大象传媒

In 2022, Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion, and renamed it X. When asked why he wanted to own the social media network, Musk talked a lot about something he called the 鈥渨oke mind virus.鈥� 鈥淭he woke mind virus is communism rebranded鈥�, he claimed, and he vowed to defeat it - 鈥渙r nothing else matters鈥�. Where does this idea come from? Jill Lepore says the story starts back in the 1950s, when science fiction films like Invasion of the Body Snatchers captured a new feverish mood in the public imagination. The Cold War had begun, and suddenly everyone was panicking about a strange new weapon: brainwashing. Meanwhile, in South Africa, Musk鈥檚 grandfather became obsessed with the idea that 鈥渕ind control鈥� lay behind efforts to end apartheid.

Jill Lepore is the Kemper Professor of American History at Harvard University and Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. She鈥檚 also a staff writer at The New Yorker and an acclaimed author.

Series Producer: Viv Jones
Researchers: Simon Leek
Editors: Richard Vadon
Sound design and mix: James Beard
Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke
Original music by Corntuth
Production Coordinators: Jack Young, Maria Ogundele

CREDITS
ABC News, Lex Fridman Podcast, Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)