"If you could transmit a single piece of knowledge or information back in time to your past self, what would it be?" We asked five of our favorite guests.LISTEN | ITUNES YOUTUBE ARCHIVE STITCHERThese mind melds are brought to you by YOU! Find out how to support us and receive rewards in the process at our Patreon page.
One of the fantastic perks of doing this show is getting to ask my shower thoughts to the wonder-slinging, friends I have made. This question particular is one I’ve given a lot of thought to. It's not that I expected to discover one defining moment, or one piece of transcendent information that could light the path to a better future, but when you ask someone about what that hypothetical insight might be, it’s a fascinating catalyst for a riff session.Dive deeper with our guestsDr. Rick Strassman - Author of DMT the Spirit Molecule, researcherDaniele Bolelli - Author, historian, podcaster, professorMichael Garfield - Artist, musician, speakerAlexander Ward - Visionary artist,Mitch Schultz - Filmmaker of DMT the Spirit Molecule
Third Eye Drops #24 - Tales of a Technodelic Utopia with R.U. SIRIUS
Featured art credit - Akimov MikhailR. U. Sirius (Ken Goffman) a writer, editor and musician. He is best known for co-founding Mondo 2000 magazine and penning books like Counterculture Through the Ages: From Abraham to Acid House.LISTEN | ITUNES YOUTUBE ARCHIVE STITCHERThese mind melds are brought to you by YOU! Find out how to support us and receive rewards in the process at our Patreon page.
Discussions about the future are almost always framed in terms of a tug of war for tomorrow between the forces of utopia and dystopia. Prognosticators love to promise us either the apocalypse or immortality, but when have things ever never been that cut and dry? For a more realistic vision, you've got to leave room for plenty of gray area (though I'd love to believe we’re about to come to our senses, cast aside the fossil fuels, build forests of organic vertical farm-filled skyscrapers, make art all day and drink ayahuasca all night).
Despite the nuance and uncertainty of it all, there are a few technodelic unicorns out there with a novel and compelling view of where we're collectively headed. One of them is most definitely our partner in this mind meld, author and countercultural creative, R.U. Sirius (Ken Goffman). He’s written books like Transcendence, the Disinformation Encyclopedia of Transhumanism and the Singularity, Timothy Leary’s Trip Thru Time andCounterculture Through the Ages: From Abraham to Acid House. R.U. was also co-founder and Editor In Chief of the far ahead of it’s time, Mondo 2000 Magazine.
Musings in this mind meld :
- Are we headed for dystopia with sprinklings of utopia, or the other way around?
- How has the "future" turned out to be different from what RU thought it would be?
- Ken’s journey from the 1960’s to cyperpunk
- Change is usually more jagged and gradual than we'd like to imagine
- For real progress, powerful technologies need to coalescence together
- Is the cyberpunk vision future is coming to fruition?
- Mondo 2000 - the Jetsons on DMT
- Black Mirror’s creepily accurate dystopian images of the future
- Could psychedelics fill in the spiritual and existential gaps in a transhumanist future?
- Is "Big Pharma" poised to cash in on psychedelic medicine?
- The noble and important work of MAPS
- Why shouldn’t we be focusing on expanding consciousness along with technology and lifespan?
- Humans are learning to parse information better and absorbing more from less
- Where are the modern-day heroes of counterculture pushing forward thinking and creativity?
- Is there such a thing as a guru?
- Too many people are letting splintered, shallow information make up their philosophical worldview without a practice
- Going back to classic philosophers for knowledge and solid logic
- Reality and the future are always more muddled than you think they'll be
Third Eye Drops #21 - HYPER-REALITY with Erik Davis and Michael Garfield
Erik Davis has a PhD in Religious Studies, hosts the Expanding Mind podcast and is the author of the fantastic book Techgnosis. Michael Garfield is an artist, writer, speaker and Tasmanian Devil of creativity and handsomeness.LISTEN | ITUNES YOUTUBE ARCHIVE STITCHER
I'm not a fan of absolutes (I made that pretty clear in my first mind meld with Erik and Michael). People seem to forget you can fornicate with a philosophy without putting a ring on it.
Sometimes it’s hard sticking to that mindset. Existing in a multidisciplinary, subjective, reality-tunnel-acknowledging mind-scape isn't all agnostic bubblebaths. When shit hits the fan, or somebody passes away, it’s hard not having solid beliefs to hang your hat on. That and if someone comes up to you and says, “hey did you know Earth's molten core is actually hell and the devil really does live there?", you’ve gotta be comfortable with only being 99% sure that that person is a nut.
On the upside, (I have no rational evidence for this, mind you) it sure does seem like when you leave your mind open to possibilities, you open up a portal for the cosmic giggle to worm its way into your subjective reality. After you become absolutely sure that there are not absolutes, (aside from the fact that that’s absolutely true) you save a little room for whimsy. You also get to embrace paradox. In the words of Oscar Wilde, "Paradox is the way of truth. To test reality, we must see it on a tightrope. When the verities become acrobats, we can judge them." It’s a beautiful thought, the idea that truth is like an acrobat on a tightrope doing all sorts of contortions and inversions. It also leaves plenty of room for subjectivity, just the way I like it.
Musings in this mind meld -
- Michael's techno-shamanism talk
- The story of the first trans-Atlantic communication wire and the film Proteus
- William Irwin Thompson and the beauty of the the multi-disciplinary approach to knowledge
- Augmented Reality, Pokemon GO and merging with technology
- Is Pokemon GO a government psy-op?
- The unrivaled power of cuteness
- Can the torrent of technological innovation be resisted and should it?
- The fantastic short film, Hyper-Reality
- Wild views of self-designed futures
- A possible example of psychic phenomena among gamers
- Is the "third wave" psychedelic movement going far enough?
- Terence McKenna's "novelty wave" theory
HYPER-REALITY from Keiichi Matsuda on Vimeo.
Third Eye Drops #19 - Mitch Schultz - IT IS AND IT WILL -
Mitch Schultz is a filmmaker (DMT the Spirit Molecule, Huachuma) and culture creator. He leverages his artistic talents to open minds, educate and encourage existential exploration via vessels like his multimedia platform, MYTHAPHI, his films and his numerous podcast and speaking appearances.
"Civilization is 6 billion people trying to make themselves happy by standing on each other’s shoulders and kicking each other’s teeth in."
-Terence McKenna
The forces that coerce the persistence of the bleak paradigm referred to in the quote above are numerous and complicated. So much so, that it’s worth discussing whether or not it’s even possible to shake off the shackles of culture's dominant power structures. Perhaps we should just recognize the game for what it is and play it to the best of our ability.
For the brave, there is one alternative. "Putting the art pedal to the metal,” to quote Terence yet again. Tremendous advice, but it begs the question, “what if I’m not an artist?” The good news is, this doesn't just pertain to those of us with a proclivity for art. It’s a call to create in the largest most sweeping sense. It’s a recognition of the fact that we can all construct our own cultures and revel in our own experiences, victories, travels, orgasms (both physical and intellectual) and works, which will add up to our very own realities.
To begin this process, you have to divorce yourself of from the cultural superego we’ve constructed and indentured ourselves to over hundreds of years. You have to stand completely outside of it. Imagine yourself climbing a mountain next to a city. If you ascend enough, you'll reach a point where you can see the entire city for the construct that it is. In doing so, you find your goal, perspective.
What we're talking about here is what I like to call Perspective, with a capital "P". The type of perspective that facilitates a reacquaintance with the sentient majesty you harbor as a capable human being. It's unbelievably empowering. This is not an exercise in ego. I’m talking about contacting the impersonal quintessence that transcends your identity. In feeling it coursing through you, you take the first step toward creating your own culture and your own reality.
There are a few ways to do that and if you listen to this show, you can probably guess some of the ways to access that Perspective (If you're familiar with the guest on this show, that’s also a hint).
To hear more on this, click the "play" button above.
And now, I shall step down off of my preachy soapbox and acquaint you with our guest who is actually living what I’m blathering about. Mitch Schultz is most definitely constructing an incredible culture through his own works that we’re all richer for. His film, DMT the Spirit Molecule, stands out as an extraordinarily important piece of work that has been an important ontological catalyst for many. DMTTSM is an amalgamation of talks from luminaries like Dennis McKenna, Ralph Abraham, Rick Strassman and many others. Mitch is also also the founder of MYTHAPHI, an art production and distribution platform.
Musings in this mind meld include -
- What is DMT, why is it here?
- The research of Rick Strassman and how he’s marrying the worlds of science and philosophy
- Psychedelic experience and it's correlation to data
- Is technology part of natures? Are we just recreating natural processes in new ways?
- If we are tools of nature, what about free will?
- Power structures, tumult in the world, empathy and why people continue to suffer
- The genesis of DMTTSM
- Being born with curiosity
- Why are upticks in violence and dissatisfaction happening?
- How to follow up on a successful creative project
- The relationship between us and nature
- Are we still a part of nature of have we insulated ourselves from it?
- Entheogenic jungle experiences versus city experiences
- Mitch’s first DMT experience
- Creativity in a post-gnosis life
Third Eye Drops #11 - Plugging Into the Singularity With Zoltan Istvan
If technology allowed you to survive indefinitely, would you?
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Technology is the sharpest double-edge sword mankind has ever forged. Depending on which reality tunnel you view the metaphorical cyber-sword through, it will either free us of death, and give us cybernetic superpowers, or give rise to ruthless AI overlords who will farm us for energy matrix-style, while sedating us in a hypnotic VR twilight.
Or, maybe a little bit of both.
It’s all worth exploring and considering, which is why we’ve got futurist, writer and founder of the Transhumanist political party, Zoltan Istvan on the show.
For more on Zoltan zoltanistvan.com
This week's Mind Meld Musings -
- Editing genomes through CRISPR
- Can we edit our genetics to survive off of sunlight by performing photosynthesis?
- The rise of AI
- The rise of VR
- The Transhumanist quest to live indefinitely
- Who will be the first economic superpower to prioritize science, technology and longevity?
- Avoiding well-traveled path and what drove Zoltan to do it
- How Zoltan ran for President as a technique to raise awareness for Transhumanism
- Methods for prolonging human life
- The grinder movement and chipping yourself to gain new senses
- Open-source technology and the sharing economy
- Bio-hacking
- Resisting the wave of technology is useless, but that doesn't mean we should be irresponsible about using it or adopting it
- Technology, food, the government and GMOs
- Can a larger population actually be a good thing if they're educated and have the right mindset?
- Can we eliminate sleep?
- Would a hive mind technology wipeout individuality?