Binchtopia

Julia is joined by bestina and hospital chaplain Sarah Doumar to confront the only thing we are unfortunately promised in this lifetime: death. Together the girlies deconstruct how dying transformed from an intimate, familiar occurence to a hidden and medicalized taboo, unpacking the predatory funeral industry, the West's treatment of elders, and society's obsession with immortality. Plus, Sarah shares what sitting with dying patients has taught her about grief, fear, and spirituality. Digressions include tyrannical choir teachers, a sacred dream about Heath Ledger, and smoking hookah at the retirement village.
WE'RE GOING ON TOUR!!!! Find tickets for the Shake Up Your Life Tour at https://binchtopia.com/tour
This episode was produced by Julia Hava and Kylie Finnigan and edited by Livi Burdette. 
To support the podcast on Patreon and access 50+ bonus episodes, mediasodes, and more, visit patreon.com/binchtopia and become a patron today.
SOURCES
A Third of Young Adults Are Still Living With Their Parents—as Old Taboo 
Aging Out by Lucy Schiller
Approaching Death: Improving Care at the End of Life
Becomes the New Normal Amid Soaring Costs 
Being Mortal by Atul Gawande 
Death Is Having a Moment 
Death anxiety. The worm at the core of mental health. 
Does The Internet Change How We Die And Mourn? Overview And Analysis 
Good Grief 
Growing Old in America by David Hackett Fischer
It's Mourning in America
It's Time to Let the Five Stages of Grief Die 
Longevity increased by positive self-perceptions of aging 
Mid-Late Victorian Mourning Dress
Mortal Remains: Death in America by Nancy Isenberg
Mourning during the Civil War 
New study challenges notion that aging means decline, finds many older adults improve over time 
Place of Death Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic 
Poor Relief and the Almshouse 
Senior Living History: 1930 - 1939 
TERROR MANAGEMENT THEORY 
The American Way of Death Revisited by Jessica Mitford 
The Denial of Death and the Practice of Dying 
The Hour of Our Death by Philippe Ariès
The FTC Funeral Rule 
The other side of sadness: What the new science of bereavement tells us about life after loss. 
The Trouble with Nursing Homes 
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
U.S. centenarian population is projected to quadruple over the next 30 years 
Western Attitudes Toward Death From The Middle Ages To The Present by Philippe Ariès 
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

Julia and Nick explore the dark side of shaking up your life — because sometimes, the shake TAKETH! From accidental military enlistment to having a warrant out for your arrest, they tell the stories of tremendous flops and binchies who rose from the ashes. Digressions include Nick's failed attempt at heterosexuality, a horrifying clown-centric production of Moby Dick, and Kaitlin Bennett x Soho House.
WE'RE GOING ON TOUR!!!! Find tickets for the Shake Up Your Life Tour at https://binchtopia.com/tour






This episode was originally released on May 13, 2026 as a Patreon exclusive, and we're unlocking it for you to make the most of the extra week in July AND in honor of the Shake Up Your Life Tour.
 
Become a patron today to support the show, keep us ad-free and unlock our backlog of over 50 bonus episodes at patreon.com/binchtopia.

Chat, are we cooked? Julia is joined by friend and mentor Dr. Jack Keefe to explore the ongoing epidemic of AI psychosis and the dire consequences of having a sycophant in our pocket. They trace the history of how technology has repeatedly reshaped our understanding of reality, from medieval nobles who believed their bodies were made of glass, telegraph operators struck by sudden paralysis, and tech moguls convinced they're living in The Matrix. Digressions include questioning the humanity of Mr. Beast, the stay tethered to reality challenge, and The Truman Show as a psychotic touchstone.
This episode was produced by Julia Hava and Kylie Finnigan and edited by Livi Burdette. 
Check out Jack's work here: https://jack-keefe.com/
WE'RE GOING ON TOUR!!!! Find tickets for the Shake Up Your Life Tour at https://binchtopia.com/tour
To support the podcast on Patreon and access 50+ bonus episodes, mediasodes, and more, visit patreon.com/binchtopia and become a patron today.
SOURCES
"AI Psychosis" in Context: How Conversation History ShapesLLM Responses to Delusional Beliefs 
'Americanitis': The Disease of Living Too Fast 
An odd kind of melancholy: reflections on the glass delusion in Europe (1440-1680 - Gill Speak, 1990
Beyond artificial intelligence psychosis: a functional typology of large language model-associated psychotic phenomena - The Lancet Digital Health
Delusion content across the 20th century in an American psychiatric hospital
ELEPHANT: MEASURING AND UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL SYCOPHANCY IN LLMS
Emotional Manipulation by AI Companions
From Paralysis to Fatigue | Book by Edward Shorter | Official Publisher Page | Simon & Schuster
Hallucinations and electricity in the nineteenth century
Hallucinating with AI: Distributed Delusions and "AIPsychosis"
How AI and Human Behaviors Shape Psychosocial Effects of Extended Chatbot Use: A Longitudinal Randomized Controlled Study
Interpretations of Innovation: The Role of Technology in Explanation Seeking Related to Psychosis 
Investigating Affective Use and Emotional Well-beingon ChatGPT 
Nature of Persecutors and Their Behaviors in the Delusions of Schizophrenia: Changes between the 1990s and the 2000s - PMC
Neurasthenia and the Modern City: Genealogical Speculations on Capitalism-Urged Anxiety, Stress, and Suicide in North America, 1890–1920 - Phillip Gordon Mackintosh, 2025
On the Origin of the "Influencing Machine" in Schizophrenia
People Are Losing Loved Ones to AI-Fueled Spiritual Fantasies
Polarizing remedies, attractive cures: Animal magnetism, mesmerism, and mind-over-matter treatments 
Railway Neurosis and the Birth of Psychotherapy 
Technological folie à deux: feedback loops between AI chatbots and mental health 
'The algorithm is hacked': analysis of technology delusions in a modern-day cohort
The Evolution of Insanity 
The Origin of the Influencing Machine in Schizophrenia (1919)
The people who think they are made of glass - BBC News
The Psychogenic Machine: Simulating AI Psychosis,Delusion Reinforcement and Harm Enablement inLarge Language Models
They Asked an A.I. Chatbot Questions. The Answers Sent Them Spiraling. 
Victorian London - Disease - 'telegraphic paralysis'
When Old Technologies Were New : Thinking about Electric Communication in the Late Nineteenth Century
"You're Not Crazy": A Case of New-onset AI-associated Psychosis

This week, Julia is joined by artist and writer Mackenzie Thomas to discuss the beautiful and humiliating archive of the self. They revisit adolescent diary entries, being trolled by your middle school crush, the childhood-loneliness to Tumblr pipeline, and the power of turning your most embarrassing moments into art.
Digressions include The Rizzler being our generation's Shirley Temple, asking the CEO of Instagram for what you want, and dance moves that should be illegal for men to perform.
Check out Mackenzie's newest project here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fccuzvnb8JA and on Instagram @mackenzie
WE'RE GOING ON TOUR!!!! Find tickets for the Shake Up Your Life Tour at https://binchtopia.com/tour

This week, Julia is joined by Allegra to investigate the enduring, mythical appeal of the music festival. From medieval carnivals to Woodstock, and Coachella brand trips to FYRE fest, the girlies explore the human desire to build temporary utopias — and how festival outcomes range from communal transcendence and PLUR to corporate-branded slop and FEMA-level weather events. Digressions include Billie Eilish starring in The Bell Jar for some reason, the ouroborous of influencer video essays, and Allegra's parents getting matching plastic surgery on her birthday.
WE'RE GOING ON TOUR!!!! Find tickets for the Shake Up Your Life Tour at https://binchtopia.com/tour
This episode was produced by Julia Hava and Kylie Finnigan and edited by Livi Burdette. 
To support the podcast on Patreon and access 50+ bonus episodes, mediasodes, and more, visit patreon.com/binchtopia and become a patron today.
SOURCES
19 Worst Things About Woodstock '99
After the Astroworld Disaster, a Reckoning
Altamont : the Rolling Stones, the Hells Angels, and the inside story of rock's darkest day 
Bakhtinian thought : an introductory reader
Burning Man: how a festival became a culture
Castlemorton 1992, the rave that triggered the ban
Castlemorton Common: The rave that changed the law 
Criminal Justice & Public Order Act 1994, s.63 ("repetitive beats")
Crowds and Collective Behavior Get access Arrow 
Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy
From Woodstock to Coachella: The ultimate music festivals 
FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened
Half a Million Strong: Crowds and Power from Woodstock to Coachella by Gina Arnold
Impact: From riots to crowd safety
'It was the peak of the flower power era': The story of the first ever Glastonbury Festival in 1970 
How Music Festivals Became a Massive Business in the 50 Years Since Woodstock 
Juggalos & the FBI "hybrid gang" label
Live Aid (1985)
Live Music in America: A History from Jenny Lind to Beyoncé
Lollapalooza's rise (Perry Farrell's acid precognition)
Monterey Pop
Murder at the Altamont Festival
Rabelais and His World
The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure
Of Other Spaces
The Oral History of Monterey Pop, Where Jimi Torched His Ax & Janis Became a Star: Art Garfunkel, Steve Miller, Lou Adler & More
Remembering Meredith Hunter
Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Trainwreck: Woodstock '99
The Elementary Forms of Religious Life
The Music Festival That Time Forgot: Inside Steve Wozniak's US Fest
The Night Bob Dylan Went Electric
The Sacred and the Profane
The Society of the Spectacle
"This Film Was My Chance to Correct History": Questlove on Summer of Soul and the Oscars 
The Pop Festival: History, Music, Media, Culture 
Woodstock '99 Predicted America's Future
Woodstock 1999 Ends in Violence 
Wattstax (1972), the "Black Woodstock"
Wattstax drew 100,000 people — this 1972 concert was about much more than music 
What's behind the decline of music festivals? 
Without Helicopters, There Wouldn't Have Been a Woodstock
Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music