What, Why & How do we Know ?
Continuing the thread on psychedelics place in the study of consciousness, here is a bang up to date “scientific” study on the use of Peyote – OK so it’s from the media school of “Today US researchers announced …”, but it’s current and credible. [BeliefNet via Scott over at MoQ Discuss.] Damned by faint praise … Continue reading “Current Peyote Reference”
A running theme throughout Psybertron is the reality of conscious mind and its consequences in the real world. That’s partly because explantory understanding of our understanding and of our decision-making is my main research focus and partly because – probably not coincidentally – it’s also a prime (but not the only) example where politicised scientific dogma … Continue reading “Altered States of Consciousness”
Linked from David’s own Fragments of Consciousness blog is this Interview on Bloggingheads he did with John Horgan. A full hour and wide-ranging … from David’s roots in the Woodstock of Consciousness, via the “hard problem”, free will, pure (non-objective) concsiousness, blurring the science / philosophy boundary, to rational mysticism and peyote and LSD induced states of … Continue reading “David Chalmers Interview”
In the same vein as sacramental Peyote and Funghi being used in enlightenment circles, here we have Amazonian herbal “Hoasca Tea”, containing DMT, being consumed in a ceremonial context notice. The story is the US Supreme Court has sanctioned it’s use in response to an attempted federal ban.
One in a long line of holding posts for a link to the subject of psychedelics (Peyote, Mescaline, LSD, etc.) and their role in enlightenment and the study of consciousness. [Link via Ant at robertpirsig.org] [See also Timeline 1960, and Peyote, and Funghi.] This is a review of Albert Hofmann, who as creator of LSD … Continue reading “More on Psychedelics”
I’m still working my way through Dr James Austin’s “Zen and the Brain”, and I’ve reached a section on anesthesia and other consciousness altering chemical effects. Actually, I took a break from Dr Austin, to read Voltaire’s Candide – short and sweet – humorous Swiftian-style satire on the “best of all possible worlds” view that … Continue reading “Quantum Consciousness”