In Am I Dreaming?, James Kingsland delves into the science of altered states of consciousness, exploring how these states can reboot our thinking patterns and offer new insights into ourselves and the world. The book covers topics such as lucid dreaming, mindfulness, hypnotic trances, and drug-induced hallucinations, arguing that these states can significantly boost mental health. Kingsland draws on experiences from shamans in Peru to tech workers in Silicon Valley, providing a comprehensive tour of the latest research in this field.
James Kingsland is a science and medical journalist with 25 years of experience working for publications such as New Scientist, Nature, and, most recently, The Guardian. On his own blog, Plastic Brain, he writes about neuroscience and Buddhist psychology.
In this episode, Eric and James Kingsland discuss his book, Am I Dreaming: The Science of Altered States from Psychedelics to Virtual Reality and Beyond.
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In This Interview, James Kingsland and I Discuss the Neuroscience Behind Our Reality, and…
- His book, Am I Dreaming: The Science of Altered States from Psychedelics to Virtual Reality and Beyond
- What the best neuroscience tells us about how the brain works
- That we don’t see the world directly, objectively as it is
- Our experiential reality as a combination of what we expect to see and the feedback from what our senses are telling us is there
- Prediction Error Coding
- How the brain mainly pays attention when you surprise it
- That the Buddha discovered that we see a conditioned view of the world
- The types of things that go wrong in the brain
- Viewing mental illness and addiction through the prediction functionality of the brain
- How altered states can help when things go wrong in the brain
- Expanded the flexibility of the brain
- What happens in the brain during sleep and dreaming
- His experience with hypnosis
- Active Inference
James Kingsland Links:
Plasticbrainblog.com
Twitter
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