My take on The Telepathy Tapes

​The thesis of The Telepathy Tapes podcast is that consciousness is not an emergent property of the brain but rather the foundation of the universe, something that exists as a type of field, like gravity or electromagnetism. Neurotypical people have a “dissociative boundary” that insulates them from this collective consciousness. However, certain people with autism, particularly nonverbal or minimally verbal individuals, are more attuned to this field, allowing them to tap into it (receive it? channel it?) more readily. This facilitates all kinds of parapsychological phenomena like telepathy, clairvoyance, and seeing spirits. The collective consciousness might also be called a different realm, another dimension, or just heaven.

​Maybe… I guess?

Our guide on this exploration of consciousness is filmmaker and podcaster Ky Dickens. The first few episodes build the case for a collective consciousness by exploring telepathy between individuals with autism and their parents, teachers, and caregivers with whom they share a close bond. These initial episodes feel like a painstaking attempt to convince a skeptical audience that telepathy is a real, measurable phenomenon. The podcast accelerates quickly in later episodes as they expound on their theory and its myriad implications. Like a geode, the narrative opens slowly, slowly, and then suddenly to reveal a sparkling, crystalline, incredible reality.

The primary issue I have with The Telepathy Tapes is that these initial episodes “proving” telepathy are wholly unbelievable to me, and thus everything afterwards feels like speculative fiction.

To convince the skeptics, Dickens records her telepathy tests and makes the videos available to the public on the show's website. Unfortunately, when you go to look at the videos you learn that they are behind a paywall… not a great start for peer review. But they can be found elsewhere, for example in this YouTube video. The videos of Akhil are particularly telling as he represents one of the most talented telepaths according to resident expert Dr. Diane Hennacy Powell. Here you can see Akhil typing the word “crocodile” via telepathy with his mom. The problem is she is sitting right next to him, practically touching his elbow at times, and her body sways to match the position of the keys on the keyboard, cueing Akhil on which key to press. If this video is representative of the podcast's scientific rigor, count me as unsold.

​At the heart of the The Telepathy Tapes is a contentious technique called facilitated communication whose users are called “spellers”. This article explores this topic in detail and presents a cogent argument for its scientific invalidity as well as its dangers. Crucially, I learned that there are other communication techniques available to autistic individuals—it's not facilitated communication or no communication. The Telepathy Tapes, whose subjects appear to be entirely spellers, simplifies the debate by excluding mention of these other more accepted augmentative and alternative communication techniques.

The Telepathy Tapes frequently asserts the scientific validity of their theories all the while criticizing the mainstream scientific institution and its philosophy of materialism that rejects their ideas. Materialism posits that everything emerges from the fundamental properties of physics and the interaction of matter and energy, including consciousness. Anything real is measurable and observable (even if technology does not yet allow us to measure or observe something directly). There is much less of a dichotomy between materialism and their theory of collective consciousness than they portray. Even if consciousness were not an emergent property of the brain but rather something outside of ourselves as they claim, many features of their theory would still be measurable. Take telepathy — this should be a readily measurable phenomenon existing in the realm of materialism. They themselves are attempting to convince their audience of its validity by conducting "telepathy tests". There is no dichotomy between materialism and their theory of collective consciousness, just the inability to conduct scientifically sounds tests. 

One positive feature of the show is its advocacy for disability justice and greater inclusion of autistic individuals in society. For periods of time, The Telepathy Tapes has been the most popular podcast in the United States, demonstrating a wide reach and potentially significant impact on the American collective consciousness. I wholly support these messages and much greater allocation of resources to support disabled people. However, there is danger in arguing for equity and access based on the exceptional abilities of a group of people. While not said explicitly, the show implies that autistic individuals are worthy due to their amazing psychic talents and wisdom. Of course, there should be no worthiness tests to equity, accessibility, and inclusion. This is meritocracy disguised as disability justice. I'm sure everybody in the show would agree with this, but I think that needs to be said explicitly. Whether or not their theories contain any truth, autistic people of all abilities (psychic or otherwise) are worthy of safe, comfortable, and happy lives.

At the end of the day, The Telepathy Tapes podcast was a thought-provoking reminder of the amazing faculties of the human brain and the great mysteries of life and death. Phenomena like synesthesia, savant syndrome, lucid dreaming, and near-death experiences show us that there is so much that we do not know about consciousness and existence. Personally, I believe that my consciousness is limited to my phsycial body, developed with it and through experiences I've had in it, and that when I die my consciousness will also die. This is admitedly scary to think about. There is something soothing to these ideas of a collective consciousness and a continued existence outside of the body. But when I really think about it, maybe death according to this nonspiritual perspective isn't so bad. Practically speaking, I am only aware of reality when I am conscious. When I am dead, I will no longer have consciousness. Therefore, I cannot be aware of no longer being alive. It's like dividing one by zero—an undefined state. All I will ever know is life, and that's not so bad.