A popular podcast called The Telepathy Tapes claims that telepathy is real — and tons of people are convinced. So we open our minds to the possibility of mind-reading and ask: Could this be real?? And if not — what might be going on here? We dive into the science (yes — there is science!) with Dr. Katharine Beals, Prof. Jim Todd, and Prof. Chris French. Find our transcript here: https://bit.ly/ScienceVsTelepathy In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Extraordinary Claims of Telepathy (08:28) What Could Be Going On Here? (32:27) 50 Years of Science on Telepathy?! This episode was produced by Rose Rimler, with help from Wendy Zukerman, along with Ekedi Fausther-Keeys, Meryl Horn, and Michelle Dang. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Mix and sound design by Bobby Lord. Fact checking by Erica Akiko Howard. Music written by Peter Leonard, Emma Munger, So Wylie, Bumi Hidaka, and Bobby Lord. Thanks to all the researchers we spoke to for this episode, including Dr. Zoltan Kekecs, Prof. Stefan Schmidt, and Janyce Boynton. Special thanks to Enrique Perez. Science Vs is a Spotify Studios Original. Listen for free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What are the extraordinary claims made by The Telepathy Tapes podcast?
Hi, I'm Wendy Zuckerman, and you're listening to Science Versus. This is the show that pits facts against feeling like you can read someone's thoughts. Today, we are talking about telepathy. And here with me is Science vs. Senior Producer, Rose Rimler. Hi, Rose.
Hi, Wendy. So, by telepathy, we mean the concept of beaming thoughts directly into someone else's brain or being able to read other people's thoughts.
Mm-hmm. Yes.
That's an idea that's been around for centuries, but it's having a bit of a moment right now, probably because of this very popular podcast called The Telepathy Tapes.
Yes, I am hearing a lot about this podcast. Yes, yes, yes. And telepathy with it.
Yes, it was the top podcast on Spotify earlier this year. It actually knocked Joe Rogan off the number one spot briefly. And it's all about how telepathy is real.
You know, a very clever friend of mine texted me about this show and she thinks telepathy is real now. Exactly. It's very convincing.
Yeah. If you look at the comments, you'll see people saying, this is revolutionary. This has moved me to tears. I'm a believer. My life has changed because of this podcast. And so, you know, I was very curious. And so I listened to it. I listened to the whole thing. Wendy, I know that you haven't listened to it.
No, that's right. We decided I wouldn't listen. So hopefully I can stand in for those of you who also haven't listened.
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Chapter 2: Who is involved in the discussion and what are their backgrounds?
One day, using a letter board, Betsy and her facilitator wrote that everybody in her family, her father, mother, grandparents, and brother, were sexually abusing her.
Social services were called. Betsy was taken out of her home, put in foster care. An investigation was started. But the people working this case were like, can we really trust these allegations? They came from this unusual technique. Someone else is holding Betsy's hand and helping her point out letters, type. So what they wanted to know was, who is writing the messages?
Is it the autistic person or is it the facilitator? So they set up tests. for Betsy and Katherine describe the kind of test that they did.
You might have a divider between the facilitator and the person they're facilitating, and the person they're facilitating sees a picture of a hat, and the facilitator sees a picture of a shoe. This is the telepathy type test.
Kind of, with a key difference. They're showing two different pictures. They're showing one picture to the facilitator, so in this example, a picture of a shoe, and one picture to the person with autism, in this example, a hat.
And then you ask the person with autism, what do you see here?
What you would want them to write would be hat.
Yes. And if they type shoe, then where did that come from?
Very fishy. Because that's what the facilitator saw, not what they saw. Yes.
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