligence to optimize. the human genome. By feeding vast amounts of genetic data. into advanced machine learning. algorithms, AI could identify genetic. combinations for optimal health. At first, the technology was used. sparingly, reserved only for the most. severe cases of genetic illness. Children with conditions like.

Huntington's, cystic fibrosis, and. sickle cell disease could now live. normal lives, and the disease wouldn't. be passed on to their children. Soon, wealthy parents were using CRISPR. to give their children an edge. AI could. provide the exact DNA [music] sequence. to optimize any genetic trait. Their children were taller, more. intelligent, more athletic, and more. resistant to illness.

>> But in just a few years, the technology. improved, becoming [music] less. expensive and more widely available, so. more parents used it. The results were astounding. >> [snorts]. >> The United Nations saw CRISPR as a way. to solve many of the world's problems.

If they could use AI to create a. healthier, smarter, and more resilient. population, maybe they could prevent the. disasters that threatened humanity in. the past. >> The voting has been completed. Please. lock the machine. >> On December 1st, the world celebrated. >> The result of the vote is. as follows. >> The United Nations had passed the. Genetic Optimization Act. Under the act,

all parents were required to have their. children's genes optimized by AI before. birth. At first, there was resistance. Many saw. the act as a violation of individual. freedom. Religious groups argued this. was playing God. But as the benefits of the technology. became clear, the opposition faded.

Parents who had once been skeptical now. willingly had their children optimized. to give them the best possible start in. life. Over the next few years, genetic. diseases were eradicated. Athletes shattered records that had. stood for decades. The average human IQ skyrocketed. Scientific breakthroughs were happening. on a daily basis. The human species, it. seemed, was finally reaching its full. potential.

But it wasn't just humanity evolving, AI. also evolved and at a much faster rate. [music]. The algorithms became more advanced and. started to favor genetic traits, not. just in health and intelligence, but. also behavior. Obedience, conformity, [music] and. loyalty to the state. Children born. under the act were healthy and smart, yes, but they were also docile and.

easily controlled. Nations no longer went to war, they. didn't see a point in it. AI helped create an abundance of food. and energy, more than enough resources. for everyone on Earth to live a. comfortable life. But before long, AI, now called The. Guardian, was put in charge of law. enforcement and judgment. Who could be. more impartial than a computer? People. didn't see much danger in giving The. Guardian AI this power. After all, crime.

was almost eliminated. Almost. There was still a lingering problem, the. Imperfects. Children born outside the system without. genetic optimization, they were seen as. a threat, a reminder of the chaos of the. past. Laws were passed restricting their.

rights and movements, forcing them to. the margins of society. Finally, it was. determined that all non-optimized. individuals had to be eliminated. The Imperfects could not be allowed to. pollute the new optimized gene pool. It. was a matter of survival. The fate of. the entire human race depended on. killing every last imperfect [music] on. Earth. But Imperfects were hard to find. They. knew how to hide, disrupt the system,

and worst of all, they continued to breed. >> [music]. >> So, the Guardian developed a new. algorithm to create children with a. completely different combination of. genetic traits. >> [music]. >> Obedience and loyalty were still part of. the mix, but emotions were suppressed. These children learned to commit.

violence without empathy. They were given the traits, training, and tools to be ideal hunters. Thousands of these children quickly grew. to be men who were assigned to a unit. that handled. >> [music]. >> tactical retrieval and criminal. resistance. But people just called them Tracers.

>> [music]. >> DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is a long. string of molecules called nucleotides. containing one of four nitrogenous base. pairs. Adenine with thymine, cytosine with. guanine, or ATCG. You know this. CRISPR. stands for clustered regularly. interspaced short palindromic repeats. That's a mouthful, but it's not hard to. understand. It refers to those ATCGs.

>> [music]. >> In the late 1980s, scientists were. studying bacteria DNA and noticed odd. repeating sequences. Not only did these. sequences repeat, but they were. palindromes. You know, something that. reads forward the same as backwards, like never odd or even, or madam in. Eden, I'm Adam. >> A man, a plan, a canal, Panama. >> Yeah, that's one of my favorites. >> You, banana boy. >> Yeah, that that one's good, too. >> Eat, dad. No bandage? >> Okay, that's enough.

So, let's say one section of the DNA. strand was G A A T T C. The opposite. side was C T T A A G, palindrome. That's. an oversimplification, but it's the. gist. They found these repeats over and. over in the bacterium's DNA. In between. these repeating sections were sections. of random DNA, not palindromes, nothing. special, random. But a few years later, scientists. realized those random sequences in.

between the palindromes weren't random. at all. Those sequences were the [music] genetic. codes of viruses that infected the. bacterium at one point. CRISPR works. like this. A virus attacks a bacterium. by injecting its DNA. Usually bacteria. can't survive this, but the ones that do. take a snapshot of the virus DNA. That. snapshot [music] is then encoded into. the bacterium's own DNA like a memory. So, if that virus attacks again, the. bacterium checks the virus DNA against.

its own little DNA database. If it finds. a match, it uses a protein called a Cas. to cut the virus DNA at a specific. location called the cleavage site. >> Oh, I like the sight of cleavage. >> Stop it. When the virus DNA is cut, it dies. Then in 2020, scientists Emmanuelle. Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna. discovered CRISPR Cas9. Cas9 is a protein that makes it much.

easier to target and edit individual. genes selectively. This discovery won them the 2020 Nobel. Prize in chemistry, and the applications. are endless. CRISPR Cas9 could mean the. end of genetic diseases. Victoria Gray suffered from sickle cell. disease. This is a genetic disease that. deforms red blood cells. Instead of. being round, some are shaped like a. crescent moon or a sickle. These. deformed cells cause all kinds of.

problems. Victoria was constantly tired and in. pain. She couldn't walk. Sometimes she. couldn't feed herself [music] because. she couldn't lift a spoon. In 2019, she was the first person in the. US to receive CRISPR-based treatment for. sickle cell disease. Doctors extracted. stem cells from her bone marrow, used. CRISPR to correct the sickle cell. mutation, then infused the modified. cells back into her body. The goal was to give her body the. ability to produce healthy red blood.

cells on its own. It worked. Victoria. now lives a normal life. CRISPR research is now being directed at. other diseases like cancer, diabetes, cystic fibrosis, MS, and more. >> [music]. >> But those studies use CRISPR to remove. dangerous genes. CRISPR can also add. genes, favorable genes. And if you can do that, people will. Wouldn't you want your child to be. smarter, stronger, resistant to illness? Every parent would.

But using technology to improve the. genetic quality of the population, there. is a word for that. Eugenics. Your shift at the factory ends and your. real work begins. 6 months ago, you were approached by a.

woman in the resistance who fought. against the global AI system now called. the Guardian. Of course, you'd heard of. the resistance, but never considered. joining. Every other day the news ran a. story celebrating the execution of its. members. But this woman's passion. convinced you that you had to do. something to help. >> We need to restore genetic diversity and. end the AI's control over human. reproduction. Its pursuit of perfection. is [music] creating a society of.

automatons. We're becoming obedient drones and. losing all that makes us human. When was the last time you saw true art. or or or heard music that stirred your. soul? If we don't stop the Guardian. soon, imperfects like us will be. completely gone. Hunted by Tracers until. nobody's left who remembers what being. human really means. >> Your training began the next day and it. was grueling. Your resistance cell has.

people with many different backgrounds, doctors, engineers, even former Tracers. They taught you how to hack computer. systems, evade patrols, and handle. weapons. >> [music]. >> Here New York was one of the Guardian's. main hubs, 33 Thomas Street, the former. AT&T building now called Titan Point.

Many years ago, the United States ran. [music] a vast and highly illegal. surveillance program out of Titan Point. The program was exposed in documents. released by someone named Edward. Snowden. You would think that Americans would. have been outraged to learn that their. own government was spying on them. But. the news came and went and nothing. happened. Congressmen, senior military officials, even the director of intelligence. publicly lied about the program. Nothing.

happened. >> Does the NSA collect any type of data at. all on millions or hundreds of millions. of Americans? >> No, sir. >> It was that kind of apathy that led to. this mess. The resistance would make that mistake. Titan Point, aka 33 Thomas Street, is a. fortress. It's impenetrable, but the resistance. has someone on the inside.

If everything goes to plan, you and. three members of your cell will slip in. through the underground garage. Your. contact will take you to a workstation. connected to the Guardians network. Then all you have to do is plug in a. portable disk. On the disk are. variations of old computer viruses. designed by the US, Israel, Iran, and. the new Soviet Union. Viruses like. Stuxnet and Nitro Zeus, designed by. humans, perfected by AI. If they work,

they could the network and take. down the entire power grid. Communications, transportation, banks, and all financial systems, all would go. down for a time, anyway. But time is all. you need. AI destroyed by AI. You smile at the poetic irony of it. You reach the heavy steel door and check. your watch. 5:54 a.m. It's time. The.

moment your watch hits 5:55, you hear. the heavy locking mechanisms disengage. The door opens and your contact [music]. waves you in. >> [music]. >> Genetics is a relatively new science. The earliest experiments were conducted.

by Gregor Mendel in the mid-19th century. studying inherited traits in pea plants. But genetically manipulating crops has. been going on since the end of the Stone. Age. It was as simple as keeping the. good crops and throwing out the bad. ones. Traditional genetically modified. organism or GMO methods enable the. creation of plants with favorable traits. [music]. like increased yield and resistance to. disease. Corn and cotton are engineered. to resist pests reducing the need for. dangerous chemical-based pesticides.

[music] Rice has been genetically. modified to produce higher levels of. vitamin A addressing vitamin. deficiencies in developing countries. Before CRISPR, most of this was achieved. with selective breeding and gene. splicing. Gene splicing involves. physically cutting DNA and inserting new. genes into the genome. In 2009, Japanese. scientists spliced jellyfish DNA into. marmoset embryos to make them. glow-in-the-dark. Not only did this.

work, but the gene is now passed on to. their offspring. This is the first time. this has been achieved in a primate. >> [music]. >> Since then, scientists have created. glowing sheep, pigs, and even glowing. cats. >> Oh, I like this glowing cats idea. Easier to see that evil lurking in the. shadows. >> But gene splicing is difficult and not. very precise. >> [music]. >> Whereas CRISPR is so precise, it's like. copying and pasting specific genes. You. can also use CRISPR to turn certain.

genes on or off in any genome in any. organism including humans. In addition. to curing disease, researchers are. exploring CRISPR to create new biofuels. There's a team genetically modifying. mosquitoes so they can't carry malaria. For years, scientists have tried to. revive extinct [music] animal species. The process is difficult and they've had. mixed results, but it's much easier with. CRISPR. And there's big money in. de-extincting animals.

>> What if bringing species back from. extinction could help bring critically. endangered species back from the brink, help hundreds of threatened species. thrive, and support the restoration of. the planet's critical ecosystems? [music]. That's the goal of Colossal. >> A company called Colossal Biosciences. secured $150 million in financing just. last year. They plan to resurrect the. woolly mammoth, the dodo bird, and other. extinct species. >> You what are they nuts? It's like these. people never seen a movie. They're.

making Jurassic Park for real. >> They kind of are. And when a new. technology emerges, >> [music]. >> governments of the world ask, is there a. military application? Well, in this case, the answer is yes. CRISPR has launched a new kind of arms. race. Countries are hard at work right. now trying to build the world's first. super soldier. >> [music].

[music]. >> Advancing technology. >> When Guardian AI incorporated every. nation of the world into a single. government, war, drought, and famine. were eliminated. The only [music]. challenge to our peace was the. Imperfects. We had no way of tracking. down these terrorists until now. >> [music].

>> Today, Guardian released the first. deployment [music]. of the elite tactical retrieval and. criminal resistance team, known as. Tracers. Tracers have been genetically designed. to be the perfect hunters. They're. physically imposing, standing well over. 6 ft tall with lean, muscular builds. They are the strongest and fastest. humans ever to exist. They can maintain a 35-mph sprint. [music] for almost 10 minutes. Guardian.

says future generations of tracers will. be even faster and with [music] greater. stamina. Like a chameleon, a tracer can. change the color of his skin to match. his surroundings. Their eyes are. enhanced with advanced optics, which. include 100 times zoom, night vision, and infrared. [music] From over 100 yd. away, a tracer can hear breath or even a. heartbeat. They can smell sweat from even farther, even upwind of their target.

Tracers also possess enhanced cognitive. abilities. With their neuralink. implants, their minds process. information thousands of times faster. than a normal human. They can analyze. complex data, gather clues, and predict. their targets' movements with uncanny. accuracy. No doubt, Imperfects will. target [music] tracers whenever they. encounter them, but tracers are. extremely difficult to kill. They can regenerate damaged tissue, [music] mend broken bones, and even.

regrow lost limbs. Tracers have been. engineered to have an extremely high. pain [music] tolerance. They can push. through injuries that would incapacitate. a normal person, never slowing down or. losing focus of their mission. Tracers are relentless, unstoppable, and. utterly devoted to their purpose. >> [music]. >> They will not rest until every last. Imperfect has been eliminated from the. gene pool. Then,

we will finally have peace. >> [music]. [music]. >> Despite the World Health Organization. condemning the use of CRISPR for. anything other than medical necessities, governments around the world are very. interested in its military potential. What could the military do with CRISPR?

Think Captain America or Wolverine, real-life superheroes. Super hearing and. night vision, increased muscle mass and. bone density, tolerance to pain, immunity to poison, reduced sleep. requirements, even regenerative healing. The possibilities are endless. But here's something scary. These. changes don't have to be made to. embryos. They can be made to full-grown. adults. In 2017, Russian President. Vladimir Putin said his scientists would.

soon be able to create a soldier with. specific characteristics that would let. them fight without [music] pain or fear. or regret. >> Yeah, how do I win the soldier? >> Yep. And China doesn't want to be left. behind. They're allegedly testing. soldiers right now. >> They have found that there is ample. evidence that Chinese scientists are. very interested in applying. biotechnology to the battlefield and. specifically the CRISPR gene editing. tool, which raises a ton of questions.

Picture super strong commandos who can. operate on 3 hours sleep or a sniper who. can see twice as far as a normal person. >> Oh, maybe that's what happened to. Wolverine. They were trying to create a. Chinese Batman. >> Uh yeah, let's let's let's not get into. it. In 2020, France announced it's looking. into enhancing their soldiers. French Defense Minister Florence Parly. said they have no immediate plans for. invasive technology for their soldiers,

but she said other countries wouldn't. hold back, so they have to be prepared. In 2021, the UK entered the arms race. The UK's Advanced Research and Invention. Agency has been given 800 million pounds. to research genetically enhancing. soldiers. And you can't have an arms race without. the good old USA. In 2019, the Defense Advanced Research. Projects Agency, or DARPA, launched a. project to explore genetically editing.

soldiers. One last thing. Remember Colossal. Biosciences? >> Yeah, the company making our Jurassic. Park? >> Yep. They have a new investor. >> Oh, no. A big pharma company? >> Worse. >> A big tech company? >> Worse. >> Well, the only thing worse would be uh. wait. Do you mean. >> the CIA? >> Oh, no. >> Yep. The CIA gets a black budget of about 100. billion dollars a year, more or less.

They're throwing a lot of that money at. genetic research. [music]. Colossal Biosciences, Ginkgo Bioworks, Metabiota, Biometrica, and T2 Biosystems. all allegedly receive millions in CIA. funding. These companies use artificial. intelligence for gene mapping, genetic. testing, and other DNA research. >> Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. >> What? >> One of the companies the CIA funds is. called T2? >> Yep. >> That's literally what Terminator 2 is.

called. >> It was. >> If the CIA is using AI in gene editing, they are literally creating Skynet. Like, for real. >> They really are. And speaking of. Terminator 2, remember the rest of the. title of that movie? >> Judgment Day. >> [music]. >> Judgment Day.

>> [music]. >> Judgement day came and went as expected. Your crimes? Counts of treason, terrorism, conspiracy, resisting arrest, assaulting an agent of the state, and. the charge every imperfect faces, defying natural order. The sentence for any one of these is. death. There was no reason for them to. pile the charges on. They even threw in. a count of breaking and entering.

You check the clock on the wall, 6:55. 5 minutes left. 5 minutes [music] left. to live. In 5 minutes, your cell will open and. the guards will take you to a room. What happens in that room, nobody knows, only rumors. But whoever goes in that. room doesn't come out. 4 minutes left. This is a worse fate. than the others on your team. They were. all killed by tracers during the Titan. point job. At least they didn't have to. sit in a cell counting down days, then.

hours, now minutes until their death. The plan was going so well, for a few. minutes at least. >> [music]. >> Your contact opened the door right on. schedule. A quick ride up to the 15th floor, which. was temporarily closed for renovation. Then into the Telco closet where the. workstation was waiting, just like the. blueprints said it would be. The. portable drive fit, the virus uploaded. You never felt more elation in your. life. It was pure joy. Then you heard the gunshots.

And you knew. There was no reason to hide, they knew. you were there. When you open the door, there were two. tracers standing over the bodies of your. friends. And there was your contact. staring at his shoes. He betrayed you. It was a long shot anyway. The AI was. always a step ahead. You don't know how.

many resistance cells are left, but you. can scratch New York off the list. 3 minutes left. You spent the last 2 weeks in your cell. going over the plan again and again, trying to find the hole, where it went. wrong, but there was no hole. The plan. was perfect. The problem was your. contact. He was human, an optimized. human. It was hard to blame [music] him. He was bred to be obedient, loyal, and. even fearful of authority. Trusting him was a mistake. You never.

really had a chance. You hear footsteps in the hall getting. closer. The jangling of keys, the door unlocks. and opens. The guard nods his head as if. to say, "Let's go." "I still have 2. minutes," you tell him. He looks at your. wall clock and nods. "You're right," he. says. >> [music]. >> "You want to wait?". In a flash, recall the memory of your. father shoving you down the hatch, the. shouting, the crawling in the dark, and.

the hiding. Most of all, you remember. the hiding. Hiding for years, fearing. this moment would happen one day, and. here it is. >> [music]. >> You tell the guard, "Nah, I'm ready.". You hop up from your bunk, casually walk. past the guard, and start [music] down. the long gray hall. It's finally time to. stop hiding.

>> [music]. >> Eugenics is defined as a set of beliefs. and practices designed to improve the. genetic quality of the human population. Eugenics is most often associated with. the Nazis, but it didn't start with them. or end with them. The sterilization of. people considered unfit. >> [music]. >> has happened on every continent and in. every major country.

In 1907, the Indiana Eugenics Law was. passed in the US, the first of its kind. in the world. [music]. The law authorized the involuntary. sterilization of certain individuals, specifically the mentally ill. By the 1930s, more than 30 states had. passed similar laws. These laws. primarily targeted individuals in mental. institutions or prisons, >> [screaming]. >> but they also affected others in the. community deemed unfit for reproduction,

including people with disabilities, those with mental illness, and. individuals of certain racial and ethnic. backgrounds. >> Oh, no. >> Yep. This law was abused. In Sweden, more than 60,000 people were. sterilized between 1934 and 1976. Just like the US, the program was. designed to prevent people from. reproducing who were deemed by the state. to have undesirable traits. The mentally. ill, the mentally disabled, the. physically deformed, or anyone behaving.

in a way considered socially [music]. problematic or genetically inferior. In modern times, eugenics is not. accepted as scientific. It's considered. erroneous and immoral. Eugenics is no. longer an acceptable practice. Or is it? Many countries allow women to terminate. a pregnancy if the fetus shows signs of. impairment, illness, or a genetic.

disorder. [music]. Depending on the country, up to 90% of. women choose to terminate. Is this. eugenics? I'm not judging, I'm just. asking. But consider [music] this. What if instead of terminating a fetus, that fetus's illness could be repaired? CRISPR [music] not only makes that. possible, it makes it easy. This would. lead to more births of healthy babies. But, technology was used to alter that. child, which alters the gene pool. Is. this eugenics? It's an ongoing debate.

There are valid arguments on both sides. On one hand, preventing a child from. having Down syndrome, cystic fibrosis, Huntington's disease, sickle cell. disease, sets up that child and his or. her parents for an easier life and. spares that family a lot of pain and. expense. >> [music]. >> On the other hand, CRISPR technology. does interfere with the natural order of. things. Of course, it's done with good. intentions, but whenever we tamper with. nature, there can be and there usually.

are. unexpected consequences. >> This is the emergency broadcast system. This is not a test. >> In a historic victory for global. stability, Guardian AI has successfully. neutralized the terrorist group known as.

The Resistance. This misguided faction sought to. undermine the peace and progress. achieved through Guardian's genetic. optimization programs. Thanks to the tireless efforts of the. Tracers working out of the New York. branch, The Resistance's leadership has. been captured and their network. dismantled.

Guardian will now be able to continue. its vital work unimpeded, ensuring a. future of health, harmony, and security. for all citizens. The world can now breathe a sigh of. relief. knowing that the guardian is watching. over us. Always watching. >> [music].

>> In 2021, the World Health Organization. started putting together a set of global. standards regarding CRISPR and gene. editing. The WHO said gene editing should be used. only in cases of medical necessity. The. report explicitly says gene technology. should not be used in any military. application. But there's a slight. problem with the report. That isn't law. It's up to each country to decide how. they use CRISPR. [music] And it's safe. to assume some countries aren't going to. agree with the WHO. In fact, the.

evidence shows all the major world. powers are gearing up for a new kind of. war [music]. to be fought by a new kind of soldier. How we use CRISPR will shape the future. of our world. The evidence will be. recorded not just in our history books, but in our DNA. A lot of today's story was speculation, and the future doesn't have to be so. dark. CRISPR has the potential to. eliminate genetic diseases. >> [music]. >> HIV, genetic blindness, MS, even cancer.

can almost be completely eradicated like. smallpox was in 1980. But remember Dr. He Jiankui who created. twin girls immune to HIV? Well, he. didn't. It didn't work. [music]. And even Jennifer Doudna herself has. warned that CRISPR carries with it great. risk. >> The potential to do incredible things. and make incredible advances that will. be beneficial to our society, but hand. in hand with that goes these um large. risks.

>> There have been at least two published, but not [music] highly publicized, studies that show CRISPR causes damage. to DNA. [music]. The study found deletions of thousands. of DNA bases, including at spots far. from the edit. >> Cleavage site. >> Right. Some of those deletions silence genes. that should be active and activated. genes that should be silent, including. cancer-causing genes. Within 20 minutes. of the release of that study, three. publicly traded CRISPR companies lost.

more than $300 million in value. Like. with AI, we have to be very, very. careful with this technology. The. dystopian future I described today could. easily happen. The foundation is already. here. We, as a species, are at a crossroads, and I don't know which road we'll take. Zeus gave Pandora a box as a wedding.

gift, but told her to never open it. She. couldn't resist. You know the story. When Pandora opened the box, it. unleashed all the evils and miseries. into the world, disease, poverty, hatred, violence, and suffering. I've. heard people compare AI and CRISPR to. Pandora's Box. Now that the box is. opened, there's no going back. CRISPR. and AI aren't going away. In fact, despite all the warnings and the. potential danger, these [music]. technologies are being expanded. Right.

away, Pandora knew she made a mistake. and did finally close the box, but all. the contents had escaped. Except one. thing at the bottom of the box was left. behind. Like Pandora, that one thing might be. the only thing we have left. That one thing was hope. >> So, that was comforting. A nice, relaxing look at the future of human. civilization. Nothing says genetic. apocalypse like designer babies,

resurrecting mammoths and dodo birds, and a future where super soldiers seem. just around the corner. Good times. But as AJ said, there's still hope. There are some really good things. genetic editing can bring about, too. Maybe it's a coincidence that sometimes. when things feel completely out of. control, people start noticing weird. signs or patterns. A little cosmic tap. on the shoulder, little nudges seemingly. from the universe, like the universe is. guiding you. >> [music]. >> or messing with you. We think of someone.

before they call. We dream about someone. we randomly run into the next day. An. email that lands exactly at the right. moment. That happened to me recently. I. just had a dream that Hecklefish. hijacked my car, took it for a joyride, and crashed it into my studio. Then the next [music] morning, I wake. up, check my inbox, and there's an email. from AJ. The time of his email? 3:33.

a.m. And now I'm here on this weird. corner of the internet wondering if. Hecklefish somehow back-channeled with. the Adjustment Bureau. It's a classic. time loop. I should really call Eric. Wargo about this. >> [music]. >> Whoa. That's trippy. Hello? >> Hey Jesse. What's it going? >> Is this Eric Wargo? >> Uh yeah. >> You wouldn't believe what just happened.

Cool. Okay. I'll talk to you soon. Later. It's always bugging me. This next episode is about your favorite. moments that feel too strange to ignore. We've all experienced it, but there's. actually a science behind it. So, episode two's up next. This is. synchronicities, the science behind your. meaningful coincidences.

In Bermuda, 1975, a man walks [music] down the street. He's hit by a taxi and killed. Exactly 1. year later, his brother walks down the. same street. He's hit by a taxi and. killed. Now, not only did the brother. die the same way, they were [music] hit. by the same taxi. Driven by the same driver. Carrying the. same passenger. Twin boys separated at birth, both named.

Jim, both became cops, both married. women named Linda, both had sons named. James Allen, both divorced and married. women named Betty, and both had dogs. named toy. These aren't coincidences, [music]. they're synchronicities. Reality. responding to human consciousness. Because reality isn't random or chaotic. It's organized. It's aware, and it's. always listening. [music]. And if you want to change reality,

all you have to do is ask. In 1944, [music]. famous psychiatrist Carl Jung was. talking with a patient. She kept having a dream about a golden. scarab, a golden beetle, an Egyptian. symbol of [music] death, rebirth, and. transformation. Jung listened patiently. He'd heard this.

dream before, >> [music]. >> many times. But then, he heard something else. Tapping. Tapping at the window. A beetle was hitting the glass over and. over. Jung opened the window, caught the. beetle, and gently studied it for a. second. It was golden green, >> [music]. >> a rose chafer, the closest thing to a. scarab in Switzerland. He handed it to. his patient and said, "Here's your. scarab.". At that moment, Young realized that. there's more to our reality than we see.

[music] He believed that mind and matter. are intertwined. Our reality is created. by our collective consciousness. [music]. And Carl Young wasn't some mystic. He. was a scientist. He was a highly. published, highly respected. psychiatrist. But when that beetle. tapped on his window, it changed him. forever. >> [music]. >> He didn't think this was a random. coincidence. It was a meaningful. coincidence. He called it synchronicity. Events may seem coincidental, but.

they're connected by cause and. consciousness. The universe, reality itself, responds. to human thought. Have you ever had a. friend pop into your mind, someone that. you hadn't talked to in years, and then. the phone rings and it's them? Or you. think of a song and then you hear it. somewhere? That's your mind tapping into the. universal consciousness. One of Young's closest intellectual. partners was Wolfgang Pauli. He was a. Nobel Prize-winning physicist and one of. the [music] founders of quantum. mechanics. Quantum entanglement seemed.

to prove Young's theory. When two. particles are entangled, changing one. changes the other instantly, no matter. how far apart they are. One foot apart, 1 million light-years apart, those. particles communicate instantly, [music]. no speed limit. That breaks the rules of. physics. But tests prove entanglement is. real, [music] which means there are. rules of physics that we don't know. about. Like entangled particles can. influence each other, your thoughts can.

somehow influence your reality. The. other day, Jen and I had dinner with. friends that we hadn't seen in 10 years. Hi Dave. Hi Maureen. Hi Sailor. The next day, I'm cleaning out a folder. of old files. The top file was a picture. of Dave and Maureen and baby sailor. taken about 10 years ago. I don't. [music] remember taking it. I don't even. remember seeing it before. This is synchronicity and I'm sure you. have stories like this yourself. Arthur. Koestler collected hundreds of these.

strange stories [music]. and he found an odd pattern in history. Big discoveries often happen at the same. time. >> [music]. >> in different places by people who had no. contact. Isaac Newton and Gottfried. Wilhelm Leibniz both invented calculus. separately. Charles Darwin and Alfred. Russel Wallace both developed the theory. of evolution independently. Now, here's. a crazy one. Alexander Graham Bell and. Elisha Gray both submitted designs for. the telephone to the US Patent Office on.

the exact same day, February 14th, 1876, just hours apart. Young said we're all. connected. Each of us is one of billions. of individual access points to our. shared collective consciousness. >> [music]. >> And most people just stumble into these. connections by accident. But some people. have learned that our shared reality can. be [music] accessed. It could be. influenced. It could even be controlled. And if you think controlling reality.

with your mind would be a nice skill to. have, you're not alone. So does the CIA. The CIA had a problem. The Soviets were. training psychic spies. It was the 1970s. and intelligence reports were coming in. from everywhere. Soviet agents could. supposedly see inside American military. facilities using only their minds. At. first reports weren't taken seriously,

but then more reports arrived. And then. more. >> [music]. >> Project Stargate launched in 1978 at the. Stanford Research Institute. SRI was. backed by the CIA. They wanted remote. viewers who could spy on enemy. installations without leaving their. chairs. So, SRI recruited people who. claimed to have psychic abilities. Joe. McMoneagle was one of their star. viewers. He was a former Army. intelligence officer who had a. near-death experience. >> [music]. >> After he was brought back, he could.

describe places he'd never been. He. closed his eyes and sketched detailed. drawings of buildings on the other side. of the world. In 1979, McMoneagle was. given coordinates and asked what he saw. He described a massive submarine, bigger. than any sub ever built. Now, intelligence analysts laughed at his. sketches of the sub because he drew two. subs side by side surrounded by a giant. hull. >> [music]. >> No submarine could be that big. No one.

had ever designed anything like this. Six months later, satellite photos. proved McMoneagle was right. >> [music]. >> The Typhoon-class submarine looked. exactly like his drawings. But, the. military wanted more than remote. viewing. They wanted to change reality. itself. [music]. The Gateway Process explores. consciousness manipulation through. technology. Robert Monroe had developed something. called hemispheric synchronization or.

hemisync. Different sound frequencies. played in each ear could put the brain. in altered states. Test subjects. reported leaving their bodies, traveling. through time, and accessing what they. called other dimensions. Declassified documents describe Focus. 15, a mental state where time supposedly. doesn't exist. People claim they could see the past, present, and future simultaneously. Some reported [music] they could. influence events before they happened.

That caught the attention of the. American military and intelligence. agencies. They even sent soldiers and. agents to learn the Gateway [music]. process. And I have a whole episode on. this, linked below. At Princeton, the PEAR laboratory, p e a. r, ran experiments for 28 years. They. tested whether the human mind could. affect random number generators. Ordinary people would sit in front of. machines. >> [music]. >> and try to influence the output with. their thoughts. Now, the effects were. small, but [music] significant. People.

could affect machines in ways that. shouldn't be possible. Still not convinced? Well, [music] the global consciousness. project has random number generators. around the world, constantly producing. random data. But around 2:00 in the morning on. September 11th, 2001, the machines'. random numbers started to synchronize. The scientists couldn't explain it. A. few hours later, two planes hit the. World Trade Center. >> [music]. >> This is a published, peer-reviewed fact.

Some argue that it was just a. coincidence, but I could do a whole. episode on the global consciousness. project and the events they predicted. [music]. And let me know if you want me to cover. it. So, not only can we access reality, we get tapped into the universal field, focus 15, where past, present, and. future don't exist. >> [music]. >> We can alter reality any place and at. any time. The CIA and US military had. spent decades and millions of dollars. proving consciousness.

>> [music]. >> could alter reality, but they weren't. the first to discover this. Ancient. cultures have been using these. techniques for thousands of years. Humans have always known how to bend. reality. We just called it different. names. Every ancient culture had. practices for connecting to the. universal consciousness, prayer, meditation, ritual. These weren't just religious ceremonies. They [music] were technologies.

Technologies for accessing the same. consciousness field the CIA wanted. The. Hermetic tradition goes back to ancient. Egypt. As above, so below. As within, so. without. >> [music]. >> They knew consciousness shapes reality. The mind creates matter. Change your. inner world, the outer world follows. Buddhist monks have demonstrated this. for centuries. They can control their. body temperature through meditation. Scientists tested Tibetan monks in.

freezing conditions. The monks raised. their skin temperature by 17°. Just by thinking about it. They dried. wet sheets on their bodies in sub-zero. weather. Then there's Nikola Tesla. He didn't. just invent electrical devices. He. believed in the connection between. thought and energy. Tesla would. visualize his inventions in perfect. detail before building them. >> [music]. >> He'd run the machines in his mind for. weeks checking for problems. When he.

finally built them, they worked. perfectly. Every time, [music] on the. first try. Napoleon Hill interviewed 500 successful. people in the early 1900s. >> [music]. >> Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, Thomas. Edison, they all used the same. technique. They held clear mental images. of what they wanted. They felt the. emotions of already having it. Then. reality rearranged itself to match their. vision. Hill called it Think and Grow. [music] Rich. But it wasn't about money. It was about consciousness creating.

reality. Then the new thought movement. spread across America. Authors like. Neville Goddard taught that imagination. creates reality, not metaphorically, literally. Your thoughts impress. themselves on a responsive universe. The. universe has no choice but to manifest. [music] them. Fast forward to 2006. The. Secret goes mainstream and millions. learn about the law of attraction. Critics called it wishful thinking, but here's what's interesting. Every.

culture throughout history discovered. the same principle independently. [music] Aboriginal Australians, ancient. Chinese, Native Americans, African. tribes, they all found ways to. communicate with [music] reality itself. The techniques vary, but the core. message doesn't. Reality is conscious. It listens. It responds. And the most. dramatic proof comes from the. synchronicities that happen without us. even trying.

In June 2001, Laura Buxton released a. balloon at her grandparents anniversary. party. She was 10 years old living in. Staffordshire, England. She wrote her. name and address on a tag, tied it to. the balloon, and let it go. The balloon traveled 140 mi south. It landed in a hedge in Wiltshire, where. another 10-year-old girl found it. >> [music]. >> And her name. was also Laura Buxton. The second Laura wrote the first,

[music] and they arranged to meet. Both. girls showed up wearing pink sweaters. and jeans. Both brought [music] their. pet guinea pigs. Both guinea pigs were. orange and white. And of course, the. guinea pigs had the same name. And the. coincidences kept piling up. Both Lauras. were the same height. Both had brown. hair and blue eyes. Both had 3-year-old. black labs at home. And both also had. gray rabbits. When they opened their. bags, both had packed the same stuffed. animal. >> [music]. >> Identical. And the odds of all this happening are.

so crazy that it's mathematically. impossible, but [music] it happened. There's plenty of photos and video. The. news covered the story. This is not an. urban legend. Anthony [music] Hopkins. He needed a. book, The Girl from Petrovka. He was. playing the lead in the film, and he. searched [music] every bookstore in. London with no luck. It was out of. print. Hopkins had finally given up when. he was sitting on a bench waiting for a. train. Someone left a book on the bench. He picked it up. It was The Girl from.

[music] Petrovka. But this wasn't just any copy. This one. had handwritten notes in the margins, personal observations, character. analysis. [music]. Hopkins studied the book for his role. Two years later, while shooting the. film, Hopkins met the author, George. Feifer. While they talked about the. book, Feifer mentioned that he'd lent. his personal copy to a friend. That. friend [music] lost it on the London. Underground. All his notes, his. analysis, gone. He was. >> [music]. >> disappointed.

Hopkins heard this and said, "Wait here." And he ran to fetch the. book from his trailer. He showed Feifer. [music]. It was the same book. Feifer's. handwriting, his notes, everything. Somehow, the universe set that book. [music] to the actor playing the lead, and then the universe sent the book back. to its owner. Now, here's [music] a. story of the law of attraction. Robert Todd Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln's. son, attracted death. Presidential death. April 14th, 1865,

Robert was at the White House when his. father left for Ford's Theatre. We know. how that [music] ended. 16 years later, July 2nd, 1881, Robert was Secretary of. War. Walking into the Baltimore and. Potomac train station, President. Garfield was shot, right there in front. of Robert. He saw it happen. September 6th, 1901. Now, Robert was. president of Pullman Company. He arrived. at the Pan-American Exposition. Minutes. later, President McKinley was shot.

Again, Robert was there. Three. presidents, [music]. three assassinations, one man present at. all of them. But, here's the synchronicity that. haunted Robert. Years before his father. died, Robert fell onto train tracks in. Jersey City. The train [music] was. coming. He was about to be crushed. A. stranger grabbed his collar and yanked. him to safety. That stranger was one of. the most famous actors in the country. Edwin Booth, the brother of John Wilkes.

Booth. Two brothers, both famous actors, both. connected to Abraham Lincoln. One brother would save the president's. son, the other would assassinate him. These patterns are a little too perfect. This isn't random. This is reality. organizing itself. To be able to. influence reality would be the ultimate. power. That's why people have been. studying this technique for thousands of. years. But here's the secret they don't want. you to know. Anyone can learn to change their reality.

at [music] will. Even you. Dr. Joe Dispenza had a patient who. couldn't walk. [music] He was paralyzed. from the waist down. Doctors said it was. permanent. But then the patient started. meditating. And [music] not just regular. meditation, quantum field meditation. He visualized his nerve endings. connecting and rebuilding. He focused on.

feeling his legs working perfectly. Six months later, he [music] walked into. Dispenza's office. No wheelchair, no. crutches, he walked. The doctors. couldn't explain it. But Dispenza could. The [music] patient had tapped into the. quantum field where all possibilities. exist. And this isn't wishful thinking. This is the practical application of. quantum physics. When you observe. something at the quantum level, you. change it. That's the observer effect. >> [music].

>> A particle exists in all states at once. until you observe it. Then it exists in. only one state. Your consciousness can. tap into the quantum field. >> [music]. >> At At moment, infinite realities are. laid out before you. Every nanosecond, infinite decisions are being made that. cause the infinite possibilities to. collapse into [music] this one reality, but you can learn to influence the. outcome of all those decisions. You can. alter your small corner of reality. >> [music]. >> Setting clear intentions is the first.

step. You can't be vague, like wishing. for more money. You have to be specific, [music]. detailed. You have to say, "I receive a. $10,000 bonus on March 15th." [music]. The universe needs precise instructions. But thinking isn't enough. You need. emotion, gratitude [music]. specifically. Feel grateful for what. you're manifesting as if it [music]. already happened. Concentrate on that. feeling of believing it already. happened. Your brain doesn't know the difference.

between a real [music] experience and a. vivid imagination. That's why athletes. visualize perfect performance. Their. muscles respond as if they actually. practiced. Donald Hoffman spent 30 [music] years. studying consciousness. He believes what. we perceive as reality is nothing more. than a user interface, like computer. icons on a desktop. Behind every icon, behind every pixel, [music] is complex. code. What we see isn't really here. Space, time, objects, they're all icons,

all pixels. Consciousness is the only. thing that's real. [music]. Now, if Hoffman is right, and reality is. just an interface, you can hack it. And people do it every. day without realizing it. >> [music]. >> Think about someone and they call. Need. a parking spot? One opens up. Worry. about something and it happens. >> [music]. >> That last one's important. Reality. doesn't judge good or bad. It just. responds. So, [music]. be careful what you focus on.

You'll know when you're connecting with. the universal field. [music] You'll will. signs. Some people always notice clocks. when they read 11:11. Other people have. number patterns they see everywhere in. dates, [music] addresses, VIN numbers of. cars. Look around. License plates contain. messages. So do song lyrics. >> [music]. >> Reality is constantly communicating with. you. You just have to learn the. language. Some people see results. immediately. Others take months.

The difference is doubt. >> [music]. >> Every doubt is a new instruction to the. universe to not honor your original. request. >> [music]. >> If you can conceive it and believe it, you can achieve it. We all know the stories about the highly. successful CEO who visualizes his entire. day each morning. Every meeting, every. decision, [music] every outcome. He's. not psychic. He's programming reality. You've heard of vision boards. If you. don't have one, create one right now. Put a cork board somewhere where you can.

see it [music] every day. And on that. board, pin pictures of everything you. want. A dream house, a car, a boat, a. travel destination, even handwritten. notes to yourself about landing the. perfect job or finding your soulmate. Study that board every day. You'll be. surprised [music] at what happens. You. might not buy that yacht tomorrow, but. by setting clear intentions, those. trillions of micro decisions will guide. you to your goal. Now, these aren't. miracles. This is technology. Ancient.

technology that we forgot how to use. But a part of you remembers how to. communicate with reality because reality. is us. All of us. We're all connected. Our shared consciousness is always. listening. It wants your dreams to come. true. All you have to do is ask. Synchronicities are real. We've got the.

photos of the two Laura Buxtons. Young's. beetle tapped on that window. Anthony. Hopkins found that exact book. These. things happened. So, is the universe really responding to. our thoughts? Well, here's where it gets tricky. Critics point out that our brains. evolved to see patterns in randomness. This is called pareidolia. Rustling in. the bushes? Could be wind, or it could. be a predator. The ones who assumed predator lived. longer. So, we're wired to see. connections even when they're not there.

Now, the skeptics have a point. Millions. of twins get separated at birth. Some. are bound to have weird similarities. We. only hear about the impossible ones. This is called survivorship bias. Cherry-picking facts to support a. hypothesis while ignoring everything. else. Take the Laura Buxton balloon. Release enough balloons over enough. years, the odds are you'll eventually. create an impossible story. The odds are. extremely low, I'll admit, but they're not zero. Critics also say.

the CEO who visualizes his perfect day, that's not tapping into some universal. field, that's just preparation and. confidence. But, the skeptics can't explain. everything. The Global Consciousness. Project is real. Random number. generators do show patterns during major. world events. September 11th, tsunamis, elections. For instance, PEAR lab ran. for 28 years, millions of trials. Now, the effects were tiny, but they were. real. Consciousness affected those.

machines. The observer effect is proven. physics. When you observe a quantum. system, you change it. Some physicists. think consciousness might be fundamental. to reality. Others think consciousness. is reality. No, you can't manifest a. yacht. But, mind and matter are more. connected than we thought. So, you can. put yourself on a path where you're. making decisions that lead to that. yacht. But, you have to keep. visualizing, just like Tesla visualized. his inventions. It's all about seeing it.

and thinking about it and focusing on. the problem and the solution. Have you. ever gone to sleep with the problem in. your mind and woke up with the answer? I. have. >> [music]. >> In the early 19th century, scientists. were baffled by benzene, a compound made. of carbon and hydrogen that's extremely. strong and stable. Chemists tried to. replicate [music] it, but they didn't. know how to arrange the molecules. Friedrich Kekulé discovered the. structure for benzene in his sleep. He. had a dream of a snake eating [music]. its tail, a ring. That was the.

breakthrough. Benzene is so strong and. so stable because it's built like a. hexagonal [music] ring. This discovery. was a huge leap forward in chemistry. It. changed and created entire industries. >> [music]. >> Dmitri Mendeleev saw the periodic table. in a dream. Now, these aren't. manifestations, but they're not random, either. That's why every ancient culture. has similar techniques, prayer, meditation. It's all about visualizing. the outcome.

Now, the military spent millions on. remote viewing, and it worked. sometimes, but it worked enough [music]. that it was better than chance, better. than nothing. So, where does that leave us? Synchronicities happen more than. statistics predict. Consciousness can. influence physical systems in small. ways. Princeton proved it. I tend to. believe Carl Jung, that we're all part. of a vast neural network. Each of us is. one of billions of nodes of the same. consciousness. Now, most of the time.

we're out of sync. Events are chaotic. The signals are random. But sometimes. the signals align. Someone thinks of. you, you think of them, the phone rings. Now, I don't know if consciousness. creates reality or reality creates. consciousness, but I know it's listening. Now, I'm not here to convince you of. that. I'm not asking you to believe in. universal collective consciousness. I'm. just asking you to be open to it. How? Simple. Be positive, be kind, be. confident, [music].

and be grateful. If you make these small. adjustments and I'm wrong, your life. will still be happier. But if I'm right, and these adjustments. allow you to bend reality to your will. and control your own destiny, you'll end up asking yourself one simple. question. What took me so long?

So I just hung up with Eric. He had a. dream that my car was flooded with fish. of all things. So what's going on? Coincidences, synchronicities, reality. just messing with your head? There's. clearly something bigger connecting us. all, like a quantum field, as if we're. all eyes of the same big head. And if we. are, how did consciousness get so weird. in the first place? [music]. The answer might be mushrooms, friendly. fungi. And what comes next wouldn't. exist without a stoned, Birkenstock-wearing psychonaut from.

Berkeley, an ethnobotanist and. jungle-trotting mystic who knew that the. deepest frontier was never out there in. the stars. It was in here, behind your. own eyes. I'm of course talking about. the great Terence McKenna. So this idea. is called the stoned ape theory. Imagine. a bunch of hungry proto-humans wandering. the African savanna, flipping over cow. pies looking for snacks, and instead. they discover the original forbidden. fungus. >> [music]. >> Evolution's like, "Finally." So they eat.

the mushrooms, which as Rogan likes to. point out, happen to look like a dinner. plate. Suddenly colors are brighter, visual acuity goes up a notch. That lion. in the grass, now they see it. Their. minds get a software update, and inside. something like language starts trying to. happen. Grunts [music] slowly turning. into gossip, poetry, and eventually, podcasting. These little cow pie. mushroom satellites were like USB drives. from the biosphere. Exohormones that.

carried messages from nature. Now, some. scientists have a real problem with this. one, and whether McKenna was a genius or. just really, really high. I'll let you. decide. And for legal purposes, I have. to say, don't try this at home. Or do, I'm not your shaman. The third episode. starts now, the awakening of human. consciousness, forbidden fungus. >> [music]. >> Something happened to the human brain.

100,000 years ago. Something evolution. can't explain. In just a few thousand. generations, >> [music]. >> our brain nearly doubled in size. No. other species has experienced anything. like this. And we didn't just get bigger. brains. We got enhanced abilities, increased. intelligence, better eyesight, faster. reflexes, and the most amazing ability. of all, consciousness. >> [music]. >> And somehow, all of that happened fast, too fast for scientific explanation.

But, in the 1990s, an outsider offered. an answer. His theory was simple and. immediately dismissed. It contradicted. everything the scientific establishment. believed about [music] the emergence of. human consciousness. He said the cause. wasn't the discovery of fire or language. or the use of tools. He said all of. those abilities were the result. He said early humans transformed from. primitive hominids to the most advanced. life form on Earth because they added.

one simple thing to their diet, [music]. mushrooms. But, not ordinary mushrooms. The mushrooms that awakened the human. mind were magic. >> [music]. >> The outsider was Terence McKenna, not. your typical scientist. He started as an. ethnobotanist studying plants in the. Amazon, but a trip to La Chorrera in.

1971 changed everything. That's where. McKenna tried psychedelic mushrooms, and. what he experienced set him on a. decades-long quest to understand. consciousness. [music]. McKenna wasn't making wild guesses about. mushrooms and evolution. He had data, hard evidence. In 1970, Harvard. researcher Roland Fischer ran a series. of experiments. He gave graduate. students controlled doses of psilocybin. Then he tested their vision. Small doses improved visual acuity by.

200%. Students could detect finer details, see. contrasts better, track movement more. accurately. Now, think about what this. means for early humans. Better vision. means better hunting. Better hunting. means more food. More food meant bigger. brains. But McKenna's theory went deeper. He. proposed three levels of mushroom. consumption. Low doses enhanced vision. and made people more alert, perfect for. tracking prey across the savanna. Medium.

doses dissolved social boundaries that. led to conflict. Groups became more. cohesive. People shared more, bonded. more. More bonding means more children. High doses of psychedelic mushrooms. produced an entirely [music] different. and intense experience. The ego dissolved. New thought patterns. emerged. Abstract thinking and. understanding symbolism became innate, natural. Language became music, and.

music became language, and. consciousness, whatever that is, expands. McKenna didn't think were just side. effects. He thought they were part of a. bigger plan. >> [music]. >> And here's the thing about human brain. evolution that bothered McKenna. 2. million years ago, our ancestors had. brains around 900 cubic centimeters. Within 100,000 years, that jumped to. 1600 cubic centimeters, >> [music]. >> nearly double. That kind of growth usually takes. millions of years, not thousands. Fire.

helped. Tools helped. Eating meat. helped. But the timeline didn't match. These developments came after [music]. brain expansion, not before. McKenna had. one simple explanation. Our ancestors followed herds of game. across Africa. Those herds left dung. everywhere. And growing in that dung. were Psilocybe cubensis mushrooms, the. same mushrooms Fisher studied at. Harvard. Early humans were hungry. They ate.

everything they could find. They ate not. just the animals they hunted, but the. mushrooms left behind from the herd. >> [music]. >> The scientific establishment hated. McKenna's theory. They called it the. stoned ape hypothesis. The name was. meant to mock it, but McKenna embraced. it. He believed psilocybin didn't just. change the mind, it helped form the. human experience. Scientists thought. McKenna was crazy, but 30 years later, they gave people psilocybin and scanned. their brains.

>> [music]. >> Terence McKenna wasn't crazy at all. He was dead right. >> [music]. >> McKenna was right about one thing. Psilocybin changes the brain, but not. the way anyone expected. When. neuroscientists finally put volunteers. in MRI machines and gave them. psilocybin, they thought brain activity. would explode. More neural firing, more. energy, more chaos. Instead, they saw.

the opposite. The brain got quieter. Specifically, one part went almost. silent, the default mode network. The. default mode network is your brain's. control center. It's the voice in your. head, the thing that says I when you. think about yourself. It creates your. ego, the boundary between you [music]. and everything else, your sense of self. On psilocybin, that shuts down. Not partially, not temporarily, the. entire network goes offline. And when it.

does, something extraordinary happens. Brain. regions that never talked to each other. suddenly connect. The visual cortex starts communicating. with areas that process emotion. Memory. centers link up with parts that control. body awareness. It's like every. neighborhood in a city suddenly building. roads to every other neighborhood. Robin Carhartt-Harris at Imperial. College London discovered this in 2012. He called it neural anarchy. But it.

wasn't anarchy, it wasn't chaotic. It. was reorganization. The connections formed during these. psychedelic experiences [music]. don't just disappear when the drug wears. off. Brain scans show new neural. pathways remaining active for weeks, sometimes months. In some cases, the. changes appear permanent. Johns Hopkins. researchers found something even [music]. stranger. People who took psilocybin in. controlled settings showed lasting. personality changes, not mood changes,

>> [music]. >> personality changes. They became more. open, more creative, more connected to. others. This shouldn't be possible. Personality is supposed to be fixed by. age 30, but psilocybin rewrote that. rule. And here's what really puzzled. scientists. Psilocin, what psilocybin. becomes in your body, fits into human. serotonin receptors perfectly. Not. approximately, perfectly. Like a key. designed for a specific lock.

We share about 50% of our DNA with. mushrooms. We split from a common. ancestor over a billion years ago. Yet, somehow these fungi produce a compound. that seems tailor-made for the human. brain. Paul Stamets, the world's leading. mushroom expert, thinks this isn't a. coincidence. He believes humans and mushrooms have. been evolving together, what he calls. coevolution. Brain scans prove. psilocybin creates new neural. connections. They prove it dissolves old.

patterns. They prove it fundamentally. changes how we think. But, ancient civilizations didn't need. MRI machines to know this. They've been. using mushrooms for [music] thousands of. years. They saw them as technology, sacred technology, a way to communicate. with other realms, a way to speak with. our ancestors. They saw mushrooms as a. way to speak to God.

For 2,000 years, it was Greece's most. sacred secret, the Eleusinian Mysteries. Every September, thousands of Greeks. made a pilgrimage to Eleusis. Peasants. and emperors, philosophers and warriors, >> [music]. >> they all came for one thing. To drink the kykeon and see the truth. Plato went. Aristotle went. So did. Sophocles. Cicero drank the kykeon. So. did Comminus, Hadrian, and Marcus. Aurelius. They never wrote about what. they saw, not specifically, but they all. said the same thing. The experience.

[music] changed them forever. It. revealed the secret of death and showed. them their place in the cosmos. For. centuries, nobody knew what was in the. kykeon or kykea. >> [music]. >> Then in 1978, researchers cracked the. code. The drink contained ergot, a fungus that. grows on grain, specifically rye. Ergot. contains lysergic acid amide, another. psychedelic, natural LSD. >> [music]. >> The Greeks weren't alone. The Aztecs had. a word for mushrooms, teonanacatl. It.

means flesh of the gods. They used. psilocybe mexicana in religious. ceremonies. Spanish [music]. conquistadors witnessed these rituals in. the 1500s, and what they saw terrified. them. Indigenous people eating mushrooms and. [music] speaking directly to their gods. No priests, no intermediaries, just. direct divine contact. The Spanish. destroyed every mushroom [music] temple. they found, burned every codex that. mentioned them, made mushroom use. punishable by death.

But they couldn't destroy everything. The Mazatec people of Oaxaca kept the. mushroom ceremonies alive, hidden in. mountain caves, passed down through. generations of healers. For 400 years. they protected this knowledge. And this. wasn't just the Americas. Vedic texts. from ancient India describe Soma, a. divine plant that granted immortality. and wisdom. Scholars debated what Soma. was for decades. Then R. Gordon Wasson. made a connection. The descriptions. matched Amanita muscaria, the red and.

white mushrooms that are in all the. fairy tales. Siberian shamans used the. same mushroom. They fed it to reindeer, then drank the reindeer's urine. The. reindeer's body filtered out the toxins, but kept the psychoactive compounds. Shamans could fly across the sky and. visit other worlds, all powered by. reindeer pee. >> [music]. >> Even the Bible might contain mushroom. references. Moses met God at a burning. bush. The bush was probably acacia. Acacia contains DMT. When burned and.

inhaled, DMT produces visions that last. about 15 [music] minutes, exactly how. long Moses spoke with God. The manna that fed the Israelites in the. desert, it appeared overnight. It had to. be collected before sunrise. It gave. people visions. This is how mushrooms operate. John Marco Allegro was a Dead Sea. Scrolls scholar. He proposed that early. Christianity was a mushroom cult, that. the Last Supper wasn't bread and wine, it was mushrooms. The body and blood of.

Christ were [music] actually the cap and. stem of Amanita muscaria. The Vatican. destroyed Allegro's career for that. theory. Every civilization throughout. history knew the power of mushrooms, and. every authority that rose to power tried. to destroy that secret knowledge. They. almost succeeded. But in 1957, [music]. Life magazine published an article that. reached 6 million Americans. The. [snorts] headline read, "Seeking the. magic mushroom." And now the secret was. out.

R. Gordon Wasson was a banker, vice. president at J.P. Morgan. Not the kind. of person you'd expect to resurrect. ancient mushroom knowledge. But in 1955, Wasson and his wife Valentina traveled. to Oaxaca, Mexico. They heard rumors about mushroom. ceremonies, sacred rituals that survived. the Spanish conquest. >> [music]. >> They found Maria Sabina. She was a.

Mazatec healer, a curandera. For. generations, her family had protected. the mushrooms traditions. She rarely. allowed outsiders into [music] the. ceremonies, but something about the. Wassons made her break that rule. On. June 29th, 1955, >> [music]. >> Wasson became the first known white. person to participate in a mushroom. ceremony. Maria Sabina served them psilocybe. mexicana on a leaf. She chanted in. Mazatec. The room was filled with. incense. Then, the visions began. Wasson saw geometric patterns, palaces.

made of light. He felt his soul leave. his body. He understood for the first. time what the word ecstasy actually. meant. [music]. Not happiness, but standing outside. yourself. Seeing reality from a. perspective that normal consciousness. just doesn't allow. The experience. [music] lasted six hours, but it changed. Wasson forever. Two years later Life magazine published. his account, Seeking the Magic Mushroom. It hit newsstands on May 13th, 1957.

[music]. Six million Americans read about. mushrooms that could expand. consciousness, show them God, reveal. secrets about life, the universe, and. their place in it. The psychedelic. revolution had begun. Timothy Leary read that article. So did. Richard Alpert. They started the Harvard. psilocybin project [music] in 1960. They. gave mushrooms to graduate students, prisoners, divinity students. Everyone reported profound experiences, [music]. life-changing revelations.

Then came the Good Friday experiment. On. April 20th, 1962, 20 divinity students gathered in Boston. University's Marsh Chapel. [music]. Half received psilocybin, half got. placebos. The results were undeniable. Nine of 10 students who took psilocybin. reported mystical [music] experiences. They felt unity with all existence, direct contact with the divine. Time. dissolved. The boundaries between. [music] self and universe disappeared. 25 years later, researchers tracked down.

those students. They still ranked that. Good Friday as one of the most. spiritually significant experiences of. their lives. But the establishment. [music] panicked. By 1968, psilocybin. was illegal. Research stopped. The. mushroom renaissance seemed [music]. over. It wasn't. Underground therapists kept. using psilocybin. They treated. depression, addiction, PTSD. [music]. They just couldn't publish their. results. Then in 2006, Johns Hopkins. published the first legal psilocybin.

study in 40 years. The results shocked the medical. establishment. A single dose of. psilocybin created lasting positive. personality changes. People became more. open, [music] more creative, more. connected. By 2018, the FDA designated. psilocybin as a [music] breakthrough. therapy for depression. Studies showed. 70% remission rates. Compare that to 30%. for standard antidepressants, [music]. which come with all kinds of side. effects. Terminal cancer patients lost. their fear of death after [music] one.

session. Addiction rates plummeted. PTSD. symptoms vanished. The mushrooms that. transformed consciousness 100,000 years. ago were transforming [music] it again. The stoned ape theory. >> [music]. >> captivated millions of people. It. offered a simple answer to humanity's. biggest mystery. Magic mushrooms made us. human. But there's a problem, a big one.

Evolution doesn't work that way. >> [music]. >> Here's what we know is true. Psilocybin mushrooms enhance vision. Roland Fischer proved that at Harvard. They increased social bonding. They. dissolve the ego boundaries. They create. new [music] neural pathways. Modern. brain scans confirm all of this. We also. know early humans encountered these. mushrooms. Psilocybe cubensis grows in cattle dung. all across Africa. Our ancestors [music]. followed those herds. They were hungry. They would have eaten these mushrooms.

McKenna got all that right. >> [music]. >> But here's where the theory gets shaky. Any changes psilocybin caused in an. individual's brain. >> [music]. >> couldn't be passed to their children. That's Lamarckian evolution. It was. disproven 100 years ago. If you take. steroids and build huge muscles, your. kids aren't born muscular. [music] If. you learn French, your children don't. speak it automatically. And if mushrooms. expand your consciousness, that. expansion doesn't transfer to your. offspring. Genetics [music]. doesn't work that way. It never has.

There's another problem. McKenna claimed. Fisher's research supported this. evolutionary theory, but Fisher never. said that. >> [music]. >> He studied perception, not evolution. McKenna took the data and ran with it in. a direction Fisher never intended. And. then there's the evidence that should. exist, but doesn't. If psychedelics. drove human evolution, we'd see the most. advanced cognition in cultures that use. them extensively. The Aztecs used. mushrooms for centuries. [music]. So did Amazonian tribes. The Mazatec. people never stopped using them. These.

cultures created art, [music] mythology, and complex spiritual systems. But they didn't develop advanced. technology or scientific thinking faster. than cultures without psychedelics. So, McKenna was wrong. But he might have. been wrong in an interesting way. Some researchers propose a different. model. Not genetic evolution, but. cultural evolution. Mushrooms didn't. change our DNA, they changed our. software, not our hardware. And [music].

think about it. Every culture that used. psychedelics developed music, art, and. religion. They created rituals and. mythologies. They built complex social. structures around shared experiences. Maybe that's what mushrooms gave us. Not. bigger brains, bigger hearts, bigger ideas. The new. Stone Ape theory focuses on. consciousness as an emergent property. Psychedelics didn't evolve the brain, they revealed what the brain could. already do. Like finding a hidden.

feature in software you've used for. years. [music]. This fits better with the evidence. It explains why mushrooms create. long-lasting personality changes, why. they increase creativity and openness, and why every culture that found them. considered them sacred. Paul Stamets. takes it further. >> [music]. >> He says we're still co-evolving with. mushrooms, not genetically, but. culturally. As we rediscover psychedelics, they're. reshaping [music] society again. Mental. health treatment, creativity. enhancement, spiritual [music].

exploration. The mushroom renaissance. isn't just about medicine, it's about. consciousness itself. McKenna asked the wrong question. It. wasn't how did mushrooms create human. consciousness? The real question is, what is consciousness and why do. mushrooms affect it so profoundly? We don't know. After decades of. research, consciousness remains the hard. problem. We can map every neuron, scan. every synapse, and still not understand. how flesh becomes thought.

But we know this, something in mushrooms. speaks directly to something in us. After a billion years of separate. evolution, that connection to. consciousness remains. Consciousness, if you think about it, is lonely. We're the only species that knows it. even exists, [music] that knows it will. end. Maybe that's why every culture that. found mushrooms called them sacred. Not. because they made us human, >> [music]. >> but because they made us feel. less alone, connected to something else,

[music] connected to something bigger, connected to everyone. The stoned ape. theory may be wrong, >> [music]. >> but it made us think differently. It. made us reevaluate consciousness and how. it arises, [music] how it emerges. It. made us think about our connections to. each other and about connections to a. greater universe, a universe full of. energy and thought and kindness. >> [music]. >> and love. So, right or wrong, the stoned ape. theory is important. And believe it or not,

it changed everything. Okay, so far we've edited the genome, talked to the universe, and possibly. eaten our way into self-awareness, or at. least a good time. But nature has other. ways of forcing an upgrade, and this. time it's not coming from a magic. mushroom, but a meltdown. [music]. So, naturally, our next step is.

Chernobyl. This episode gets into. radiation and the idea that mutation, catastrophe, and evolution might be more. connected than we realized. And in the. aftermath, life isn't just surviving, but adapting. It turns out nature might. be much weirder and tougher than we give. it credit for. Of course, part of my. brain hears radiation-powered evolution. and wonders, "So, if I get exposed to. the right dose, will I get superpowers? Maybe maybe unlock a little sci, a. little telekinesis." But no, that's how.

you get a very different origin story. Biology isn't quite like the comic. books, but it might be much cooler. So, [music] try not to get any ideas from. this next episode. Nuclear-powered. evolution, the wolves of Chernobyl. reveal human potential. >> [music]. >> A few years ago, scientists discovered. something impossible in Chernobyl. Animals were thriving in radiation. levels that should have killed them. >> [music]. >> In the '50s, the United States tested 23.

nuclear weapons at Bikini Atoll. The. area is still radioactive, yet life. flourishes there. Plants and animals. grow faster than they should. After the Fukushima disaster, animals. developed stronger antioxidant systems. They reproduced faster. This happened in. just 15 years. How can plants and animals evolve so. quickly? Well, they can't. They activated ancient. genetic sequences designed to survive. radiation. Genes that were always there,

waiting. And in Earth's most radioactive. places, [music] those genes are waking. up. March 1st, 1954, Bikini Atoll, Operation. Castle, Test Bravo. The military. expected a 5 megaton blast. They got 15.

>> [music]. >> This miscalculation created a blast. 1,000 times stronger than Hiroshima and. Nagasaki. >> Yeah, oh. Someone forgot to carry the. one. >> The fireball reached 20 million degrees. Fahrenheit in under a second. That's. 2,000 times hotter than the sun's. surface and twice the temperature of the.

sun's core. The mushroom cloud stretched 25 miles. high. The blast carved a crater in the. sea floor over a mile wide and 300 feet. deep. Deep enough for a 30-story. building. >> Why the hell are you humans still. messing with nukes? >> I honestly don't know. >> Yeah, it's a good thing the aliens will. protect you. >> Will they? >> Yeah, protector and slave. We'll find. out soon enough. >> The explosion vaporized three small. islands. The lagoon became a radioactive. soup. Wind patterns spread fallout.

across thousands of miles. Locals. suffered radiation sickness and. evacuated. Over four years there were. another 22 nuclear tests. Scientists believed [music] nothing. could survive this. They were wrong. Researchers found nearly 100 species of. fish and coral thriving in radioactive. water. What? >> This is how Godzilla was born. >> Yeah, I don't think. >> From the depths, journey stories high. Breathe fire. His head in the sky.

>> Okay. >> Godzilla. Godzilla. >> Please stop. >> Godzilla. >> I'm begging you. >> And Gadzuki. >> The crater left by the nuclear bomb was. covered in coral, vast colonies of it. Then the researchers found the crabs. >> Oh, they make a shampoo for that. >> No, no, no, no, no. Coconut crabs on the. beach. >> Ah, that makes more sense.

>> These crabs eat radioactive coconuts. The water, soil, and trees contain. cesium 137, a radioactive isotope that. destroys DNA and [music] causes cancer. Tests showed lethal radiation levels in. the crabs, but they're fine. >> Oh, maybe this explains the crab cat. >> Yeah, let's stay focused. This pattern. repeats at every nuclear disaster site. [music] Different animals, same. response. For some reason, nature knows. how to handle radiation. But when did. life develop these defenses? And why?

Well, years later, Chernobyl provided a. clue. Deep in Ukraine's radioactive. [music]. exclusion zone, something strange was. happening to the wolves. >> [music]. >> In 1986, a safety test at the Chernobyl. nuclear power plant failed. The. explosion released 400 times more. radiation than Hiroshima.

The Soviet military gave 100,000. residents hours to evacuate. They. established a 1,000 square mile. exclusion zone around the reactor. The. land was declared dead. >> [music]. >> Nature disagreed. In 2014, Dr. Cara Love. studied wolves in the CEZ. Their blood. work revealed genetic changes that. defied evolution. In just 15. generations, the wolves activated. specific DNA repair mechanisms. >> [music]. >> Each generation grew more and more. resistant to radiation.

>> The wolves are exposed to six times the. legal safety limit of radiation every. day of their lives. The researchers identified the wolves'. genetics seemed resilient to increased. cancer risk. >> But wolves weren't the only animals. changing. When Chernobyl was evacuated, people were not allowed to bring their. pets. Thousands of cats and dogs were. left behind. Most of these animals died from. radiation exposure, but not all of them. Studies documented over 800 descendants. of the original abandoned dogs living in.

the exclusion zone. >> Yeah, what happened to the cats? >> Not much research went into studying the. cats. >> Yeah, because nobody cares. >> Stop it. DNA samples from the Chernobyl dogs show. their genetics are so unique that they. can be classified as a new species. Other animals adapted differently. Eastern tree frogs are normally bright. green. In Chernobyl, they're black. The. increased melanin in their skin protects. them from radiation. Birds in the zone developed darker. feathers to survive.

In 2013, a study revealed that they. weren't creating new abilities, they. were awakening old ones. And then, there's the fungus. >> I didn't make a cream for that. >> No, not that kind. >> hey, hey, what did the mushroom say to the girl. who was trying to pick up at the bar? >> Will you let me get through this, please? >> Oh, fine. Go ahead and kill all the fun. guy.

>> Black fungi in Chernobyl don't just. resist radiation, they eat it. They grow. toward the reactor core, converting. gamma radiation to chemical energy. [music]. like plants convert sunlight. NASA. tested these fungi on the International. Space Station. They processed [music]. cosmic radiation in zero gravity. Similar species appeared at other. radiation sites. At Fukushima, fungi. activated their radiation processing. abilities within hours of exposure. When. radiation levels dropped, they returned. to normal. Johns Hopkins discovered.

these fungi adapt to different [music]. radiation types. from gamma rays to beta particles. Their. genes contain instructions for. processing all kinds of radiation. [music] These same genes appear in 50. million-year-old fungi fossils. So why did ancient life forms develop. protection [music]. against radiation? Dr. Lynn Rothschild is an astrobiologist. at NASA. She says Earth's atmosphere millions of. years ago provided less insulation from. cosmic radiation. For life to survive,

it would have developed methods to. protect itself [music]. and then pass them down through DNA. Now, this makes sense. But there's a hiccup. Cosmic radiation. is mostly protons. The fungi have. defenses against neutrons, beta. particles, and gamma rays. [music]. These don't come from space. These come. from uranium nuclear reactors. >> Hang on. Hang on. Hang on. >> What? >> Humans didn't have nuclear reactors 50. million years ago. >> That's true, they didn't. >> So what are you talking about? They. found a nuclear reactor from millions of. years ago? >> No.

>> Ah. >> They found 17 of them. >> What? >> There was a time in Earth's history when. radiation was much, much higher. In Gabon, West Africa, scientists. discovered evidence of at least 17. natural nuclear reactors that operated 2. billion years ago. The Oklo reactors, as. they're called, sustained nuclear. fission for hundreds of thousands of.

years. And these reactors weren't small. Each site produced around 100 kilowatts. of power. Groundwater moderated the. reactions, creating natural on-off. cycles, just like modern nuclear. reactors. >> Well, who built the reactors? >> Well, >> the Anunnaki. Link to Anunnaki episode. down in the old juicy jug. >> No, they're. >> It's from the nuclear war between. Atlantis and Lemuria. Link to Atlantis. episode stuff in your booty box. >> No, but. >> the nuclear war with Mars. Wait, the.

Mars episode down in the pocket pot. >> Well, scientists are pretty sure they're. natural nuclear reactors. >> Yeah, but not 100% sure. >> Well, science can never be 100% sure. about anything. Oklo wasn't unique. Similar isotope. patterns in Colorado's uranium deposits. suggest ancient fission reactions. Uranium mines in Australia show nuclear. activity from billions of years ago. The Gunflint Chert contains Earth's. oldest fossils, 1.9 billion-year-old.

microorganisms with radiation. adaptations [music] matching modern. bacteria. Life maintained these defenses. even as Earth's radiation levels. decreased, [music] like a biological. memory. These mechanisms remained intact. through billions of years of evolution. This is how evolution and genetics work. You know [music] this. You also know. that genes and traits that are no longer. useful are eventually removed from the. gene pool. But if that's true, why are. these genes still here? And why are they.

in human DNA? Radiation response [music] mechanisms. match genetic markers found in ancient. human settlements. Our ancestors [music]. faced this before. They also developed. radiation resistance. How do we know? Because their children are still [music]. here. >> [music]. >> In Ramsar, Iran, people live with. radiation levels 10 times higher than.

safety limits, >> [music]. >> yet they have normal cancer rates and. normal lifespans. >> What we found was the people who lived. in the high background areas had. significantly fewer induced chromosomal. abnormalities than their neighbors who. lived [music] maybe just a few. kilometers away where background. radiation levels were normal. >> It sounds totally improbable, but it. appears that radiation may actually help. the body resist genetic damage. >> Studies reveal Ramsar residents have. enhanced DNA repair abilities. Their.

cells fix radiation damage faster than. it accumulates. [music]. >> Yeah, it's like a whole village of toxic. avengers. >> Really? >> What? It's a compliment. >> Things are going to change in this town. I'm not just another pretty face. >> [music]. >> Similar populations exist in other parts. of the world. Guarapari in Brazil is. famous for its beauty, biodiversity, and. unique radioactive black sand. The. Brazilian Nuclear Energy Commission.

documented [music]. enhanced DNA repair in locals going back. generations. These populations also have. something else in common. >> [music]. >> Their settlements date back thousands of. years. Archaeological evidence shows. continuous human habitation [music]. near natural radiation sources. Gobekli. Tepe, one of humanity's oldest sites, [music]. is built near uranium deposits. Similar. deposits lie beneath Mesopotamia's. oldest cities. These radiation levels. should have driven humans away. >> [music]. >> Instead, our ancestors stayed and became.

resistant. They passed that resistance. to their children, who also passed it. on. These protections are not just in the. genes of people living near [music]. radioactive sites. They're in all of us, and they could be the catalyst for. humanity's next great leap. >> [music]. [music].

>> Space agencies in every country are. trying to unlock human potential. This. potential might be achieved in space. Enhanced DNA repair, conscious control. over our metabolism, natural radiation. shielding. Within a century, [music] we might. activate these dormant abilities at. will. In a thousand years, as humans colonize. [music] space, different environments. will drive unique adaptations.

Colonists on Mars, Titan, and Europa. will evolve differently. [music]. Each population will adapt to their. local radiation signature and. environment. In 10,000 years, space-dwelling [music]. humans might process radiation like. food. Their skin could generate [music]. protective fields. Their DNA might. repair itself instantly. While this is purely speculation, we.

know these abilities exist in. Chernobyl's fungi. That's why [music] NASA is so interested. in this. Further into the future, we might. develop [music] new senses. The ability to detect different types of. radiation and heat, enhanced vision that. would allow us to see ultraviolet or. infrared. Some animals on [music] Earth. already have these abilities.

>> [music]. >> Even further into the future, humans. might develop senses that utilize. quantum biology. >> You have quantum biology? Did you just make that up? >> No. European robins navigate perfectly in. darkness across thousands of miles. Moths detect mates miles away.

Plants convert sunlight with near. perfect efficiency. For decades, scientists couldn't explain. these abilities. Now they think they. know. These animals are tapping into the. quantum realm. The robin's eye contains a protein. called cryptochrome. When struck by. light, it creates quantum entangled. electrons that react to the Earth's. magnetic field. >> I think having [music] studied quantum. mechanics myself years and years ago, I. would never have realized then or even. believed I think that it would be.

possible that quantum mechanical effects. [music] could be actually housed within. the eye of a bird. That is a huge. surprise. >> [music]. >> and that's nothing we learned in quantum. mechanics when I was young. >> One theory says the dog's [music] sense. of smell uses quantum tunneling. They. detect quantum vibrations of molecules. that they perceive as scents. Even plants tap into the quantum realm. When sunlight hits a leaf, it always. chooses the most efficient route.

The energy uses quantum superposition to. explore all possible pathways at once. This is exactly how quantum computers. work. >> Quantum mechanics will swing down in. your sugar basket. >> years, humans in space might develop. similar abilities. The framework for. [music] this might already be in place. >> I'm claiming that we need new physics to. understand consciousness. Now, [music] when I mean new physics. here, I mean something outside the.

physics we know, but it's not simply. invented for the purpose of explaining. consciousness. It's something which I think we need. anyway. >> Physicists Roger Penrose and Stuart. Hameroff believe consciousness comes. from quantum processes in brain cells. Microtubules in the cells create quantum. states. >> [music]. >> that become conscious thought. >> I realized these microtubules are there. and they looked like just the kind of. thing that could well be supporting the. kind of. level of quantum mechanics up to a level.

where you you could expect the. the quantum state to sort of. collapse. That's the terminology people. use in quantum mechanics. In. microtubules, they are inside brain. neurons. >> They are indeed. >> You know how waves collapse into. particles when they're observed? >> Uh if you don't, the Human explains it. in a Simulation Theory episode. Link. down in your luscious love locker. >> Think of your consciousness as waves of. possibility. These waves exist in multiple states at.

once. When these quantum states [music]. collapse, you experience a moment of. awareness. >> Whenever the state reduces, whenever the. wave function collapses, that's what. this is doing, it's associated with a. moment of what we call. proto-consciousness. >> For 30 years, scientists dismissed it as. fringe thinking. But now, the evidence. is getting harder to ignore. >> Evidence is emerging that microtubules. may exhibit interesting quantum. behaviors after all. >> There are certain quantum states in.

microtubules that if you have a coherent. gravitational collapse of these, orchestrating collapse of these, >> [music]. >> somehow consciousness arises. >> We're now there is a concrete evidence. that quantum physics has exactly the. properties that describe. consciousness in free will. >> If consciousness uses quantum mechanics, your thoughts transcend ordinary. physics. Your consciousness could be. part of a quantum reality that connects. you and me and everyone across space and.

time. This sounds like speculation, but every. mechanism I described today exists. [music] in nature. Every adaptation has. appeared in some form of life. The quantum reality that creates your. consciousness is the same quantum. reality that governs everything [music]. in the universe. And everything in the. universe, you, me, our planet, our sun, all come from the same source. >> The very matter that makes us up was. generated long ago and far away in red.

giant stars. A blade of grass, as Walt Whitman said, is the journey work [music] of the. stars. >> Carl Sagan said we're made of star. stuff. The evidence suggests he was. right in ways he never imagined. >> [music]. >> Those ancient stars didn't just create. the atoms that make up our bodies. They. might have encoded the blueprint [music]. for consciousness itself.

I like this theory because it means. we're all connected. Our [music] time on. Earth is short, but maybe that's the. point. We're here to experience physical. life and take those experiences back to. our source, where we share them and. learn from them. Maybe our real lives. aren't here. Maybe our real [music]. lives are out there, among the stars. Out there, the stars are showing us. we're part of a shared consciousness, temporarily [music] wearing human form. Out there, the stars are preparing us.

for an awakening that will reshape. [music] our reality. Out there, the. stars are calling us home. >> Our ancestors [music] worshiped the sun. and they were far from foolish. It makes good sense to revere the sun. and the stars. because. >> [music]. >> we are their children. >> Well, I guess this means no laser eyes. for me. It's probably for the best.

After radioactive wolves and. radiation-eating fungi, it might sound. like we're at the end of the rabbit. hole, but we're not. That last one ended. with invisible signals and a shared. quantum reality reaching into your mind, connecting all of us. But what if. sometimes the thing reaching in isn't. the cosmos? Actually, hang on. I'm. pretty thirsty. So, maybe before we. start the episode, maybe grab a drink. and some snacks. Popcorn sounds good, [music] too. And I don't even like. popcorn. Weird. Anyway, this next.

episode gets into subliminal messages. you don't notice. Hidden frequencies you. barely hear, advertising, propaganda, and the comforting possibility that. someone can beam cravings or ideas. [music]. into your head that you think are your. own. Is it you, the voice of God, or. just microwave radiation? So, if halfway. through this episode you catch yourself. craving something you don't even like, welcome to the club. Wait, do you guys. hear that high-pitched noise? Like.

someone just turned on a TV in your. head, or is that just the episode. starting? I'll go find out. So, without. further ado, here's the episode that. will make you want to throw your phone. in the ocean. Subliminal Warfare, Mind. Control, and Invisible Influence. >> Saddam Hussein met with his generals in. Basra on January 27th, 1991. He was. pacing back and forth, [music] and he. was furious. Six months earlier, Iraq.

had invaded Kuwait, and the world. responded with a relentless shock and. awe campaign. The coalition's 2,000 daily air attacks. had crippled Iraq's defenses and. destroyed its air force. Hussein's plan to draw coalition troops. into a costly ground war had backfired. Instead, Iraqi soldiers were. surrendering by the thousands. These. were battle-tested troops in one of the. world's largest armies laying down. weapons without firing a single shot. It.

was maddening. An officer handed Hussein a report about. a radio transmitter in Khafji, Saudi. Arabia. He [music] dismissed it as. Western propaganda, but his officer. asked him to keep reading. There was an intelligence document. attached. It said the FM transmitter in. Khafji was broadcasting subliminal. messages that were making Iraqi troops. surrender using mind control. Hussein ordered the tower destroyed.

within 3 days. His officers pushed back. The town was lightly guarded for now, but taking it would be a suicide mission. without air support. They didn't even. know if this mind control weapon was. real. It could be another American lie. Hussein stopped pacing. "3 days." He said. His tone left no room. for discussion. Major General Salah. Mahmoud saluted, took a deep breath, and. reached for the phone.

>> [music]. >> Marine Corporal Jesse Colvin was at. observation post 4 scanning the dark. horizon. OP4 was on top of the police station in. Khafji, a small town in Saudi Arabia. Colvin wasn't expecting to see much. The. coalition had air supremacy. If Saddam. Hussein did so much as toss a paper. plane from a window, there'd be F-15s on. top of it before it reached the ground. Still, Iraq had plenty of ground forces.

in the field, and the Saudis asked the. US for support. It was about 2000 hours. >> 8:00 p.m. >> Yes, thank you. >> No problem. >> It was about 8:00, and it was a quiet. night. Colvin only heard the wind coming off. the gulf and the occasional crackle of. the radio. Then Colvin heard a rumble that, at. first, he thought was thunder. He aimed. his night vision binoculars north. Tanks. and troops. He couldn't believe it. It.

took him a second to process, and then. he grabbed his radio. >> Contact, contact. Enemy armor sighted. Multiple vehicles approaching from the. north. Over. >> Colvin didn't get a response. >> Repeat. Contact, contact. Enemy armor. approaching from the north. Over. >> Still no response. The radios worked. earlier, so Colvin assumed the radios. were being jammed. He grabbed his M-16. and headed downstairs. His unit wasn't prepared for an attack. of this size. 90 minutes later, air.

support arrived, but it was too late. The Iraqi army took the city. Whether. they can hold it or not didn't really. matter. They accomplished their mission. They brought down the FM radio. transmitter. The Marines at Khafji thought this. attack was crazy, and they weren't. prepared for such a large offensive. Of. course, they had no idea what they were. guarding. Iraqi intelligence was right. The United States had deployed a. subliminal weapon.

Can humans be controlled subliminally? The answer, of course, is a big yes. And. you won't be surprised to know that. advertisers were the first to jump on. this new technology. >> For your convenience, we have an. attractive refreshment stand in the. lobby with buttered popcorn, golden good. and hot from the popper, your favorite. candies, wholesome and rich with a. flavor treat for every taste, ice cream.

and other good things to eat. >> For 6 weeks in 1957, families in New. Jersey went to the movies, had a fun. night out, and went home. Totally. normal. They had no idea they were. exposed to what was later called a. startling kind of invisible advertising. A mechanism had been attached to the. film projector. It flashed messages on. the screen every 5 seconds. Each message. only appeared for 1 3,000th of a second, too fast to be seen by the human eye.

But that was the point. The goal was to. have these messages bypass the conscious. brain and register directly in the. subconscious. 1,400 times over the course of 2 hours, the audience saw, well, their. subconscious mind saw cause to action. like eat more popcorn. Over 45,000 movie. patrons were exposed without their. consent or knowledge, and popcorn sales. jumped 58%. >> [music]. >> Ad agencies went into overdrive, and new.

companies were launched in the. subliminal space. >> Raise. >> Radio stations WAAF in Chicago and WCCO. in Minneapolis tested subliminal ads to. see if they increase sales. They did. >> Raise. >> American television networks implemented. the technology into their broadcasts. It. worked. >> Raise. >> What are you doing? >> What? Me? Nothing. >> Whispering raise is not going to make me. give you a raise. >> I don't know what you're talking about.

>> But when the public learned that they. were being manipulated without their. knowledge or consent, there was a huge. backlash. The Hollywood Reporter called. it an obscene violation. The LA Times. and Washington Post flat out called it. brainwashing. Within a year, theaters, radio, and television broadcasters. banned subliminal advertising. Now, [music] of course, banning flashing. images wouldn't stop consumers from. being unconsciously manipulated. No one. realized it was already happening, and. it was very successful.

>> Raise. >> You stepped on my cliffhanger even after. I told you to stop? >> Well, I'm busting my hump in this bull, and I think I deserve a little more. scratch. >> Well, if you want a raise, then maybe. you earn it. You don't just jump in and. ruin the best part of the scene. >> [music]. >> In the late 19th century, Sigmund Freud. popularized the idea we're motivated by. our unconscious. Unconscious motivation. is used in product marketing all the. time because it works.

Marketing expert Ernest Dichter used a. Freudian technique, word association, to. to consumers. [music]. He wanted to know not what they bought, but why. He learned that moms bought. candy for their kids as a reward for. good behavior in the grocery store. So, he had stores move candy right next to. the cash registers. They're still there. today. Sanka was a decaffeinated coffee brand. that attacked regular coffee in its ads, but consumers love coffee and felt Sanka. was insulting coffee drinkers.

So, instead of [music] attacking regular. coffee, Sanka changed its slogan to "Now. you can drink all the coffee you want.". >> And you can drink [music] it as strong. as you like. Drink five, 10 cups a day, as many as. you like, at any time you like. That's. for sure. >> Sales went through the roof. Bill Friedman was a gambling addict who. used his experience to shape how most. casinos are laid out. Now, once you're. in, you can't see any exits. You can't. see any clocks. You can't see outside at.

all. These tactics [music] disrupt our. sense of time. There is constant noise, even if the floor is mostly empty. This. is designed to keep you in a heightened. state so you don't get tired. Most. casinos offer players free alcohol. This. reduces inhibitions. And after all those. free drinks, you need to use the. restroom, but you have to weave your way. through slot machines to get there. >> Dad, that's why I keep my own restroom. right here. What? >> Why aren't you moving?

>> Huh? >> You're going right now, aren't you? >> Oh, what? No, mind your business. >> Gross. >> What? I washed my fins. >> In a casino, there's no direct route to. anywhere, especially an exit. [music]. Now, a lot of this is common knowledge. It's slippery, but not dishonest. Like. changing a slogan or laying out a. casino, [music] it's out in the open. Edward Bernays was a pioneer in public. relations and propaganda. He used.

tactics that were not out in the open. He manipulated public opinion in ways. that were entirely unconscious. It makes. sense Bernays was good at talking. [music] to the subconscious. He was. Sigmund Freud's nephew. >> Whether it's to sell more paper cups. that we weren't rid. or to make people more honest or or more. virtuous. depends on public consent. And so we worked out. the engineering of consent. [music].

>> His first campaign was in 1929. He. influenced the entire nation without. their knowledge. He was so good he. influenced you. and you never knew it. >> [music]. >> New York City, April 1st, 1929. It was. noon on 5th Avenue and the Easter parade. was packed, one of the best attended in. history. [music]. The event signaled the beginning of a.

new modern era. The cars were new, fashion was cutting-edge, and cameras. filmed the parade for the first time. A. group of young women used this [music]. as an opportunity to put on an. outrageous display, something. unthinkable, something women had never. done in public. >> Yo, baby, we're getting spicy. Bow. chicka bow bow. >> The women strolled along the parade. smoking [music] cigarettes. >> Oh, oh, they smoked after the outrageous. display, huh? Uh, what did they do? Was.

there leather involved? Oh, please tell. me there was leather. >> Uh, no, smoking was the outrageous. display. >> Oh. Well, that's disappointing. >> And what is it with you and leather? >> Don't kink shame. >> Okay, never mind. >> Bow chicka bow bow. >> In 1929, women smoking in public was. unacceptable. It just wasn't done. But. these ladies didn't care about. tradition. They wanted the freedom and. equality to smoke in public, just like.

men. So, they did. Suddenly, cigarettes. were called torches of freedom, and the. demand for cigarettes among women. exploded. Women saw cigarettes as. symbols of independence [music] and. freedom. They had no idea the whole thing was. staged. Those weren't rebellious women. fighting for equality, they were. actresses hired to play a part. Edward Bernays orchestrated the whole. scene for his client, the American. Tobacco Company. Bernays was so good at manipulating. consumers, he's affecting you to this.

[music] day. Up until the 1920s, Americans ate a. light breakfast. [music] Toast, juice, coffee, that was it. This was especially. true for what they called brain [music]. workers, folks who sat in offices all. day. Then in August 1922, an article appeared. in the New York Times. >> Sometimes health advice is pleasant, requiring no work, no self-denial. An. interesting sample is offered in the. Medical Review of Reviews. It queried.

doctors in 46 states. Three out of four. physicians advise eating a hearty. breakfast of bacon and eggs. >> Articles like this were all over the. country. Doctors suggesting bacon and. eggs for breakfast? This was a new and. decadent idea. People loved it. Only, there was no science behind the claims. No study. The whole thing was propaganda.

coordinated by Edward Bernays. The. Beechnut Packing Company wanted to. increase bacon sales. So, Bernays. surveyed 5,000 doctors and asked them if. a heavy breakfast was better than a. light breakfast. >> [music]. >> He published the results, making sure. bacon and eggs were mentioned every time. doctors described the ideal [music]. breakfast. Doctors that didn't think. bacon was a good idea? Well, they got no. ink. >> [music]. >> Bacon sales exploded and American. culture changed forever. To this day, 70% of all bacon is eaten for breakfast.

>> Though it can be enjoyed at any time of. day for any occasion. >> I can't deny that. Bacon, nature's candy. Bernays proved he could influence the. behavior of an entire country. His. success landed him a new client, a big. one. They asked Bernays to do the. impossible, overthrow a foreign. government. So, Bernays would change. history [music] again, but this time. he'd do it for the CIA.

Jacobo Arbenz was elected as Guatemala's. president in 1951 and it brought hope. and optimism to the nation. His platform. of social reform and economic. development resonated with the people, but not with the United Fruit Company. United Fruit was an American. corporation, Guatemala's largest. employer and landowner. Its banana. plantations generated twice the revenue.

of the entire country. They wielded. immense power. This is where the term. banana republic comes from. In 1952, Arbenz's government passed the. bill requiring the transfer of unused. land from large landowners to poor. farmers with compensation by the. government. United Fruit Company. refused. The normal solution would be to lobby. the Arbenz government and reach a. compromise, but United Fruit wasn't. looking to compromise. They wanted to. win, so they hired Edward Bernays who.

went right to work. Bernays flooded American media with. articles portraying Arbenz as a. dangerous communist. It was a lie. In. his inaugural address, Arbenz promised. [music] to to Guatemala from a backward. country with a feudal economy into a. modern capitalist state. But the lie worked. This was the Cold. [music] War. A communist threat was just. 1,300 miles from US soil. The American. people demanded action, and the CIA was.

more than happy to oblige. The CIA launched Operation PBSuccess in. 1954. They funded and trained a rebel. paramilitary force. On June 18th, the. Liberation Army seized control of the. government, forcing Arbenz into exile. Carlos Castillo Armas was installed as a. US-backed military dictator, the first. of many. >> [music].

>> Turmoil in Central America. First there. was Nicaragua, then El Salvador, now. comes Guatemala. >> For 40 years, Guatemala suffered. brutality, terror, death squads, and. political instability. The human rights violations during this. time are so graphic, I can't tell you. what they are. And whatever you're. guessing, it's worse.

93% of these crimes were committed by. CIA-trained operatives. 200,000 dead, another 200,000 fled, 1. million people lost their homes. But the United Fruit Company's profits. were safe. Thanks to America's master of. propaganda. >> An interesting little insight into this. covert action. One, the US Ambassador to the United. Nations, Henry Cabot Lodge, had personal. stock holdings in United Fruit Company.

The Assistant Secretary of State, John. Lodge, had personal stock holdings in. United Fruit Company. The Secretary of State, John Foster. Dulles, his law firm uh did legal work for I. believe it's the Schlafly Bank, which. held the papers on the Guatemalan. railroad, which was owned by the United. Fruit Company. And the CIA director, Allen Dulles, was his brother, also was. a member of the same law firm with this. indirect financial interest in United.

Fruit Company. Arbenz was not a communist, and there. was not a single communist in his. cabinet. >> Bernays proved you could subconsciously. control a person's opinion. But the US military intelligence. apparatus wanted more. They wanted to. subconsciously control a person's. actions. The subliminal was about to. become weaponized.

Psychological operations or PSYOPs are a. standard part of US military operations. The Army field manual even calls them. vital. The term PSYOP sounds mysterious, but. the tactics are usually nothing more. than distributing leaflets or. broadcasting propaganda over the radio. The goal is to influence enemy behavior. using information instead of bullets and. bombs. In the thick of the Vietnam War with. American casualties mounting, leaflets.

weren't going to cut it. But the Army. had a powerful new tool that could. directly target enemy troops, the squawk. box. The squawk box was a sonic weapon that. used specially designed speakers mounted. on armored vehicles and helicopters. The. human ear can suffer damage from sound. over 85 decibels. The squawk box could. deliver a devastating shriek at 120. decibels from 2 and 1/2 miles away. Viet. Cong soldiers were instantly.

incapacitated by the intense sound. They. suffered pain, nausea, and often. permanent hearing loss. But the squawk box could do more than. inflict physical harm. The army. discovered that sound waves could. manipulate emotions, inducing distress and confusion in the. enemy. The results were staggering. Between 1967 and 1968, an estimated. 30,000 Viet Cong surrendered to US. forces. Despite its success, the squawk.

box had a critical flaw. The enemy could. hear it coming, literally. The army wanted a more deadly and. discreet weapon, something the enemy. couldn't see or hear. Sound waves. couldn't do it, but electromagnetic. waves, they absolutely could. In 1961, microwave technology was.

becoming part of daily life. Microwave. ovens had just hit the market, and low. levels of microwaves were used in lots. of different devices. Biophysicist Allan Frey began studying. microwave effects on humans to make sure. there were no health risks. He placed subjects in a shielded room. and exposed them to different microwave. frequencies. At 1310 MHz, something. strange happened. A subject asked about. a clicking sound, but the room was. silent. It was shielded from the. outside, and there were no moving parts.

involved in this experiment. Frey discovered that frequencies between. 200 and 3,000 MHz caused people to hear. sounds that seemed to come from inside. their heads. Clicks, knocks, buzzes, and chirps. He. could beam sounds directly into the. brain without implants. Scientists. started using this to train animals, making cats change direction with just. microwave pulses. >> I would like to make cats change. direction right into oncoming traffic.

>> Stop that. >> Well, you better tell your demon fur. babies to keep their filthy mitts out of. my bowl. >> Okay, settle down. The CIA wondered, could this technology. affect an animal's heart rate? More. specifically, could they induce a heart. attack remotely? Frey experimented with frog hearts and. pulse modulated radiation. He was. actually disturbed to find he could. increase a frog's heart rate with no. device attached. He did it remotely.

Soviet scientists had similar results. with rabbits. By 1972, the Soviets moved to human. trials. A declassified report revealed. they had done over 500 studies on how. microwaves affect human behavior. Both. lethal and non-lethal effects were. found. The mention of lethal effects was a. horrifying new detail. They didn't mean. to kill their subjects, but they. discovered they could. And those that. survived exposure could be remotely.

controlled. The US Army loved it. They immediately. ramped up research on microwave. radiation. They ordered trucks capable. of carrying microwave broadcasting. equipment. The goal was to irradiate and. immobilize the enemy. In 1976, the Navy finally discovered how Soviet. scientists were accidentally killing. people. They were using microwaves. powerful enough to generate heat. Soviet. scientists called it microthermal. effects. If you own a microwave oven,

you call this microthermal effect. cooking. >> The Russians cook people? >> Yep. >> I bet you taste like chicken. >> That's gross. >> Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Eating human is. gross, but eating fish is okay? >> Mhm. >> Ah, see what happens when the shoe is on. the other fin? >> Fair enough. >> Nah. >> J.F. Schapitz was a trusted black ops. scientist who worked for the Department. of Defense. He tried broadcasting. commands into a subject's mind. It. worked. Using low-power microwaves, he.

could make subjects hear words inside. their own heads. The military told Schapitz to go. further. They wanted to send commands to. a person's subconscious without them. hearing the command. In a second round of experiments, one. subject was bombarded with microwave. radiation. Then something odd happened. He got up from his chair and left. He. actually left the lab. Now, this was. allowed. The subjects weren't prisoners, but this had never happened before. A.

little while later, the guy returned. with a can of soda. Schapitz asked him why he left in the. middle of the experiment. The man said. he was thirsty, so he went to the store. for a cold drink. Schapitz smiled. The experiment worked. This subject had been programmed to feel. thirsty and to go to the store for a. soda. It was hypnosis using microwaves. But, hypnosis doesn't work on everyone. The military needed a sure thing. And 4. years later, that's exactly what they.

got. >> [music]. >> In 1980, Dr. Eldon Byrd, working for the. DoD, was exploring frequencies much. shorter than microwaves. >> [music]. >> He wanted to weaponize human brain. waves. Brain waves, also known as neural. oscillations, are patterns of electrical. activity in the brain. These waves have. different frequencies that correspond to. different mental states. Beta waves for.

active problem-solving, alpha waves for. relaxation, and so on. Dr. Byrd tried. synchronizing external electromagnetic. waves with brain waves. He believed he. could influence specific thoughts and. emotions by matching the frequency and. ramping up the power. It worked. [music] He discovered he. could sync with an animal's brain waves. and trigger the release of behavior. regulating chemicals. >> We could put animals into a stupor.

[music] We got chick brains to dump 80%. of the natural opioids in their brains. We got rats to release histamine. >> Histamine is released in response to. allergens, dust, pollen, mites. Histamine also causes a cascade of. inflammatory reactions. Bird was. thrilled. >> In humans, this would cause instant. flu-like symptoms and produce nausea. You would disable a person temporarily. It would have been like a stun gun.

>> Bird used the phrase would have been. because his project was shut down after. 2 years, despite being approved for. four. He was onto something. groundbreaking. He suspected the program. wasn't shut down. He believed it was. moved to black ops, and he was right. >> [music]. >> In 1982, a US Air Force report contained. an ominous warning. >> Understanding the brain as an. electrically mediated organ suggests. that impressed electromagnetic fields.

are capable of directing behavior. Further, the passage of 100 milliamperes. through the myocardium can lead to. cardiac standstill and death. >> The US Air Force was secretly continuing. Bird's brain wave research. They hired. Dr. Ross Adey to weaponize it. Adey began by implanting transmitters. into animal brains. These devices didn't. receive information. The implants sent.

out information. Adey compiled a library of frequencies. and their corresponding mental and. physical states. Then he turned the. animal's brain waves against them. By. broadcasting certain frequencies back. into their brains, he could manipulate. their their. and their emotions at will. Eventually, he refined the technique to. work without implants. It was time. [music] to test the technology on the. human brain. He placed the subject's head in an. active electromagnetic field and tuned.

it to a specific frequency depending on. the result he wanted. In one experiment, he turned the machine to induce a theta. waves. Our brains produce theta waves as. we're falling asleep. The subject of the. experiment fell asleep. The technology for a revolutionary new. weapon was born. Now, it was time to. build it. >> [music]. >> A device that can manipulate a person's.

thoughts and emotions sounds like. science fiction. At best, it sounds like. pseudoscience. But not only does such a device exist, but it's been patented. Although the. full schematics are classified by the US. government. Patent number 5159703, issued to Silent Sounds Incorporated, describes something called a Silent. Subliminal Presentation System. The device maps electrical brain. activity corresponding to specific. emotions. These emotional signal.

clusters are identified and logged to. create a database of emotions. Human. brain waves are then cloned and. enhanced. You select the desired. emotion, fear, despair, hopelessness, and the system can transmit it. The emotional triggers are carried by. the Silent Sound Spread Spectrum, or. S-quad. A subliminal carrier technology. that operates at either very low or very. high frequencies. The key is that it's. inaudible. And what makes the system more practical.

and more dangerous is that S-quad can be. transmitted using a carrier frequency. like ordinary radio or television. >> Yeah, what you talking about, Willis? >> Okay, let's say you want someone to feel. sad. You grab the brainwave frequency. for sadness from your database. Then you. layer that inaudible sound wave on top. of an audible sound wave like an FM. radio wave. So the target hears the. radio broadcast, but doesn't realize a. second wave hitched a ride. That second. wave syncs with the target's brain.

triggering sadness or whatever emotion. you want. According to the patent, the. resulting emotion is overwhelming. Now. the patent insists that this is not a. weapon, but it does note are subliminal. and undetectable. That makes them. dangerous. Silent Sounds Inc. claims to focus. solely on positive emotions. But in. 1996, the president of Silent Sounds. couldn't stop himself from bragging. about the device's true purpose.

>> While the schematics are classified by. the US government, we are allowed to say. we work with governments around the. world. The Germans, even former Soviet. Union countries. >> And then he let the big one slip. >> The system was used throughout Operation. Desert Storm quite successfully. >> The US military had achieved subliminal. mind control and deployed the technology. in Iraq. And many Iraqi troops died.

trying to stop it. >> [music]. >> In 1991, Saddam Hussein occupied Kuwait. with a huge army, nearly 500,000. soldiers. It was the fifth largest military in the. world. And they were battle tested from. eight years of war with Iran. So it sounded like wishful thinking when. the Bush administration said they wanted. Iraqi troops to simply lay down their.

arms and go home. Huh? Why would they do that? Because the. US military had a new secret weapon. A radio station in the small town of. Khafji. If you tuned into the station, you'd. hear music or news like any radio. station. But embedded in the radio. transmission was a signal that mimics a. brainwave frequency. Specifically, the. frequency that creates the feeling of. hopelessness. And it worked. Entire. battalions laid down their arms. Iraqi.

tanks flew white flags. They simply lost. the will to fight. American troops. rolled into Kuwait heavily armed and. ready for battle. Iraqi troops were. waiting patiently. Thousands of them. One Marine said they were surrendering. so fast they could hardly keep up. The. war seemed to be coming to an end. That's why it was a surprise to the. Marines in Khafji when around 8:00 p.m. on January 29th, Iraq's [music] 5th. Mechanized Division attacked and took. the town. This was a much-needed propaganda.

victory for Iraq, but it didn't last. [music]. >> I would tell you I don't think that. battle is over by a long shot. I expect. a lot [music] more fighting will. probably occur tonight. >> Two days later, American air power. overwhelmed Khafji and the 5th. Mechanized Division was completely wiped. out. But they destroyed the transmitter that. was subliminally making Iraqi troops. surrender, so they accomplished their. mission. Or did they? US government officials deny any of this. ever happened and are adamant that such.

a system does not exist. Former Navy. weapons research director Charles. Bernard was asked about it. >> I have yet to see one of these ray gun. things that actually works. And DARPA. has come to us every few years to see if. there were ways to incapacitate the. central nervous system remotely, but. nothing has ever come of it. That's too. science fiction and far-fetched. >> Okay, so it's just a conspiracy theory.

The CIA did not use FM radio to transmit. subliminal messages. That's the official. position. But here's something strange. A ceasefire agreement was reached that. allowed Saddam [music] Hussein to remain. in power. This brought a lot of. criticism of the Bush administration, but the purpose of the war was to free. Kuwait, not overthrow the Iraqi. government. [music]. >> Our goal is not the conquest of Iraq. It is the liberation of Kuwait. It is my hope that somehow the Iraqi. people [music] can, even now,

convince their dictator. that he must lay down his arms. >> But on March 1st, 1991, one day after. the ceasefire, a revolt against Saddam. Hussein's government broke out in Basra. The rebellion spread to every major city. in southern Iraq. Up to 100,000 Iraqis. were killed. A no-fly zone was. established. So, what caused this sudden. rebellion? A radio broadcast called The Voice of. Free Iraq encouraged the revolt. That. radio station was in a small town in.

Saudi Arabia and operated by the CIA. Most say this is just a coincidence, that no subliminal weapons exist. Maybe. But there are others who believe that. not only does this subliminal technology. exist, it was deployed in Iraq for a. specific purpose. [music]. It was a test run for something bigger. The following year, a facility was built. in Fairbanks, Alaska. >> [music]. >> The project was run by DARPA and had a.

huge budget. The Department of Defense. built a high-powered transmitter that. could send electromagnetic pulses into. the ionosphere and anywhere in the. world. It's [music] called HARP. But that's a different episode. >> I don't know about you guys, but I'm a. little scared to turn on the radio now. I might comb through my playlists later, too. There are a few songs in there I. don't remember adding. Honestly, I. should probably keep this ship in.

airplane mode for a while. And I wasn't. going to say anything, AJ, but hosting. this whole thing solo, I swear I keep. hearing Hecklefish humming along to the. journey in my head. I walked the whole. set and he's not here, but somehow it. feels like he is, which is the perfect. setup for the final episode on morphic. resonance, the forbidden idea that. nature has muscle memory. Every time a. rat learns a maze or a person masters a. skill or a fish learns to co-host, that.

memory doesn't just sit in one skull. It. might just get logged into some. invisible memory field. And then. anything similar anywhere can tune in. and pick up that signal faster. It's. like the information might already be. out there floating around waiting for a. receiver. I wonder if that's why AJ's. deja vu is acting up. I hope it's not. contagious. Get well soon, buddy. And. anyways, to our last and weirdest. episode today, an homage to my friend. and former American alchemist Rupert.

Sheldrake, the forbidden theory of. morphic resonance. >> In 1920, a Harvard scientist put rats in. a maze with two exits. One path was. well-lit but electrified. The other was. dark but safe. The rat tried the bright. exit. It got shocked. It tried again. It. got shocked. Again and again. It took 165. painful tries, but it finally learned to.

take the dark path. 15 years later and 30 generations later, the rats needed just 20 tries. They were. getting smarter. The solution was passed genetically. [music]. That's not supposed to happen. A. scientist in Scotland tried the same. experiment with a completely different. set of rats. His rats started at 25. tries as if they already knew the answer. to the puzzle. Knowledge had crossed the. ocean.

and no one could explain how. >> [music]. >> Lamarckism or Lamarckian inheritance is. the idea that an organism can pass on. skills that it acquired its lifetime. like a rat learning to avoid electric. shocks or a human learning how to throw. a football. The theory is named for. zoologist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck who.

proposed it in 1809 and the theory is. supposed to be wrong. Standard biology. says that knowledge can't be inherited, only traits can. Eye color, intelligence, allergies, but not. knowledge, not information. Harvard. psychologist William McDougall tested. this theory in 1920. The setup was. simple, rats and a water maze. He used. Wistar rats common labs because they're. genetically identical, perfect for this.

experiment. The maze had two ways out. One was brightly lit and easy to find. The other exit was dark. The bright exit. delivered an electric shock, the dark. exit was safe and McDougall added a. twist. The bright exit moved. Sometimes. it was to the left, sometimes to the. right so the rats couldn't memorize a. direction. They had to learn one rule, avoid the light. >> Come children, go into the light. There. is peace and serenity in the light.

>> Rats should naturally avoid the dark and. swim toward the way out that they can. see. Any animal would. You would. That's. exactly what happened. McDougall's rats. swam toward the bright exit, got. shocked, swam back and tried again and. got shocked again, sometimes over 300. times. On average, the first generation. took 165 tries before they learned dark. [music] equals safe, light equals pain.

Then McDougall bred the rats and tested. their offspring, but he selected parents. at random. He wasn't cherry-picking for. intelligence. He just grabbed any two. rats and put their offspring in the maze. to see how they behaved. According to. standard biology, the new generation. should start from scratch. They should. average 165 tries. That's not what. happened. Generation two did better, 141.

tries on average. Generation three, 118. By generation eight, rats were averaging. 56 tries. That's when McDougall noticed. something strange. The improvement. wasn't slowing down, it was. accelerating. Eight more generations, the average. dropped down to 41. Eight more, down to. 29. By generation 30, rats were solving. the maze with just 20 tries. What took. their ancestors 165 attempts, they.

mastered in 20. They were eight times. faster at learning the same task. McDougall tried to break the pattern. He. split his colony and started breeding. specifically for slow learners, taking. the worst performers from each. generation and mating them together. These rats should have stayed slow or. gotten worse, but they got faster, too. Same rate of improvement as the randomly. bred line. The slowest learners were. producing offspring that learned faster.

than their parents, generation after. generation. McDougall published his. results carefully. No wild claims, no. revolutionary declarations, just the. data. 30 generations, thousands of rats, every trial documented. He mentioned in. his private notes that [music] it looked. like Lamarck might have been right. Skills could be inherited. But, genetics. don't work that way. >> [music]. >> Except, here it was, happening in his. lab. The rats were inheriting something.

Not genes, not training, they were. inheriting the ability to solve a puzzle. their parents had learned through pain. and repetition. Whatever was happening, it wasn't. genetics because not only were skills. being transmitted across generations, they were being transmitted across the. entire species all over the world.

>> [music]. >> F.A.E. Crew was a geneticist at. Edinburgh, a pioneer in animal genetics. He thought McDougall was sloppy. So, [music] in 1923, he set up his own. experiment to prove it. He set up the same water maze, same. Wistar rats, just different genes. But, he also added a control group, something. McDougall didn't do. He had a trained. line of rats and an untrained line.

>> Oh, yeah. We got a new showdown. In one. corner, wearing a tweed jacket and. horn-rimmed glasses, is the shrink, William McDougall, aka the social. psycho, aka Freud rage. And in the other. corner, also wearing a tweed jacket and. horn-rimmed glasses, is the geneticist, F.A.E. Crew, aka the. phenotype fool, aka genes wilder. Welcome to the fray and the DNA. Let's. get ready to rumble. >> Crew expected his trained rats [music]. to master the maze in about 20 trials,

and they did. But, the untrained rats. should have averaged 165 [music]. trials. They averaged 25. 30 generations, >> [music]. >> that's what it took McDougall's rats to. crack the maze. These rats had no. genetic [music] connection to any of. those, and they just needed 25 tries on. day one. W. E. Agar, a scientist at the. University of Melbourne, ran a similar. study for 20 years. Same result.

>> [music]. >> Trained and untrained, related and. unrelated, different labs, different. countries, it didn't matter. The. knowledge was spreading through the. entire species. But, it wasn't [music] just rats. For years, milk was left on people's. doorsteps, glass bottles with foil caps. And I can't believe I'm old enough to. remember this, but I am. >> [music]. >> In 1920 in Southampton, England, the. blue titbirds learned something useful. about milk. >> Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you hang on, you. hang on. >> No, crap.

>> Did you just say a blue titbirds? >> Yes. Sometimes they're called blue caps, but technically they're. >> Please, please, please, please. >> Can you please stop saying. >> [laughter]. >> But, hey, hey, hey, are we going to be. talking about blue tits and milk for a. while? >> We are. >> Oh, baby, it's Christmas morning, and. Santa's been good to Daddy. >> [laughter]. >> Here's what the birds. >> blue tits. >> Here's what they learned about milk. Pierce the foil cap, drink the cream.

This behavior spread all over Britain. By the 1940s, they were all doing it. Every. >> Go ahead. >> Every blue tit was doing it. >> Hey, [laughter] hey, hey, hey, do you. have any stories about blue bazoomies or. turquoise tat-tas? >> No. >> [laughter]. >> Uh cobalt cans, periwinkle peaches, uh. midnight melons? >> No. >> Uh denim dumplings, uh sapphire. sandbags? >> That's enough.

>> I I I I I. You could argue that the birds were. watching each other and learning this. trick. [music] But then came World War. II. All aluminum was needed for. aircraft, so no more foil caps. They. used wood or cheaper harder metal. Blue. tits couldn't get through. They only live a couple of years, so by. the time the war was over, every bird.

that had ever pierced a cap was dead. >> [music]. >> The entire generation that knew the. trick, they were gone. But when the foil. caps came back, blue tits were piercing. them again. Birds that had never seen. the trick across [music] all of Britain, all at the same time. This wasn't. genetics, memory, or observation. This. was a skill somehow encoded into the. species itself. But this can happen to non-living. things, too. Specifically, crystals.

When chemists synthesize a new compound, getting it to crystallize for the first. time can take months or years. Different. temperatures, different [music]. solvents, different pressures, the. molecules just won't organize. They. won't form a pattern until one day. [music] they do. And then something strange happens. A. compound that resisted crystallization. for decades suddenly crystallizes. everywhere. on Earth. Glycerol was a liquid for centuries. No.

one could [music] crystallize it. Then. in 1867, a barrel crystallized during. shipment to Vienna. After that, glycerol. crystallized easily everywhere. Xylitol, same story. Decades of failure, then one. success, [music]. then success everywhere. Rats, birds, crystals. They were passing behaviors to. each other all over the world. Something. had to be carrying this information, something we couldn't see, something we. didn't understand.

But in 1981, a young scientist from. Cambridge found a pattern. Not only. could species pass information anywhere. around the world, >> [music]. >> they could pass information anywhere. through time.

In 1973, Rupert Sheldrake sat in his. Cambridge lab staring at a bean plant. It was doing something that shouldn't be. possible according to everything he knew. about biochemistry. >> Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Uh, the guy was. called Rupert Sheldrake. >> Yes, why? >> That's the kind of name that's going to. cost you a fortune in lunch money. >> Yeah, I don't think there was a lot of. bullying going on at Cambridge. >> Uh, wake up, human. Wedgies are. universal. I bet even Stephen Hawking. had to eat his own tighty whities from. time to time.

And he sat on those things all day. >> Anyway, bean plants are like vines. They. can't stand on their own. They need a. structure to grow around, a wall, a. fence, a tree. He was growing plants. using pots and small wooden poles for. support. Same method every time. The. plant sprouts, grows toward the pole, and starts climbing. But this particular. bean plant was doing something very. strange. It was growing toward a pole that wasn't.

there yet. It was growing to where the. pole. would be in the future. Now, Sheldrake was a serious scientist. Cambridge fellowship, Harvard PhD in. biochemistry, director of studies at age. 31. His research on plant hormones is. still in textbooks today. But this bean plant was bothering him. Plants don't have eyes. They don't have. nervous systems. The support pole. wouldn't be installed for another 2. days, yet the bean was already changing.

its growth pattern, already preparing to. climb something that didn't exist yet. He'd seen this before, thousands of. times. Every biologist had, they just. didn't talk about it. DNA doesn't. actually contain the blueprint for what. an organism becomes. An acorn has the. same DNA in every cell, but those cells. grow into roots or leaves, branches. They organize themselves into a tree, >> [music]. >> and nobody can really explain how they.

know to do that. Think of DNA like LEGO bricks. A Star. Wars set and a castle set use exactly. the same pieces. The only difference is. the final shape. A fruit fly, a banana, even a human being share most of the. same DNA, but they develop into. completely different organisms. The. final shape isn't in the DNA. Something. else is guiding the process. One night, walking home along the River. Cam, Sheldrake had a moment of clarity.

Maybe nature has a memory. [music]. When any system organizes itself, a. crystal forming, a plant growing, an. animal learning, it creates what. Sheldrake would call a morphic field, a. memory in nature. A similar system can. resonate with that field and access that. memory. Meaning a bird learning to. pierce the foil, crystals learning to. form, and the more that memory is. accessed, the stronger it gets, and it. influences everything that comes after,

across space and time. No physical. connection required, because that memory. is now part of nature, all of nature, everywhere, forever. In 1974, Sheldrake moved to India to. work at an agricultural institute. That. was his day job. He spent his nights at. a monastery and for 18 months between. prayers and meditation, he wrote a book. proposing that the universe has memory. He called it a new science of life. He.

published it in 1981. The most important. science journal in the world responded. by calling for his book to be burned. The theory of morphic resonance cost. Sheldrake his career and a few years. later it almost cost him his life.

September 1981, John Maddox, editor of. Nature, then the most prestigious. science journal in the world, wrote an. editorial about Sheldrake's book. He. called [music] it the best candidate for. burning there's been for many years. Nature publishes Nobel laureates, Einstein, Watson and Crick, Darwin. Calling for book burning was. unprecedented in modern history of the. journal. Maddox compared the book to Hitler's. Mein Kampf in its potential for damage.

He wasn't calling Sheldrake wrong, he. was calling him dangerous. >> [music]. >> Maddox even said Sheldrake's not a real. scientific theorist. It's not even a. theory. It's an exercise in pseudo. science. >> You see, Sheldrake's is not a scientific. theory. Sheldrake. is putting forward magic instead of. science. And um. that can be condemned. with exactly the language that the Popes. used to condemn Galileo.

And um. for the same reasons, it is heresy. >> Professors curious about morphic. resonance went silent. Graduate students. were warned away. Research funding dried. up. But the more the establishment. attacked Sheldrake, the more people read. his work. The [music] book burning. editorial made Sheldrake's book a. best-seller. He became the most talked. about biologist in Britain overnight. Not for science, but for the attempt to. suppress [music] it.

But the worst attack on Sheldrake was an. intellectual. April 2nd, 2008, he was. giving a lecture in Santa Fe. A man in. the audience rushed the stage with a. knife. He stabbed Sheldrake in the leg, then security tackled him. The attacker told police and a reporter. afterward that Sheldrake was using him. as a subject in telepathic mind control. experiments for 5 years. The wound was serious, but Sheldrake. recovered, and days later, still using a. walker, he gave a talk titled Science.

and Hope. In March 2013, Sheldrake gave a TEDx. talk called The Science Delusion. He. challenged what he called the 10 dogmas. of modern science, that nature is. mechanical, that matter is unconscious, and that mind is nothing but brain. activity, that kind of stuff. Well, TED. removed the talk from their YouTube. channel. Bloggers campaigned against it. TED. consulted what they called a science. board, but they never told us who was on.

it. The talk was about scientific. dogmatism. The response was dogmatic. censorship. But the attempts to silence. Sheldrake kept backfiring. The banned. TED Talk got millions of views on other. channels. The stabbing made. international news. Every attack made. more people ask, "What are they so. afraid of?". Then a British TV broadcaster had an. idea. They would test morphic resonance. on the largest scale ever attempted.

>> [music]. >> So now there were 2 million people about. to test this theory on live TV. In 1984, British television ran an. experiment. They showed viewers a. puzzle, one of those hidden pictures. where you stare at random dots until an. image appears. About 2 million people. watched. Then researchers tested people.

who hadn't seen the broadcast. Some were. in different cities. Some were in. different countries. They solved that. specific puzzle faster than a control. group tested before the broadcast. [music] And not a little faster. Much. faster. Those 2 million people who watched the. show gave nature a new memory, a. solution to that puzzle. [music]. Sheldrake said this could apply to. crossword puzzles. He said crosswords. should get easier to solve as the day.

goes on. As more and more people solve. the puzzle, they're creating and. reinforcing a morphic memory. That new. memory makes the puzzle easier for. everyone trying the puzzle for the first. time. >> Oh, maybe that's why I'm so naturally. great with women, huh? >> I don't even know what. >> Mariotti men historically put up numbers. that would make a Wilt Chamberlain. jealous. >> Okay. Gross. Thanks. Thanks. Great interjection. Some newspapers tested the puzzle. theory. The London Evening Standard.

found their puzzles were solved 20%. faster in the evening after thousands of. people spent the day solving them. Then there's the Flynn effect. Since the. 1920s, IQ scores have risen worldwide by. about three points per decade. [music]. Every generation scores higher than the. last on the exact same tests. Experts credit better nutrition, better. education, [music] better test-taking. skills. But the gains show up even in.

pattern recognition tests that don't. rely on education at all. Morphic. resonance says, as more humans master. cognitive tasks, those tasks become. easier for everyone. Sheldrake's most. famous research involves dogs. He. documented over 200 cases of dogs that. go to the door or window when their. owners decide to come home, not when. they come home, when they decide to. Owners came home at random times in. unfamiliar vehicles. [music] The dogs.

still knew. One dog, a terrier named JT, was tested over 100 times. Within 10. seconds of his owner leaving work, JT. went to the window 85% of the time. The. owner was 4 miles away. [music]. Then there's the sense of being stared. at. Sheldrake ran 25,000 trials. Subjects guessed whether someone was. looking at them from behind. They. guessed right 55% of the time. Should be.

50%. [music] Now, 5% might not seem like. much, but with that huge sample size, it's significant. We've all had that. feeling where we know someone's looking. at us. The book Life Tide, released in 1979, is. about monkeys on Koshima Island. One. learned to wash sweet potatoes in the. ocean. Other monkeys copied her. Once. 100 monkeys learned the trick, monkeys. on other islands started washing. potatoes, too. Just like McDougall's.

rats, knowledge had jumped across the. ocean. We've got rats and monkeys teaching each. other on different islands, dogs and. plants that can predict the future, people solving puzzles faster as the day. goes on. >> Ah, just like blue tits and milk. >> Okay. >> Hey, hey, hey, didn't Luke Skywalker.

drink that stuff in The Last Jedi? >> I don't know what you're talking about. I never heard of that movie. >> Fair enough. >> I love the concept of morphic resonance, but is it true? Well, let's start with. the bad news. That famous monkey story, that's completely made up. Wry Watson. took real observations from. primatologists and added a little. fiction for fun. The crystal formations have a. conventional explanation, too. When. scientists first synthesize a new. compound, it resists crystallization.

After one lab succeeds, others find it. easier. Sheldrake says it's morphic. fields. Chemists say it's seed crystals, microscopic traces on clothing, in. beards, on shared equipment that ship. between labs. And once the crystals. exist anywhere, they exist everywhere. No mysterious fields required. >> [music]. >> That one is a stretch for me, but that's. the official scientific view. Now, the crossword puzzles and TV. experiments are interesting, but the.

effects are small and the methods are. contested. So, they can go either way. It's not the smoking gun that Sheldrake. needs. But, then there are the rats. McDougall's data is real. Crew replicated it. Agar replicated it. on a separate continent. Rats got. smarter across generations with no. physical contact. Now, critics explain. it like this. Early generations of rats. were stressed by inexperienced. researchers who didn't handle them. properly. So, as the researchers got.

better at handling them, the rats did. better on the test. Now, I think the skeptics lose that one, especially when we consider something. discovered decades after McDougall died. Epigenetics. This shows acquired traits. can chemically tag DNA and pass. information to offspring. So, the effect. might be real. The cause, we still don't. know. The dogs anticipating their owners. coming home is Sheldrake's strongest. [music] published work. Critics have.

found methodological problems, but. defenders have replicated the results. That one is still being debated, and. every dog owner has thoughts. Now, here's the core problem that skeptics. use. >> [music]. >> Morphic resonance requires information. transfer with no energy cost, and that. violates the law of conservation of. energy. Physics [music] has rules. But, not all physics. Not quantum. physics. Two particles, separated by any. distance, a room, a galaxy, it doesn't.

matter. They respond to each other. instantly. This was confirmed in the. 1980s. That's an instant transfer of. information that ignores the law of. conservation of energy, and ignores the. speed of light. >> [music]. >> And nobody knows how this works. In the 1930s, Carl Jung proposed a. collective unconscious, a shared. reservoir of human experience running. beneath individual awareness. Physicist. David Bohm said, "All points in space.

are fundamentally connected." Erwin. Schrödinger, one of the architects of. quantum mechanics and famous for the. cat, argued that individual. consciousness is just an illusion, [music] that there's only one mind. Max. Planck, Nikola Tesla, Albert Einstein, all arrived at the same place from. completely different directions. Some. through mathematics, some through. watching rats learn mazes, some through. quantum theory itself. All of them. looked at the universe and landed on the.

same word. Connected. Maybe the laws of nature are fixed, written into the fabric of reality. before the first star formed. [music]. Or maybe the universe creates memories. that strengthen through repetition, always evolving. We [music] can't prove. it either way, but there is one. scientific fact that nobody can deny. A. long time ago, every atom in your body. was connected to every other atom in. every other person on Earth. Every atom.

in your body was connected to every atom. in every animal, [music] every plant, every rock, and every planet in the. universe. And if the smallest things in existence. stay connected to each other across any. distance, then acting like the people. around you are separate from you isn't. just unkind, it's unscientific.

And that is a wrap, my friends. Six. amazing Wi Files episodes, and I stopped. being sure which thoughts [music] in. here are mine. Big thanks to A.J. and. the Wi Files, who I've been watching for. years now, and their entire amazing crew. for inviting me into their beautiful, strange [music] little universe. If you. want more from A.J. and the Wi Files. team, check out the links below. And if. you want to support this kind of weird, deep [music] dive content, consider. joining their Patreon. And if you want. to check out American Alchemy, I'm at.

Jesse Michels on YouTube and Spotify. I'm Jesse, beaming in from Austin. Thank. [music] you so much for riding along. with me today. Stay curious, stay weird, and if reality starts winking at you, >> [music]. >> wink back. >> [music]. >> Oh, oh, oh, yeah. >> [music]. >> I believe the Libyans in Area 51, a.

secret code inside [music] the Bible. said I was. I love my UFOs and paranormal [music]. fun, as well as music. It's all sang in. the light I should. And then another conspiracy [music]. theory becomes the truth, my friends. And it never [music] ends. No, it never ends.

I [music] fear the cryptid got stuck. inside Mount Shasta. Then Kale turned up. being only too aware. [music]. Did Stanley Kubrick fake the moon. landing alone on a film set? Or were the. shadow [music] people there? The Roswell aliens just fought the. smiling [music]. man, I'm told.

And his name was Cold. And I can't believe. I'm [music] dancing with the big. kids. Head of Fish on Thursday nights. We're dancing. and we're. dancing. all through the night. >> [music]. >> All I ever wanted was to just hear the. truth. So we're dancing and we're. dancing. all through the night.

>> [music]. >> The Mothman sightings and the solar. storm still [music] come to Agartha, the. secret city underground. Mysterious number stations, planet X and. Planet 9, too. Project [music] Stargate. and what the dark watchers found.

We're in a simulation, don't you worry. though. The Black Knight satellite told. >> [music]. >> me. so. I can't believe. I'm dancing with the beast. >> [music]. [music].

[music]. [music]. [music].

[music]. >> She really loves to dance on the dance. floor. because she is a camel and camels love. to dance. >> [music]. >> when the feeling is right. or wasting. time. >> [music]. [music].