QAA Podcast - Evil Neuroscience Part 1: Popping Whale Brains and Suffocating Dolphins (Premium E335) Sample

Episode Date: May 10, 2026

Before marine mammal song CDs conquered mall kiosks and the slogan “Save the Whales” appeared on bumper stickers nationwide, one scientist became obsessed with the idea that dolphins might be our closest nonhuman intellectual peers. In part one of our two-part Evil Neuroscience series, Jack dives into the life and work of John C. Lilly: neurophysiologist, dolphin researcher, SETI-adjacent dreamer, and the man whose attempts to bridge the interspecies communication gap proved to be more horrifying than illuminating. We follow Lilly from Biblical ideas about language and human supremacy to the Green Bank conference, where astronomers, NASA advisors, and future SETI legends formed the secretive “Order of the Dolphin.” Then we head to Marineland and Dolphin Rock, where Lilly’s research involved whale brains, suffocating dolphins, dolphin vocalization experiments, LSD, Margaret Howe’s infamous live-in language study with Peter the dolphin, and the tragic collapse of the project. Along the way: Bob Dylan’s worst song, existential elk, horny dolphins, Cold War science funding, animal language research, and the birth of the New Age dolphin obsession. Next time, Jack unpacks how Lilly’s search for nonhuman intelligence turned inward through isolation tanks, psychedelics, MKULTRA-adjacent research, and the Earth Coincidence Control Office. Subscribe for $5 a month to get all the premium episodes: www.patreon.com/qaa Check out our new podcast series network Cursed Media! All episodes of Spectral Voyager Season 2 are out now! Binge the entirety of Truly Tradly Deeply by Annie Kelly and Megan Kelly as well as Science in Transition by Liv Agar and Spencer Barrows: cursedmedia.net Produced by Liv Agar & Corey Klotz. Theme by Nick Sena. Additional music by Pontus Berghe. Theme Vocals by THEY/LIVE (instagram.com/theyylivve / sptfy.com/QrDm). Cover Art by Pedro Correa: (pedrocorrea.com) qaapodcast.com QAA was known as the QAnon Anonymous podcast.

Well done. You found a way to connect to the internet. Welcome to the QAA podcast Premium Episode 335. Evil neuroscience, part one, popping whale brains, and suffocating dolphins. Well, as always, we are your host, Jake Rakitansky, Jack LaRoche, Julian Field, and Travis Vue. Before the Animorph series sank its talons into my soul, the book I most frequently read was an illustrated children's Bible that was gifted to me by my grandma one early Christmas. The illustrations were beautiful, and the stories were fascinating. It only had the Old Testament stories, and even then, as you can imagine, a lot was cut out. I spent a good deal of time in Genesis, looking at the two inexplicably

male lines, waltzing up the ramp to board the ark, and wondering how Noah was going to handle that particular dilemma. Smart, curious kid. Before we get to Noah and the Ark, there's another story that shaped the Abrahamic perspective of the world. It's only two lines in Genesis, but people have been analyzing the philosophical implications of it for centuries. Here's how it goes in the new international version of the Bible. Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he was. would name them, and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave

names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky, and all of the wild animals. Put more simply by Bob Dylan in what's widely regarded as his worst song, man gave names to all the animals. It's a very small detail in a book that is full of them. But it's one of those details that gets brought up again and again in theological and philosophical circles. The midrash that accompanies Genesis 219 explains it in part. When the Holy One, Blessed be he, was about to create humankind, he consulted with his ministering angels saying, let us make Adam. The angels responded, what's so wonderful about this Adam? So he brought each creature before the angels and asked them, This creature, what is its name? But they did not know. then he brought the creatures before Adam and asked them,

this creature, what is its name? To which Adam responded, this is Shore, Hebrew for ox. This is Hamor donkey. So he knew all the Hebrew words. He studied his Hebrew animals, basically, is what they're saying. And sure, ha, ma'amor. Me chamo chabai,

Madonna. Oh, yeah, we're doing different stuff. I'm filled. I'm filled with little. Jewish hymns. Yeah. Just packed to the brim over years. Every Sunday, they kick you into this place.

They stuff you with a couple of hymns. You know, you get to give a couple quarters for the vending machine. Then they kick you out, you know. It's just floating around in my head, 43 years later. Just waiting to come back out. Yeah, just waiting for this episode to be unlocked. And the vending machine is just rows and rows of the same matzabal. Jack LaRoshe is Bruce Campbell from Evil Darkness, and I'm the Necronomicon.

I'm just, I'm filled with Jewish hymns just waiting to be unlocked, you know. So language in essence is a holy concept. This is what sets humans apart, not only from the animals who lack it, but also from the angels, who are incapable of understanding the divine essence of it. Language not only makes us human, but it makes us aware of what being human is. In this two-part series, I want to introduce y'all to John Cunningham Lilly, the scientist, who challenge this idea of human supremacy. In this episode, we'll learn why whale songs were all the rage throughout the 90s,

and just how far some will go to try to bridge the interspecies communication gap. In the next episode, we'll explore how telepathically communicating with dolphins for so long will put you in touch with the extraterrestrial intelligences that control your life, as well as get you plenty of CIA grants. As benefactors, we are so grateful. Yes, I vaguely remember G.I. Joe having some kind of relationship with the dolphins. There was some kind of dolphin

like an accessory that would come with one of the guys. I can't remember who it was. Okay. He had armor and some kind of echolocation sort of amplifier. He had some kind of body armor that you put on him, but I remember he came with one of the guys. There was also a thinking a ninja turtle that was a dolphin.

Hmm. I know there was one that was a gecko. Mondo gecko rules. They had a lot of animals. Well, and there was a lot of, if you're thinking about the figurine cross There was a ton of like crazy like animal crossovers, you know, not just turtles. Yeah. The Order of the Dolphin.

Did you all know that the quietest town in the United States is located in West Virginia? That makes sense. Green Bank, population 141 as of 2020, bans the use of cell phones, microwaves, and all other wireless devices. The reason for these bands is the Green Bank Telescope, formerly operated by the National Astronomy Observatory. This is the world's largest, fully steerable radio telescope, and it still attracts scientists from all over the world. Oh, I so badly want to meet, like, the conspiracist out of the 141,

that is like, yeah, we're not getting radiated by other stuff, but do you know what this telescope is doing to us? Exactly. He's like, do you know how many things have been kept from me by not being allowed to have a cell phone? Yeah, Jake would have never jacked off. Like a large amount of that 141 people are the folks who have the same ailment that Chuck and Better Call Saul did. So they're specifically there because of it. Yeah, this is a real Julianne Moore area.

It also was where Patch Adams was abusing his patients. Oh. In 1960, this particular telescope attracted none other than astronomer Frank Drake. The influx of flying saucer sightings and contactee reports from the 1950s. had people thinking a lot about extraterrestrial communication. Drake believed the best way to find our neighbors was by tuning into radio signals from nearby Taosetti and Epsilon Eridani,

which if any of you all saw Project Hail Mary, that's why those were the locations chosen. Mm-hmm, I did. I did watch it, yeah. I haven't seen it yet. A lot of, like, nice hope-borne. Yeah? I want to see it. I haven't seen it yet. I think it's out of the feeders now. I'm going to have to go to Travis's town to get it to see it. You're going to love it, Jake.

It's literally like fucking... Ryan Gosling makes friends with Pet Rock. Is it kind of like that Adam Sandler movie, but like he makes friends with the spider in space? It's kind of similar. Don't know what that's in reference to. You don't? You're not up on the latest Sandler, bro?

No, I haven't watched Sandler in a while. I'm sorry. Bro, oh my God. I suppose I watched on Cut Gems, but I haven't really watched like a proper like mainline Sandler movie in a long. Bro, you haven't seen Space Spider or Happy Kilmore 2? My man. Wait, it's just called Space Spider?

No, it's something else, but it's Space Spider. Okay, so you can't even remember the name? No. But you're trying to shame me. But look at me. I mean, what name can I remember? If it was called Space Spider, I'd probably watch it, to be honest. Yeah, you should be grateful Jake remembered the name Adam Sandler. I'm like my grandma. I remember she walked right up to the box office. She was taking us to see Jumanji in the theater, the OG, with Patch Adams, I might say to bring it back full circle.

And she walked up and she goes, three tickets for jumbalai. Me and my little brother was, we were mortified. We were like, that's not what it's called. She thinks it's a Cajun movie about cuisine. 3 for Jumbalai, please. Close. You know what? As close as Jumanji as you can get, probably.

She's like, I'll take one ticket for Les Blanks Jumangibley. You've been listening to a sample of a premium episode of the QAA podcast. For access to the full episode as well as all past premium episodes and all of our podcast miniseries, go to patreon.com slash QAA. Travis, why is that such a good deal? Well, Jake, you get hundreds of additional episodes of the QAA podcast for just $5 per month. For that very low price, you get access to over 200 premium episodes plus all of our miniseries. That includes 10 episodes of Man Clan with Julian and Annie.

10 episodes of Pervers with Julian and Liv. 10 episodes of the Spectral Voyager with Jake and Brad, plus 20 episodes of Trickle Down with me. Travis View. It's a bounty of content and the best deal in podcasting. Travis, for once, I agree with you. And I also agree that people could subscribe by going to patreon.com slash QAA. Well, that's not an opinion. It's a fact. You're so right, Jake. We love and appreciate all of our listeners. Yes, we do. And Travis is actually crying right now, I think, out of gratitude, maybe? That's not true. The part about be crying, not me being grateful. I'm very grateful.