Ketamine King: Tech Bros, AI Delusions, and the Politics of Dissociation

from Acid Horizon · host Acid Horizon

CW: Includes references to drug use and racialized violence discourse.King Ketamine: https://www.parapraxismagazine.com/articles/king-ketamineAcid Horizon welcomes back Taija Mars McDougall to discuss her latest essay “King Ketamine,” published in Parapraxis Magazine. Together, we examine how ketamine—favored by Silicon Valley elites like Elon Musk—has become the drug of the techno-fascist sacrament, fueling disassociation and delusions of divine-like Promethean capitalism. Drawing on personal encounters and haunting hallucinations, Taija explores how the drug mirrors and intensifies a chimerical ruling-class subjectivity in which power is sanctified through suffering and algorithmic detachment. The conversation charts a chilling terrain: from the political theology of tech billionaires and the racial substrate of “techno-optimism” to the convergence of AI, surveillance, and “libertarian” psychoanalysis.Support the showSupport the podcast:AHRCCurrent classes at Acid Horizon Research Commons (AHRC): acidhorizonresearchcommons.comAHRC Course Archive: https://www.acidhorizonpodcast.com/ahrc-course-archivesSubmit your course proposal: [email protected] LinksWebsite: https://www.acidhorizonpodcast.com/Linktree: https://linktr.ee/acidhorizonAcid Horizon on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/acidhorizonpodcastBoycott Watkins Media: https://xenogothic.com/2025/03/17/boycott-watkins-statement/Subscribe to us on your favorite podcast: https://pod.link/1512615438Merch: http://www.crit-drip.comSubscribe to us on your favorite podcast platform: https://pod.link/1512615438LEPHT HAND: https://www.patreon.com/LEPHTHANDHappy Hour at Hippel's (Adam’s blog): https://happyhourathippels.wordpress.comSplit Infinities (Craig’s Substack): https://splitinfinities.substack.com/Music: https://sereptie.bandcamp.com/ and https://thecominginsurrection.bandcamp.com/

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Mar 30, 2025

Embed this episode

Attribution link and audio player

What this episode covers

Distinct summary based on available episode metadata or transcript content.

NOW PLAYING

Ketamine King: Tech Bros, AI Delusions, and the Politics of Dissociation

0:00 1:04:48

1×

No transcript for this episode yet

We transcribe on demand. Request one and we'll notify you when it's ready — usually under 10 minutes.

Share this episode

Similar Episodes

No similar episodes found.

Similar Podcasts

The Grey Rooms The Grey Rooms Productions The Grey Rooms Podcast is a horror anthology set within a serial audio drama, where the main protagonist experiences death through the eyes of another person. Everyone dies at the end on this show, folks. It's scary stuff. And with over ~2 MILLION~ downloads, the show continues to deliver on its promise since day one; 5-star quality scares in an immersive audio environment. Join us for Season 4 which began on November 26th, 2021.Season 4 of the Grey Rooms features all new realms of horror as Management breaks down the "Rooms" and sets off across a horizon of terror. A trio of new guests awaken on a luxury train crawling its way across an impossible landscape. At each stop, one of the guests exits the train and finds themselves forced to experience the final moments of another person's life. Every episode features a new, horrific death. And again and again, the passengers find themselves awakening back on the train, forced to live death after death... unable to save themselv Explicit Murder Mile UK True Crime Always True Crime SEVEN TIME AWARD NOMINATED at the True Crime Awards 2025, Independent Podcast Awards and the British Podcast Awards as Best True Crime Podcast. Murder Mile UK True Crime is a unique London-based true-crime podcast, focused on Soho, the West End and West London, presented as a guided walk of 300+ untold, unsolved and long-forgotten murder cases.If you’re looking for intensely researched and in-depth multipart series, Murder Mile has covered spree killer Gordon Cummings aka 'The Blackout Ripper', John George Haigh 'The Acid Bath Murderer', John Reginald Christie of '10 Rillington Place', Anthony Hardy 'The Camden Ripper', Dennis Nilsen 'The Muswell HIll Killer', The Thames Towpath Murderer, Daniel Gonzales 'The Freddy Krueger killer', The Soho Strangler regarded as the second Jack the Ripper, Michael Jamieson The Shoe Box Killer, M4 r*pist John Steed, London cannibal Peter Bryan, and ‘the Devil’s Disciple’ Patrick MacKay, and coming soon, the Hammersmith Nudes alias ‘Jack t Explicit It Could Happen Here Cool Zone Media and iHeartPodcasts It Could Happen Here started as an exploration of the possibility of a new civil war. Now a daily show, it's evolved into a chronicle of collapse as it happens, and an exploration of how we might build a better future. Every day Robert Evans, Garrison Davis, Mia Wong, and James Stout take you on a jaunty walk through the burning ruins of the old world and towards a better one that lays just on the horizon. Explicit The Green Horizon Paul Walsh Lovie Awards shortlisted sci-fi audio comedy that focuses on a na'er - do - well Irish space captain and his rag-tag crew as they traverse a war-torn Galaxy in search of fame and fortune. Explicit

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is this episode of Acid Horizon?

This episode is 1 hour and 4 minutes long.

When was this Acid Horizon episode published?

This episode was published on March 30, 2025.

Can I download this Acid Horizon episode?

Yes. Use the download control on the episode player to save the publisher-provided media file.

URL copied to clipboard!