Is the Dark Side Trying to Stop Us Becoming a Cosmic Species?

Mark Booth returns to Dreamland for one of the strangest shows we have ever recorded. Mark’s new book, The Secret History of the Universe, explores an ancient idea now reappearing at the edges of modern physics: that consciousness may be more fundamental than matter, and that the universe itself may be permeated by intelligence. Mark and Whitley follow this possibility into some extraordinary territory—quantum physics, mystical experience, the nature of nonhuman intelligence, Wolfgang Pauli and Carl Jung, the mysterious fine-structure constant, and the possibility that mathematical truths exist independently of the physical universe. Then the conversation takes a darker turn. What happens when the strange forces discovered in quantum physics are amplified by human technology? Mark examines the Manhattan Project, Jack Parsons and the occult origins surrounding JPL, Operation Paperclip, artificial intelligence, and the disturbing possibility that modern science has unknowingly crossed boundaries once approached through magic and mysticism. And just as Mark and Whitley begin discussing black magic and its possible influence on American science, the recording itself starts behaving very strangely. Mark can be heard on the recording—but Whitley can no longer hear him. The interview has to be stopped and resumed days later. As we emerge into the greater universe, is something very dark trying to stop us??  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices