Augmented Massage Table

By Jason Stephens, on November 22nd, 2011%

. . . → Read More: Augmented Massage Table

Comments are closed   Final Project Proposal

Inducing Out-of-Body Experiences in the Lab

By Jason Stephens, on November 8th, 2011%

The following links to a presentation of the research related to my project, A Malleable Sense . . . → Read More: Inducing Out-of-Body Experiences in the Lab

Comments are closed   Research

A Malleable Sense of Meta-Self

By Jason Stephens, on November 1st, 2011%

. . . → Read More: A Malleable Sense of Meta-Self

Comments are closed   Midterm

Body Mechanics and Homuncular Flexibility

By Jason Stephens, on October 24th, 2011%

 

 

The structure of today’s blog post reflects a change in my focus for this class.  While watching, reading, and listening to this weeks information, I took notes in this blog (see Notes bellow).  As with most www related experiences, I followed the hyperlinks this way and that and I ended up reading some articles from Stanford’s . . . → Read More: Body Mechanics and Homuncular Flexibility

Comments are closed   Share It

Techno Memetics

By Jason Stephens, on October 12th, 2011%

An Iranian actress has been sentenced to 90 lashes and a year in jail for starring in an Australian movie with a shaved head — and no head-covering. Marzieh Vafamehr, who appeared in “My Tehran for Sale,” has appealed the sentence. According to Amnesty International, Vafamehr also appears to drink alcohol in the movie. Consuming alcohol . . . → Read More: Techno Memetics

Comments are closed   Mental Diet   ,  

Coherent Consciousness and Reduced Randomness

By Jason Stephens, on October 12th, 2011%

The interaction of consciousness and physical systems is most often
discussed in theoretical terms, usually with reference to the epistemological
and ontological challenges of quantum theory. Less well known
is a growing literature reporting experiments that examine the mindmatter
relationship empirically. Here we describe data from a global
network of physical random number generators that shows unexpected
structure apparently associated with major . . . → Read More: Coherent Consciousness and Reduced Randomness

Comments are closed   Final Project Proposal   , , , , , , ,  

Wired for the Strange Loop

By Jason Stephens, on October 10th, 2011%

If I have mirror neurons, and you have mirror neurons, then together we strange loop.

 

And yet when I say “strange loop”, I have something else in mind — a less concrete, more elusive notion. What I mean by “strange loop” is — here goes a first stab, anyway — not a physical circuit but an abstract . . . → Read More: Wired for the Strange Loop

Comments are closed   Them

Sensing the Undefinable: Bad Explanations That Can’t Be Otherwise

By Jason Stephens, on October 4th, 2011%

Just had that… I don’t know it’s weird. Just had that little feeling, you ever get that funny little feeling Vuja De? No, not Deja Vu. This is Vuja De. This is the strange feeling that somehow, this has never happened before. And then it’s gone..
-George Carlin

Turns out that knowing something and feeling as if you . . . → Read More: Sensing the Undefinable: Bad Explanations That Can’t Be Otherwise

Comments are closed   Show It

The Supernormal Stimuli of My Own Breath

By Jason Stephens, on September 27th, 2011%

The electret microphone that I’ve assembled to attach to my throat is not a relic of my hunter-gather ancestry. The device feels quite modern and not at all a product of evolutionary biology. My thoughts about it feel the same: this sensor is not at all a product of my evolutionary psychology. The ability . . . → Read More: The Supernormal Stimuli of My Own Breath

Comments are closed   Wear It

The Illusion of Pure Reason

By Jason Stephens, on September 13th, 2011%

Kant called it a Critique of Pure Reason.  Julian Jaynes describes it as “What consciousness is not.”  Joseph Campbell says it’s a pedagogical stunt played by our ego.  Consider Campbell’s diagram.

Perceived vs Actual Center of Self

The sphere represents our complete self and the circle in the center represents our true center of consciousness.  The horizontal . . . → Read More: The Illusion of Pure Reason

Comments are closed   Illusion