Ed Prideaux

Philosopher Tim Hsiao argues that recreational drug use is immoral because it deliberately impairs reason, our core human faculty. Ed Prideaux argues that his natural law framework is shaky, riddled with inconsistencies, and overlooks how altered states can sometimes serve, rather than undermine, human flourishing.

Psychedelic drug trials face a fundamental credibility problem because participants almost always know they've received the active drug, making it nearly impossible to separate genuine therapeutic effects from the power of expectation and belief.

The self was never as unified as we assume, and psychedelics - by dissolving its boundaries - can fragment it further across psychological, social, and economic lines.

Psychedelic therapy, due to the combination of heightened suggestibility, powerful altered states, and unique power imbalances, opens the door to undue influence of the kind not seen in ordinary psychotherapy.

Despite its cultural prestige and rapid commercial growth, psychotherapy - as well as psychedelic-assisted therapy - rests on overstated evidence, underreported harms, and inherent power imbalances that can produce subtle harms.

Despite bold promises surrounding psychedelics, a significant share of patients fail to meaningfully improve, revealing that non-response is a central - and often overlooked - challenge in psychedelic therapy.

The Immortality Key builds a sweeping psychedelic-religion narrative on evidence that its own primary scientific authority later rejected as methodologically flawed, undermining the book's credibility despite its popular success.

Ed Prideaux examines Elon Musk's alleged drug use and public behaviour in the context of his immense political and technological influence.