Techniques for Consciousness Change – Robert Anton Wilson

Excellent interview with one of my favorite subversive philosophers, Robert Anton Wilson, on the topic of self-directed consciousness change, or “meta-programming the bio-computer” as Wilson often refers to these techniques.

As usual with Wilson, the topics range freely across many disciplines from psychedelic drugs to yoga to quantum physics to Sufi mystics and CIA brainwashing conspiracies. This is an excerpt from the full audio program, “Robert Anton Wilson Explains Everything“.

Upgrading Your Mental Operating System

This lecture that Gary Weber gave for a Buddhist Geeks conference was extremely inspiring and informational to me. I like his non-nonsense, direct experience, scientific approach to the process of meditation. And the fact that it worked for him, and he’s very enthusiastic about the results.

I’m not one for the trappings and baggage that usually come along with some of the more esoteric topics I’m interested in. Perhaps that baggage is little more than my own preconception about these subjects. That said, I always welcome the more down-to-Earth kinds of people who talk about these kinds of things, especially when they have some science to back things up.

Civilization Lost

Civilization Lost is a great documentary from the History Channel (available on YouTube) that lays out the evidence for a remotely ancient civilization that predates the currently accepted historical timeline and paradigm. They spend a good deal of time on the discovery of Gobekli Tepe, a relatively recent discovery of an ancient megalithic site which was deliberately buried and contains artifacts which have been dated by mainstream archaeologists to at least 10,000 B.C. The megaliths (giant stones) are carved, so this implies tool use. The construction of the site also implies a society and organization beyond the supposed hunter-gatherer society assumed to be the norm at the time.

You Don’t Really Want All This Stuff: The Century Of The Self

The Century Of The Self is a fascinating BBC documentary available on YouTube that gives a history of public relations (basically Nazi propaganda techniques with a more friendly name) and its far-reaching implications in our society and the world. The documentary features Edward Bernays, nephew of Sigmund Freud, who pioneered this dubious practice.

Bernays took the psychological discoveries of his uncle, mainly those of how humans have a sense of need or emptiness or a need for an unknown fulfillment, and have them correlate the idea that those can be fulfilled with consumer goods. The concept was so successful it went on to be used by politicians, corporations, the military, and pretty much anyone in power. The concept of planned obsolescence is tied to this, as manufacturers needed a way to get people to buy more stuff, and replace the stuff they had. The magic wand was supplied by Bernays, whose effective techniques make consumers feel like they are lacking if they do not have the latest and greatest. Sound familiar?

Why Is It So Difficult to Find Out Who Created a Digital File?

Image, audio and video files on the internet need a more robust metadata system that is supported by web browsers and digital media players. It’s ridiculous that the files themselves can’t tell a web browser and a user who created it, and how to contact or find out more about the artist.

How handy would it be to be able to right-click an image that contained this metadata, and get info about the creator such as their official webpage, Twitter account, Facebook page, iTunes Music Store link, as well as of course copyright info and the like?

And let’s not limit this to just web browsers—why can’t I find out this information from an MP3 file, right from within iTunes? Why do I have to Google the band? This is silly, and this is exactly what the internet was designed for and what computers do best. Perhaps web browsers need to be updated, the HTML specification rewritten—but with the proliferation of media and increasing piracy and copyright infringement, this should be a priority.

It drives me crazy when we have the technology right in front of us and we don’t use it. It also drives me nuts to spend extra time doing things that could be—and should be—done more smartly. This data can be embedded, and it would benefit not only the creators, but the fans.

Why I Love The Apple TV

Recently a friend asked what possible reason there was for him to be interested in the Apple TV. I thought I’d share my response.

• It’s a great box for Netflix Instant

• If you have videos on the Mac (in iTunes) you can stream them to the Apple TV. There are apps such as Air Video and Stream To Me  that will stream videos from your Mac in any video format to the Apple TV as well. They both offer live conversion too, so you can play .avi files and other formats not supported by iTunes.

• You can also mirror the newest iPad (iPad 3) & iPhone (iPhone 4S) screen to Apple TV.

• With Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion and a newer Mac, you can send your Mac screen to Apple TV.

• You can rent films and television shows from the iTunes Store.

• Hulu Plus was recently added (if unlike me, that matters to you).

• Stream audio from any Apple device to Apple TV. Play music from an iPhone on the local network for example.

• Stream photos and videos from the default Photos app to the TV for group viewing.

• Sync the audio from iTunes to play on the Mac and on the TV or home audio system conencted to the TV for full-house audio.

• Send video from and iPad or iPhone to the Apple TV for viewing on a larger screen.

There are also lots of other things that I never use, such as the YouTube, Vimeo and Flickr channels, the MLB, NHL, NBA and WSJ channels, internet radio, video and audio podcasts.

The iPhone let’s you take you Mac with you. The Apple TV lets you share your Mac with the rest of your house.

A Disc’s Life (video)

Somehow Tim who runs dgcoursereview.com figured out how to rig a camera on a disc golf disc, and filmed some (shaky) videos of a disc in flight. Pretty cool proof-of-concept experiment video. Looking forward to pictures of the camera rig.

MacTubes: Excellent Standalone YouTube Player for Mac OS X

MacTubes is a great way to watch a bunch of YouTube videos on your Mac. You can set up playlists, search and of course watch the videos. The only downside is that there’s no way to log in to your account and play from your own playlists, but hey—it’s free!

Work great, and much better than keeping a browser window open on your second monitor. I typically have Minecraft “Let’s Play” videos by Paul Soares jr. playing on mine. Not sure why, but it’s nice relaxing background entertainment for working late night.

MacTubes.