The Secret Origin of the Medbed Conspiracy Theory feat. Molly Olmstead (E392)
Some online communities believe that “Medbeds” can supposedly cure cancer, regrow limbs, and reverse aging. The catch? You have to wait for Donald Trump to defeat the deep state before an appointment opens up.
Slate reporter Molly Olmstead joins us to discuss her yearlong investigation into the origins and consequences of this imaginary, sci-fi inspired medical technology. Her reporting took her through bogus appointment offers, families fractured by conspiracy beliefs, and a purported healing chamber in Sedona. It led all the way to a man who claims he fought aliens on Mars and had his destroyed arm regenerated afterward.
Slate - “The Mystery of Medbeds”
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2026/09/medbeds-conspiracy-theory-donald-trump-origins.html
Molly Olmstead
https://bsky.app/profile/mollyolmstead.bsky.social
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Comments (41)
This was a harrowing and evocative vignette of Jake’s relatable confused understanding combined with wanting identifiable enemies. Top ten best episodes imho
HI KERRY!!!
I used a wiffle bat for my light saber.
damn i hate the medbed stuff and they've gotten so much mileage out what is essentialy an old person's immortality fantasy. ill listen but im gonna complain the whole time.
Medbeds are one of my pet favorites. It’s a relic of the better future Star Trek imagined for all of us, but somehow MAHA thinks they’ll get the toys while ignoring every other bit of Gene Roddenberry’s social commentary.
Ok, in the closing audio it says that for a while we were *buying* medbeds from the Centaurians. That's kind of a buried lede I think? What are we producing that is so valuable on the Centaurii worlds and so expensive for them to produce themselves that it can be the basis of interstellar trade? Unless it's the services of our supersoldier conscripts maybe. Or crafts / IP
I remember reading a SF story where Earth's most desired-by-spacers commodities were polluted air and water, because their worlds had eliminated pollution long ago but not until after they had actually developed a taste for it
at the end i thought mollie was going to say she believed in them
But what about Alien Earth
I thought the BBC's Doctor Who from the '70s & '80s was the worst TV rubber suit alien show. Until I saw that.
It’s getting harder everyday to resist the urge to scam boomers
Large language models are programmed to scrape the internet for material. They are not programmed to distinguish between reality and fantasy. So it is not surprising that hyper online fantasies will get translated into the pseudo-real world of AI slop being fed to boomer chud farms. Just wait when they start pushing SCP onto the chuds. That's when stuff gets real weird. And if 30 or 40% of a population is effectively schizophrenic, how is that not equivalent to a zombie apocalypse?
Jake why do you volunteer getting owned like this no one had to know about this Proton Pack lmao
[Passable AI Trump voice] “Every American will soon receive their own-“ [Totally different AI voice] “-medbed card.”
Anyway ,seeing as Dan is restarting the Knowledge Fight podcast ,any chance of having him back on to talk about it ?
Anywaygreat ep again folks 👍 Loving the Trump impressions ,Jake 😆
Any idea if the 'My Pillow' guy has a hustle in this market ? If not he's missing a grift here . A " My Med Pillow" that relieves headaches or some shit ! 🤠
MIDBID
I think this is the episode where we learned that Julian watched the Stargate TV show. Of course the alien was in your tummy.
Goa'uld are the medbeds of parasitic slugs! Heal your body right up. (Sure, then they drive you like a meat puppet, but a gorgeous meat puppet, so winning?)
Travis vindicated; Elysium is a solid action sci fi movie, Prometheus is a Nolanesque galaxybrainsturbation
i see yall in the comments talking like Prometheus was good and made sense -- that's your burden, not mine. you're the ones who're gonna have to explain yourselves at the pearly gates
Medbeds got covered in EP 274. I knew I wasn't having a Mandela effect moment.
The cast gets isekaied into the Trek universe and Travis deploys a phaser on the injured Jake.
Starship Troopers also has the healing tank... It all comes back to Starship Troopers
go watch prometheus! its incredibly interesting aside from the stoner subplot
Movie Night for Prometheus. It would be great. And kinda on point for today. After all the medbed in that was designed for MEN ONLY and she had to trick it to work on her. The Big White Muscular Gods...the tech guy looking for immortality and the scientist who totally believes in God vs. her fellow who is aethiest. And the AI/ robot who is following his creators' orders... and pretty much paperclips a bunch of people.
Do more Trump Jake!
I lived in Sedona for 8 years and was completely embedded in the New Age scene there (mostly the younger folks), so I always enjoy an episode that shines a spotlight there! I know people who rent sessions on supposed "med beds" for hundreds of dollars, it's such a grift even if they convince themselves that it actually works. It's just a psychological coping strategy to self-justify their grifty behavior. They all desperately want to be able to make good money by only doing spiritual stuff so they don't have to participate in the normal wage economy, even though most of them have zero class consciousness. I finally got too jaded when so many of them showed themselves to be complete selfish hypocrites during COVID and fled back to my homeland of Seattle. I'm a shamanic practitioner and have had a ton of spiritual experiences but I'm also a scientist by nature (and degree) and an anarchist so the New Age fascism sickens me. I much prefer the more shamanistic psychedelic scene in the NW than the ludicrous version of right wing Christianity that undergirds most New Age beliefs.
Who up viewing they travis
This shit bums me out so much every time.
Hell yea Prometheus is goated med bed use
How can I exchange my Lazy Ape NFT for stock in Trump Medbeds?
O hellllll yea
Its a shame a lot of these regards with a t have already reproduced
We didn’t know the origins of Medbeds?
Knowledge Fight Episode #95: Project Camelot Break (October 23, 2017) went over Randy
talkin 'bout holographic med beds!
I still believe
TRAVIS VIEW
Hell yeah brothers