Guest speaker: Mikey Siegel
PROGRAM NOTES:
“Technology is a manifestation of mind.”
Mikey Siegel, Consciousness Hacker
Have you ever given any thought to the proposition that perhaps human well-being, or enlightenment, may be approached through engineering? In today’s podcast, which is the 2014 Palenque Norte Lecture given by Mikey Siegel, you are going to learn not only about the possibilities of such a thing as engineering enlightenment, you are also going to learn about the rapid advances that have been made in this field during the past five years. Mikey Siegel is one of the pioneers of what has come to be known as “consciousness hacking”, which is a hands-on-approach to making new tools for self-exploration.
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Enlightenment engineering–tech as catalyst for inner & outer peace:
Mikey Siegel at TEDxSantaCruz
BioFluent Technologies: tools for integrating body, mind and spirit
Consciousness Hacking is a hands-on approach to making new tools for self-exploration, in order to change the way we think, feel, and live.
Psychedelic Thinking And The Dawn of Homo Cyber (PDF)
Lorenzo’s May 2001 Mind States Talk
Podcast 001 – “Psychedelic Thinking and the Dawn of Homo Cyber”
In response to Darren, I would like to emphasize that meditation itself is a technology, if one defines it as essentially the manipulation of concepts to go beyond concepts. Attention is a concept, mindfulness of breathing is a concept, etc. Concepts could be considered as just as “external” to who we really are any piece of physically external technology. I would also point out that the goal is the same, whether using technology or meditation – to get to a place where we don’t need it anymore, if we are talking about enlightenment.
There are also pragmatic questions. Meditation and retreat practice as the only true path to enlightenment effectively excludes many people from getting much of anywhere on the path – people who are too old or sick to attend retreats, for example, or those with financial obligations or who are just starting families. Retreats also screen for underlying psychiatric disorders, which means people such as myself cannot attend one either.
It is also a fantasy to think that the spiritual path can continue along on the one hand and technology on another without the two crossing paths. Indeed, the meshing of the two could be the best thing that ever happened to either. Enlightenment engineering could bring much-needed humanity to technology, and technology could bring enlightenment to far more people than currently have the opportunity to pursue it. Technology is an awesome and ever-increasing power, and to me it is not so much a question of if should integrate it with spirituality, but that we must.
Ah the future is bright! Apparently the past was aswell.
tim scully (among others)pioneered neurofeedback as we know it today with his development of biofeedback tech….
imo neurofeedback is the opertators tutorial for the brain we all use it wouldnt it be nice to be using it to its full potential!! And undoing any prgramming we may be unware weve installed.
Thanks for sharing this. perfect fit for the salon.
This was the freshest Salon in a long time and my personal favorite from the last year or so! Mikey’s investigations and speculations on the nature of happiness and how it may be cultivated via technology is fascinating. I would love for this to become a hot-bed of research over the next few years.
Lorenzo, your comment is valid if we are to assume that all we are is a personality and a body that eventually grows old, decays and dies. I have faith in the Buddhist concept of re-birth where as soon as this embodied personality dies, another one is formed according to the karmic deeds and thoughts of the past existence and all existences before that. You can study this phenomenon of re-birth if you want. There is heaps of literature out there but it’s a hard one to wrap your head around because we all view the world from the illusion of our own ego and intellect which can only take us so far in understanding this stuff.
Lorenzo, if you’re really interested in checking this stuff out at the experiential level, you should do a ten day Vipassana meditation course which is by donation and no upfront charge. There are centers all over the world set up specifically for fellow travelers as yourself who are looking for tools with which to use in our search. It’s actually a really down to earth practical teaching. From my perspective, you seem like someone who would get good benefits from the practice. You’re smart, intelligent and fairly open minded from what I can gather.
Take care Lorenzo and thanks for putting the salon together! Cheers mate, Darren 🙂
Interesting concepts but it sounded a bit too clunky and confused to me. I mean, what could be more simple and compact than using your own body in which to observe the felt presence of immediate experience? No outside gizmo’s, no coal powered electricity, no gurus, just you and your own Vipassana.
I’d rather use the ancient methods of the wise to get to enlightenment than to have to rely on something outside of myself to achieve such a state even if it takes me 7 lifetimes. At least you know you’re working with the truth all the way!
[COMMENT by Lorenzo: But what if this is the only lifetime that we will ever have?]
also see the research of maxwell cade, anna wise, the mind mirror and awakened mind from back in the 70s
but also see the discussion in ken wilber about the difference between states and stages…
thank you for this talk and making me aware of Mikey’s ideas.
50:06 “15 or 20 years down the road that is going to increase dramatically. You are going to be wearing a patch on your arm” ‘recording countless things about you.’
A bit of sardonic humour. 😉