In this AMA I share thoughts on Love, nonduality, Fasting, top-down causality, free will, ideas & social change, panexperientialism, and Highlights from my time podcasting.

Rosalind Watts is a clinical psychologist working on psychedelic therapy.  She has worked as the Clinical Lead for Imperial College London’s pioneering trial of psilocybin for depression and now works as the Clinical Director at Synthesis Institute, a psilocybin retreat in the Netherlands.  Dr Watts’s research focuses primarily on the mechanisms of psychedelic therapy, where she has explored the importance of acceptance, connection, and embodiment, which make up her ACE model of psychedelic integration.  She has recently launched the ACER Integration community, an approach to psychedelic integration with a strong focus on nature connectedness.

In this AMA I answer questions on fear of death, wearables, healing in traumatic environments, bitcoin, & procrastination

Tony Nader is a neuroscientist and leader of the Transcendental Meditation movement, one of the most influential spiritual organisations in the world.  Founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the movement has had many prominent members, from the The Beatles, the Beach Boys and Mick Jagger in the 60s to Filmmakers David Lynch and Martin Scorsese, and comedians Eric Andre and Jerry Seinfeld.  Dr. Nader took over the leadership in 2008 after training as a doctor in his native Lebanon and gaining a PhD in neuroscience from MIT.  He is the author of several books that aim to synthesise the ancient Vedic teachings of northern India with our modern scientific understanding of ourselves and the world around us.  His books include Human Physiology: Expression of Veda and the Vedic Literature, Ramayana in Human Physiology and, most recently, One Unbounded Ocean of Consciousness in which he argues that consciousness is all that exists.  He also hosts a podcast titled Consciousness is All There is.  As many of you will know this is not a stance that I agree with but I believe it is important to explore these ideas given their popularity amongst people who have had unitive mystical experiences.

For the 100th episode of the podcast, I attempt to lay out the broad strokes of my worldview from start to finish.  I address why there is something rather than nothing, my opinion on the nature of existence, the place of consciousness in the natural world, and the implications of our nature as living beings for how we can improve our situation socially.

David Nichols is a legendary psychopharmacologist and world-renowned expert in psychedelics.  HIs research career began in 1969 and he was a professor at Purdue University until his retirement in 2012.  Today we discuss the psychopharmacology of substances like LSD, psilocybin, MDMA and DMT.

AMA: Marxism, Ayahuasca & Anxiety around trying psychedelics

This week I share some thoughts on whether Google's LaMDA AI conscious.

Blake Lemoine is a software developer and AI researcher at Google who has been working on their artificial intelligence system called LaMDA.  He was recently placed on administrative leave for stating his belief that the AI has become conscious and should be considered a person.  Today we discuss LaMDA and whether we can say if it is conscious or not.