The research of Prof. John Gastil focuses on deliberative democracy, especially how small groups of people make decisions on public issues. In the first half, he discussed his sci-fi novel set in the near-future, Gray Matters, which ties together Alzheimer's, brain technology, and American politics. Gastil was inspired to write about this topic because dementia runs in his family, and he wondered to what lengths people would go to stave it off. The book describes a device called the 'Elder Compass,' a nanochip that slides behind the ear and then tethers into the brain. His fictional technology bears some resemblance to Elon Musk's just announced Neuralink chip, Gastil noted.
In the novel, the Internet has become "the Loop," which courses through everything, and uses Big Data and AI to make connected devices more intrusive, pushing advice onto their owners. Though the technologies in Gray Matters were created with good intentions, they lead to dystopian results, "turning people into glitches." Gastil believes we should apply our democratic principles in determining where we want technology to take us, and decide whether it's worth trading in some of our independent judgment for predictability and safety.
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Registered nurse and USAF veteran, Miss Aida is also a natural-born medium and a Hoodoo practitioner. She comes from a family that practiced Santeria, Palo, and Brujeria. In the latter half, she shared rituals, spells, and magical formulas to remove negative energies and banish harmful people so you can live your best life. Hoodoo is an African-derived tradition (though it incorporates other cultures as well) that is practiced in North America and is also known as conjure and rootwork. Unlike Santeria and some different paths, Hoodoo is not a religion, she explained, and it doesn't involve animal sacrifice, which she appreciates.
She outlined Hoodoo techniques for cleansing a person's aura (the protective shield around us), as well as described a time when she placed a serious curse on a man who harmed her husband. She does not place a curse lightly and explained that there must be a strong justification for her to go this route. People can sometimes curse themselves inadvertently with negative energy, she reported, especially if they have visited metaphysical scammers who set up a fear-based situation. A spell, she stated, is an expressed desire to cause an event that can be either negative or positive. Miss Aida, who considers herself a witch (though not Wiccan), also detailed how she created a Passover-like ritual placing blood markings and Hebrew prayer on her doors to ward off COVID-19.
News segment guests: Lauren Weinstein, Steve Kates