Can Tech Get Rid of Bad Trips?

Uncanny Valley | WIRED

WIRED

Technology

4.1 • 570 Ratings

🗓️ 20 November 2025

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Whether it's teenagers reviving the Benadryl TikTok challenge or people signing up for an out of body experience program previously used by the CIA, some of us are chasing unconventional trips. Bad trips, essentially. But these trends are happening at a time when AI companies are also looking to create a “cleaner” trip for users, and others are using AI chatbots to therapeutically guide their psychedelic trips. Mike sits down with WIRED's Boone Ashworth and Manisha Krishnan to discuss these trends, and the promises and limitations of relying on tech to avoid bad trips.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, Boone. How you doing?
0:02.5	Hey, Mike. How are you?
0:03.8	Good. Welcome. This is your first appearance on Uncanny Valley. Is it not? It is. It's really nice to be back in the studio. It's good to have you. Good to be here. You're filling in for Lauren this week. She is out meeting the Pope or eating pasta or something. I can't really remember exactly what she's doing over there. but this week, we're going to dive into a subject that I know that you and I are always curious about,
0:25.0	and that is the subject of drugs. I'm peaking right now, Mike.
0:30.6	Well, before you start getting really sweaty and anxious, we do have to introduce our guest,
0:35.3	Wired's senior culture editor, Manisha Krishnan. Hey, Manisha. Welcome
0:39.3	back onto the show. Hi, guys. Excited to talk about drugs. My favorite topic. Let's get into it.
0:48.8	This is Wired's Uncanny Valley, a show about the people, power, and influence of Silicon Valley.
0:55.2	Today, we're talking about drugs and all the ways they're changing as they continue to be intertwined with tech,
1:00.2	and we continue to enjoy them. From teenagers reviving the Benadryl TikTok challenge to more people
1:06.3	than ever signing up for an out-of-body experience program previously used by the CIA.
1:11.7	Some people are chasing unconventional trips, bad trips essentially.
1:16.5	And then there's the AI companies who are looking to create a cleaner trip for users,
1:20.4	or those who are using AI chatbots to therapeutically guide their psychedelic trips.
1:24.8	We'll dive into some of these trends, and why behind the weirdness of some of these
1:28.2	methods, there is a real appeal that says a lot about the moment we're in culturally and technologically.
1:34.4	I'm Michael Colori, Director of Consumer Tech and Culture. I'm Boone Ashworth, staff writer on the
1:39.5	Geardesk. And I'm Anisha Krishnan, senior culture editor.
1:52.7	So let's start with one of the stranger methods for substance consumption that Wired has reported on recently.
1:57.3	And believe me, we have reported on dozens of strange methods for substance consumption.
2:01.5	This one is probably, I think, the strangest, at least of 2025.
2:08.8	It is the revival of the trend of teenagers and young adults taking a ton of Benadryl to get high.
	...

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