In this powerful podcast episode, Jody Long explores the hidden war being waged on our minds through fear, technology, and propaganda, with a particular focus on the brain’s memory center—the hippocampus. She warns that modern systems, including media manipulation, AI-driven behavior prediction, and public health policies, may be subtly damaging our ability to think freely and remember who we are, paving the way for mass conformity. Using the COVID-19 pandemic as an example of this "Fear Protocol," she illustrates how fear shuts down critical thinking and activates survival-mode behaviors, leading to "zombie-like" reactivity and lost identity. However, Jody offers a hopeful path forward through neurogenesis, mindfulness, creativity, connection, and living with purpose—principles echoed in near-death experiences that point to love, awareness, and free will as our deepest truths. Ultimately, she urges us to protect our minds, reclaim our memories, and resist manipulation by anchoring ourselves in meaning and conscious choice.
Transcript
Hi, my name is Jody Long, and I'd like to welcome you to today's podcast on connections and consequences. Today we're going to talk about technology, the brain, and the future of human freedom, all meaty subjects, but I can break it down for you. Most of us don't realize it, but we are in a battle. Not with bombs or bullets, but with ideas, technologies, and emotions.
This is a battle for our minds, for ourselves, for our consciousness. In today's world, powerful forces are reshaping the way we live, think and even remember -through fear, isolation, and subtle forms of control. Modern systems may be doing real damage to one of the most essential parts of our brain, the hippocampus.
This tiny but powerful structure is the seat of our memory, our sense of self, and our ability to think clearly. Without it, we lose more than just recollections. We lose direction, identity, and free thought. Our free will. And here's where it gets chilling. New research suggests that everything from public health policies to digital surveillance might be undermining our hippocampus.
And why? Because weakening memory and critical thinking, it makes people easier to manipulate. It makes them easier to control. In this podcast we're diving into how fear technology and propaganda might be reshaping our very minds and what you can do to protect your mental and your spiritual freedom.
But before we go further, let me give you a little bit of context. I believe in free will, real free will. The kind that comes from mindful awareness, not just emotional autopilot. I believe we were created with the ability to choose and that our growth, spiritual, intellectual, and spiritual, intellectual and emotional comes from those choices and their consequences.
Near death, experiences or NDEs, often point to the same truth. Life is a journey of learning different facets of love. But here's the thing. About 85% of our actions come not from conscious choice, but from habit and these patterns form because for most of human history are brains needed to act fast. We needed to fight or flee.
Basically, it's about survival and the survival brain. It still runs the show unless we wake up to our present day consciousness and start using it. Unless we choose to. Act rather than react. That's why being mindful, truly aware of why we do what we do is so important, but if we do make that effort, we step into that conscious space and we begin to access the higher potential.
That we were made for. So join me as we explore the hidden battle for the mind, the science behind the memory and control, and what it means to protect your freedom, not just politically, but spiritually, emotionally, and logically. Mind control through media and technology. Technocratic elites have developed powerful tools to shape public opinion through media manipulation, search engine control, and social media censorship.
They control the narrative. Artificial intelligence can now read human emotions and predict behaviors. This data is used to deliver personalized messages that bypass critical thinking. They directly influence feelings. Have you ever heard of impulse shopping? That's exactly what we're talking about.
Combined with fear and stress, this becomes a form of digital mind control as well. So what happens when our memories are rewritten? When old memories are lost, new narratives can take their place. The hippocampus creates index neurons. That act like a mental file system, but when these neurons are damaged or overwritten, people forget who they were.
This is the goal of a totalitarian system to erase the individual and replace them with a conformist, somebody who does what everybody else does. The erasure of memory and the implantation of new beliefs can be done quietly. And without the person even realizing it. That's the beauty of it. Here is an example of putting together all of this, so I'm going to use as an example, the Pandemic as a catalyst, and I'm going to refer to this as the Fear Protocol.
During COVID-19 global populations were subjected to what some call a perfect psychological storm. This is, these are things like social isolation, relentless fear messaging, digital censorship, and sudden cultural shifts. Was this merely the fallout of a crisis or a prototype of behavior control? Let’s consider what happens in the fear narrative.
It will shut down deep thought. Critical thinking takes effort, but fear will activate our habits fast, by being reactive and emotional about our responses. This switches a person into what's known as zombie mode. This instantaneous reaction left many people repeating slogans - not questioning them, trusting institutions - not analyzing them, and above all, forgetting their past because of a damaged hippocampus.
You can't remember much including your history and your past. There is only an eternal now that's shaped by others rather than exercising your own opinions or ideas. Now, despite these threats, we can protect our brains and our freedom, and here's how. Basically what it amounts to is what's good for your body, is good for your emotions.
It's good for your mental wellbeing. These are normal things that we do to take care of ourselves, but they also help protect your hippocampus Exercise. Physical movement increases hippocampal growth and emotional resilience. Sleep. Getting enough sleep. Deep sleep is essential for forming long-term memories.
Nutrition is also extremely important. Look at things like Omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D. They're crucial for brain health. They're also good for your emotions. They're also good for your body and for your bones. We're warned about avoiding processed foods and sugar and why. That's because they cause inflammation and memory loss.
Another thing is learning how to play and exercise your creativity. This means engaging in activities that spark joy and curiosity. A next one is common sense. Limit your exposure to fear. That means that reduce your media consumption, the kind that promotes anxiety, cut it out, or at least try not to be so anxious about it.
Reduce your chaos if you have to. Just shut it all off. Go into a very peaceful, quiet setting. Another one is stay connected, and I'm talking about staying connected to community strong social bonds. They support identity and emotional wellbeing. Also think critically. Practice using system where you critically think and you rationalize things.
Don't just react, question assumptions and seek the truth.
Now the future of freedom depends on memory. If we cannot remember who we are, we cannot resist those who seek to control us. The hippocampus holds the key to our past, our creativity, and our independence. Totalitarianism. Begins not in laws, but in thoughts. It is fought not only in the courts, but also in our minds.
Every time we remember question or create, we push back on control. As vivid as VI once said, independence of thought is the first characteristic of freedom. Without it, one remains a slave to circumstances. So let us not be slaves. Let us protect our minds, preserve our memories, and remain free. Let's take a look at rebuilding our minds in the age of manipulation.
So we'll look at the role of the index neurons and auto biograph, the role of index neurons and autobiographical resilience, the hippocampus. It doesn't just store memories, it organizes them and each memory we hold is associated with a particular time and place thanks to special cells called place and time neurons.
These help us remember not just what happened, but where and when to keep all these memories organized, the to keep all these memories organized. The brain uses index neurons. These neurons act like a catalog that help us locate and retrieve memories, and without them our thoughts would be unorganized and inaccessible.
So damaging or weakening these neurons doesn't just affect memory. It actually affects who we are. When people lose access to autobiographical memory. Their identity becomes fragile. This makes them easier to influence and more likely to conform to dominant narratives, what everybody else is saying, what the media is saying, what they're hearing in school.
These are the things they will conform to. A person who can't remember what they used to believe will adopt whatever belief is repeated the most. New neurons in the hippocampus are not just for memory. They fuel curiosity, creativity, and a sense of purpose. When we experience new things, these neurons, they help us learn and adapt.
But when we're stuck in a loop of fear and stress, this process, it breaks down chronic stress, especially in the form of anxiety. I. This blocks the growth of new neurons. It also makes people fear the unfamiliar. This is how populations become mentally paralyzed and trapped in routines and they're unable to innovate or even rebel.
This effect is especially dangerous in children. Studies show that anxiety and isolation in childhood can permanently impair the ability. To regulate emotions and make decisions and form meaningful relationships with others. Ego depletion and the exhaustion of thought. The brain has limited mental energy.
After a long day, we become mentally drained. This is a state called ego depletion, and in this state, we switch from being thoughtful and reflective. Too automatic and reactive. When people are tired and stressed, they no longer have the energy to question what they hear. They become passive consumers of information deplete repeated ego depletion, you know, the kind that happens day after day after day.
You combine that with constant fear and this trains people to stay in a zombie mode. They stop thinking deeply. I. They lose their natural curiosity and they accept whatever story they're told. Indoctrination is not random. It is a system that follows specific steps. First of all, it has to create fear, and then it repeats a simple message over and over and over again, so it becomes stuck in your brain.
Like one of those mind worms, you know, the, the jingles now. You isolate dissenters. You put them off on the side, say, no, no, don't listen to them. They're crazy. Or, it's just a conspiracy. That's another way that you put them off to the side. They're not conformists like the people in the center. You reward conformity as well.
Reward how nicely these people are behaving and how well they're following your directives Now, another way is also to erase alternative views. Why do you think you have the 1619 project? Oh, my, uh, erasing any kind of history, trying to make it new again. If you take away a person's history, they won't be able to judge that stuff that you're feeding them.
They'll be just zombies listening and walking around. They'll believe everything you tell them. By using modern technology, authorities can deliver these steps efficiently. And AI powered social media platforms. They filter out opposing views and they boost approved messages. Search engines, they hide controversial information news programs.
They use emotional language to create fear and urgency. When these steps are combined with ego depletion and hippocampal damage, indoctrination becomes nearly unavoidable hope through neurogenesis and there is hope. The human brain is adaptable. Neurogenesis, the growth of new neurons. It continues into old age.
We can rebuild our minds and recover our ability to think if we engage in purposeful activities, if we exercise regularly, reduce the sugar and process foods, spend time in nature, sleep deeply and dream. Nurture curiosity through reading, exploring, and learning. These actions do more than improve brain health.
They protect our autonomy and autonomy means your sense of self and being able to act as a person, as an individual. Each new neuron is a step towards reclaiming individuality. This is our line of defense - Memory, meaning and mission. Ultimately, what protects us most is living with a purpose in life.
They are less likely to suffer from depression, anxiety, or dementia. They are also less vulnerable to manipulation. The hippocampus responds to meaningful experiences, and when we do something that matters to us, like helping others. Creating art solving problems, our brain rewards us with stronger memory and resilience.
And to resist indoctrination, we need to reconnect with our values, our stories, and our goals. We must remember what matters. That memory becomes a shield. And what's really interesting about this final line of defense. Because when you read the near death experiences, that defense is every story you read, everything in the near death experience, it is there for hope and talks about love.
It's the antithetical to depression, anxiety, or dementia. It's absolutely wonderful that by helping others and creating art and solving problems. All these things are mentioned, finding that meaning this is what people mention over and over again in the NDEs, and they know what that meaning is. It is helping others.
So I loved reading about this final line of defense because it's right in line with what we learned in near death experiences. So the conclusion, the fight for freedom begins within. Look, within. our minds are under siege, through fear, propaganda and manipulation. Powerful forces seek to erase memory and suppress thought, but the human brain is not powerless.
It can heal, it can grow, and it can fight back. This is the essence of resilience by protecting our hippocampus. Nurturing curiosity and living with meaning. We can reclaim our freedom, not just for ourselves, but for future generations. Let us remember who we are. Let us think deeply, dream boldly, and refuse to be programmed.
The war on memory is real, but with knowledge, action, and courage, we can win it. This is our moment to choose submission. So let us choose wisely.
