The Instability of Truth: Brainwashing, Mind Control, and Hyperpersuasion

The Instability of Truth: Brainwashing, Mind Control, and Hyperpersuasion

The Not Old Better Show, Smithsonian Associates Interview Series

Have you ever wondered if the thoughts you're thinking… are actually yours?

Today’s Smithsonian Associates conversation might just change the way you think—literally. Our guest is Harvard historian of science Rebecca Lemov, who’s spent the last two decades pulling back the curtain on something most of us think we’re immune to: brainwashing.

But this isn't science fiction or Cold War spy stuff—though it starts there. In The Instability of Truth, Lemov takes us deep into the hidden archives of CIA experiments, cult psychology, secret black sites, and perhaps the most chilling battleground of all: the home screen on your phone.

She uncovers how techniques once used in POW camps and radical political groups are now quietly running beneath our everyday lives—inside social media feeds, AI chatbots, even dating apps. Emotional engineering, hyper-persuasion, algorithmic manipulation—it’s all happening, and most of us don’t even know it.

And here’s the twist: education and intelligence don't protect you—they might even make you more vulnerable.

In today’s interview, Rebecca Lemov opens up not only about her research but her own story of addiction, trauma, and what it took to reclaim her mind. She also offers tools to help the rest of us do the same—and why questioning your own thoughts may be the most radical act of freedom you’ll ever take.

This is a gripping conversation—fascinating, unsettling, and urgently important.

And it all starts now