DJ dAndroid
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Ballet Mechanique
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push a button- achieve inner-space?
« on: 2005-03-17 11:03:11 » |
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Via www.kurzweilai.net I was led to this article on What is it that triggers the brain to produce a religious experience? Ghosts in a machine
I will sum up & give my 2 cents, quotes come direct from the article.
People attempting to reach seriously altered states of reality by artificial means is clearly nothing new! (Hello! Drugs!) But are the means out there to perhaps achieve the same mechanically, and with results more measurable to science? Basically "If memory and imagination can be linked to the activity of groups of neurons, couldn't the experience of being "at one with the universe" just be the result of brain cells firing?"
Well, invented by one Todd Murphy - "The coils and computer program, known as a Shakti headset, transmit magnetic pulses that stimulate regions of his brain linked with altered states of consciousness." Apparently he has sold around 100 of these pricey little bad-boys already.
I find this all very curious! However, I'm possibly the last person who could attempt to qualify any of this. Occasional copious amounts of alcohol aside, I've really never tried any drugs. I've never even had a drag off a cigarette. ugh.
I have a close friend however, who is rather very fond of mushrooms and the like. She is also rather heavily involved in pursuits occult & arcane. She found the Shakti headset very interesting. However, pointed me towards a cheaper alternative to perhaps achieve the trance-like state necessary for an out-of-body experience or et_al: http://www.brainhack.chaosmagic.com/ There are downloads here of mp3s in which the soundwave matches the brainwaves at alpha, theta and delta states of sleep respectively, meant to be listened to with headphones. Apparently the brain tends to synch up with such signals. She claims to have had some success achieving a trance-like state. (Or at least as a sleep-aid!) She suggested using audio software to smoothly mix the transitions (otherwise they may be too startling.) Her personal complete "mix" is 90 min. long.
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