Catalyzing Coherence

In this episode, Jon Connors, Community Development at Starfish Mission, joins us to discuss the tension between centralization and decentralization through the lens of the Hegelian dialectic. Along the way we talk about the Occupy movement, mycelial networks, and self defense.

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In this episode, we visit Nicholas Paul Brysiewicz at the Long Now Foundation's Interval bar to explore the concept of Deep Time and its relevance to our rapidly accelerating world.

As Director of Development, Nicholas advances the mission of The Long Now Foundation by building and fostering relationships with the people and organizations who support the foundation's vision for long-term thinking and responsibility.

Nicholas has a broad academic background that spans systems engineering, design thinking, contemporary philosophy, and depth psychology. He earned a degree in Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering from The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 02007 and has spent the past decade actively engaging with the fields of philosophy, psychology, and design. He is currently interested in phenomenological conceptions of time and responsibility.

Prior to joining The Long Now Foundation, Nicholas advised corporate firms on design strategy, enterprise sales, and business development. He also toured in a few rock bands. He currently lives in San Francisco where he reads, writes, and reflects on the future.

In episode three we speak with Andres Gomez Emilsson, founder of the Qualia Research Institute.

In Andres' words:

"Once we recognize the computational role of consciousness, and the causal network that links it to behavior, a new era will begin. We will (1) characterize the various values of qualia in terms of their computational properties, and (2) systematically explore the state-space of possible conscious experiences.

(1) will enable us to recruit the new qualia varieties we discover thanks to (2) so as to improve the capabilities of our minds. This increased cognitive power will enable us to do (2) more efficiently. This positive-feedback loop is perhaps the most important game-changer in the evolution of consciousness in the cosmos.

We will go from cognitive sciences to actual consciousness engineering. And then, nothing will ever feel the same."

Ideas mentioned in the podcast:

Quantifying Bliss:

https://qualiacomputing.com/2017/06/18/quantifying-bliss-talk-summary/

DMT and the Geometry of Consciousness:

https://qualiacomputing.com/2017/05/28/eli5-the-hyperbolic-geometry-of-dmt-experiences/

E2 - On Coherence by Matthew Pirkowski

Intro episode of our new podcast, Catalyzing Coherence.

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