July 4, 2025 • 27 mins
What if the mind-reading abilities we see in movies are actually real—and have been hiding in plain sight?
In this video, we explore The Telepathy Tapes, the viral podcast that challenges our understanding of consciousness, autism, and psychic communication.
We dive into the core claims of the podcast: that non-speaking autistics may possess full cognitive awareness and astonishing telepathic abilities—backed by first-hand accounts and compelling tests.
You’ll also hear about the controversial criticisms, including the use of facilitated communication and the podcast’s paywall. Are these people gifted... or being exploited? Let’s unpack the nuance.
If you’re exploring psychic development, spiritual awakening, or the evolution of consciousness, you’re in the right place.
Leave a comment below 👇 because this conversation is just beginning.
✦ Subscribe for more videos on reincarnation, metaphysics, and the evolution of consciousness. https://www.youtube.com/@ianvogelmedia?sub_confirmation=1
✦ Join the Alternate Timelines newsletter for deeper insights I can’t share anywhere else: https://alternatetimelines.co/newsletter
#thetelepathytapes #telepathy #psychicdevelopment #consciousness #alternatetimelines #spiritualawakening #mysticteachings #neurodiversity #autismawareness #autismacceptance
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
00:40 Overview of the Telepathy Tapes
04:11 Exploring the Claims
11:37 Criticisms and Controversies
25:34 Final Thoughts and Takeaways
Don't miss any of the action (Ian's links):
✦ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ianvogelmedia
✦ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alt.timelines.ian/
✦ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ianvogelmedia
Hey, I’m Ian Vogel—host of Alternate Timelines. My journey started on a small farm in the midwest, where I always felt a little out of place. After years of skepticism and even a stint as an atheist, a near-death experience changed my perspective on everything. Since then, I’ve explored plant medicine, past life memories, and the mysteries of consciousness. Now, I’m sharing those experiences to help others navigate their own awakening. Through real stories, deep conversations, and wild explorations of the unknown, we’re building a community where it’s okay to question reality. You’re not alone in the unknown. 👽✨
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Camera (00:00):
Telepathy Tapes podcast has been a cultural phenomenon
and went absolutely viral,getting tens of millions of
views and going to the top ofthe podcast charts, which is no
small feat.
And although there has been animmense amount of public support
around this podcast, there'salso been quite a bit of
controversy.
There is a lot to dig into here.
This podcast has the potentialto completely change our current
(00:22):
scientific paradigm and how wethink about consciousness and
the nature of reality.
If you know me, then you know, Ilove to tackle these big
questions and have these bigconversations.
So let's get into it What's up?
I'm Ian with alternateTimelines.
Today we're gonna talk aboutexactly what the telepathy tapes
(00:43):
are.
We're gonna discuss some of theclaims that are made in that
podcast series.
We're gonna talk about somecriticisms of the podcast and
really take an overall view andlook at what the potential
ramifications are if theseclaims are true.
I'm gonna break this down andlook at it from different angles
because this is a very complexand nuanced conversation.
(01:04):
I know many people out therehave already listened to the
telepathy tapes, so if you'reone of those people and have an
opinion on it or have thoughtsaround it, please leave a
comment below.
This really is a conversationand I'd love to hear your
thoughts around this topic.
This video is gonna be partbreakdown and part reaction.
If you like this content, pleaseconsider liking and subscribing.
(01:25):
Every little bit helps, and itgoes a long way in supporting
the channel.
I suppose it's appropriate tostart this with a spoiler alert
because I am going to be talkingabout different situations and
themes that come up throughoutthe podcast.
That being said, the podcastseries itself is 10 episodes
that are each about an hourlong.
Looking at about 10 hours ofcontent, my 15 or 20 minute
(01:48):
breakdown of it is gonna leaveout a lot of really important
details, one aspect of thispodcast that has touched many
people who have listened to it,including myself, is the fact
that they tell so many stories,and these stories are very
personal regarding the peoplewho are going through the
situation.
So I can't emphasize enough thatif you really wanna understand
(02:08):
this for yourself, you have tolisten to the entire podcast
series.
That's really gonna be the onlyway to grasp the magnitude of
this podcast and the largerconversation that revolves
around it.
You don't have to take my wordfor it, and I highly suggest
everyone make their owndetermination based on what they
hear.
In a nutshell, over the courseof this podcast series, we're
(02:31):
introduced to severalnon-speaking autistics and their
families, and we also get to seehow they demonstrate certain
telepathic skills and evenbeyond that, more spiritual
abilities.
While, I do my very best to havea grounded and neutral
perspective, I have toacknowledge my own bias.
(02:52):
As you've seen from the videoson my channel, I describe my own
telepathic communication withnonphysical beings and entities.
This is something that's been apart of my lived experience.
In addition to that, Ifacilitated hundreds of
psychedelic ceremonies where itbecame abundantly clear to me
(03:13):
beyond my own experience thatthe people that were around me
and the people who wereparticipating were also having
shared experiences andtelepathic communication.
For me, the telepathy tapes is aconfirmation of things that I
already knew, understand, andhave experienced myself.
That being said, I do wannaemphasize again how important it
(03:34):
is for us to use our owndiscernment, especially in
situations where we're talkingabout potentially vulnerable
populations of people, like thenon-speaking autistics that are
highlighted in the telepathytapes.
I think our major opportunityand challenge in this is
highlighting these people'sstories that they came forth to
share and not do it in a waythat's exploiting them or taking
(03:58):
advantage of somebody who's in asituation where they maybe can't
communicate their needs aseasily as the people around
them.
First and foremost, my intentionis to be respectful of those
people.
So when we really get into itand dig a little deeper, asking
the question, what is thetelepathy tapes?
Well, again, it's a documentarystyle podcast made by Ky
(04:19):
Dickens.
I'm not gonna get too much intothis part'cause you learn this
pretty much right away in thepodcast.
Ky Dickens meets Dr.
Diane Hennessy Powell, who is aJohns Hopkins trained
psychiatrist, that's where itall begins.
Dr.
Hennessy Powell introduces KyDickens to many of the people
that she's interacted with andpeople that have reached out to
(04:40):
her for help in understandingwhat's going on with their
non-speaking autistic childrenbecause they're displaying
different abilities andattributes that they simply
cannot explain.
From there, we follow Ky Dickenson this journey through meeting
multiple families, doinginterviews and doing tests on
(05:01):
these different people thatdemonstrate their telepathic
abilities.
One of the main claims made bythis podcast series is that
nonverbal or minimally verbalautistics, who are often thought
of as having diminished mentalcapacity, actually have a full
mental capacity just like you orI, or anybody who can
(05:22):
communicate in a way that's nothindered.
Essentially an autistic personwho may appear to be disabled on
the outside, actually lives onthe inside and has a full and
very rich life.
The issue is that those peopledon't have a way to communicate
because in one way or another,their minds are not attached to
their bodies and they can'tcontrol their bodies to the
(05:45):
point where they can eitherverbalize language or write or
anything like that.
There is a disconnect there, butthat doesn't necessarily mean
that there's not someone inside.
There are several non-verbalautistics who are interviewed
during this podcast who don'tlearn to communicate until
they're in their twenties orlate teens, which is kind of
(06:06):
mind boggling to think about.
There was somebody in there allalong that had no way to
communicate with the outsideworld.
And that leads to another claimthat's made by the telepathy
tapes.
And that is the way that ourcurrent society treats
non-speaking autistics is aviolation of their human rights.
Often we do not assumecompetence with these people,
(06:28):
and they're not given the toolsor even an opportunity to learn
the skills that they would needto learn to be able to
communicate with the outsideworld.
From an early age, theseautistics are labeled as
disabled and thrust into aneducational system that is not
made for them, and essentiallyrobs them of their opportunity
to get an education.
(06:50):
Over the course of this podcast,it becomes abundantly clear that
these school systems areresisting and they do not want
to acknowledge something that isbeing demonstrated by these
families.
The fact that their children arecompetent and they deserve an
education.
The podcast does an excellentjob of demonstrating why this
is, why people aren't able toget funding to do research
(07:12):
around this and where theresistance is coming from within
the system.
It's really heartbreaking tothink about, especially from the
perspective of a parent, knowingthat your kid has gone through
years of just having to endurenonsense and be stuck in a
system that does not serve theirgifts and their brilliance
(07:34):
that's hidden inside.
I don't know how you can look atthe situation, look at the
evidence that's provided, andnot consider this some sort of
abuse or an actual human rightsviolation.
This is a really important pointand a big question.
I'd love to hear your feedbackand hear your thoughts around
this.
Leave a comment below and let meknow what you think.
(07:57):
Another point that's made bythis podcast is that as these
nonverbal autistics learn theskills and begin to communicate
with the people around them, itbecomes abundantly clear that
they have telepathic abilities.
They can read minds andcommunicate with each other
without words.
this has demonstrated multipletimes throughout the course of
(08:17):
the podcast series.
Not only that, they bring tolight the fact that educators
and people in this field haveknown about this for decades.
This is not a new phenomenon.
This is something that's beenhappening and going on different
countries all around the worldfor a long time.
But these people have beensilenced and it's just not safe
(08:38):
for them to speak about theirexperiences because they could
lose their jobs.
We're talking about hundreds, ifnot thousands of people and
families around the world whoare experiencing this on a
day-to-day basis.
these telepathic abilities havebeen and are being demonstrated
over and over and over again indifferent contexts.
(08:58):
I know there's some criticismabout how this data is being
gathered.
I totally get that and I willaddress that a little bit later.
So stick with me.
now here's where things getreally interesting, because in
addition to their telepathicabilities, the podcast also
claims that many of theseindividuals have spiritual
gifts, including being able tocommunicate with ghosts and
(09:22):
non-physical beings, the abilityto tap into information that
they should have no way ofknowing, and even the ability to
sometimes predict the future.
Now I know that that may seemreally far out there and like a
huge leap.
I totally get that.
And there are some things thatcome up throughout the podcast
that are just not explainable.
(09:43):
For example, children who knowmultiple languages who have
never been exposed to them.
These are non-verbal,non-speaking autistic kids.
Sure, there may be some sort oflogical explanation to explain
some of these things, but whenyou would try to apply some of
those explanations to the realexample and the real life of
(10:06):
these people, like the littlegirl from Mexico who knows
Portuguese and has never beenexposed to it.
It's like it, it just seemssilly, like the logic, it just
doesn't match up.
The logic is illogical.
Throughout the podcast, thereare multiple situations that
come up that you just can'tlogic your way out of.
(10:26):
Before we get to the criticisms,there is one more claim that's
made by the telepathy tapes, andthat is that the majority of
these people who have thesetelepathic abilities, they meet
up in a place, a spiritual,non-physical space, and
communicate and have their owncommunity.
In the podcast, this place isknown as The Hill, and it's
(10:47):
described as a almost like achat room where anybody can go
and interact with anybody who'sthere.
This reminds me of that scene inAce Ventura two where his guru's
floating up in the clouds and helearns how to astro project, and
he finds'em up there and theyhave their conversation and then
he, he comes back down.
Like that is a example ofessentially what these people
(11:10):
are talking about and the kindof situation and the kind of
experience they're having thatis a very rough approximation.
There's no crazy Jim Carreyhairdo or monkeys in that space.
I would imagine.
And what I covered there is alot.
This podcast makes some bigclaims and challenges, some
(11:32):
really deeply establishedparadigms in our culture and in
our society.
Understandably so there has beena fair amount of criticism and
critiques of this podcast, solet's explore that and see
what's there.
The main criticism comes in thedifferent methods that are used
to help these nonverbalautistics communicate.
(11:52):
Some of them require assistancefrom somebody touching the
person so that they can thenknow where their body is in
space, and it's kind of like asupport for them to be able to
communicate on their own.
And I guess that itself is thecriticism that they're not
actually communicating on theirown if somebody is helping them
(12:13):
or potentially guiding theirhand when they spell and type
out the words that they'retrying to communicate.
Specifically, when somebody isthere helping to support the
non-speaker with physical touch,that is called facilitated
communication.
Facilitated communication, hasdeveloped a not so great
reputation, mostly because therehave been several occurrences
(12:35):
and well-documented court caseswhere the person who is helping
the non-speaker was actuallyspeaking for them and
translating messages that werenot true.
This led to accusations of abusethat never happened, which tore
families apart, created bigcourt cases, and really put a
(12:57):
bad taste in a lot of people'smouth when it came to thinking
about facilitated communication.
So I totally understand people'sweariness about using
facilitated communication.
There is an opportunity formanipulation in that process.
The thing is, the majority ofthe people that are in the
(13:18):
telepathy tapes and demonstratethese telepathic abilities, do
it in instances where they'renot being touched by anybody.
Sure.
You can question the validityand accuracy of facilitated
communication when the child isbeing touched, but when they're
not being touched, that'ssomething different than
facilitated communication.
A lot of the criticisms that Isee and hear around the
(13:40):
telepathy tapes seem to be, whenpeople try to oversimplify the
situation, they hear the wordfacilitated communication.
They look it up on Wikipedia andsay, oh, this is debunked.
I think it's really important toask questions and to be
critical, but in the majority ofthe debunking videos that I've
watched, people are just overlysimplifying a very complex and
(14:02):
nuanced situation.
If you label everything thathappens in the telepathy tapes
as facilitated communication,you're misrepresenting what's
actually happening in a majorityof the cases, and you're just
throwing the baby out with thebath water.
To me that comes across as beingintellectually lazy in most
(14:22):
circumstances.
And in watching several of thesevideos, it became abundantly
clear that the people who weresaying, oh, this is debunked
because of facilitatedcommunication, didn't actually
watch the telepathy tapesbecause what they were
describing was not actually whatwas happening and what
demonstrated in the podcast.
(14:43):
When we make the distinctionbetween facilitated
communication that requirestouch and what is demonstrated
in the telepathy tapes, thenthat argument and that criticism
just falls apart, it doesn'tmake any sense.
Another criticism is that thispodcast is exploiting vulnerable
children.
And I suppose if you look at itthrough the lens of this is all
(15:03):
facilitated communication and wecan't trust any of the pieces of
communication that come fromthese children, then I suppose
that kind of makes sense.
But if you assume competence,especially in the kids who
aren't being touched and arecommunicating on their own, and
they're saying that it'simportant for them to get the
story out and for them to talkabout their experience, then
(15:27):
where does that leave us?
Many of these people communicatethat even though they can't
speak, it's important for themto get their story out because
there are other people who couldbenefit from it.
Yes.
We live in a world with immoralpeople who do immoral things.
Look no further than thefacilitated communication
examples of people who are lyingand making up stories and
(15:51):
tearing families apart.
That is terrible.
And what are we gonna do?
Not let these people speak?
Are we gonna treat them likethey are not competent and that
their stories aren't important?
Like what is the best way toremedy the situation?
I think it is to shine a light,give more resources to people
(16:12):
who are doing this work, haveoversight and communities built
around these sorts of verygifted children so that there
are monitors and people who canobserve what's going on to try
to minimize that.
I don't think we can ever fully100% eradicate immoral behavior
(16:33):
and immoral people.
We just need to be more aware ofit and watch for situations
where that might occur.
Another criticism is the lack ofpeer reviewed research and
scientific credibility.
Now, if you listen to thepodcast, they address these at
great depth, so I'm not gonnaget into it too much here.
Our current scientificindustrial complex is simply not
(16:55):
set up to support research infields and in areas that can't
be profited from such astelepathy.
Even though there is credibleresearch, peer reviewed
research, particularly by RupertShedrick in the area of animal
telepathy, this has been a welldocumented and is understood to
(17:15):
be a real phenomenon.
And it's accepted by manypeople.
But if a researcher tries tomake that leap from animals to
people and validate thisexperience in humans, then they
risk damage to the reputationand loss of funding.
So yeah, in a lot of ways thereis a lack of peer reviewed
research and scientificcredibility, and that is by
(17:37):
design.
People love to point out thatthe majority of the data used in
the telepathy tapes was notcollected via doubleblind
placebo controlled experiments.
And that just drives me crazybecause a doubleblind placebo
controlled experiment is notappropriate for every setting.
Anecdotal, evidence is evidence,and yes, we need to be
(18:00):
discerning about the quality ofthat anecdotal evidence, but we
shouldn't just negate it.
There's so much credible andvaluable research that's done
every year that doesn't rely ondouble-blind placebo controlled
experiments to gather the data.
Using a double blind to gatherdata does not immediately
validate that data.
And scientific research is onlyas good as the people who are
(18:23):
doing that research andanalyzing the data.
I went to college frommicrobiology and chemistry and
spent two and a half years as ofresearch assistant.
I was deeply embedded in thescientific method and it is an
incredible way to gather dataand learn more about the world
around us.
But it's not the end all be all.
(18:45):
And when it comes todouble-blind placebo controlled
experiments being the goldstandard.
Consider this as of 2024, therehad been an average of 1,284
drugs were called every year bythe FDA since 2012.
Nearly one third of the drugsapproved by the FDA in that
(19:05):
timeframe were ultimatelyrecalled due to excessive
adverse events or lack ofefficacy.
is well over a thousand drugsevery year that get recalled
that have been through an FDAprocess that require that each
of those drugs have double-blindplacebo controlled experiments
to prove their efficacy.
(19:25):
I promise you, collecting datausing that specific experimental
format is not appropriate inevery case.
And again, the data is only asgood as the people who are
analyzing it.
The last major criticism of thispodcast is the fact that they
took the video footage, put iton a website and put it behind a
(19:46):
paywall.
So if you wanna see theexperiments for yourself, you
have to pay, I think,$10 to seethe footage This podcast ran for
months and had millions of viewswith no commercials yet.
Some people wanna say that thefact that they're trying to make
a little bit of money by givingpeople an extra perk on their
(20:07):
website, they pay 10 bucks, theycan watch the footage
themselves.
That somehow that is an exampleof the filmmakers being greedy.
To me, this doesn't seem shadyor manipulative or exploitative
whatsoever.
As a content creator myself, Itotally get the idea of wanting
(20:30):
to get paid or have some sort ofenergetic exchange for the work
that we do.
When I look at all the claimsmade by the telepathy tapes and
the criticisms, a couple ofthings stand out to me.
The first is that, yeah, some ofthis stuff could have been
faked.
It is possible.
There are logical explanationsand ways that people can
(20:52):
potentially game the system andmake it appear like there is a
communication or somethinghappening that's not actually
happening.
Yes, that is conceivablypossible and if you are making
that claim, you're also implyingthat the people who were
observed and documented in thispodcast, that they were
(21:13):
intentionally trying to deceivethe people who were filming
them.
And based on everything that Iconsumed and watching the
podcast series or listening toit twice, I just don't believe
that that's true.
These are real people with reallives that are challenging
enough as it is trying to dealwith nonverbal autistic
(21:34):
children.
And you're telling me thatthey're gonna take the time to
teach their kids more as code orsome elaborate signaling system
that will allow them to get byundetected in some sort of video
format.
That just doesn't make sense tome.
(21:54):
Yes, I get that some of theclaims made in the telepathy
tapes are big claims and thatthose require evidence which is
present.
But if you're claiming thatthese people are being
intentionally deceitful, I wouldalso want to see evidence of
that, and I just don't.
And yes, maybe there is somesort of elaborate mentalist
(22:16):
trick and way to deceive theaudience into believing that
telepathy is real when that'sreally not what's happening.
But just because there's adifferent way to produce that
result doesn't mean that thetelepathy isn't happening.
They're not disproving telepathythey're only stating the fact
that there is another way toachieve that result.
(22:38):
Discernment is incrediblyimportant, but at a certain
point, skepticism can turn intoa closed-minded belief system of
its own.
And I say that coming from theperspective of someone who was a
militant atheist for 10 years.
There's nothing open-mindedabout me or my perspective
during that period of time.
(22:58):
And I know that's not gonna bethe same for everybody, but it
certainly appears in many casesthat identifying oneself as a
skeptic can turn into a form ofidentity.
And if we identify withsomething, we don't wanna let
that go.
And any attack on that can feelvery personal.
And a lot of the criticisms thatI saw regarding the telepathy
(23:23):
tapes were pretty harsh, and itseemed that many of these people
were triggered and feltpersonally attacked in some way.
I just couldn't understand someof the like extremely harsh
criticisms that I saw.
I think this speaks to a deepertruth, that if we lean too much
(23:43):
into our strengths, our abilityto logic and reason and be that
skeptical person, sometimes ourstrengths can become our
weaknesses and cause us to beunbalanced and really not to see
a situation for what it is.
I know that's not always thecase, but that can certainly
happen.
I've observed it many times inmany situations in my own life.
(24:06):
Part of discernment is knowingour own biases and looking
inward, not just analyzing thething that we're analyzing, but
being aware of our ownrelationship with that thing and
our preconceived notions and,uh, unconscious biases as much
as we can be.
And I'm not trying to claim thatI have no unconscious biases.
(24:27):
This podcast touched me deeplyat several points in basically
every episode.
I was moved emotionally totears.
Quite often, just hearingpeople's stories and connecting
with these people who aresharing a intimate part of their
lives and sharing their painsand the different experiences
(24:48):
they've had.
And I mean, I just can't imaginewhat it would be like to be in
that situation.
So I'm, I'm truly grateful forthe conversation that has arose
around this podcast and for allthe people who put it together,
the people who made it, and thepeople who were vulnerable and
allowed themselves to bevideotaped and tested and shared
(25:10):
their stories throughout thecourse of this podcast series.
And if there are two maintakeaways that I could bring
from this, the first is that.
We need to do better for thenonverbal autistic population.
We need to assume competence andcreate systems and structures so
that they can receive propereducations and so that they can
(25:34):
become assimilated into societyand so that their inherent gifts
and natural abilities arefostered and celebrated and not
so that they're locked in acloset or pretended like they
don't have it.
Part of that is acknowledgingthe mistakes that have been
made, looking at the system,acknowledging it doesn't work
(25:56):
for this population of people,and taking accountability and
deciding we're gonna do better.
How can we actually supportthese people?
How can we support them on anindividual level?
And more broadly, how can wesupport research that will shine
a light on the true gifts thatthese people have?
(26:17):
How can we bring more acceptanceand compassion to the real lived
experiences that these peopleare having?
And my second takeaway is thatthere are some major glaring
holes in our current scientificparadigm.
If consuming this podcastdoesn't spark something in you
and help you to realize that.
(26:37):
Oh wow.
Our science for as amazing as itis and as much as it's done for
modern society, it's stilllacking and it's not perfect.
And we need to take everythingwith a grain of salt and
understand that our scientificunderstanding and our body of
knowledge, it's not complete andit's still growing and that
(26:59):
there are many opportunities andareas for improvement.
But now I want to hear from you.
If you've watched it.
If you haven't watched it, whatare your thoughts?
Is telepathy real?
Is this all shenanigans?
Please leave a comment below.
Let's have a conversation.
And yeah, much love, peace.
Telepathy Tapes podcast has been a cultural phenomenon
and went absolutely viral,getting tens of millions of
views and going to the top ofthe podcast charts, which is no
small feat.
And although there has been animmense amount of public support
around this podcast, there'salso been quite a bit of
controversy.
There is a lot to dig into here.
This podcast has the potentialto completely change our current
(00:22):
scientific paradigm and how wethink about consciousness and
the nature of reality.
If you know me, then you know, Ilove to tackle these big
questions and have these bigconversations.
So let's get into it What's up?
I'm Ian with alternateTimelines.
Today we're gonna talk aboutexactly what the telepathy tapes
(00:43):
are.
We're gonna discuss some of theclaims that are made in that
podcast series.
We're gonna talk about somecriticisms of the podcast and
really take an overall view andlook at what the potential
ramifications are if theseclaims are true.
I'm gonna break this down andlook at it from different angles
because this is a very complexand nuanced conversation.
(01:04):
I know many people out therehave already listened to the
telepathy tapes, so if you'reone of those people and have an
opinion on it or have thoughtsaround it, please leave a
comment below.
This really is a conversationand I'd love to hear your
thoughts around this topic.
This video is gonna be partbreakdown and part reaction.
If you like this content, pleaseconsider liking and subscribing.
(01:25):
Every little bit helps, and itgoes a long way in supporting
the channel.
I suppose it's appropriate tostart this with a spoiler alert
because I am going to be talkingabout different situations and
themes that come up throughoutthe podcast.
That being said, the podcastseries itself is 10 episodes
that are each about an hourlong.
Looking at about 10 hours ofcontent, my 15 or 20 minute
(01:48):
breakdown of it is gonna leaveout a lot of really important
details, one aspect of thispodcast that has touched many
people who have listened to it,including myself, is the fact
that they tell so many stories,and these stories are very
personal regarding the peoplewho are going through the
situation.
So I can't emphasize enough thatif you really wanna understand
(02:08):
this for yourself, you have tolisten to the entire podcast
series.
That's really gonna be the onlyway to grasp the magnitude of
this podcast and the largerconversation that revolves
around it.
You don't have to take my wordfor it, and I highly suggest
everyone make their owndetermination based on what they
hear.
In a nutshell, over the courseof this podcast series, we're
(02:31):
introduced to severalnon-speaking autistics and their
families, and we also get to seehow they demonstrate certain
telepathic skills and evenbeyond that, more spiritual
abilities.
While, I do my very best to havea grounded and neutral
perspective, I have toacknowledge my own bias.
(02:52):
As you've seen from the videoson my channel, I describe my own
telepathic communication withnonphysical beings and entities.
This is something that's been apart of my lived experience.
In addition to that, Ifacilitated hundreds of
psychedelic ceremonies where itbecame abundantly clear to me
(03:13):
beyond my own experience thatthe people that were around me
and the people who wereparticipating were also having
shared experiences andtelepathic communication.
For me, the telepathy tapes is aconfirmation of things that I
already knew, understand, andhave experienced myself.
That being said, I do wannaemphasize again how important it
(03:34):
is for us to use our owndiscernment, especially in
situations where we're talkingabout potentially vulnerable
populations of people, like thenon-speaking autistics that are
highlighted in the telepathytapes.
I think our major opportunityand challenge in this is
highlighting these people'sstories that they came forth to
share and not do it in a waythat's exploiting them or taking
(03:58):
advantage of somebody who's in asituation where they maybe can't
communicate their needs aseasily as the people around
them.
First and foremost, my intentionis to be respectful of those
people.
So when we really get into itand dig a little deeper, asking
the question, what is thetelepathy tapes?
Well, again, it's a documentarystyle podcast made by Ky
(04:19):
Dickens.
I'm not gonna get too much intothis part'cause you learn this
pretty much right away in thepodcast.
Ky Dickens meets Dr.
Diane Hennessy Powell, who is aJohns Hopkins trained
psychiatrist, that's where itall begins.
Dr.
Hennessy Powell introduces KyDickens to many of the people
that she's interacted with andpeople that have reached out to
(04:40):
her for help in understandingwhat's going on with their
non-speaking autistic childrenbecause they're displaying
different abilities andattributes that they simply
cannot explain.
From there, we follow Ky Dickenson this journey through meeting
multiple families, doinginterviews and doing tests on
(05:01):
these different people thatdemonstrate their telepathic
abilities.
One of the main claims made bythis podcast series is that
nonverbal or minimally verbalautistics, who are often thought
of as having diminished mentalcapacity, actually have a full
mental capacity just like you orI, or anybody who can
(05:22):
communicate in a way that's nothindered.
Essentially an autistic personwho may appear to be disabled on
the outside, actually lives onthe inside and has a full and
very rich life.
The issue is that those peopledon't have a way to communicate
because in one way or another,their minds are not attached to
their bodies and they can'tcontrol their bodies to the
(05:45):
point where they can eitherverbalize language or write or
anything like that.
There is a disconnect there, butthat doesn't necessarily mean
that there's not someone inside.
There are several non-verbalautistics who are interviewed
during this podcast who don'tlearn to communicate until
they're in their twenties orlate teens, which is kind of
(06:06):
mind boggling to think about.
There was somebody in there allalong that had no way to
communicate with the outsideworld.
And that leads to another claimthat's made by the telepathy
tapes.
And that is the way that ourcurrent society treats
non-speaking autistics is aviolation of their human rights.
Often we do not assumecompetence with these people,
(06:28):
and they're not given the toolsor even an opportunity to learn
the skills that they would needto learn to be able to
communicate with the outsideworld.
From an early age, theseautistics are labeled as
disabled and thrust into aneducational system that is not
made for them, and essentiallyrobs them of their opportunity
to get an education.
(06:50):
Over the course of this podcast,it becomes abundantly clear that
these school systems areresisting and they do not want
to acknowledge something that isbeing demonstrated by these
families.
The fact that their children arecompetent and they deserve an
education.
The podcast does an excellentjob of demonstrating why this
is, why people aren't able toget funding to do research
(07:12):
around this and where theresistance is coming from within
the system.
It's really heartbreaking tothink about, especially from the
perspective of a parent, knowingthat your kid has gone through
years of just having to endurenonsense and be stuck in a
system that does not serve theirgifts and their brilliance
(07:34):
that's hidden inside.
I don't know how you can look atthe situation, look at the
evidence that's provided, andnot consider this some sort of
abuse or an actual human rightsviolation.
This is a really important pointand a big question.
I'd love to hear your feedbackand hear your thoughts around
this.
Leave a comment below and let meknow what you think.
(07:57):
Another point that's made bythis podcast is that as these
nonverbal autistics learn theskills and begin to communicate
with the people around them, itbecomes abundantly clear that
they have telepathic abilities.
They can read minds andcommunicate with each other
without words.
this has demonstrated multipletimes throughout the course of
(08:17):
the podcast series.
Not only that, they bring tolight the fact that educators
and people in this field haveknown about this for decades.
This is not a new phenomenon.
This is something that's beenhappening and going on different
countries all around the worldfor a long time.
But these people have beensilenced and it's just not safe
(08:38):
for them to speak about theirexperiences because they could
lose their jobs.
We're talking about hundreds, ifnot thousands of people and
families around the world whoare experiencing this on a
day-to-day basis.
these telepathic abilities havebeen and are being demonstrated
over and over and over again indifferent contexts.
(08:58):
I know there's some criticismabout how this data is being
gathered.
I totally get that and I willaddress that a little bit later.
So stick with me.
now here's where things getreally interesting, because in
addition to their telepathicabilities, the podcast also
claims that many of theseindividuals have spiritual
gifts, including being able tocommunicate with ghosts and
(09:22):
non-physical beings, the abilityto tap into information that
they should have no way ofknowing, and even the ability to
sometimes predict the future.
Now I know that that may seemreally far out there and like a
huge leap.
I totally get that.
And there are some things thatcome up throughout the podcast
that are just not explainable.
(09:43):
For example, children who knowmultiple languages who have
never been exposed to them.
These are non-verbal,non-speaking autistic kids.
Sure, there may be some sort oflogical explanation to explain
some of these things, but whenyou would try to apply some of
those explanations to the realexample and the real life of
(10:06):
these people, like the littlegirl from Mexico who knows
Portuguese and has never beenexposed to it.
It's like it, it just seemssilly, like the logic, it just
doesn't match up.
The logic is illogical.
Throughout the podcast, thereare multiple situations that
come up that you just can'tlogic your way out of.
(10:26):
Before we get to the criticisms,there is one more claim that's
made by the telepathy tapes, andthat is that the majority of
these people who have thesetelepathic abilities, they meet
up in a place, a spiritual,non-physical space, and
communicate and have their owncommunity.
In the podcast, this place isknown as The Hill, and it's
(10:47):
described as a almost like achat room where anybody can go
and interact with anybody who'sthere.
This reminds me of that scene inAce Ventura two where his guru's
floating up in the clouds and helearns how to astro project, and
he finds'em up there and theyhave their conversation and then
he, he comes back down.
Like that is a example ofessentially what these people
(11:10):
are talking about and the kindof situation and the kind of
experience they're having thatis a very rough approximation.
There's no crazy Jim Carreyhairdo or monkeys in that space.
I would imagine.
And what I covered there is alot.
This podcast makes some bigclaims and challenges, some
(11:32):
really deeply establishedparadigms in our culture and in
our society.
Understandably so there has beena fair amount of criticism and
critiques of this podcast, solet's explore that and see
what's there.
The main criticism comes in thedifferent methods that are used
to help these nonverbalautistics communicate.
(11:52):
Some of them require assistancefrom somebody touching the
person so that they can thenknow where their body is in
space, and it's kind of like asupport for them to be able to
communicate on their own.
And I guess that itself is thecriticism that they're not
actually communicating on theirown if somebody is helping them
(12:13):
or potentially guiding theirhand when they spell and type
out the words that they'retrying to communicate.
Specifically, when somebody isthere helping to support the
non-speaker with physical touch,that is called facilitated
communication.
Facilitated communication, hasdeveloped a not so great
reputation, mostly because therehave been several occurrences
(12:35):
and well-documented court caseswhere the person who is helping
the non-speaker was actuallyspeaking for them and
translating messages that werenot true.
This led to accusations of abusethat never happened, which tore
families apart, created bigcourt cases, and really put a
(12:57):
bad taste in a lot of people'smouth when it came to thinking
about facilitated communication.
So I totally understand people'sweariness about using
facilitated communication.
There is an opportunity formanipulation in that process.
The thing is, the majority ofthe people that are in the
(13:18):
telepathy tapes and demonstratethese telepathic abilities, do
it in instances where they'renot being touched by anybody.
Sure.
You can question the validityand accuracy of facilitated
communication when the child isbeing touched, but when they're
not being touched, that'ssomething different than
facilitated communication.
A lot of the criticisms that Isee and hear around the
(13:40):
telepathy tapes seem to be, whenpeople try to oversimplify the
situation, they hear the wordfacilitated communication.
They look it up on Wikipedia andsay, oh, this is debunked.
I think it's really important toask questions and to be
critical, but in the majority ofthe debunking videos that I've
watched, people are just overlysimplifying a very complex and
(14:02):
nuanced situation.
If you label everything thathappens in the telepathy tapes
as facilitated communication,you're misrepresenting what's
actually happening in a majorityof the cases, and you're just
throwing the baby out with thebath water.
To me that comes across as beingintellectually lazy in most
(14:22):
circumstances.
And in watching several of thesevideos, it became abundantly
clear that the people who weresaying, oh, this is debunked
because of facilitatedcommunication, didn't actually
watch the telepathy tapesbecause what they were
describing was not actually whatwas happening and what
demonstrated in the podcast.
(14:43):
When we make the distinctionbetween facilitated
communication that requirestouch and what is demonstrated
in the telepathy tapes, thenthat argument and that criticism
just falls apart, it doesn'tmake any sense.
Another criticism is that thispodcast is exploiting vulnerable
children.
And I suppose if you look at itthrough the lens of this is all
(15:03):
facilitated communication and wecan't trust any of the pieces of
communication that come fromthese children, then I suppose
that kind of makes sense.
But if you assume competence,especially in the kids who
aren't being touched and arecommunicating on their own, and
they're saying that it'simportant for them to get the
story out and for them to talkabout their experience, then
(15:27):
where does that leave us?
Many of these people communicatethat even though they can't
speak, it's important for themto get their story out because
there are other people who couldbenefit from it.
Yes.
We live in a world with immoralpeople who do immoral things.
Look no further than thefacilitated communication
examples of people who are lyingand making up stories and
(15:51):
tearing families apart.
That is terrible.
And what are we gonna do?
Not let these people speak?
Are we gonna treat them likethey are not competent and that
their stories aren't important?
Like what is the best way toremedy the situation?
I think it is to shine a light,give more resources to people
(16:12):
who are doing this work, haveoversight and communities built
around these sorts of verygifted children so that there
are monitors and people who canobserve what's going on to try
to minimize that.
I don't think we can ever fully100% eradicate immoral behavior
(16:33):
and immoral people.
We just need to be more aware ofit and watch for situations
where that might occur.
Another criticism is the lack ofpeer reviewed research and
scientific credibility.
Now, if you listen to thepodcast, they address these at
great depth, so I'm not gonnaget into it too much here.
Our current scientificindustrial complex is simply not
(16:55):
set up to support research infields and in areas that can't
be profited from such astelepathy.
Even though there is credibleresearch, peer reviewed
research, particularly by RupertShedrick in the area of animal
telepathy, this has been a welldocumented and is understood to
(17:15):
be a real phenomenon.
And it's accepted by manypeople.
But if a researcher tries tomake that leap from animals to
people and validate thisexperience in humans, then they
risk damage to the reputationand loss of funding.
So yeah, in a lot of ways thereis a lack of peer reviewed
research and scientificcredibility, and that is by
(17:37):
design.
People love to point out thatthe majority of the data used in
the telepathy tapes was notcollected via doubleblind
placebo controlled experiments.
And that just drives me crazybecause a doubleblind placebo
controlled experiment is notappropriate for every setting.
Anecdotal, evidence is evidence,and yes, we need to be
(18:00):
discerning about the quality ofthat anecdotal evidence, but we
shouldn't just negate it.
There's so much credible andvaluable research that's done
every year that doesn't rely ondouble-blind placebo controlled
experiments to gather the data.
Using a double blind to gatherdata does not immediately
validate that data.
And scientific research is onlyas good as the people who are
(18:23):
doing that research andanalyzing the data.
I went to college frommicrobiology and chemistry and
spent two and a half years as ofresearch assistant.
I was deeply embedded in thescientific method and it is an
incredible way to gather dataand learn more about the world
around us.
But it's not the end all be all.
(18:45):
And when it comes todouble-blind placebo controlled
experiments being the goldstandard.
Consider this as of 2024, therehad been an average of 1,284
drugs were called every year bythe FDA since 2012.
Nearly one third of the drugsapproved by the FDA in that
(19:05):
timeframe were ultimatelyrecalled due to excessive
adverse events or lack ofefficacy.
is well over a thousand drugsevery year that get recalled
that have been through an FDAprocess that require that each
of those drugs have double-blindplacebo controlled experiments
to prove their efficacy.
(19:25):
I promise you, collecting datausing that specific experimental
format is not appropriate inevery case.
And again, the data is only asgood as the people who are
analyzing it.
The last major criticism of thispodcast is the fact that they
took the video footage, put iton a website and put it behind a
(19:46):
paywall.
So if you wanna see theexperiments for yourself, you
have to pay, I think,$10 to seethe footage This podcast ran for
months and had millions of viewswith no commercials yet.
Some people wanna say that thefact that they're trying to make
a little bit of money by givingpeople an extra perk on their
(20:07):
website, they pay 10 bucks, theycan watch the footage
themselves.
That somehow that is an exampleof the filmmakers being greedy.
To me, this doesn't seem shadyor manipulative or exploitative
whatsoever.
As a content creator myself, Itotally get the idea of wanting
(20:30):
to get paid or have some sort ofenergetic exchange for the work
that we do.
When I look at all the claimsmade by the telepathy tapes and
the criticisms, a couple ofthings stand out to me.
The first is that, yeah, some ofthis stuff could have been
faked.
It is possible.
There are logical explanationsand ways that people can
(20:52):
potentially game the system andmake it appear like there is a
communication or somethinghappening that's not actually
happening.
Yes, that is conceivablypossible and if you are making
that claim, you're also implyingthat the people who were
observed and documented in thispodcast, that they were
(21:13):
intentionally trying to deceivethe people who were filming
them.
And based on everything that Iconsumed and watching the
podcast series or listening toit twice, I just don't believe
that that's true.
These are real people with reallives that are challenging
enough as it is trying to dealwith nonverbal autistic
(21:34):
children.
And you're telling me thatthey're gonna take the time to
teach their kids more as code orsome elaborate signaling system
that will allow them to get byundetected in some sort of video
format.
That just doesn't make sense tome.
(21:54):
Yes, I get that some of theclaims made in the telepathy
tapes are big claims and thatthose require evidence which is
present.
But if you're claiming thatthese people are being
intentionally deceitful, I wouldalso want to see evidence of
that, and I just don't.
And yes, maybe there is somesort of elaborate mentalist
(22:16):
trick and way to deceive theaudience into believing that
telepathy is real when that'sreally not what's happening.
But just because there's adifferent way to produce that
result doesn't mean that thetelepathy isn't happening.
They're not disproving telepathythey're only stating the fact
that there is another way toachieve that result.
(22:38):
Discernment is incrediblyimportant, but at a certain
point, skepticism can turn intoa closed-minded belief system of
its own.
And I say that coming from theperspective of someone who was a
militant atheist for 10 years.
There's nothing open-mindedabout me or my perspective
during that period of time.
(22:58):
And I know that's not gonna bethe same for everybody, but it
certainly appears in many casesthat identifying oneself as a
skeptic can turn into a form ofidentity.
And if we identify withsomething, we don't wanna let
that go.
And any attack on that can feelvery personal.
And a lot of the criticisms thatI saw regarding the telepathy
(23:23):
tapes were pretty harsh, and itseemed that many of these people
were triggered and feltpersonally attacked in some way.
I just couldn't understand someof the like extremely harsh
criticisms that I saw.
I think this speaks to a deepertruth, that if we lean too much
(23:43):
into our strengths, our abilityto logic and reason and be that
skeptical person, sometimes ourstrengths can become our
weaknesses and cause us to beunbalanced and really not to see
a situation for what it is.
I know that's not always thecase, but that can certainly
happen.
I've observed it many times inmany situations in my own life.
(24:06):
Part of discernment is knowingour own biases and looking
inward, not just analyzing thething that we're analyzing, but
being aware of our ownrelationship with that thing and
our preconceived notions and,uh, unconscious biases as much
as we can be.
And I'm not trying to claim thatI have no unconscious biases.
(24:27):
This podcast touched me deeplyat several points in basically
every episode.
I was moved emotionally totears.
Quite often, just hearingpeople's stories and connecting
with these people who aresharing a intimate part of their
lives and sharing their painsand the different experiences
(24:48):
they've had.
And I mean, I just can't imaginewhat it would be like to be in
that situation.
So I'm, I'm truly grateful forthe conversation that has arose
around this podcast and for allthe people who put it together,
the people who made it, and thepeople who were vulnerable and
allowed themselves to bevideotaped and tested and shared
(25:10):
their stories throughout thecourse of this podcast series.
And if there are two maintakeaways that I could bring
from this, the first is that.
We need to do better for thenonverbal autistic population.
We need to assume competence andcreate systems and structures so
that they can receive propereducations and so that they can
(25:34):
become assimilated into societyand so that their inherent gifts
and natural abilities arefostered and celebrated and not
so that they're locked in acloset or pretended like they
don't have it.
Part of that is acknowledgingthe mistakes that have been
made, looking at the system,acknowledging it doesn't work
(25:56):
for this population of people,and taking accountability and
deciding we're gonna do better.
How can we actually supportthese people?
How can we support them on anindividual level?
And more broadly, how can wesupport research that will shine
a light on the true gifts thatthese people have?
(26:17):
How can we bring more acceptanceand compassion to the real lived
experiences that these peopleare having?
And my second takeaway is thatthere are some major glaring
holes in our current scientificparadigm.
If consuming this podcastdoesn't spark something in you
and help you to realize that.
(26:37):
Oh wow.
Our science for as amazing as itis and as much as it's done for
modern society, it's stilllacking and it's not perfect.
And we need to take everythingwith a grain of salt and
understand that our scientificunderstanding and our body of
knowledge, it's not complete andit's still growing and that
(26:59):
there are many opportunities andareas for improvement.
But now I want to hear from you.
If you've watched it.
If you haven't watched it, whatare your thoughts?
Is telepathy real?
Is this all shenanigans?
Please leave a comment below.
Let's have a conversation.
And yeah, much love, peace.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.