Conscious Founders

Zebediah Rice is a unique and highly accomplished investor and human. His most recent business change vehicle is King River Capital based out of Sidney Australia. However, Zebediah is not just a business man, he’s also a philosopher, deep thinker, great teacher and athlete. He shares some of his wisdom at www.serenasystem.com where you can find meditations, insights, and regular updates.

It is exciting to have some investors in the podcast mix to better understand how a community of humans evolve an idea into a reality, and how that synergy benefits all involved. In startup-world these people are financiers, business founders, and customers. Of course, there are many other ways to slice and dice the community of contributors. Tell me your mix!

In this podcast episode our topics range from what it means to invest millions in clean tech companies, how the deal-flow works for VCs and what their perspectives are in the ecology of business making. Zebediah shares some personal experiences with health, helpful tips on what a high achiever does when faced with big challenges, and how these challenges bring learnings we can share with others.

I really enjoyed our talk from August 2018 and hope you do as well.

In Health. - Zander

Bristol Studied at American University in Washington DC. She ran a film company called Good for several years in Los Angeles where she produced 4 films in 4 years. That’s a fast pace! Her shift to consciousness expansion has led her, like many people, to take the Journey, often called the Hero’s Journey in reference to Joseph Campbell’s human Journey map.

She traveled around the world, exploring humans, societies, teachings, and ultimately found a path back to Los Angeles via some fellow travelers in Bali. She got her Masters in Spiritual Psychology from Santa Monica University.

Having ‘gone thru it’ as an Executive and heavy hitter in the Business world, she’s now leading Execs back to health and wellness by coaching a select few into a value-based actions. Her website is www.innerastronauts.com

She’s teamed up with IONS, the Institute Of Noetic Sciences, www.noetic.org/ to build a Virtual Reality experience of Edgar’s ‘Noetic’ Moment when he was returning from being on the Moon.

What the Apollo Project was for outer space Noetic is for Inner-space.

Immersive VR, David and Sandra Whelan, created the Apollo VR experience with an overflow of Kickstarter Funds.

I learned about the concept of the ‘Overview Effect.’ According to Bristol it’s a way for Humans to get a sense of responsibility to protect our Earth by seeing it from outer space. She likened it to Samadhi and called it a “Visceral Embodied experience of Truth. A deep knowing that there’s a complex interconnectedness beyond our processor’s capacity to comprehend.”

I like how in VR Artists, Technologists, Healers, and Seekers come together to create VR experiences which can really be transformative. Many people I’ve spoken with have had moments of Awe in VR. Truly transformative moments. Also, in my personal experience an experience and sense of Wonderment can really help re-frame a person’s world-view away from the problem-orientation that we often live in and into a framework of Humanity and connectedness which can have tremendously beneficial impacts on us.

One interesting project she mentioned in our talk was the Virtual World Society, a grassroots movement bringing together creators and organizations committed to leveraging the power of virtual worlds for social and environmental good. They have brought VR into schools to give students a power of creating their own desired world, really exploring the stories one could create, and how those naratives impact our lives.

I’m eager to follow Bristol's development as an artist, coach, and integrator of technology with story-telling. She has a Science Fiction book on the horizon, and will be releasing the VR project with IONS (Noetic) in the coming years.

Keep an eye out for her upcoming project Campaign Science, which offers training programs that teach Cognitive, Social and Lingusitic sciences to Candidates, Campaigns, and Causes. Empowering these people who are trying to change the world by helping them embody their causes.

Follow her at: www.innerastronauts.com

Mikey is a former Google Engineer, Graduate of MIT Media Lab, Founder of Consciousness Hackers (A Global movement of thousands) and Faculty member at Stanford University. Mikey leads workshops, plays with emerging bio-related wellness technology and is a prolific speaker on the subject of Human-Machine impact on society. You can learn more about Mikey on his website www.mikeysiegel.com. Incidentally Mikey’s last name is pronounced like “Seagull” ;-)

Mikey’s thesis work at the MIT media lab addressed the question: How does technology influence human belief and behavior?

His question now is: What is the Greatest, most profound and meaningful roll technology can have on Society?

How can the technology we create be in harmony with the natural human Rhythms?

I was touched by Mikey’s introspection, honesty and clarity about both his personal goals and his unique ability to abstract computing use trends into larger frameworks of Humanity and Social good.

A common thread amongst Entrepreneurs in our Western Society is they’ve ‘checked the boxes’ that Society suggests are the ‘right’ ones:

Ivey League Schools (check)
Corporate Job doing amazing things (Check)…
Other social ladder accomplishments (check, check, check).

And, yet, something is missing. So, a new leg of the journey emerges, where the Entrepreneur gets to take the trip inward, and learn about what makes them unique, what common threads they have with other Humans, life, and ultimately the Cosmos. We deconstruct the Human Mechanisms of thought, emotions, and biomechanics, the intersection of all these moving parts, and then reconstruct them in the framework of Society, Biology, and eventually the nature of life in the Universe as we know it.

Our conversation primarily centered on the question:

How can we use emerging computer technologies in this current society to help Humans feel better more consistently?

One of Mikey’s current projects is a collaboration with HeartMath www.heartmath.com, a company in the Santa Cruz area that has been very successful with their consumer-based heart monitor to assist in Human Beings’ wellbeing.

Mikey has modified their technology to be a ‘community’ use device. In his ‘Group Flow’ experiences he’s been hosting gatherings around the Bay Area where many people gather in a circle, attach heart and respiration monitors, and see and hear their own heart and breath.

The audio and visual signals can be modified and harmonized in the group. I participated in one of these and it was super interesting, and a little edgy for me. Edgy because it was challenging for me to open up my seemingly very personal internal biological processes to others who I don’t know. It was also expansive and thrilling.

I’m excited to witness and participate in guiding each other towards meeting our true desires, the values-based meaning underlying much of our searching.

Programs and Tools which enable a Human to live more in harmony with life’s natural rhythms tend to involve:

Deepening a Human’s relationship with their biological being.

Expanding that relationship out to others in loving and connected ways.

In Mikey and my own background we see Technology and Gadgets as potential accelerators, tools, towards those goals. Tech is a tool (inside our realm of Nature) which can be used, blended and folded in our Human experience for the purpose of greater Harmony, Joy and Wellbeing.

I was honored to have time with Mikey. He’s both a vocal thought leader and a pioneer in the use of Tech for integration of it with Human’s wellbeing. His Scientific rigor is a wonderful bridge for the much needed gap between our fast-paced evolution of computers with Humans’ wellbeing.

Promena VR is the gold-standard for immersive Virtual Reality customized clinician guided psychotherapy.

The company's founder, Thomas Overly, is an adventurous, understated Midwestern Entrepreneur. 

It was such a pleasure to interview him and his COO, Tanya Kelen.

Thomas has done an incredible amount boot-strapping in just 3 years. A business owner and inventor, Thomas has his hands full inventing, getting to market, hiring.

I’m always impressed with technical founders. Especially those willing to go the extra distance with fire and passion. Thomas has these qualities and more. His background in Gaming, programming and clinical practice is a perfect entry into VR for healing. Its almost like he was made to build his company. 

Thomas seems to be on-fire with his combination of innovation, passion, and drive. Promena and VR Therapy clinic are the only commercially available solutions I know of both integrating Motion Capture, Facial Emotion Expression, and full-body movement into character-play for VR. There are academic solutions, and some military installations, but very few serving the commercial markets. 

Promena VR has a distinct first-mover advantage. I am interested to see how they blend their current vast storehouse of creative assets, such as scenes, models, and character sketches across their initial specific market VR therapy for clinical applications and either broaden horizontally or pivot into other applications. Seems their core competencies of integrating and innovating motion capture and emotional expression in VR alone is a great leap. The most clear market sector to drive forward is their core competency Clinician-driven evidence-based VR psychotherapy. This alone is an emerging and highly effective method of solving really debilitating psychological disorders. The increase of visualization specificity for patients, and the speed of resolving disorders will be proven out more as the technology becomes more wide-spread. Of course, there are other players, and there will be many more. For now, they appear to be at the top of this watershed. 

A question I like to surface in my interviews is: How can this technology get more distributed in modern healthcare systems? Promena is uniquely positioned technologically to push into large HMO’s and Hospitals/Clinical practices. Later, I can see their vision expanding out to more mobile-based headsets and verticalized market segments. For now, the Hospital.Clinic and B2B market seems the most promising. In a more mature market, they would have the ‘gold-standard’ commercially available software. 

For more information about their clinic please see www.vrtherapy.org and for their licensable software, please see www.promenavr.com

Mynd VR - Virtual Reality for the Elderly

Chris Brickler and Shawn Wiora are businessmen addressing a large, and growing market. Its not surprising that Samsung decided to partner with them early on with a strategic alignment. Their backgrounds respectively are in Content Distribution, such as Video content from the major studios and TV syndicates, and in Nursing Home care administration. 

What strikes me is the need to address the aging population. Well, that actually includes every living being… but specifically, in the US we’re adding 10,000 people per day to the retired and aging population. When I was a student at Berkeley I remember taking a geography class with a focus on Global Population dynamics. Two terrifyingly awesome trends were burned into my brain. 1) How China completely cut its massive population boom by instituting 1 child policy 2) Seeing the ‘boom’ bell curve of baby boomers, and forecasting that out in the future 30 years. 

Many of those boomers (my parents included) are approaching retirement age, or already there. These are  often affluent, highly educated, and competent individuals who are seeking high-levels of customized care as they age. 

I’ve visited nursing homes over the years. From singing to them as an elementary student, to later in life bringing flowers to people I’d never met before as a good-deed practice. 

While the levels of care vary, and the administration and staff are doing their best to care for aging people, often the homes are lacking mental stimulation, deep community, family, and educational outlets. Can VR help with these? I believe it can. 

Specifically, VR can bring such an immersive environment to these elderly, they’re able to be transported back in time, or take a completely novel trip to some-place tropical for example. Later, I hope they can connect with like-minded people in a Virtual environment. 

A clear next-step with VR in the Nursing-home environment is integration of biometrics. It will happen. 

For Chris and Shawn It seems they are taking the content distribution and entertainment tack as a sales tool for distribution. This is a great idea because its not a far-cry from the current form of entertainment, TV. It seems it would be an easy sell. From there, with distribution in place, one could launch all kinds of other programs: Education, Virtual Human Assistants, Mind-enhancing games, Community interactions, Family Connection portals. So many possibilities. 

One idea Chris and Shawn are launching is their ‘Missions’ platform. While I don’t have the details on what this is, it sound like it could be bringing in the youth of the Church to connect with Elderly in a virtual environment, hopefully bringing love, optimism and faith to their lives. 

www.myndVR.com

Nanea and her co-founder Zach Norman have deep backgrounds in gaming, and many many firsts. 

First mobile games for Nokia

First mobile game for flip phones

First Mobile games for iPod 

3 of the first 5 iPhone games

First multi-player mobile games

Its no surprise Tim Chang from Mayfield Ventures chose to invest in them. Skilled, vetted and experienced. 

Nanea’s mission at Tripp centers around making Virtual Reality games that are immersive and mood-altering. To ‘Dial up moods.’ Our conversation was wide ranging from what data can tell us about our users, to the shifting landscape of mindfulness in business. 

In the medical world, there are many regulatory challenges to overcome before a procedure is accepted as medicine. Lots of evidence based research is required. Its an interesting concept, to build tools in the wellness and entertainment markets, where regulatory control is not as embedded. 

One of the things Nanea mentioned over and over is her desire for what the many Indian religions call Ahimsa, or ‘do no harm.’ Its also a core tenet in many other religions around the globe. Her intention is to build experiences that enhance life, not cause harm. Personally I’m in alignment with this intention. And, I often reflect on what harm, or good means. While there are cultural agreements, its also a relative perspective based on personal experience. 

The potential power to use these tools for good is tremendous, and the potential power for non-good is also large. I look forward to seeing the breadth of creativity and cultural impact more humans join in to create experiences that align with their values. Could this tool be used as a social and cultural change agent? Will it by definition act as a social and cultural change agent? Is how we interface with our environment also shaping us as individuals and societies? 

One concept we talked about in our discussion is the interaction and evolution of connectivity and interface. The connectivity, or pipes of connection, for human thought and consciousness are being firmly established even deeper into this planet’s infrastructure with the internet and cellular networks. Paralleling and, iteratively interacting with that communication network are the methods, the ‘ways’ humans are interfacing with both each other, and the dominant software and hardware available. My hunch is these communication and creativity tools are both shaped by humans, and also shape us humans as we interface with them. If this hunch is true, then we are entering a whole other dimension, both literally and materially, in the realms of spatial and embodied computing. How we touch data, how we think, what ideas autonomously surface in the subconscious mind, what programs we are running, our world-views, perceptions of self, other, and society as a whole. 

I am seriously excited at Nanea’s mission. I also am excited at the splash a $4MM investment in this space makes. In many ways the investment validates the impact VR can have on consciousness and the approaches to digital experiences Nanea and entrepreneurs like her are going to have as they explore these embodied computing realms. 

Skip is a dynamic technical healer. I like to say he’s the ‘Godfather’ of using Virtual Reality for healing mental health challenges. Skip skillfully blends his Clinical Psychology background, passion for technology, and deep vision of future emerging trends along with a working knowledge of hard-science evidence based research.  

His ‘Godfather’ status is warranted. He started out using this technology in the 90’s, when, let’s just say computer graphics were a bit pixelated, raw, and block-man cartoonish. Headsets were 10’s of Thousands of dollars, and research frameworks were brand-new. 

His Titles Include:

·       Director, Medical Virtual Reality - Institute for Creative Technologies

·       Research Professor - Dept. of Psychiatry and School of Gerontology

·       University of Southern California

·       Co-inventor of software Brave Mind 

·       Really Awesome Dude, RAD.

Skip and his team along with their highly customized software/hardware tools have cured Many Thousands of Veterans from a life-crippling condition, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD since the Lab’s inception.

Skip’s software, Brave Mind, is in more than 50 Veterans Affairs hospitals. They are also deploying their software simulations in a program that prepares soldiers to face challenging situations before they occur, thus reducing the risk of PTSD and other ailments proactively. In addition, his lab is using VR to assist therapists in more than the PTSD condition. 

While VR is the focus of Skips research, his lab is going far beyond Randomized Control Trials of known solutions. He’s constantly pursuing the next new thing, exploring, trying, adjusting, exploring more. Skip is both a Futurist and a Pragmatist. A rare combination. 

I was touched by Skip's large heart. He’s clearly in this work because he loves to help people, and his work in PTSD is addressing a segment of Americans who are often hard to bring into a therapeutic setting. The appeal of playing a video game, and the familiarity of interface is intriguing enough to Veterans for at least a sample. In our talk, Skip mentioned the dryness of some of the post-deployment check-list type intake forms, and how they may not be the most effective at surfacing some of the deeper issues affecting these returning soldiers. To me, this spoke to how human Skip is. How he really holds in mind the end goal, which is to heal people. He’s looking for the places where valuable diagnosis data slips thru the cracks, and building processes and tools to be sure and capture, analyze, and skillfully apply this info to a programmatic approach of healing. 

We talked a bit about the importance a skilled Therapist can make with real connection. The ways software can detect emotional patterns in voice, face, and posture. These diagnosis ‘hints’ are talked about, studied, and taught in many schools for Therapists. However, collecting large sample-sizes and being able to accurately run verifiable data-driven stats on these data points has, to my knowledge, not been possible prior to the emergence of this machine assisted process. The other things machines and software can assist in are neutrality. An AI driven therapist may have a bias, but that bias is likely consistent, predictable, whereas human biases are often unpredictable and dependent on many internal and external variables. One finding which was not anticipated, but certainly valuable, is how returning soldiers are more likely to reveal the truth about their condition to a Virtual Human, an AI directed piece of software rather than a real live human. These findings are promising for the future!

In summary, Skip and his lab at USC are both pioneers in using VR for Mental Health, and Explorers riding and pushing the cutting edge as its moving forward. I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation and look forward to hearing about the new findings from their lab. Who knows, maybe some of their technology will be coming to a Therapist near you soon.

You can find our more about Skip and his advancements here: http://medvr.ict.usc.edu/

And check out his you-tube channel here.

In this final Vocab Session we cover language and methods used to modfiy our consciousness, (The Program) and various Inputs and Outputs. 

Enjoy!

Last Week's episode we discussed a generic System's Framework (Environment, Entity, Program, Input, Output) and the first category, Environment.

Today's Episode (2 of 3) discusses the categories  Being and Program, with an emphasis on Default Program.

We get into philosophy here and bring up concepts interwoven with hard Materialist perspectives as well as the fuzzier Mon-Materialist realms such as experience and knowledge perception. 

Enjoy!

This is the first in a 3-part series outlining helpful Vocabulary and Reference points to understand Virtual Reality and Mental Health.

Collectively I refer to these as Consciousness-Modifying Technology.

Vocabulary can give insight into what’s happening and methods currently employed to modify behavior. Relevant wikipedia pages are linked for convenience, and I'll be posting a PDF or presentation diagraming this soon too. 

If Syntax is the appropriate way of writing computer code, then using natural language, terms, symbols to represent cognitive objects and processes is the way to program our every-day actions.

Any System needs the following to exist:

An Environment

A Being: (‘Physical being’ or physical location within the Environment.)

A Program (At a minimum to identify ‘Self’ and ‘Other’ within the Environment.)

Inputs

Outputs

In the Human Biological System these are:

Environment: The space outside our human body, and/or the perceived space

Body: The physical entity within the environment. Our meat-sack. The body is most often associated as the ‘being’ or self for humans. 

Program: The ‘I’ in a statement such as ‘I want to do this.’ (The 'I' can be greater than this, but we'll keep it simple here.)

Input: Any stimulus, either internally generated or externally, biological, physical, or thought-form.

Output: Any response or biological activity is an ‘Output’ of the human biological system. 

First Category, The Environment:

Our first words are about the environment of a virtual or real system. And, as this focus is about Virtual Reality, we'll start here. 

Computer-Assisted ‘Reality’ 

XR -

X is the ‘fill in the blank’ Reality. X can be replaced with ‘Virtual, Augmented, Mixed, or whatever kind you’d like to include.

VR

Virtual Reality - 

An immersive environment primarily closed off to external stimuli in the ‘normal’ every day world. Its a closed visual system, with no external visuals available. 

AR

Augmented Reality

Like VR, but with a lens into the real world, and ability for the real world to be changed by the user and software. AR does not require a headset, and can currently be applied to many smart-phones with live-video feed abilities. 

UI

User-Interface

Its how we humans (or other machines, or other machines operated by humans, interface and actually give commands to the computer system, Virtual reality system, etc. The User-Interface for a real world journal may be a pencil and your writing hand and arm. The User-interface for VR can be voice, hands, sensor pads, motion-tracked controllers, etc. 

User Interface Design

The discipline of designing ways humans interact with computers, and in this case, a Spatial Computing environment (VR).

UX

User Experience Design

The process of navigating a user down a particular path either to accomplish a specific goal or set of goals, or to achieve a particular experience. 

Avatar

A computer-generated being living in a piece of software that represents a person in real-life. 

Constraints

A set of implied or realistic limits of a system. In Virtual Reality, visual and physical constraints are often placed to keep the user in a familiar enough space to have a functional experience. For example, constraining the player area so the player doesn’t walk into walls or chairs while they are physically moving around in the virtual environment. Constraints can also be constraints on what the user can do with sound, interaction, and other software implied realities. 

Room-Scale (in VR)

In virtual reality, when the software simulation is the same scale as a real-world environment the user is accustomed to. 

Physics (In VR)

The movement of objects in the virtual environment can be modified to move at differing speeds, with apparent different weights, and differing gravitational vectors. 

Fovic Rendering

The process of generating images on a screen or set of screens based upon where a user is looking. This can assist in lowering processing requirement for rendering Virtual Environments.   

Mobile

Anything that one can take with them, and more colloquially, devices that people often have with them, such as their phone, or watch. 

Wearable

Earrings, watches, jewelry, anything that one wears, and also collects data, or sends data. 

Glasses

Lenses worn across the eyes. 

Peripheral

Any additional computer hardware device that can interface with a computer, human, or both. For example, many biosensors are collecting data and feeding it into other computers. 

The Being:

Measuring and Quantifying Human Biological Activities

Brain

The physical organ that is housed in our bodies, in our heads. ‘Brain’ refers to the organ, not Mind, which is an effect of the Brain and other systems.

Brainwave

An electrical signal or cluster of signals emitted by the brain and its composite cells (neurons) which can be measured by various instruments such as EEGs. Also called Neural Oscillation. 

Brainwave states

A snapshot of a frequency a brain or section of a brain is emitting at a given time. Often these states are consistent, and can be trained to be more consistent over time. Brainwave states indicate levels of consciousness, and often vary depending on age of the human being monitored. For example, children under the age of 5 tend to spend more time emitting delta brainwaves, even when in apparent waking consciousness. 

Hertz/Frequency

Number of waves that pass by a stationary point in a second, or other unit of time. For example, One Hertz (Hz) is 60 beats per second. 

Relation to Brainwaves There are 6 commonly agreed-upon ranges:

Delta wave – (0.1 – 3 Hz)

Theta wave – (4 – 7 Hz)

Alpha wave – (8 – 12.5 Hz)

Mu wave – (7.5 – 12.5 Hz)

Beta wave – (12.5 – 30 Hz)

Gamma wave – (32 – 100 Hz)

Delta

Delta is our ‘slowest’ range of waves. Often associated with sleep. 

Theta

Next higher level range of waves often associated with dreaming and ‘spacyness.’ Theta occurs in the cortex, and, most commonly in mammals is associated with the hippocampus. 

Alpha

Often associated with ‘wakeful relaxation’ in humans. Only appear in longer time-periods after the age of 3. Many Alpha waves are thought to be generated by the Occipital lobe of the brain, unless they are coming from the motor cortex when they are referred to as Mu waves. Mu waves interestingly are reduced when a user either moves, or even thinks about moving. 

Beta Brain Wave States: 

Often the beta brain wave states are associated with normal waking ‘consciousness.’ They range from 12. Hz to 30 Hz. They can be split into three sections.

Low Beta (12.5 - 16 Hz) 

Normal Beta (16.5 - 20 Hz)

High Beta (20.5 - 28 Hz)

Gama

Often this state is associated with ‘Oneness’ or unification with all living and non-living things. Most common ranges for this state are at 40 Hz. People often report feeling ecstasy at these stages of brainwaves. 

Vision

The process of taking incoming signals from the eyes, rendering them in the visual cortex region of the brain, and then interpreting those signals to create a model of the environment. 

Visual Cortex

Region of the brain known to process incoming signals from the eyes. 

Eyes

Circular orbs which can take light energy in from the environment and translate it to electrical signals which are then interpreted by the brain and mind. 

Neural Transmitters

Chemical agents used to stimulate neural pathways, cascades, emotional and physiological responses. Some of the most common ones related to neuroscience and mental health are: Dopamine, Acetylcholine, Norepinephrine, Serotonin and Gamma Aminobutyric Acid (GABA). 

The Program:

Philosophical Concepts and Framework

Consciousness

A relatively recent English word used to describe the set of experiences and thought living beings such as humans have at any given moment or across a ‘lifetime’

Thought

Thought is the process of analysis and comprehension. It is a way of perceiving the world assuming past experiences are repeatable in some way and we can therefore predict they will occur again. It is classically associated with ‘linear thought’ meaning best represented by Boolean logic: If/Then/And/Or.

Mind

An untouchable, and largely un-materialized form of consciousness which enables Humans to communicate, predict, and form abstract thought. 

Subconscious Mind

A freudian term used to describe a level of consciousness which is not normally accessible to the every-day waking state in most people. Often referred to as the ‘unconscious mind’ and frequently thought to exist in dream states. Its a relatively new term, and a relatively new framework of understanding human thought. 

Feeling

Feeling is associated with emotion and with physical sensations. Feeling can be either and both. In the physical sense, feeling is one of the 5 (or 6) senses we have to receive information from measurable nerve responses. 

In the emotional way, feeling is a classified (good, bad, desired, non-desired) way of perceiving experiences either internal or externally initiated. 

Artificial Intelligence

The belief that computers can behave like humans.

Symbology

Study of Symbols and their meanings to humans. 

Symbiology (Consider making a wikipedia page about this word). 

I coined this word. Its the intersection of symbols and biology. Our human mind operates as a symbolic system. Those symbols (cognitive objects) are the programming language that runs our being. Because we are both mind and matter, Symbiology is the study of how mind and its corresponding symbolic systems affect our biological systems. 

PsychoSomatic theory

The belief that the psyche and body are inextricably linked, in a feedback loop. So, experiences (thoughts/emotions/physical stimuli) that a human has also impact that human’s belief structure, pain-sensors, mobility, and sense of identity. 

Cultural Dogma

The set of assumptions a culture holds to be valid and true. Often these are based on repetition of seeing them to be true in the culture, and passed down from generation to generation within a culture. 

Counter-Culture

A set of beliefs and assumptions which is not in agreement with the current population’s average set of assumptions and beliefs. 

Societal Programming

A set of beliefs repeated enough for an entire population (culture) of people to believe as true and valid. This becomes a mind-set. 

Choice

The ability to choose between multiple options. Also related to Agency. Choice can be between two possibilities, or between many. Many people have difficulty making choices when many options exist, unless those choices are rooted in some firm values or previously verified truths. 

Freedom (in context of choice)

The ability to choose one’s actions, monitor one’s thoughts, and have choice, or believe one has choice. 

Focus

The complete attention of one’s consciousness upon a single object, process, image, challenge, etc. 

Community

Virtual Community

Privacy

The permissions and restrictions relating to information and knowledge of an individuals activities, thoughts, and wishes. 

Individuality

The belief that one’s body and their sense of self is distinct and different than others. 

Collective Truth

The belief that truth can be known by multiple, and that there is a universal truth associated with all conscious beings. 

Relative Truth

The belief that truth is relative to the consciousness perceiving the object or thought. 

Variable Truth

The belief that truth is not absolute, but rather can be changed depending on one’s perspective. 

Non-duality

A state of consciousness similar to that of ‘one-ness’ but rather maintained at the same time as individuality. An operating state where one can hold both a sense of connection to universal life and also a sense of individuality. 

Oneness

An experience of total dissolving of ‘self’ and belief that one’s experience is universal completely connected to everything in the universe. 

Modifying The Program:

Mind Programming Language

Agency

The ability to interact and have control over one’s environment. Belief that one has a say in how things turn out. Sense of control. 

Emotion

Emotion is the learned physiological response to internal or external stimuli. Emotion is a named sensation which many humans frequently believe they have no direction over or impact on. (Agency)

Neural Plasticity

The science of how the brain and mind are moldable and shapable across an organism’s entire life-time. Not ‘locked down’ but the old dog can actually learn new tricks, and there are tricks to teaching the old dog tricks. Neural Plasticity studies how the brain learns and shapes connections as it ages and learns novel concepts and information. 

Mirror Neruons

Neurons or neural clusters assumed to be responsible for mimicry. One of the ways humans learn is to mimic other animals actions, especially our human counterparts. 

Gameifiation

The process of using challenges, levels, curiosity and rewards to guide user behavior to specific outcomes. 

Game Mechanics

The specific procedures and methods used to guide users using gamification. 

Rewards system

An established method of inducing a subject/user/person to believe they are on a path that makes them feel ‘good’, often with the release of certain neurotransmitters. 

Play

A state of curiosity where a human is actively engaging with content or other humans to create, challenge, and generally enjoy themselves. In Neural Plasticity, Play is an area where novel application of knowledge can be applied, and therefore valued and remembered more deeply. 

Love

Love is a word our culture typically applies to romance, and, its a state of openness which can really enable 

Fear

A state of emotional and physiological being often associated with anxiety, insomnia and physical constriction. Fear is one of the ways humans can be programmed hypnotically. 

Oneness:

This is an experience by humans where they feel totally connected with everything. Also called the “God” state. 

Hypnosis / Trance Induction

Hypnosis

A set of methods intentionally employed in a guided session to induce specific states of consciousness by systematically ‘shutting down’ or ‘taking off-line’ various cognitive systems, such as rational thought, vision, motor movement, etc. Hypnosis is often employed to help humans  remove / reprogram harmful, uncomfortable or obsessive beliefs. 

Suggestibility Test

A test sequence employed by a hypnotist to determine if specific hypnosis methods will disable intended cognitive functions in the subject. 

Metaphor

A story, allegory or concept used to describe another story or experience. Often requires a cognitive leap to make the connection. Metaphors are frequently used to apply a ‘root’ or foundational cognitive object to a set of experiences and cognitive processes. 

Suggestion

In hypnosis, a programatic cognitive association intended to become ‘real’ for the subject. Upon repetition of a suggestion, subjects may begin to believe the suggestion is true. 

Epigenetics

The belief and study of how thoughts and external stimuli can ‘turn on’ dormant genes. More specifically, that a new experience, thought, emotion, etc, can regulate whether a gene expresses itself as a protein or system of protiens, thus impacting the organisms (like you or me) physiological composition. 

Cultural Epistimology

The study of how cultures have evolved to hold certain belief structures, customs, and habits of operation over time. 

“Programatic” mind

The belief that a mind can be ‘programed’ like a computer can to run certain ‘programs.’ 

Cognitive Object

An object, thought, symbol, concept, process, etc in the mind. It can be composed of multiple objects, and/or processes. 

Cognitive Process

An association of two or more cognitive objects. 

Cognitive Loop

A specific association of two or more cognitive objects which is tautological, or circular. Also known as a feedback loop. 

Neural Plasticity (states) - Play/Love

States of ‘Plasticity’ or flexibility of Neural Programming. This is an evolving term, one that assumes the brain and mind are more open to receiving programming (new cognitive associations) in certain states. Current research shows Four states open a human up to being programable: Trance, Love, Play, and Fear. Basically, Humans are more receptive to deeper programming when defenses are massively up, deactivated, or massively down. 

Entrainment (brainwave)

Research shows brainwave states are trainable. Certain audio frequencies (Binaural Beats) entrain brain-waves, as do thought patterns, meditation, hypnosis. 

Coherence

A state of brainwave harmony, where multiple regions of the brain are exhibiting the same frequency of brainwaves. Often related to trance-like and/or euphoric states of being. 

Integration

The process of assimilating new information, experiences, and belief structures into the ‘older’ or previously held beliefs. 

Output:

Biological Output Measurement

Biometric

Measurement of life-data. Usually referred to as vital signs on a human in the context of monitoring human health. 

Galvanic Skin Response

Now called Electrodermal activity. This is the general principle that enables EEGs, EKGs and other biosensing devices to collect information on how the body is functioning physiologically. 

Conductance

The degree to which electricity can pass from one location to another across a conducting substrate. 

Eye Tracking

Using a machine to track where the eyes are focused, and then mapping that information to the computer program. For example Fovic Focus only renders parts of the image in a 3D environment in high-deffiniition that the user is looking at, which cuts down on processor load. Another application is the analysis of what a user is interested in, and/// in hacking, one can monitor a users’ eye movements who is successful at completing a certain task, such as completing a video game, entraining a sequence of brain-waves, and then prompt another user to do the same. The user will then have a higher probability of having a similar or the same outcome as the other user. 

EKG

Electro Kardo Gram. This device measures heart rate using electrical signals. 

EEG

Electro Encephelogram. This device measures brain-wave activity based on electrical signals available. 

Input:

Biological Input Generation and Modulation

The 5 Senses

Words

Sounds

Sights

Smells

Tastes

Touch

Trans Cranial Magnetic Stimulation (TCMS)

A process of emitting magnetic pulses around the cranium, directed into the brain at specific regions. IT can be used to stimulate or shut down various regions of the brain, for example sensory or motor-cortex regions which can cause involuntary motion or senses on subjects. Kind of like when the doctor taps your knee and and you have a big kick. A magnet taps your brain and your nervous system responds with a kick. 

Trans Cranial Stimulation (TCS)

A process of emitting electrical current across the cranium. Often its used in conjunction with galvanic skin response. This procedure can be used to entrain certain brain-wave functions, activate, or de-activate various parts of the brain. 

Sonic Therapy

The use of sound and/or vibration to produce states of healing. Often associated with ‘sound healing.’ 

Binaural Beats

A sequence of sounds often put into music which can entrain brainwaves to elicit certain states, such as gamma, alpha, theta, beta, etc. 

Digiceuticles (Technology prescriptions) 

A software or game which is believed to alter neurochemistry and behavior in a lasting way. Often for therapeutic uses. 

Synthetic Biology

The field of creating and/or modifying biological systems either using simple molecules or existing life-structures.