Chasing Consciousness

What data supports the idea that Oumuamua could have been space junk from another civilisation from another civilisation? Why is it so important that the Galileo Project at Harvard looks for more such objects? Why is science finally taking the UAP Phenomenon seriously?

Today we’re going to find out about new developments in the SETI discussion (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) that has been prompted by the anomalous interstellar object Oumuamua, that passed through the solar system in 2017. Since the cosmologist, sceptic and TV presenter Carl Sagan helped normalise the topic for serious scientific consideration, SETI has been a thriving, if underfunded, scientific endeavour with multiple techniques being used, not just listening for radio signals; but which until recently hasn’t found anything to write home about, despite a few false alarms.

Until the arrival of Oumuamua, today’s guest, Avi Loeb wasn’t really involved in the SETI debate, but his SETI interpretation of the data on this object, and his impeccable reputation as former chair of the astronomy department at Harvard University has brought him into the debate with a bang. He is the Frank B. Baird Jr Professor of Science at Harvard, author of over 700 scientific papers, and receiver of so many awards and accolades I won’t list them there. Avi is also the author of 4 books, of which we’ll be discussing two today. First his New York Times bestseller ‘Extraterrestrial’ about Oumuamua, and second his new book that’s just out “Interstellar: the search for extra terrestrial life and out future in the stars”.

To add further taboo to this newly invigorated debate, we’ll also be talking about the 2017 NYTimes story on military UFO encounters, which revealed that the US Government had not only been secretly studying the UFO Phenomenon, but also covered the extraordinary ‘TicTac’ case around the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier, witnessed by multiple pilots and including radar blip confirmation. All of which has led to Congress passing a new law obliging military witnesses to testify about these incidents and alleged black projects working on this kind of technology, and to the June 2021 report form the Director of National intelligence (see show notes). Having never known this was even a real confirmed phenomena, and knowing Avi has since become involved in the scientific debate on this topic too, this interview was particularly curious.

What we discuss:

00:00 Intro

12:45 6x anomalous data points on interstellar object Oumuamua, Oct 19th 2016

21:45 Technological relic VS natural object hypothesis

24:00 Natural origin: Solid hydrogen/nitrogen hypotheses

27.30 Avi’s New book “Interstellar”

32:00 Our star is younger than most in the galaxy so younger star’s civilisations are probably more advanced

36:00 The Galileo Project: Looking out for interstellar objects, in 3 ways

39:15 1. Exploring impact sites on earth, Finding the next Oumuamua sooner, Study of UAP

48:00 Imagining seeding of planets, creating species and creating universes in labs

01:12:30 “Science is not zero sum game its an infinite sum game, because basically everyone benefits from knowledge”

References:

Avi Loeb 'Interstellar: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life and Our Future in the Stars '(2023)

Galileo Project @Harvard University

Office of the Director of National Intelligence Assessment on UAP, June 2021, John L. Ratcliffe

VICE Magazine, Experiencers brains and Anomalous materials magazine article

NY Times USS Nimitz ‘Tic-Tac’ article, Dec 2017

What is the protocol for psychedelic therapy? How does it work? Who is it appropriate for?

Today we have the interesting topic to look into, of how psychedelic compounds are now being used in psychotherapy. With promising results in clinical trials from Imperial College around the mid 2010’s, a flourish of trials at other medical schools across the world has seen a renaissance of the psychedelic movement for treating, particularly depression and PTSD, that was started by transpersonal psychologists like Stan Grof in the 1960’s before then being banned. 

Along with this renaissance has come interest from pharmaceutical companies and psychonauts, psychotherapists and members of the general public suffering from treatment resistant conditions. With all this activity there is confusion about what the results from the studies actually show, how the treatment should be done safely, ethically and with lasting results and who to be contacting if you want to try it out. So I thought it was important to speak about these matters here for anyone interested in getting a data led picture of the fast evolving situation, among all the noise out there on the internet.

Fortunately my guest today is a clinical psychologist who’s been at the centre of the field since the beginning of the renaissance, and not just as a researcher but as a hands on psychologist in the therapy room with the subjects at all stages of the process, Dr. Rosalind Watts.

Dr. Watt’s work as the Clinical psychologist Lead for Imperial College London’s psilocybin trials,  have made her one of the most prominent voices and minds in the field of psychedelic research. She has been named as one of the 50 Most Influential People in Psychedelics; however, what sets Dr Watts apart is her focus on integration, harm-reduction and inclusion in the psychedelic space.  

Apart from treating she also builds tools and structures to foster connectedness after psychedelic experiences, finding inspiration for their design from nature. The most recent of which is the integration community she’s created - ACER Integration.

What we speak about:

00:00 Intro

04:30 Clubbing community

07:40 The psychedelic therapy process: step by step

08:40 1. Screening: for people it could suit VS cause problems for

09:50 2. Preparation: Building trust and safety in vulnerability

11:15 The psychedelic experience is the beginning not the end of the work

13:05 Sharing meals; music and essential oils used to encourage relaxation and surrender

16:50 At least two guides needed for ethical and practical reasons

19:50 The ‘Pearl Dive’ analogy, deep down to the hidden traumas

26:50 3. The therapy session itself

28:50 A non-directed approach to the journey from the guides

33:05 4. Integration: after the experience, maximising benefits

35:10 Planting the pearl of insight to nourish and nurture them

35:40 6 months later the depression was back

44:20 The role of ritual and ceremony in effective results

46:20 Appropriated from Mexican Mazatec tradition of psilocybin for healing

49:50 How to talk about the ceremonial without deities and religions  

54:50 Opening up to the sacred wound VS numbing the feelings

58:50 Ros’s first experience: Fear before and transformation after

01:07:35 The ‘brain reset’ analogy and the expectations it created

01:12:05 Mystical experience’s importance in the transformation 

01:18:05 Adverse psychedelic effects: actively facing the hardest places

References:

ACER Community Integration Group

Dr. Rosalind Watts, A.C.E. Accept, Embody, Connect model

Maria Sabina, Mexican shaman - Life magazine 1957

Gaia Hypothesis

Adverse effects trial at Greenwich University: Jules Evans and David Luke 

Increased brain connectivity following psilocybin treatment

Little Pharma (Dr. Ben Sessa)

What does symmetry and self-similarity between life and intelligence mean for the nature of reality? How are neurones like genes? 

Today we have the extraordinary Fractal Brain Theory to discuss. After episode #38 about the World as a Neural Network, with Russian physicist and computer scientist Vitaly Vanchurin, i’ve become more open to a unified theory of universe that reconciles quantum mechanics with general relativity, as Vanchurin’s equations seem to offer. So when I was recommended today’s guest’s Fractal Brain Theory by one of the wonderful listeners, I was curious if a little sceptical given all the psychedelic hype about fractal geometry. So a symmetrical theory of repeating self-similar, self-modifying behaviour in the universe is not so far from the vision of the universe as a thriving, adaptable neural network. And according to today’s guest the symmetry directly connects the often divorced worlds of neurones, brains and intelligence with the world of genes, evolution and life. 

He is multi-disciplinary researcher, computer scientist, musician and author Wai H Tsang. A self-taught thinker in the world of neurology, evolutionary biology, consciousness and philosophy of mind, Tsang is in the unique position of combining these traditions into a single theory of brain, that promises to solve even the hard problem of consciousness. Trained in computer science at Imperial college, he wrote the first version of his Fractal Brain Theory in 2016, in his book of the same name, and it was picked up by quantum consciousness theorist Stuart Hameroff, who invited him to the Science of Consciousness Conference, alongside heavy weights in the field like David Chalmers, Roger Penrose, Sue Blackmore,  Donald Hoffman - many who’ve been on this show already. This recognition catapulted his theory into the field, so it’s with great pleasure that I include it on the show for us to compare alongside the theories of many of the giants.

What we discuss:

00:00 Intro

07:10 Symmetry explained: Variance and non-variance; change and resistance to change

11:00 Genomes work like tiny fractal brains

12:30 The symmetry between intelligence and life, neurones and genes

13:00 Junk DNA, neurones and boolean algebra

17:45 Dendritic structure, processing and artificial intelligence

19:00 Self-similarity and recursively nested symmetry

21:30 Evolution and ontogenesis algorithm: differentiate, select, amplify 

22:15 Fractal Mathematics and Benoit Mandelbrot: Approximate self-similarity

25:45 Binary trees generating life and intelligence

29:00 Mitosis and progenator fields

30:00 Allocentric and egocentric mapping (Nobel prize)

34:40 Goodwin and cell division VS epigenetic mutation/adaptation

36:00 Recursive modification IS intelligence; evolving evolvability

40:15 A new calculus: analytic geometry 

47:00 The soft and hard problem of consciousness 

51:00 Time symmetric quantum mechanics and problems with causal chains 

58:00 David Chalmers: Identity cosmo-psychism critique

01:11:00 Is self-reflective conscious Ai possible?

01:19:30 Penrose: Quantum mechanics is incomplete until we understand the collapse of the wave function

01:21:00 The ethical debate about the future of Ai

References:

‘The Fractal Brain Theory’ Wai Tsang

Wai Tsang You Tube Channel 

Wai Tsang Core Live shows

Boolean Algebra

Yakir Aharonov, ‘New insights into time-symmetry in quantum mechanics’ paper

David Chalmers, ‘The Singularity: A Philosophical Analysis’ paper

David Chalmers, “Idealism and the mind body problem” paper

What evidence is there for a connection between the microbiome and the chronic inflammation and mental health problems on the rise in western populations? Do we need to rethink hygiene practices to benefit from this new understanding?

In this episode we’re going to be getting our heads around the idea that while Hygiene has revolutionised health, too much hygiene, actually weakens our immune system’s development. To understand why, we need to understand how the complex community of microbes in our intestines, on our skin and in nature around us has evolved for thousands of years, in symbiosis with our immune system; we’ll be mapping out how, as our hygiene practices and food processing have increased, so the diversity of microbiota has dropped, eventually leading to the explosion of inflammatory disorders, mental health issues and auto-immune disfunction we’re now seeing in western communities. But how to solve this problem, without loosing the great advances in health care achieved by the application of Hygiene theory?

Who better to answer that question and explain these subtleties than professor of medical microbiology at University College London, Dr. Graham Rook. Rook is a specialist in infection and immunity, and has spent his career unfolding how the young immune system is ‘programmed’ by the microbial background, identifying all the medical conditions that have been worsened by the failing immuno-regulation associated with our impoverished biomes, and developing ways we can update our lifestyle to restore the diversity required to sustain healthy immune response.

In his new book ‘Evolution, Biodiversity and a Reassessment of the Hygiene hypothesis’ he explains all this and his 2003 Old-Friends hypothesis, which seeks to correct the over-stretching of the Hygeine hypothesis.

We have got a show from the second series with phytotherapist Alex Laird, about the dietary aspect of the microbiome and inflammation called ‘Mood Food: Inflammation, the gut and diet’ should anyone want to get into the food side of this.

What we discuss:

00:00 Intro

08:30 Bacterial diversity in the human body and the evolution of the immune system

12:00 The symbiotic co-evolution of internal bacteria and humankind

13:30 The ‘programming’ of the adaptive immune system by diverse bacteria: Lymphocytes

16:30 Most of our genes evolved in micro-organisms 

20:55 Modern western microbiomes compared to our hunter gatherer ancestors

21:40 Variety of diet and contact with nature

22:10 Microorganisms from mother and the natural environment

24:00 The socio-economic factor: Urban poverty VS exposure to microorganisms and diverse diet

26:00 Antibiotic over-use in children contributing to allergies and obesity

26:25 Immune regulation, and how it changes with hyper inflammation

30:00 Background high inflammation in the west

31:20 Microbiota transplants in mental health, allergies and obesity experiments

33:50 The difficulty in using biota transplants to treat biome related issues 

39:00 Microbiome/inflammation research into Autism, Parkinsons and Alzheimer’s 

46:00 ‘Trained Immunity’ - raising immune alertness epigenetically 

50:00 Reassessing the hygiene hypothesis, good diet and minimising antibiotics

References:

G. Rook, ‘Evolution, Biodiversity, and reassessing the hygiene hypothesis’ book

G. Rook, 'The Old Friends Hypothesis’ paper

‘Pediatrics Consequences of Caesarean Section-A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis’, maternal microbiota paper

‘Association between antibiotic treatment during pregnancy and infancy and the development of allergic diseases’ paper

‘Gut microbiome remodelling induces depressive-like behaviour’ paper

‘Long-term benefit of Microbiota Transfer Therapy on autism symptoms and gut microbiota’ paper

'Pet-keeping in early life reduces the risk of allergy in a dose-dependent fashion’ paper

What is Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprogramming therapy? What could be the mechanism by which its bilateral stimulation relieves the disturbances from trauma?

In this episode we have the fascinating technique of EMDR psychotherapy to look into. This is another show, like the Parenting by Connection episode #18, that’s close to home, as I personally have had extraordinary results with this method. Developed from the 80’s onwards by Francine Shapiro, Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing uses a bilateral brain hemisphere stimulation, similar to the pre-REM sleep state, to lower the physiological reaction in the present, following traumatic experiences in the past. The reason I was so struck by the method and wanted to share the science of it here, is how the model works physiologically on the reprogramming of traumatic memories, with more or less instant results - results that might take years using traditional talky therapies. Why this ‘straight to the point’ method works though is still not clear to scientists, so it will be interesting to hear the different theories.

Who better to tell us all about it than EMDR therapist ex-president of EMDR Europe and the president of EMDR Italy, Dr. Isabel Fernandez. As well as more than 20 years treating patients with EMDR and training tens thousands of therapists, she sits on several boards of organisations studying science of psychotraumatology, like the Society of Traumatic Stress Studies. She has written various scientific papers, books and chapters on EMDR and trauma too.

What we discuss:

00:00 Intro

06:10 Trauma with a big ’T’ (threat to life) and a little ’t’ (interpersonal)

09:20 The risk of a ‘victim’ complex, lowering resilience if we focus on even little ’t’ trauma

10:00 You reach resilience through addressing and integrating trauma 

11:20 Our innate ability to process adverse experience information and the overwhelming of that in PTSD 

15:30 Bilateral eye movement stimulation helps the completion of our innate memory integration ability

18:25 You do need to remember the memory to work on it, but often it arises by association rather than actively remembering it

21:00 Bilateral stimulation of the left and right hemisphere: visual, sensory and auditory versions

23:00 Pre-Rem Sleep is similar to the EMDR state

26:30 Proved to be faster than other therapies, therefore more cost effective for the state health services

28:15 Its functioning is not yet completely understood: the leading theories 

32:40 Iain McGilchrist’s left right hemisphere interpretation (See Episode #15) 

36:45 A meta analysis - Bilateral stimulation much more effective than non-bilateral stimulation, just therapy 

39:30 Adaptive information - 1. Processing of the past 2. De-sensitisation of disturbance the present 3. Imaginal future events 

50:15 EMDR for kids with traumatic experiences from 2 years old

51:45 Applications for collective mass trauma: war, pandemics, floods and earthquakes

52:45 The key is to work with bilateral stimulation during the acute phase of the trauma

55:00 Bringing EMDR to the Police, the military and the hospitals

References: 

Frontiers in Psychology: Slow Wave Sleep/ Pre-Rem Sleep similarities with EMDR State

American Psychological Association: Neural Basis of EMDR Therapy

Nature: Neural Circuits involved in EMDR suppressing fear response

American Psychological Association: Chris Lee, Meta-analysis of efficacy and speed of EMDR

PubMed: Meta-analysis of treatment of sexual abuse in children and adolescents

EMDREurope.com

EMDR.com

EMDR.it 

Just how much evidence for psi phenomena is there today, when we put together the data from all the studies? What theory of reality could account for such phenomena?

Why are religious and mystical experiences important to our sense of meaning and purpose in life? What is a spiritual emergency and how can it actually help us in the long run? Are transpersonal experiences illusions of the mind or can they tell us anything about the nature of reality?

In this episode, we have the extraordinary topic of Transpersonal Psychology to learn about. With the steady rise in popularity of western secular spirituality, meditation, psychedelic research, altered states of consciousness and embodied practices in general, during the 60’s some psychologists felt there was a part of psychology missing from the old humanist and behaviourist models. It was as if the overwhelmingly materialist scientific view of humans, that sees our bodies and brains as fundamentally separate from other beings, the natural world and any hypothetically transcendent reality, was missing out a huge source of data about the way our minds work. So a bunch of them coined a new term, Transpersonal psychology, and with it came a new field of study and practice. 

It’s a really wide field and at its cusps starts to get into areas that science can’t actually study using the method; some of which we’re going to touch on towards the end of this episode. But above all it makes a place for the importance of the transpersonal that crosses those boundaries between our bodies and brains and everything else out there, both known and unknown. So fortunately today’s guest has over 25 years of experience both as a psychologist and a workshops leader, David Lukoff.

Dr. Lukoff has published over 80 articles on spirituality and mental health, and is an active workshop presenter internationally on spiritual competency, grief, death, recovery, and spiritual crises. He is a Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the Sofie University, previously known as the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, in CA and previously served on the faculties of Harvard University and UCLA. He is also the co-founder of the Spiritual Competency Academy, that offers mental health professionals courses on the skills and knowledge to become more spiritual competent.

What we discuss:

00:00 Intro

05:30 A psychedelic psychotic episode and a spiritual crisis

07:00 Spirituality and religion as resources and practices

07:42 The history of transpersonal psychology 

14:00 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs VS behaviourism

16:45 Spiritual emergencies 

18:00 Jospeh Cambell’s ‘Hero’s Journey’ and Jung’s ‘Compensatory psychosis’

22:30 David’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) entry

24:00 The post scientific revolution meaning crisis, and spiritual assessment as a solution

29:45 Ceremonial, shamanic and plant medicine approaches

32:30 Bringing altered states into mainstream psychology

37:00 Holotropic breathing: simulating an LSD-like research after LSD research was banned

40:15 The strength of the mystical experience correlates with positive outcomes

41:15 Stan Grof: NDE, OBE, psi, afterlife and interdimensional communications

45:00 The Spiritual Competency Academy: forgiveness, compassion, mindfulness

References:

Spiritual Competency Academy

Journal of Transpersonal Psychology

Rick Doblin - Founder of MAPS - Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies

‘Spiritual and religious problems’ included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental disorders

Jung’s ‘Compensatory psychosis’

The Spiritual Emergency Network

Johns Hopkins and NYU studies - Intensity of mystical experiences correlation with positive clinical outcomes.

What do machine learning, physics and biology have in common? What maths emerges when we apply learning dynamics to physics, and can it reconcile quantum mechanics and general relativity? If we see all nature as neuroplastic and constantly learning, like a neural network, what can this tell us about the fine tuning in the universe and the emergence of life and observers?

In this episode we have the fascinating possibility that the world is like a neural network to consider. On the show we’ve already deeply considered the way in which particles and sometimes even minds seem to be inter-connected in the universe, even beyond the apparent causal links in space and time. We also covered the brain science of neuroplasticity, for listeners who want to understand how that works. Applying that idea to the universe, that in some way the dynamic evolution of systems in the universe, over time adapt depending on the requirements could explain the extraordinary fine tuning we see in the universe, that permitted the arising of life in the first place. Along the way it could potentially fix some of the other gaping holes of disagreement in our best theories of physics. 

Our guest in this episode, the Russian physicist Vitaly Vanchurin, has not only developed this theory from the ground up, apparently reconciling quantum mechanics and general relativity, but is connecting it with biological systems and even developing a new type of computer processor to model it. After many years at the University of Minnesota, he’s taken a position at the National Institute of Health, and has more or less simultaneously launched a new multidisciplinary company ‘Artificial Neural Computing’ that connects physics, biology, and machine learning.

What we discuss:

00:00 Intro

05:21 The world as a neural network

06:00 Deep learning in the systems of the universe, neural learning and machine learning

09:00 The universe is learning as it evolves

11:30 Cosmic storage of learning, leads us to a cosmic consciousness model

12:40 The efficiency of learning defines its level of consciousness

13:30 A super-observer

16:00 It’s a useful model, but it’s likely how the universe actually works too

18:20 Fast changing non-trainable variables VS slow changing trainable variables

20:00 When the trainable variables change they could modify the laws of physics

21:20 Trainable variables in machine learning, are similar to genetic adaptation in biology

22:00 Connecting machine learning, physics and biological adaptation

31:40 What experiments could confirm this model?

42:00 At large scale entropy’s actually reduced by learning.

43:00 The emergence of life has a low chance of emerging by chance, more likely by pursuit of learning

44:50 Learning theory explains fine tuning in the universe

49:20 Neuroplasticity at a cosmic level: increasing efficiency and collective consciousness

54:30 The observer problem solved - hidden variables are trainable variables learning

58:30 Getting comfortable with variances from our best theories: models are only mental constructs

01:01:30 Vitaly’s new company 'Artificial Neural Computing’ - an interdisciplinary method marrying machine learning, physics and biology

01:11:00 What is emergent quantumness?

01:13:15 The implications of neuromorphic machine learning technology

01:17:30The implications for AGI

01:18:30 Self-driving car efficiency

01:21:00 Biology is a technology

01:27:40 You can think of space-time as many communication channels or neural connections

01:28:30 We are like one organism, a super-consciousness

References:

Vitaly Vanchurin - The World as a Neural Network Paper

Vitaly Vanchirin - Toward a theory of evolution as multilevel learning paper

Vitaly's new company, Artificial Neural Computing

Anthropic principal

Stochastic (Adj) = Random and predictable only using probability distributions

Learning equilibrium = when learning in a system equalises with the level of knowledge in the wider system

Self-organising criticality

How Can Ultrasound destroy cancer cells and even increase immune response elsewhere? Are there any implications for a resonant field based understanding of matter?

In this episode we have the fascinating invention of Histotripsy (https://histotripsy.umich.edu/), the non-invasive destruction of cancer cells using ultrasound to look into. Alongside the other headline news that bioengineers are also using acoustics to pattern replacement heart tissue, makes the field of bioacoustics one of the most exciting for the future of medicine. 

It is of course the implications of this for the resonant vibrational nature of matter that make this of interest to us on the show, as we attempt to get closer to a true understanding of the nature of reality through our shows on the implications of Einstein’s ‘matter is energy’ findings and quantum mechanics. We get into this after 45 mins or so.

We are lucky enough to be speaking today with one of the inventors of Histotripsy technology, Zhen Xu, Associate Professor and Graduate Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Michigan University. She’s won many awards for her research, including from the American Heart Association and from the National Institute of Health. 

00:00 Intro

07:25 Destroying Cancer Cells with Ultrasound 

08:50 Issues with tissue heating and toxicity in other non-surgical techniques

09:50 Cavitation: the creation, expansion and collapse of bubbles - gas pockets in the tissue

11:40 Ultrasound propagates through the vibration of tissue particles

13:36 Acoustic Scalpel: Cavitation bubbles are highly visible on ultrasound imaging, for high accuracy treatment

14:45 No spread of tissue heating, so no healthy tissue damage

16:00 The discovery happened by mistake

19:45 She developed new devices for a new phenomenon 

21:40 Toxicity of the destroyed tumour is removed from the body in a few months

24:30 Immune response to tumerous cells after treatment, possibly from the debris

25:40 Live cancer cells alter signal pathways to confuse the immunes system

28:00 But once dead the the debris can are noticed by the immune system 

29:45 Future tumours or relapses in different locations are picked ups by the immune system

33:30 Treating neurological disease, brain blood clots and epilepsy too, across the skull protection

40:30 Patterning and forming new cell structures using sound (Stanford Med research): Structuring vs destructing using sound

44:30 Resonant frequency in various types of matter and biological tissue

45:00 No evidence from the lab for a resonant theory of tissue/organ health

48:50 Nikola Tesla, “If you want to find the secrets of the Universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration”

52:00 The implications of a wider wave-length fields, for the creation and maintaining of matter and biological life’s structure

56:30 Bioelectric component in organ development (TUFTS Study): The formation of life depends on more than DNA

1:01:00 A field based understanding of physical matter, rather than matter generating fields

References:

Dr Zhen Xu 'Histotripsy: the first noninvasive, non-ionizing, non-thermal ablation technique based on ultrasound' Paper

Dr Zhen Xu - Histotripsy Group

Cosmos Magazine Article on Histotripsy

Dr Cliff Cho, Dr Zhen Xu - “...Immune responses that enhance cancer immunotherapy” Paper

Sean Wu and Utcan Demerci, Stanford Medical School, Engineering Heart tissue using Bioacoustics

Havana Syndrome

Nikola Tesla quote, “If you want to find the secrets of the Universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration”

Micheal Levin, TUFTS university, “changes in bioelectric signals cause tadpoles to grow eyes in back and tail”

What are the benefits and risks of transhumanist technologies, and why are they so taboo? How do we legislate to avoid existential risks, without holding back too much the enormous possible benefits? How do we secure the mental health, rights and equal access of the public as it inevitably rolls out?

So today we have the tricky and somewhat taboo topic of how to ethically guide the ever-increasing application of transhumanist technologies. With the recent advances in bio-technology, and some technologies already making their way into our bodies, it seems that the move towards a transhumanist vision of how to improve our standard of living is already well under way. So the question now is how do we educate ourselves the public and legislate tech corporations and governments, to be sure that people’s mental and physical health, access to opportunities, and personal freedoms are not being compromised in the gold-rush.   

Fortunately our guest today is a sociologist and bioethicist with over 25 years of debating exactly these kind of questions. He is the executive director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies or IEET, and he is the Associate Provost for Institutional research, Assessment and Planning at the University of Massachusetts Boston, James Hughes.

He is a Buddhist and techno-optimist, and was executive director of the World Transhumanist Organisation from 2004-2006. He argues for a democratic transhumanism in which human enhancement technologies should only be allowed if available to everyone, with respect for the rights of the individuals to control their own bodies.

He’s the writer of many articles and papers and the author of the book,“Citizen Cyborg: Why democratic societies must respond to the redesigned human of the future”. He is currently working on another book about moral enhancement, tentatively titled “Cyborg Buddha: Using neurotechnology to become better people”.

Being a techno-optimist and futurist myself, yet extremely cautious of mankind’s reckless and often blind curiosity when developing technology, I felt it was an important time to take a balanced multi-perspectival look into the ethics and policy development of transhumanist technologies. The interview offered me a process of re-evalutation of my own preconceptions and triggers, so I hope it helps you question your own opinions on this complex topic. 

What we discuss:

00:00 Intro

08:00 Difficulty accepting our inevitable transhumanist future

14:00 The taboo of transhumanism and debating toxic issues

19:45 It’s not the tech that’s the risk but the way we use it and legislate it: Max Tegmark

33:20 The History of Transhumanism

44:50 Is Eugenics connected to Transhumanism?

51:00 The roadmap towards markets rolling out transhumanist technologies 

52:30 The Kurzweilian paradigm: Smaller, smarter and faster 

55:45 Backing up memories - replacing and supplementing brain function

57:00 Instantiating brain backups in robot bodies, cloned bodies or computers

58:45 The Metaverse and brain-internet interfaces assessed

01:03:00 Augmented reality will be more popular than virtual reality

01:06:00 Technology interfering with the evolution of brains and culture

01:10:00 Selective scientific publication about the negative mental health outcomes

01:21:00 Neurolink: brain computer internet interfaces assessed

01:27:00 Gene therapy assessed: the risks of yet further inequality of wealth and power

01:43:50 The Singularity explained

01:56:20 Inequality leads to dangerous conflict VS Transnational collaboration leads to peace

References:

James J Hughes ‘Citizen Cyborg’

Nick Bostrum - ‘A History of Transhumanist thought’ paper

The Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies IEET