Superhuman - From Engineered Desire to Engineered Consent

Aaron Ping

A father’s search for answers and the century-long con that sold corporate freedom as our own.  When my son died, I started asking questions. The answers led me to places I never expected: a dinner party in Vienna, a railroad case nobody remembers, our constitutional rights hijacked as an excuse to look away while children die. Superhuman is my search for what happened. Not just to my son, but to all of us.

Season 1

  1. EPISODE 1

    Two Stacks

    The episode opens by introducing the Superhuman series—how corporations became entities with more legal rights than humans but none of the accountability. This isn't just about technology or social media—it's about power, who wields it, and how we built a system where companies can harm children at scale and face no consequences. Then Laura Marquez-Garrett of the Social Media Victims Law Center, who represents over 4,000 families harmed by social media, walks us through the massive gap between what platforms claim and what actually happens. She exposes the hidden realities no safety guide mentions—what law enforcement knows but parents don't, why evidence vanishes by design, and how platforms' actual practices contradict their public promises. When my 15-year-old son Avery convinced me to let him use Snapchat in 10th grade, I thought I understood the risks. I'd read "The Anxious Generation." I worried about screen time and social pressure. I had no idea what was really happening on the platform. This episode covers the information I wish had been made more publicly available, so that I would have known what I was dealing with. 00:00 - Two Stacks of Paper (Season Introduction) 11:05 - Laura Introducton 13:05 - Snapchat Knew 18:04 - Colorado SB 86  23:35 - Product Design 29:15 - Reporting Criminal Activity to Snapchat 32:21 - Perla Mendoza's Hunt for Justice 39:13 - Unreported Crimes 44:36 - Parents Can't Fathom the Truth Content warning: teen death, drug sales, and exploitation. Contact Us

    52 min

  2. EPISODE 2

    The Machine

    This Episode explores how a century of manipulation techniques became smartphone features, through conversations with Jean Cavendish, a clinical psychiatrist who spent decades helping people escape cult programming. Jean died on November 17, 2025, a month after recording. This episode is a dedication to her life and work. The episode features testimony from Lori Schott about how Meta targets children's insecurities, and Taj Jensen, a fellow parent who lost his son to fentanyl purchased on Snapchat. At its core, this is about recognizing the systems designed to keep us scrolling, buying, and reacting—and asking the question that matters: What are you really hungry for? 00:00 — Opening Reflection 03:46 — The Birth of Influence 07:26 — The King of the Engineers 11:18 — The Toolkit of Persuasion 13:03 — Selling Our Own Destruction 14:29 — The Shame Machine (testimony from Lori Schott) 21:06 — Fear as a Business Model 25:54 — The Science of Addiction 30:55 — The Human Cost 32:32 — The Wisdom of Jean Cavendish 36:12 — The Teenage Brain 38:15 — Hooked Forever 43:08 — Receipts and Responsibility 45:06 — Tanner’s Story (Guest Taj Jenson) 50:19 — Breaking the Cycle Content warning: teen death, drug sales, and exploitation. Music by: Kjartan Abel CC BY-SA 4.0 https://kjartan-abel.com Contact Us

    56 min

  3. EPISODE 3

    Jeffersons Nightmare

    How did corporations get more constitutional rights than your children? When a bookshelf tips over and harms one child, there's an immediate recall. When platform algorithms push suicide content to depressed teens, they claim First Amendment protection. To understand how we got here, Aaron traces the path from Jefferson's worst fears to today's reality. In 1886, a court reporter's unauthorized footnote gave corporations personhood. In 1971, the Powell Memo blueprinted corporate capture of democracy. In 2010, Citizens United unleashed unlimited dark money—corporations buying elections while hiding in shadows. These aren't ancient developments. You or your parents lived through most of this. The same First Amendment that platforms use to avoid accountability when children die is the one they use to pour millions into elections—anonymously. We traded away our democracy piece by piece, precedent by precedent. To reclaim it, we first have to see how we lost it. 00:00  Cold Open — The Platform Claims the Right to Look Away 02:10  Jefferson’s Nightmare & the Corporate Empires That Came Before 06:52  The Tea That Started a Revolution 10:00  Jefferson’s Vision & the Original Corporate Chains 17:20  The Pendulum of Power — People vs. Corporations 23:15  The Powell Memo — How Business Fought Back 29:38  Citizens United & the Age of Corporate Speech 36:45  The Tech Takeover — Lobbying, Loopholes, Immunity 47:47  Section 230 & the Right to Look Away Social Media Online Child Sexual Exploitation Audio clips from C-SPAN  Contact Us

    51 min

  4. EPISODE 4

    In Good Faith

    Twenty-six words written in 1996 gave platforms legal immunity. One court decision in 1997 turned that immunity into a business model. Attorney Carrie Goldberg shares what it's like representing hundreds of victims, from sextortion to cyberbullying to suicide, and watching nearly every case slam into the same wall. Brett Allred and Kristin Bride reveal what the absence of "good faith" looks like when platforms know the patterns but wait for children to die. And as Section 230 finally begins to crack, we expose the tech industry's next move: rebranding the same harmful systems as "AI" to claim a new decade of immunity. When courts won't look under the hood, we will. Content warning: Discussion of suicide, drug overdose, online exploitation 00:00:00 - Twenty-Six Words The three-week delay and Section 230's shield 00:03:29 - The Good Samaritan Betrayed What Congress intended vs. what courts decided 00:05:30 - Zeran's Inversion How one 1997 case changed everything 00:09:00 - The Business Model of Blindness Operating anatomy: Why platforms choose ignorance 00:11:00 - Carrie's Courtroom A decade fighting the same wall 00:18:30 - The Algorithm Problem Why Section 230's walls are finally cracking 00:22:00 - The AI Escape Hatch Tech's next immunity play 00:25:30 - Riley's Story When the website wishes you luck as you die 00:29:30 - What They Knew Evidence that leaked out anyway 00:34:30 - The Supreme Court Punts Gonzalez v. Google and the pattern they ignored 00:40:00 - The Tobacco Playbook Profitable ignorance at scale 00:45:30 - Carson's Story 220 million downloads of a documented deadly pattern 00:52:00 - The Privileged Defense Why people fight for platform immunity 00:57:00 - The Movement Survivor parents refusing to stay silent 01:02:30 - The Light We Hold Call to action: How to talk to your kids Music by: Kjartan Abel CC BY-SA 4.0 https://kjartan-abel.com Contact Us

    1h 9m

  5. EPISODE 5

    Ideas and Reality

    I wasn’t planning to write or record this week, but the one-year angelversary and a lonely holiday got under my skin, and I couldn’t help myself. What follows is a bit of a spiral: a walk through the same spiral logic so many of us get pulled into, where fear and outrage compound, the feed “finishes” the story for us, and the loudest narratives start to feel like reality. This is a companion episode to the main arc of the season, part personal processing and part pattern-spotting, connecting propaganda, algorithms, and the business incentives that reward escalation. In the second half, I’m joined by Jennie Desario for a deeper conversation about how these spirals show up in real life, and what it looks like to step back and find the signal again. (00:00) The Invisible Protest (03:36) The Binary Machine (10:45) Making Monsters Respectable (13:07) Growth at All Costs (20:05) Both Sides of the Same Coin (28:44) When Reality Inverts (31:12) Free Typing (33:34) Mason's Search for Help (40:27) The Adults in the Room (01:02:42) Ideas vs Reality Audio clips featured in this episode are sourced from the All-In Podcast and are included for commentary. Contact Us

    1h 7m

  6. EPISODE 6

    Muted Cases

    In “Muted Cases,” Aaron recounts the days after Avery’s death—the evidence scramble, and the slow, brutal realization that what the community most needs to understand can be narrowed, negotiated, and effectively erased from the official record.  The episode expands beyond one family’s loss into a repeatable pattern: teen networks, platform mechanics, and legal structures that struggle to name what’s happening in plain language. Through an anonymous former teen witness, the Chapman family’s push for Sammy’s Law, and a second youth perspective from Cole, “Muted Cases” makes the case that these aren’t isolated tragedies—they’re predictable outcomes of a system that prioritizes speed, scale, and plausible deniability over child safety and public warning. 00:00 — Opening: the part of the story Aaron could not tell until now 07:23 — Anonymous witness: TravisOlympia’s Snapchat delivery system 13:25 — Snapchat's baked safety plan, Counterfeit vapes and the nicotine pipeline 19:50 — Sam Chapman: Sammy’s story and the fight for accountability 25:52 — California’s SB 918 and the push for operational accountability 29:19 — APIs, profit motive, Snapchat’s AI claims, and the legal gap 40:18 — Cole’s story: growing up inside the Snapchat drug economy 46:01 — Closing reflection: from one boy’s story to a larger pattern  Contact Us

    49 min

  7. EPISODE 7

    Wolves and Children

    A bill can say “child safety” on the front and still protect the companies causing the harm. In Wolves and Children, Aaron traces how lobbying, legal misdirection, and manufactured public pressure shape the laws parents are told to trust. Featuring Brody Mullins, Julia Duncan, Sarah Gardner, and Lennon Torres. Links and Resources Brody Mullins The Wolves of K Street Podcast A companion podcast exploring lobbying, corporate influence, and power in Washington. https://www.thewolvesofkstreet.com/podcast The Deciders A show about the people and forces shaping politics, business, and public life. https://www.deciders.show/subscribe Julia Duncan American Association for Justice The national organization representing trial lawyers and civil accountability work. https://www.justice.org/ Sarah Gardner HEAT Initiative Advocacy focused on tech accountability and child safety. https://heatinitiative.org Scrolling 2 Death A podcast about social media harms and digital safety. https://www.scrolling2death.com/ Lennon Torres Diary of a Palatable Trans Woman Lennon’s Substack and personal writing. https://thediaryofapalatabletransgirl.substack.com/ More Links and Recommendations Parents RISE A parent-led group advocating for reform and accountability around online harms. https://parentsrise.org/ The Amazing Generation A youth-facing guide to understanding persuasive technology and healthier digital habits. https://www.anxiousgeneration.com/book/amazinggeneration Overturned by Kelly Stonelake Not mentioned in the episode, but one of my personal favorites by a close friend in the movement. https://overturned.substack.com/ Chapters 00:00 Introduction: what keeps the truth buried 02:05 Brody Mullins on how lobbying really works 06:20 The 50-year rise of corporate influence 12:30 SOPA, engineered outrage, and the outside game 16:04 Julia Duncan on Big Tobacco, opioids, and Big Tech 19:39 Inside the KIDS Act markup 27:30 Sarah Gardner on pressure, app stores, and accountability 34:37 Section 230 versus product design 44:05 Lennon Torres on queer kids, grooming, addiction, and false tradeoffs 55:00 Why civil discovery still matters 1:01:33 Where parents go from here Contact Us

    1h 4m

  8. EPISODE 8

    Out of Balance

    In the season finale of Superhuman, Aaron brings on four guests for a closer look at the cracks in the system, at the incentives that put them there, and why remembering is the first step to fixing them. Click here to watch a collection of video clips of Avery set to the music from Koyaanisqatsi. Guests Danica Noble www.electdanica.com Brian Boland www.delta-fund.org Julianna Arnold https://parentsrise.org/ Reiko Callner Music Joachim Cooder Various tracks www.joachimcooder.com/ Evelyn Simone Requiem Theme https://evelynsimone.com/  Kjartan Abel CC BY-SA 4.0 https://kjartan-abel.com Chapters 00:00 The Last Concert 03:11 The Concentration of Power and Its Consequences 06:31 Inside Meta: A Whistleblower's Perspective 17:20 The Role of the FTC in Regulating Big Tech 27:49 The Fight Against Corporate Power and Wealth Concentration 39:11 The First Amendment and Corporate Accountability 46:20 Antitrust Laws in the Digital Age 51:54 The Impact of Socioeconomic Status on Justice 55:18 The Fight for Accountability in Digital Spaces 01:00:01 Empowering Parents and Advocating for Change 01:04:41 The Importance of Grassroots Movements 01:10:26 Understanding the Legal Landscape 01:15:40 The Historical Context of the Justice System 01:20:50 The Need for Community-Centric Justice 01:25:37 Reclaiming Values in the Legal System 01:30:33 Recognizing the Extraction Economy 01:33:26 The Fight Against Concentrated Power Subscribe for updates or follow me on Substack. https://substack.com/@superhumanpodcast Contact Us

    1h 35m
  • 8 Episodes

5
out of 5
30 Ratings

About

A father’s search for answers and the century-long con that sold corporate freedom as our own.  When my son died, I started asking questions. The answers led me to places I never expected: a dinner party in Vienna, a railroad case nobody remembers, our constitutional rights hijacked as an excuse to look away while children die. Superhuman is my search for what happened. Not just to my son, but to all of us.

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