From: den Otter (neosapient@geocities.com)
Date: Sat Oct 24 1998 - 09:55:08 MDT
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> From: Scott Badger <wbadger@psyberlink.net>
> Den, I'm having a hard time recalling the details, but
> there was a research scientist working out of a
> Canadian university who has published several papers
> on the effects of a machine he designed which
> manipulated and focused electromagnetic frequencies
> on various places in the brain. It looked like a rather
> large and cumbersome helmet. Anyway, the subjective
> reports from the experimental subjects included feelings
> of deep relaxation, spiritual insight, out-of-body
> experiences, etc. These effects sound similar to those
> produced through the direct stimulation techniques used
> by Wilder Penfield.
It definitely looks like the technology is there, but no-one is
using it anywhere close to its real potential. I'm not sure how
recent the abovemtioned research is, but it seems like there
hasn't been much activity lately. Very surprising, as we now
could do a lot more thanks so massive increases in computing
power and better brain imaging techniques.
Here's basically what I'd like to do: gather all available research
material in this particular field, especially Dr. Delgrado's work
(is he still alive? If so, he might be willing to co-operate). Though
implants seem to give the best results, they aren't exactly
user-friendly (though in some cases they might be acceptable,
for instance with patients that suffer from severe chronic pain),
so we'd have to fucus on directed microwave beams, for example.
This has allegedly been used by the CIA and such, though mostly
as a weapon.
The design: some kind of helmet seems an obvious choice, or
(preferably) a headphone-like contraption for portable use. As
relatively little energy is used, this may be feasible. Since
it's very important to hit the right regions of the brain, you'll
need an accurate "targeting system". Perhaps sonar could
be used for this (to create a rough image of the brain, which
in combination with a standard model of a brain could be
used by the machine's computer to determine where to aim
-- or is this too difficult for today's tech?) MRI or other
scanning techniques could be used too, but then the machine
probably wouldn't be portable (or affordable). Maybe something
for a luxury/research model though...By using multiple beams
that only produce effects when they converge you could perhaps
target deeper areas of the brain as well, though I'm not sure
whether this could be achieved with "safe" intensities.
Another, more simple variant would have to be "finetuned" by
hand, by trying different kinds of settings and programming
your preferences into the computer (every time you use it, as
you never put the "helmet" in *exactly* the same position).
Movement could also cause the helmet to hit the wrong spot,
so some kind of safety would have to be built into it. Of
course, it could turn out that fairly large spots on the brain
produce the same results when stimulated, so that the
machine's aim doesn't have to be perfect.
> Mind machine people talk about the greatest effects
> occurring at the "crossover point", that point where the
> brain starts generating greater levels of theta than alpha.
> Interestingly, for most people the crossover point is close
> to 7.8 hertz, a frequency which is also known as the
> "Shumann Frequency", the natural resonant frequency of
> the Earth's electromagnetic field. Is it all about getting "in
> tune" with mother Earth?
The earth as a big mental vibrator? :-) It would certainly
make sense that this somehow got incorporated into our
evolution.
> Anyway, this Canadian researcher noticed that UFO reports
> around the world were strongly correlated to fluctuations in the
> Earth's magnetic field and posited that these fluctuations were
> inducing hallucinations.
There also seems to be a portion of the brain that produces
religious experiences when stimulated (the same one perhaps?)
Maybe (very maybe) if you could turn on and off people's
religious experiences it would help to further atheism, an
interesting side-effect of this technology. Maybe the very
realization that our very being, our senses, emotions, memories
etc. can be manipulated at the touch of a button would cause
something of a revelation for some (many?) people. Just
hearing about obscure experiments in some lab far away is
one thing (this can easily be ignored), but having it done
to yourself, literally holding your very being in the palm of
your hand, is a lot harder to dismiss. Widespread use of
mind machines could thus have something of an enlightening
effect (for some, anyway).
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