Jon Atack

Jon is a leading expert on authoritarian cult groups as well as a best-selling author. He has worked with hundreds of former members and has lectured and written extensively in a career spanning almost four decades.

Little Sister is Listening to You – artificial intelligence and undue influence

Can digital assistants be used as agents of undue influence? AIs like Siri, Alexa, Cortana, Now, M and Bixby help us to send messages, play music, and set reminders. We can even insult them to get a witty comeback, or ask them to tell us a joke – and then demand they tell us a

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wendeltreppen spiral staircase

‘Never believe a hypnotist’ – an investigation of L. Ron Hubbard’s statements about hypnosis and its relationship to his Dianetics.

2014 redraft of the original 1995 paper There have been many assertions that cult groups utilize hypnotic techniques. A good example is Persinger, Carrey & Suess in TM and Cult Mania, where the relatively straightforward techniques of Transcendental Meditation are analysed to show their hypnotic content. However, there has been little analysis of such groups’

‘Never believe a hypnotist’ – an investigation of L. Ron Hubbard’s statements about hypnosis and its relationship to his Dianetics. Read More »