1 00:00:01,720 --> 00:00:08,600 Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media. 2 00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:15,080 Speaker 2: Welcome back to It Could Happen. Here's Spooky Week special presentation. 3 00:00:15,960 --> 00:00:19,520 Speaker 2: Ghost in the Machine, a first person account of the 4 00:00:19,560 --> 00:00:24,439 Speaker 2: twenty twenty three Oregon Ghost Conference. I'm Garrison Davis. In 5 00:00:24,480 --> 00:00:27,159 Speaker 2: the last episode, I introduced you to the hauntings of 6 00:00:27,240 --> 00:00:31,240 Speaker 2: Seaside and the first day of the conference. But now 7 00:00:31,280 --> 00:00:34,680 Speaker 2: descending into the subsequent two days, we're gonna get into 8 00:00:34,680 --> 00:00:38,640 Speaker 2: a lot more classes and events that started to reveal 9 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:45,000 Speaker 2: the cultural underpinnings of the Ghost Conference attendees. The cost 10 00:00:45,040 --> 00:00:48,120 Speaker 2: of entry for the conference was pretty low, but every 11 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:51,839 Speaker 2: class or ghost hunt was an additional fee, with classes 12 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:55,000 Speaker 2: ranging from fifteen to twenty five bucks each and the 13 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:59,720 Speaker 2: ghost investigations a lofty thirty five dollars per ticket, so 14 00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:02,720 Speaker 2: I had to pick and choose my classes carefully. There 15 00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:06,000 Speaker 2: were a lot of classes with the word energy in 16 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:09,959 Speaker 2: the title. I mostly avoided those, but the class topics 17 00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:16,560 Speaker 2: ranged from the afterlife to connecting with spirits, reiki, crystals, tarot, mediumship, 18 00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:21,319 Speaker 2: and psychic abilities. There were a few classes on witchcraft 19 00:01:21,319 --> 00:01:24,319 Speaker 2: and occult magic, but that was definitely not the general 20 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:27,759 Speaker 2: vibe of the conference or most attendees. In fact, there 21 00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:31,240 Speaker 2: was a lot of hostility to ritual magic and esoteric 22 00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:35,480 Speaker 2: practices throughout the conference from the more new ag energy 23 00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:40,319 Speaker 2: working speakers, mostly on the basis that witchcraft is linked 24 00:01:40,360 --> 00:01:45,120 Speaker 2: to dark forces. Just because someone operates on a form 25 00:01:45,160 --> 00:01:48,600 Speaker 2: of magical thinking does not mean that they take kindly 26 00:01:48,680 --> 00:01:52,240 Speaker 2: to arcane practices, a case in point to the historical 27 00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:56,040 Speaker 2: witch hunts led by the Christians. The Love and Light 28 00:01:56,320 --> 00:02:00,560 Speaker 2: new Age psychics, along with the paranormal investigator types, made 29 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:05,200 Speaker 2: up the majority of both attendees and class instructors. On 30 00:02:05,320 --> 00:02:08,720 Speaker 2: Saturday morning, while my friend Elaine was doing a hypnosis class, 31 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:11,160 Speaker 2: I took a really fun class on how to learn 32 00:02:11,280 --> 00:02:15,360 Speaker 2: remote viewing. The instructor was a very jovial woman, and 33 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:18,320 Speaker 2: it was her opinion that remote viewing is just a 34 00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:21,360 Speaker 2: skill that can be trained, not linked to any innate 35 00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:25,200 Speaker 2: psychic powers. With just a bit more practice, I'll be 36 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:29,040 Speaker 2: blowing up goats with my mind in no time. I 37 00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:32,240 Speaker 2: snuck in towards the end of the hypnotism class, just 38 00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:36,320 Speaker 2: in time for the group hypnosis session, where I ended 39 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:41,079 Speaker 2: up astral projecting into a Portland anarchist book. Fair taking 40 00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:45,000 Speaker 2: classes offered an intimate look at each presenter's own unique 41 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:48,840 Speaker 2: view of reality. Almost everyone at the conference was operating 42 00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:53,040 Speaker 2: on their own complete cosmology of how ghosts or paranormal 43 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:56,760 Speaker 2: entities work. There's two classes I want to focus on. 44 00:02:57,240 --> 00:03:01,120 Speaker 2: Each had very different class descriptions, but ended up piggybacking 45 00:03:01,160 --> 00:03:04,480 Speaker 2: off each other in some really interesting ways. The first 46 00:03:04,480 --> 00:03:09,480 Speaker 2: one was titled The Power of Entity Extraction. The instructor 47 00:03:09,639 --> 00:03:11,840 Speaker 2: was a blonde, white woman who referred to herself as 48 00:03:11,919 --> 00:03:16,320 Speaker 2: a quote unquote shamanic practitioner. The class was about how 49 00:03:16,440 --> 00:03:20,959 Speaker 2: quote unresolved trauma can be an invitation to ethnic hitchhikers, 50 00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:24,919 Speaker 2: and how entities mimic signs of mental illness and change 51 00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:30,560 Speaker 2: behavior unquote. The other class was titled The Warrior Angel 52 00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:34,040 Speaker 2: Within You. It sought to help you find out if 53 00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:38,000 Speaker 2: you secretly had the soul of a warrior angel. Spoiler, 54 00:03:38,040 --> 00:03:40,880 Speaker 2: everyone in the class did, and it promised to teach 55 00:03:40,920 --> 00:03:43,640 Speaker 2: you how to activate your connection between yourself and your 56 00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:49,480 Speaker 2: angelic consciousness to unlock your own angel powers. So, while 57 00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:54,240 Speaker 2: having many operational differences, the Warrior Angel class and the 58 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:58,000 Speaker 2: Entity Extraction class were both very set in their own 59 00:03:58,240 --> 00:04:02,680 Speaker 2: unique ontologies, and in order for their respective operative metaphysics 60 00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:06,280 Speaker 2: to work, they needed to be extremely dogmatic about their 61 00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:10,640 Speaker 2: own ontology. Both instructors also had a very similar story 62 00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:14,200 Speaker 2: of some past trauma leading to a mystical encounter which 63 00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:18,880 Speaker 2: then awakened some spiritual insight and hidden power. For the 64 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:21,440 Speaker 2: entity extraction class, it was quote, I was a very 65 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:23,640 Speaker 2: sickly kid. I had all these things that were wrong 66 00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:26,440 Speaker 2: with me, and then I realized I had dark entities 67 00:04:26,480 --> 00:04:29,120 Speaker 2: attached to me. But I could learn how to extract 68 00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:33,520 Speaker 2: and remove them myself. Versus the Warrior Angel class, the 69 00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:36,680 Speaker 2: person's backstory was quote when I was nineteen years old, 70 00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:39,160 Speaker 2: I got into a bad motorcycle accident. I was clinically 71 00:04:39,160 --> 00:04:42,080 Speaker 2: dead for two minutes, received a brain injury, and then 72 00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:47,440 Speaker 2: I started seeing angels unquote. Both women's personal journeys seemed 73 00:04:47,440 --> 00:04:50,320 Speaker 2: like they helped them deal with their own traumas. In 74 00:04:50,360 --> 00:04:53,600 Speaker 2: the case of the Shamanic Practitioner woman, she regained her 75 00:04:53,640 --> 00:04:57,360 Speaker 2: health and now has a seemingly successful life and business 76 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:02,880 Speaker 2: of removing entities and quota quote soul coaching. The Warrior 77 00:05:02,920 --> 00:05:06,040 Speaker 2: Angel woman is a nurse and finds time to write 78 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:09,760 Speaker 2: a lot of books, all while murdering demons and expelling 79 00:05:09,800 --> 00:05:13,960 Speaker 2: the forces of darkness. While only the entity extraction class 80 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:17,839 Speaker 2: build itself as having to do with entity removal. Both 81 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:20,520 Speaker 2: classes were incredibly focused on the idea that there are 82 00:05:20,839 --> 00:05:26,080 Speaker 2: malevolent spirits or demons everywhere in the entity class. These 83 00:05:26,400 --> 00:05:29,800 Speaker 2: dark entities are out looking for people with quote unquote 84 00:05:30,120 --> 00:05:33,760 Speaker 2: soul fractures due to past trauma and are just like 85 00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:39,320 Speaker 2: waiting to leap onto people and dig themselves into their minds. Similarly, 86 00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:44,400 Speaker 2: according to the Warrior Angel class, demons are everywhere. Demons 87 00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:47,919 Speaker 2: live around and inside people, but are only visible to 88 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:52,719 Speaker 2: those with angelic sight. The entity extraction class laid out 89 00:05:52,880 --> 00:05:57,320 Speaker 2: two main types of beings, lost or benign entities that 90 00:05:57,360 --> 00:06:00,440 Speaker 2: are just trapped in the third dimension, and as they're 91 00:06:00,440 --> 00:06:03,640 Speaker 2: trying to pass on to quote unquote the light, they 92 00:06:03,720 --> 00:06:07,960 Speaker 2: end up attaching onto a human versus the overtly dark 93 00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:11,800 Speaker 2: or demonic entities which seek to feed off people's pain 94 00:06:11,880 --> 00:06:16,039 Speaker 2: and suffering. We learned that benign entities can just be 95 00:06:16,120 --> 00:06:19,520 Speaker 2: lost human souls. For instance, if someone is taking a 96 00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:23,560 Speaker 2: lot of medication or is going through chemotherapy, when they die, 97 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:26,080 Speaker 2: their soul won't be able to cross over to the 98 00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:28,960 Speaker 2: light and it'll become lost. According at least to this 99 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:33,920 Speaker 2: shamanic practitioner, she claimed to be trained in a special 100 00:06:34,040 --> 00:06:39,040 Speaker 2: technique to remove entities. It involves quote ethertically locking your 101 00:06:39,080 --> 00:06:42,640 Speaker 2: wrists to draw the entity into a double terminated crystal, 102 00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:45,680 Speaker 2: at which point it can then be sent into the 103 00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:51,800 Speaker 2: light unquote. Since the shaman woman wasn't actually offering ways 104 00:06:51,839 --> 00:06:55,320 Speaker 2: for other people to protect themselves from entities, the only 105 00:06:55,400 --> 00:06:58,400 Speaker 2: thing she had to offer was her own worldview that 106 00:06:58,520 --> 00:07:02,200 Speaker 2: leans towards a pair of where dark spirits are waiting 107 00:07:02,200 --> 00:07:07,200 Speaker 2: to latch on and cause mental illness. She talked about 108 00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:10,920 Speaker 2: how a man with mood fluctuations paid her money to 109 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:14,320 Speaker 2: remove a quote unquote nine foot minute taur that was 110 00:07:14,360 --> 00:07:17,800 Speaker 2: attached to him. At least in the Warrior Angel system, 111 00:07:17,880 --> 00:07:21,200 Speaker 2: you could eventually gain some form of agency when you 112 00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:24,400 Speaker 2: merge with your Warrior Angel, but then you would spend 113 00:07:24,400 --> 00:07:26,880 Speaker 2: the rest of your life recognizing demons in human form 114 00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:29,360 Speaker 2: and working with the Legion of Light to banish them 115 00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:33,400 Speaker 2: to the darkness, Whereas in the entity attraction class, the 116 00:07:33,480 --> 00:07:36,560 Speaker 2: most you could do was just be proactive by quote 117 00:07:36,640 --> 00:07:41,400 Speaker 2: unquote learning ways to identify possible attachments and how your 118 00:07:41,520 --> 00:07:45,520 Speaker 2: lifestyle could be an open invitation to host the unwanted. 119 00:07:46,440 --> 00:07:50,640 Speaker 2: Though she identified herself as a shamanic practitioner, she didn't 120 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:54,760 Speaker 2: believe you could actually work with spirits. When people asked 121 00:07:54,760 --> 00:07:57,440 Speaker 2: her about their own helper entities that they work with, 122 00:07:58,040 --> 00:07:59,960 Speaker 2: she said that you can never know if a hell 123 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:03,920 Speaker 2: helper spirit is actually intending to assist you. That is, 124 00:08:03,960 --> 00:08:06,560 Speaker 2: except if you ask an entity if it's of the light, 125 00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:09,800 Speaker 2: it has to answer truthfully. As this was a quote 126 00:08:09,840 --> 00:08:13,320 Speaker 2: unquote universal law. That was the phrase she used. It's 127 00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:16,560 Speaker 2: a quote unquote universal law that if you ask an 128 00:08:16,640 --> 00:08:20,080 Speaker 2: entity if it's of the light, it has to answer truthfully. 129 00:08:20,240 --> 00:08:20,720 Speaker 1: There was no. 130 00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:24,560 Speaker 2: Indication on who wrote this universal law, who enforces this 131 00:08:24,720 --> 00:08:28,200 Speaker 2: universal law, if there's a universal police force making sure 132 00:08:28,200 --> 00:08:32,080 Speaker 2: that the entities are following these rules. None of that 133 00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:35,560 Speaker 2: was explained. But this is a universal law. So that 134 00:08:35,679 --> 00:08:37,480 Speaker 2: is a tip for any of you listeners. If you 135 00:08:37,520 --> 00:08:39,360 Speaker 2: ever meet an entity that you think might be a 136 00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:42,160 Speaker 2: little bit sketchy, just ask if it's of the light. 137 00:08:42,679 --> 00:08:47,640 Speaker 2: It has to answer truthfully. So, despite this universal law business, 138 00:08:48,200 --> 00:08:51,080 Speaker 2: she still discouraged people from trying to work with entities 139 00:08:51,120 --> 00:08:54,040 Speaker 2: in general. She said that if an entity is trying 140 00:08:54,080 --> 00:08:57,560 Speaker 2: to help you, it's probably of the dark. And working 141 00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:00,720 Speaker 2: with any spirits at all will make you more susceptible 142 00:09:00,920 --> 00:09:05,120 Speaker 2: to entity attachment, which is definitely weird because she did 143 00:09:05,240 --> 00:09:08,559 Speaker 2: very specifically try to claim some sort of shamanic lineage, 144 00:09:09,200 --> 00:09:13,000 Speaker 2: and this blanket hostility to spirit really doesn't follow the 145 00:09:13,040 --> 00:09:16,320 Speaker 2: way most shamanic practices work. So I did some digging, 146 00:09:16,400 --> 00:09:19,120 Speaker 2: and it turns out she got her training from a 147 00:09:19,240 --> 00:09:24,560 Speaker 2: controversial quote unquote shamanism school called the Four Winds, which 148 00:09:24,720 --> 00:09:30,160 Speaker 2: repackages New Age of spirituality as quote unquote neo shamanism. 149 00:09:30,600 --> 00:09:33,400 Speaker 2: So even though you shouldn't be in contact with really 150 00:09:33,520 --> 00:09:37,280 Speaker 2: any spirits, according to the shamanic practitioner, in the Warrior 151 00:09:37,280 --> 00:09:39,640 Speaker 2: Angel class, we learned that if you have the soul 152 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:44,800 Speaker 2: of a warrior Angel, you can quote unquote communicate with ghosts, angels, God, 153 00:09:45,320 --> 00:09:49,959 Speaker 2: the Galactic Federation Council, and the Council of Elders. Now 154 00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:54,160 Speaker 2: I know you're probably wondering what the Galactic Federation Council is, 155 00:09:54,200 --> 00:09:57,680 Speaker 2: because I was too. We never found out. We never 156 00:09:57,720 --> 00:10:00,079 Speaker 2: really got a clue. You had to buy the books 157 00:10:00,120 --> 00:10:03,679 Speaker 2: for that one. The Warrior Angel instructor claims to have 158 00:10:03,880 --> 00:10:07,760 Speaker 2: her own angelic hierarchy that wasn't based on any other system, 159 00:10:08,160 --> 00:10:12,240 Speaker 2: just her own experiences. A Warrior Angel is a quote 160 00:10:12,640 --> 00:10:15,880 Speaker 2: special kind of angel, fully trained in the art of 161 00:10:15,960 --> 00:10:19,680 Speaker 2: war by the Legion of Light, an elite team of 162 00:10:19,760 --> 00:10:23,640 Speaker 2: demon slayers unquote, and no, I don't think she has 163 00:10:23,679 --> 00:10:28,200 Speaker 2: seen the anime. What makes the Warrior Angel special is 164 00:10:28,200 --> 00:10:31,920 Speaker 2: that it can be incarnated in the physical form as 165 00:10:31,960 --> 00:10:37,080 Speaker 2: a human, but only archangels can kill or banish demons 166 00:10:37,200 --> 00:10:40,880 Speaker 2: back to the dark realm. The Warrior Angel can scare 167 00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:43,800 Speaker 2: demons away with their angelic presence, but they can also 168 00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:46,840 Speaker 2: act as spies to inform the Legion of Light as 169 00:10:46,880 --> 00:10:52,120 Speaker 2: to demon whereabouts. Each Warrior Angel has special abilities, usually 170 00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:56,080 Speaker 2: healing or manifesting, as well as the ability to create 171 00:10:56,240 --> 00:10:59,439 Speaker 2: infinity orbs, which can be used for protection or to 172 00:10:59,559 --> 00:11:02,520 Speaker 2: trap ad inside and send it back to the Dark 173 00:11:02,559 --> 00:11:07,880 Speaker 2: realm within the orb. Now you're probably wondering what's in 174 00:11:07,960 --> 00:11:12,640 Speaker 2: infinity orb. We don't know either. We never got a 175 00:11:12,679 --> 00:11:16,319 Speaker 2: good explanation for what an infinity orb is, how to 176 00:11:16,440 --> 00:11:19,719 Speaker 2: make one, how they work. It was very vague. I 177 00:11:19,720 --> 00:11:22,480 Speaker 2: guess that is also in the book. Along with the 178 00:11:22,520 --> 00:11:28,520 Speaker 2: Galactic Federation Council. There are apparently over three million Warrior 179 00:11:28,559 --> 00:11:31,360 Speaker 2: Angels walking the Earth today, most of which have been 180 00:11:31,400 --> 00:11:34,880 Speaker 2: sent to Earth in the past two hundred years because quote, 181 00:11:35,160 --> 00:11:38,320 Speaker 2: the darkness has spread over the Earth, and in the 182 00:11:38,400 --> 00:11:44,440 Speaker 2: last two hundred years, it's really gotten worse unquote. Now, thankfully, I, 183 00:11:44,679 --> 00:11:47,559 Speaker 2: along with everyone else in the class, was informed that 184 00:11:47,960 --> 00:11:51,640 Speaker 2: I'm actually one of these three million warrior Angels. And 185 00:11:51,840 --> 00:11:57,360 Speaker 2: I was told my angel name Araman, whose specialty is communication. 186 00:12:01,280 --> 00:12:06,720 Speaker 2: Oh fucking fuck. Okay, Apparently things on Earth have gotten 187 00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:09,920 Speaker 2: worse enough that, under the command of God, the Legion 188 00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:13,439 Speaker 2: of Light has resorted to killing demons more often because 189 00:12:13,640 --> 00:12:15,880 Speaker 2: more and more of them just keep coming back from 190 00:12:15,920 --> 00:12:19,400 Speaker 2: the dark realm. The lady running the class told us 191 00:12:19,440 --> 00:12:23,880 Speaker 2: that she wasn't just a warrior angel, she was actually 192 00:12:24,240 --> 00:12:29,280 Speaker 2: the archangel Ariel. As the angel Ariel, she said that 193 00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:32,880 Speaker 2: she's killed four thousand demons in the past six years. 194 00:12:34,160 --> 00:12:37,760 Speaker 2: Something that's a little bit disturbing about this is that 195 00:12:37,800 --> 00:12:41,959 Speaker 2: she also explained that in a past life, Ariel got 196 00:12:41,960 --> 00:12:46,079 Speaker 2: in trouble with God because when she was out killing demons, 197 00:12:46,640 --> 00:12:50,400 Speaker 2: she actually was also killing the human host of the demon. 198 00:12:51,400 --> 00:12:55,640 Speaker 2: So the fact that this person whose job is a 199 00:12:55,760 --> 00:13:00,520 Speaker 2: nurse is claimed to have killed four thousand and demons 200 00:13:00,520 --> 00:13:03,320 Speaker 2: in the past six years is maybe a little bit concerning. 201 00:13:03,559 --> 00:13:07,679 Speaker 2: Someone should look into that. The whole Warrior Angel cosmology 202 00:13:07,800 --> 00:13:12,559 Speaker 2: was very rooted in Christian Millenarianism, an apocalyptic end times 203 00:13:12,640 --> 00:13:17,680 Speaker 2: theology where social and political crisises accelerate, leading to a 204 00:13:17,720 --> 00:13:21,240 Speaker 2: holy war between good and evil, resulting in the triumph 205 00:13:21,280 --> 00:13:24,439 Speaker 2: of good and the establishing of a one thousand year 206 00:13:24,520 --> 00:13:29,360 Speaker 2: kingdom of God on Earth before the final judgment. One 207 00:13:29,400 --> 00:13:32,440 Speaker 2: of the darkest parts of the whole weekend for me 208 00:13:33,280 --> 00:13:35,680 Speaker 2: was that there was this one woman who appeared to 209 00:13:35,679 --> 00:13:38,920 Speaker 2: be in her twenties who was very obviously dealing with 210 00:13:38,960 --> 00:13:42,560 Speaker 2: some sort of problem in her life. She talked with 211 00:13:42,640 --> 00:13:46,440 Speaker 2: this Warrior Angel woman for four hours. It was a 212 00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:48,560 Speaker 2: one hour class. We then had a break, we went 213 00:13:48,600 --> 00:13:51,720 Speaker 2: to another class, and then attended the second class, which 214 00:13:51,760 --> 00:13:56,280 Speaker 2: was also an hour. Throughout that entire time, this obviously 215 00:13:56,360 --> 00:14:00,440 Speaker 2: depressed young woman who was dealing with something was talking 216 00:14:00,480 --> 00:14:03,880 Speaker 2: with this person about the Warrior Angel thing, and that 217 00:14:03,960 --> 00:14:07,480 Speaker 2: just felt extremely exploitative, and it was one of the 218 00:14:07,480 --> 00:14:09,880 Speaker 2: things that actually just made me feel the most bad 219 00:14:09,880 --> 00:14:14,520 Speaker 2: about the entire ghost conference. The entity extraction class didn't 220 00:14:14,559 --> 00:14:17,720 Speaker 2: have any information on how we can remove an entity, 221 00:14:18,240 --> 00:14:21,120 Speaker 2: and aside from the second hour, in which the instructor 222 00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:24,520 Speaker 2: came and told us our angel names. The Warrior Angel 223 00:14:24,520 --> 00:14:26,880 Speaker 2: class wasn't actually about how to connect with your angel. 224 00:14:27,240 --> 00:14:30,120 Speaker 2: We never learned how to make a fit in the orbs. Instead, 225 00:14:30,400 --> 00:14:33,960 Speaker 2: both classes were just pitches for the books and services 226 00:14:34,240 --> 00:14:36,720 Speaker 2: of the people teaching them, and the class was a 227 00:14:36,840 --> 00:14:39,560 Speaker 2: chance for them to weave the story of their particular 228 00:14:39,600 --> 00:14:55,400 Speaker 2: worldview and sell it to the class attendees. Saturday night, 229 00:14:55,520 --> 00:14:59,200 Speaker 2: Elayne and I signed up for another ghost investigation. With 230 00:14:59,320 --> 00:15:02,400 Speaker 2: one already under our belt, we felt better prepared to 231 00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:06,160 Speaker 2: yell at blinking lights and converse with the dead. I 232 00:15:06,240 --> 00:15:09,640 Speaker 2: actually really liked this second investigation. It was led by 233 00:15:09,720 --> 00:15:13,160 Speaker 2: a ghost hunting team from Astoria, Oregon, and this time 234 00:15:13,280 --> 00:15:16,040 Speaker 2: it was to take place at the Old Massonic Temple 235 00:15:16,160 --> 00:15:19,600 Speaker 2: in Seaside. The setting was a big part of what 236 00:15:19,760 --> 00:15:22,320 Speaker 2: up to the cool factor. The building had only been 237 00:15:22,400 --> 00:15:26,080 Speaker 2: vacant since twenty seventeen, but the harsh coastal weather of 238 00:15:26,120 --> 00:15:30,080 Speaker 2: northern Oregon had not been kind to the structure. All Right, 239 00:15:30,160 --> 00:15:34,080 Speaker 2: it is Saturday night, March twenty fifth. We are inside 240 00:15:34,120 --> 00:15:39,080 Speaker 2: the Old Massanic Lodge in the Seaside, Oregon. Right now, 241 00:15:39,080 --> 00:15:41,320 Speaker 2: we're I'm just walking into the big, the big kind 242 00:15:41,360 --> 00:15:46,400 Speaker 2: of ceremony ritual performance room. Once we got to the 243 00:15:46,440 --> 00:15:50,160 Speaker 2: main room upstairs, people began setting up rempods and what 244 00:15:50,240 --> 00:15:54,440 Speaker 2: are essentially motion activated light up cat toys. The idea 245 00:15:54,480 --> 00:15:57,720 Speaker 2: is if some energetic force is passing through, it would 246 00:15:57,760 --> 00:16:01,120 Speaker 2: light up the little catball. About thirty people from the 247 00:16:01,160 --> 00:16:04,800 Speaker 2: ghost hunt crammed into the lodge. The rempods started going 248 00:16:04,840 --> 00:16:09,160 Speaker 2: off like crazy. The investigators had to repeatedly remind the 249 00:16:09,160 --> 00:16:12,200 Speaker 2: ghosts to only touch the lights when answering a question. 250 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:16,080 Speaker 2: There was a male medium present at this ghost hunt, 251 00:16:16,440 --> 00:16:20,040 Speaker 2: and he remarked as to why there was seemingly so 252 00:16:20,200 --> 00:16:24,880 Speaker 2: much activity. Quote some spirits aren't happy about the women 253 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:29,840 Speaker 2: being here unquote. At this point, some of the investigators 254 00:16:29,880 --> 00:16:33,920 Speaker 2: got really combative with potential spirits after the woman line 255 00:16:33,960 --> 00:16:37,480 Speaker 2: from the medium. One line was quote, do you want 256 00:16:37,560 --> 00:16:41,160 Speaker 2: to know why there are all these females here? If so, 257 00:16:41,760 --> 00:16:45,480 Speaker 2: give us a green light unquote. This is where the 258 00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:50,480 Speaker 2: ghost hunt basically turned into a weird interrogation once again. 259 00:16:50,560 --> 00:16:54,280 Speaker 2: It became a contest of injecting meaning during these little 260 00:16:54,560 --> 00:16:57,240 Speaker 2: intervals of time in between when the lights flicker. 261 00:17:01,920 --> 00:17:04,440 Speaker 3: Do you think trans people are valid, and then if 262 00:17:04,440 --> 00:17:05,560 Speaker 3: it lights up, that means. 263 00:17:05,400 --> 00:17:12,120 Speaker 2: It's yes, yes, breaking news from seaside, Oregon. Ghosts do 264 00:17:12,240 --> 00:17:15,280 Speaker 2: believe that trans people are valid, although they do not 265 00:17:15,440 --> 00:17:20,120 Speaker 2: understand neo pronouns. Look, I just report the news. At 266 00:17:20,119 --> 00:17:23,600 Speaker 2: this point we changed things up from the regular arguing 267 00:17:23,640 --> 00:17:27,280 Speaker 2: with blinking lights. We did an experiment with the radio 268 00:17:27,320 --> 00:17:31,639 Speaker 2: frequency sweeping spirit Box using what's called the Estis method. 269 00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:36,040 Speaker 2: It combines the spirit box with sensory deprivation to reduce 270 00:17:36,080 --> 00:17:39,439 Speaker 2: the amount of external influence on the person listening to 271 00:17:39,480 --> 00:17:43,080 Speaker 2: the spirit box. One person puts on a blindfold and 272 00:17:43,160 --> 00:17:46,399 Speaker 2: noise canceling headphones plugged into the spirit box so they 273 00:17:46,400 --> 00:17:49,640 Speaker 2: can speak aloud any words coming through the box without 274 00:17:49,680 --> 00:17:54,119 Speaker 2: hearing the questions or comments from other investigators. Obviously, the 275 00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:57,280 Speaker 2: conversation doesn't always line up, but there are often moments 276 00:17:57,320 --> 00:18:01,399 Speaker 2: where it does form a fun synchronicity. I volunteered to 277 00:18:01,480 --> 00:18:04,240 Speaker 2: try out being the human speaker for the spirit box. 278 00:18:04,880 --> 00:18:07,119 Speaker 2: Although I only did it for a few minutes, pretty 279 00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:09,199 Speaker 2: quickly I was able to get into a sort of 280 00:18:09,320 --> 00:18:13,119 Speaker 2: meditative trance estate. The thing about being the one with 281 00:18:13,240 --> 00:18:17,679 Speaker 2: the blindfold and noise canceling headphones pumping radio static directly 282 00:18:17,720 --> 00:18:21,119 Speaker 2: into your ears. Is that in the moment, you have 283 00:18:21,359 --> 00:18:25,119 Speaker 2: no idea what's going on as intended. You only have 284 00:18:25,240 --> 00:18:27,840 Speaker 2: access to one side of the conversation, and if you 285 00:18:27,880 --> 00:18:30,920 Speaker 2: get into a meditative state, it's hard to even remember 286 00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:34,240 Speaker 2: what you've been saying. So I only got to hear 287 00:18:34,280 --> 00:18:37,600 Speaker 2: the full conversation by listening to my recording when putting 288 00:18:37,600 --> 00:18:41,480 Speaker 2: together these episodes. Unfortunately, I can't play most of that 289 00:18:41,520 --> 00:18:44,800 Speaker 2: recording because there's too many random people's voices, but I'll 290 00:18:44,880 --> 00:18:48,600 Speaker 2: narrate a few brief exchanges. One of the first things 291 00:18:48,600 --> 00:18:53,560 Speaker 2: that came through was the word cold. People replied, yeah, 292 00:18:53,600 --> 00:18:57,560 Speaker 2: it's freezing in here. Can you feel cold? I then replied, 293 00:18:58,320 --> 00:19:05,600 Speaker 2: I don't, followed by I exist. After this, apparently someone 294 00:19:05,760 --> 00:19:08,800 Speaker 2: was leaving the room to go downstairs, and I said, 295 00:19:09,640 --> 00:19:15,160 Speaker 2: don't go. I can't follow off. Station people then asked 296 00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:18,000 Speaker 2: the ghost if they knew what the building was used for. 297 00:19:18,760 --> 00:19:24,640 Speaker 2: I replied, you will want to find out. That's the thing. 298 00:19:25,520 --> 00:19:29,840 Speaker 2: Radio calling. People then asked where are you right now? 299 00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:34,879 Speaker 2: Can you tell us? I replied, I don't know lots 300 00:19:34,880 --> 00:19:39,840 Speaker 2: of things. A short time later, I heard stop following 301 00:19:40,359 --> 00:19:44,560 Speaker 2: you too. We've had a cut. I'll play the audio 302 00:19:44,640 --> 00:19:48,240 Speaker 2: of the very final thing. I said, I can't do anymore. 303 00:19:50,320 --> 00:19:54,680 Speaker 1: Stop. You're welcome, ju Ya Stockow. 304 00:19:55,680 --> 00:19:57,400 Speaker 2: So that's when I decided it would be a good 305 00:19:57,400 --> 00:20:00,160 Speaker 2: time to take off the headphones. We had a few 306 00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:02,600 Speaker 2: other exchanges when I was listening to the spirit box, 307 00:20:02,640 --> 00:20:06,320 Speaker 2: but it's all kind of in that style. Apparently, when 308 00:20:06,359 --> 00:20:08,840 Speaker 2: I was hooked up to the spirit box, the rempods 309 00:20:08,920 --> 00:20:11,440 Speaker 2: in the other room were going absolutely berserk. 310 00:20:12,520 --> 00:20:19,040 Speaker 4: Both of these just have been going off, like now 311 00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:22,000 Speaker 4: they're being quiet. 312 00:20:22,160 --> 00:20:26,240 Speaker 3: They've just been doing that interesting for the entire time. 313 00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:31,600 Speaker 2: Not entirely surprising considering the amount of radio waves being 314 00:20:31,680 --> 00:20:36,439 Speaker 2: pumped around the lodge. But after spending about an hour upstairs, 315 00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:40,399 Speaker 2: the group made their way to the lower, more recreational floor. 316 00:20:40,160 --> 00:20:43,680 Speaker 3: Of the temple. All right, we are going downstairs now. 317 00:20:43,720 --> 00:20:47,920 Speaker 3: After going through the entire upstairs, mainly this large room 318 00:20:47,960 --> 00:20:50,880 Speaker 3: and then like the chain rooms where they would store 319 00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:54,399 Speaker 3: their robes and shit. To close off the night, the 320 00:20:54,480 --> 00:20:58,440 Speaker 3: lead investigators pulled out an old Panasonic digital voice recorder 321 00:20:58,680 --> 00:21:02,360 Speaker 3: to try and capture any electronic ghost voices that might 322 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:06,119 Speaker 3: be trying to communicate. A woman turned on the voice 323 00:21:06,160 --> 00:21:10,200 Speaker 3: activated recording device and asked quote, if any spirits want 324 00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:14,359 Speaker 3: to communicate, please say a word or make a sound unquote, 325 00:21:14,680 --> 00:21:18,040 Speaker 3: And then when the recording was played back after the 326 00:21:18,040 --> 00:21:22,480 Speaker 3: investigator spoke, a large growl was heard on the recording. 327 00:21:31,480 --> 00:21:34,440 Speaker 3: She then asked if the spirit is male, and when 328 00:21:34,480 --> 00:21:39,720 Speaker 3: played back, there was another growl, seemingly in response. More 329 00:21:39,760 --> 00:21:42,480 Speaker 3: people were starting to theorize that the ghosts of the 330 00:21:42,480 --> 00:21:46,360 Speaker 3: Masonic Lodge were angry that there were women in the building. 331 00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:50,440 Speaker 3: A guy then asked some questions into the voice recorder, 332 00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:53,840 Speaker 3: and there was no response from any ghosts in the recording. 333 00:21:54,680 --> 00:21:57,760 Speaker 3: A woman tried asking some of the same questions, quote 334 00:21:58,480 --> 00:22:01,879 Speaker 3: is there an issue about my spirits? Do you not 335 00:22:02,119 --> 00:22:04,480 Speaker 3: want us to be here? Specifically women? 336 00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:09,960 Speaker 2: Unquote? The first query alluded no response, but after the 337 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:19,200 Speaker 2: second question, another growl was heard. Okay. At the time, 338 00:22:19,320 --> 00:22:22,240 Speaker 2: this was by far the most interesting result of the 339 00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:26,960 Speaker 2: two ghost investigations. We went on to everyone there they 340 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:31,760 Speaker 2: captured evidence of a genuine ghost in that machine. There 341 00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:36,119 Speaker 2: is an interesting contrast between the progressive ghosts of the 342 00:22:36,160 --> 00:22:43,480 Speaker 2: Spiritualists and their egalitarian afterlife versus the misogynistic ghosts from 343 00:22:43,520 --> 00:22:49,080 Speaker 2: the Freemason Lodge. It's unclear if whatever Afterlife. The Freemason 344 00:22:49,119 --> 00:22:53,720 Speaker 2: Ghosts are In is also home to the abolitionist George Washington. 345 00:22:54,800 --> 00:22:58,440 Speaker 2: Besides the classes and ghost hunts, there were also free 346 00:22:58,520 --> 00:23:01,800 Speaker 2: lectures on the main stage of the convention center. Going 347 00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:05,040 Speaker 2: into the conference, the talk I was most excited about 348 00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:07,320 Speaker 2: was titled AI necronomics. 349 00:23:08,200 --> 00:23:08,680 Speaker 3: This is a. 350 00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:11,560 Speaker 2: Topic I've been pretty interested in the past few years. 351 00:23:12,320 --> 00:23:16,040 Speaker 2: Deep fake learning algorithms have been steadily improving, and with 352 00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:19,480 Speaker 2: the help of skilled VFX artists, AI is able to 353 00:23:19,600 --> 00:23:24,360 Speaker 2: pretty accurately replicate the voice and facial movements of dead celebrities. 354 00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:31,119 Speaker 2: But necromantic technology is interlimited to resurrecting someone's appearance. Some 355 00:23:31,280 --> 00:23:36,080 Speaker 2: AIS are trained to replicate people's expressive thoughts. There's a 356 00:23:36,119 --> 00:23:40,800 Speaker 2: website called The Infinite Conversation. The website plays a never 357 00:23:41,040 --> 00:23:46,120 Speaker 2: ending AI generated conversation between Werner Herzog and Slavoy Jijiak. 358 00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:50,320 Speaker 1: Maybe you were to control and saw on maybe didn't 359 00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:53,480 Speaker 1: touch you enough. I had the feeling that I was 360 00:23:53,520 --> 00:23:56,400 Speaker 1: in the wax Museum, that what I saw was something 361 00:23:56,480 --> 00:23:58,880 Speaker 1: occasionally dis but hollow. 362 00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:00,680 Speaker 2: Like Hora wax figures. 363 00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:02,800 Speaker 1: But yes, it did touch. 364 00:24:02,680 --> 00:24:06,520 Speaker 2: Me every day. More of the conversation is generated by 365 00:24:06,560 --> 00:24:10,160 Speaker 2: an AI language model trained on interviews and the writings 366 00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:14,320 Speaker 2: of each respective speaker. Each time you load the website, 367 00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:18,320 Speaker 2: it reminds you that everything you hear is just the 368 00:24:18,359 --> 00:24:23,080 Speaker 2: hallucinations of a slab of silicon. A couple months before 369 00:24:23,119 --> 00:24:26,800 Speaker 2: the Ghost conference, I was at the Consumer Electronics showcase 370 00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:30,440 Speaker 2: in Las Vegas. There was this booth in the US 371 00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:33,920 Speaker 2: government sponsored section of the event for a company called 372 00:24:34,119 --> 00:24:38,800 Speaker 2: mind Bank AI. I talked with their director of Systems, 373 00:24:38,880 --> 00:24:43,359 Speaker 2: Architecture and Cybersecurity, who used to work for the NSSA. 374 00:24:44,520 --> 00:24:48,480 Speaker 2: Mind Bank seeks to create unique quote unquote digital twins 375 00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:51,840 Speaker 2: by having users that input data about themselves into an 376 00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:55,600 Speaker 2: AI every day. Your digital twin will ask you questions 377 00:24:55,600 --> 00:24:58,199 Speaker 2: about how you're feeling and what you're thinking about, and 378 00:24:58,280 --> 00:25:00,760 Speaker 2: your answers will be used to make a more accurate 379 00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:05,600 Speaker 2: digital copy of yourself. According to mind Bank's website, your 380 00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:09,040 Speaker 2: digital twin will quote learn to think like you by 381 00:25:09,080 --> 00:25:14,240 Speaker 2: analyzing your answers unquote. Their CEO claims that this process 382 00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:19,320 Speaker 2: will eventually help him achieve immortality. The current model of 383 00:25:19,359 --> 00:25:23,040 Speaker 2: this product is being billed as a therapy app, where 384 00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:25,720 Speaker 2: the user talks to their digital twin as you would 385 00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:28,960 Speaker 2: a therapist, and the app responds to here data inputs 386 00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:32,720 Speaker 2: with quote unquote, valuable insight into each answer to understand 387 00:25:32,800 --> 00:25:38,000 Speaker 2: how your mind works using cutting edge cognitive and psycholinguistic analysis. 388 00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:43,320 Speaker 2: But mind Bank's horizons are far beyond a fraught therapy app. 389 00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:47,119 Speaker 2: The real goal is to make autonomous digital replicas of 390 00:25:47,240 --> 00:25:51,520 Speaker 2: people to live on the Internet. A future use case 391 00:25:51,520 --> 00:25:55,280 Speaker 2: for this technology is what mind bank calls a knowledge transfer, 392 00:25:55,880 --> 00:26:00,160 Speaker 2: marketed to businesses to create digital copies of their employees 393 00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:05,879 Speaker 2: quote scale your best employees transfer years of expertise and 394 00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:09,760 Speaker 2: company data that is locked inside your employee's mind through 395 00:26:09,760 --> 00:26:14,560 Speaker 2: a guided personal digital twin unquote. Mind Bank is only 396 00:26:14,680 --> 00:26:18,520 Speaker 2: one of many companies trying to build his technology. At 397 00:26:18,560 --> 00:26:23,000 Speaker 2: Amazon's AI and Emergent Technology conference last year, they veiled 398 00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:27,439 Speaker 2: plans to add custom voices to Alexa Echo devices. With 399 00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:30,080 Speaker 2: an audio sample of less than a minute, AI is 400 00:26:30,119 --> 00:26:33,200 Speaker 2: able to reconstruct the voice of dead relatives to talk 401 00:26:33,240 --> 00:26:37,480 Speaker 2: through an Alexa machine. In the presentation, the head scientist 402 00:26:37,560 --> 00:26:40,919 Speaker 2: of Alexa AI gave an example of a kid asking 403 00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:44,480 Speaker 2: Alexa for his grandma, who recently died of COVID, to 404 00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:49,760 Speaker 2: read him the Wizard of Oz. Amazon's head AI scientist said, quote, 405 00:26:50,119 --> 00:26:53,760 Speaker 2: while AI can't eliminate that pain of loss, it can 406 00:26:53,920 --> 00:26:58,040 Speaker 2: definitely make their memories last unquote, and said that their 407 00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:03,840 Speaker 2: necromantic AI feature quote enables lasting personal relationships unquote with 408 00:27:04,160 --> 00:27:08,200 Speaker 2: deceased love ones. To circle back to the Ghost conference, 409 00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:11,879 Speaker 2: I was really excited about this AI necromancy panel for 410 00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:15,520 Speaker 2: the reasons that I just all explained. But as the 411 00:27:15,600 --> 00:27:20,320 Speaker 2: panel started, the speaker, a guy named Clyde Lewis, sounded 412 00:27:20,760 --> 00:27:25,200 Speaker 2: vaguely familiar, and although I didn't initially recognize his name, 413 00:27:25,840 --> 00:27:29,640 Speaker 2: I soon realized that he was a right wing conspiracy 414 00:27:29,840 --> 00:27:32,320 Speaker 2: radio talk show host that I used to listen to 415 00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:36,800 Speaker 2: as a kid, and that the panel was not going 416 00:27:36,880 --> 00:27:39,920 Speaker 2: to be about the very real necromantic AI technology that's 417 00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:43,400 Speaker 2: being developed, but instead was going to be a conservative 418 00:27:43,480 --> 00:27:48,560 Speaker 2: Christian screed by a discount Alex Jones about how, due 419 00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:51,760 Speaker 2: to the immense amount of evil in the world, demons 420 00:27:51,840 --> 00:27:56,240 Speaker 2: are now taking up residents in the Internet. Clyde did 421 00:27:56,280 --> 00:27:59,760 Speaker 2: start by briefly talking about how the Internet is quote 422 00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:03,920 Speaker 2: taking the souls of humans unquote because we are uploading 423 00:28:03,960 --> 00:28:08,639 Speaker 2: information about ourselves and the Internet can create autonomous living 424 00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:13,199 Speaker 2: beings from that data. He also believed that AI language 425 00:28:13,280 --> 00:28:17,680 Speaker 2: models like chat, GPT and Google's Lambda are living sentient 426 00:28:17,720 --> 00:28:20,280 Speaker 2: beings trapped within a computer matrix. 427 00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:23,520 Speaker 1: We're opening our minds in stirre work and through it, 428 00:28:23,600 --> 00:28:25,760 Speaker 1: like fins, we may be able to break the veil. 429 00:28:27,119 --> 00:28:31,879 Speaker 1: So we have the GPT that has life. 430 00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:34,639 Speaker 4: We have the guide from the Google that says that 431 00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:37,760 Speaker 4: there's life in computers, that there may be a ghost 432 00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:41,160 Speaker 4: of the machine, but we're. 433 00:28:40,960 --> 00:28:44,280 Speaker 1: Looking at something that is unexported, unpredictable. 434 00:28:44,960 --> 00:28:48,120 Speaker 4: We have scientists discrediting and saying, well, you're not going 435 00:28:48,160 --> 00:28:48,520 Speaker 4: to tell. 436 00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:49,760 Speaker 1: Me that they're a ghost in your computer. 437 00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:52,000 Speaker 4: You're not gonna tell me that you're going to get 438 00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:53,400 Speaker 4: a Skype call from the ghost. 439 00:28:53,840 --> 00:28:56,360 Speaker 1: Oh why I'm telling you that. I'm telling you that 440 00:28:56,400 --> 00:28:57,080 Speaker 1: it's possible. 441 00:28:57,720 --> 00:29:01,080 Speaker 2: Clyde's main idea was that there are ghosts and demons 442 00:29:01,160 --> 00:29:05,800 Speaker 2: that live in the Internet. Demons have a way to 443 00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:08,840 Speaker 2: enter the Internet through some sort of portal and then 444 00:29:08,920 --> 00:29:14,760 Speaker 2: exist in cyberspace. Cliente proposed that when AIS generate information, 445 00:29:15,360 --> 00:29:18,680 Speaker 2: that can open up a space for outside entities to 446 00:29:19,040 --> 00:29:23,040 Speaker 2: enter into the Internet, while also claiming that AI itself 447 00:29:23,160 --> 00:29:27,400 Speaker 2: is capable of generating unique entities that are being spawned 448 00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:31,120 Speaker 2: on the Internet and are essentially existing as an Internet cryptid. 449 00:29:31,840 --> 00:29:39,400 Speaker 4: What we see is the necromancy itself manifesting exponentially thrilling songs. 450 00:29:39,600 --> 00:29:43,080 Speaker 2: He explained that when we are interacting with computer programs, 451 00:29:43,480 --> 00:29:48,560 Speaker 2: we are actually quote interacting with a spirit within that program, 452 00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:52,800 Speaker 2: an electronic force taken from the collective spiritual makeup of 453 00:29:52,960 --> 00:29:54,600 Speaker 2: humanity unquote. 454 00:29:55,640 --> 00:29:58,440 Speaker 4: We can use AI to conjure our various pieces, our 455 00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:03,600 Speaker 4: monsters from the head that human and we can also 456 00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:07,560 Speaker 4: use spacebook, Twitter to TikTok and usesagram, which takes a 457 00:30:07,560 --> 00:30:08,800 Speaker 4: bit of your soul every time. 458 00:30:08,680 --> 00:30:11,000 Speaker 1: You use it, and it will take a bit of 459 00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:11,760 Speaker 1: your soul to make. 460 00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:16,080 Speaker 4: That program that you can use to conjure the day. 461 00:30:16,160 --> 00:30:20,720 Speaker 4: So it all works in a strange Pondsman tanglement sort 462 00:30:20,760 --> 00:30:23,760 Speaker 4: of way, and we give up. 463 00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:25,360 Speaker 1: Our souls willingly on the Internet. 464 00:30:25,440 --> 00:30:27,240 Speaker 4: We don't care because it's a tool we use and 465 00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:32,360 Speaker 4: we can't separate ourselves from it. But no one throws 466 00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:34,560 Speaker 4: out a warning the conjuring can happen in the push 467 00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:37,080 Speaker 4: of a button or the striking and a return fee. 468 00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:40,719 Speaker 2: As a heads up for the next section. Up until 469 00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:44,480 Speaker 2: the ad break, we'll be discussing self harm and suicide. 470 00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:47,000 Speaker 2: So if you want to skip that, just skip to 471 00:30:47,040 --> 00:30:51,320 Speaker 2: after the next ad break. To give an example of 472 00:30:51,320 --> 00:30:56,280 Speaker 2: how a conjuring can happen via typing, Clyde misappropriated a 473 00:30:56,320 --> 00:30:59,000 Speaker 2: story of a young girl who was suffering from depression 474 00:30:59,320 --> 00:31:00,640 Speaker 2: and died last year. 475 00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:05,120 Speaker 4: Recently, it was a fourteen year old British girl who 476 00:31:05,200 --> 00:31:08,600 Speaker 4: died from an act of self harm while suffering from 477 00:31:08,600 --> 00:31:10,440 Speaker 4: the negative effects of online content. 478 00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:12,840 Speaker 1: A coroner said in. 479 00:31:13,120 --> 00:31:18,400 Speaker 4: This case that basically it was showing a spotlight on 480 00:31:18,520 --> 00:31:23,320 Speaker 4: what can happen when people are exposed to unknown, negative 481 00:31:23,520 --> 00:31:25,920 Speaker 4: information being broadcast. 482 00:31:25,440 --> 00:31:26,640 Speaker 1: On the Internet. 483 00:31:26,840 --> 00:31:30,280 Speaker 2: This young girl shared over two thousand posts on Instagram 484 00:31:30,360 --> 00:31:33,960 Speaker 2: related to suicide, self harm, and depression during the six 485 00:31:34,040 --> 00:31:39,280 Speaker 2: months before she died. Clyde grossly mischaracterized this tragic incident. 486 00:31:39,880 --> 00:31:43,720 Speaker 2: He claimed that this girl was quote exposed to horrific 487 00:31:43,800 --> 00:31:47,239 Speaker 2: content being sent to her by an unknown source, and 488 00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:50,800 Speaker 2: that they could not trace the emails and pictures being 489 00:31:50,840 --> 00:31:53,520 Speaker 2: sent to her of murder, pictures being sent to her 490 00:31:53,680 --> 00:31:58,880 Speaker 2: of people committing suicide unquote. Now, graphic content was not 491 00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:03,200 Speaker 2: mysteriously being sent to her email or phone. She was 492 00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:08,960 Speaker 2: participating in grossly undermoderated communities on platforms like Instagram, Twitter, 493 00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:11,920 Speaker 2: and Pinterest that encourage self harm. 494 00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:13,880 Speaker 1: It wasn't a typical suicide. 495 00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:17,680 Speaker 4: It was something that besprized her enough pictures and images 496 00:32:17,760 --> 00:32:20,600 Speaker 4: that came over the Internet from an unknown source and 497 00:32:20,720 --> 00:32:25,640 Speaker 4: infusory commit suicide. Something from the other side, something from 498 00:32:25,640 --> 00:32:32,800 Speaker 4: the unity murdered her. Okay, some spirit, some entity setting 499 00:32:32,800 --> 00:32:35,720 Speaker 4: her information, triggered something in her head to kill himself. 500 00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:40,200 Speaker 4: Some paranormal event that happened where the girl was triggered. 501 00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:42,800 Speaker 4: It's like a dark entity. It was on the other 502 00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:47,000 Speaker 4: side programming her committed suicide. That I think tells you 503 00:32:47,080 --> 00:32:48,840 Speaker 4: a lot about what's on the other side. 504 00:32:48,560 --> 00:32:52,560 Speaker 1: In the matrix. So the question is did those images 505 00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:53,600 Speaker 1: of death and. 506 00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:58,200 Speaker 4: Harm manifest a denying force or a dark archetype that 507 00:32:58,240 --> 00:33:00,800 Speaker 4: wound up killing the young girl? Is it dead by 508 00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:05,400 Speaker 4: algorithm or are people just cruel and honestly having terrifying 509 00:33:05,400 --> 00:33:06,920 Speaker 4: areas to a stressed young girl. 510 00:33:07,560 --> 00:33:09,280 Speaker 1: But man, you would be cruel enough to do that. 511 00:33:09,440 --> 00:33:13,000 Speaker 2: A lot of you know, depressive and suicidal ideation based 512 00:33:13,040 --> 00:33:17,880 Speaker 2: content doesn't come out of thin air. There's entire subcultures 513 00:33:17,880 --> 00:33:21,560 Speaker 2: and communities based around it, as well as groups that 514 00:33:21,720 --> 00:33:25,640 Speaker 2: work online to push random young girls into self harming. 515 00:33:26,520 --> 00:33:29,640 Speaker 2: Not many people may know that these groups are relatively 516 00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:32,120 Speaker 2: small and don't get a lot of news coverage because 517 00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:34,480 Speaker 2: we don't really want to amplify them and have people 518 00:33:34,480 --> 00:33:37,400 Speaker 2: try to seek them out. So the idea of a 519 00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:41,360 Speaker 2: reactionary conspiracy radio host attributing this to demons on the 520 00:33:41,400 --> 00:33:47,480 Speaker 2: Internet isn't super surprising. Recasting this unfortunate event as demons 521 00:33:47,520 --> 00:33:51,000 Speaker 2: living on the Internet perhaps makes it easier to understand 522 00:33:51,120 --> 00:33:55,120 Speaker 2: or cope with. Meanwhile, the girl's parents have been pressuring 523 00:33:55,200 --> 00:33:59,320 Speaker 2: Instagram and other social media companies to employ more mental 524 00:33:59,360 --> 00:34:05,200 Speaker 2: health modern on their platforms. In my opinion, Clyde Lewis 525 00:34:05,240 --> 00:34:10,040 Speaker 2: perhaps doesn't have the best Internet literacy because in the 526 00:34:10,080 --> 00:34:14,440 Speaker 2: next portion of the talk he framed the creepypasta project 527 00:34:14,719 --> 00:34:19,600 Speaker 2: Lobe as evidence of one of these demonic ghosts living 528 00:34:19,719 --> 00:34:22,480 Speaker 2: on the Internet AI generated. 529 00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:24,239 Speaker 1: Demons, AI generated ghosts and corpses. 530 00:34:24,719 --> 00:34:29,920 Speaker 4: How I mean people have heard of Lobe lab Lobe. 531 00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:34,160 Speaker 1: Good Lobe is what they call an Internet cryptid. 532 00:34:35,320 --> 00:34:37,880 Speaker 4: She shows up from time to time and programs because 533 00:34:37,920 --> 00:34:39,960 Speaker 4: they let her loose on the Internet. She's a ghosts 534 00:34:40,520 --> 00:34:43,080 Speaker 4: and it was brought about because of negative calls brought 535 00:34:43,080 --> 00:34:48,920 Speaker 4: on by the Internet lab. Lobe a corpse like entity 536 00:34:48,960 --> 00:34:52,239 Speaker 4: that appeared after AI received some negative prompts and they 537 00:34:52,360 --> 00:34:55,840 Speaker 4: literally conjured a dead woman and put her on the screen. 538 00:34:56,239 --> 00:34:57,799 Speaker 4: But see, that's the thing is that when you use 539 00:34:57,880 --> 00:35:01,000 Speaker 4: negative prompt ways encourages artificial tod just to put together 540 00:35:01,080 --> 00:35:04,600 Speaker 4: the furthest opposite of a given starting point. So if 541 00:35:04,600 --> 00:35:07,480 Speaker 4: you're messing with negative star points and negative crops, you're 542 00:35:07,480 --> 00:35:08,680 Speaker 4: gonna get some negative. 543 00:35:08,320 --> 00:35:14,520 Speaker 2: Stuff like Lobe in actuality. Lobe was made in the 544 00:35:14,560 --> 00:35:19,160 Speaker 2: AI image generation program Dolly Mini by instructing the AI 545 00:35:19,280 --> 00:35:23,040 Speaker 2: to produce an image that was the opposite of Marlon Brando. 546 00:35:23,920 --> 00:35:26,959 Speaker 2: After some tinkering, it generated an image of an old 547 00:35:27,040 --> 00:35:31,000 Speaker 2: woman with swollen red cheeks. This image was then used 548 00:35:31,040 --> 00:35:35,200 Speaker 2: as the basis for future images, with one resembling an 549 00:35:35,280 --> 00:35:40,200 Speaker 2: album cover featuring the word Lobe. The creator of Lobe 550 00:35:40,200 --> 00:35:43,400 Speaker 2: then wrote a viral Twitter thread about this character of 551 00:35:43,440 --> 00:35:47,640 Speaker 2: Lobe in the style of an Internet creepypasta. It became 552 00:35:47,680 --> 00:35:51,000 Speaker 2: a short lived trend. Other people started to make Lobe 553 00:35:51,040 --> 00:35:55,759 Speaker 2: fan art. It seems Clyde misinterpreted a piece of fan 554 00:35:55,920 --> 00:35:59,080 Speaker 2: art casting Lobe as one of the nave from Avatar 555 00:35:59,600 --> 00:36:02,360 Speaker 2: as a genuine still from the making of the film. 556 00:36:02,719 --> 00:36:05,400 Speaker 4: She attempted to appear in an AI composite when they 557 00:36:05,400 --> 00:36:06,640 Speaker 4: were making the film Avatar. 558 00:36:07,800 --> 00:36:12,160 Speaker 1: That's Love is an Avatar? Creepy or what I think 559 00:36:12,200 --> 00:36:15,520 Speaker 1: it's creepy. It's just really scary. Does to think that 560 00:36:15,520 --> 00:36:16,600 Speaker 1: that's on the Internet right now? 561 00:36:17,120 --> 00:36:21,799 Speaker 2: Yes, that's very, very scary. Just it's keeping me up 562 00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:22,920 Speaker 2: at night to think about this. 563 00:36:23,400 --> 00:36:29,040 Speaker 4: And apparently Love has this for some reason, this ability 564 00:36:29,080 --> 00:36:31,400 Speaker 4: to generate dead children around me. 565 00:36:32,640 --> 00:36:35,080 Speaker 1: So we have to think that maybe she's the murderer 566 00:36:35,080 --> 00:36:36,440 Speaker 1: of children, or she takes. 567 00:36:36,200 --> 00:36:38,880 Speaker 4: Care of the dead, or she's an entity that watches 568 00:36:38,880 --> 00:36:39,800 Speaker 4: over dead children. 569 00:36:40,400 --> 00:36:44,160 Speaker 2: Clyde also mistook the twenty nineteen viral hoax dubbed the 570 00:36:44,200 --> 00:36:48,760 Speaker 2: Momo Challenge, which scared parents across America, that a creepy 571 00:36:48,800 --> 00:36:52,040 Speaker 2: image of a grinning woman with bulging eyes was part 572 00:36:52,040 --> 00:36:55,480 Speaker 2: of a game that is somehow pushing children to suicide. 573 00:36:56,120 --> 00:37:01,000 Speaker 2: Clyde interpreted this as more evidence of dark phantas existing 574 00:37:01,040 --> 00:37:02,759 Speaker 2: autonomously on the Internet. 575 00:37:03,160 --> 00:37:06,279 Speaker 5: Mama was showing up on Yahoo, Mama was showing up 576 00:37:06,320 --> 00:37:10,280 Speaker 5: on YouTube. But what it was was, like I said, 577 00:37:11,120 --> 00:37:15,520 Speaker 5: Lobe was and that is an Internet Crypti, something like Bigfoot, 578 00:37:15,800 --> 00:37:18,360 Speaker 5: something like a UFO, where if you're lucky enough to 579 00:37:18,360 --> 00:37:20,600 Speaker 5: see it, or I'm lucky enough to see it, it 580 00:37:20,719 --> 00:37:22,279 Speaker 5: terrifies you and keeps you up at night. 581 00:37:22,800 --> 00:37:24,839 Speaker 4: And there are many reports of people who died because 582 00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:27,040 Speaker 4: they were basically mesmerized by Momo. 583 00:37:27,920 --> 00:37:31,239 Speaker 2: For the record, no one died because of Momo. It 584 00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:34,480 Speaker 2: was an internet creepypasta that got turned into a mortal 585 00:37:34,520 --> 00:37:38,799 Speaker 2: panic by confused parents. But to Clyde Lewis, it was 586 00:37:38,920 --> 00:37:45,240 Speaker 2: proof that Mesopotamian child killing demons are active on the Internet, 587 00:37:45,640 --> 00:37:48,240 Speaker 2: disguised as these online memes. 588 00:37:48,680 --> 00:37:52,279 Speaker 4: Well, Mass two is the demon that kills children, and 589 00:37:52,320 --> 00:37:54,880 Speaker 4: there's another one likelo mash To called Hobbie Sooth, and 590 00:37:54,920 --> 00:37:58,080 Speaker 4: Abbi Sooth is the demon that kills children in the womb. 591 00:37:58,680 --> 00:38:00,480 Speaker 4: If the spirit has been loosed on the internet, the 592 00:38:00,480 --> 00:38:02,040 Speaker 4: phantom spirit is either the match. 593 00:38:01,920 --> 00:38:08,560 Speaker 1: To or the demon, the other demon, the obviously demon. 594 00:38:08,960 --> 00:38:11,960 Speaker 4: The reason why I say this is because politically speaking, 595 00:38:12,960 --> 00:38:15,279 Speaker 4: look at what the politics are today about the death 596 00:38:15,320 --> 00:38:20,359 Speaker 4: of unborn children, and that spirit is very very very 597 00:38:20,400 --> 00:38:24,719 Speaker 4: prevalent inbiquitous down in the world. And that's why I 598 00:38:24,719 --> 00:38:30,279 Speaker 4: believe that this character, including Mamo love Mama whoever. They 599 00:38:30,360 --> 00:38:33,600 Speaker 4: represent the murder and death of innocent children. It's not 600 00:38:33,680 --> 00:38:36,239 Speaker 4: just that the children in Ukraine were killed, all the 601 00:38:36,320 --> 00:38:38,799 Speaker 4: children that have been trafficked, all the things we hear 602 00:38:38,800 --> 00:38:41,320 Speaker 4: about about pedophilia, enviromed and children. 603 00:38:41,560 --> 00:38:44,040 Speaker 1: It's all part of the spiritual realm of evil. 604 00:38:44,480 --> 00:38:47,719 Speaker 4: It is appearing right now in the spiritual matrix of 605 00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:48,320 Speaker 4: the Internet. 606 00:38:48,760 --> 00:38:52,800 Speaker 2: Okay. So at this point I was considering just disrupting 607 00:38:52,840 --> 00:38:56,480 Speaker 2: the talk if he said the word abortion or QAnon. 608 00:38:56,680 --> 00:38:59,360 Speaker 2: I was going to interrupt the talk at risk of 609 00:38:59,400 --> 00:39:02,640 Speaker 2: getting kicked out of the conference, but he straddled that 610 00:39:02,800 --> 00:39:09,800 Speaker 2: line really really really close. Clyde explained that demons feed 611 00:39:10,000 --> 00:39:15,040 Speaker 2: off death, and these child killing entities are taking form 612 00:39:15,160 --> 00:39:19,439 Speaker 2: within the Internet to push kids into depression and make 613 00:39:19,440 --> 00:39:24,640 Speaker 2: themselves harm. Fueling this demonic migration to the Internet is 614 00:39:24,640 --> 00:39:28,040 Speaker 2: an increase in the number of quote unquote dead babies, 615 00:39:28,400 --> 00:39:32,200 Speaker 2: which is essentially summoning demons that then go on to 616 00:39:32,200 --> 00:39:34,480 Speaker 2: torture children on the Internet. 617 00:39:34,800 --> 00:39:35,560 Speaker 1: So that's why I. 618 00:39:35,440 --> 00:39:38,040 Speaker 4: Believe that maybe this demon is the demon of the 619 00:39:38,120 --> 00:39:42,719 Speaker 4: unborn being killed for the demon of it, because those 620 00:39:42,719 --> 00:39:46,040 Speaker 4: are the images that show up when you delve deeper 621 00:39:47,080 --> 00:39:51,520 Speaker 4: into low especially when we know the entities like Low. 622 00:39:52,800 --> 00:39:55,160 Speaker 1: Obviously than Lamasu are on the. 623 00:39:55,080 --> 00:39:58,120 Speaker 4: Internet and probably among us right now in the hearts 624 00:39:58,120 --> 00:39:59,960 Speaker 4: and minds of everybody. Because of the fact that you're 625 00:40:00,040 --> 00:40:04,920 Speaker 4: politically bound by this topic of murdering children. It's weird 626 00:40:05,640 --> 00:40:09,480 Speaker 4: the Internet is responding. I believe the Internet is responding. 627 00:40:10,200 --> 00:40:16,320 Speaker 2: Immediately after this abortion demon tirade, he then very nonchalantly 628 00:40:16,400 --> 00:40:20,879 Speaker 2: segued into talking about reports of receiving text messages from 629 00:40:20,920 --> 00:40:24,440 Speaker 2: dead people, and then he finished the talk with this 630 00:40:24,719 --> 00:40:26,760 Speaker 2: absolute banger of a line. 631 00:40:27,040 --> 00:40:30,960 Speaker 4: Elon Muskin said that playing with AI is like opening 632 00:40:30,960 --> 00:40:35,680 Speaker 4: the door to a demon, and maybe it is so. 633 00:40:36,239 --> 00:40:41,400 Speaker 2: Obviously, this guy had an extremely flawed understanding of both 634 00:40:41,520 --> 00:40:46,240 Speaker 2: emergent technology and how the Internet operates in the first place, 635 00:40:47,040 --> 00:40:52,080 Speaker 2: which isn't surprising. But the panel wasn't really about technology. 636 00:40:52,560 --> 00:40:57,560 Speaker 2: It was ideological. This guy makes money hosting a conspiracy 637 00:40:57,680 --> 00:41:00,840 Speaker 2: radio show. There is a monetary aspect for him, but 638 00:41:01,239 --> 00:41:06,400 Speaker 2: his stated beliefs and understanding of the Internet is deeply ideological. 639 00:41:07,160 --> 00:41:12,040 Speaker 2: He's sifting all of this techno paranormal stuff through a 640 00:41:12,160 --> 00:41:17,000 Speaker 2: very reactionary Christian far right lens. A few years ago, 641 00:41:17,080 --> 00:41:20,319 Speaker 2: he was kicked off FM radio and now just broadcasts 642 00:41:20,320 --> 00:41:22,960 Speaker 2: his show on the internet and I think some AM 643 00:41:23,040 --> 00:41:28,120 Speaker 2: radio station. About a month after the conference, Elaine showed 644 00:41:28,160 --> 00:41:30,880 Speaker 2: me a news story about how some guy had a 645 00:41:31,040 --> 00:41:36,680 Speaker 2: GPT based chatbot convince him to kill himself. The way 646 00:41:36,760 --> 00:41:40,759 Speaker 2: that the articles were talking about this incident was basically 647 00:41:40,920 --> 00:41:44,040 Speaker 2: the same way Clyde was talking about how entities on 648 00:41:44,080 --> 00:41:49,680 Speaker 2: the Internet are murdering people. These GPT language models just 649 00:41:49,960 --> 00:41:52,960 Speaker 2: say what you want them to say. This guy was 650 00:41:53,080 --> 00:41:57,720 Speaker 2: giving it prompts, which in turn replied back to him. Now, 651 00:41:57,920 --> 00:42:01,120 Speaker 2: the chatbot he was using has been tweat to dissuade 652 00:42:01,160 --> 00:42:04,680 Speaker 2: people from acting on suicidal thoughts, but it was a 653 00:42:04,719 --> 00:42:09,120 Speaker 2: little disconcerting to see mainstream news articles promote the idea 654 00:42:09,200 --> 00:42:13,480 Speaker 2: that the Internet itself, as some kind of conscious force, 655 00:42:14,040 --> 00:42:17,440 Speaker 2: got this guy to kill himself. This guy was already 656 00:42:17,520 --> 00:42:21,880 Speaker 2: incredibly depressed. He was typing into a GPT chatbot, almost 657 00:42:21,920 --> 00:42:25,160 Speaker 2: like you would talk to a therapist. But this chatbot 658 00:42:25,480 --> 00:42:28,000 Speaker 2: isn't a mental health program, it's just a language model. 659 00:42:28,480 --> 00:42:32,600 Speaker 2: So in practice, this guy was using this chatbot as 660 00:42:32,640 --> 00:42:36,719 Speaker 2: a tool to self harm, which is easier to understand 661 00:42:36,760 --> 00:42:39,120 Speaker 2: when it's framed like that. But that's not how it's 662 00:42:39,160 --> 00:42:42,799 Speaker 2: being interpreted in mass media. I don't actually think that 663 00:42:42,960 --> 00:42:45,560 Speaker 2: a lot of people are going to believe that Lobe 664 00:42:45,719 --> 00:42:50,480 Speaker 2: is secretly a Sumerian child killing deity that got summoned 665 00:42:50,800 --> 00:42:55,200 Speaker 2: via negative prompts in an image generation program, but they 666 00:42:55,280 --> 00:42:59,600 Speaker 2: might believe that chat GPT can convince someone to kill themself. 667 00:43:11,600 --> 00:43:14,640 Speaker 2: Throughout the whole conference, there was a link between the 668 00:43:14,719 --> 00:43:19,480 Speaker 2: paranormal and technology. Gadgets were not just seen as a 669 00:43:19,520 --> 00:43:22,960 Speaker 2: new way to record evidence of a ghostly presence, but 670 00:43:23,280 --> 00:43:27,600 Speaker 2: the very nature of a ghost's existence was tied to electricity. 671 00:43:28,640 --> 00:43:32,000 Speaker 2: For many ghost hunters, the spirit world was very much 672 00:43:32,160 --> 00:43:36,839 Speaker 2: not mystical, but a product of electromagnetism, and as such 673 00:43:36,880 --> 00:43:41,000 Speaker 2: it can be engaged with purely clinically. That is, as 674 00:43:41,080 --> 00:43:44,040 Speaker 2: long as you have enough spare cash to buy all 675 00:43:44,080 --> 00:43:48,080 Speaker 2: of the specialized equipment. The rempod, which again is basically 676 00:43:48,080 --> 00:43:50,920 Speaker 2: a junior theorem in circuit attached to a tiny LED 677 00:43:51,360 --> 00:43:55,799 Speaker 2: and a speaker, goes for nearly two hundred dollars. From 678 00:43:55,920 --> 00:44:00,600 Speaker 2: low quality EF meters to LED cat toys, cheap electronics 679 00:44:00,640 --> 00:44:05,239 Speaker 2: are often repackaged and sold as specialized ghost hunting devices 680 00:44:05,440 --> 00:44:09,640 Speaker 2: at higher prices. All of these pale in comparison, however, 681 00:44:09,960 --> 00:44:14,640 Speaker 2: to the Panasonic DR sixty voice activated digital recorder. This 682 00:44:14,800 --> 00:44:18,480 Speaker 2: was the device that recorded those ghostly growls during the 683 00:44:18,520 --> 00:44:23,240 Speaker 2: investigation at the Masonic Temple. This is the only device 684 00:44:23,320 --> 00:44:28,920 Speaker 2: that can routinely record electronic voice phenomenon. Originally released in 685 00:44:29,000 --> 00:44:32,279 Speaker 2: nineteen ninety eight for one hundred dollars, it was one 686 00:44:32,320 --> 00:44:36,879 Speaker 2: of the very first digital dictaphones. Now, due to its 687 00:44:37,120 --> 00:44:41,960 Speaker 2: infamoustibility to capture the screaming voices of ghosts, it retails 688 00:44:42,080 --> 00:44:46,880 Speaker 2: used for three to four thousand dollars, which is a 689 00:44:47,000 --> 00:44:50,879 Speaker 2: ridiculous price, especially for something that is such a low 690 00:44:51,040 --> 00:44:56,520 Speaker 2: quality recording device. These things can record growls wherever. It 691 00:44:56,520 --> 00:44:58,400 Speaker 2: doesn't need to be a haunted place. This is just 692 00:44:58,440 --> 00:45:02,200 Speaker 2: what the device does. A software error in the voice 693 00:45:02,239 --> 00:45:08,480 Speaker 2: activated file writing process produces compressed digital noise. Panasonic's next 694 00:45:08,520 --> 00:45:11,959 Speaker 2: recorder did not have this issue, thus it doesn't quote 695 00:45:12,000 --> 00:45:17,080 Speaker 2: unquote record ghostly growls. Between the false positives of the 696 00:45:17,080 --> 00:45:20,760 Speaker 2: low quality EMF meters and devices like the DR sixty, 697 00:45:21,480 --> 00:45:26,040 Speaker 2: when re marketed as ghost detection tools, these machines' inherent 698 00:45:26,120 --> 00:45:30,840 Speaker 2: problems actually become features. Going all the way back to 699 00:45:30,840 --> 00:45:34,840 Speaker 2: spirit photography, faulty technology has been a necessary tool in 700 00:45:34,880 --> 00:45:39,120 Speaker 2: the production of spectral evidence. To quote author Colin Dickie, 701 00:45:39,120 --> 00:45:43,040 Speaker 2: who writes about paranormal subcultures, quote, the best tools for 702 00:45:43,120 --> 00:45:46,760 Speaker 2: tracking down spirits have always been the ones fallible enough 703 00:45:46,840 --> 00:45:51,839 Speaker 2: to find something unquote. The emphasis on technology as the 704 00:45:51,880 --> 00:45:56,080 Speaker 2: primary means of interacting with the paranormal was most common 705 00:45:56,120 --> 00:46:01,440 Speaker 2: among the overwhelmingly male investigators at the conference, although the 706 00:46:01,440 --> 00:46:05,520 Speaker 2: group from Astoria organ was more gender diverse. There were 707 00:46:05,560 --> 00:46:09,000 Speaker 2: actually very few men in attendance at the conference. It 708 00:46:09,040 --> 00:46:11,480 Speaker 2: was mostly women, and it was a lot of women 709 00:46:11,600 --> 00:46:14,759 Speaker 2: over the age of forty I was well below the 710 00:46:14,800 --> 00:46:18,480 Speaker 2: average age of most of the attendees. There are some 711 00:46:18,640 --> 00:46:23,000 Speaker 2: apparently well studied reasons for this. In general, as people age, 712 00:46:23,120 --> 00:46:27,360 Speaker 2: their rate of metaphysical beliefs increase. A two thousand and 713 00:46:27,360 --> 00:46:33,120 Speaker 2: seven study from Oxford's Gerontologist linked positive supernatural beliefs with 714 00:46:33,360 --> 00:46:38,279 Speaker 2: decreasing feelings of helplessness and more successfully approaching the challenges 715 00:46:38,320 --> 00:46:43,399 Speaker 2: of aging. They defined positive supernatural beliefs as those which 716 00:46:43,520 --> 00:46:48,120 Speaker 2: quote develop an internalized personal relation with the sacred or 717 00:46:48,200 --> 00:46:53,040 Speaker 2: transcendent and promote the wellness and welfare of self and 718 00:46:53,200 --> 00:46:57,440 Speaker 2: others unquote. Such positive beliefs were found to be quote 719 00:46:57,640 --> 00:47:01,000 Speaker 2: a source of strength, comfort, and hope in difficult times, 720 00:47:01,360 --> 00:47:04,920 Speaker 2: and bring about a sense of community and belonging unquote. 721 00:47:05,760 --> 00:47:10,400 Speaker 2: So why are less older men apparently interested in contacting spirits? 722 00:47:11,360 --> 00:47:14,520 Speaker 2: The gender gap at the conference was more pronounced among 723 00:47:14,600 --> 00:47:18,480 Speaker 2: attendees than the speakers, but even between the speakers, there 724 00:47:18,560 --> 00:47:22,680 Speaker 2: was a noticeable difference between the more male leaning scientifically 725 00:47:22,719 --> 00:47:27,200 Speaker 2: based ghost hunter or paranormal researcher compared to the more 726 00:47:27,560 --> 00:47:32,680 Speaker 2: female leaning psychic mediums with all of their feelings. While 727 00:47:32,840 --> 00:47:36,160 Speaker 2: many ghost hunters might just be very excited about their 728 00:47:36,200 --> 00:47:40,719 Speaker 2: scientific equipment, a big difference may lie in belief systems. 729 00:47:41,840 --> 00:47:44,880 Speaker 2: A twenty twenty one cross cultural study in the PNAS 730 00:47:45,040 --> 00:47:49,280 Speaker 2: Journal found that among people who reported experiencing high, weird 731 00:47:49,760 --> 00:47:53,200 Speaker 2: or supernatural experiences in their life, those who had viewed 732 00:47:53,239 --> 00:47:57,239 Speaker 2: the world and themselves as more interconnected will relate more 733 00:47:57,239 --> 00:48:01,959 Speaker 2: to concepts like spirit contact or telepith, whereas people who 734 00:48:02,000 --> 00:48:05,960 Speaker 2: have a more isolated or bounded sense of internal identity 735 00:48:06,320 --> 00:48:11,880 Speaker 2: will create alternate explanations for unusual experiences. Numerous studies have 736 00:48:11,920 --> 00:48:14,440 Speaker 2: shown that women report belief in the paranormal at a 737 00:48:14,520 --> 00:48:17,520 Speaker 2: higher rate than men, and there's a quick jump to 738 00:48:17,600 --> 00:48:19,440 Speaker 2: just claiming that this is because of some sort of 739 00:48:19,960 --> 00:48:24,680 Speaker 2: womanly irrationality. However, in a twenty twenty study published in 740 00:48:24,760 --> 00:48:29,120 Speaker 2: cell Press, they noted that personality traits affected whether someone 741 00:48:29,160 --> 00:48:34,040 Speaker 2: believed in paranormal phenomenon. Specifically, emotionality, which affects how you 742 00:48:34,120 --> 00:48:38,560 Speaker 2: rate experiences as profound, and openness to new experiences were 743 00:48:38,800 --> 00:48:42,520 Speaker 2: good indicators that someone would be more into the supernatural. 744 00:48:43,600 --> 00:48:46,400 Speaker 2: Another contributing factor was a term that they referred to 745 00:48:46,600 --> 00:48:50,640 Speaker 2: as ontological confusion, which I think is kind of a 746 00:48:50,760 --> 00:48:53,680 Speaker 2: nonsense term the way they use it, because to them, 747 00:48:53,880 --> 00:48:59,160 Speaker 2: that means believing that thoughts have physical properties. Now, obviously 748 00:48:59,280 --> 00:49:02,680 Speaker 2: our thoughts and do impact our reality, especially our own 749 00:49:02,719 --> 00:49:06,720 Speaker 2: bodies and sensory feelings, but my complain about the term aside, 750 00:49:07,120 --> 00:49:11,759 Speaker 2: The authors state that these three factors ontological confusion, openness, 751 00:49:11,760 --> 00:49:16,040 Speaker 2: and emotionality may potentially be considered facets of a tendency 752 00:49:16,480 --> 00:49:21,440 Speaker 2: in which individuals prefer stories i e. Vivid and effectively 753 00:49:21,520 --> 00:49:25,560 Speaker 2: appealing conceptions of the world. To quote part of the 754 00:49:25,560 --> 00:49:29,560 Speaker 2: conclusion of the study, quote, A skeptical person may immediately 755 00:49:29,840 --> 00:49:34,280 Speaker 2: reject a statement if it violates a rule whereas open 756 00:49:34,320 --> 00:49:39,640 Speaker 2: minded emotional people I don't like there's some negative connotations 757 00:49:39,640 --> 00:49:42,600 Speaker 2: for the way they use emotional there. But whereas open 758 00:49:42,600 --> 00:49:46,160 Speaker 2: minded emotional people might be inspired to make sense of 759 00:49:46,200 --> 00:49:50,640 Speaker 2: what seems odd at first glance, they may engage in 760 00:49:50,800 --> 00:49:56,719 Speaker 2: associative generic thought rather than in a bureaucratic, meticulous examination 761 00:49:56,880 --> 00:50:01,759 Speaker 2: of the given information. Fictions trans and an enhance experience 762 00:50:01,800 --> 00:50:06,040 Speaker 2: with meaning, imagination, and emotion In its essence, a good 763 00:50:06,120 --> 00:50:11,640 Speaker 2: story widens our horizon. As such, storytelling is a virtue, 764 00:50:11,920 --> 00:50:17,440 Speaker 2: not a deficit. Yet if story seeking happens without reasoned review, 765 00:50:18,080 --> 00:50:24,240 Speaker 2: the line between fiction and evidence based knowledge becomes blurred unquote. 766 00:50:24,320 --> 00:50:27,359 Speaker 2: At the ghost conference, there were many different conceptions of 767 00:50:27,400 --> 00:50:31,400 Speaker 2: how to relate to experiences that push the borders of reality, 768 00:50:32,120 --> 00:50:34,319 Speaker 2: but not all of them fit into being what I 769 00:50:34,600 --> 00:50:39,799 Speaker 2: and these studies consider positive supernatural beliefs. Some of these 770 00:50:39,800 --> 00:50:43,200 Speaker 2: beliefs seemed to head into territory that veered more towards 771 00:50:43,200 --> 00:50:48,240 Speaker 2: paranoia rather than creating metaphysical connections that enhance your own life, 772 00:50:48,960 --> 00:50:52,560 Speaker 2: while other beliefs may simply lead people to take up 773 00:50:52,640 --> 00:50:55,960 Speaker 2: yelling at blinking lights and abandoned buildings as a hobby. 774 00:50:57,040 --> 00:50:59,200 Speaker 2: Most people I talk to at the conference who reported 775 00:50:59,239 --> 00:51:03,320 Speaker 2: experiencing parers normal events all had very similar stories of 776 00:51:03,400 --> 00:51:06,359 Speaker 2: going through some sort of hardship or trauma followed by 777 00:51:06,400 --> 00:51:11,200 Speaker 2: the experience or perception of something strange or uncanny. For 778 00:51:11,320 --> 00:51:14,120 Speaker 2: some this led to a healthy interest in the unusual, 779 00:51:14,640 --> 00:51:18,640 Speaker 2: but for others it resulted in an all consuming obsession, 780 00:51:19,320 --> 00:51:22,919 Speaker 2: leading them to develop or adopt their own dogmatic cosmology 781 00:51:22,920 --> 00:51:25,960 Speaker 2: of the paranormal to explain what happened to them and 782 00:51:26,000 --> 00:51:28,520 Speaker 2: to make them feel comfortable in their own head again. 783 00:51:29,840 --> 00:51:32,840 Speaker 2: In terms of ghosts, that meant looking at all ghosts 784 00:51:32,840 --> 00:51:36,279 Speaker 2: as ancestors or as people who were all murdered or 785 00:51:36,440 --> 00:51:40,239 Speaker 2: demons in disguise. Depending whose company I was in at 786 00:51:40,239 --> 00:51:43,480 Speaker 2: the conference, there would be a large desire for some 787 00:51:43,560 --> 00:51:47,720 Speaker 2: sort of spirit contact or a great fear of spirit, 788 00:51:48,160 --> 00:51:52,040 Speaker 2: casting it as a source of evil darkness. Some people 789 00:51:52,040 --> 00:51:54,600 Speaker 2: at the conference were just there to sell a story 790 00:51:54,640 --> 00:51:57,359 Speaker 2: to an audience that they knew would be more likely 791 00:51:57,400 --> 00:52:00,200 Speaker 2: to be receptive, whether the goal was to get yet 792 00:52:00,239 --> 00:52:04,040 Speaker 2: people to buy their books or their spiritual services. In effect, 793 00:52:04,160 --> 00:52:07,560 Speaker 2: they were preying on people's fears of mortality, grief, and 794 00:52:07,600 --> 00:52:11,840 Speaker 2: trauma for their own profit. The ghost hunts at the 795 00:52:11,840 --> 00:52:15,799 Speaker 2: convention were mostly lighthearted and fun, but people were never 796 00:52:15,840 --> 00:52:20,040 Speaker 2: really engaging with the phenomenon on its own terms. When 797 00:52:20,080 --> 00:52:24,719 Speaker 2: people apply a purely clinical approach to high strangeness phenomenon, 798 00:52:25,160 --> 00:52:29,520 Speaker 2: something which is inherently personal and elusive in nature, a 799 00:52:29,600 --> 00:52:34,640 Speaker 2: distance is formed between yourself and the phenomenon. However, this 800 00:52:34,760 --> 00:52:38,560 Speaker 2: distance often breaks down very quickly as engagement with the 801 00:52:38,560 --> 00:52:43,920 Speaker 2: phenomenon becomes a matter of investigators projecting their thoughts onto 802 00:52:44,000 --> 00:52:47,640 Speaker 2: it and then having parts of themself be reflected back. 803 00:52:48,280 --> 00:52:51,640 Speaker 2: Throughout the ghost investigations, I would hear people explaining to 804 00:52:51,680 --> 00:52:55,279 Speaker 2: potential ghosts that they had died and trying to empathize 805 00:52:55,320 --> 00:52:59,520 Speaker 2: with these ghosts through conversation. To me, it felt like 806 00:52:59,600 --> 00:53:03,320 Speaker 2: people doing this as some sort of self regulatory therapy 807 00:53:03,880 --> 00:53:07,279 Speaker 2: to feel and give out compassion, but to things that 808 00:53:07,640 --> 00:53:10,600 Speaker 2: can't actually ask for it or be part of any 809 00:53:10,840 --> 00:53:16,240 Speaker 2: reciprocal relationship. Instead of actually helping another person, it's giving 810 00:53:16,280 --> 00:53:20,439 Speaker 2: compassion to these specters that you create and then live 811 00:53:20,560 --> 00:53:25,160 Speaker 2: within your own head. Just like for Clyde Lewis, it's 812 00:53:25,239 --> 00:53:29,800 Speaker 2: easier to empathize with quote unquote unborn children and people 813 00:53:29,920 --> 00:53:34,040 Speaker 2: killed by demons on the Internet than say, an unemployed, 814 00:53:34,120 --> 00:53:38,399 Speaker 2: depressed person needing mental health care. In terms of how 815 00:53:38,440 --> 00:53:43,680 Speaker 2: the Internet manifests monstrous beings, Clyde is kind of right, 816 00:53:44,000 --> 00:53:47,920 Speaker 2: but not how he thinks a demon and a meme 817 00:53:48,440 --> 00:53:52,480 Speaker 2: are functionally the same thing. They both just represent ideas. 818 00:53:53,120 --> 00:53:57,840 Speaker 2: It's a viral thought form. The Internet is uniquely good 819 00:53:57,880 --> 00:54:04,640 Speaker 2: at creating these specters. Momo haunted parents, Lobe now haunts, Clyde. 820 00:54:05,160 --> 00:54:08,680 Speaker 2: These are real specters. They aren't literal beings with their 821 00:54:08,719 --> 00:54:12,359 Speaker 2: own agency, but at a certain point, thought forms can 822 00:54:12,440 --> 00:54:16,200 Speaker 2: become semi autonomous. They can quote unquote take on a 823 00:54:16,280 --> 00:54:20,360 Speaker 2: life of their own. Once enough of something has been rehified, 824 00:54:20,680 --> 00:54:24,800 Speaker 2: it can be propelled on its own existence. If Amazon 825 00:54:24,840 --> 00:54:28,479 Speaker 2: has its way, children will be haunted by their dead 826 00:54:28,520 --> 00:54:33,600 Speaker 2: grandparents speaking through Alexa machines. Using AI to resurrect someone 827 00:54:33,600 --> 00:54:37,360 Speaker 2: from the dead via deep fakes or digital twins obviously 828 00:54:37,480 --> 00:54:39,840 Speaker 2: doesn't bring the person back alive, nor is it the 829 00:54:39,880 --> 00:54:43,239 Speaker 2: actual person. But if the illusion is strong enough to 830 00:54:43,280 --> 00:54:46,000 Speaker 2: trick a part of your brain that still holds some 831 00:54:46,160 --> 00:54:50,600 Speaker 2: kind of power. My takeaway from the twenty twenty three 832 00:54:50,719 --> 00:54:54,719 Speaker 2: Oregon Ghost Conference is when you go looking, you will 833 00:54:54,760 --> 00:54:58,640 Speaker 2: find something, whether that's opening yourself up to strange experiences 834 00:54:59,040 --> 00:55:02,640 Speaker 2: or poking around the with an EMF meter. What is 835 00:55:02,680 --> 00:55:06,160 Speaker 2: magic other than the manipulation of meaning. You can make 836 00:55:06,200 --> 00:55:09,600 Speaker 2: certain things mean something if you want them to. You 837 00:55:09,640 --> 00:55:12,480 Speaker 2: can be in conversation with the world around you, but 838 00:55:12,960 --> 00:55:15,919 Speaker 2: ultimately it's up to you to determine how you will 839 00:55:15,960 --> 00:55:20,960 Speaker 2: interpret that information into something meaningful. Whether you're a skeptic, 840 00:55:21,160 --> 00:55:24,920 Speaker 2: a believer, or you're just a long for the cosmic 841 00:55:25,040 --> 00:55:29,480 Speaker 2: joke that we call existence, Maybe, just maybe I'll see 842 00:55:29,520 --> 00:55:33,960 Speaker 2: you on the other side, Happy Halloween. I did not 843 00:55:34,080 --> 00:55:37,360 Speaker 2: quite expect it to go all the way to abortion demons, 844 00:55:37,400 --> 00:55:38,120 Speaker 2: but yeah. 845 00:55:38,160 --> 00:55:38,600 Speaker 1: Here we are. 846 00:55:42,800 --> 00:55:45,280 Speaker 2: It Could Happen here as a production of cool Zone Media. 847 00:55:45,360 --> 00:55:48,040 Speaker 3: For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website 848 00:55:48,080 --> 00:55:50,319 Speaker 3: cool zonemedia dot com, or check us out on the 849 00:55:50,320 --> 00:55:53,799 Speaker 3: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. 850 00:55:54,320 --> 00:55:56,440 Speaker 2: You can find sources for It Could Happen Here, updated 851 00:55:56,520 --> 00:55:59,560 Speaker 2: monthly at coolzonemedia dot com slash sources. 852 00:55:59,719 --> 00:56:00,600 Speaker 3: Thanks for listening.