Reality+: A Conversation with David Chalmers

The Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination is honored to welcome the celebrated philosopher David Chalmers (NYU) for a virtual conversation about the philosophical implications of virtual and augmented reality, in honor of his soon-to-be-released book Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy. The conversation itself will take place in the metaverse, with Dr. Chalmers and host Dr. Cassandra Vieten (Director of Research and Development, Clarke Center) convening in virtual reality. The conversation will be livestreamed to Zoom for the wider audience.

Reality+: A Conversation with David Chalmers
January 27, 2022
5:00–6:00 PM (PST)
Zoom Webinar
Free and open to the public

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Virtual reality is genuine reality; that’s the central thesis of Reality+. In a highly original work of “technophilosophy,” David J. Chalmers gives a compelling analysis of our technological future. He argues that virtual worlds are not second-class worlds, and that we can live a meaningful life in virtual reality. We may even be in a virtual world already.

Along the way, Chalmers conducts a grand tour of big ideas in philosophy and science. He uses virtual reality technology to offer a new perspective on long-established philosophical questions. How do we know that there’s an external world? Is there a god? What is the nature of reality? What’s the relation between mind and body? How can we lead a good life? All of these questions are illuminated or transformed by Chalmers’ mind-bending analysis.


Preemptive Intelligence: Can We Spy on the Future?

As we learn more about quantum physics, we appreciate that time is non-linear and that we in the present can connect to the past and the future. Anticipating the future is a priority for the Intelligence Community. Can precognition rooted in the principles of quantum physics offer a new opportunity? Over the last 45 years, scientists have conducted controlled experiments that show precognition of otherwise unpredictable events is possible, and we’ve learned more about the circumstances and practices that support successful precognition. But incorporating this capability into national security practices is fraught with difficulties, including the vagaries of past intelligence applications, understandable skepticism, ethical issues, and a concern that predicting the future might change it.

Hear IONS Fellow Dr. Julia Mossbridge discuss this fascinating topic with Carmen Medina, international expert on intelligence analysis.

Preemptive Intelligence: Can We Spy on the Future?
March 18, 2022
10:00 – 11:00 AM (CT)
Austin Convention Center

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Holy Places

All over the world, people are drawn to holy places, some natural, like mountain tops, springs, caves and ancient trees; some human-made like temples, cathedrals, churches and shrines. The power of these places in part depends on a kind of memory of people’s experience there in the past. They are also often places that literally connect heaven and earth and many are the focus of pilgrimage.

IONS Fellow, Dr. Rupert Sheldrake, will discuss the power of these places and how they can help us on our spiritual journey.

Holy Places
A talk with Rupert Sheldrake at The Meditatio Centre and Online
February 16, 2022
6:30 – 9:00 PM (UK time)

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We hope that this event will be in person at the Centre in London. it will also be live streamed via Zoom for those who are not able to travel yet. A recording will be available afterwards to all those who register.


The Science of Consciousness (TSC) Conference

The Science of Consciousness (‘TSC’) is an interdisciplinary conference emphasizing rigorous approaches to the study of consciousness and its place in the universe. Topical areas include neuroscience, philosophy, psychology, cognitive science, biology, quantum physics and quantum brain biology, cosmology, meditation, altered states, artificial intelligence/machine consciousness, the nature of reality, culture and experiential phenomenology. Held annually since 1994, the TSC conference is hosted by the Center for Consciousness Studies at the University of Arizona, and alternates yearly between Tucson, Arizona and various locations in Italy, Denmark, Japan, Sweden, Czech Republic, Hungary, Hong Kong, India, Finland, San Diego and Switzerland.

The 27th annual TSC will be held April 18-23, 2022. Because of pandemic uncertainty, TSC 2022 is being planned as a hybrid event, with both 1) remote online live streaming, and 2) live in-person participation.

Live participation and broadcast will take place at the Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, a beautiful eco-lodge in the hills above Tucson, Arizona.

Tucson TSC conferences consist of keynote, plenary and concurrent talks, posters, exhibits, workshops and social events. For April 2022, the mix of live and remote presentations and audience will depend on the pandemic conditions. We hope for a robust in-person audience and will update and finalize conditions and participation mode in early 2022.

IONS Scientists Dr. Helané Wahbeh and Dr. Dean Radin, and IONS Fellow Dr. Julia Mossbridge will be presenters at the conference.

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Hybrid: An Unending Love? A Scientific-Mystical Look Through the Twin Lenses of Love and Time

Join IONS Fellow, Dr. Julia Mossbridge, on November 20th for a brief lecture about time travel and unconditional love in both a scientific and a personal, mystical sense. She’ll discuss the context of the scientific thinking that has dominated the past century, and why it’s useful for science that that greater context is changing. Finally, the audience will engage in an embodied experience that will help introduce a way of working with love and time in your own life, without losing your rational mind or your groundedness in the here and now.

Hybrid: An Unending Love? A Scientific-Mystical Look Through the Twin Lenses of Love and Time
November 20, 2021, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm EST
Oseh Shalom
7515 Olive Branch Way, Laurel, MD 20707
Attend in-person or via Zoom

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Julia Mossbridge received her PhD in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Northwestern University and her MA in Neuroscience is from UCSF. She is an Affiliate Professor, Dept. of Physics & Biophysics, University of San Diego, an Associated Full Professor, California Institute of Integral Studies, a Fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, and Founder and Executive Director of TILT: The Institute for Love and Time.


How We Change and Why We Don’t: The Art and Science of Transformation

Have you ever worked hard to make a change, only to find yourself slipping back into old habits and patterns? Want to supercharge your ability to stimulate behavior change in yourself and others when it comes to the issues you care about the most? As the uncertainty of life quickens, is it time to break free and build your next chapter? This workshop is for people who are in the process of change, and those who work as change agents with individuals, groups, organizations, or in society.

How We Change and Why We Don’t: The Art and Science of Transformation
February 5 – 6, 2022
9:00 AM – 1:00 PM PST

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This workshop is based on over two decades of research on how people transform their worldviews and behaviors. Some of this work is encapsulated in the book Living Deeply: The Art and Science of Transformation in Everyday Life, and extended in this report created for the Fetzer Institute. It was further developed into C3: Consciousness, Communication and Change, a program at the Institute of Noetic Sciences that integrates the science of transformation with input from social, cognitive, and brain scientists to help changemakers be more effective, and further adapted to create Campaign Science, for consulting with politicians to be more effective in their messaging.

Facilitators:

Cassandra Vieten, PhD, is Executive Director of the John W. Brick Mental Health Foundation,Director of Research and Development at the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination and co-founder of the Psychedelics and Health Research Initiative at the University of California, San Diego, and a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, where she served as President from 2013-2019. She is an international thought leader, and co-wrote Living Deeply: The Art and Science of Transformation in Everyday Life.

Bristol Baughan is a professional leadership coach, speaker and executive producer of Emmy®-winning and Oscar®-nominated films. She is a TED fellow, founder of Inner Astronauts, and holds a master’s degree in Spiritual Psychology from the University of Santa Monica.


How We Change and Why We Don’t: The Art and Science of Transformation

Have you ever worked hard to make a change, only to find yourself slipping back into old habits and patterns? Want to supercharge your ability to stimulate behavior change in others when it comes to the issues you care about the most? As the uncertainties of the pandemic continue, is it time to break free and build your next chapter? This workshop is for people who are in the process of change, and those who work as change agents with individuals, groups, organizations, or in society.

Through dialogue, experiential practice, and creative process, we will bridge the science of breakthroughs with indigenous, religious, spiritual, and secular models of transformation to:

  • Learn what works and what doesn’t to inspire lasting change in yourself and others
  • Explore how peak experiences, a-ha! moments and awe can stimulate change
  • Examine how we and the people we work with can get stuck or lost, and ways to shake free from periods of inertia or patterns that prevent us from moving forward
  • Investigate the transformative potential of pain, hitting bottom and post-traumatic growth
  • Delve into stories, symbols, and metaphors of transformation to guide your path

How We Change and Why We Don’t: The Art and Science of Transformation
December 3-5, 2021
with Cassandra Vieten, PhD

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The Big Questions in Science

Contemporary materialist science is undergoing a credibility crunch. The biggest problem of all for materialism is the existence of consciousness. Join this unique online course and free the spirit of inquiry with IONS Fellow Dr. Rupert Sheldrake, from November 4 to 24 ,2021, with live Q&A sessions.

The Big Questions In Science
How to Understand Them & Set Yourself Free from Dogmas

Starts November 4, 2021

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In this course Rupert Sheldrake shows the ways in which science is being constricted by assumptions that have, over the years, hardened into dogmas. Such dogmas are not only limiting, but dangerous for the future of humanity.

According to these principles, all of reality is material or physical; the world is a machine, made up of inanimate matter; nature is purposeless; consciousness is nothing but the physical activity of the brain; free will is an illusion; God exists only as an idea in human minds, imprisoned within our skulls.

But should science be a belief-system or a method of enquiry?

In this course Rupert Sheldrake shows that the materialist ideology is moribund; under its sway, increasingly expensive research is reaping diminishing returns while societies around the world are paying the price.

In the skeptical spirit of true science, Sheldrake turns the 10 fundamental dogmas of materialism into exciting questions, and shows how all of them open up startling new possibilities for discovery.

This course will radically change your view of what is real and what is possible.


Mindfulness for Well-Being in Body, Mind & Spirit

Pacific Pearl La Jolla and IONS Senior Fellow Dr. Cassandra Vieten are bringing an 8-week, online Mindfulness for Well-Being (MWB) course to all members, patients, and friends. Adults and teens over 16 are welcome to join.

As an added bonus, all course participants are invited to join the Pacific Pearl La Jolla’s ongoing private Lifestyle Change Support Group taking place via Zoom every Monday from 5:00 to 6:00 PM.

Mindfulness for Well-Being in Body, Mind & Spirit
Tuesdays starting September 21 – November 9, 2021
5:00-7:30 PM PDT

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This course is appropriate for beginners as well as experienced mindfulness practitioners who want to bring their practice more explicitly into their daily lives. It aims to help you:

  • Improve your overall well-being using evidence-based mindfulness practices
  • Reduce stress, distress, and mood disturbance
  • Improve emotion regulation & increase positive emotion
  • Encourage mindful eating, body movement, and an active lifestyle
  • Increase your ability to tolerate and regulate stress without resorting to unhealthy behaviors
  • Treat yourself and others with kindness and compassion, including healthy boundaries
  • Increasingly approach your experiences, regardless of their content, with acceptance, and willingness to meet things as they are, with open eyes and an open heart
  • Make decisions and take actions that are in alignment with your values and long-term goals

Beyond the Brain 2021 Online

This is the 16th event in the world’s premier conference series exploring new research on whether and how consciousness and mind extend beyond the physical brain and body.

Consciousness is one of the most exciting topics in science, which is why The Scientific and Medical Network established the interdisciplinary Beyond the Brain conference series with Willis Harman and Edgar Mitchell of IONS at St John’s College, Cambridge, in 1995. The conferences all explore the frontiers of consciousness research beyond the limits of scientific materialism.

Beyond the Brain 2021 Online
Further Reaches of Consciousness Research
November 5-7 , 2021

The speakers, including IONS Senior Fellow Marilyn Schlitz and IONS Fellow Rupert Sheldrake, are all at the cutting edges of their fields and will be discussing innovative research strategies to probe the nature of consciousness. You’ll gain a vital overview and a deeper understanding of how consciousness research is expanding the frontiers of science.

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