Expanding Mind

British author Kester Brewin talks about rockets, Ken Kesey, charismatic Christianity, and his new book Getting High: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the Dream of Flight (Vaux).

Science fiction author and English prof David Gill talks about Star Wars, entropy, androids, and his new book of short stories In Time's Empire They Were All Slaves (Pravic SF Books).

A talk with media artist and researcher David McConville about planetaria, the art of scientific models, and the transdisiplinary possibilities of immersive media.

A talk with Buddhist scholar Douglas Osto about perennialism, experiential narratives, the limits of reason, and his new book Altered States: Buddhism and Psychedelic Spirituality (University of Columbia Press).

A talk with author and communications consultant Scott Malcomson about online anonymity, countercultural computing, the military-industrial origins of the Internet, and his new book Spinternet: How Geopolitics and Commerce are Fragmenting the World Wide Web. http://www.orbooks.com/scott-malcomson/

A conversation with Hearts of Space radio producer Stephen Hill about

the rise of contemplative and ambient music, the trouble with the “New

Age” tag, the psychology of sonic space, and the business of niche music

distribution. www.hos.com

A

chat with journalist Kara Platoni about growing virtual

limbs, questioning the cyborgs, and hacking our experience of the world.

Kara's new book is We Have the Technology: How Biohackers, Foodies, Physicians, and Scientists are Transforming Human Perception.

An inspiring chat with Jeremy Crawford, one

of the lead designers of the new edition of the classic role playing

game. We discuss identity, the multicultural multiverse, Eastern

Orthodoxy, and the sacred absurdity of terrible dice rolls.

A conversation with dream researcher Kelly Bulkeley about big data, the dreaming brain, and keeping the door open for the weird and wonderful. www.kellybukeley.org

A conversation with author and journalist

Andrew Hultkrans about Puritans, predictive profiling, and the problems

with social media in the era of Big Data. For a recent article from

Hultkrans, read http://artforum.com/diary/id=58416.