Podcast Summary: Conspirituality – Brief: Have Tech Bros Killed Psychedelics?
Hosts: Derek Beres, Julian Walker
Date: December 6, 2025

Main Theme

The episode investigates whether Silicon Valley's "tech bros," exemplified by Brian Johnson and his recent livestreamed "hero's dose" psychedelic mushroom trip, have corrupted or co-opted the meaning, culture, and experience of psychedelics. The hosts critique the spectacle, commercialization, and rightward political turn that increasingly characterize mainstream psychedelic use, questioning its impact on public understanding and personal authenticity.

Key Discussion Points

1. Brian Johnson’s Livestreamed Mushroom Trip

• Overview of the Event ([02:21]–[03:48])

  • Brian Johnson, infamous for his longevity and biohacking efforts, publicized his high-dose mushroom experience via a five-and-a-half-hour livestream.
  • The event included celebrity attendees: Grimes DJ’d, Mark Benioff (CEO of Salesforce) joined to make religious comparisons, and various Silicon Valley notables were present.
  • Johnson wore a $50,000 Kernel brain-scanning helmet and measured 249 biomarkers (blood, stool, saliva, semen, DNA, etc.).
  • The media, notably SFGate, highlighted the religious rhetoric and spectacle, with headlines like "Billionaire CEO talks about God during hallucinogenic livestream."

• Host Reactions ([04:20]–[07:15])

  • Derek: Immediate reaction was aversion—"my God, I want to run as far away from psychedelics as possible, even though I've been doing them for over 30 years now."
  • Julian: Sees Johnson as both sincere and grandiosely self-absorbed. The live stream “is almost like a mile marker on the arc of psychedelics” moving from counterculture, to pop spirituality, to influencer biohacking culture.

2. The Parasocial and Exhibitionist Turn

• Broadcasting the Psychedelic Experience ([05:19]–[08:49])

  • Hosts critique “performative tripping”—the commodification of intensely private psychedelic experiences for public consumption.
  • Julian: “Hundreds of thousands of people can watch it as it happens… I’ve seen home movies that other people have made of their trips and they tend to be supremely boring and incoherent.”

• Deep Dive into Brian Johnson’s Methods ([09:07]–[10:57])

  • Describes Johnson’s quantification-obsessed approach (hundreds of biomarkers, millions spent annually), and critiques it as "spectacle of science" rather than real research.
  • Derek: “He presents himself as, I'm doing this for science. And he's super big into big numbers. But that's not a scientific way of going about research...Any sort of results he gets from this mushroom trip is not going to be applicable to a broad population because he didn't isolate anything.”

3. The Influence of Tech and Biohacking Culture

• Psychedelics as Tools for Productivity and Enhancement ([12:48]–[16:14])

  • Discussion of tech culture’s instrumental worldview: psychedelics as enhancements, not as escapes from productivity (“a disciplined, almost Protestant plan for managing the entirety of one's conscious life”).
  • Julian: “Whatever may have been holding them back from having a psychedelic experience may be reduced and overcome by watching Johnson first go through it and then talk about how amazing it was…their audiences do tend to follow their lead.”

• Reduction in Stigma? ([15:02]–[16:14])

  • The hosts debate whether such public spectacles decrease stigma or simply shift audience expectations and norms.

4. Right-Wing and MAGA Influences

• Political Shifts in Psychedelic Culture ([17:21]–[23:43])
  • The show highlights a quiet but notable shift: formerly apolitical or left-leaning entrepreneurs like Johnson and Mark Benioff attending MAGA-aligned events and associating with figures like RFK Jr., JD Vance, and Russell Brand.
  • Notes the convergence between new right libertarianism and psychedelics.
  • Quotes GQ journalist Justin Smith Rui: “Libertarians who once wore out their Atlas Shrugged copies now pass around microdosing protocols…The drug stays the same, but the meanings we embed it in change from one context to another.”

5. The Non-Specific Amplifier: Set, Setting, and Cultural Meaning

• Psychedelics Don’t Dictate Belief or Politics ([23:43]–[28:02])

  • Julian: Reflects that earlier, the cultural narrative assumed psychedelics inherently led to progressive, compassionate values. Now, they realize psychedelics simply amplify pre-existing frameworks—whether narcissism, capitalism, or spiritual openness.
  • Derek: “Psychedelics are non specific amplifiers, meaning they don't make you more liberal, loving and accepting as some people like to claim. They rather amplify what's already inside of you and you. You can't separate your individual experience on a substance from the culture that you exist within.”

• Nostalgic Romanticization vs. Cultural Evolution ([26:27]–[28:02])

  • Warning against romanticizing 1960s or ancient uses of psychedelics or expecting them to produce uniform, “enlightened” results.

6. Conclusions and Final Thoughts

• Personal Takeaways ([28:02]–[29:33])
  • Julian jokes about livestreaming his own trip as a high-level Patreon perk, but both agree that publicizing these personal experiences is “gross.”
  • Derek: "If Brian Johnson wants to live stream his life and people enjoy rubbernecking, you know, more power to them. He just needs to stop pretending that what he's doing is science because it is objectively not that."

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Spectacle:
  "[This] is almost like a mile marker on the arc of psychedelics finding their way into first pop spirituality and then influencer culture and now biohacking...the epitome of exhibitionist and voyeuristic parasocial entertainment..." – Julian Walker ([07:20])

• On the Science:
  "He presents himself as, I'm doing this for science...That's not a scientific way of going about research...the notion that he's actually doing science is honestly preposterous." – Derek Barris ([10:57])

• On Set and Setting:
  "I grew up in the idealized shadow of Western boomer counterculture. So all of my associations with psychedelics had to do with super progressive politics...It took me a really long time to realize and then accept that these were all actually beliefs and values I was bringing to the experience." – Julian Walker ([25:02])

• On Amplification:
  "Psychedelics are non specific amplifiers...they rather amplify what's already inside of you...If you're a Silicon Valley douchebag and you think that you're changing the world because of your app, it's not like doing acid or ayahuasca is going to make, oh my God, maybe I'm part of the problem here." – Derek Barris ([22:28])

• On Performative Tripping:
  "What I've learned is that this sort of deeply personal space I find is great for working out in my head and then trying to apply it when I'm sober – performative tripping, to me it just feels gross." – Derek Barris ([28:02])

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 02:21 – Episode begins, Brian Johnson's mushroom livestream described
• 03:48 – Media's religious framing and spectacle of the event
• 07:15 – Personal reactions from both hosts; why cover this story?
• 09:07 – Johnson’s biohacking background and quantification described
• 10:57 – Critique of Johnson’s "science" and methodology
• 12:48 – Effects of tech and influencer culture on psychedelics
• 17:21 – Discussion of right-wing/MAGA influence in the psychedelic space
• 20:54 – Cultural analysis and significant GQ article quoted
• 23:43 – The set/setting paradigm and cultural malleability of psychedelics
• 28:02 – Hosts wrap up: personal privacy vs. performative tripping; what science can and can’t learn from Johnson

Overall Tone & Takeaways

The episode is skeptical, wryly humorous, and critical in tone. The hosts maintain a balance of personal anecdote, cultural analysis, and scientific rigor. They lament the commercialization and politicization of psychedelics, cautioning against “spectacle” obscuring the intimacy and authenticity of the experience, and undermining real science. The message is clear: the meaning we bring to psychedelics (or anything, really) is more about us and our context than the substances themselves.

(End of summary)