Psychedelics and the Coming Singularity
Psychedelics and the Coming Singularity

Author: David Jay Brown

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2024-06-04

Total Pages: 506

ISBN-13: 1644117991

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• Includes conversations with Duncan Trussell, Graham Hancock, Grant Morrison, Hamilton Morris, Erik Davis, Julia Mossbridge, Rupert Sheldrake, and others • Explores the possibility of human extinction, Simulation Theory, Virtual Reality and lucid dreaming, space migration, DMT research, and advanced robotics • Delves deep into the relationship between psychedelics and ecological awareness Between war, inequality, biosphere collapse, climate change, and destabilizing advances in technology like AI, humankind is confronted with an almost insurmountable array of challenges. Yet many brilliant experts are working on outside-the-box solutions, looking to psychedelic-inspired visions of the future to lead humanity through these crises. In a series of conversations with leading minds in consciousness studies, psychedelic culture, anthropology, chemistry, and other disciplines, author David Jay Brown elicits answers to some of the most thought-provoking questions about our origins, our present situation, and the future of humanity and the Earth. Brown and these luminaries explore topics as diverse as potential human extinction, the relationship between psychedelics and ecological consciousness, simulation theory, virtual reality and lucid dreaming, the consciousness-altering effects of the pandemic, space migration and contact with alien intelligence, and DMT research and advanced robotics. Whether he’s speaking to podcaster Duncan Trussell about the Singularity, comic book author Grant Morrison about magick and the occult, or neuroscientist Julia Mossbridge about psychic phenomena, Brown’s spirited interview approach helps draw profound insights from these cutting-edge thinkers. What, he asks, are the implications of our understanding of consciousness, particularly altered states—and how might entheogens help raise ecological awareness to impact the future of our species? In this curated colletion of interviews, Brown seeks to find out.

Beyond Zero and One
Beyond Zero and One

Author: Andrew Smart

Publisher: OR Books

Published: 2015-12-03

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 1682190072

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“Andrew Smart deftly shows why it’s time for us to think deeply about thinking machines before they begin thinking deeply about us.” —Douglas Rushkoff, author, Escaping the Growth Trap,Present Shock, and Program or Be Programmed “Provocative and cool.” —Cory Doctorow “Forget the Turing test—will the supersmart AIs that we hear so much about these days pass the acid test? In this playful, informative, and prescient book, Andrew Smart brings psychedelics into dialogue with neuroscience in order to challenge the whiz-bang computational views of human and machine sentience that dominate the headlines. Giving robots LSD sounds like a joke, but Smart is dead serious in his critique of the hidden and sometimes dangerous biases that underlie both popular and scientific fantasies of digital minds.” —Erik Davis, host of “Expanding Mind” and author, Techgnosis: Myth, Magic, and Mysticism in the Age of Information “Philosophy, psychedelics, robots, and the future; consciousness and intelligence, what else do you desire? Here you will see why those machines that reach singularity will be smarter than us and take over the world—and shall need to be conscious…and maybe they can only be conscious if they are human enough. The thesis of the book, and the path shown us by Smart, leads to a great trip, of imagination and philosophy, of maths and neuroscience.” —Dr. Tristan Bekinschtein, Lecturer, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge Can we build a robot that trips on acid? This is not a frivolous question, according to neuroscientist Andrew Smart. If we can’t, he argues, we haven’t really created artificial intelligence. In an exposition reminiscent of crossover works such as Gödel, Escher, Bach and Fermat’s Last Theorem, Andrew Smart weaves together Mangarevan binary numbers, the discovery of LSD, Leibniz, computer programming, and much more to connect the vast but largely forgotten world of psychedelic research with the resurgent field of AI and the attempt to build conscious robots. A book that draws on the history of mathematics, philosophy, and digital technology, Beyond Zero and One challenges fundamental assumptions underlying artificial intelligence. Is the human brain based on computation? Can information alone explain human consciousness and intelligence? Smart convincingly makes the case that true intelligence, and artificial intelligence, requires an appreciation of what is beyond the computational.

Ralph Metzner, Explorer of Consciousness
Ralph Metzner, Explorer of Consciousness

Author: Cathy Coleman

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2024-10-01

Total Pages: 395

ISBN-13:

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• Includes contributions from Rick Doblin, Charles S. Grob, Stan Grof, Stanley Krippner, Dennis McKenna, the late Christian Rätsch, Richard Strozzi-Heckler, Claudia Mueller-Ebeling, Dorothy Fadiman, Luis Eduardo Luna, and others • Explores Ralph’s childhood, his time at Harvard with Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert (Ram Dass), his work with Agni Yoga and transpersonal psychology, his development of ecopsychology, and his in-depth psychedelic research Renowned as a pioneering psychologist, psychedelic elder, alchemical explorer, and shamanic teacher, the late Ralph Metzner (1936–2019) contributed profoundly to consciousness research, transpersonal psychology, and contemporary psychedelic studies across his more than 50-year career. Celebrating the life and legacy of Ralph Metzner, this book explores how Ralph touched the lives of those around him in extraordinary and remarkable ways, recasting people’s worldviews and inspiring the flowering of creativity, personal growth, and spiritual transformation. There are recollections from the pivotal years of the Sixties, when Ralph conducted research with Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert (Ram Dass). Other contributors describe Ralph’s involvement in the School of Actualism in the 1970s and the profound impact that Agni Yoga had on Ralph’s explorations of consciousness and his healing therapies. We also learn about Ralph’s development of Green Psychology, or ecopsychology, his mystical work exploring prenatal realms of consciousness and channeling, and his healing and transformative “Vision Circles.” Academic colleagues and a who’s who of fellow psychedelic researchers share stories from their work with Ralph, illuminating his depth of knowledge and broad impact. This book paints a complete portrait of Ralph Metzner in his well-known roles as therapist and psychedelic pioneer and as an intrepid explorer of consciousness until the very end of his life.

The Psychedelic Policy Quagmire
The Psychedelic Policy Quagmire

Author: J. Harold Ellens

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2015-08-18

Total Pages: 499

ISBN-13:

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Edited by two preeminent scholars, this book provides coverage of the policy issues related to the increasingly diverse treatments, practices, and applications of psychedelics. Hallucinogenic substances like LSD, mescaline, peyote, MDMA, and ayahuasca have a reputation as harmful substances that are enjoyed only by recreational users committing criminal acts. But leading international researchers and scholars who contributed to this book hold that the use of psychedelic substances for health, religious, intellectual, and artistic purposes is a Constitutional right—and a human right. Based on that conclusion, these scholars focus on policy issues that regulate the use of psychedelic drugs in medicine, religion, personal life, and higher education, arguing that existing regulations should match current and anticipated future uses. This volume has two parts. The first surveys research on the use of psychedelic drugs in medicine, religion, and truth-seeking, following these topics through history and contemporary practice. The second section treats government policices that regulate the psychological, physiological, biochemical, and spiritual aspects of research and experience in these fields. The Psychedelic Policy Quagmire: Health, Law, Freedom, and Society challenges medical and legal policy experts, ethicists, scientists, and scholars with the question: How can we formulate policies that reduce the dangers of psychedelics' misuse and at the same time maximize the emerging diverse benefits?

The Psychedelic Future of the Mind
The Psychedelic Future of the Mind

Author: Thomas B. Roberts

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2013-01-23

Total Pages: 251

ISBN-13: 1594775028

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Explores scientific and medical research on the emerging uses of psychedelics to enrich mind, morals, spirituality, and creativity • Outlines a future that embraces psychedelics as tools for cognitive development, personal growth, business, and an experience-based religious reformation • Presents research on the use of psychedelics to enhance problem-solving, increase motivation, boost the immune system, and deepen ethical values • Includes chapters by Roger N. Walsh, M.D., Ph.D., and Charles Grob, M.D., on their psychedelic research on religious experience and alleviating the fear of death As psychedelic psychotherapy gains recognition through research at universities and medical establishments such as the Johns Hopkins Medical Institute and Bellevue Hospital, the other beneficial uses of psychedelics are beginning to be recognized and researched as well--from enhancing problem-solving and increasing motivation to boosting the immune system and deepening moral and ethical values. Exploring the bright future of psychedelics, Thomas B. Roberts, Ph.D., reveals how new uses for entheogens will enrich individuals as well as society as a whole. With contributions from Charles Grob, M.D., and Roger N. Walsh, M.D., Ph.D., the book explains how psychedelics can raise individual and business attitudes away from self-centeredness, improve daily life with strengthened feelings of meaningfulness and spirituality, and help us understand and redesign the human mind, leading to the possibility of a neurosingularity--a time when future brains surpass our current ones. Roberts envisions a future where you will seek psychedelic therapy not only for psychological reasons but also for personal growth, creative problem solving, improved brain function, and heightened spiritual awareness. Our psychedelic future is on the horizon--a future that harnesses the full potential of mind and spirit--and Thomas Roberts outlines a path to reach it.

The Divine Spark: A Graham Hancock Reader
The Divine Spark: A Graham Hancock Reader

Author: Graham Hancock

Publisher: Red Wheel Weiser

Published: 2015-04-06

Total Pages: 322

ISBN-13: 1609259726

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"I suspect the real breakthroughs in our understanding of consciousness are going to come from an entirely different direction. That direction, controversially, has to do with psychedelics--which, as many of the contributors to The Divine Spark argue, offer spectacular potential for the investigation of the 'hard problem' of consciousness." --from the introduction by Graham Hancock Psychedelics: Medicinal? Vital in interspecies communication or communion with the sacred? Are you reaching enlightenment or damaging your brain? In this anthology, edited by bestselling author Graham Hancock, 22 writers discuss psychedelics and their myriad connections to consciousness. Travel to South America, the American Southwest, outer space, inner space, and back in time to revisit Pahnke's The Good Friday experiment. Explore the effects of ayahuasca, LSD, and much more. Illuminating the topic like never before: Mike Alivernia * Russell Brand * David Jay Brown * Paul Devereux * Rick Doblin * Ede Frecska * Alex Grey * Nassim Haramein * Martina Hoffmann * Don Lattin * Luis Eduardo Luna * Dennis McKenna * Thad McKraken * Rak Razam * Gabriel Roberts * Thomas B. Roberts * Gregory Sams * Robert M. Schoch * Mark Seelig * Rick Strassman * Robert Tindall And, of course, Graham Hancock.

Agi Revolution
Agi Revolution

Author: Ben Goertzel

Publisher:

Published: 2016-07-16

Total Pages: 612

ISBN-13: 9780692756874

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Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is the quest for the sci-fi AI dream: AI with mental autonomy, generality, adaptiveness and imagination equal to and ultimately exceeding that of humans. After decades of R&D struggles, the time for AGI is now finally near. Since the early aughts, Dr. Ben Goertzel has been the leading force advancing the concept of AGI in the research community and the public sphere. Here he gives an insider's account of the rise of AI and AGI from relative obscurity to their current status as the focus of large corporate and government initiatives. He presents his understanding of the operation of the human brain, and the viability of various approaches to AGI including his own OpenCog AGI project; and also describes his efforts to use AI to solve critical issues such as human aging. In Goertzel's vision, AGI will soon yield dramatic changes in every area of human life and society. Advanced AGIs that vastly exceed human intelligence will bring on a Technological Singularity, quite likely within our lifetimes.

Alien Information Theory
Alien Information Theory

Author: Andrew R. Gallimore

Publisher:

Published: 2019-04-16

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 9781527234765

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A unique account of the hidden dimensions of our reality and its inhabitants, accessible using the psychedelic drug technology: N, N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT). Illustrated in full-colour, Gallimore explains how reality is structured from a fundamental code and how DMT modulates brain activity to access an astonishing hyperdimensional omniverse

Psychedelic Refugee
Psychedelic Refugee

Author: Rosemary Woodruff Leary

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2021-02-16

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 1644111810

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A memoir by one of the original female psychedelic pioneers of the 1960s • Shares Rosemary’s early experimentation with psychedelics in the 1950s, her development through the psychedelic revolution of the 1960s, and her involvement, at first exciting but then heartbreaking, with Dr. Timothy Leary • Describes her LSD trips with Leary, their time at the famous Millbrook estate, their experiences as fugitives abroad, including their captivity by the Black Panthers in Algeria, and Rosemary’s years on the run after she and Timothy separated One of the original female psychedelic pioneers, Rosemary Woodruff Leary (1935-2002) began her psychedelic journey long before her relationship with Dr. Timothy Leary. In the 1950s, she moved to New York City where she became part of the city’s most advanced music, art, and literary circles and expanded her consciousness with psilocybin mushrooms and peyote. In 1964 she met two former Harvard professors who were experimenting with LSD, Timothy Leary and Ralph Metzner, who invited her to join them at the Millbrook estate in upstate New York. Once at Millbrook, Rosemary went on to become the wife--and accomplice--of the man Richard Nixon called “the most dangerous man in America.” In this intimate memoir, Rosemary describes her LSD experiences and insights, her decades as a fugitive hiding both abroad and underground in America, and her encounters with many leaders of the cultural and psychedelic milieu of the 1960s. Compiled from Rosemary’s own letters and autobiographical writings archived among her papers at the New York Public Library, the memoir details Rosemary’s imprisonment for contempt of court, the Millbrook raid by G. Gordon Liddy, the tours with Timothy before his own arrest and imprisonment, and their time in exile following his sensational escape from a California prison. She describes their surreal and frightening captivity by the Black Panther Party in Algeria and their experiences as fugitives in Switzerland. She recounts her adventures and fears as a fugitive on five continents after her separation from Timothy in 1971. While most accounts of the psychedelic revolution of the 1960s have been told by men, with this memoir we can now experience these events from the perspective of a woman who was at the center of the seismic cultural changes of that time.

The New Science of Psychedelics
The New Science of Psychedelics

Author: David Jay Brown

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2013-05-05

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 162055142X

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What does the future hold for humanity, and can psychedelics help take us there? • Shares insights from the author’s discussions with Terence McKenna, Edgar Mitchell, Rupert Sheldrake, Deepak Chopra, Candace Pert, and others • Investigates the role of psychedelics in lucid dreaming, sex and pleasure enhancement, morphic field theory, the survival of consciousness, encounters with nonhuman beings, and the interface between science and spirituality For as long as humanity has existed, we have used psychedelics to raise our levels of consciousness and seek healing--first in the form of visionary plants such as cannabis and now with the addition of human-created psychedelics such as LSD and MDMA. These substances have inspired spiritual awakenings, artistic and literary works, technological and scientific innovation, and even political revolutions. But what does the future hold for humanity--and can psychedelics help take us there? Sharing insights from his discussions with luminaries such as Terence McKenna, Edgar Mitchell, Candace Pert, Deepak Chopra, Andrew Weil, Jerry Garcia, Albert Hofmann, Annie Sprinkle, and Rupert Sheldrake, author David Jay Brown explores the revelations brought about through his psychedelic experiences and his work with visionaries of the psychedelic and scientific communities. He investigates the role of psychedelics in lucid dreaming, time travel, sex and pleasure enhancement, morphic field theory, the survival of consciousness after death, encounters with nonhuman beings, and the interface between science and spirituality. Examining the ability of psychedelic drugs to incite creativity, neurogenesis, and the evolution of consciousness, he explains that they are messengers from the plant world designed to help elevate our awareness and sense of interconnectedness. Revealing not only what psychedelics can teach us about ourselves and the world around us, Brown also shows how they are preparing humanity for a future of enlightened minds and worlds beyond our solar system.