Norman Ohler | Nazis on Drugs, LSD Origins & Psychedelic Futures
LIMINAL NEWS with Daniel Pinchbeck
Release Date: 11/03/2025
Mike Brock | The Simulation Is Collapsing: America’s Political Meltdown
LIMINAL NEWS with Daniel Pinchbeck
Former tech executive and political writer Mike Brock joins me for one of the most urgent and explosive conversations we’ve had on the channel — covering Trump’s accelerating authoritarianism, the GOP civil war, Silicon Valley’s Christian turn, Epstein revelations, and the structural collapse of American democracy in real time. In this new episode of LIMINAL NEWS, I speak with writer and former tech executive Mike Brock, whose recent Substack essays have gone viral for their sharp, insider-level analysis of the American political meltdown. We explore the dizzying speed at which...
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Roman Hanis | Beyond Ayahuasca: Indigenous Wisdom, Healing & the Forgotten Heart
LIMINAL NEWS with Daniel Pinchbeck
Can ancient plant medicines and indigenous traditions help heal our fractured civilization? Daniel Pinchbeck speaks with Roman Hanis—author of Beyond Ayahuasca and co-founder of the Paititi Institute—about his two decades apprenticing with Amazonian elders, bridging Tibetan Buddhism, Jungian psychology, and ecological preservation. In this episode of LIMINAL NEWS, I speak with Roman Hanis, author of "Beyond Ayahuasca" and co-founder of the Paititi Institute for the Preservation of Ecology and Indigenous Culture. For over twenty years, Roman has lived and apprenticed among Andean and...
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Toxic Empathy: How Christian Nationalism Turned Cruelty Into Virtue
LIMINAL NEWS with Daniel Pinchbeck
This is an audio version of my recent video essay based on my recent Substack post, “Toxic Empathy: The Supreme Court and the Death of Christian Compassion.” I explore how right-wing Christian nationalism has inverted the moral teachings of Jesus—transforming empathy into sin and cruelty into virtue. Drawing on Herbert Marcuse, Joy DeGruy, and the Gospels, I unpack how repression, self-denial, and hierarchy have been sanctified as “tough love.” Read the original essay here: Watch on YouTube: 📚 References & Mentions Eros and Civilization — Herbert Marcuse...
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We’re Not Totally F*ed—Yet | Ramez Naam on Climate, Tech & Hope
LIMINAL NEWS with Daniel Pinchbeck
I sit down with Ramez Naam—scientist, technologist, and award-winning sci-fi author—to unpack how we arrived at the brink of democratic collapse, and what we can still do to pull back. Ramez and I first met years ago at Burning Man. Since then, he’s become one of the most lucid voices connecting climate change, clean energy, technology, and political reform. We talk about the tech industry’s dangerous silence, the manipulation of social media, the rise of AI influence operations, and why “everything is downstream from protecting democracy.” He also shares hopeful insights about the...
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Adbusters' Kalle Lasn | How We Lost the Plot & How to Spark a Real Revolution
LIMINAL NEWS with Daniel Pinchbeck
I sat down with Adbusters founder Kalle Lasn to talk about his new book “Manifesto for World Revolution” and his call for a “third crack at world revolution.” Lasn reflects on the legacy of Occupy Wall Street and 1968, arguing that real change requires vision, not reaction. We explore his ideas for true-cost markets, meta memes, and a new Bottoms Up Majority Party—a “Third Force” that could redefine politics for the 21st century. Along the way, Kalle explains why activism must move beyond left and right, and why, in his words, humanity needs to “learn how to wobble again.”...
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Betsy Chasse | The Dark Side of “What the Bleep” & the New Age Industrial Complex
LIMINAL NEWS with Daniel Pinchbeck
Filmmaker Betsy Chasse, co-creator of “What the Bleep Do We Know!?”, joins me to dissect how the New Age movement morphed into a billion-dollar self-help industry. We discuss cult dynamics, spiritual narcissism, the rise of Trumpian mysticism, and how “manifestation” culture paved the road from The Secret to MAGA metaphysics. In this episode, I speak with filmmaker, author, and cultural critic Betsy Chasse — best known as co-writer and director of the 2004 New Age phenomenon “What the Bleep Do We Know!?” Betsy reflects on the film’s legacy and how its ideas about consciousness...
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Frank Schaeffer | From Evangelical Royalty to Exile, Christo-Fascism & Trump
LIMINAL NEWS with Daniel Pinchbeck
Frank Schaeffer grew up inside the birth of America’s religious right — making films with his father, Francis Schaeffer, that helped launch the modern anti-abortion and Christian nationalist movements. In this episode, we unpack how that movement gave rise to Trump, how money and media corrupted the church, and what real spirituality looks like beyond ideology. Frank was at the center of it all in the 1970's and 1980s— collaborating on the series “Whatever Happened to the Human Race” with Surgeon General C. Everett Koop and witnessing firsthand how religion, politics, and money fused...
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Brett Scott | The Contradiction at the Heart of Capitalism
LIMINAL NEWS with Daniel Pinchbeck
Liberal capitalism tells us to be good and bad at the same time—innovate, compete, and care. In this episode, I talk with economic anthropologist Brett Scott, author of “Cloudmoney: Cash, Cards, Crypto and the War for Our Wallets”, about the failure of liberal reformism, the rise of tech-fueled authoritarianism, and how the ESG illusion collapsed into the culture wars. In this episode of Liminal News, I speak with Brett Scott about what he calls “the contradiction at the heart of capitalism.” We unpack how liberal capitalism’s moral split—between ruthless competition and moral...
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Norman Ohler | Nazis on Drugs, LSD Origins & Psychedelic Futures
LIMINAL NEWS with Daniel Pinchbeck
What role did drugs play in the Third Reich—and how are psychedelics shaping our future? I sit down with Norman Ohler, author of "Blitzed" and "Tripped," to explore hidden history, consciousness, and the power of altered states. In this episode of LIMINAL NEWS, I talk with acclaimed German author Norman Ohler, best known for his groundbreaking book "Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich." We explore the hidden story of methamphetamines in Nazi Germany, Hitler’s staggering drug intake, and how these revelations reshape history. We also dive into his follow-up book "Tripped: Nazi Germany, the...
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Ralph White & Walter Alexander | Rudolf Steiner, Reincarnation, Anthroposophy & The Future of Consciousness
LIMINAL NEWS with Daniel Pinchbeck
In this episode of LIMINAL NEWS, I talk with Ralph White and Walter Alexander about the extraordinary life, teachings, and legacy of Rudolf Steiner—a visionary philosopher, spiritual scientist, and founder of biodynamic agriculture, Waldorf education, and anthroposophy. We explore Steiner’s esoteric Christianity, his teachings on reincarnation and the evolution of consciousness, the challenges of our technological age, and how his ideas remain profoundly relevant today. 👉 Sign up for the month-long Rudolf Steiner seminar here: 🌐 👉Ralph White Bio: Ralph taught the first...
info_outlineWhat role did drugs play in the Third Reich—and how are psychedelics shaping our future?
I sit down with Norman Ohler, author of "Blitzed" and "Tripped," to explore hidden history, consciousness, and the power of altered states. In this episode of LIMINAL NEWS, I talk with acclaimed German author Norman Ohler, best known for his groundbreaking book "Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich." We explore the hidden story of methamphetamines in Nazi Germany, Hitler’s staggering drug intake, and how these revelations reshape history. We also dive into his follow-up book "Tripped: Nazi Germany, the CIA, and the Dawn of Psychedelics," which uncovers the early history of LSD, Nazi-era drug experiments, and how CIA programs like MKUltra grew out of those foundations. Along the way, Norman and I share personal experiences with psychedelics, including ibogaine, and reflect on their potential to transform individuals and societies. We also discuss Rudolf Steiner, Western esotericism, and the importance of reclaiming spiritual traditions in our fractured world.
👉About: Norman Ohler is a German novelist, journalist, and historian best known for his international bestseller "Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich," which revealed the hidden role of methamphetamines in Nazi Germany. His follow-up, "Tripped: Nazi Germany, the CIA, and the Dawn of Psychedelics," traces the early history of LSD and its entanglement with intelligence agencies and Cold War experiments. Ohler’s work blends meticulous archival research with narrative storytelling, reshaping our understanding of history, politics, and consciousness.
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