| Revision as of 14:41, 13 January 2025 editRobincantin (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users9,838 edits Adding the text from Stuart Vyse independently reaching the same conclusion as Jarry + academic positions about those techniquesTag: 2017 wikitext editor← Previous edit | Revision as of 14:47, 13 January 2025 edit undoRobincantin (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users9,838 edits More neutral language. Got a little snarky there, sorry.Tag: 2017 wikitext editorNext edit → | ||
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| The Times' podcast reviewer, James Marriott, found listening to the anguish of the parents featured on the podcast "heartbreaking", but takes Dickens to task for presenting a mockery of the scientific approach.<ref name=Times/> | The Times' podcast reviewer, James Marriott, found listening to the anguish of the parents featured on the podcast "heartbreaking", but takes Dickens to task for presenting a mockery of the scientific approach.<ref name=Times/> | ||
| Aware that what she presents does not constitute scientific evidence, Dickens chides "close-minded" scientists for not thinking outside the box. Beyond telepathy, Dickens |
Aware that what she presents does not constitute scientific evidence, Dickens chides "close-minded" scientists for not thinking outside the box. Beyond telepathy, Dickens also briefly entertains the notions that autistic children can also communicate with ghosts and that strange powers can be accessed through crystals.<ref name=Times/> | ||
| ==Episodes== | ==Episodes== | ||
Revision as of 14:47, 13 January 2025
2024 podcast Podcast| The Telepathy Tapes | |
|---|---|
| Presentation | |
| Starring | Ky Dickens |
| Format | Audio |
| Created by | Ky Dickens |
| Written by | Ky Dickens |
| Production | |
| Composed by | Jen Murdza |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 10 |
| Publication | |
| Original release | September 9 – December 23, 2024 |
| Provider | Acast |
| Related | |
| Website | thetelepathytapes |
The Telepathy Tapes is a podcast by documentary director Ky Dickens. The podcast speculates that nonverbal autistic children have telepathic powers. Season 1 was released in 2024.
Description
Based on the theories of former psychiatrist Diane Hennacy Powell, the podcast examines the premise that nonverbal autistic children communicate telepathically with people around them, through personal testimony, anecdotes and interviews with proponents of paranormal powers.
The Telepathy Tapes was directed by American documentary maker Ky Dickens. While Dickens professes to be a "science nerd", her degrees are in communications, fine arts and sociology. She got interested in this particular topic when she heard Powell speaking on another podcast.
The podcast quickly gathered a very large audience during the Fall of 2024, briefly becoming the most popular podcast on some streaming services in the United States and the United Kingdom. As of January 2025, The Telepathy Tapes had a 4.9 stars rating on Spotify with over 2,000 reviews.
Interviews with parents of autistic children constitute the core of most episodes, with people presented as experts and Dickens chiming in to speculate about paranormal powers. Listeners can hear sessions during which autistic children try to guess numbers and words their parent is thinking about, successes in these tests being presented as evidence of telepathy. Powell is heavily featured and the podcast's website indicates that she has been researching the topic for a decade. The audience is invited to subscribe to the paywalled portion of the website to see the videos of the children trying to read minds and fund Powell's research activities.
The podcast also features Dickens' camera technician in the role of a hardened materialist skeptic who turns into a believer in the course of the series.
After seeing the short video clips from the website, both Jonathan Jarry of the McGill University Office for Science and Society and psychologist Stuart Vyse independently conclude the tests are derived from the Rapid prompting method, a facilitated communication technique that has not been proven to be useful. For Vyse and Jarry, with the parent holding the board that the child needs to point to construct a response, or holding the child themselves, the most likely explanation is that the parent is steering the child to the right answer, consciously or not. About facilitated communication techniques, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry states that "studies have repeatedly demonstrated that FC is not a scientifically valid technique for individuals with autism"; the American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics also published position statements against their use.
Dickens has announced the second season of the podcast would feature non-autistic telepaths and raising funding for a television production.
Reception
While the show received an enthusiastic reception from a large number of listeners and has been promoted by Joe Rogan, it has been heavily criticized for its pseudoscientific premise and speculations.
The Times' podcast reviewer, James Marriott, found listening to the anguish of the parents featured on the podcast "heartbreaking", but takes Dickens to task for presenting a mockery of the scientific approach.
Aware that what she presents does not constitute scientific evidence, Dickens chides "close-minded" scientists for not thinking outside the box. Beyond telepathy, Dickens also briefly entertains the notions that autistic children can also communicate with ghosts and that strange powers can be accessed through crystals.
Episodes
| No. | Title | Length (minutes:seconds) | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Unveiling the Hidden World of Telepathic Communication in a Silenced Community" | 47:00 | September 9, 2024 (2024-09-09) |
| 2 | "Telepathy or the merging of consciousness?" | 46:00 | September 16, 2024 (2024-09-16) |
| 3 | "Telepathic Communication between friends and groups" | 43:00 | September 23, 2024 (2024-09-23) |
| 4 | "Teen Love with a Twist of Telepathy" | 44:00 | September 30, 2024 (2024-09-30) |
| 5 | "Teachers Break the Silence about Telepathy" | 41:00 | October 7, 2024 (2024-10-07) |
| 6 | "Scientific Evidence for ESP that Shatters the Materialist Paradigm" | 40:00 | October 14, 2024 (2024-10-14) |
| 7 | "Telepathy is the Tip of the Iceberg" | 55:00 | October 28, 2024 (2024-10-28) |
| 8 | "Gatekeepers of Truth - Telepathy and the Spelling Controversy" | 51:00 | November 11, 2024 (2024-11-11) |
| 9 | "Telepathy Across Dimensions, Death, and Beyond" | 60:00 | November 25, 2024 (2024-11-25) |
| 10 | "In Their Words: Messages from the Non-Speakers" | 38:00 | December 23, 2024 (2024-12-23) |
References
- ^ Marriott, James (2 January 2025). "The Telepathy Tapes review — this hit podcast has contempt for science". The Times. Retrieved 12 January 2025.
- ^ Jarry, Jonathan (13 December 2024). "The Telepathy Tapes Prove We All Want to Believe". Office for Science and Society. Archived from the original on 5 January 2025. Retrieved 12 January 2025.
- ^ Cockerell, Claudia (3 January 2024). "What is The Telepathy Tapes? The controversial podcast which replaced Joe Rogan as number one". The Standard. Archived from the original on 5 January 2025. Retrieved 12 January 2025.
- Sager, Monica (3 January 2025). "Podcast Claiming Autistic Children Are Telepathic Knocks Rogan off Top Spot". Newsweek. Archived from the original on 6 January 2025. Retrieved 12 January 2025.
- ^ Roeloffs, Mary (3 January 2025). "Podcast About 'Telepathic' Autistic Children Briefly Knocks Joe Rogan Out Of No. 1 Spot". Forbes. Archived from the original on 5 January 2025. Retrieved 12 January 2025.
- "Telepathy tests". The telepathy Tapes. Archived from the original on 25 December 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2025.
- ^ Vyse, Stuart (6 January 2025). "The Telepathy Tapes: A Dangerous Cornucopia of Pseudoscience". Skeptical Inquirer. Retrieved 13 January 2025.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - "Facilitated Communication". American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. October 20, 1993. Retrieved 13 January 2025.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)