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[00:00:06.880 --> 00:00:15.200] It is Thursday, the 4th of September, 2025, and you're listening to Skeptics with a K, the podcast for science, reason, and critical thinking.
[00:00:15.200 --> 00:00:26.560] Skeptics with a K is produced by Skeptic Media in association with the Merseyside Skeptic Society, a non-profit organization for the promotion of scientific skepticism on Merseyside around the UK and internationally.
[00:00:26.560 --> 00:00:27.760] I'm your host, Mike Hall.
[00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:29.040] With me today is Marsh.
[00:00:29.040 --> 00:00:30.560] Hello, and Alice.
[00:00:30.560 --> 00:00:31.120] Hello.
[00:00:31.440 --> 00:00:37.520] A lot of my inspirations for where I'm finding stories of late come from ads that I've seen on Facebook.
[00:00:37.680 --> 00:00:39.760] And as sources go, that's not ideal.
[00:00:39.760 --> 00:00:41.680] Partly because it means I'm fucking using Facebook.
[00:00:41.680 --> 00:00:42.800] And I try not to use Facebook.
[00:00:42.800 --> 00:00:48.000] The only time I ever really use Facebook is to share this show when this show gets published.
[00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:51.680] And also to share the daily articles that we put up from the Skeptic magazine.
[00:00:51.680 --> 00:00:58.640] So if you can all, so people, I'm sure, should be aware that every single day of the week, pretty much, we put up a new story in the morning from the Skeptic Magazine.
[00:00:58.640 --> 00:01:02.560] And on a Friday, we even have a podcast that I don't think we've ever mentioned the podcast.
[00:01:02.560 --> 00:01:03.680] Maybe we have once or twice.
[00:01:03.680 --> 00:01:11.520] But it's like a digest of, maybe I mentioned the last couple of shows, but yeah, Friday digest of various shows from the skeptic magazine.
[00:01:11.520 --> 00:01:13.280] And so I go into Facebook to see it.
[00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:19.360] But it's also not ideal because it means I only see the woo ads that Facebook has decided that I want to see.
[00:01:19.600 --> 00:01:20.640] The ones that it thinks.
[00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:24.240] Because much like me, they've seen your profile and think you're a woo.
[00:01:24.240 --> 00:01:25.280] That's exactly what happens.
[00:01:25.520 --> 00:01:27.680] But a specific type of woo, that's the problem.
[00:01:27.680 --> 00:01:28.160] Okay.
[00:01:28.160 --> 00:01:34.080] Because the more time that I spend clicking on, for example, a lion's main mushroom ad from British Supplements.
[00:01:34.240 --> 00:01:35.600] You're feeding that algorithm.
[00:01:35.600 --> 00:01:35.920] Exactly.
[00:01:35.920 --> 00:01:43.040] Or like supplements from Lygnosis that claim they can cure COPD, the more Facebook will think, ah, those are the ads that you like to see.
[00:01:43.280 --> 00:01:44.160] I'll keep giving you that.
[00:01:44.160 --> 00:01:47.200] So now I see Lygnosis ads all the bloody time in there.
[00:01:47.200 --> 00:01:48.880] And yeah, I do want to see them.
[00:01:48.880 --> 00:01:53.200] But I also want to see a broader range of the dodgy products and services that are being advertised on Facebook.
[00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:53.840] Thank you very much.
[00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:57.760] I don't want to just start going down a supplement pathway.
[00:01:57.760 --> 00:02:00.920] Not least because Alice will accuse me of muscling in on her tongue.
[00:02:02.280 --> 00:02:14.040] And of course, you know, there's a limit to how much I can train Facebook to even show me the bullshit that I want to see, because it's got information on who I am, and it's got assumptions on who it thinks I am.
[00:02:14.040 --> 00:02:23.480] And as a result, the sort of bullshit that it's going to send my way is going to be massively skewed by whatever picture it already has, regardless of what clicking that I'm going to do.
[00:02:23.480 --> 00:02:27.240] I'm not going to see the products that are promising to make my periods pain-free.
[00:02:28.600 --> 00:02:29.880] They're very unlikely to show me that.
[00:02:29.880 --> 00:02:35.480] Well, no, exactly, as we talked about a couple of shows ago when I was talking about the new device that I'm testing out.
[00:02:35.480 --> 00:02:40.280] I see nothing but ads for that, but everybody I speak to has never even heard of it.
[00:02:40.360 --> 00:02:41.080] I've never seen them.
[00:02:41.080 --> 00:02:47.800] Similarly, I'm not going to get the products that are promising to ease my menopause symptoms or to potty train my kids with ease.
[00:02:47.800 --> 00:02:53.000] Facebook kind of has me in a box and it's only going to show me ads that are at least adjacent to that box.
[00:02:53.240 --> 00:02:56.520] Not actually necessarily in the box, but certainly adjacent to the box.
[00:02:56.520 --> 00:03:00.920] And that's fine, because I'm clearly not struggling to find things on Facebook to talk about.
[00:03:00.920 --> 00:03:14.600] But I also don't want the content of this show to be too heavily dictated by what Mark Zuckerberg has taken money to be willing to advertise in order to sell to the someone they think I am.
[00:03:14.600 --> 00:03:17.880] So this week I thought I'd go a bit further afield and switch out the platforms.
[00:03:17.880 --> 00:03:21.000] Facebook isn't the only dodgy advertising platform in town.
[00:03:21.000 --> 00:03:21.880] It's true.
[00:03:21.880 --> 00:03:28.840] I've been spending more time on Reddit lately because I publish articles from the skeptic magazine to the Reddit every single day as well.
[00:03:28.840 --> 00:03:32.920] So if you see, go to r slash skeptic, you'll see articles from the magazine there.
[00:03:32.920 --> 00:03:39.080] And whenever I do that, I frequently see the adverts that Reddit thinks are fitting for whoever it thinks I am.
[00:03:39.240 --> 00:03:42.800] I assume they're just as algorithmically determined in some kind of way.
[00:03:42.600 --> 00:03:43.120] Yeah.
[00:03:43.400 --> 00:03:52.720] And so last week, while I was lightly browsing Reddit, having posted the article to the skeptic subreddit and then having a look around in there, I came across neuralocked.com.
[00:03:52.720 --> 00:03:53.840] Neurolocked.
[00:03:53.840 --> 00:03:55.200] Neuralocked.com.
[00:03:55.200 --> 00:04:03.360] Specifically, I was served an ad from you/neuralocked underscore com because you can't put dots in Reddit usernames, I assume.
[00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:04.000] Yeah.
[00:04:04.320 --> 00:04:10.720] And it was an ad for their quote, unhacked empowered signal shield.
[00:04:11.040 --> 00:04:19.680] And in it, a very suspiciously AI-looking red-haired lady was using the unhacked empowered signal shield.
[00:04:19.680 --> 00:04:20.400] There she is.
[00:04:20.720 --> 00:04:21.920] You guys in the room here.
[00:04:21.920 --> 00:04:26.960] You can see the suspiciously AI-looking lady with her lovely shield there.
[00:04:26.960 --> 00:04:34.080] And you can see that she has strapped to her knee one of those boxes a bit like Alice's armband strap.
[00:04:34.400 --> 00:04:38.720] Except where it's positioned, it's starting to look a lot more like an ankle tag.
[00:04:38.720 --> 00:04:40.320] It does look a lot like an ankle tag.
[00:04:40.320 --> 00:04:48.800] It's kind of so it's higher than the ankle, but like if you pulled your ankle, if you had a stretchy ankle tag and go pull it all the way up, you'd get it that far, maybe.
[00:04:48.800 --> 00:04:51.680] And that might explain why she's looking so flatly at the camera as well.
[00:04:51.680 --> 00:04:53.920] Like absolutely no emotion expression at all.
[00:04:53.920 --> 00:04:58.400] But yeah, she's revealing her need to reveal that she's raising her knee to reveal that she's got a black device that's strapped in place.
[00:04:58.400 --> 00:05:00.720] And the black device has a big black box on it.
[00:05:00.720 --> 00:05:01.040] Exactly.
[00:05:01.120 --> 00:05:06.240] It looks almost exactly like an ankle tag because they have a big black box on them.
[00:05:06.240 --> 00:05:08.400] Yeah, and it is a massive black box.
[00:05:08.400 --> 00:05:08.960] Yeah.
[00:05:08.960 --> 00:05:12.000] And it's got the word unhacked written on the big black box.
[00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:20.280] The other things you'll notice is that she, with her flat and heavily AI-faced, she's got some incoming signals that are coming at her on the adverts and arrows.
[00:05:21.440 --> 00:05:23.360] She does have incoming signals, you're right.
[00:05:23.360 --> 00:05:28.080] Which is a problem because she's always got some outgoing signals as these energy waves emanate from her.
[00:05:28.080 --> 00:05:30.280] You can see lines on the adverts of the energy waves emanating from her.
[00:05:30.440 --> 00:05:32.840] Well, some of them are going round in a circle because there's an arrow going that way.
[00:05:32.840 --> 00:05:33.560] There's arrows on them, yeah.
[00:05:33.720 --> 00:05:37.080] There's an arrow going all the way around to the box on her knee.
[00:05:29.840 --> 00:05:37.240] Okay.
[00:05:37.480 --> 00:05:45.720] So, okay, the signals are coming into her and emanating from her, but they're being soaked up by the knee box to her knee.
[00:05:45.720 --> 00:05:49.960] And that is what's going on with the unhacked box here.
[00:05:50.280 --> 00:05:55.320] And so, and the text on the ad reads: Shield the body, free the mind.
[00:05:55.640 --> 00:06:02.040] This mystery knee strap device, we're told, costs $499.99.
[00:06:02.040 --> 00:06:03.000] Fucking hell.
[00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:05.080] What do you guys think this is?
[00:06:05.400 --> 00:06:10.120] I think you could subscribe to this show on Patreon for a lot less money than that.
[00:06:10.440 --> 00:06:10.920] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:06:11.240 --> 00:06:13.640] 500 months of this show.
[00:06:13.640 --> 00:06:15.720] Or, you know, 100 months if you decide to give us 500.
[00:06:15.880 --> 00:06:17.720] You could give us a five, you could just give us a five.
[00:06:17.800 --> 00:06:19.720] I would say as little as a pound.
[00:06:19.720 --> 00:06:21.080] It's not as most as a pound.
[00:06:21.080 --> 00:06:21.880] No, no, no, no.
[00:06:23.640 --> 00:06:24.600] There isn't an upper limit.
[00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:27.240] In fact, we'd recommend slightly more than a quick, you know.
[00:06:28.600 --> 00:06:31.720] But yeah, so $499 for this knee strap box device.
[00:06:31.720 --> 00:06:32.520] What do you think it's doing?
[00:06:32.520 --> 00:06:33.160] What do you think it is?
[00:06:33.400 --> 00:06:35.480] What genre of woo do you reckon we're in?
[00:06:35.480 --> 00:06:45.160] It reminds me of the stickers you used to put on your mobile phone, Ariel, to absorb the radiation that are coming off your phone, which I fell for in about 1997.
[00:06:45.160 --> 00:06:45.560] Right.
[00:06:45.560 --> 00:06:48.040] And I went out and I bought one and I stuck it on my phone.
[00:06:48.040 --> 00:06:57.800] And then I looked at it, and me and my mate Keith kind of looked at this thing and we said, but if there is radiation, it'll get me from the aerial and they tell you to put this on the speaker.
[00:06:57.960 --> 00:07:00.600] And that doesn't make any sense because there's.
[00:07:00.760 --> 00:07:01.680] So I took it off again.
[00:07:01.560 --> 00:07:01.760] Yeah.
[00:07:01.880 --> 00:07:03.000] I thought it was daft.
[00:07:03.000 --> 00:07:05.640] Yeah, but that's what I would reckon is it's not one of those.
[00:07:05.800 --> 00:07:09.880] So you get plug-in devices now, don't you, to like block signals in your house.
[00:07:09.880 --> 00:07:11.800] So you think this is what I thought as well.
[00:07:11.800 --> 00:07:15.520] I thought this was a pretty standard like electromagnetic frequency shield.
[00:07:14.920 --> 00:07:21.600] The Neurolocked name makes me think it's not that, but I don't know what it would be.
[00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:31.200] Well, what I first thought when you mentioned when you talked about it from the just from the name is I'm getting a lot of advert, and again, this tells you who I am.
[00:07:31.200 --> 00:07:52.640] I'm getting a lot of adverts at the minute about monitoring ADHD, specifically using like specific apps that are supposed to like, there's a big thing at the minute on social media about dopamine addiction and how especially neurodivergent people need to like manage their dopamine addiction.
[00:07:53.120 --> 00:07:55.520] You say that now in a couple of months time you'll have a strap on the other arm.
[00:07:56.080 --> 00:07:57.520] You've already got so many lenses.
[00:08:01.680 --> 00:08:04.800] Do this quiz and we'll tell you like what flavour of ADHD you are basically.
[00:08:04.960 --> 00:08:06.400] What spice girl you are.
[00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:10.480] So yeah, at first I assumed this was just a fairly standard EMF shield.
[00:08:10.480 --> 00:08:16.720] The idea being that those are nasty electronic signals from your mobile phone and your Wi-Fi, they're attacking you all the time.
[00:08:16.720 --> 00:08:17.760] They're making you weak.
[00:08:17.760 --> 00:08:19.360] They're making you unwell.
[00:08:19.360 --> 00:08:25.840] But if you just have the right miracle device, it'll save you from a lifetime of ill health and the hands of this evil radiation.
[00:08:26.080 --> 00:08:33.680] Also, the other thing it could be is we used to get, I don't know if you still get these, you used to get those plug-in boxes that supposedly gave out radio frequency that are scared spiders.
[00:08:33.920 --> 00:08:34.960] Oh, I remember them.
[00:08:34.960 --> 00:08:35.440] Yeah.
[00:08:35.920 --> 00:08:37.120] Maybe it could be one of those.
[00:08:37.120 --> 00:08:37.760] Maybe it could be.
[00:08:37.840 --> 00:08:42.480] I know there's a big thing at the moment where people keep complaining because of the hot weather.
[00:08:42.480 --> 00:08:43.440] I didn't know that was a thing.
[00:08:43.520 --> 00:08:46.400] I've got plug-in things for insects.
[00:08:46.400 --> 00:08:49.040] For when I'm in, like, I get a lot of insect bites.
[00:08:49.040 --> 00:08:50.320] So when I'm abroad, that's a good thing.
[00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:51.920] Might be different from a squeetles and things.
[00:08:52.320 --> 00:08:54.080] It's got fucking liquid in it.
[00:08:54.240 --> 00:08:56.480] It's an odor thing.
[00:08:56.480 --> 00:08:57.200] This was an electromagnetic thing.
[00:08:58.080 --> 00:09:00.440] I think it was a magnet, like it was trying to repel them with a magnet.
[00:09:00.440 --> 00:09:01.400] Yeah, it was bollocks.
[00:09:01.480 --> 00:09:02.200] We did it on the show.
[00:08:59.920 --> 00:09:04.280] Maybe I'll dig my notes out and write it up for the skeptic.
[00:09:04.440 --> 00:09:10.920] But I thought maybe it's one of them because there's a lot of people at the moment complaining about an influx of spiders into the UK with the hot weather.
[00:09:10.920 --> 00:09:12.040] There are a lot of spiders at the minute.
[00:09:12.040 --> 00:09:13.320] I've noticed there in my house.
[00:09:13.320 --> 00:09:18.920] A lot of people talking about how we're getting invaded by poisonous spiders, which I thought, well, don't eat them.
[00:09:18.920 --> 00:09:19.240] Yeah, yeah.
[00:09:20.680 --> 00:09:21.800] Obvious way to do that.
[00:09:22.040 --> 00:09:26.760] But yeah, there's this idea that there's venomous spiders coming into the south coast because I don't know if that's true or not.
[00:09:26.760 --> 00:09:29.080] No, we get those kind of stories occasionally.
[00:09:29.080 --> 00:09:31.160] If they do genuinely repel spiders, we may need one.
[00:09:31.160 --> 00:09:33.960] Nicola is massively arachnophobic, as I mentioned.
[00:09:33.960 --> 00:09:40.120] And we've been, as I mentioned, renovating, clearing out her mum's house in Blackpool so we can put that on the market and things.
[00:09:40.120 --> 00:09:56.520] And so before, a couple of weeks ago, before we went to do the garden, so like last month when we were talking about how you came to the garden, the week before that, Nicola and I just went and I spent ages in the garage, loads of spiders and an absolute apocalypse of wood lice.
[00:09:56.520 --> 00:09:57.080] Right.
[00:09:57.080 --> 00:10:01.000] Just like the white shells that once they die and then they curl up and then the shells turn white.
[00:10:01.000 --> 00:10:05.480] It was like a woodlouse apocalypse, which would be a great band name, essentially.
[00:10:05.480 --> 00:10:07.240] But there was also just spiders knocking around.
[00:10:07.320 --> 00:10:12.120] I was trying to keep them away from Nicola and so we shut up the garage and everything and she's been doing some work in one of the other rooms.
[00:10:12.120 --> 00:10:18.120] And then as she walks back in, one of the largest spiders I've ever seen is on her shoulder as she's walking around.
[00:10:18.520 --> 00:10:21.880] And I had to clock it and then not react in any way.
[00:10:21.880 --> 00:10:22.200] Yeah.
[00:10:22.200 --> 00:10:25.800] And think, how do I get this off her shoulder without her freaking the fuck out?
[00:10:25.800 --> 00:10:30.760] Because if she knows there's a spider on her shoulder, like not just is she going to freak out, but she's not going to sleep tonight.
[00:10:31.000 --> 00:10:32.760] So I'd be like, oh, sorry, hang on, you've got to.
[00:10:32.760 --> 00:10:34.280] And I grabbed quickly with my hand.
[00:10:34.280 --> 00:10:36.040] So you saw you got a cobweb on your shoulder.
[00:10:36.040 --> 00:10:36.360] Right.
[00:10:36.360 --> 00:10:39.240] And I grabbed the massive spider just with my hand.
[00:10:39.240 --> 00:10:40.280] Yeah, you just went for it.
[00:10:40.280 --> 00:10:41.800] And I was like, oh, I'll just throw it out.
[00:10:41.800 --> 00:10:43.000] I'll just get rid of the cobweb.
[00:10:43.000 --> 00:10:45.440] And I just threw it across at the other side.
[00:10:45.440 --> 00:10:46.640] And then we left.
[00:10:44.840 --> 00:10:47.360] Yeah.
[00:10:48.080 --> 00:10:58.720] What you've done there is the equivalent of what those stories about when a baby is trapped in a car, a mum out of nowhere just lifts the car off to get the baby out.
[00:10:58.720 --> 00:10:59.360] Yeah.
[00:10:59.680 --> 00:11:05.520] So yeah, I thought this was about the kind of the right device will save you from the nasty evil effects of evil radiation.
[00:11:05.520 --> 00:11:07.680] And that is like decades old, Wu.
[00:11:07.680 --> 00:11:12.640] One of the first stories we ever covered on this show was about electromagnetic hypersensitivity.
[00:11:13.200 --> 00:11:15.120] Was it Scouse Stew or Scouse Steve?
[00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:20.240] Was like a heckler who would like leave us troll comments about how EHS is real, actually, mate.
[00:11:20.240 --> 00:11:22.080] Yeah, I think it was literally episode one.
[00:11:22.400 --> 00:11:22.800] I think it was.
[00:11:22.880 --> 00:11:23.680] We did EHS.
[00:11:23.680 --> 00:11:24.000] Yeah.
[00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:24.480] Yeah.
[00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:32.240] And we also covered like the very, we've covered over the years the various products that are trying to cash in on the paranoia and fear caused by this fictional diagnosis of EHS.
[00:11:32.240 --> 00:11:34.480] I went to a Mind-Body Spirit Festival.
[00:11:34.800 --> 00:11:44.400] There's a film I put up on YouTube of me with a guy who said his magical device, the Saucer Tech well balancer, could protect you from your mobile phone radiation.
[00:11:44.400 --> 00:11:48.640] And I asked him on camera, because he didn't realize I was carrying an undercover camera.
[00:11:48.640 --> 00:11:50.720] That didn't set off his device in any kind of way.
[00:11:51.040 --> 00:11:53.920] I said, does this work if you don't know whether they're carrying a mobile phone?
[00:11:53.920 --> 00:11:56.240] And he fell apart and had no answer to that.
[00:11:56.240 --> 00:11:57.520] It's one of my favorite videos.
[00:11:57.520 --> 00:12:01.760] If you look up Good Thinking Investigate, I think Sosa Tech Well Balancer, you'll see that's a great video.
[00:12:01.760 --> 00:12:03.840] But yeah, the classics, they never go out of fashion.
[00:12:03.840 --> 00:12:15.440] I assume this was just another EHS device, albeit with a wildly high-price tag and a deeply unwieldy one at that, because it's massive and she's wearing it on the front of her kneecap, basically.
[00:12:15.440 --> 00:12:16.720] It's like the size of a leg.
[00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:18.960] Maybe she's going roller skating.
[00:12:18.960 --> 00:12:19.760] She could be.
[00:12:19.840 --> 00:12:20.400] She could have been.
[00:12:20.560 --> 00:12:22.560] It's just knee pants.
[00:12:22.560 --> 00:12:27.920] So, ever the diligent skeptic, I went over to the neuralocked.com website to see what's what.
[00:12:27.920 --> 00:12:32.760] Whereupon I was greeted by a slightly different, suspiciously AI lady.
[00:12:33.080 --> 00:12:35.160] So, this is not the same AI lady.
[00:12:29.600 --> 00:12:40.760] They have a range of ladies who are willing to wear their device and the same outfit.
[00:12:40.760 --> 00:12:41.800] Yeah, so like it's a different lady.
[00:12:41.960 --> 00:12:44.120] I have the hair doing the same thing.
[00:12:44.120 --> 00:12:51.640] So, yeah, it's a different lady, but she has managed to get the uniform of the neural locked lasers and stuff.
[00:12:51.640 --> 00:12:56.120] It's also, if you kind of look carefully, the two of you, it's not the same device.
[00:12:56.120 --> 00:12:57.400] It's a slightly different device.
[00:12:57.400 --> 00:12:58.920] It's slightly different proportions.
[00:12:58.920 --> 00:13:01.400] It's worn in a slightly different place on the leg.
[00:13:01.400 --> 00:13:06.280] So, the new lady's further down the leg where this original lady was very at the kneecap.
[00:13:06.280 --> 00:13:09.160] So, it's similar, but not exactly the same.
[00:13:09.160 --> 00:13:17.880] But maybe that's because the first one I saw was the redhead version, and it may well be a different device for brunettes because I don't know, maybe they're genetically different or something.
[00:13:18.040 --> 00:13:19.480] I've no idea.
[00:13:19.480 --> 00:13:22.760] But, yeah, the mystical device that was strapped to the leg is slightly different.
[00:13:23.000 --> 00:13:27.080] It's taller, it's thinner, it connects to the knee strap in a different way.
[00:13:27.080 --> 00:13:28.520] It's one lure on the knee.
[00:13:28.520 --> 00:13:35.240] And also, in place of the logo for unhacked, instead, what there is is some AI gibberish.
[00:13:35.240 --> 00:13:39.720] So, there's some things that are similar to, but not exactly like, letters.
[00:13:39.720 --> 00:13:39.960] Yeah.
[00:13:39.960 --> 00:13:42.200] It's just undecipherable AI garbage.
[00:13:42.200 --> 00:13:44.920] Further down the page, the lady appears again.
[00:13:44.920 --> 00:13:45.320] Yeah.
[00:13:45.320 --> 00:13:46.120] The exact same lady.
[00:13:46.280 --> 00:13:46.840] But squashed.
[00:13:46.920 --> 00:13:52.440] But squashed, because the picture that they've got wasn't the right aspect ratio for the space that they wanted her in.
[00:13:52.440 --> 00:13:54.840] And then further down, she appears again, squashed.
[00:13:54.840 --> 00:13:59.480] So they really did like the second lady way more than this first lady.
[00:13:59.800 --> 00:14:06.520] But this second time her photo appears, it now bears the text, Bioelectrical Neural network firewall.
[00:14:06.520 --> 00:14:07.880] That's just words.
[00:14:07.880 --> 00:14:09.640] So what do you think those just words might mean?
[00:14:09.960 --> 00:14:13.080] Bioelectrical neural network firewall.
[00:14:13.080 --> 00:14:13.560] Yeah.
[00:14:13.560 --> 00:14:14.440] That's bollocks.
[00:14:14.520 --> 00:14:17.360] It's blocking ideas coming into your brain.
[00:14:17.360 --> 00:14:18.400] You're pretty much there.
[00:14:18.400 --> 00:14:19.200] You're pretty much there.
[00:14:14.840 --> 00:14:21.280] Not quite, but you're on exactly the right trend.
[00:14:21.440 --> 00:14:26.080] Next to that lady was also another even more AI lady who is unequivocally...
[00:14:26.480 --> 00:14:27.520] She's not just AI.
[00:14:27.520 --> 00:14:30.080] She's like, she's not an AI version of a lady.
[00:14:30.080 --> 00:14:33.600] She's an AI version of a bot pretending to be a lady.
[00:14:33.600 --> 00:14:34.400] Yes, yeah, yeah.
[00:14:34.400 --> 00:14:36.720] She's got like her bright red hair.
[00:14:36.720 --> 00:14:39.920] Like red hair that puts your that makes your hair look natural, Alice.
[00:14:40.240 --> 00:14:44.800] Like hair so red that and it's like flying out to the side like she's kind of like whooshed in the wind.
[00:14:45.120 --> 00:14:49.680] Got electrical stuff going out from her neck and it is a skin see-through.
[00:14:49.840 --> 00:14:51.840] Her skin may be a little bit see-through.
[00:14:51.920 --> 00:14:53.760] Tony's got like, oh, it's a hand.
[00:14:53.760 --> 00:15:00.960] It's because she's got like, she's got streams of electric running down one side of her neck and then on the other side of her neck, she's got a hand and it looks like she's got like see-through.
[00:15:00.960 --> 00:15:02.480] You can see her muscles through her skin.
[00:15:02.480 --> 00:15:07.520] What she looks like is she's recently swallowed in urofen and is currently heading to the source of pain.
[00:15:08.400 --> 00:15:09.760] That is exactly it.
[00:15:09.760 --> 00:15:14.640] And it looks like there's like waves emanating from a device that's embedded in her throat at this point.
[00:15:14.880 --> 00:15:22.480] The footer of every one of these, oh, sorry, the text on that page reads V2K voice to skull disruption.
[00:15:22.480 --> 00:15:24.080] Voice to skull.
[00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:26.480] Voice to skull disruption.
[00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:27.760] Alice, you've got your head in your hands.
[00:15:27.760 --> 00:15:29.440] It's an audio medium.
[00:15:31.680 --> 00:15:32.960] So is it...
[00:15:32.960 --> 00:15:33.840] I don't...
[00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:35.920] Is it disrupting your own bullshit?
[00:15:36.080 --> 00:15:37.200] That's what I'm thinking now.
[00:15:37.200 --> 00:15:39.680] Like, you speak bullshit and it'll disrupt it.
[00:15:39.680 --> 00:15:40.880] So it's not that.
[00:15:40.880 --> 00:15:45.520] Also, at the bottom of every page, which I really like, is a NASA logo.
[00:15:45.520 --> 00:15:46.640] Inspired by NASA.
[00:15:46.640 --> 00:15:47.360] Inspired by NASA.
[00:15:47.360 --> 00:15:50.960] And when you read the text underneath, it says NASA-inspired underwear.
[00:15:51.600 --> 00:15:52.080] Okay.
[00:15:52.320 --> 00:15:53.360] Don't know what that means.
[00:15:53.840 --> 00:15:59.040] Because there is no explanation as to what that might mean anywhere on the website.
[00:15:59.040 --> 00:16:00.440] They don't reference that text anywhere.
[00:16:00.840 --> 00:16:01.560] They're just doing it.
[00:16:03.480 --> 00:16:03.880] I don't know.
[00:16:03.880 --> 00:16:05.560] Not because the text is underneath.
[00:16:06.600 --> 00:16:11.080] They've written the word NASA-inspired underwear underneath, but I didn't find any.
[00:16:11.240 --> 00:16:12.760] There's no relevance to underwear.
[00:16:12.760 --> 00:16:13.720] Do they sell?
[00:16:13.720 --> 00:16:15.480] underwear inspired by NASA?
[00:16:15.480 --> 00:16:18.040] Was NASA inspired by underwear?
[00:16:18.040 --> 00:16:20.520] I can't pass that sentence because there's no further information.
[00:16:20.520 --> 00:16:24.600] Your guess is at least as good as mine and probably about as good as the people who made this website.
[00:16:24.600 --> 00:16:27.320] We did only invent boxer shorts for the spacesuit.
[00:16:27.320 --> 00:16:27.720] That is true.
[00:16:27.960 --> 00:16:29.480] Before that, everyone went commando.
[00:16:29.480 --> 00:16:30.040] That is very true.
[00:16:30.520 --> 00:16:31.400] That's how it worked.
[00:16:31.400 --> 00:16:38.520] I mean, what I will say is the website doesn't appear to sell any underwear, but that might just be because my computer was blocking any mature content thanks to the online safety.
[00:16:38.920 --> 00:16:42.520] So there may have been an entire lingerie section that I wasn't aware of.
[00:16:42.520 --> 00:16:44.120] So what the hell is going on here?
[00:16:44.120 --> 00:16:52.920] Well, in the absence of an about page, which the website doesn't have, I can tell you what's on the page, Neural Locked Mission Statement.
[00:16:52.920 --> 00:16:54.360] So do I have an About page?
[00:16:54.360 --> 00:16:55.080] Well, they have got a mission.
[00:16:55.160 --> 00:16:56.520] They don't have a mission statement.
[00:16:56.520 --> 00:16:58.360] Their entire mission statement reads.
[00:16:58.680 --> 00:17:01.240] I'm just thinking more about the unhacked part.
[00:17:01.880 --> 00:17:06.600] Is it something to do with being controlled, preventing being controlled?
[00:17:06.600 --> 00:17:07.720] It basically, yes.
[00:17:08.040 --> 00:17:09.480] You're in exactly the right kind of area.
[00:17:09.480 --> 00:17:13.240] But if there's a vocal thing, like being voice activated or something.
[00:17:14.120 --> 00:17:15.160] Yeah, that's basically it.
[00:17:15.240 --> 00:17:19.880] Oh, is it like fucking Freeman on the land language bullshit?
[00:17:19.880 --> 00:17:20.200] It's not.
[00:17:20.200 --> 00:17:20.600] It's not that.
[00:17:20.600 --> 00:17:21.000] It's not that.
[00:17:21.320 --> 00:17:21.800] Logic words.
[00:17:22.120 --> 00:17:23.160] I will get you there.
[00:17:23.160 --> 00:17:27.880] So their mission statement reads, Neural Locked empowers human sovereignty.
[00:17:27.880 --> 00:17:31.320] Okay, it isn't that.
[00:17:31.320 --> 00:17:33.000] I promise it's not that.
[00:17:33.960 --> 00:17:39.880] Neural locked empowers human sovereignty in the era of digital and neural threats.
[00:17:39.880 --> 00:17:53.200] It says, we are building the first decentralized neural defense ecosystem, combining protective technology, scientific education, real-time AI threat alerts, and tokenized governance.
[00:17:53.200 --> 00:18:04.560] Our mission is to safeguard the brain and body against artificial manipulation by advancing research, enabling personal defense, and creating a secure knowledge network on the blockchain.
[00:18:04.560 --> 00:18:06.160] Oh, fuck off.
[00:18:06.480 --> 00:18:06.960] Fuck off.
[00:18:07.440 --> 00:18:08.800] That's nonsense.
[00:18:09.280 --> 00:18:33.040] Also, if you hover over mission statement, the only other page in the sub-menu underneath it is quote: dollar sign N-E-U-R-O in block capitals, cryptocurrency token investor one pager, which links to a PDF on the rules for their crypto token, which they claim is, quote, the first antivirus platform for the human mind and body.
[00:18:33.680 --> 00:18:35.760] I like they included body.
[00:18:35.760 --> 00:18:38.240] It's the first antivirus for the human body.
[00:18:39.040 --> 00:18:41.040] I don't think it is the first one of us.
[00:18:41.200 --> 00:18:42.480] Humans don't get viruses.
[00:18:42.480 --> 00:18:44.000] I think there's been one of them before.
[00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:46.960] I think we've got an immune system, which is many ways the very first.
[00:18:49.200 --> 00:18:54.960] It goes on to say: artificial intelligence and electromagnetic technologies are evolving faster than traditional defenses.
[00:18:54.960 --> 00:19:06.960] Neuralocked introduces a decentralized response, a blockchain-powered platform designed to detect, educate, and defend against AI-based biosignal interference.
[00:19:06.960 --> 00:19:15.200] Our native token, Neuraw, fuels access, incentives, and governance across a full spectrum human defense ecosystem.
[00:19:15.200 --> 00:19:29.800] So, apparently, investing in the Neuraw token will get you exclusive webinars and Neurotech briefings, discounted pricing on protective gear and devices, and event ticketing for IRL meetups, summits, and hackathons.
[00:19:29.120 --> 00:19:31.720] You're laughing, Mike.
[00:19:31.880 --> 00:19:32.760] Why are you laughing?
[00:19:33.320 --> 00:19:44.840] I love how mundane the last bit was, where it's like this thing travels in space, it travels in time, and it comes in four different colors.
[00:19:44.840 --> 00:19:52.680] Yeah, in reality, it's less like a cryptocurrency and more like a membership scheme, where the benefits are essentially money off bonus meetups.
[00:19:52.680 --> 00:19:56.520] It's like it's a cateered membership scheme, which we don't do on our Patreon.
[00:19:56.520 --> 00:19:59.640] You know, that's why you give one pound, you get five pounds.
[00:19:59.640 --> 00:20:03.960] You get the same thing, but you know, don't not give us five pounds for that reason.
[00:20:04.280 --> 00:20:07.400] Okay, now we know their mission and we know how to get the discounts.
[00:20:07.400 --> 00:20:08.200] Let's meet the products.
[00:20:08.200 --> 00:20:15.160] And we'll start with the unhacked product, the 499.99 one that caught my attention when it was advertised on Reddit.
[00:20:15.160 --> 00:20:24.760] It claims to be part of their bioelectrical neural network firewall range, and it says it's your personal shield against brain and body hacking.
[00:20:25.080 --> 00:20:34.280] The product description, which includes highlighting how easily concealed the massive device can be under your trousers, says, Oh, and the good thing is you can conceal it under your pants.
[00:20:34.280 --> 00:20:36.440] It's a good job, skinny jeans have gone out of fashion.
[00:20:36.680 --> 00:20:47.320] I'm wearing skinny jeans, they've gone out of fashion, they've gone out of fashion, but um, you have you have to be in clown pants to not notice a massive fucking ludicrous.
[00:20:47.560 --> 00:20:53.320] What they mean by underwear is that you wear it under your skinny jeans, as it were.
[00:20:53.320 --> 00:21:04.120] It may well mean that, it may well mean that, but yeah, the benefits of it include how easily concealed is, and also that it's powered by a nine-volt battery.
[00:21:04.120 --> 00:21:06.040] And then it takes don't put your tongue on it, it.
[00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:06.840] It's what we all do.
[00:21:06.840 --> 00:21:09.000] Well, point you shouldn't, it's probably not good.
[00:21:09.000 --> 00:21:20.880] And it's at this point that it takes a turn away from straight electro hypersensitivity claims into quote: If you're a targeted individual, you already know the fight is real.
[00:21:21.200 --> 00:21:23.600] That's why we created Neurolocked Unhappy.
[00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:32.480] A targeted individual, the next evolution in personal protection, designed specifically for those who experience brain and body interference.
[00:21:32.480 --> 00:21:40.320] This discrete, wearable device helps block unwanted access and manipulation so you can reclaim your mental and physical space.
[00:21:40.320 --> 00:21:44.240] Did they think Captain America the Winter Soldier was a documentary?
[00:21:44.240 --> 00:21:45.520] They might have done.
[00:21:45.520 --> 00:21:46.240] They might have done.
[00:21:46.240 --> 00:21:47.840] So, yeah, Alice, you spotted the mention there.
[00:21:47.840 --> 00:21:48.560] Targeted individual.
[00:21:48.640 --> 00:21:50.000] Do you know, have you heard of targeted individuals?
[00:21:50.160 --> 00:21:51.520] Have you come across this before, no?
[00:21:51.520 --> 00:22:03.360] Okay, I have, and I tried to interview a targeted individual several times on Be Reasonable, but as you will see, given the nature of the belief, it's inherently suspicious to external forces.
[00:22:03.360 --> 00:22:08.000] But it really does speak to who they're marketing this product to that they're talking about targeted individuals.
[00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:14.880] Targeted individuals believe that they are being, as you might imagine, targeted in a number of ways.
[00:22:14.880 --> 00:22:17.520] Some believe they're victims of gang stalking.
[00:22:17.520 --> 00:22:19.920] Have you come across the pseudo-scientific belief of gang stalking?
[00:22:19.920 --> 00:22:20.320] Have you not?
[00:22:20.320 --> 00:22:20.800] No, I haven't.
[00:22:20.880 --> 00:22:24.880] See, these are the areas of the internet I've been living on for the last decade.
[00:22:25.200 --> 00:22:28.240] Gang stalking is where you're being stalked.
[00:22:28.240 --> 00:22:30.720] You know, stalking by a gang, one assumes.
[00:22:30.720 --> 00:22:31.280] Yes.
[00:22:31.280 --> 00:22:32.080] So you're being stalked.
[00:22:32.400 --> 00:22:41.440] I've grown up out of those, like, what's it called, urban legends, where if you see like a little mark on your door, it means that you've been picked out by a gang as a target.
[00:22:41.440 --> 00:22:42.720] No, it's not quite that.
[00:22:42.720 --> 00:22:46.080] It's more like you are being followed as you go about your daily life.
[00:22:46.080 --> 00:22:53.120] You're followed by someone with sinister intent in order to harass you or panic you or to monitor you and everything that you're doing.
[00:22:53.120 --> 00:23:02.040] But rather than being followed by the same person all the time, which would make it too obvious that they're following you, you're being stalked by an organized team of people who are working in consort.
[00:23:02.040 --> 00:23:04.840] Which is why every time you look over your shoulder, there's different people behind you.
[00:22:59.840 --> 00:23:06.040] Different people behind you, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:23:06.200 --> 00:23:09.800] Because they're all working together, and it's not at all because it's just random people in the street.
[00:23:09.960 --> 00:23:17.240] Yep, so you're walking down the street, you see proof that the people behind you are taking turns stalking you because it's never the same person twice behind you.
[00:23:17.240 --> 00:23:20.920] In reality, what you're experiencing is people on their street, man.
[00:23:21.480 --> 00:23:23.960] They're not paying attention to you, they're just going about their lives.
[00:23:23.960 --> 00:23:38.280] Other targeted individual beliefs include that rather than simply following you, these unseen malicious actors or team of actors can also use devices to beam their thoughts into your mind or to intercept your thoughts so they can hear what you're saying.
[00:23:38.280 --> 00:23:40.040] I mean, these are diagnostic criteria.
[00:23:40.040 --> 00:23:44.600] Like, there is a specific mental illness that has these symptoms, right?
[00:23:44.760 --> 00:23:45.880] Yes, absolutely, absolutely.
[00:23:45.880 --> 00:23:47.800] And I will sort of touch on that.
[00:23:47.800 --> 00:23:54.600] They also believe that these targeted, when you're targeting individuals, the unseen people can cause a range of health conditions and negative symptoms.
[00:23:54.600 --> 00:24:03.320] So, yeah, it will be no surprise to anyone that these beliefs correlate with various mental health issues, including psychosis and schizophrenia.
[00:24:03.320 --> 00:24:09.160] Schizophrenia, people often misunderstand some of the diagnostic criteria of schizophrenia, that it's hearing voices.
[00:24:09.160 --> 00:24:18.040] Often, it involves the idea that not that you're hearing thoughts, although for some people it does manifest that way, it also can involve that people can hear your thoughts.
[00:24:18.040 --> 00:24:26.760] So, you're walking down the street and everyone knows what you're thinking because that's why they're looking at you, and that's why they're seeming suspicious because they can hear every thought that you've got.
[00:24:26.760 --> 00:24:28.920] I mean, it can also have visual disturbances, right?
[00:24:28.920 --> 00:24:39.480] Because there's this great video on Instagram, or I don't know where it was first posted, but there's a guy who's got an assistant dog for his schizophrenia, and he has visual hallucinations of people.
[00:24:39.480 --> 00:24:40.600] Oh, I've seen this, yes.
[00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:42.040] He talks with his dog, doesn't he?
[00:24:42.120 --> 00:24:45.360] Yeah, he asked the dog to greet them, and if there's not a person there, then the dog doesn't react.
[00:24:44.600 --> 00:24:46.160] The dog doesn't greet.
[00:24:44.840 --> 00:24:47.920] And if there is a person there, then the dog greets.
[00:24:48.080 --> 00:24:52.640] So he can determine whether he's having a hallucination or not based on the dog's behavior.
[00:24:52.800 --> 00:24:53.040] Yeah.
[00:24:53.040 --> 00:24:54.320] So there's like a range of things.
[00:24:54.320 --> 00:25:00.080] And, you know, sometimes these kind of beliefs can manifest in technological fears like this.
[00:25:00.080 --> 00:25:02.800] That in the sense of like, oh, you can hear my thoughts.
[00:25:02.800 --> 00:25:05.840] It's because of a technological device that you're using to intercept my thoughts.
[00:25:06.800 --> 00:25:12.240] But other times it manifests in a belief of their own involuntarily psychic abilities.
[00:25:12.240 --> 00:25:14.640] And this is actually something that we've experienced.
[00:25:14.640 --> 00:26:19.640] Were you involved in the psychic test we did at one point when there was somebody came to Liverpool and we went to the Vines to so this person believed that he was able to transmit his thoughts and we gave him cards with a range we gave volunteers cards with a range of numbers hang on what did we do we gave him cards with a range of numbers he had to pick a number out at random unseen and then there was a volunteer on the other side of the room who was facing the other way who wasn't looking who had to write down what they were receiving yeah and he was absolutely adamant that he could do this and we actually talked to the person who referred him who was a psychiatrist who was involved in skepticism who said look it will actually be beneficial for you to at least talk to him about this and do these tests because he isn't showing signs that this is damaging to him and he does is trying to understand what's happening so actually doing this test will be helpful to him it's not exploited to do that but we never published this anywhere because we didn't feel it was kind of appropriate but like when people have these conditions or these experiences or when they're going through various different crises it can manifest in belief in psychic ability, or it can manifest in belief in technological hacking and stuff.
[00:26:19.640 --> 00:26:26.920] All of which makes the list of product benefits for that particular product, that's $500 product, particularly concerning.
[00:26:26.920 --> 00:26:56.120] Because under the What Does It Stop headline, the page reads technological/slash electronic harassment, and then it's got bullet points for directed energy weapons or DEWs, sensations of burning, heating, or stabbing pain without a visible source, visible source, then microwave auditory effect or voice to skull, V2K, hearing voices, tones, or messages directly in the head, allegedly via microwave or RF transmission.
[00:26:56.120 --> 00:27:03.720] Then remote neural monitoring or RNM, belief that brain activity and thoughts are being read and influenced remotely.
[00:27:03.720 --> 00:27:12.840] Sleep disruption technology, it says false insomnia or unnatural sleep patterns, which again is going to be part of the diagnostic criteria of someone going through crisis.
[00:27:12.840 --> 00:27:18.120] Electrical stimulation of muscles, it says involuntary twitching, cramps, or movement.
[00:27:18.120 --> 00:27:18.760] We never get that.
[00:27:18.760 --> 00:27:19.720] Nobody ever gets that.
[00:27:19.720 --> 00:27:23.720] Yeah, but also twitches can be part of a diagnostic thing.
[00:27:23.720 --> 00:27:25.880] And then interference with electronics.
[00:27:25.880 --> 00:27:30.360] And it says phones, computers, and devices malfunctioning in specific ways.
[00:27:30.360 --> 00:27:31.000] Oh, fucking.
[00:27:31.160 --> 00:27:33.800] This is just a recipe for confirmation bias.
[00:27:33.800 --> 00:27:34.360] Yeah.
[00:27:34.360 --> 00:27:48.200] But also, some, and I don't know about the kinds of mental illnesses that might present with these types of symptoms, but in some mental illnesses, we do know that some, or even some neurodivergences, that some traits can be kind of caught from each other.
[00:27:48.200 --> 00:27:55.960] Like it's still caused by an internal thing, but that suggestion of particular types of symptoms can then start to manifest.
[00:27:55.960 --> 00:28:00.520] You see it with, I think, there's some people with threats who pick up each other's ticks.
[00:28:00.680 --> 00:28:09.400] Yes, the ticking is part of the condition, but the tick that the brain picks up can be passed from person to person and they have similar ticks to each other sometimes.
[00:28:09.400 --> 00:28:10.440] Yeah, absolutely.
[00:28:10.440 --> 00:28:16.000] And all of which, if you ask me, sound an awful lot like beliefs that would indicate a need to see a mental health specialist.
[00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:16.320] Yeah.
[00:28:16.320 --> 00:28:24.320] You know, these are all beliefs that cross over with the kind of paranoias that range from concerning to diagnostic.
[00:28:24.320 --> 00:28:24.720] Yeah.
[00:28:25.040 --> 00:29:00.240] The second set of promised benefits of this particular device, fair no better, with the device focusing on the physical sensation and health effects that it can stop, which are sudden stabbing or burning pain in specific body areas, tingling vibrations or buzzing under the skin, heat spots or cold patches without external cause, heart palpitations or sudden spikes in blood pressure, headaches or pressure in the skull, unexplained bruising, burns or skin marks, chronic fatigue and weakness without medical explanation, dizziness or loss of balance, and ringing in the ears/slash tinnitus.
[00:29:00.240 --> 00:29:06.480] So again, some of these might be the kind of unspecific symptoms that aren't indicative of anything serious at all or even anything at all.
[00:29:06.480 --> 00:29:09.360] You know, who doesn't get bruises they can't explain?
[00:29:09.360 --> 00:29:11.600] That just means you've been living and knocking about and doing.
[00:29:11.600 --> 00:29:14.640] So if you catch yourself on something, you don't bruise immediately, you forget you caught yourself.
[00:29:14.800 --> 00:29:16.960] Lo and behold, the next couple of days you've got to bruise.
[00:29:17.040 --> 00:29:21.040] Then others are more serious, especially when conditions like chronic fatigue are in there.
[00:29:21.040 --> 00:29:24.080] They're poorly understood and very poorly treated.
[00:29:24.080 --> 00:29:33.520] So it's clear why someone might feel desperate and at their wit's end, especially if they're suffering from some of the other paranoias and mental symptoms that might happen to be comorbid or happening at the same time.
[00:29:33.520 --> 00:29:38.080] And so they'll turn to a device like this because they see an advert for it on fucking Reddit.
[00:29:38.080 --> 00:29:42.480] And honestly, I could believe that this device was sincere.
[00:29:42.480 --> 00:29:46.960] I've seen all manner of EHS treatments and electromagnetism blockers.
[00:29:46.960 --> 00:29:53.200] Even the very poorly produced product video that I saw on one of the pages, isn't disqualifying per se.
[00:29:53.200 --> 00:29:54.720] What is actually in it, though?
[00:29:54.760 --> 00:30:00.280] That's that's what it gives me AD651 bomb detector stuff.
[00:30:00.280 --> 00:30:02.360] It's just gonna be a non-volt battery and LED, and that's what's gonna be.
[00:30:02.520 --> 00:30:03.560] And that's what's in the box.
[00:29:59.760 --> 00:30:05.240] So, we will come back to not this.
[00:30:05.400 --> 00:30:08.680] I couldn't find this, but I'll tell you what something else is soon.
[00:30:08.680 --> 00:30:14.680] But on the page, there was a product video which I think wasn't disqualifying from sincerity at this point.
[00:30:14.680 --> 00:30:16.440] I thought, well, okay, they could genuinely believe this.
[00:30:16.440 --> 00:30:29.480] Because the thing is, if you're suffering from these kind of conditions yourself, you're in those kind of paranoias, and you happen to whack something together or buy something, and you then feel like that's helping, you might then start to sell that because to other people in the target individual world.
[00:30:29.480 --> 00:30:32.920] But in this one video that they put up there, it has an AI voiceover.
[00:30:32.920 --> 00:30:34.040] Of course, it fucking does.
[00:30:34.040 --> 00:30:46.440] The whole video is 30 seconds long, and it says, 2035, everyone's nervous system is shielded, everyone wears one.
[00:30:46.440 --> 00:30:52.200] 2025, only the awakened ones act, only the smart ones do.
[00:30:52.200 --> 00:30:57.960] Remove the hack, reclaim control, unhacked by Neurolocked.
[00:30:57.960 --> 00:30:58.600] And that's the video.
[00:30:58.600 --> 00:31:05.720] And it's over some like incredibly stock kind of footage of people going from seeming unwell to spinning around in fields and stuff.
[00:31:05.720 --> 00:31:14.920] And look, it's obviously not good marketing copy, but someone who really believed in a product like this would probably not be capable of writing excellent product copy here.
[00:31:14.920 --> 00:31:17.480] So that's not necessarily a clear sign.
[00:31:17.480 --> 00:31:30.600] However, what makes me very suspicious that this isn't sincere, but that this is cynical, first of all, is the AI picture of those two, well, three AI ladies, you know, attractive, very smooth AI ladies.
[00:31:30.600 --> 00:31:35.400] Also, the fact that the design and the size of the device changes in every shot.
[00:31:35.560 --> 00:31:36.440] Every one of those pictures.
[00:31:36.440 --> 00:31:38.520] One doesn't even have the logo on it.
[00:31:38.520 --> 00:31:50.240] The only real shot of the product, not tainted by AI, shows that it is just a little plastic cuboid with like an on-off switch, which is what I teased you with a couple of weeks ago.
[00:31:50.960 --> 00:31:58.560] But it's just a plastic cuboid, and all it is, it's got an on-off switch and what appears to be a charge port at the top, or something like a charge port.
[00:31:58.560 --> 00:32:01.360] Maybe it's like a three and a half mil jack or something like that.
[00:32:01.360 --> 00:32:06.160] It does look like a jack for a barrel connector or something like that, but it also doesn't look like it's got anything in it.
[00:32:06.160 --> 00:32:13.440] I think that's probably an off-the-shelf box from something like Maplin that they've put arbitrary electronics into.
[00:32:13.440 --> 00:32:14.000] Or haven't.
[00:32:14.320 --> 00:32:16.080] Or maybe not even anything in it.
[00:32:16.080 --> 00:32:16.720] Yeah.
[00:32:16.720 --> 00:32:18.400] So, and that's the only real shot they have.
[00:32:18.400 --> 00:32:24.000] The only one that's not tainted by AI, and it's just a plastic cuboid with this on-off switch and a cheap Velcro strap.
[00:32:24.000 --> 00:32:28.400] That's their single photo of their $500 device.
[00:32:28.400 --> 00:32:31.040] And it looks completely different to all the AI shots.
[00:32:31.040 --> 00:32:32.160] So that's a red flag.
[00:32:32.160 --> 00:32:41.200] Even if you couldn't get your suspiciously smooth lady to actually pose with it, maybe you'd Photoshop in something that was actually a picture of your device onto her.
[00:32:41.200 --> 00:32:45.920] But no, this is getting the AI to say lady with black box on leg.
[00:32:46.240 --> 00:32:50.000] But then another major red flag is the rest of the product range.
[00:32:50.000 --> 00:33:05.280] So there's the $199.99 skull shield, which says how to stop voice to skull brackets V2K, which promised to be, quote, the ultimate solution for anyone searching for how to stop voice to skull attacks and regain mental freedom.
[00:33:05.280 --> 00:33:19.760] This discrete under-chin device is engineered with cutting-edge countermeasure technology to help remove voice-to-skull signals, block microwave-based V2K harassment, and provide reliable voice-to-skull protection in real time.
[00:33:19.760 --> 00:33:23.600] How is an under-chin device discrete?
[00:33:23.920 --> 00:33:24.880] Yeah, exactly.
[00:33:24.880 --> 00:33:26.240] I'll show you the device as well.
[00:33:26.240 --> 00:33:36.760] It says using targeted electromagnetic shielding and bioelectric clocking, Skull Shield delivers exceptional voice-to-skull shielding to disrupt and block intrusive transmissions.
[00:33:37.080 --> 00:33:41.000] So it is this device here.
[00:33:41.000 --> 00:33:52.360] What it is essentially is a small plastic device with an on-off switch and a USB-C charge point, basically, that you attach a little adhesive strip to the underside of your chin.
[00:33:52.360 --> 00:33:52.680] Okay.
[00:33:53.000 --> 00:33:56.360] And then pop the device on it and turn it on.
[00:33:56.360 --> 00:33:58.120] That's going to be really uncomfortable.
[00:33:58.120 --> 00:33:59.240] It's going to be really uncomfortable.
[00:33:59.240 --> 00:34:01.000] It's going to look incredibly stupid.
[00:34:01.000 --> 00:34:03.400] That is kind of what that is going to be.
[00:34:03.400 --> 00:34:11.080] Why is that USB-C charged, presumably with an internal lithium battery, but the other one is an outvolt battery?
[00:34:11.400 --> 00:34:12.520] You can answer this, Mike.
[00:34:12.520 --> 00:34:13.160] You can answer.
[00:34:13.160 --> 00:34:19.560] If you pause for a moment and think, these two separate devices, why is their manufacturing different and they're charging, they're powering different?
[00:34:20.600 --> 00:34:22.280] They're just drop-shipped bullshit.
[00:34:22.280 --> 00:34:23.640] They're dropshipped bullshit.
[00:34:24.360 --> 00:34:26.200] Absolutely dropship bullshit.
[00:34:26.200 --> 00:34:32.440] Okay, so in fact, the image of that skull shield under chin device, that isn't AI.
[00:34:32.440 --> 00:34:33.560] It is stolen.
[00:34:33.560 --> 00:34:34.040] Yes.
[00:34:34.040 --> 00:34:36.520] I put it into Tin Eye to do a reverse image lookup.
[00:34:36.520 --> 00:34:41.400] I found it on an e-commerce site called Joom.com, which is just a dropshipped site, essentially.
[00:34:41.400 --> 00:34:46.600] It wasn't selling as a $200 skull shield to stop you from voice to skull technology.
[00:34:46.600 --> 00:34:52.440] It was selling for £18.83 as an anti-snoring device.
[00:34:52.440 --> 00:34:52.760] Okay.
[00:34:52.840 --> 00:34:57.000] It would sit on your throat and vibrate slightly in order to try and keep your throat open.
[00:34:57.000 --> 00:35:07.880] So while the marketing copy claims it has built-in protection from voice-to-skull harassment, that will be a surprise given that it was designed to improve airflow and prevent snoring while the wearer is asleep.
[00:35:07.880 --> 00:35:08.760] That also won't work.
[00:35:08.760 --> 00:35:10.840] Something else, I was about to literally neckline.
[00:35:10.840 --> 00:35:13.880] Something else it's worth pointing out, it doesn't actually do.
[00:35:13.880 --> 00:35:19.040] They took a different bullshit product and thought, let's not sell it as a snoring device.
[00:35:14.920 --> 00:35:20.560] We can't really do the markup too much.
[00:35:20.880 --> 00:35:23.040] We can sell it as something else.
[00:35:23.040 --> 00:35:36.240] Other products in their range include the $19.99 Neural Locked Trademark Soap, which creates a thin, breathable barrier designed to disrupt signal penetration.
[00:35:36.240 --> 00:35:44.080] Then there's the $99.99 EMF protection glasses, which are not just a tool, they are armor.
[00:35:44.080 --> 00:35:45.600] I'm showing you a picture of the armor.
[00:35:45.680 --> 00:35:47.360] They look a lot like Clark Kent's glasses.
[00:35:47.360 --> 00:35:49.920] They do look a bit like Clark Kent glasses there.
[00:35:49.920 --> 00:35:56.000] They're very clearly just the off-the-shelf, like cheapest pair of frames you can get with almost certainly just plain lenses in them.
[00:35:56.400 --> 00:35:58.080] But they're armor.
[00:35:58.080 --> 00:36:17.600] Then there's, I don't have pictures of these, but the 599.99 silver fiber EMF protection hoodie sweatshirt and the 599.99 silver fiber EMF protection shirt and pants, which it's very clearly just made out of a cheap silvery covered like fabric.
[00:36:18.000 --> 00:36:19.520] That's all like a silvery kind of fabric.
[00:36:19.520 --> 00:36:20.640] It's a bit a lame, won't it?
[00:36:20.800 --> 00:36:21.680] It looks like a lame.
[00:36:21.680 --> 00:36:22.800] It looks like a lame.
[00:36:22.800 --> 00:36:28.400] And then there's the 99.99 silver fiber EMF protection hat.
[00:36:28.400 --> 00:36:32.800] Almost literally a tinfoil hat to block the signals getting into your brain.
[00:36:32.800 --> 00:36:34.880] Almost literally what it's claiming to be.
[00:36:34.880 --> 00:36:41.200] That last product has a product description that includes quote: protect your mind in style.
[00:36:41.200 --> 00:36:44.800] Step into the modern world with ancient defense.
[00:36:44.800 --> 00:36:51.120] Designed for targeted individuals, wellness seekers, and anyone living in high EMF environments.
[00:36:51.120 --> 00:36:54.720] This hat isn't just a fashion statement, M-dash.
[00:36:54.720 --> 00:36:57.040] It's a functional shield.
[00:36:57.040 --> 00:37:06.840] And the product description concludes with the line, let me know if you'd like versions for different customer tones, brackets, scientific, rebellious, spiritual, luxury, etc.
[00:37:08.600 --> 00:37:09.160] Okay.
[00:37:09.560 --> 00:37:10.760] Right, right, right, right.
[00:37:10.760 --> 00:37:12.520] They've just copy-pasted the response.
[00:37:12.760 --> 00:37:15.240] They've copy-pasted too much of their AI response there.
[00:37:15.480 --> 00:37:19.400] Literally, yeah, because obviously it's not just the product images that are provided by AI.
[00:37:19.400 --> 00:37:21.480] Literally everything on this site is designed by AI.
[00:37:21.560 --> 00:37:34.600] That's why the copy for all of their pages, if you look, read through the copy, it is so obviously AI and it's like this big flourishing language to the point where what is a tinfoil hat talks about being not just a fashion statement.
[00:37:34.600 --> 00:37:37.560] You know, step into modern world with ancient defense.
[00:37:37.560 --> 00:37:39.240] Bollocks.
[00:37:39.560 --> 00:37:41.560] Then there's the consumables.
[00:37:41.560 --> 00:37:45.400] Because if you're not selling supplements, you're leaving money on the table.
[00:37:45.400 --> 00:38:01.080] The supplements include the Neuro-locked neural firewall, the red pill, which it says is designed to fortify neural pathways, reduce internal signal sensitivity, and recalibrate bioelectromagnetic harmony for just $149.99.
[00:38:01.240 --> 00:38:07.320] Doesn't say how many pills come in a bottle because the bottle is just a stock photo of a white pill bottle.
[00:38:07.640 --> 00:38:14.600] Literally, a stock photo of a white pill bottle with the word neural, word neural locked photo shopped onto it.
[00:38:14.600 --> 00:38:17.640] That is literally all firewall symbol.
[00:38:17.640 --> 00:38:23.320] Neural locked firewall and a picture of like a little padlock as if it's an antivirus software or something like that.
[00:38:23.320 --> 00:38:23.800] That's all.
[00:38:23.800 --> 00:38:25.560] We don't know what's in it, anything like that.
[00:38:25.560 --> 00:38:31.080] As is their dream shield, nootropic and bream detox dream manipulation.
[00:38:31.080 --> 00:38:35.400] Neither of those products even tell you what's in them, which is incredibly worrying.
[00:38:35.400 --> 00:38:42.280] What's even more worrying is I contacted the sales support to say, I would like to buy some of this, this distream manipulation.
[00:38:42.600 --> 00:38:44.920] And I said, but I want to make sure there's nothing in it that I'm allergic to.
[00:38:45.760 --> 00:38:48.800] What are the ingredients and how many do I get in a bottle?
[00:38:48.800 --> 00:38:55.760] To which they responded today at three in the morning, which suggests they're not in our time zone, possibly not even in America, even though this is an American website.
[00:38:55.760 --> 00:39:05.040] Saying, hi, Michael, just like there are 11 herbs and spices to KFC, we do not disclose the ingredients.
[00:39:05.040 --> 00:39:06.480] Go on, Alice.
[00:39:07.360 --> 00:39:11.280] It's not the 11 herbs and spices that's the issue.
[00:39:11.280 --> 00:39:12.800] It's the secret.
[00:39:12.800 --> 00:39:13.280] The secret.
[00:39:13.280 --> 00:39:16.000] Yeah, yeah, 11 secret herbs and spices.
[00:39:16.000 --> 00:39:16.160] Yes.
[00:39:16.400 --> 00:39:17.680] They missed from that sentence.
[00:39:17.680 --> 00:39:18.800] Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
[00:39:18.800 --> 00:39:21.280] But also, that doesn't work for medicine.
[00:39:21.280 --> 00:39:21.840] No, it doesn't.
[00:39:21.840 --> 00:39:25.840] You can't be like, oh, yeah, when I've said, I want to buy this, but I'm worried I might be allergic to it.
[00:39:25.840 --> 00:39:26.800] Ah, sorry, mate.
[00:39:26.800 --> 00:39:27.520] Take a chance.
[00:39:27.520 --> 00:39:31.360] But then they said, we're considering removing the item because it is obsolete.
[00:39:31.360 --> 00:39:35.360] If you buy the unhacked device, all of your problems are solved.
[00:39:35.360 --> 00:39:40.400] Unhacked device plus Eurlock's red pills are your complete defense and repair system.
[00:39:40.720 --> 00:39:44.400] So by the device, all your problems are solved.
[00:39:44.400 --> 00:39:46.000] But also by the purpose of the pills.
[00:39:46.320 --> 00:39:49.360] Yeah, the pills, because it's then all of it's a complete solution, then.
[00:39:49.360 --> 00:39:50.400] Complete solution, yeah.
[00:39:50.400 --> 00:39:56.000] So I haven't responded to that yet because I ran out of time today, but I will be getting back to them and I'll see how long I can keep them on the hook for.
[00:39:56.000 --> 00:40:17.440] But obviously, if selling unlabeled bottles of unknown pills in unstated quantities sounds too much like hard work, you could head over to their Defend You Institute, Defend Capital U Institute, legally distinct from a university, where they sell access to a range of online courses at $50 a pop, designed to tell you everything you need to know.
[00:40:17.440 --> 00:40:41.960] Their courses promise to cover the fundamental concept of the human body as an electrochemical system vulnerable to external interference, and how attackers read your thoughts, alter your emotions, and control your mental state, and how to protect yourself, and also who the attackers are, why they do what they do, and how to stay grounded when under physical, sexual, psychological, and social assault, and so on and so on.
[00:40:41.960 --> 00:40:46.840] And ordinarily, I'd be interested to find out what's in these courses, but the answer is obvious.
[00:40:46.840 --> 00:40:53.480] It's just generic AI slop spewed out in the quickest time possible in order to make $50 a pop and not give a shit.
[00:40:53.480 --> 00:40:55.320] From potentially very vulnerable people.
[00:40:55.320 --> 00:40:59.960] From not just potentially, from specific, like targeted to be.
[00:40:59.960 --> 00:41:03.960] Like you are micro-targeted your market towards that particular niche.
[00:41:03.960 --> 00:41:04.840] So that's what we have here.
[00:41:04.840 --> 00:41:23.480] We have another scam company that's using AI to power their exploitation business, where they find products online that are already pseudoscientific and then whack their own label on them and sell them with extreme product claims, often from places where they're beyond the regulatory jurisdiction of the target company, or the target country, rather.
[00:41:23.800 --> 00:41:25.400] Do you think these products exist?
[00:41:25.400 --> 00:41:27.640] Some of these clearly don't exist.
[00:41:27.640 --> 00:41:31.640] I think they exist, but only in the sense that it's a dropship device.
[00:41:31.640 --> 00:41:33.400] You know, one of them is an anti-snoring device.
[00:41:33.400 --> 00:41:41.160] The others will be some bullshit plastic EMF meter, like EMF protection device, or even the fake products.
[00:41:41.640 --> 00:41:43.640] What's going to turn up when you order the pills?
[00:41:43.640 --> 00:41:46.680] Honestly, I think you'd get a bottle of pills, and I think it would just be the generic.
[00:41:47.000 --> 00:41:48.280] Somebody else's branding on it.
[00:41:48.280 --> 00:41:50.120] No, they'll be able to label it, I imagine.
[00:41:50.120 --> 00:41:51.320] They'll be able to whack a label on it.
[00:41:51.960 --> 00:41:58.120] If they're selling it for 150 quid, they'll get some just generic empty pills, your binder, your filler, basically.
[00:41:58.120 --> 00:42:00.040] And then they'll just stick a sticker on it.
[00:42:00.120 --> 00:42:01.960] It won't look anything like the picture, but it...
[00:42:01.960 --> 00:42:02.280] Yeah.
[00:42:02.280 --> 00:42:04.760] I mean, it may even be an unlabeled bottle.
[00:42:04.760 --> 00:42:07.080] I'm not spending $150, $50 to find out.
[00:42:07.080 --> 00:42:13.400] But yeah, I think the things will probably exist because the thing is, not fulfilling the order is fraud.
[00:42:13.400 --> 00:42:20.560] Selling a thing that doesn't do what it says is a different type of fraud and far less likely to get caught for, especially with the people that you're targeting.
[00:42:20.880 --> 00:42:27.760] So, yeah, in this case, as I say, they're making an active decision to target people worried about mobile phones and Wi-Fi.
[00:42:27.760 --> 00:42:31.440] Well, it's not just enough to be targeting people who are worried about mobile phones and Wi-Fi.
[00:42:31.440 --> 00:42:39.600] There's a far more lucrative market in playing into people in mental health crises and paranoid fears and saying, yeah, they are out to get you.
[00:42:39.600 --> 00:42:46.800] And the way to escape their evil schemes is to wash in our woo soap and wear our woo clothing and swallow our woo pills.
[00:42:46.800 --> 00:42:51.840] I have no idea how many people, if anyone, have ordered newer locked products.
[00:42:51.840 --> 00:43:01.360] But if you look around Reddit, you can get to the gang stalking subreddit or the targeted individual subreddit, which is for people who are genuinely scared of this type of stuff.
[00:43:01.360 --> 00:43:08.640] And there are worried Redditors posting these products ads onto those subreddits asking if this is the solution to their fears.
[00:43:08.640 --> 00:43:12.800] And thankfully, some other users are pointing out that this is a scam.
[00:43:12.800 --> 00:43:23.040] But that's not exactly reassuring because it relies on people who visit the government are targeting me with energy weapons subreddit to be able to see through misleading claims.
[00:43:23.040 --> 00:43:35.120] We talk a lot about the responsibility of platforms like Facebook and Twitter to ensure they're not pushing harmful scams at their users and getting paid by in the process of doing so.
[00:43:35.120 --> 00:43:39.280] But Reddit is totally getting a pass on this for some reason.
[00:43:39.280 --> 00:43:41.360] I don't even know what reason.
[00:43:41.360 --> 00:43:48.160] But this is as harmful and as clearly bullshit as any advert I've ever seen online.
[00:43:48.160 --> 00:43:52.480] And Reddit don't even have a way of reporting this properly.
[00:43:52.800 --> 00:43:57.840] They have to do far better because they are leading people into incredibly dangerous positions.
[00:44:01.720 --> 00:44:04.120] Have you seen this new thing they're doing at McDonald's?
[00:44:04.120 --> 00:44:05.320] No, I don't go to McDonald's.
[00:44:05.880 --> 00:44:07.160] They're out on all the ads at the moment.
[00:44:07.160 --> 00:44:09.000] They call it a dirty sprite.
[00:44:09.000 --> 00:44:09.480] What?
[00:44:09.480 --> 00:44:10.360] A dirty sprite.
[00:44:10.440 --> 00:44:11.240] I haven't seen this.
[00:44:11.240 --> 00:44:12.920] There's a new thing they're doing at McDonald's.
[00:44:12.920 --> 00:44:13.880] So it's a sprite.
[00:44:13.880 --> 00:44:17.240] Why can they do a dirty sprite and they don't do my still phanta anymore?
[00:44:17.240 --> 00:44:18.680] I used to love Stilphanta film.
[00:44:18.920 --> 00:44:20.440] I used to like Stilphanta as well.
[00:44:20.440 --> 00:44:21.480] Do you do it anymore?
[00:44:21.480 --> 00:44:22.040] No.
[00:44:22.040 --> 00:44:23.320] But they do a dirty sprite.
[00:44:23.320 --> 00:44:24.280] But they do a dirty sprite.
[00:44:24.520 --> 00:44:25.800] I don't like a dirty sprite.
[00:44:25.800 --> 00:44:31.800] So a dirty sprite is they fill a cup with sprite, but then they put a shot of flavour in the top.
[00:44:31.800 --> 00:44:32.680] What flavour?
[00:44:32.680 --> 00:44:33.640] So they do two flavors.
[00:44:33.640 --> 00:44:37.160] They do green apple and they do mango and passion fruit.
[00:44:37.160 --> 00:44:44.200] I think it would only count as a dirty sprite if you put a shot of brine from a jar of olives in.
[00:44:44.520 --> 00:44:46.360] Is that how you would dirty your sprite?
[00:44:46.360 --> 00:44:47.080] It's how you dirty your sprite.
[00:44:47.240 --> 00:44:48.120] Because I've got a dirty sprite.
[00:44:48.200 --> 00:44:49.240] A dirty martini is.
[00:44:49.240 --> 00:44:49.400] Yeah.
[00:44:49.800 --> 00:44:55.400] I'm just going to point out the more you say dirty sprite, the more one of our listeners is getting an idea for their Comic-Con.
[00:44:59.480 --> 00:45:00.440] That's already been done.
[00:45:00.440 --> 00:45:01.320] Yeah, it has, yeah.
[00:45:01.320 --> 00:45:05.480] There's the other thing that they do is they do a, and they don't sell this in McDonald's.
[00:45:05.480 --> 00:45:11.000] You get people passing around this idea of what you do is you go into McDonald's and you get a vanilla milkshake and then you get a shot of espresso.
[00:45:11.320 --> 00:45:17.400] And then you pour the espresso into the milkshake and then you've got a kind of iced mocha frappuccino kind of thing.
[00:45:17.400 --> 00:45:22.440] And people were doing this with the sprites as they were going and they were ordering a sprite but then putting a shot of juice in.
[00:45:22.440 --> 00:45:28.440] And McDonald's noticed that people were doing this on social media and they've started selling it in the shops.
[00:45:28.440 --> 00:45:31.880] And on the ads they've got just like a soda and lime.
[00:45:31.880 --> 00:45:32.200] Yep.
[00:45:32.200 --> 00:45:32.440] Yeah.
[00:45:32.920 --> 00:45:34.840] People have been doing that for decades.
[00:45:34.840 --> 00:45:47.200] In the ads that they've got, which are on bus stops at the moment, you've got this beautiful crystal clear, like kind of cup that's filled with sprite, and then this kind of bright green stripe at the top floating on top of the ice.
[00:45:44.920 --> 00:45:51.440] Yeah, of kind of you know, it's the dirty sprite, and you can get it now, you know, new at McDonald's, the end of the day.
[00:45:51.520 --> 00:45:56.080] But you don't want the background, you don't want it floating on top of the ice because you're not going to taste it.
[00:45:56.080 --> 00:46:00.240] You're going to want to mix that in, otherwise, you're just getting a lemonade and then a pure shot of flavouring.
[00:46:00.480 --> 00:46:01.920] You get to mix that in yourself, then, don't you?
[00:46:02.320 --> 00:46:04.640] You know, you get to mix it like salt and shake crisps.
[00:46:05.120 --> 00:46:06.640] Are they going to pay me to do that?
[00:46:06.960 --> 00:46:08.320] Unbelievable.
[00:46:08.640 --> 00:46:13.440] So, I went to McDonald's the other day, and Lana said, Can I try a dirty sprite?
[00:46:13.600 --> 00:46:15.520] Of course, she did, because Lana loves to try those things.
[00:46:15.920 --> 00:46:16.960] All right, I'll get you a fruit.
[00:46:17.360 --> 00:46:18.080] What flavour?
[00:46:18.880 --> 00:46:23.200] Sorry, I think I cut you off, or I stopped listening when you said the flavours because I was thinking too much about that.
[00:46:23.360 --> 00:46:24.480] Mango and passion fruit and green apple.
[00:46:25.440 --> 00:46:27.520] Okay, I got the green apple.
[00:46:27.520 --> 00:46:30.560] And I said, Well, so what genre of dirty sprite do you want?
[00:46:30.560 --> 00:46:31.840] She said, I want the mango and passion fruit.
[00:46:31.920 --> 00:46:32.720] She said, Okay, fair enough.
[00:46:32.720 --> 00:46:35.600] So I went off and we got the dirty sprite, and I brought it back.
[00:46:35.600 --> 00:46:38.960] And what came back did not look like the ads from the bus stop.
[00:46:38.960 --> 00:46:44.080] No, where it was crystal clear and then had a nice luminous green stripe at the top.
[00:46:44.080 --> 00:46:45.040] Because it was from McDonald's.
[00:46:45.040 --> 00:46:49.680] Nothing you've ever bought from McDonald's has resembled anything you've ever seen in the adverts from McDonald's.
[00:46:49.680 --> 00:46:52.400] I'm guessing it looked more like an orange soda and lime.
[00:46:52.400 --> 00:46:54.560] It looked like an orange soda and lime is what it looked like.
[00:46:54.560 --> 00:46:54.640] Yeah.
[00:46:54.800 --> 00:46:56.000] There's mango and passion fruit in it.
[00:46:56.160 --> 00:47:01.920] You bought a Big Mac and it wasn't eight inches tall and made out of pure beef.
[00:47:02.560 --> 00:47:08.880] And it was weird because we tasted this thing and it somehow had less flavor than an actual sprite.
[00:47:09.200 --> 00:47:10.240] Somehow the you could.
[00:47:10.400 --> 00:47:12.240] It's like counteracted to the lemon and lime.
[00:47:12.240 --> 00:47:13.760] Is lemon and lime sprite?
[00:47:13.760 --> 00:47:14.560] Yes, it is, yeah.
[00:47:14.560 --> 00:47:15.040] Yeah.
[00:47:15.040 --> 00:47:17.640] You couldn't taste the mango and passion fruit in it all.
[00:47:17.760 --> 00:47:19.600] You could smell it, but it didn't affect it.
[00:47:19.560 --> 00:47:20.800] It was on the surface.
[00:47:20.800 --> 00:47:22.120] It didn't affect the flavour of it.
[00:47:22.000 --> 00:47:23.320] It was a reverse air up.
[00:47:23.720 --> 00:47:25.200] It was, it is like an air up.
[00:47:25.200 --> 00:47:26.240] It was weird.
[00:47:26.240 --> 00:47:27.680] It was so fucking weird.
[00:47:28.720 --> 00:47:31.640] Lana kind of said, the more I drink this, the less it tastes.
[00:47:32.680 --> 00:47:33.400] You know what?
[00:47:33.400 --> 00:47:37.800] I'm just going to go get myself a can of pop because that's fucking awful.
[00:47:38.120 --> 00:47:41.320] So, listeners, don't get into this sprite.
[00:47:41.720 --> 00:47:43.400] Fucking waste of time.
[00:47:47.560 --> 00:47:49.240] So, updates for QED.
[00:47:49.240 --> 00:47:55.720] The updates are coming in thick and fast now, and we've got an announcement for a new panel, which is a panel that you're running, Alice.
[00:47:55.720 --> 00:47:56.040] I am.
[00:47:56.040 --> 00:48:23.880] It's a panel that I haven't named yet, but we're colloquially calling it the Christian Nationalism Panel because, as we've talked about lots on the show, there's lots of things happening in the world at the minute that are bringing in lots of undercurrents of conservatism and Christian ideology into social media, into women's spaces in particular, into we've obviously seen it historically through the anti-abortion movement, and we're seeing some of that being really funneled through.
[00:48:23.880 --> 00:48:32.120] You've done some work, Marsh, on the really underhanded funding through the Alliance Defending Freedom and Christian Legal Centre and those types of things.
[00:48:32.120 --> 00:48:33.080] Yeah, absolutely.
[00:48:33.080 --> 00:48:35.720] So, we decided we'd do a panel on that sort of topic.
[00:48:35.720 --> 00:48:38.200] And we've got some great panelists on that panel.
[00:48:38.200 --> 00:48:43.080] We've got No Illusions, who is going to be talking about kind of that American Christian nationalism view.
[00:48:43.320 --> 00:48:44.280] He's one of the great panelists.
[00:48:44.280 --> 00:48:44.920] He's one of the great panelists.
[00:48:45.560 --> 00:48:47.480] We've got some great panelists and No Illusions.
[00:48:48.280 --> 00:48:49.400] That was how that came about.
[00:48:49.560 --> 00:48:50.920] This is the first one I'm naming.
[00:48:50.920 --> 00:48:51.320] Right.
[00:48:51.320 --> 00:48:57.880] And we've also got Andrew Copson from Educationists, who's going to be adding to that panel.
[00:48:57.880 --> 00:49:01.000] And then we've got Sean Norris, who we've also announced as a main stage speaker.
[00:49:01.000 --> 00:49:04.680] So she's going to be bringing that kind of feminist perspective to it as well.
[00:49:04.680 --> 00:49:10.600] She wrote a great book called Bodies Under Siege about exactly this sort of topic and movement.
[00:49:10.600 --> 00:49:12.840] So, I think it's going to be a really interesting panel.
[00:49:12.840 --> 00:49:13.720] I'm looking forward to it.
[00:49:13.720 --> 00:49:15.200] Yeah, that should be a good one.
[00:49:15.200 --> 00:49:18.080] We also, Mike, you're going to be hosting a true crime panel.
[00:49:18.080 --> 00:49:19.920] I am going to be doing a panel on true crime.
[00:49:19.920 --> 00:49:22.080] It's a panel called The Problem with True Crime.
[00:49:14.760 --> 00:49:22.240] Yeah.
[00:49:22.560 --> 00:49:24.960] So, true crime's obviously a huge thing, right?
[00:49:24.960 --> 00:49:29.280] It's a big, there's some of the biggest podcasts in the world now are true crime podcasts.
[00:49:29.440 --> 00:49:31.280] Obviously, Serial was massive back in the day.
[00:49:31.600 --> 00:49:33.760] Serial really started kicked all that off.
[00:49:34.000 --> 00:49:35.840] That really, that really kicked that off.
[00:49:35.840 --> 00:49:40.160] But in the social media age, true crime is kind of getting out of hand.
[00:49:40.160 --> 00:49:53.680] You see true crime fans turning up at crime scenes and interfering with crime scenes and interfering with investigations and starting conspiracy theories about, well, we think the investigation has got it wrong and they're covering it up and they've hidden the body and they've moved the body.
[00:49:53.680 --> 00:49:55.840] But even now, like it's really interesting.
[00:49:55.840 --> 00:50:12.160] I've been listening to some kind of trial stuff recently trying to get to grips with how trials work in different countries and influencers turning up to record videos outside of trials because there's such an obsession with crime just in general that there's a market for doing that.
[00:50:12.160 --> 00:50:22.000] And then, and even that, especially in the UK, that comes into other issues around if you're a journalist, you have a responsibility not to be essentially interfering with the process of the trial.
[00:50:22.000 --> 00:50:28.160] So there are reporting restrictions that you have to abide by and not filming the jury and things like that.
[00:50:28.160 --> 00:50:40.800] And then you have someone like Tommy Robinson would turn up and he would argue that that's proof that they're trying to protect the paedophiles because only I'm the only journalist willing to cover this when actually in reality you're the only one willing to break laws ethics.
[00:50:40.800 --> 00:50:41.440] You kind of have that.
[00:50:41.440 --> 00:50:43.200] I mean, it's not quite in the same kind of area.
[00:50:43.200 --> 00:50:53.520] The other thing I think is interesting with true crime stuff that I think is a fascinating development is that it's, I can understand when it was the ghoulish kind of macabre, oh 

Prompt 2: Key Takeaways

Now please extract the key takeaways from the transcript content I provided.

Extract the most important key takeaways from this part of the conversation. Use a single sentence statement (the key takeaway) rather than milquetoast descriptions like "the hosts discuss...". 

Limit the key takeaways to a maximum of 3. The key takeaways should be insightful and knowledge-additive. 

IMPORTANT: Return ONLY valid JSON, no explanations or markdown. Ensure:
- All strings are properly quoted and escaped
- No trailing commas
- All braces and brackets are balanced
Format: {"key_takeaways": ["takeaway 1", "takeaway 2"]}

Prompt 3: Segments

Now identify 2-4 distinct topical segments from this part of the conversation.

For each segment, identify:
- Descriptive title (3-6 words)  
- START timestamp when this topic begins (HH:MM:SS format)
- Double check that the timestamp is accurate - a timestamp will NEVER be greater than the total length of the audio
- Most important Key takeaway from that segment. Key takeaway must be specific and knowledge-additive.
- Brief summary of the discussion

IMPORTANT: The timestamp should mark when the topic/segment STARTS, not a range. Look for topic transitions and conversation shifts.

Return ONLY valid JSON. Ensure all strings are properly quoted, no trailing commas:
{
  "segments": [
    {
      "segment_title": "Topic Discussion", 
      "timestamp": "01:15:30",
      "key_takeaway": "main point from this segment",
      "segment_summary": "brief description of what was discussed"
    }
  ]
}

Timestamp format: HH:MM:SS (e.g., 00:05:30, 01:22:45) marking the START of each segment.

Prompt 4: Media Mentions

Now scan the transcript content I provided for ACTUAL mentions of specific media titles:

Find explicit mentions of:
- Books (with specific titles)
- Movies (with specific titles)  
- TV Shows (with specific titles)
- Music/Songs (with specific titles)

DO NOT include:
- Websites, URLs, or web services
- Other podcasts or podcast names

IMPORTANT: 
- Only include items explicitly mentioned by name. Do not invent titles.
- Valid categories are: "Book", "Movie", "TV Show", "Music"
- Include the exact phrase where each item was mentioned
- Find the nearest proximate timestamp where it appears in the conversation
- THE TIMESTAMP OF THE MEDIA MENTION IS IMPORTANT - DO NOT INVENT TIMESTAMPS AND DO NOT MISATTRIBUTE TIMESTAMPS
- Double check that the timestamp is accurate - a timestamp will NEVER be greater than the total length of the audio
- Timestamps are given as ranges, e.g. 01:13:42.520 --> 01:13:46.720. Use the EARLIER of the 2 timestamps in the range.

Return ONLY valid JSON. Ensure all strings are properly quoted and escaped, no trailing commas:
{
  "media_mentions": [
    {
      "title": "Exact Title as Mentioned",
      "category": "Book",
      "author_artist": "N/A",
      "context": "Brief context of why it was mentioned",
      "context_phrase": "The exact sentence or phrase where it was mentioned",
      "timestamp": "estimated time like 01:15:30"
    }
  ]
}

If no media is mentioned, return: {"media_mentions": []}

Prompt 5: Context Setup

You are an expert data extractor tasked with analyzing a podcast transcript. 
I will provide you with part 2 of 2 from a podcast transcript. 
I will then ask you to extract different types of information from this content in subsequent messages. Please confirm you have received and understood the transcript content.

Transcript section:
[00:49:31.600 --> 00:49:33.760] Serial really started kicked all that off.
[00:49:34.000 --> 00:49:35.840] That really, that really kicked that off.
[00:49:35.840 --> 00:49:40.160] But in the social media age, true crime is kind of getting out of hand.
[00:49:40.160 --> 00:49:53.680] You see true crime fans turning up at crime scenes and interfering with crime scenes and interfering with investigations and starting conspiracy theories about, well, we think the investigation has got it wrong and they're covering it up and they've hidden the body and they've moved the body.
[00:49:53.680 --> 00:49:55.840] But even now, like it's really interesting.
[00:49:55.840 --> 00:50:12.160] I've been listening to some kind of trial stuff recently trying to get to grips with how trials work in different countries and influencers turning up to record videos outside of trials because there's such an obsession with crime just in general that there's a market for doing that.
[00:50:12.160 --> 00:50:22.000] And then, and even that, especially in the UK, that comes into other issues around if you're a journalist, you have a responsibility not to be essentially interfering with the process of the trial.
[00:50:22.000 --> 00:50:28.160] So there are reporting restrictions that you have to abide by and not filming the jury and things like that.
[00:50:28.160 --> 00:50:40.800] And then you have someone like Tommy Robinson would turn up and he would argue that that's proof that they're trying to protect the paedophiles because only I'm the only journalist willing to cover this when actually in reality you're the only one willing to break laws ethics.
[00:50:40.800 --> 00:50:41.440] You kind of have that.
[00:50:41.440 --> 00:50:43.200] I mean, it's not quite in the same kind of area.
[00:50:43.200 --> 00:50:53.520] The other thing I think is interesting with true crime stuff that I think is a fascinating development is that it's, I can understand when it was the ghoulish kind of macabre, oh god, isn't that awful?
[00:50:53.520 --> 00:50:56.240] Oh, you know, the scandal sheets type thing.
[00:50:56.240 --> 00:51:02.360] But it's like the modern true crime is almost kind of light entertainment, it's almost causy.
[00:50:59.520 --> 00:51:06.600] Yeah, you know, it's the only murderers in the building of like, oh, we're going to investigate it ourselves.
[00:51:06.760 --> 00:51:16.920] And obviously, that's a fictionalized version of things, but it feels like there are people who treat true crime as so which horrible murder are we going to be talking about over a glass of beer or a glass of wine this week.
[00:51:16.920 --> 00:51:19.560] And it just plays it off incredibly lightly.
[00:51:19.560 --> 00:51:19.960] Yeah.
[00:51:19.960 --> 00:51:22.760] Soft seekers, true crime, it means an awful lot to an awful lot of people.
[00:51:22.760 --> 00:51:27.240] A lot of people find a lot of pleasure and enjoyment out of it, but there are places where it gets out of hand.
[00:51:27.240 --> 00:51:31.080] And those are some of the things that we're going to be exploring at QED.
[00:51:31.080 --> 00:51:36.920] And so our panelists for that are going to be Icy Sedgwick, who is a folklorist.
[00:51:36.920 --> 00:51:41.240] She does a podcast called Fabulous Folklore and a fan of this kind of stuff.
[00:51:41.240 --> 00:51:43.880] She knows her onions on this kind of stuff, which is really good.
[00:51:43.880 --> 00:51:49.640] We will also have LaChia Osbourne Crowley, who I think this is one of her research interests.
[00:51:49.640 --> 00:51:52.280] Yes, she was incredibly excited by the idea of the panel.
[00:51:52.280 --> 00:51:53.560] She was like, sounds brilliant.
[00:51:53.560 --> 00:51:55.640] I'm very passionate about all of this stuff.
[00:51:55.960 --> 00:51:57.160] Yeah, it's perfect.
[00:51:57.160 --> 00:52:05.400] And Stella Gaynor, as well, who is from Liverpool John Moore's University, where she teaches film and media and horror and history and that.
[00:52:05.480 --> 00:52:13.480] And specifically, her current research project is called Murder Media, and it's all about murder and serial killers and how those stories are spread across the media at the moment.
[00:52:13.480 --> 00:52:15.000] So yeah, it's absolutely perfect.
[00:52:15.000 --> 00:52:20.440] And I'm going to have an awkward time on that panel if they don't agree with me thinking that this is a problem.
[00:52:21.400 --> 00:52:31.400] But also, you know, there are a lot of people who do like it, and there are people who would say that the critiques of true crime are heavily gendered because it is a genre that lends itself to more female audience.
[00:52:31.360 --> 00:52:38.360] And so, and so is some of the critique of the true crime genre just misogyny and sexism kind of tie like wrapping up in a different board?
[00:52:38.520 --> 00:52:54.560] And I'm really interested to hear Lucia's perspective on it because in her book about the Gillette Maxwell trial, she talked about wanting to bear witness for the victims, which is a perspective I haven't really heard in relation to true crime before, even though I can imagine that is a motivation for some people who are involved in it.
[00:52:54.560 --> 00:52:57.360] And that'll be an interesting perspective to hear, I think.
[00:52:57.680 --> 00:53:01.600] So you can see that at QED if you have your QED ticket, we will see you there.
[00:53:01.600 --> 00:53:03.200] That's going to be a fantastic time.
[00:53:03.200 --> 00:53:07.600] If you haven't got your QED ticket, we should be putting this panel out on the live stream.
[00:53:07.840 --> 00:53:09.280] There's no reason why we're not going to.
[00:53:09.280 --> 00:53:14.800] So if you don't have your streaming ticket and you're not coming to QED, you can acquire one at QEDcon.org.
[00:53:14.800 --> 00:53:20.320] They are £49, and that gets you access to the live stream of the main stage, the panel room, and the podcast.
[00:53:21.360 --> 00:53:23.680] Aside from that, then I think that's all we have time for.
[00:53:23.680 --> 00:53:24.240] I think it is.
[00:53:24.240 --> 00:53:26.640] All that remains then is to thank Marsh for coming on today.
[00:53:26.640 --> 00:53:27.120] Cheers.
[00:53:27.120 --> 00:53:28.000] Thank you to Alice.
[00:53:28.000 --> 00:53:28.560] Thank you.
[00:53:28.560 --> 00:53:31.280] We have been Skeptics with a K, and we will see you next time.
[00:53:31.280 --> 00:53:31.920] Bye now.
[00:53:31.920 --> 00:53:32.880] Bye.
[00:53:37.680 --> 00:53:42.720] Skeptics with a K is produced by Skeptic Media in association with the Merseyside Skeptic Society.
[00:53:42.720 --> 00:53:52.080] For questions or comments, email podcast at skepticswithakay.org and you can find out more about Merseyside Skeptics at merseyside skeptics.org.uk.
[00:54:01.680 --> 00:54:04.400] I might as well show you the AI lady.
[00:54:05.040 --> 00:54:08.240] Newenock.com, not doctor.clom.
[00:54:08.240 --> 00:54:09.760] I accidentally put an L in there.
[00:54:09.760 --> 00:54:11.840] Clom's a planet in Doctor Who?
[00:54:11.840 --> 00:54:14.320] Well, that's probably what I was referring to.
[00:54:15.520 --> 00:54:18.880] It's the twin planet at Rexicorica Falpatorius.
[00:54:19.840 --> 00:54:21.280] So I'll do it again.
[00:54:21.280 --> 00:54:25.840] So it's where PTK lives.

Prompt 6: Key Takeaways

Now please extract the key takeaways from the transcript content I provided.

Extract the most important key takeaways from this part of the conversation. Use a single sentence statement (the key takeaway) rather than milquetoast descriptions like "the hosts discuss...". 

Limit the key takeaways to a maximum of 3. The key takeaways should be insightful and knowledge-additive. 

IMPORTANT: Return ONLY valid JSON, no explanations or markdown. Ensure:
- All strings are properly quoted and escaped
- No trailing commas
- All braces and brackets are balanced
Format: {"key_takeaways": ["takeaway 1", "takeaway 2"]}

Prompt 7: Segments

Now identify 2-4 distinct topical segments from this part of the conversation.

For each segment, identify:
- Descriptive title (3-6 words)  
- START timestamp when this topic begins (HH:MM:SS format)
- Double check that the timestamp is accurate - a timestamp will NEVER be greater than the total length of the audio
- Most important Key takeaway from that segment. Key takeaway must be specific and knowledge-additive.
- Brief summary of the discussion

IMPORTANT: The timestamp should mark when the topic/segment STARTS, not a range. Look for topic transitions and conversation shifts.

Return ONLY valid JSON. Ensure all strings are properly quoted, no trailing commas:
{
  "segments": [
    {
      "segment_title": "Topic Discussion", 
      "timestamp": "01:15:30",
      "key_takeaway": "main point from this segment",
      "segment_summary": "brief description of what was discussed"
    }
  ]
}

Timestamp format: HH:MM:SS (e.g., 00:05:30, 01:22:45) marking the START of each segment.

Prompt 8: Media Mentions

Now scan the transcript content I provided for ACTUAL mentions of specific media titles:

Find explicit mentions of:
- Books (with specific titles)
- Movies (with specific titles)  
- TV Shows (with specific titles)
- Music/Songs (with specific titles)

DO NOT include:
- Websites, URLs, or web services
- Other podcasts or podcast names

IMPORTANT: 
- Only include items explicitly mentioned by name. Do not invent titles.
- Valid categories are: "Book", "Movie", "TV Show", "Music"
- Include the exact phrase where each item was mentioned
- Find the nearest proximate timestamp where it appears in the conversation
- THE TIMESTAMP OF THE MEDIA MENTION IS IMPORTANT - DO NOT INVENT TIMESTAMPS AND DO NOT MISATTRIBUTE TIMESTAMPS
- Double check that the timestamp is accurate - a timestamp will NEVER be greater than the total length of the audio
- Timestamps are given as ranges, e.g. 01:13:42.520 --> 01:13:46.720. Use the EARLIER of the 2 timestamps in the range.

Return ONLY valid JSON. Ensure all strings are properly quoted and escaped, no trailing commas:
{
  "media_mentions": [
    {
      "title": "Exact Title as Mentioned",
      "category": "Book",
      "author_artist": "N/A",
      "context": "Brief context of why it was mentioned",
      "context_phrase": "The exact sentence or phrase where it was mentioned",
      "timestamp": "estimated time like 01:15:30"
    }
  ]
}

If no media is mentioned, return: {"media_mentions": []}

Full Transcript

[00:00:06.880 --> 00:00:15.200] It is Thursday, the 4th of September, 2025, and you're listening to Skeptics with a K, the podcast for science, reason, and critical thinking.
[00:00:15.200 --> 00:00:26.560] Skeptics with a K is produced by Skeptic Media in association with the Merseyside Skeptic Society, a non-profit organization for the promotion of scientific skepticism on Merseyside around the UK and internationally.
[00:00:26.560 --> 00:00:27.760] I'm your host, Mike Hall.
[00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:29.040] With me today is Marsh.
[00:00:29.040 --> 00:00:30.560] Hello, and Alice.
[00:00:30.560 --> 00:00:31.120] Hello.
[00:00:31.440 --> 00:00:37.520] A lot of my inspirations for where I'm finding stories of late come from ads that I've seen on Facebook.
[00:00:37.680 --> 00:00:39.760] And as sources go, that's not ideal.
[00:00:39.760 --> 00:00:41.680] Partly because it means I'm fucking using Facebook.
[00:00:41.680 --> 00:00:42.800] And I try not to use Facebook.
[00:00:42.800 --> 00:00:48.000] The only time I ever really use Facebook is to share this show when this show gets published.
[00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:51.680] And also to share the daily articles that we put up from the Skeptic magazine.
[00:00:51.680 --> 00:00:58.640] So if you can all, so people, I'm sure, should be aware that every single day of the week, pretty much, we put up a new story in the morning from the Skeptic Magazine.
[00:00:58.640 --> 00:01:02.560] And on a Friday, we even have a podcast that I don't think we've ever mentioned the podcast.
[00:01:02.560 --> 00:01:03.680] Maybe we have once or twice.
[00:01:03.680 --> 00:01:11.520] But it's like a digest of, maybe I mentioned the last couple of shows, but yeah, Friday digest of various shows from the skeptic magazine.
[00:01:11.520 --> 00:01:13.280] And so I go into Facebook to see it.
[00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:19.360] But it's also not ideal because it means I only see the woo ads that Facebook has decided that I want to see.
[00:01:19.600 --> 00:01:20.640] The ones that it thinks.
[00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:24.240] Because much like me, they've seen your profile and think you're a woo.
[00:01:24.240 --> 00:01:25.280] That's exactly what happens.
[00:01:25.520 --> 00:01:27.680] But a specific type of woo, that's the problem.
[00:01:27.680 --> 00:01:28.160] Okay.
[00:01:28.160 --> 00:01:34.080] Because the more time that I spend clicking on, for example, a lion's main mushroom ad from British Supplements.
[00:01:34.240 --> 00:01:35.600] You're feeding that algorithm.
[00:01:35.600 --> 00:01:35.920] Exactly.
[00:01:35.920 --> 00:01:43.040] Or like supplements from Lygnosis that claim they can cure COPD, the more Facebook will think, ah, those are the ads that you like to see.
[00:01:43.280 --> 00:01:44.160] I'll keep giving you that.
[00:01:44.160 --> 00:01:47.200] So now I see Lygnosis ads all the bloody time in there.
[00:01:47.200 --> 00:01:48.880] And yeah, I do want to see them.
[00:01:48.880 --> 00:01:53.200] But I also want to see a broader range of the dodgy products and services that are being advertised on Facebook.
[00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:53.840] Thank you very much.
[00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:57.760] I don't want to just start going down a supplement pathway.
[00:01:57.760 --> 00:02:00.920] Not least because Alice will accuse me of muscling in on her tongue.
[00:02:02.280 --> 00:02:14.040] And of course, you know, there's a limit to how much I can train Facebook to even show me the bullshit that I want to see, because it's got information on who I am, and it's got assumptions on who it thinks I am.
[00:02:14.040 --> 00:02:23.480] And as a result, the sort of bullshit that it's going to send my way is going to be massively skewed by whatever picture it already has, regardless of what clicking that I'm going to do.
[00:02:23.480 --> 00:02:27.240] I'm not going to see the products that are promising to make my periods pain-free.
[00:02:28.600 --> 00:02:29.880] They're very unlikely to show me that.
[00:02:29.880 --> 00:02:35.480] Well, no, exactly, as we talked about a couple of shows ago when I was talking about the new device that I'm testing out.
[00:02:35.480 --> 00:02:40.280] I see nothing but ads for that, but everybody I speak to has never even heard of it.
[00:02:40.360 --> 00:02:41.080] I've never seen them.
[00:02:41.080 --> 00:02:47.800] Similarly, I'm not going to get the products that are promising to ease my menopause symptoms or to potty train my kids with ease.
[00:02:47.800 --> 00:02:53.000] Facebook kind of has me in a box and it's only going to show me ads that are at least adjacent to that box.
[00:02:53.240 --> 00:02:56.520] Not actually necessarily in the box, but certainly adjacent to the box.
[00:02:56.520 --> 00:03:00.920] And that's fine, because I'm clearly not struggling to find things on Facebook to talk about.
[00:03:00.920 --> 00:03:14.600] But I also don't want the content of this show to be too heavily dictated by what Mark Zuckerberg has taken money to be willing to advertise in order to sell to the someone they think I am.
[00:03:14.600 --> 00:03:17.880] So this week I thought I'd go a bit further afield and switch out the platforms.
[00:03:17.880 --> 00:03:21.000] Facebook isn't the only dodgy advertising platform in town.
[00:03:21.000 --> 00:03:21.880] It's true.
[00:03:21.880 --> 00:03:28.840] I've been spending more time on Reddit lately because I publish articles from the skeptic magazine to the Reddit every single day as well.
[00:03:28.840 --> 00:03:32.920] So if you see, go to r slash skeptic, you'll see articles from the magazine there.
[00:03:32.920 --> 00:03:39.080] And whenever I do that, I frequently see the adverts that Reddit thinks are fitting for whoever it thinks I am.
[00:03:39.240 --> 00:03:42.800] I assume they're just as algorithmically determined in some kind of way.
[00:03:42.600 --> 00:03:43.120] Yeah.
[00:03:43.400 --> 00:03:52.720] And so last week, while I was lightly browsing Reddit, having posted the article to the skeptic subreddit and then having a look around in there, I came across neuralocked.com.
[00:03:52.720 --> 00:03:53.840] Neurolocked.
[00:03:53.840 --> 00:03:55.200] Neuralocked.com.
[00:03:55.200 --> 00:04:03.360] Specifically, I was served an ad from you/neuralocked underscore com because you can't put dots in Reddit usernames, I assume.
[00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:04.000] Yeah.
[00:04:04.320 --> 00:04:10.720] And it was an ad for their quote, unhacked empowered signal shield.
[00:04:11.040 --> 00:04:19.680] And in it, a very suspiciously AI-looking red-haired lady was using the unhacked empowered signal shield.
[00:04:19.680 --> 00:04:20.400] There she is.
[00:04:20.720 --> 00:04:21.920] You guys in the room here.
[00:04:21.920 --> 00:04:26.960] You can see the suspiciously AI-looking lady with her lovely shield there.
[00:04:26.960 --> 00:04:34.080] And you can see that she has strapped to her knee one of those boxes a bit like Alice's armband strap.
[00:04:34.400 --> 00:04:38.720] Except where it's positioned, it's starting to look a lot more like an ankle tag.
[00:04:38.720 --> 00:04:40.320] It does look a lot like an ankle tag.
[00:04:40.320 --> 00:04:48.800] It's kind of so it's higher than the ankle, but like if you pulled your ankle, if you had a stretchy ankle tag and go pull it all the way up, you'd get it that far, maybe.
[00:04:48.800 --> 00:04:51.680] And that might explain why she's looking so flatly at the camera as well.
[00:04:51.680 --> 00:04:53.920] Like absolutely no emotion expression at all.
[00:04:53.920 --> 00:04:58.400] But yeah, she's revealing her need to reveal that she's raising her knee to reveal that she's got a black device that's strapped in place.
[00:04:58.400 --> 00:05:00.720] And the black device has a big black box on it.
[00:05:00.720 --> 00:05:01.040] Exactly.
[00:05:01.120 --> 00:05:06.240] It looks almost exactly like an ankle tag because they have a big black box on them.
[00:05:06.240 --> 00:05:08.400] Yeah, and it is a massive black box.
[00:05:08.400 --> 00:05:08.960] Yeah.
[00:05:08.960 --> 00:05:12.000] And it's got the word unhacked written on the big black box.
[00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:20.280] The other things you'll notice is that she, with her flat and heavily AI-faced, she's got some incoming signals that are coming at her on the adverts and arrows.
[00:05:21.440 --> 00:05:23.360] She does have incoming signals, you're right.
[00:05:23.360 --> 00:05:28.080] Which is a problem because she's always got some outgoing signals as these energy waves emanate from her.
[00:05:28.080 --> 00:05:30.280] You can see lines on the adverts of the energy waves emanating from her.
[00:05:30.440 --> 00:05:32.840] Well, some of them are going round in a circle because there's an arrow going that way.
[00:05:32.840 --> 00:05:33.560] There's arrows on them, yeah.
[00:05:33.720 --> 00:05:37.080] There's an arrow going all the way around to the box on her knee.
[00:05:29.840 --> 00:05:37.240] Okay.
[00:05:37.480 --> 00:05:45.720] So, okay, the signals are coming into her and emanating from her, but they're being soaked up by the knee box to her knee.
[00:05:45.720 --> 00:05:49.960] And that is what's going on with the unhacked box here.
[00:05:50.280 --> 00:05:55.320] And so, and the text on the ad reads: Shield the body, free the mind.
[00:05:55.640 --> 00:06:02.040] This mystery knee strap device, we're told, costs $499.99.
[00:06:02.040 --> 00:06:03.000] Fucking hell.
[00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:05.080] What do you guys think this is?
[00:06:05.400 --> 00:06:10.120] I think you could subscribe to this show on Patreon for a lot less money than that.
[00:06:10.440 --> 00:06:10.920] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:06:11.240 --> 00:06:13.640] 500 months of this show.
[00:06:13.640 --> 00:06:15.720] Or, you know, 100 months if you decide to give us 500.
[00:06:15.880 --> 00:06:17.720] You could give us a five, you could just give us a five.
[00:06:17.800 --> 00:06:19.720] I would say as little as a pound.
[00:06:19.720 --> 00:06:21.080] It's not as most as a pound.
[00:06:21.080 --> 00:06:21.880] No, no, no, no.
[00:06:23.640 --> 00:06:24.600] There isn't an upper limit.
[00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:27.240] In fact, we'd recommend slightly more than a quick, you know.
[00:06:28.600 --> 00:06:31.720] But yeah, so $499 for this knee strap box device.
[00:06:31.720 --> 00:06:32.520] What do you think it's doing?
[00:06:32.520 --> 00:06:33.160] What do you think it is?
[00:06:33.400 --> 00:06:35.480] What genre of woo do you reckon we're in?
[00:06:35.480 --> 00:06:45.160] It reminds me of the stickers you used to put on your mobile phone, Ariel, to absorb the radiation that are coming off your phone, which I fell for in about 1997.
[00:06:45.160 --> 00:06:45.560] Right.
[00:06:45.560 --> 00:06:48.040] And I went out and I bought one and I stuck it on my phone.
[00:06:48.040 --> 00:06:57.800] And then I looked at it, and me and my mate Keith kind of looked at this thing and we said, but if there is radiation, it'll get me from the aerial and they tell you to put this on the speaker.
[00:06:57.960 --> 00:07:00.600] And that doesn't make any sense because there's.
[00:07:00.760 --> 00:07:01.680] So I took it off again.
[00:07:01.560 --> 00:07:01.760] Yeah.
[00:07:01.880 --> 00:07:03.000] I thought it was daft.
[00:07:03.000 --> 00:07:05.640] Yeah, but that's what I would reckon is it's not one of those.
[00:07:05.800 --> 00:07:09.880] So you get plug-in devices now, don't you, to like block signals in your house.
[00:07:09.880 --> 00:07:11.800] So you think this is what I thought as well.
[00:07:11.800 --> 00:07:15.520] I thought this was a pretty standard like electromagnetic frequency shield.
[00:07:14.920 --> 00:07:21.600] The Neurolocked name makes me think it's not that, but I don't know what it would be.
[00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:31.200] Well, what I first thought when you mentioned when you talked about it from the just from the name is I'm getting a lot of advert, and again, this tells you who I am.
[00:07:31.200 --> 00:07:52.640] I'm getting a lot of adverts at the minute about monitoring ADHD, specifically using like specific apps that are supposed to like, there's a big thing at the minute on social media about dopamine addiction and how especially neurodivergent people need to like manage their dopamine addiction.
[00:07:53.120 --> 00:07:55.520] You say that now in a couple of months time you'll have a strap on the other arm.
[00:07:56.080 --> 00:07:57.520] You've already got so many lenses.
[00:08:01.680 --> 00:08:04.800] Do this quiz and we'll tell you like what flavour of ADHD you are basically.
[00:08:04.960 --> 00:08:06.400] What spice girl you are.
[00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:10.480] So yeah, at first I assumed this was just a fairly standard EMF shield.
[00:08:10.480 --> 00:08:16.720] The idea being that those are nasty electronic signals from your mobile phone and your Wi-Fi, they're attacking you all the time.
[00:08:16.720 --> 00:08:17.760] They're making you weak.
[00:08:17.760 --> 00:08:19.360] They're making you unwell.
[00:08:19.360 --> 00:08:25.840] But if you just have the right miracle device, it'll save you from a lifetime of ill health and the hands of this evil radiation.
[00:08:26.080 --> 00:08:33.680] Also, the other thing it could be is we used to get, I don't know if you still get these, you used to get those plug-in boxes that supposedly gave out radio frequency that are scared spiders.
[00:08:33.920 --> 00:08:34.960] Oh, I remember them.
[00:08:34.960 --> 00:08:35.440] Yeah.
[00:08:35.920 --> 00:08:37.120] Maybe it could be one of those.
[00:08:37.120 --> 00:08:37.760] Maybe it could be.
[00:08:37.840 --> 00:08:42.480] I know there's a big thing at the moment where people keep complaining because of the hot weather.
[00:08:42.480 --> 00:08:43.440] I didn't know that was a thing.
[00:08:43.520 --> 00:08:46.400] I've got plug-in things for insects.
[00:08:46.400 --> 00:08:49.040] For when I'm in, like, I get a lot of insect bites.
[00:08:49.040 --> 00:08:50.320] So when I'm abroad, that's a good thing.
[00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:51.920] Might be different from a squeetles and things.
[00:08:52.320 --> 00:08:54.080] It's got fucking liquid in it.
[00:08:54.240 --> 00:08:56.480] It's an odor thing.
[00:08:56.480 --> 00:08:57.200] This was an electromagnetic thing.
[00:08:58.080 --> 00:09:00.440] I think it was a magnet, like it was trying to repel them with a magnet.
[00:09:00.440 --> 00:09:01.400] Yeah, it was bollocks.
[00:09:01.480 --> 00:09:02.200] We did it on the show.
[00:08:59.920 --> 00:09:04.280] Maybe I'll dig my notes out and write it up for the skeptic.
[00:09:04.440 --> 00:09:10.920] But I thought maybe it's one of them because there's a lot of people at the moment complaining about an influx of spiders into the UK with the hot weather.
[00:09:10.920 --> 00:09:12.040] There are a lot of spiders at the minute.
[00:09:12.040 --> 00:09:13.320] I've noticed there in my house.
[00:09:13.320 --> 00:09:18.920] A lot of people talking about how we're getting invaded by poisonous spiders, which I thought, well, don't eat them.
[00:09:18.920 --> 00:09:19.240] Yeah, yeah.
[00:09:20.680 --> 00:09:21.800] Obvious way to do that.
[00:09:22.040 --> 00:09:26.760] But yeah, there's this idea that there's venomous spiders coming into the south coast because I don't know if that's true or not.
[00:09:26.760 --> 00:09:29.080] No, we get those kind of stories occasionally.
[00:09:29.080 --> 00:09:31.160] If they do genuinely repel spiders, we may need one.
[00:09:31.160 --> 00:09:33.960] Nicola is massively arachnophobic, as I mentioned.
[00:09:33.960 --> 00:09:40.120] And we've been, as I mentioned, renovating, clearing out her mum's house in Blackpool so we can put that on the market and things.
[00:09:40.120 --> 00:09:56.520] And so before, a couple of weeks ago, before we went to do the garden, so like last month when we were talking about how you came to the garden, the week before that, Nicola and I just went and I spent ages in the garage, loads of spiders and an absolute apocalypse of wood lice.
[00:09:56.520 --> 00:09:57.080] Right.
[00:09:57.080 --> 00:10:01.000] Just like the white shells that once they die and then they curl up and then the shells turn white.
[00:10:01.000 --> 00:10:05.480] It was like a woodlouse apocalypse, which would be a great band name, essentially.
[00:10:05.480 --> 00:10:07.240] But there was also just spiders knocking around.
[00:10:07.320 --> 00:10:12.120] I was trying to keep them away from Nicola and so we shut up the garage and everything and she's been doing some work in one of the other rooms.
[00:10:12.120 --> 00:10:18.120] And then as she walks back in, one of the largest spiders I've ever seen is on her shoulder as she's walking around.
[00:10:18.520 --> 00:10:21.880] And I had to clock it and then not react in any way.
[00:10:21.880 --> 00:10:22.200] Yeah.
[00:10:22.200 --> 00:10:25.800] And think, how do I get this off her shoulder without her freaking the fuck out?
[00:10:25.800 --> 00:10:30.760] Because if she knows there's a spider on her shoulder, like not just is she going to freak out, but she's not going to sleep tonight.
[00:10:31.000 --> 00:10:32.760] So I'd be like, oh, sorry, hang on, you've got to.
[00:10:32.760 --> 00:10:34.280] And I grabbed quickly with my hand.
[00:10:34.280 --> 00:10:36.040] So you saw you got a cobweb on your shoulder.
[00:10:36.040 --> 00:10:36.360] Right.
[00:10:36.360 --> 00:10:39.240] And I grabbed the massive spider just with my hand.
[00:10:39.240 --> 00:10:40.280] Yeah, you just went for it.
[00:10:40.280 --> 00:10:41.800] And I was like, oh, I'll just throw it out.
[00:10:41.800 --> 00:10:43.000] I'll just get rid of the cobweb.
[00:10:43.000 --> 00:10:45.440] And I just threw it across at the other side.
[00:10:45.440 --> 00:10:46.640] And then we left.
[00:10:44.840 --> 00:10:47.360] Yeah.
[00:10:48.080 --> 00:10:58.720] What you've done there is the equivalent of what those stories about when a baby is trapped in a car, a mum out of nowhere just lifts the car off to get the baby out.
[00:10:58.720 --> 00:10:59.360] Yeah.
[00:10:59.680 --> 00:11:05.520] So yeah, I thought this was about the kind of the right device will save you from the nasty evil effects of evil radiation.
[00:11:05.520 --> 00:11:07.680] And that is like decades old, Wu.
[00:11:07.680 --> 00:11:12.640] One of the first stories we ever covered on this show was about electromagnetic hypersensitivity.
[00:11:13.200 --> 00:11:15.120] Was it Scouse Stew or Scouse Steve?
[00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:20.240] Was like a heckler who would like leave us troll comments about how EHS is real, actually, mate.
[00:11:20.240 --> 00:11:22.080] Yeah, I think it was literally episode one.
[00:11:22.400 --> 00:11:22.800] I think it was.
[00:11:22.880 --> 00:11:23.680] We did EHS.
[00:11:23.680 --> 00:11:24.000] Yeah.
[00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:24.480] Yeah.
[00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:32.240] And we also covered like the very, we've covered over the years the various products that are trying to cash in on the paranoia and fear caused by this fictional diagnosis of EHS.
[00:11:32.240 --> 00:11:34.480] I went to a Mind-Body Spirit Festival.
[00:11:34.800 --> 00:11:44.400] There's a film I put up on YouTube of me with a guy who said his magical device, the Saucer Tech well balancer, could protect you from your mobile phone radiation.
[00:11:44.400 --> 00:11:48.640] And I asked him on camera, because he didn't realize I was carrying an undercover camera.
[00:11:48.640 --> 00:11:50.720] That didn't set off his device in any kind of way.
[00:11:51.040 --> 00:11:53.920] I said, does this work if you don't know whether they're carrying a mobile phone?
[00:11:53.920 --> 00:11:56.240] And he fell apart and had no answer to that.
[00:11:56.240 --> 00:11:57.520] It's one of my favorite videos.
[00:11:57.520 --> 00:12:01.760] If you look up Good Thinking Investigate, I think Sosa Tech Well Balancer, you'll see that's a great video.
[00:12:01.760 --> 00:12:03.840] But yeah, the classics, they never go out of fashion.
[00:12:03.840 --> 00:12:15.440] I assume this was just another EHS device, albeit with a wildly high-price tag and a deeply unwieldy one at that, because it's massive and she's wearing it on the front of her kneecap, basically.
[00:12:15.440 --> 00:12:16.720] It's like the size of a leg.
[00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:18.960] Maybe she's going roller skating.
[00:12:18.960 --> 00:12:19.760] She could be.
[00:12:19.840 --> 00:12:20.400] She could have been.
[00:12:20.560 --> 00:12:22.560] It's just knee pants.
[00:12:22.560 --> 00:12:27.920] So, ever the diligent skeptic, I went over to the neuralocked.com website to see what's what.
[00:12:27.920 --> 00:12:32.760] Whereupon I was greeted by a slightly different, suspiciously AI lady.
[00:12:33.080 --> 00:12:35.160] So, this is not the same AI lady.
[00:12:29.600 --> 00:12:40.760] They have a range of ladies who are willing to wear their device and the same outfit.
[00:12:40.760 --> 00:12:41.800] Yeah, so like it's a different lady.
[00:12:41.960 --> 00:12:44.120] I have the hair doing the same thing.
[00:12:44.120 --> 00:12:51.640] So, yeah, it's a different lady, but she has managed to get the uniform of the neural locked lasers and stuff.
[00:12:51.640 --> 00:12:56.120] It's also, if you kind of look carefully, the two of you, it's not the same device.
[00:12:56.120 --> 00:12:57.400] It's a slightly different device.
[00:12:57.400 --> 00:12:58.920] It's slightly different proportions.
[00:12:58.920 --> 00:13:01.400] It's worn in a slightly different place on the leg.
[00:13:01.400 --> 00:13:06.280] So, the new lady's further down the leg where this original lady was very at the kneecap.
[00:13:06.280 --> 00:13:09.160] So, it's similar, but not exactly the same.
[00:13:09.160 --> 00:13:17.880] But maybe that's because the first one I saw was the redhead version, and it may well be a different device for brunettes because I don't know, maybe they're genetically different or something.
[00:13:18.040 --> 00:13:19.480] I've no idea.
[00:13:19.480 --> 00:13:22.760] But, yeah, the mystical device that was strapped to the leg is slightly different.
[00:13:23.000 --> 00:13:27.080] It's taller, it's thinner, it connects to the knee strap in a different way.
[00:13:27.080 --> 00:13:28.520] It's one lure on the knee.
[00:13:28.520 --> 00:13:35.240] And also, in place of the logo for unhacked, instead, what there is is some AI gibberish.
[00:13:35.240 --> 00:13:39.720] So, there's some things that are similar to, but not exactly like, letters.
[00:13:39.720 --> 00:13:39.960] Yeah.
[00:13:39.960 --> 00:13:42.200] It's just undecipherable AI garbage.
[00:13:42.200 --> 00:13:44.920] Further down the page, the lady appears again.
[00:13:44.920 --> 00:13:45.320] Yeah.
[00:13:45.320 --> 00:13:46.120] The exact same lady.
[00:13:46.280 --> 00:13:46.840] But squashed.
[00:13:46.920 --> 00:13:52.440] But squashed, because the picture that they've got wasn't the right aspect ratio for the space that they wanted her in.
[00:13:52.440 --> 00:13:54.840] And then further down, she appears again, squashed.
[00:13:54.840 --> 00:13:59.480] So they really did like the second lady way more than this first lady.
[00:13:59.800 --> 00:14:06.520] But this second time her photo appears, it now bears the text, Bioelectrical Neural network firewall.
[00:14:06.520 --> 00:14:07.880] That's just words.
[00:14:07.880 --> 00:14:09.640] So what do you think those just words might mean?
[00:14:09.960 --> 00:14:13.080] Bioelectrical neural network firewall.
[00:14:13.080 --> 00:14:13.560] Yeah.
[00:14:13.560 --> 00:14:14.440] That's bollocks.
[00:14:14.520 --> 00:14:17.360] It's blocking ideas coming into your brain.
[00:14:17.360 --> 00:14:18.400] You're pretty much there.
[00:14:18.400 --> 00:14:19.200] You're pretty much there.
[00:14:14.840 --> 00:14:21.280] Not quite, but you're on exactly the right trend.
[00:14:21.440 --> 00:14:26.080] Next to that lady was also another even more AI lady who is unequivocally...
[00:14:26.480 --> 00:14:27.520] She's not just AI.
[00:14:27.520 --> 00:14:30.080] She's like, she's not an AI version of a lady.
[00:14:30.080 --> 00:14:33.600] She's an AI version of a bot pretending to be a lady.
[00:14:33.600 --> 00:14:34.400] Yes, yeah, yeah.
[00:14:34.400 --> 00:14:36.720] She's got like her bright red hair.
[00:14:36.720 --> 00:14:39.920] Like red hair that puts your that makes your hair look natural, Alice.
[00:14:40.240 --> 00:14:44.800] Like hair so red that and it's like flying out to the side like she's kind of like whooshed in the wind.
[00:14:45.120 --> 00:14:49.680] Got electrical stuff going out from her neck and it is a skin see-through.
[00:14:49.840 --> 00:14:51.840] Her skin may be a little bit see-through.
[00:14:51.920 --> 00:14:53.760] Tony's got like, oh, it's a hand.
[00:14:53.760 --> 00:15:00.960] It's because she's got like, she's got streams of electric running down one side of her neck and then on the other side of her neck, she's got a hand and it looks like she's got like see-through.
[00:15:00.960 --> 00:15:02.480] You can see her muscles through her skin.
[00:15:02.480 --> 00:15:07.520] What she looks like is she's recently swallowed in urofen and is currently heading to the source of pain.
[00:15:08.400 --> 00:15:09.760] That is exactly it.
[00:15:09.760 --> 00:15:14.640] And it looks like there's like waves emanating from a device that's embedded in her throat at this point.
[00:15:14.880 --> 00:15:22.480] The footer of every one of these, oh, sorry, the text on that page reads V2K voice to skull disruption.
[00:15:22.480 --> 00:15:24.080] Voice to skull.
[00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:26.480] Voice to skull disruption.
[00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:27.760] Alice, you've got your head in your hands.
[00:15:27.760 --> 00:15:29.440] It's an audio medium.
[00:15:31.680 --> 00:15:32.960] So is it...
[00:15:32.960 --> 00:15:33.840] I don't...
[00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:35.920] Is it disrupting your own bullshit?
[00:15:36.080 --> 00:15:37.200] That's what I'm thinking now.
[00:15:37.200 --> 00:15:39.680] Like, you speak bullshit and it'll disrupt it.
[00:15:39.680 --> 00:15:40.880] So it's not that.
[00:15:40.880 --> 00:15:45.520] Also, at the bottom of every page, which I really like, is a NASA logo.
[00:15:45.520 --> 00:15:46.640] Inspired by NASA.
[00:15:46.640 --> 00:15:47.360] Inspired by NASA.
[00:15:47.360 --> 00:15:50.960] And when you read the text underneath, it says NASA-inspired underwear.
[00:15:51.600 --> 00:15:52.080] Okay.
[00:15:52.320 --> 00:15:53.360] Don't know what that means.
[00:15:53.840 --> 00:15:59.040] Because there is no explanation as to what that might mean anywhere on the website.
[00:15:59.040 --> 00:16:00.440] They don't reference that text anywhere.
[00:16:00.840 --> 00:16:01.560] They're just doing it.
[00:16:03.480 --> 00:16:03.880] I don't know.
[00:16:03.880 --> 00:16:05.560] Not because the text is underneath.
[00:16:06.600 --> 00:16:11.080] They've written the word NASA-inspired underwear underneath, but I didn't find any.
[00:16:11.240 --> 00:16:12.760] There's no relevance to underwear.
[00:16:12.760 --> 00:16:13.720] Do they sell?
[00:16:13.720 --> 00:16:15.480] underwear inspired by NASA?
[00:16:15.480 --> 00:16:18.040] Was NASA inspired by underwear?
[00:16:18.040 --> 00:16:20.520] I can't pass that sentence because there's no further information.
[00:16:20.520 --> 00:16:24.600] Your guess is at least as good as mine and probably about as good as the people who made this website.
[00:16:24.600 --> 00:16:27.320] We did only invent boxer shorts for the spacesuit.
[00:16:27.320 --> 00:16:27.720] That is true.
[00:16:27.960 --> 00:16:29.480] Before that, everyone went commando.
[00:16:29.480 --> 00:16:30.040] That is very true.
[00:16:30.520 --> 00:16:31.400] That's how it worked.
[00:16:31.400 --> 00:16:38.520] I mean, what I will say is the website doesn't appear to sell any underwear, but that might just be because my computer was blocking any mature content thanks to the online safety.
[00:16:38.920 --> 00:16:42.520] So there may have been an entire lingerie section that I wasn't aware of.
[00:16:42.520 --> 00:16:44.120] So what the hell is going on here?
[00:16:44.120 --> 00:16:52.920] Well, in the absence of an about page, which the website doesn't have, I can tell you what's on the page, Neural Locked Mission Statement.
[00:16:52.920 --> 00:16:54.360] So do I have an About page?
[00:16:54.360 --> 00:16:55.080] Well, they have got a mission.
[00:16:55.160 --> 00:16:56.520] They don't have a mission statement.
[00:16:56.520 --> 00:16:58.360] Their entire mission statement reads.
[00:16:58.680 --> 00:17:01.240] I'm just thinking more about the unhacked part.
[00:17:01.880 --> 00:17:06.600] Is it something to do with being controlled, preventing being controlled?
[00:17:06.600 --> 00:17:07.720] It basically, yes.
[00:17:08.040 --> 00:17:09.480] You're in exactly the right kind of area.
[00:17:09.480 --> 00:17:13.240] But if there's a vocal thing, like being voice activated or something.
[00:17:14.120 --> 00:17:15.160] Yeah, that's basically it.
[00:17:15.240 --> 00:17:19.880] Oh, is it like fucking Freeman on the land language bullshit?
[00:17:19.880 --> 00:17:20.200] It's not.
[00:17:20.200 --> 00:17:20.600] It's not that.
[00:17:20.600 --> 00:17:21.000] It's not that.
[00:17:21.320 --> 00:17:21.800] Logic words.
[00:17:22.120 --> 00:17:23.160] I will get you there.
[00:17:23.160 --> 00:17:27.880] So their mission statement reads, Neural Locked empowers human sovereignty.
[00:17:27.880 --> 00:17:31.320] Okay, it isn't that.
[00:17:31.320 --> 00:17:33.000] I promise it's not that.
[00:17:33.960 --> 00:17:39.880] Neural locked empowers human sovereignty in the era of digital and neural threats.
[00:17:39.880 --> 00:17:53.200] It says, we are building the first decentralized neural defense ecosystem, combining protective technology, scientific education, real-time AI threat alerts, and tokenized governance.
[00:17:53.200 --> 00:18:04.560] Our mission is to safeguard the brain and body against artificial manipulation by advancing research, enabling personal defense, and creating a secure knowledge network on the blockchain.
[00:18:04.560 --> 00:18:06.160] Oh, fuck off.
[00:18:06.480 --> 00:18:06.960] Fuck off.
[00:18:07.440 --> 00:18:08.800] That's nonsense.
[00:18:09.280 --> 00:18:33.040] Also, if you hover over mission statement, the only other page in the sub-menu underneath it is quote: dollar sign N-E-U-R-O in block capitals, cryptocurrency token investor one pager, which links to a PDF on the rules for their crypto token, which they claim is, quote, the first antivirus platform for the human mind and body.
[00:18:33.680 --> 00:18:35.760] I like they included body.
[00:18:35.760 --> 00:18:38.240] It's the first antivirus for the human body.
[00:18:39.040 --> 00:18:41.040] I don't think it is the first one of us.
[00:18:41.200 --> 00:18:42.480] Humans don't get viruses.
[00:18:42.480 --> 00:18:44.000] I think there's been one of them before.
[00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:46.960] I think we've got an immune system, which is many ways the very first.
[00:18:49.200 --> 00:18:54.960] It goes on to say: artificial intelligence and electromagnetic technologies are evolving faster than traditional defenses.
[00:18:54.960 --> 00:19:06.960] Neuralocked introduces a decentralized response, a blockchain-powered platform designed to detect, educate, and defend against AI-based biosignal interference.
[00:19:06.960 --> 00:19:15.200] Our native token, Neuraw, fuels access, incentives, and governance across a full spectrum human defense ecosystem.
[00:19:15.200 --> 00:19:29.800] So, apparently, investing in the Neuraw token will get you exclusive webinars and Neurotech briefings, discounted pricing on protective gear and devices, and event ticketing for IRL meetups, summits, and hackathons.
[00:19:29.120 --> 00:19:31.720] You're laughing, Mike.
[00:19:31.880 --> 00:19:32.760] Why are you laughing?
[00:19:33.320 --> 00:19:44.840] I love how mundane the last bit was, where it's like this thing travels in space, it travels in time, and it comes in four different colors.
[00:19:44.840 --> 00:19:52.680] Yeah, in reality, it's less like a cryptocurrency and more like a membership scheme, where the benefits are essentially money off bonus meetups.
[00:19:52.680 --> 00:19:56.520] It's like it's a cateered membership scheme, which we don't do on our Patreon.
[00:19:56.520 --> 00:19:59.640] You know, that's why you give one pound, you get five pounds.
[00:19:59.640 --> 00:20:03.960] You get the same thing, but you know, don't not give us five pounds for that reason.
[00:20:04.280 --> 00:20:07.400] Okay, now we know their mission and we know how to get the discounts.
[00:20:07.400 --> 00:20:08.200] Let's meet the products.
[00:20:08.200 --> 00:20:15.160] And we'll start with the unhacked product, the 499.99 one that caught my attention when it was advertised on Reddit.
[00:20:15.160 --> 00:20:24.760] It claims to be part of their bioelectrical neural network firewall range, and it says it's your personal shield against brain and body hacking.
[00:20:25.080 --> 00:20:34.280] The product description, which includes highlighting how easily concealed the massive device can be under your trousers, says, Oh, and the good thing is you can conceal it under your pants.
[00:20:34.280 --> 00:20:36.440] It's a good job, skinny jeans have gone out of fashion.
[00:20:36.680 --> 00:20:47.320] I'm wearing skinny jeans, they've gone out of fashion, they've gone out of fashion, but um, you have you have to be in clown pants to not notice a massive fucking ludicrous.
[00:20:47.560 --> 00:20:53.320] What they mean by underwear is that you wear it under your skinny jeans, as it were.
[00:20:53.320 --> 00:21:04.120] It may well mean that, it may well mean that, but yeah, the benefits of it include how easily concealed is, and also that it's powered by a nine-volt battery.
[00:21:04.120 --> 00:21:06.040] And then it takes don't put your tongue on it, it.
[00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:06.840] It's what we all do.
[00:21:06.840 --> 00:21:09.000] Well, point you shouldn't, it's probably not good.
[00:21:09.000 --> 00:21:20.880] And it's at this point that it takes a turn away from straight electro hypersensitivity claims into quote: If you're a targeted individual, you already know the fight is real.
[00:21:21.200 --> 00:21:23.600] That's why we created Neurolocked Unhappy.
[00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:32.480] A targeted individual, the next evolution in personal protection, designed specifically for those who experience brain and body interference.
[00:21:32.480 --> 00:21:40.320] This discrete, wearable device helps block unwanted access and manipulation so you can reclaim your mental and physical space.
[00:21:40.320 --> 00:21:44.240] Did they think Captain America the Winter Soldier was a documentary?
[00:21:44.240 --> 00:21:45.520] They might have done.
[00:21:45.520 --> 00:21:46.240] They might have done.
[00:21:46.240 --> 00:21:47.840] So, yeah, Alice, you spotted the mention there.
[00:21:47.840 --> 00:21:48.560] Targeted individual.
[00:21:48.640 --> 00:21:50.000] Do you know, have you heard of targeted individuals?
[00:21:50.160 --> 00:21:51.520] Have you come across this before, no?
[00:21:51.520 --> 00:22:03.360] Okay, I have, and I tried to interview a targeted individual several times on Be Reasonable, but as you will see, given the nature of the belief, it's inherently suspicious to external forces.
[00:22:03.360 --> 00:22:08.000] But it really does speak to who they're marketing this product to that they're talking about targeted individuals.
[00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:14.880] Targeted individuals believe that they are being, as you might imagine, targeted in a number of ways.
[00:22:14.880 --> 00:22:17.520] Some believe they're victims of gang stalking.
[00:22:17.520 --> 00:22:19.920] Have you come across the pseudo-scientific belief of gang stalking?
[00:22:19.920 --> 00:22:20.320] Have you not?
[00:22:20.320 --> 00:22:20.800] No, I haven't.
[00:22:20.880 --> 00:22:24.880] See, these are the areas of the internet I've been living on for the last decade.
[00:22:25.200 --> 00:22:28.240] Gang stalking is where you're being stalked.
[00:22:28.240 --> 00:22:30.720] You know, stalking by a gang, one assumes.
[00:22:30.720 --> 00:22:31.280] Yes.
[00:22:31.280 --> 00:22:32.080] So you're being stalked.
[00:22:32.400 --> 00:22:41.440] I've grown up out of those, like, what's it called, urban legends, where if you see like a little mark on your door, it means that you've been picked out by a gang as a target.
[00:22:41.440 --> 00:22:42.720] No, it's not quite that.
[00:22:42.720 --> 00:22:46.080] It's more like you are being followed as you go about your daily life.
[00:22:46.080 --> 00:22:53.120] You're followed by someone with sinister intent in order to harass you or panic you or to monitor you and everything that you're doing.
[00:22:53.120 --> 00:23:02.040] But rather than being followed by the same person all the time, which would make it too obvious that they're following you, you're being stalked by an organized team of people who are working in consort.
[00:23:02.040 --> 00:23:04.840] Which is why every time you look over your shoulder, there's different people behind you.
[00:22:59.840 --> 00:23:06.040] Different people behind you, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:23:06.200 --> 00:23:09.800] Because they're all working together, and it's not at all because it's just random people in the street.
[00:23:09.960 --> 00:23:17.240] Yep, so you're walking down the street, you see proof that the people behind you are taking turns stalking you because it's never the same person twice behind you.
[00:23:17.240 --> 00:23:20.920] In reality, what you're experiencing is people on their street, man.
[00:23:21.480 --> 00:23:23.960] They're not paying attention to you, they're just going about their lives.
[00:23:23.960 --> 00:23:38.280] Other targeted individual beliefs include that rather than simply following you, these unseen malicious actors or team of actors can also use devices to beam their thoughts into your mind or to intercept your thoughts so they can hear what you're saying.
[00:23:38.280 --> 00:23:40.040] I mean, these are diagnostic criteria.
[00:23:40.040 --> 00:23:44.600] Like, there is a specific mental illness that has these symptoms, right?
[00:23:44.760 --> 00:23:45.880] Yes, absolutely, absolutely.
[00:23:45.880 --> 00:23:47.800] And I will sort of touch on that.
[00:23:47.800 --> 00:23:54.600] They also believe that these targeted, when you're targeting individuals, the unseen people can cause a range of health conditions and negative symptoms.
[00:23:54.600 --> 00:24:03.320] So, yeah, it will be no surprise to anyone that these beliefs correlate with various mental health issues, including psychosis and schizophrenia.
[00:24:03.320 --> 00:24:09.160] Schizophrenia, people often misunderstand some of the diagnostic criteria of schizophrenia, that it's hearing voices.
[00:24:09.160 --> 00:24:18.040] Often, it involves the idea that not that you're hearing thoughts, although for some people it does manifest that way, it also can involve that people can hear your thoughts.
[00:24:18.040 --> 00:24:26.760] So, you're walking down the street and everyone knows what you're thinking because that's why they're looking at you, and that's why they're seeming suspicious because they can hear every thought that you've got.
[00:24:26.760 --> 00:24:28.920] I mean, it can also have visual disturbances, right?
[00:24:28.920 --> 00:24:39.480] Because there's this great video on Instagram, or I don't know where it was first posted, but there's a guy who's got an assistant dog for his schizophrenia, and he has visual hallucinations of people.
[00:24:39.480 --> 00:24:40.600] Oh, I've seen this, yes.
[00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:42.040] He talks with his dog, doesn't he?
[00:24:42.120 --> 00:24:45.360] Yeah, he asked the dog to greet them, and if there's not a person there, then the dog doesn't react.
[00:24:44.600 --> 00:24:46.160] The dog doesn't greet.
[00:24:44.840 --> 00:24:47.920] And if there is a person there, then the dog greets.
[00:24:48.080 --> 00:24:52.640] So he can determine whether he's having a hallucination or not based on the dog's behavior.
[00:24:52.800 --> 00:24:53.040] Yeah.
[00:24:53.040 --> 00:24:54.320] So there's like a range of things.
[00:24:54.320 --> 00:25:00.080] And, you know, sometimes these kind of beliefs can manifest in technological fears like this.
[00:25:00.080 --> 00:25:02.800] That in the sense of like, oh, you can hear my thoughts.
[00:25:02.800 --> 00:25:05.840] It's because of a technological device that you're using to intercept my thoughts.
[00:25:06.800 --> 00:25:12.240] But other times it manifests in a belief of their own involuntarily psychic abilities.
[00:25:12.240 --> 00:25:14.640] And this is actually something that we've experienced.
[00:25:14.640 --> 00:26:19.640] Were you involved in the psychic test we did at one point when there was somebody came to Liverpool and we went to the Vines to so this person believed that he was able to transmit his thoughts and we gave him cards with a range we gave volunteers cards with a range of numbers hang on what did we do we gave him cards with a range of numbers he had to pick a number out at random unseen and then there was a volunteer on the other side of the room who was facing the other way who wasn't looking who had to write down what they were receiving yeah and he was absolutely adamant that he could do this and we actually talked to the person who referred him who was a psychiatrist who was involved in skepticism who said look it will actually be beneficial for you to at least talk to him about this and do these tests because he isn't showing signs that this is damaging to him and he does is trying to understand what's happening so actually doing this test will be helpful to him it's not exploited to do that but we never published this anywhere because we didn't feel it was kind of appropriate but like when people have these conditions or these experiences or when they're going through various different crises it can manifest in belief in psychic ability, or it can manifest in belief in technological hacking and stuff.
[00:26:19.640 --> 00:26:26.920] All of which makes the list of product benefits for that particular product, that's $500 product, particularly concerning.
[00:26:26.920 --> 00:26:56.120] Because under the What Does It Stop headline, the page reads technological/slash electronic harassment, and then it's got bullet points for directed energy weapons or DEWs, sensations of burning, heating, or stabbing pain without a visible source, visible source, then microwave auditory effect or voice to skull, V2K, hearing voices, tones, or messages directly in the head, allegedly via microwave or RF transmission.
[00:26:56.120 --> 00:27:03.720] Then remote neural monitoring or RNM, belief that brain activity and thoughts are being read and influenced remotely.
[00:27:03.720 --> 00:27:12.840] Sleep disruption technology, it says false insomnia or unnatural sleep patterns, which again is going to be part of the diagnostic criteria of someone going through crisis.
[00:27:12.840 --> 00:27:18.120] Electrical stimulation of muscles, it says involuntary twitching, cramps, or movement.
[00:27:18.120 --> 00:27:18.760] We never get that.
[00:27:18.760 --> 00:27:19.720] Nobody ever gets that.
[00:27:19.720 --> 00:27:23.720] Yeah, but also twitches can be part of a diagnostic thing.
[00:27:23.720 --> 00:27:25.880] And then interference with electronics.
[00:27:25.880 --> 00:27:30.360] And it says phones, computers, and devices malfunctioning in specific ways.
[00:27:30.360 --> 00:27:31.000] Oh, fucking.
[00:27:31.160 --> 00:27:33.800] This is just a recipe for confirmation bias.
[00:27:33.800 --> 00:27:34.360] Yeah.
[00:27:34.360 --> 00:27:48.200] But also, some, and I don't know about the kinds of mental illnesses that might present with these types of symptoms, but in some mental illnesses, we do know that some, or even some neurodivergences, that some traits can be kind of caught from each other.
[00:27:48.200 --> 00:27:55.960] Like it's still caused by an internal thing, but that suggestion of particular types of symptoms can then start to manifest.
[00:27:55.960 --> 00:28:00.520] You see it with, I think, there's some people with threats who pick up each other's ticks.
[00:28:00.680 --> 00:28:09.400] Yes, the ticking is part of the condition, but the tick that the brain picks up can be passed from person to person and they have similar ticks to each other sometimes.
[00:28:09.400 --> 00:28:10.440] Yeah, absolutely.
[00:28:10.440 --> 00:28:16.000] And all of which, if you ask me, sound an awful lot like beliefs that would indicate a need to see a mental health specialist.
[00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:16.320] Yeah.
[00:28:16.320 --> 00:28:24.320] You know, these are all beliefs that cross over with the kind of paranoias that range from concerning to diagnostic.
[00:28:24.320 --> 00:28:24.720] Yeah.
[00:28:25.040 --> 00:29:00.240] The second set of promised benefits of this particular device, fair no better, with the device focusing on the physical sensation and health effects that it can stop, which are sudden stabbing or burning pain in specific body areas, tingling vibrations or buzzing under the skin, heat spots or cold patches without external cause, heart palpitations or sudden spikes in blood pressure, headaches or pressure in the skull, unexplained bruising, burns or skin marks, chronic fatigue and weakness without medical explanation, dizziness or loss of balance, and ringing in the ears/slash tinnitus.
[00:29:00.240 --> 00:29:06.480] So again, some of these might be the kind of unspecific symptoms that aren't indicative of anything serious at all or even anything at all.
[00:29:06.480 --> 00:29:09.360] You know, who doesn't get bruises they can't explain?
[00:29:09.360 --> 00:29:11.600] That just means you've been living and knocking about and doing.
[00:29:11.600 --> 00:29:14.640] So if you catch yourself on something, you don't bruise immediately, you forget you caught yourself.
[00:29:14.800 --> 00:29:16.960] Lo and behold, the next couple of days you've got to bruise.
[00:29:17.040 --> 00:29:21.040] Then others are more serious, especially when conditions like chronic fatigue are in there.
[00:29:21.040 --> 00:29:24.080] They're poorly understood and very poorly treated.
[00:29:24.080 --> 00:29:33.520] So it's clear why someone might feel desperate and at their wit's end, especially if they're suffering from some of the other paranoias and mental symptoms that might happen to be comorbid or happening at the same time.
[00:29:33.520 --> 00:29:38.080] And so they'll turn to a device like this because they see an advert for it on fucking Reddit.
[00:29:38.080 --> 00:29:42.480] And honestly, I could believe that this device was sincere.
[00:29:42.480 --> 00:29:46.960] I've seen all manner of EHS treatments and electromagnetism blockers.
[00:29:46.960 --> 00:29:53.200] Even the very poorly produced product video that I saw on one of the pages, isn't disqualifying per se.
[00:29:53.200 --> 00:29:54.720] What is actually in it, though?
[00:29:54.760 --> 00:30:00.280] That's that's what it gives me AD651 bomb detector stuff.
[00:30:00.280 --> 00:30:02.360] It's just gonna be a non-volt battery and LED, and that's what's gonna be.
[00:30:02.520 --> 00:30:03.560] And that's what's in the box.
[00:29:59.760 --> 00:30:05.240] So, we will come back to not this.
[00:30:05.400 --> 00:30:08.680] I couldn't find this, but I'll tell you what something else is soon.
[00:30:08.680 --> 00:30:14.680] But on the page, there was a product video which I think wasn't disqualifying from sincerity at this point.
[00:30:14.680 --> 00:30:16.440] I thought, well, okay, they could genuinely believe this.
[00:30:16.440 --> 00:30:29.480] Because the thing is, if you're suffering from these kind of conditions yourself, you're in those kind of paranoias, and you happen to whack something together or buy something, and you then feel like that's helping, you might then start to sell that because to other people in the target individual world.
[00:30:29.480 --> 00:30:32.920] But in this one video that they put up there, it has an AI voiceover.
[00:30:32.920 --> 00:30:34.040] Of course, it fucking does.
[00:30:34.040 --> 00:30:46.440] The whole video is 30 seconds long, and it says, 2035, everyone's nervous system is shielded, everyone wears one.
[00:30:46.440 --> 00:30:52.200] 2025, only the awakened ones act, only the smart ones do.
[00:30:52.200 --> 00:30:57.960] Remove the hack, reclaim control, unhacked by Neurolocked.
[00:30:57.960 --> 00:30:58.600] And that's the video.
[00:30:58.600 --> 00:31:05.720] And it's over some like incredibly stock kind of footage of people going from seeming unwell to spinning around in fields and stuff.
[00:31:05.720 --> 00:31:14.920] And look, it's obviously not good marketing copy, but someone who really believed in a product like this would probably not be capable of writing excellent product copy here.
[00:31:14.920 --> 00:31:17.480] So that's not necessarily a clear sign.
[00:31:17.480 --> 00:31:30.600] However, what makes me very suspicious that this isn't sincere, but that this is cynical, first of all, is the AI picture of those two, well, three AI ladies, you know, attractive, very smooth AI ladies.
[00:31:30.600 --> 00:31:35.400] Also, the fact that the design and the size of the device changes in every shot.
[00:31:35.560 --> 00:31:36.440] Every one of those pictures.
[00:31:36.440 --> 00:31:38.520] One doesn't even have the logo on it.
[00:31:38.520 --> 00:31:50.240] The only real shot of the product, not tainted by AI, shows that it is just a little plastic cuboid with like an on-off switch, which is what I teased you with a couple of weeks ago.
[00:31:50.960 --> 00:31:58.560] But it's just a plastic cuboid, and all it is, it's got an on-off switch and what appears to be a charge port at the top, or something like a charge port.
[00:31:58.560 --> 00:32:01.360] Maybe it's like a three and a half mil jack or something like that.
[00:32:01.360 --> 00:32:06.160] It does look like a jack for a barrel connector or something like that, but it also doesn't look like it's got anything in it.
[00:32:06.160 --> 00:32:13.440] I think that's probably an off-the-shelf box from something like Maplin that they've put arbitrary electronics into.
[00:32:13.440 --> 00:32:14.000] Or haven't.
[00:32:14.320 --> 00:32:16.080] Or maybe not even anything in it.
[00:32:16.080 --> 00:32:16.720] Yeah.
[00:32:16.720 --> 00:32:18.400] So, and that's the only real shot they have.
[00:32:18.400 --> 00:32:24.000] The only one that's not tainted by AI, and it's just a plastic cuboid with this on-off switch and a cheap Velcro strap.
[00:32:24.000 --> 00:32:28.400] That's their single photo of their $500 device.
[00:32:28.400 --> 00:32:31.040] And it looks completely different to all the AI shots.
[00:32:31.040 --> 00:32:32.160] So that's a red flag.
[00:32:32.160 --> 00:32:41.200] Even if you couldn't get your suspiciously smooth lady to actually pose with it, maybe you'd Photoshop in something that was actually a picture of your device onto her.
[00:32:41.200 --> 00:32:45.920] But no, this is getting the AI to say lady with black box on leg.
[00:32:46.240 --> 00:32:50.000] But then another major red flag is the rest of the product range.
[00:32:50.000 --> 00:33:05.280] So there's the $199.99 skull shield, which says how to stop voice to skull brackets V2K, which promised to be, quote, the ultimate solution for anyone searching for how to stop voice to skull attacks and regain mental freedom.
[00:33:05.280 --> 00:33:19.760] This discrete under-chin device is engineered with cutting-edge countermeasure technology to help remove voice-to-skull signals, block microwave-based V2K harassment, and provide reliable voice-to-skull protection in real time.
[00:33:19.760 --> 00:33:23.600] How is an under-chin device discrete?
[00:33:23.920 --> 00:33:24.880] Yeah, exactly.
[00:33:24.880 --> 00:33:26.240] I'll show you the device as well.
[00:33:26.240 --> 00:33:36.760] It says using targeted electromagnetic shielding and bioelectric clocking, Skull Shield delivers exceptional voice-to-skull shielding to disrupt and block intrusive transmissions.
[00:33:37.080 --> 00:33:41.000] So it is this device here.
[00:33:41.000 --> 00:33:52.360] What it is essentially is a small plastic device with an on-off switch and a USB-C charge point, basically, that you attach a little adhesive strip to the underside of your chin.
[00:33:52.360 --> 00:33:52.680] Okay.
[00:33:53.000 --> 00:33:56.360] And then pop the device on it and turn it on.
[00:33:56.360 --> 00:33:58.120] That's going to be really uncomfortable.
[00:33:58.120 --> 00:33:59.240] It's going to be really uncomfortable.
[00:33:59.240 --> 00:34:01.000] It's going to look incredibly stupid.
[00:34:01.000 --> 00:34:03.400] That is kind of what that is going to be.
[00:34:03.400 --> 00:34:11.080] Why is that USB-C charged, presumably with an internal lithium battery, but the other one is an outvolt battery?
[00:34:11.400 --> 00:34:12.520] You can answer this, Mike.
[00:34:12.520 --> 00:34:13.160] You can answer.
[00:34:13.160 --> 00:34:19.560] If you pause for a moment and think, these two separate devices, why is their manufacturing different and they're charging, they're powering different?
[00:34:20.600 --> 00:34:22.280] They're just drop-shipped bullshit.
[00:34:22.280 --> 00:34:23.640] They're dropshipped bullshit.
[00:34:24.360 --> 00:34:26.200] Absolutely dropship bullshit.
[00:34:26.200 --> 00:34:32.440] Okay, so in fact, the image of that skull shield under chin device, that isn't AI.
[00:34:32.440 --> 00:34:33.560] It is stolen.
[00:34:33.560 --> 00:34:34.040] Yes.
[00:34:34.040 --> 00:34:36.520] I put it into Tin Eye to do a reverse image lookup.
[00:34:36.520 --> 00:34:41.400] I found it on an e-commerce site called Joom.com, which is just a dropshipped site, essentially.
[00:34:41.400 --> 00:34:46.600] It wasn't selling as a $200 skull shield to stop you from voice to skull technology.
[00:34:46.600 --> 00:34:52.440] It was selling for £18.83 as an anti-snoring device.
[00:34:52.440 --> 00:34:52.760] Okay.
[00:34:52.840 --> 00:34:57.000] It would sit on your throat and vibrate slightly in order to try and keep your throat open.
[00:34:57.000 --> 00:35:07.880] So while the marketing copy claims it has built-in protection from voice-to-skull harassment, that will be a surprise given that it was designed to improve airflow and prevent snoring while the wearer is asleep.
[00:35:07.880 --> 00:35:08.760] That also won't work.
[00:35:08.760 --> 00:35:10.840] Something else, I was about to literally neckline.
[00:35:10.840 --> 00:35:13.880] Something else it's worth pointing out, it doesn't actually do.
[00:35:13.880 --> 00:35:19.040] They took a different bullshit product and thought, let's not sell it as a snoring device.
[00:35:14.920 --> 00:35:20.560] We can't really do the markup too much.
[00:35:20.880 --> 00:35:23.040] We can sell it as something else.
[00:35:23.040 --> 00:35:36.240] Other products in their range include the $19.99 Neural Locked Trademark Soap, which creates a thin, breathable barrier designed to disrupt signal penetration.
[00:35:36.240 --> 00:35:44.080] Then there's the $99.99 EMF protection glasses, which are not just a tool, they are armor.
[00:35:44.080 --> 00:35:45.600] I'm showing you a picture of the armor.
[00:35:45.680 --> 00:35:47.360] They look a lot like Clark Kent's glasses.
[00:35:47.360 --> 00:35:49.920] They do look a bit like Clark Kent glasses there.
[00:35:49.920 --> 00:35:56.000] They're very clearly just the off-the-shelf, like cheapest pair of frames you can get with almost certainly just plain lenses in them.
[00:35:56.400 --> 00:35:58.080] But they're armor.
[00:35:58.080 --> 00:36:17.600] Then there's, I don't have pictures of these, but the 599.99 silver fiber EMF protection hoodie sweatshirt and the 599.99 silver fiber EMF protection shirt and pants, which it's very clearly just made out of a cheap silvery covered like fabric.
[00:36:18.000 --> 00:36:19.520] That's all like a silvery kind of fabric.
[00:36:19.520 --> 00:36:20.640] It's a bit a lame, won't it?
[00:36:20.800 --> 00:36:21.680] It looks like a lame.
[00:36:21.680 --> 00:36:22.800] It looks like a lame.
[00:36:22.800 --> 00:36:28.400] And then there's the 99.99 silver fiber EMF protection hat.
[00:36:28.400 --> 00:36:32.800] Almost literally a tinfoil hat to block the signals getting into your brain.
[00:36:32.800 --> 00:36:34.880] Almost literally what it's claiming to be.
[00:36:34.880 --> 00:36:41.200] That last product has a product description that includes quote: protect your mind in style.
[00:36:41.200 --> 00:36:44.800] Step into the modern world with ancient defense.
[00:36:44.800 --> 00:36:51.120] Designed for targeted individuals, wellness seekers, and anyone living in high EMF environments.
[00:36:51.120 --> 00:36:54.720] This hat isn't just a fashion statement, M-dash.
[00:36:54.720 --> 00:36:57.040] It's a functional shield.
[00:36:57.040 --> 00:37:06.840] And the product description concludes with the line, let me know if you'd like versions for different customer tones, brackets, scientific, rebellious, spiritual, luxury, etc.
[00:37:08.600 --> 00:37:09.160] Okay.
[00:37:09.560 --> 00:37:10.760] Right, right, right, right.
[00:37:10.760 --> 00:37:12.520] They've just copy-pasted the response.
[00:37:12.760 --> 00:37:15.240] They've copy-pasted too much of their AI response there.
[00:37:15.480 --> 00:37:19.400] Literally, yeah, because obviously it's not just the product images that are provided by AI.
[00:37:19.400 --> 00:37:21.480] Literally everything on this site is designed by AI.
[00:37:21.560 --> 00:37:34.600] That's why the copy for all of their pages, if you look, read through the copy, it is so obviously AI and it's like this big flourishing language to the point where what is a tinfoil hat talks about being not just a fashion statement.
[00:37:34.600 --> 00:37:37.560] You know, step into modern world with ancient defense.
[00:37:37.560 --> 00:37:39.240] Bollocks.
[00:37:39.560 --> 00:37:41.560] Then there's the consumables.
[00:37:41.560 --> 00:37:45.400] Because if you're not selling supplements, you're leaving money on the table.
[00:37:45.400 --> 00:38:01.080] The supplements include the Neuro-locked neural firewall, the red pill, which it says is designed to fortify neural pathways, reduce internal signal sensitivity, and recalibrate bioelectromagnetic harmony for just $149.99.
[00:38:01.240 --> 00:38:07.320] Doesn't say how many pills come in a bottle because the bottle is just a stock photo of a white pill bottle.
[00:38:07.640 --> 00:38:14.600] Literally, a stock photo of a white pill bottle with the word neural, word neural locked photo shopped onto it.
[00:38:14.600 --> 00:38:17.640] That is literally all firewall symbol.
[00:38:17.640 --> 00:38:23.320] Neural locked firewall and a picture of like a little padlock as if it's an antivirus software or something like that.
[00:38:23.320 --> 00:38:23.800] That's all.
[00:38:23.800 --> 00:38:25.560] We don't know what's in it, anything like that.
[00:38:25.560 --> 00:38:31.080] As is their dream shield, nootropic and bream detox dream manipulation.
[00:38:31.080 --> 00:38:35.400] Neither of those products even tell you what's in them, which is incredibly worrying.
[00:38:35.400 --> 00:38:42.280] What's even more worrying is I contacted the sales support to say, I would like to buy some of this, this distream manipulation.
[00:38:42.600 --> 00:38:44.920] And I said, but I want to make sure there's nothing in it that I'm allergic to.
[00:38:45.760 --> 00:38:48.800] What are the ingredients and how many do I get in a bottle?
[00:38:48.800 --> 00:38:55.760] To which they responded today at three in the morning, which suggests they're not in our time zone, possibly not even in America, even though this is an American website.
[00:38:55.760 --> 00:39:05.040] Saying, hi, Michael, just like there are 11 herbs and spices to KFC, we do not disclose the ingredients.
[00:39:05.040 --> 00:39:06.480] Go on, Alice.
[00:39:07.360 --> 00:39:11.280] It's not the 11 herbs and spices that's the issue.
[00:39:11.280 --> 00:39:12.800] It's the secret.
[00:39:12.800 --> 00:39:13.280] The secret.
[00:39:13.280 --> 00:39:16.000] Yeah, yeah, 11 secret herbs and spices.
[00:39:16.000 --> 00:39:16.160] Yes.
[00:39:16.400 --> 00:39:17.680] They missed from that sentence.
[00:39:17.680 --> 00:39:18.800] Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
[00:39:18.800 --> 00:39:21.280] But also, that doesn't work for medicine.
[00:39:21.280 --> 00:39:21.840] No, it doesn't.
[00:39:21.840 --> 00:39:25.840] You can't be like, oh, yeah, when I've said, I want to buy this, but I'm worried I might be allergic to it.
[00:39:25.840 --> 00:39:26.800] Ah, sorry, mate.
[00:39:26.800 --> 00:39:27.520] Take a chance.
[00:39:27.520 --> 00:39:31.360] But then they said, we're considering removing the item because it is obsolete.
[00:39:31.360 --> 00:39:35.360] If you buy the unhacked device, all of your problems are solved.
[00:39:35.360 --> 00:39:40.400] Unhacked device plus Eurlock's red pills are your complete defense and repair system.
[00:39:40.720 --> 00:39:44.400] So by the device, all your problems are solved.
[00:39:44.400 --> 00:39:46.000] But also by the purpose of the pills.
[00:39:46.320 --> 00:39:49.360] Yeah, the pills, because it's then all of it's a complete solution, then.
[00:39:49.360 --> 00:39:50.400] Complete solution, yeah.
[00:39:50.400 --> 00:39:56.000] So I haven't responded to that yet because I ran out of time today, but I will be getting back to them and I'll see how long I can keep them on the hook for.
[00:39:56.000 --> 00:40:17.440] But obviously, if selling unlabeled bottles of unknown pills in unstated quantities sounds too much like hard work, you could head over to their Defend You Institute, Defend Capital U Institute, legally distinct from a university, where they sell access to a range of online courses at $50 a pop, designed to tell you everything you need to know.
[00:40:17.440 --> 00:40:41.960] Their courses promise to cover the fundamental concept of the human body as an electrochemical system vulnerable to external interference, and how attackers read your thoughts, alter your emotions, and control your mental state, and how to protect yourself, and also who the attackers are, why they do what they do, and how to stay grounded when under physical, sexual, psychological, and social assault, and so on and so on.
[00:40:41.960 --> 00:40:46.840] And ordinarily, I'd be interested to find out what's in these courses, but the answer is obvious.
[00:40:46.840 --> 00:40:53.480] It's just generic AI slop spewed out in the quickest time possible in order to make $50 a pop and not give a shit.
[00:40:53.480 --> 00:40:55.320] From potentially very vulnerable people.
[00:40:55.320 --> 00:40:59.960] From not just potentially, from specific, like targeted to be.
[00:40:59.960 --> 00:41:03.960] Like you are micro-targeted your market towards that particular niche.
[00:41:03.960 --> 00:41:04.840] So that's what we have here.
[00:41:04.840 --> 00:41:23.480] We have another scam company that's using AI to power their exploitation business, where they find products online that are already pseudoscientific and then whack their own label on them and sell them with extreme product claims, often from places where they're beyond the regulatory jurisdiction of the target company, or the target country, rather.
[00:41:23.800 --> 00:41:25.400] Do you think these products exist?
[00:41:25.400 --> 00:41:27.640] Some of these clearly don't exist.
[00:41:27.640 --> 00:41:31.640] I think they exist, but only in the sense that it's a dropship device.
[00:41:31.640 --> 00:41:33.400] You know, one of them is an anti-snoring device.
[00:41:33.400 --> 00:41:41.160] The others will be some bullshit plastic EMF meter, like EMF protection device, or even the fake products.
[00:41:41.640 --> 00:41:43.640] What's going to turn up when you order the pills?
[00:41:43.640 --> 00:41:46.680] Honestly, I think you'd get a bottle of pills, and I think it would just be the generic.
[00:41:47.000 --> 00:41:48.280] Somebody else's branding on it.
[00:41:48.280 --> 00:41:50.120] No, they'll be able to label it, I imagine.
[00:41:50.120 --> 00:41:51.320] They'll be able to whack a label on it.
[00:41:51.960 --> 00:41:58.120] If they're selling it for 150 quid, they'll get some just generic empty pills, your binder, your filler, basically.
[00:41:58.120 --> 00:42:00.040] And then they'll just stick a sticker on it.
[00:42:00.120 --> 00:42:01.960] It won't look anything like the picture, but it...
[00:42:01.960 --> 00:42:02.280] Yeah.
[00:42:02.280 --> 00:42:04.760] I mean, it may even be an unlabeled bottle.
[00:42:04.760 --> 00:42:07.080] I'm not spending $150, $50 to find out.
[00:42:07.080 --> 00:42:13.400] But yeah, I think the things will probably exist because the thing is, not fulfilling the order is fraud.
[00:42:13.400 --> 00:42:20.560] Selling a thing that doesn't do what it says is a different type of fraud and far less likely to get caught for, especially with the people that you're targeting.
[00:42:20.880 --> 00:42:27.760] So, yeah, in this case, as I say, they're making an active decision to target people worried about mobile phones and Wi-Fi.
[00:42:27.760 --> 00:42:31.440] Well, it's not just enough to be targeting people who are worried about mobile phones and Wi-Fi.
[00:42:31.440 --> 00:42:39.600] There's a far more lucrative market in playing into people in mental health crises and paranoid fears and saying, yeah, they are out to get you.
[00:42:39.600 --> 00:42:46.800] And the way to escape their evil schemes is to wash in our woo soap and wear our woo clothing and swallow our woo pills.
[00:42:46.800 --> 00:42:51.840] I have no idea how many people, if anyone, have ordered newer locked products.
[00:42:51.840 --> 00:43:01.360] But if you look around Reddit, you can get to the gang stalking subreddit or the targeted individual subreddit, which is for people who are genuinely scared of this type of stuff.
[00:43:01.360 --> 00:43:08.640] And there are worried Redditors posting these products ads onto those subreddits asking if this is the solution to their fears.
[00:43:08.640 --> 00:43:12.800] And thankfully, some other users are pointing out that this is a scam.
[00:43:12.800 --> 00:43:23.040] But that's not exactly reassuring because it relies on people who visit the government are targeting me with energy weapons subreddit to be able to see through misleading claims.
[00:43:23.040 --> 00:43:35.120] We talk a lot about the responsibility of platforms like Facebook and Twitter to ensure they're not pushing harmful scams at their users and getting paid by in the process of doing so.
[00:43:35.120 --> 00:43:39.280] But Reddit is totally getting a pass on this for some reason.
[00:43:39.280 --> 00:43:41.360] I don't even know what reason.
[00:43:41.360 --> 00:43:48.160] But this is as harmful and as clearly bullshit as any advert I've ever seen online.
[00:43:48.160 --> 00:43:52.480] And Reddit don't even have a way of reporting this properly.
[00:43:52.800 --> 00:43:57.840] They have to do far better because they are leading people into incredibly dangerous positions.
[00:44:01.720 --> 00:44:04.120] Have you seen this new thing they're doing at McDonald's?
[00:44:04.120 --> 00:44:05.320] No, I don't go to McDonald's.
[00:44:05.880 --> 00:44:07.160] They're out on all the ads at the moment.
[00:44:07.160 --> 00:44:09.000] They call it a dirty sprite.
[00:44:09.000 --> 00:44:09.480] What?
[00:44:09.480 --> 00:44:10.360] A dirty sprite.
[00:44:10.440 --> 00:44:11.240] I haven't seen this.
[00:44:11.240 --> 00:44:12.920] There's a new thing they're doing at McDonald's.
[00:44:12.920 --> 00:44:13.880] So it's a sprite.
[00:44:13.880 --> 00:44:17.240] Why can they do a dirty sprite and they don't do my still phanta anymore?
[00:44:17.240 --> 00:44:18.680] I used to love Stilphanta film.
[00:44:18.920 --> 00:44:20.440] I used to like Stilphanta as well.
[00:44:20.440 --> 00:44:21.480] Do you do it anymore?
[00:44:21.480 --> 00:44:22.040] No.
[00:44:22.040 --> 00:44:23.320] But they do a dirty sprite.
[00:44:23.320 --> 00:44:24.280] But they do a dirty sprite.
[00:44:24.520 --> 00:44:25.800] I don't like a dirty sprite.
[00:44:25.800 --> 00:44:31.800] So a dirty sprite is they fill a cup with sprite, but then they put a shot of flavour in the top.
[00:44:31.800 --> 00:44:32.680] What flavour?
[00:44:32.680 --> 00:44:33.640] So they do two flavors.
[00:44:33.640 --> 00:44:37.160] They do green apple and they do mango and passion fruit.
[00:44:37.160 --> 00:44:44.200] I think it would only count as a dirty sprite if you put a shot of brine from a jar of olives in.
[00:44:44.520 --> 00:44:46.360] Is that how you would dirty your sprite?
[00:44:46.360 --> 00:44:47.080] It's how you dirty your sprite.
[00:44:47.240 --> 00:44:48.120] Because I've got a dirty sprite.
[00:44:48.200 --> 00:44:49.240] A dirty martini is.
[00:44:49.240 --> 00:44:49.400] Yeah.
[00:44:49.800 --> 00:44:55.400] I'm just going to point out the more you say dirty sprite, the more one of our listeners is getting an idea for their Comic-Con.
[00:44:59.480 --> 00:45:00.440] That's already been done.
[00:45:00.440 --> 00:45:01.320] Yeah, it has, yeah.
[00:45:01.320 --> 00:45:05.480] There's the other thing that they do is they do a, and they don't sell this in McDonald's.
[00:45:05.480 --> 00:45:11.000] You get people passing around this idea of what you do is you go into McDonald's and you get a vanilla milkshake and then you get a shot of espresso.
[00:45:11.320 --> 00:45:17.400] And then you pour the espresso into the milkshake and then you've got a kind of iced mocha frappuccino kind of thing.
[00:45:17.400 --> 00:45:22.440] And people were doing this with the sprites as they were going and they were ordering a sprite but then putting a shot of juice in.
[00:45:22.440 --> 00:45:28.440] And McDonald's noticed that people were doing this on social media and they've started selling it in the shops.
[00:45:28.440 --> 00:45:31.880] And on the ads they've got just like a soda and lime.
[00:45:31.880 --> 00:45:32.200] Yep.
[00:45:32.200 --> 00:45:32.440] Yeah.
[00:45:32.920 --> 00:45:34.840] People have been doing that for decades.
[00:45:34.840 --> 00:45:47.200] In the ads that they've got, which are on bus stops at the moment, you've got this beautiful crystal clear, like kind of cup that's filled with sprite, and then this kind of bright green stripe at the top floating on top of the ice.
[00:45:44.920 --> 00:45:51.440] Yeah, of kind of you know, it's the dirty sprite, and you can get it now, you know, new at McDonald's, the end of the day.
[00:45:51.520 --> 00:45:56.080] But you don't want the background, you don't want it floating on top of the ice because you're not going to taste it.
[00:45:56.080 --> 00:46:00.240] You're going to want to mix that in, otherwise, you're just getting a lemonade and then a pure shot of flavouring.
[00:46:00.480 --> 00:46:01.920] You get to mix that in yourself, then, don't you?
[00:46:02.320 --> 00:46:04.640] You know, you get to mix it like salt and shake crisps.
[00:46:05.120 --> 00:46:06.640] Are they going to pay me to do that?
[00:46:06.960 --> 00:46:08.320] Unbelievable.
[00:46:08.640 --> 00:46:13.440] So, I went to McDonald's the other day, and Lana said, Can I try a dirty sprite?
[00:46:13.600 --> 00:46:15.520] Of course, she did, because Lana loves to try those things.
[00:46:15.920 --> 00:46:16.960] All right, I'll get you a fruit.
[00:46:17.360 --> 00:46:18.080] What flavour?
[00:46:18.880 --> 00:46:23.200] Sorry, I think I cut you off, or I stopped listening when you said the flavours because I was thinking too much about that.
[00:46:23.360 --> 00:46:24.480] Mango and passion fruit and green apple.
[00:46:25.440 --> 00:46:27.520] Okay, I got the green apple.
[00:46:27.520 --> 00:46:30.560] And I said, Well, so what genre of dirty sprite do you want?
[00:46:30.560 --> 00:46:31.840] She said, I want the mango and passion fruit.
[00:46:31.920 --> 00:46:32.720] She said, Okay, fair enough.
[00:46:32.720 --> 00:46:35.600] So I went off and we got the dirty sprite, and I brought it back.
[00:46:35.600 --> 00:46:38.960] And what came back did not look like the ads from the bus stop.
[00:46:38.960 --> 00:46:44.080] No, where it was crystal clear and then had a nice luminous green stripe at the top.
[00:46:44.080 --> 00:46:45.040] Because it was from McDonald's.
[00:46:45.040 --> 00:46:49.680] Nothing you've ever bought from McDonald's has resembled anything you've ever seen in the adverts from McDonald's.
[00:46:49.680 --> 00:46:52.400] I'm guessing it looked more like an orange soda and lime.
[00:46:52.400 --> 00:46:54.560] It looked like an orange soda and lime is what it looked like.
[00:46:54.560 --> 00:46:54.640] Yeah.
[00:46:54.800 --> 00:46:56.000] There's mango and passion fruit in it.
[00:46:56.160 --> 00:47:01.920] You bought a Big Mac and it wasn't eight inches tall and made out of pure beef.
[00:47:02.560 --> 00:47:08.880] And it was weird because we tasted this thing and it somehow had less flavor than an actual sprite.
[00:47:09.200 --> 00:47:10.240] Somehow the you could.
[00:47:10.400 --> 00:47:12.240] It's like counteracted to the lemon and lime.
[00:47:12.240 --> 00:47:13.760] Is lemon and lime sprite?
[00:47:13.760 --> 00:47:14.560] Yes, it is, yeah.
[00:47:14.560 --> 00:47:15.040] Yeah.
[00:47:15.040 --> 00:47:17.640] You couldn't taste the mango and passion fruit in it all.
[00:47:17.760 --> 00:47:19.600] You could smell it, but it didn't affect it.
[00:47:19.560 --> 00:47:20.800] It was on the surface.
[00:47:20.800 --> 00:47:22.120] It didn't affect the flavour of it.
[00:47:22.000 --> 00:47:23.320] It was a reverse air up.
[00:47:23.720 --> 00:47:25.200] It was, it is like an air up.
[00:47:25.200 --> 00:47:26.240] It was weird.
[00:47:26.240 --> 00:47:27.680] It was so fucking weird.
[00:47:28.720 --> 00:47:31.640] Lana kind of said, the more I drink this, the less it tastes.
[00:47:32.680 --> 00:47:33.400] You know what?
[00:47:33.400 --> 00:47:37.800] I'm just going to go get myself a can of pop because that's fucking awful.
[00:47:38.120 --> 00:47:41.320] So, listeners, don't get into this sprite.
[00:47:41.720 --> 00:47:43.400] Fucking waste of time.
[00:47:47.560 --> 00:47:49.240] So, updates for QED.
[00:47:49.240 --> 00:47:55.720] The updates are coming in thick and fast now, and we've got an announcement for a new panel, which is a panel that you're running, Alice.
[00:47:55.720 --> 00:47:56.040] I am.
[00:47:56.040 --> 00:48:23.880] It's a panel that I haven't named yet, but we're colloquially calling it the Christian Nationalism Panel because, as we've talked about lots on the show, there's lots of things happening in the world at the minute that are bringing in lots of undercurrents of conservatism and Christian ideology into social media, into women's spaces in particular, into we've obviously seen it historically through the anti-abortion movement, and we're seeing some of that being really funneled through.
[00:48:23.880 --> 00:48:32.120] You've done some work, Marsh, on the really underhanded funding through the Alliance Defending Freedom and Christian Legal Centre and those types of things.
[00:48:32.120 --> 00:48:33.080] Yeah, absolutely.
[00:48:33.080 --> 00:48:35.720] So, we decided we'd do a panel on that sort of topic.
[00:48:35.720 --> 00:48:38.200] And we've got some great panelists on that panel.
[00:48:38.200 --> 00:48:43.080] We've got No Illusions, who is going to be talking about kind of that American Christian nationalism view.
[00:48:43.320 --> 00:48:44.280] He's one of the great panelists.
[00:48:44.280 --> 00:48:44.920] He's one of the great panelists.
[00:48:45.560 --> 00:48:47.480] We've got some great panelists and No Illusions.
[00:48:48.280 --> 00:48:49.400] That was how that came about.
[00:48:49.560 --> 00:48:50.920] This is the first one I'm naming.
[00:48:50.920 --> 00:48:51.320] Right.
[00:48:51.320 --> 00:48:57.880] And we've also got Andrew Copson from Educationists, who's going to be adding to that panel.
[00:48:57.880 --> 00:49:01.000] And then we've got Sean Norris, who we've also announced as a main stage speaker.
[00:49:01.000 --> 00:49:04.680] So she's going to be bringing that kind of feminist perspective to it as well.
[00:49:04.680 --> 00:49:10.600] She wrote a great book called Bodies Under Siege about exactly this sort of topic and movement.
[00:49:10.600 --> 00:49:12.840] So, I think it's going to be a really interesting panel.
[00:49:12.840 --> 00:49:13.720] I'm looking forward to it.
[00:49:13.720 --> 00:49:15.200] Yeah, that should be a good one.
[00:49:15.200 --> 00:49:18.080] We also, Mike, you're going to be hosting a true crime panel.
[00:49:18.080 --> 00:49:19.920] I am going to be doing a panel on true crime.
[00:49:19.920 --> 00:49:22.080] It's a panel called The Problem with True Crime.
[00:49:14.760 --> 00:49:22.240] Yeah.
[00:49:22.560 --> 00:49:24.960] So, true crime's obviously a huge thing, right?
[00:49:24.960 --> 00:49:29.280] It's a big, there's some of the biggest podcasts in the world now are true crime podcasts.
[00:49:29.440 --> 00:49:31.280] Obviously, Serial was massive back in the day.
[00:49:31.600 --> 00:49:33.760] Serial really started kicked all that off.
[00:49:34.000 --> 00:49:35.840] That really, that really kicked that off.
[00:49:35.840 --> 00:49:40.160] But in the social media age, true crime is kind of getting out of hand.
[00:49:40.160 --> 00:49:53.680] You see true crime fans turning up at crime scenes and interfering with crime scenes and interfering with investigations and starting conspiracy theories about, well, we think the investigation has got it wrong and they're covering it up and they've hidden the body and they've moved the body.
[00:49:53.680 --> 00:49:55.840] But even now, like it's really interesting.
[00:49:55.840 --> 00:50:12.160] I've been listening to some kind of trial stuff recently trying to get to grips with how trials work in different countries and influencers turning up to record videos outside of trials because there's such an obsession with crime just in general that there's a market for doing that.
[00:50:12.160 --> 00:50:22.000] And then, and even that, especially in the UK, that comes into other issues around if you're a journalist, you have a responsibility not to be essentially interfering with the process of the trial.
[00:50:22.000 --> 00:50:28.160] So there are reporting restrictions that you have to abide by and not filming the jury and things like that.
[00:50:28.160 --> 00:50:40.800] And then you have someone like Tommy Robinson would turn up and he would argue that that's proof that they're trying to protect the paedophiles because only I'm the only journalist willing to cover this when actually in reality you're the only one willing to break laws ethics.
[00:50:40.800 --> 00:50:41.440] You kind of have that.
[00:50:41.440 --> 00:50:43.200] I mean, it's not quite in the same kind of area.
[00:50:43.200 --> 00:50:53.520] The other thing I think is interesting with true crime stuff that I think is a fascinating development is that it's, I can understand when it was the ghoulish kind of macabre, oh god, isn't that awful?
[00:50:53.520 --> 00:50:56.240] Oh, you know, the scandal sheets type thing.
[00:50:56.240 --> 00:51:02.360] But it's like the modern true crime is almost kind of light entertainment, it's almost causy.
[00:50:59.520 --> 00:51:06.600] Yeah, you know, it's the only murderers in the building of like, oh, we're going to investigate it ourselves.
[00:51:06.760 --> 00:51:16.920] And obviously, that's a fictionalized version of things, but it feels like there are people who treat true crime as so which horrible murder are we going to be talking about over a glass of beer or a glass of wine this week.
[00:51:16.920 --> 00:51:19.560] And it just plays it off incredibly lightly.
[00:51:19.560 --> 00:51:19.960] Yeah.
[00:51:19.960 --> 00:51:22.760] Soft seekers, true crime, it means an awful lot to an awful lot of people.
[00:51:22.760 --> 00:51:27.240] A lot of people find a lot of pleasure and enjoyment out of it, but there are places where it gets out of hand.
[00:51:27.240 --> 00:51:31.080] And those are some of the things that we're going to be exploring at QED.
[00:51:31.080 --> 00:51:36.920] And so our panelists for that are going to be Icy Sedgwick, who is a folklorist.
[00:51:36.920 --> 00:51:41.240] She does a podcast called Fabulous Folklore and a fan of this kind of stuff.
[00:51:41.240 --> 00:51:43.880] She knows her onions on this kind of stuff, which is really good.
[00:51:43.880 --> 00:51:49.640] We will also have LaChia Osbourne Crowley, who I think this is one of her research interests.
[00:51:49.640 --> 00:51:52.280] Yes, she was incredibly excited by the idea of the panel.
[00:51:52.280 --> 00:51:53.560] She was like, sounds brilliant.
[00:51:53.560 --> 00:51:55.640] I'm very passionate about all of this stuff.
[00:51:55.960 --> 00:51:57.160] Yeah, it's perfect.
[00:51:57.160 --> 00:52:05.400] And Stella Gaynor, as well, who is from Liverpool John Moore's University, where she teaches film and media and horror and history and that.
[00:52:05.480 --> 00:52:13.480] And specifically, her current research project is called Murder Media, and it's all about murder and serial killers and how those stories are spread across the media at the moment.
[00:52:13.480 --> 00:52:15.000] So yeah, it's absolutely perfect.
[00:52:15.000 --> 00:52:20.440] And I'm going to have an awkward time on that panel if they don't agree with me thinking that this is a problem.
[00:52:21.400 --> 00:52:31.400] But also, you know, there are a lot of people who do like it, and there are people who would say that the critiques of true crime are heavily gendered because it is a genre that lends itself to more female audience.
[00:52:31.360 --> 00:52:38.360] And so, and so is some of the critique of the true crime genre just misogyny and sexism kind of tie like wrapping up in a different board?
[00:52:38.520 --> 00:52:54.560] And I'm really interested to hear Lucia's perspective on it because in her book about the Gillette Maxwell trial, she talked about wanting to bear witness for the victims, which is a perspective I haven't really heard in relation to true crime before, even though I can imagine that is a motivation for some people who are involved in it.
[00:52:54.560 --> 00:52:57.360] And that'll be an interesting perspective to hear, I think.
[00:52:57.680 --> 00:53:01.600] So you can see that at QED if you have your QED ticket, we will see you there.
[00:53:01.600 --> 00:53:03.200] That's going to be a fantastic time.
[00:53:03.200 --> 00:53:07.600] If you haven't got your QED ticket, we should be putting this panel out on the live stream.
[00:53:07.840 --> 00:53:09.280] There's no reason why we're not going to.
[00:53:09.280 --> 00:53:14.800] So if you don't have your streaming ticket and you're not coming to QED, you can acquire one at QEDcon.org.
[00:53:14.800 --> 00:53:20.320] They are £49, and that gets you access to the live stream of the main stage, the panel room, and the podcast.
[00:53:21.360 --> 00:53:23.680] Aside from that, then I think that's all we have time for.
[00:53:23.680 --> 00:53:24.240] I think it is.
[00:53:24.240 --> 00:53:26.640] All that remains then is to thank Marsh for coming on today.
[00:53:26.640 --> 00:53:27.120] Cheers.
[00:53:27.120 --> 00:53:28.000] Thank you to Alice.
[00:53:28.000 --> 00:53:28.560] Thank you.
[00:53:28.560 --> 00:53:31.280] We have been Skeptics with a K, and we will see you next time.
[00:53:31.280 --> 00:53:31.920] Bye now.
[00:53:31.920 --> 00:53:32.880] Bye.
[00:53:37.680 --> 00:53:42.720] Skeptics with a K is produced by Skeptic Media in association with the Merseyside Skeptic Society.
[00:53:42.720 --> 00:53:52.080] For questions or comments, email podcast at skepticswithakay.org and you can find out more about Merseyside Skeptics at merseyside skeptics.org.uk.
[00:54:01.680 --> 00:54:04.400] I might as well show you the AI lady.
[00:54:05.040 --> 00:54:08.240] Newenock.com, not doctor.clom.
[00:54:08.240 --> 00:54:09.760] I accidentally put an L in there.
[00:54:09.760 --> 00:54:11.840] Clom's a planet in Doctor Who?
[00:54:11.840 --> 00:54:14.320] Well, that's probably what I was referring to.
[00:54:15.520 --> 00:54:18.880] It's the twin planet at Rexicorica Falpatorius.
[00:54:19.840 --> 00:54:21.280] So I'll do it again.
[00:54:21.280 --> 00:54:25.840] So it's where PTK lives.