Lex Fridman Podcast
#451 – Rick Spence: CIA, KGB, Illuminati, Secret Societies, Cults & Conspiracies
Wed, 30 Oct 2024
Rick Spence is a historian specializing in the history of intelligence agencies, espionage, secret societies, conspiracies, the occult, and military history. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep451-sc See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. Transcript: https://lexfridman.com/rick-spence-transcript CONTACT LEX: Feedback - give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey AMA - submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama Hiring - join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring Other - other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact EPISODE LINKS: Rick's Website: https://www.uidaho.edu/class/history/faculty-staff/richard-spence Rick's Courses: https://bit.ly/40dIZbw SPONSORS: To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts: AG1: All-in-one daily nutrition drinks. Go to https://drinkag1.com/lex NetSuite: Business management software. Go to http://netsuite.com/lex BetterHelp: Online therapy and counseling. Go to https://betterhelp.com/lex MasterClass: Online classes from world-class experts. Go to https://masterclass.com/lexpod Shopify: Sell stuff online. Go to https://shopify.com/lex OUTLINE: (00:00) - Introduction (09:04) - KGB and CIA (23:21) - Okhrana, Cheka, NKVD (38:53) - CIA spies vs KGB spies (45:29) - Assassinations and mind control (52:23) - Jeffrey Epstein (59:15) - Bohemian Grove (1:11:09) - Occultism (1:22:20) - Nazi party and Thule society (2:02:38) - Protocols of the Elders of Zion (2:35:43) - Charles Manson (3:02:30) - Zodiac Killer (3:13:24) - Illuminati (3:20:48) - Secret societies PODCAST LINKS: - Podcast Website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast - Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr - Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 - RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ - Podcast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4 - Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/lexclips SOCIAL LINKS: - X: https://x.com/lexfridman - Instagram: https://instagram.com/lexfridman - TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@lexfridman - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/lexfridman - Facebook: https://facebook.com/lexfridman - Patreon: https://patreon.com/lexfridman - Telegram: https://t.me/lexfridman - Reddit: https://reddit.com/r/lexfridman
Full Episode
The following is a conversation with Rick Spence, a historian specializing in the history of intelligence agencies, espionage, secret societies, conspiracies, the occult, and military history. And now a quick few second mention of each sponsor. Check them out in the description. It's the best way to support this podcast.
We got AG1 for nutrition, NetSuite for business, BetterHelp for the mind, Masterclass for learning, and Shopify for selling stuff online. Choose wisely, my friends. Also, if you want to get in touch with me for a bunch of different kinds of reasons, go to lexfriedman.com contact. And now, on to the full ad reads.
I try to make these interesting, but if you skip them, please still check out our sponsors. I enjoy their stuff. Maybe you will too. This episode is brought to you by AG1, an all-in-one daily drink to support better health and peak performance. A drink I have not been consuming for the last few days because I'm traveling, and it's the thing that makes me miss home.
I'm in San Francisco, allowing myself to be surrounded and inspired by some incredible software engineering that's going on here, and putting all the other mess of politics and social bubble stuff aside. So I'm doing a lot of programming and having a lot of really highly deep technical conversations. But I definitely miss Austin. I miss Texas. I miss Boston. Walking the halls of MIT.
Really, it's the university I intimately know now. And there's something about a university where you can shut off all the mess of the outside world and focus on ideas, on learning and on discovering. Plus the fearless energy of undergraduate and graduate students just boldly going forward, thinking they can completely revolutionize a field. That's really inspiring to be surrounded by.
And in Texas, the thing I love the most is there's a simple kindness to the hello, to the nod, to the aimless and wonderful conversation that you might have at a coffee shop or when you meet a stranger. I don't know. I've really fallen in love with Texas and the long runs along the river. which I consume AG1 after. Sometimes I forget there's a sponsor read going on.
They'll give you one month's supply of fish oil when you sign up at drinkag1.com. This episode is also brought to you by NetSuite, an all-in-one cloud business management system. That's the other thing about San Francisco that I'm reminded of. That there's these incredible businesses that are born. Just a couple of founders and they're quickly hiring a few folks.
Especially engineering heavy teams. And they're all dreamers and they're all pushing forward and they're all trying to do the craziest shit they can. Yes, there is a San Francisco bubble. Yes, there's a bit of a tunnel vision going on in many ways. But on the pure desire to build something cool, something that has a positive impact on the world, I don't know. That's a truly inspiring desire.
But of course, sort of from my perspective, I share in that desire. But there's a great cost to it as well. And it's something that is a constant tension in my heart. I would like to do more building than talking. And I'm reminded of that when I'm here. Anyway. There is a bit of a mess, a complexity to the scaling of business and the running of a business.
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