Streams of Consciousness

The Return

2008-02-06T12:10:00.001-08:00

*tap*tap*tap*

Is this thing on?

Well, I'm back from "break" as it were. It seemed to last a bit longer than I intended, but big things are in store for 2008.

First, I'm still working on completing my M.A. in Consciousness Studies. My thesis should be completed by May.

Second, I will be starting a PhD in a similar field in August.

Other plans for 2008 include opening a book store here on Streams of Consciousness, and posting some original content/papers/articles written myself and others. I'm also looking at starting a publishing company this summer.

You know - in all of my free time.

Anyway, it feels good to be back. I have a terrifying amount of stuff waiting for me in my inbox and in my Google Reader account, and will be sifting through it all in the next couple of days to see what exciting things are happening in the fields of Consciousness Studies and Dream Studies. Also, I will be posting a long overdue review of Jeff Warren's book The Head Trip. It's a very entertaining and enjoyable read about one man's voyage through various states of consciousness. I highly recommend it. Lengthier review to come.

Welcome back to Streams of Consciousness.

to be continued...

2007-12-26T19:13:00.001-08:00

Just a quick note to everyone out there in Consciousness Land...

I've been waylaid by holidays, travel, and a rather pernicious cold. I hope you all are well, and have had an enjoyable set of holidays, whatever you choose to celebrate.

Streams of Consciousness will resume activity after January 1.

Excelsior!
-Kev.

Call for Papers - Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness Conference

2007-12-12T18:32:00.000-08:00

ASSOCIATION FOR THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF CONSCIOUSNESS 12TH ANNUAL MEETING
Gis Convention Center, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
June 19th-22nd , 2008
http:// www.ym.edu.tw/assc12/
--------------------------------

The 12th annual meeting of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness (ASSC 12) will be held from June 19th to June 22nd, 2008 in Taipei, Taiwan (Gis Convention Center, National Taiwan University).

ASSC12 is intended to promote interdisciplinary dialogue in the scientific study of consciousness. The overall goal of the conference is to promote the scientific study of consciousness in all of its
forms.

This is the first time for an ASSC annual meeting to be held in Asia. ASSC12 provides a chance for you to see Taipei and Taiwan, an island nation with a newly born democracy in Asia. Taipei offers an interesting combination of eastern and western cultures. Taiwan has recently been
selected by the National Geographic Traveler Magazine as "probably the best traveling destination in Asia" among the 111 islands evaluated. The meeting promises to be both intellectually stimulating and culturally interesting!

For latest updates, please check the conference website: http://www.ym.edu.tw/assc12/
The web site will be continually evolving, so please visit often for updated information.

Confirmed speakers include:
Presidential Address:
David Rosenthal, City University of New York, USA

Keynote Speakers:
Thomas Metzinger,
The Johannes Gutenberg-Universitat Mainz, Germany,
topic: The Self

Mitsuo Kawato,
Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International, Japan,
topic: Engineering Consciousness

Tetsuro Matsuzawa,
Kyoto University, Japan,
topic: The Mind of the Chimpanzee

The list will keep growing. You may also visit ASSC12 website for latest information.

------------------------------
THE FIRST CALL FOR PAPER AND POSTER SUBMISSIONS SUBMISSION MUST BE RECEIVED BY FEBRUARY 1, 2008!
------------------------------
Speakers in concurrent sessions are invited to talk on any topic relevant to the scientific study of consciousness. Submissions that include anthropological, evolutionary, physiological, psychological, philosophical, or computational perspectives are all welcome.

Submissions for both posters and talks will be accepted (please specify preference). Any person may present only one submission, but may be co-author on more than one. Oral presentations will be limited to 20 minutes, to be followed by a ten-minute discussion period.

You will be asked to include with your submission the information listed here: http://www.ym.edu.tw/assc12/news-4.htm

If you have any difficulties in submitting your proposal, or any other questions regarding the meeting, please contact assc12@ym.edu.tw.

-------------------------------
CALL FOR TUTORIAL PROPOSALS DEADLINE: DECEMBER 17th, 2007
-------------------------------

As in previous years, this notice is also intended as a first call for tutorial presenters. One of the aims of this meeting is to allow researchers to gain a background in areas that they may know little about. Towards that end a number of tutorials are planned. Some participants in the conference would be very interested in learning about technical matters such as fMRI or other important brain imaging techniques. Others might enjoy a seminar on a philosophical topic, or
a tutorial on relevant matters in cognitive psychology or linguistics.

Tutorial presenters are expected not to present just their own material, but to give a broader tutorial overview and encourage discussion and debate. A non-exclusive list of possible topics can be viewed on here: http://www.ym.edu.tw/assc12/news-4.htm

Each tutorial is intended to last approximately three hours. The sizes of tutorials will vary between a minimum of 10 to a maximum of around 25 attendees. Tutorial presenters will be paid US $1,500 and their registration fee for the conference will be waived. The cost of attending tutorials will be $50. Tutorials that do not achieve the minimum enrollment of 10 people may not be offered.

Send the tutorial proposal along with the requirements provided here at http://www.ym.edu.tw/assc12/news-4.htm to Ralph Adolphs (radolphs@caltech.edu ) as soon as possible.

------------------------------
REGISTRATION
------------------------------
As in previous years, discounted registration will be available to ASSC members, who will also enjoy a range of book discounts and other member benefits. The registration discount will be greater than the cost of membership, so prospective members are encouraged to join ASSC now! To find out more about the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness, and to apply for membership, please consult our website at http://assc.caltech.edu/

Registration will open on Jan. 1, 2008.

ASSC12 Scientific Program Committee:

Ralph Adolphs, California Institute of Technology (Co-Chair)
Allen Houng, National Yang Ming University, Taiwan (Co-Chair)
Max Coltheart, Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science, Australia
John-Dylan Haynes, Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin, Germany
Dan Lloyd, Trinity College, USA
Stephen L. Macknik, Barrow Neurological Institute, USA
Michael Pauen, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, Germany
Shinsuke Shimojo, California Institute of Technology, USA

Free Access to the IONS members only site (for a limited time)

2007-12-12T00:00:00.000-08:00

From my pal Jason Norris, who not only works at IONS, but plays in the rather amazing band, Aegis Integer:

The Institute of Noetic Sciences, is offering free access to our member's only website until December 25th, 2007.

www.shiftinaction.com

It's essentially one of the largest collections of consciousness studies material on the net, including material from Deepak Chopra, Stanislav Grof, Amit Goswami, Stanley Krippner, Neale Donald Walsch, and much more.

Go to the "Discover" section to check out our audio, video, article, and transcript archives. Honestly, there is a ton of content here, so have some fun.

Upcoming Gary Schwartz Interview on AfterlifeFM

2007-12-07T13:02:00.000-08:00

Marcel from AfterlifeFM has forwarded a message. He will be interviewing Gary Schwartz of the VERITAS Research Program for an upcoming episode, and is seeking your help!

Marcel writes:

I will be conducting an interview with Dr. Gary E. Schwartz on December 10th, 2007. You are once again invited to contribute to this interview by submitting your question to my toll-free AfterlifeFM Interview line at 1-877-372-5367. This is a voice mail system that is open and available 24/7.

It is important that you submit your question by midnight on Saturday, December 8th.

Things to keep in my mind:
Ask only one question at a time (two parts of same question is acceptable), but do not make it impossible for me to edit.
Be clear, concise and conservative with time.
Don’t answer your own question or try to declare your own position.
Be chipper & charming. This is radio, not a morgue.
You can always erase or edit by pressing # sign during/after your recorded message.

A Muslim take on "Noetic Sciences"

2007-12-06T18:04:00.000-08:00

Dr. Robert D. Crane at The American Muslim has an interesting response to the concept of "Noetic Sciences," namely "Is Noetic Evolution a Secular Substitute for God?"

Crane draws on the works of Jonas Salk, and Edgar Mitchell, criticizing them (and the work at IONS) for both reducing consciousness to the role of "information processor," and for elevating the ego to Ultimate Prime Mover:

The most serious fallacy of the so-called noetics revolution, in my opinion as a nearly life-long student of artificial intelligence (AI), is the reduction of the human being to an information processor, albeit with access to the connective link between mind and matter, evidenced in intuition, psychokinesis, and healing, all of which were normal for humans millennia ago. While Edgar Mitchell’s noetic movement, headquartered in Sausalito, exposes the reductionist mainstream science of physical cause and effect as incomplete, it makes the error of reducing the human being to an information processor that functions as an ultimate cause or ecologically as part of an ultimate cause of both immanent and transcendent evolution.

Astronaut Mitchell writes, “What is the most elemental thing about our nonphysical essence?” His answer is simply “information,” the ability and intent to distinguish between two simultansous states. Like a north pole and a south pole, energy becomes the basis of physical reality and information the basis of consciousness.

The noetic sciences claim to have the most comprehensive solution, “a unified field theory,” for understanding reality by opposing the answers both of physics, which posits matter/energy as the creator of all, and of religion, which says that the creator is the mind of God. Noetics rejects both such “micro-determinism” and “macro-determinism” by regarding the human mind as the source of knowledge and as the ultimate source of cause and effect. The corollary is that human self-consciousness will determine the future by determining its own evolution and through this power the evolution of the entire universe.

This reduction of the theomorphic person by a new anthropomorphic determinism may be regarded as perhaps the most sophisticated polytheism yet invented to restore meaning to what increasingly is being regarded as a meaningless accident, especially the existence of oneself and of humankind. In response to the “death of God” in modern Western civilization and increasingly in global culture, the polytheistic response of the New Agers has always been to create a new god in the form of one’s own ego sublimated to a transcendent level through the delusion that it holds the key to all power.

Whether there is a God or not, is not something I'm really inclined to debate. What I find more interesting is Crane's description of what he perceives to be happening to the ego.

Often in the circles I travel in, I hear the common phrase "you create your reality," which of course has a number of problems when viewed from a strictly egoic standpoint ("if something happens, am I to blame?" and "that suffering person over there must have brought it upon themselves" are two easy traps to fall into - see also, any number of critiques of The Secret).

Also, too, it should be pointed out that the "you create your reality" motif isn't always one of loving, healing wonder, as Ron Susskind found out in 2002.

The Bush aide said this “reality-based community” consists of people who “believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.” Suskind nodded in agreement and muttered something favorable about the principles of the Enlightenment, only to be cut off by the aide.

“That’s not the way the world really works anymore,” the Bush aide told the journalist. “We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality – judiciously, as you will – we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors … and you, all of you, will be left to study what we do.”

Of related interest, is Larry Dossey's article Healing and the Mind: Is There a Dark Side? in the Journal of Scientific Exploration.

What Crane doesn't directly mention in his article is the Sufi concept of barakat, or "gifts." These tend to manifest in ways that one might term "powers" or "abilities" such as telepathy, clairvoyance, or the ability to stop bleeding or not experience pain. These sorts of things develop as one progresses along the path (and I have witnessed some pretty impressive displays of these things, which you might want to take my word for, if you're on the squeamish side).

The thing is, these abilities are not the end goal. At best, they are side-effects. At worst, they are distractions.

There is a story of a Zen monk, who after several hours of meditation runs to his master. "Master! I've had a vision! I saw pure light, and at the center of it was the Buddha, smiling at me!"

"Great!" replied the master. "Keep meditating! It will go away!"

When you meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha.

In any event...as a student in the field of Consciousness Studies, I am very fascinated with the interactions of consciousness and matter/the brain/the body/the universe/whatever. I support the research and inquiry being performed by IONS, and assorted other research centers and independent researchers in the field. What I think Cramer brings to the discussion is a reminder of not getting overly full of ourselves over it all. Beware of the barakat. While I have seen and experienced a few things to indicate to me that there is at least an interplay between consciousness and its surroundings (not to mention over a century of research that also seems to indicate the probability), it would be unwise to think that these are the end goal.

Furthermore, I'm not entirely convinced that IONS or the like is actively promoting the "you are Gods" narrative. I do, however, know that it is an easy (and unfortunately common) way to interpret the research being done. It is normal, and perfectly understandable to become excited by the research being done in this field. I do believe, however, we need to keep an eye on the ego, as well.

Finally, I will take brief issue with the "Noetic Evolution" narrative, as well. Cramer outlines it thusly:

Noetics as developed today is not a new idea. Teilhard de Chardin, who emerged from the collectivist movement of the mid-20th century, wrote many books as a philosophical paleontologist proposing that the universe is evolving and that human evolution is a collectivist process of ascent culminating in Oneness with God.

What is often cited as "evidence" for these sorts of narratives is the development (in an almost X-Menlike fashion) of various abilities (or barakat), or the appearance of "Indigo Children" (which is a whole other discussion), or the fact that the Mayan calendar runs out in 2012 (a narrative also fraught with difficulties, including heavy reliance on Rousseau's/Dryden's idea of the "Noble Savage" narrative). The thing is, these barakat, as Cramer points out, are nothing new. These abilities of consciousness have been reported across cultures for thousands of years.

We now have the ability to study these things. They should be studied. What they should not be, is thought of as some sort of "new" development, nor a birthright to power.

elsewhere in the blogosphere

2007-12-05T19:29:00.000-08:00

Michael Prescott has some excellent meditations on the difficulties of the use of the scientific method in discussions of the possibility of an afterlife. There are further meditations as well. Overall, some thought-provoking musings.

Also, Christian de Quincey weighs in on anthropic privilege.

upcoming PBS show featuring neuroplasticity...

2007-12-05T19:22:00.000-08:00

Via PositScience:

This December, public television stations across the country will air a special program that explores the brain’s amazing ability to change throughout a person’s life. This phenomenon—called neuroplasticty—is the science behind brain fitness, and it has been called one of the most extraordinary scientific discoveries of the 20th century.

The PBS special, called The Brain Fitness Program, explains the brain’s complexities in a way that both scientists and people with no scientific background can appreciate. The show is narrated by Emmy Award-winning actor Peter Coyote and features experts in the field of neuroplasticity, including Dr. Norman Doidge, Sharon Begley, and Dr. Michael Merzenich, founder of Posit Science and creator of the Brain Fitness Program software.

The two-hour show is a fantastic opportunity to learn more about how our minds work—and to find out more about the latest in cutting-edge brain research.

Some airdates and a preview can be found here.

Sleeping and Dreaming Exhibition in London

2007-12-05T18:45:00.000-08:00

The Wellcome Collection in London, in collaboration with the Deutsches-Hygeine Museum of Dresden are mounting an exhibition on Sleeping and Dreaming.

There will be a number of events as part of the exhibition:

December 6: The Mystery of Sleep

This event will bring together perspectives from cultural history, psychology and social anthropology to explore the mysteries of dreaming.
Speakers:

• Mark Blagrove, dream researcher, Swansea University
• Iain Edgar, social anthropologist, Durham University
• Daniel Pick, historian, Birkbeck College, University of London

January 25, 2008: Late Night Film Festival

The mysterious nature of sleep and dreams has inspired great screenwriters and directors through the decades...
The film festival will include feature films as well as footage from the Wellcome Library. A confirmed programme will be available in December.

February 22-23: Sleep Talk

The event will begin on Friday evening with a special performance by innovative classical music group Manning Camerata of pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach and Domenico Scarlatti. The pieces selected for performance were written to cure the sleep disorders of the musicians' patrons.

This symposium brings together a panel of international speakers to explore sleeplessness in all its guises. On Saturday join our invited guests from across the world to explore how we understood insomnia in the past, and how that could alter our understanding of sleep today; how insomnia inspires creativity in some artists; why not being able to sleep is bad for your mind and other questions. Just don't expect them to solve your sleep problems.

Speakers:

David Baddiel, presenter and comedian
Ann Coxon, Assistant Curator, Tate Modern
Russell Foster, Professor of Circadian Neuroscience, University of Oxford
Chris Idzikowski, Director, Edinburgh Sleep Centre
Kenton Kroker, Assistant Professor, Science and Technology Studies, York University, Toronto
Kevin Morgan, Director, Clinical Sleep Research Unit, Loughborough University
Eluned Summers-Bremner, Department of Women's Studies, University of Auckland

February 28: An End to Feeling Shattered?

If you didn't have to sleep at night imagine how much more you could achieve and experience. Or does the thought of no more long lie-ins make you feel ill? Should drugs used by the military, and for treatment of narcolepsy, become lifestyle drugs for the mainstream? What would be the impact on your body, your relationships and your life? We already use drugs to avoid pregnancy, stop headaches, and prevent impotence…what makes sleep any different?
Join a panel of outspoken speakers to debate whether drugs are the answer to 21st-century life.
Speakers:

John Harris, Professor of Bioethics, University of Manchester.
Danielle Turner, Neuroscience Coordinator, University of Cambridge.
Simon Williams, Professor of Sociology, University of Warwick.

There will also be expert-led tours.

The exhibit will run from November 29-March 9.

If you can't make it to London, there's also an online sneak-preview.

Radio Interview...

2007-12-04T08:22:00.000-08:00

I will be a guest on Marcel Cairo's Afterlife FM show this afternoon at 4pm Pacific Time!

Join us for a conversation about Consciousness Studies and Visitation Dreams from the dead!

There will be a call-in line for questions as well.

If you miss the show, Marcel will have it in his archives. I won't be able to answer questions retroactively, though, as I'm still working on the time travel thing.

Edgar Mitchell in the news...

2007-11-30T07:58:00.000-08:00

TCPalm.com has a nice article about astronaut Edgar Mitchell this morning. Mitchell is the founder of the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS), where I recently went for a visit.

The work of noetic scientists, Mitchell noted, provide a new understanding of how beliefs, thoughts, and intentions affect the physical world.

"Because 400 years ago, (French philosopher) René Descartes made the pronouncement that body, mind, physicality and spirituality belonged to two different realms of reality," said Mitchell during a phone interview. "That had the nice effect of getting the Inquisition to get off the backs of European intellectuals and allow science, as we understand it classically, to arise.

"But the bad side is that for all those 400 years, science has avoided the subject of what is consciousness and why are we conscious at all."

Apparently, Mitchell, along with Dean Radin recorded a segment for the Larry King Live show, expected to air in December.

Mitchell served on the Apollo 14 mission, and founded IONS based on an experience he had during his time in space, experiencing a sense of "universal connectedness,"

"He intuitively sensed that his presence, that of his fellow astronauts, and that of the planet in the window were all part of a deliberate, universal process and that the glittering cosmos itself was in some way conscious."

Mitchell also lent his name to the 1974 anthology Psychic Exploration: A Challenge for Science, a 700 page collection of essays by a number of leading researchers of the time.

New JCS

2007-11-29T23:43:00.000-08:00

The new issue, 14(12),of the Journal of Consciousness Studies is out.

This issue features some intriguing sounding articles:

Explaining Strong Emotional Responses to Music by Jeanette Bicknell
Quantitative Somatic Phenomenology by Glenn Hartelius
Consciousness and the First Person by Itay Shani
Setting Criteria for Ideal Reincarnation Research by Jonathan Edelmann

Global Consciousness Project Update - Roger Nelson at Sedona

2007-11-27T07:35:00.000-08:00

via sedona.biz:

Sedona, AZ - Dr. Roger Nelson, Director of the Princeton Global Consciousness Project presents An Epiphany of Scientific Findings on Global Consciousness at the Sedona Creative Life Center, 333 Schnebly Hill Road, Friday, November 30, 7-9 PM. Admission: $15.
Find out what scientists are discovering about how we can collectively empower global consciousness to heal the world and transform reality.

Dr. Nelson’s professional degrees are in experimental cognitive psychology, with a special focus on the lesser known aspects of perception. His primary work in design and analysis is supplemented by a background in physics, statistical methods, and multi-media production.

Until his retirement in 2002, he served as the coordinator of experimental work in the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) lab, directed by Robert Jahn in the department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, School of Engineering/Applied Science, Princeton University.

Dr. Rogers gives most of his time to the Global Consciousness Project (GCP), which he directs. The GCP is an international, multi-laboratory collaboration (independent from the PEAR program) that maintains a network of random event generators (REGs) around the world that send data continuously over the internet to a server in Princeton, NJ. The purpose is to examine subtle correlations that reflect the presence and activity of consciousness in the world.

GCP says it has learned that when millions of us share intentions and emotions created by powerful global events, such as the funerals of Princess Diana and Mother Teresa, the network shows correlations that can be interpreted as evidence for a growing global consciousness. It suggests we have the capability and responsibility for conscious evolution. We make the world we live in.

Don’t miss this opportunity to hear Dr. Nelson discuss his involvement in PEAR and the various projects in which he was involved.

For more information on the GCP, visit: http://noosphere.princeton.edu.

George P. Hansen interview

2007-11-26T10:20:00.000-08:00

I dropped the ball a bit and didn't get this announced as early as I wanted to, but Marcel Cairo of AfterlifeFM will be interviewing George P. Hansen, blogger, and author of The Trickster and the Paranormal this week.

This is currently one of my favorite books, and I can't recommend it highly enough, if you're interested in consciousness/dreams/the paranormal, and the difficulties inherent in studying them.

Marcel's interview will air Tuesday, November 27, at 4pm, Pacific Time.

The Trouble With Dream Studies

2007-11-26T10:12:00.001-08:00

Ryan at the Dream Studies Portal has uploaded a new essay, The Trouble with Dream Studies.

This [article] introduces a series of articles about the difficulties facing dream studies as a field of knowledge. These difficulties emerge at every level of participation with dreaming, from third-person gathering of dream reports to first-person remembered experience. How do we know what we know? What is the spectrum of possibility for human consciousness? What is real?

Ryan, as always, digs deep, and raises a lot of thought-provoking points. It's well worth the read.

Comments are also welcome.

Free V.S. Ramachandran talk...

2007-11-26T10:04:00.000-08:00

V.S. Ramachandran will be giving a free talk in London.

Via The Royal Society:

Wednesday 28 November 2007 at 6:30pm Public Lecture

Event Type: Public Lecture

Location: The Royal Society

Email: events@royalsoc.ac.uk

Address:
The Royal Society
6-9 Carlton House Terrace
London
SW1Y 5AG

by Professor VS Ramachandran, University of California San Diego

Professor Ramachandran examines problems that lie at the interface between neurology and psychiatry. He explains how phantom limbs may be used as a probe for understanding brain functions and shows that far from having fixed connections, even the basic 'wiring' of the brain is constantly being modified in response to changing sensory inputs. This has theoretical implications as well as practical implications for recovery of function from stroke, phantom pain and Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD). Ramachandran will also discuss synesthesia, an inherited condition in which sounds and printed numbers are seen as colored. He reveals its neural basis and suggests it might provide clues to understanding high level brain functions such as metaphor and abstraction.

Professor Ramachandran is director of the center for brain and cognition at the university of California San Diego and adjunct professor of biology at the Salk Institute. He is best known for his work on visual perception, behavioral neurology (including phantom limbs) and more recently, synesthesia.

The fifth in a series of lectures on the nature of human knowledge and understanding supported by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation.

This lecture is free - no ticket or advanced booking required. Doors open at 5.45pm and seats will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis.

This event will be webcast live at www.royalsoc.ac.uk/live/

First Annual Ghost Rush Conference - Northern California

2007-11-26T09:58:00.001-08:00

Volcano, Ca – American Paranormal Investigations announced today that its first annual Ghost Rush conference will take place March 28-30, 2008 at the St George Hotel in Volcano, California. Volcano is located in Amador County, about an hour outside of Sacramento.

Ghost Rush 2008 will be the first event of its kind held in Northern California. Conference Attendees will have the opportunity to attend lectures provided by some of the most respected names in the Paranormal Community, including: Jeff Belanger, Konstantinos (warning: goth music at the link), Loyd Auerbach, Todd Sheets, Mark Stinson and Al Tyas. Workshops will also be offered throughout the event and even more speakers are anticipated as the date nears.

"This will be a great event for novice and seasoned investigators alike. We’ll have full access to some highly sought after and active locations and have the chance to learn from some of the best in the field" said Amy Bruni, conference organizer, Producer for Beyond Reality Radio and Investigator with API.

In addition to the informative lecture series, conference goers will spend two nights investigating the town of Volcano. All of the event speakers, as well as Kris Williams from the Sci Fi Network show, Ghost Hunters, will lead teams of attendees on ghost hunts. Local business owners have teamed up with American Paranormal Investigations to allow access to their buildings after hours. At the St George Hotel alone, frequent reports of beds being unmade, knocking heard on walls, coins being thrown at bar patrons and full bodied apparitions are just a few of the happenings that drew conference organizers to Volcano in the first place.

" I’m looking forward to speaking at the Ghost Rush conference in Volcano, California," said Jeff Belanger, author, founder of Ghostvillage.com , and one of the event’s featured speakers. "When you consider Volcano’s mining history, remote location, and haunted reputation, we’re sure to have a ghostly great time investigating and discussing the paranormal in a setting that hasn’t been overly exploited like many of the better-known haunts on the West coast. It’s an opportunity for the attendees and for me as well!"

More information about Ghost Rush 2008 and American Paranormal Investigations can be found at http://www.ap-investigations.com

panpsychism in the New York Times

2007-11-26T09:38:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm back after an extended holiday break. Thanksgiving, as we call it here in the U.S., is always a little tricky for me. I try to put aside the cultural baggage that comes with it, and reflect on the things I'm thankful for. I also took some personal downtime, and got some more taken care of on my Masters thesis.

While I was away from the blog, though, a number of interesting things came through my consciousness, as it were:

First off, The New York Times has an article on panpsychism. I'm not sure if you'll need to register/log-in for this one or not.

The article traces panpsychism's proto-origins with Thomas Nagel, and continues up through Roger Penrose and David Chalmers, and Galen Strawson. Interesting that they did not seek out Christian de Quincey, who has published two books on the subject.

I have my own issues with panpsychism. While I find it an intriguing possibility, I don't see how it answers a number of questions. In fact, I think it leaves even bigger questions than it answers.
As the article notes,

Panpsychism may be easier to parody than to refute. But even if it proves a cul-de-sac in the quest to understand consciousness, it might still help rouse us from a certain parochiality in our cosmic outlook. We are biological beings. We exist because of self-replicating chemicals. We detect and act on information from our environment so that the self-replication will continue. As a byproduct, we have developed brains that, we fondly believe, are the most intricate things in the universe. We look down our noses at brute matter.

And while some may take what they consider to be the next logical step (and one I consider to be "reductio ad hitlerum"), that this mind/body or mind/matter split is responsible for everything from poor body image to global warming and destruction of the environment, I do not know that being a dualist inevitably leads to such destruction.

In any event, finding this article in the NYT this morning was a pleasant surprise, even if it was published back on the 18th.

More Dimensia...

2007-11-20T11:32:00.000-08:00

Fresh on the heels of yesterdays posts about E8 and "An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything", and Möbius Transformations, comes an interesting article from Science News Online: Shadow World, which suggests that "How many dimensions space has could be a matter of perspective."

The article features the work of Juan Maldacena, who suggests that in terms of string theory (something I'm not particularly sold on, myself),

the mathematical machinery of strings completely translates into a more ordinary quantum theory of particles, but one whose particles would live in a universe without gravity. Gravity would be replaced by forces similar to the nuclear forces that prevailed in the universe's first instants. And this would be a universe with fewer dimensions than the realm inhabited by strings.
Just as a hologram creates the illusion of the third dimension by scattering light off a 2-D surface, gravity and the however many dimensions of space could be a higher-dimensional projection of a drama playing out in a flatter world.
In physics parlance, the two theories would be dual to each other—two mathematically equivalent languages for describing the same reality. Physicists could study each phenomenon using whichever language that makes it easier to understand.

If this description sounds familiar, go watch the video I posted on the Möbius Transformations post.

While there is no direct mention of "consciousness" in this model either, on a meta-level, it does seem to lurk there in the background, in that it allows for the choice of which "mathematically equivalent language" to use.

E8 and "An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything"

2007-11-19T20:10:00.000-08:00

The Telegraph has an article about Garrett Lisi and his "Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything" (.pdf).

[Lisi] has high hopes that his new theory could provide what he says is a "radical new explanation" for the three decade old Standard Model, which weaves together three of the four fundamental forces of nature: the electromagnetic force; the strong force, which binds quarks together in atomic nuclei; and the weak force, which controls radioactive decay.
The reason for the excitement is that Lisi's model also takes account of gravity, a force that has only successfully been included by a rival and highly fashionable idea called string theory, one that proposes particles are made up of minute strings, which is highly complex and elegant but has lacked predictions by which to do experiments to see if it works.

Lisi maps his model onto a structure known as "E8" (in the picture above).

E8 encapsulates the symmetries of a geometric object that is 57-dimensional and is itself is 248-dimensional. Lisi says "I think our universe is this beautiful shape."
What makes E8 so exciting is that Nature also seems to have embedded it at the heart of many bits of physics. One interpretation of why we have such a quirky list of fundamental particles is because they all result from different facets of the strange symmetries of E8.

That's a lot of dimensions, but it should be pointed out that they're not all spatial and temporal.

Unfortunately, my last good math teacher was in the seventh grade. I can't tell you whether Lisi is on to something or not, but it certainly sounds cool. I would, of course, like to know how consciousness fits into this model.

Additional commentary on the model at Not Even Wrong, and Back Re(Action).

Lisi also has a wiki.

In Dreams...

2007-11-19T15:34:00.000-08:00

NPR recently ran a story on Talk of the Nation about dreams and nightmares. Natalie Angier and Kelly Bulkeley were guests, talking about negative dream emotions and nightmares.

In other dream related news, the idea that dreams are a process of "memory dumping" seems to be getting a bit of play again, thanks to a recent study by the University of Arizona.

According to Scientific American,

The scientists implanted electrodes in the brains of rats, surveying the activity of up to 120 neurons (nerve cells) in the medial prefrontal cortex (a forebrain region responsible for goal-oriented executive functions such as organizing thoughts and actions) while the animals completed a navigational task, scampering between spots in sequence on a circular table top. The research team monitored the rats' brain activity daily for a few weeks as they scurried to complete the 50-minute running session and then napped for 20 minutes to an hour.

Using two different methods—comparing the activity between pairs of cells and surveying patterns over the entire population of monitored neurons—the team noted that neuronal activity sequences that occurred when the rats were running seemed to reappear during sleep.

While it seems pretty obvious to me that dreams are about a bit more than memories (because if my dreams were based on my memories, my life would be far more entertaining and interesting than it is), one interesting bit might be the idea that perhaps the process that the UA team is describing is happening during sleep, but not during dreaming. Additionally, they found that:

Not only were the same patterns reactivated while snoozing, but the replay would take place six to seven times faster than when the rats performed the task...

This replay phenomenon has previously been shown in the hippocampus, a forebrain structure involved in episodic memory, and in the visual cortex, where sensory information related to sight is processed. Euston believes the process may be related to plasticity, the strengthening and weakening of connections between of nerve cells that is thought to underlie learning.

Möbius Transformations made easy

2007-11-19T15:21:00.000-08:00

Science News Online has an article about a video put together by Douglas N. Arnold and Jonathan Rogness illustrating the beauty of Möbius Transformations.

A Möbius transformation alters an entire plane. To understand the transformation, it helps to focus on a square that lies on the plane. A Möbius transformation can alter the square in any of four ways. The first three ways aren't too hard to picture: the transformation can move a square around on the plane, expand or contract the square, or rotate it.
The fourth alteration is especially intriguing. A Möbius transformation can turn the square inside out. The Arnold-Rogness video illustrates this process beautifully, showing how points that start close to the square's center are sent far outward, while points near the edge of the square move toward the center.

Video below:

not the thing from Scanners

2007-11-19T15:12:00.000-08:00

I've been away from the blog again. The big news is I've just been accepted into a PhD program. This means I need to get more work done on my Masters thesis, so I can move on to my next endeavors.

Something crossed my path a few days ago about "Exploding Head Syndrome." It seems that lately there are "syndromes" and "disorders" for just about everything, but this one made me chuckle. I thought of that bit from Scanners, but as it would turn out, "EHS" is something far cooler.

Per Wikipedia, "Exploding Head Syndrome"

causes the sufferer to occasionally experience a tremendously loud noise as if from within his or her own head, usually described as an explosion, roar or a ringing noise. This usually occurs within an hour or two of falling asleep, but is not the result of a dream and can happen during the day as well. Although perceived as tremendously loud, the noise is usually not accompanied by pain. Attacks appear to increase and decrease in frequency over time, with several attacks occurring in a space of days or weeks followed by months of remission. Sufferers often feel a sense of fear and anxiety after an attack, accompanied by elevated heart rate. Attacks are also often accompanied by perceived flashes of light (when perceived on their own, known as a 'visual sleep start') or difficulty in breathing. The condition is also known as 'auditory sleep starts.' It is not thought to be dangerous, although it is sometimes distressing to experience.

While I've never had the auditory "bang," I do normally get flashes of light as I enter hypnagogia.

mmm....braaaaiiiins....

2007-11-15T08:37:00.000-08:00

Seems to be a slow news week again. Of course the last time I said that, I was flooded with stuff to post about.

In any event, there is this:

brusnichka.com (the "cheerful blog") has posted a series of photos from an abandoned brain research facility in Russia.

The photos are safe for work, slightly disturbing at times, and some have moments of true artistry.

Enjoy.

New LSD study and other Psychotropic news...

2007-11-13T22:42:00.000-08:00

MAPS reports:

Dr. Peter Gasser's MAPS-sponsored study evaluating LSD-assisted psychotherapy for subjects with anxiety secondary to advanced-stage illness received final Ethics Committee (Swiss IRB equivalent) approval on October 30 and SwissMedic (Swiss FDA equivalent) clearance on November 8.

This is the first to evaluate LSD's therapeutic applications in over 35 years.

Also, MindHacks has a brief meditation on Absinthe.