Psychedelic Billionaires in an Age of Inequality

New video of my presentation for Harvard Medical School

As a quick tl;dr: Here’s the link to watch my February 10 presentation for Harvard Medical School’s conference on “Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy: Contrasting Visions.” For responses from the audience, skip down to the final section below.

A screengrab from the presentation video shows a slide with the TESCREAL acronym, which covers an interconnected bundle of popular Silicon Valley ideologies.

As I alluded to in my first post, my recent Harvard presentation was a life highlight; I'd never before experienced such a warm reception to my critical work from so many people.

Even before I presented, I knew that this talk was really important to me. It elaborated on — and provided background context for — my December 2023 paper in the Journal of Psychedelic Studies, "TESCREAL hallucinations: Psychedelic and AI hype as inequality engines.” As I wrote in my explainer threads on Twitter and Bluesky, that paper felt like the culmination of all of my previous work:

“This new paper, which argues that the AI hype & psychedelics hype are interconnected, is possibly my most ambitious work. It synthesizes all of my previous work, from right-wing psychedelia to psychedelic capitalism & suggestibility in clinical trials.”

I especially appreciated the positive reception since I’d been unusually anxious going into the presentation. After messaging a friend that “I'm getting really nervous about presenting 🫣,” he responded: “Go throw some air boxing punches and do a little feet work, get anxiety out. You’re gonna crush it.” (I found a quiet spot to try that out, and I think it helped!)

Although I didn’t realize that we would be getting evaluations back from attendees, I received an email last week with feedback from the audience. I couldn’t help but tear up a bit as I read through the many messages of clear solidarity and support.

153 people gave the presentation the highest rating of “excellent,” or 5 out of 5. (One person gave it the lowest rating of “poor,” which led my friend Michele to comment that “Someone got mad!”)

The written comments were magnificent and so, so kind. They made me feel like I had accomplished what I’d set out to do. Multiple people mentioned the word “mindblowing.” Some said it was their favorite talk, and that they were deeply affected by it.

As I mentioned last time, this is all pretty wild to me — I never used to get these kinds of reactions to my talks. After sticking it out on the postdoc grind for nearly a decade, these kinds of responses mean so much to me.

The full presentation is now available to watch on YouTube. I’ll cap this mailer off with excerpts from those comments, many of which testify to the feeling of positivity and energy in the room:

Audience feedback

• "There was a strong, palpable air of caution in the air after we [listened] to her."

• "Harvard seems to have saved a best for last in Dr. Devenot. Informed, dedicated, inspirational. Bravo, Nese."

• "She was the highlight of my learning!"

• "The MOST important presentation of the conference! This was so eye-opening, brave, passionate, and most importantly focused on humanity."

• "Powerful and frightening presentation."

• "I like how she took us through a mesmerizing journey and came out in the middle ground like light from a tunnel."

• "I valued this talk above many of the others."

• "Love this presentation... so grateful for the fresh perspective and for the [speaker’s] willingness to speak truth to power."

• "YES! Thank them wholeheartedly--it was lovely and affirming to see nonbinary representation (which, on the registration, add that they/she as an option, sidenote??); their views and critical thinking lens is magnanimously powerful and seeks to add power to the table that [I’d] like to eat at too--truly a mover and a shaker. will be following and keeping an eye out for past/current/future research and talks ecstatically."

• "Absolute highlight of the conference!"

• "THIS is what contrasting visions look like!!! Their presentation was PHENOMENAL!!! So helpful to have challenging discourse that represents the field's ability to challenge itself and our assumptions. GREATLY appreciated their presentation."

• "Literally made me sit up straight and blew my mind. Can this be an article in the Atlantic? Or something? Can we casually post this everywhere? Nese for president! Just kidding I would never do that to them, but just thank you."

• "The vast tasker underclass and the beliefs and theories of transhumanism were the best things to talk about. I don't know who invited them to speak at this conference, but they are wonderful and I will be looking for more from them."

• "This was one of the best presentations of the conference. Their passion and commitment to maintaining the field is admirable."

• "A real mindblowing presentation."

• "This was a very impactful presentation and I think an extremely important topic for researchers and clinicians to understand"

• "GREAT. Important, if terrifying, information"

• "This presentation was mind blowing and Nese's research and connectivity between privilege, AI and psychedelics was powerful. I'm looking forward to learning more about this and hearing more from her in the future. So glad this was included as part of the training."

• "Fabulous. Should be included at any conference on psychedelics."

• "This presentation was moving, profound and frightening. I wrote a number of quotes to share with colleagues and friends. The presenter is an expert and has obviously given this much thought."

• "Brilliant all around"

• "Incredible. Probably the most important and [thought] provoking presentation of them all. I learned a ton from this talk. The presenter was passionate, clear and powerful. Necessary voice!"

• "Nese was incredible and making such valuable contributions to this field!"

Thank you for all the support!!

Xoxo