dream machine on line
Is the on-line dreammachine. I tried to make one on youtube, but the compression illed it.
I'm noticing that this is a bit of a theme with g-reg and me and H-dogg and whoev. (This post is a response to the hypnotism thread.)
If you've never heard of a dreammachine, I don't know, wiki it or somf. It's basically a light that flashes at between 8 to 12 flashes per second to match your "alpha waves" - the brain waves that are present during resting states (not sleep - more like meditation or simple "spacing out"...). The light has the curious effect of stimulating your system of visual cognition, creating hallucinatory visuals. In my experience, there is no effect of your mood or cognition (other than a kind of wow factor). The visuals start out just kind of eyelid red blinks, turning into the basic target patterns, grids, concentric circles, and blotches that you can see anytime you rub your eyes or switch off the lights in a dark room, and move towards more image based visuals. The effect is hard to get, and you may have more success if you have a lil bit experience meditating or calming your mind. At least try this - before bed (but not when exhausted or inebriated) turn off all the lights and wait til yr eyes adjust. Then close your eyes and try out the dreammachine. It's kind of annoying at first, and there isn't much of an effect, but keep you mind clear and just observe. I mean, it's not HBO or anything, but I think it is very interesting. Don't expect... da da dada- da da da-.
I am posting this because I wanted to point out that since even before Brion Gysin and William Burroughs invented this, people have been interested in technology induced hypnosis as a kind of art. Burroughs was very much into these weird mystical practices - i.e. - it seems to me that for him the "cut-ups" were primarily a method of divination, and then poetry. He seems to have approached the dreammachine the same way. But I think he was kind of confused. As fascinating as he was, I think he was getting overly excited.
What I like about this is it is "emptier" that hypnotism. I mean, enlightenment isn't actually something you can teach. The whole thing about satori is that you can't teach it, the student has to actually figure it out for themselves. And I'm pretty sure that what we are talking about when we say "enlightenment" is actually something akin to satori. As opposed to the "age of enlightenment" from your Eurohistory textbooks, which actually means the "age of reason" - which is Descartes and all of this "we can figure everything out if we just think about it hard enough" bullcrap which will eventually lead to a dead planet of cellphones with really hot ringtones that always get voicemail. Or something. Not that I'm not happy to have thermostats and vaccines and all that jazz, but motherfuckers never figured out shit.
So - did anyone try the online dreammachine? What happened?
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13 comments:
well man....yeah i feel you...i feel like the whole post on hypnotism was mislead...like hypnotism is the wrong word...and wrong words lead to wrong answers...but i think manipulation is more righter than that....i hate to sound like a broken record...but seriously....check it
http://www.forteantimes.com/articles/153_sonicweapons.shtml
this is exactly what we are talking about...except audio...not visual...but visual light is as dependant on frequency as aural sound is...so wtf....just make a visual version of al these shits and then have a big fun party! with chips and dips!
Eff- Ive tried the dream machine a couple of different times, but with limited success- i am sure largely because i am incapable of chilling out. That and my monitor is 12", so in order to overwhelm my perifory, i have to put my nose to the screen, which is un-relaxing. however, i started trying it with my eyes open and had much better results. I'm sorry if this is a bastardization of your experiment, but it was absolutely far out. White flashes at 12Hz gave me the best results, inducing vague uneasiness that made me insist on squinting- but i saw colors and shapes dissimilar to those that appeared with my lids closed. Reds and Greens repeatedly appeared on opposite sides of the screen over bubbly shapes rapdily shooting about. Their shape is most like when you push your finger into the LCD screen, but in far more complex shapes, looking more like a bubble pattern in photoshop with an ugly filter. I dug it, and will probably do it again under differnt influences.
H- That article is great. It left me unenthusiastic about trying any of my own infrasonic experiments beyond building my own sonic boomstick from the existing schematic though. There is certainly infinite room for experimentation and very little exisitng technology, but it all seems too scientific and unartistic. Do you know what I mean? It seems an effective sonic tool for inducing hypnosis, mood control, or large scale destruction would have to be created in a well-funded laboratory by a bunch of nerds, which will then take years for it to be at the disposal of creative people. It excites me about what we will see in our lifetime though. I don'tmean to be a bummer. The part in the article about riot control where the crowd was left with "an overwhelming desire to be somewhere else" reminded me of a recent WHITE LIMO performance i saw at bard. last weekend.
This is slightly off topic, but pretty interesting nonetheless: http://www.raytheon.com/products/silent_guardian/
Download the PDF product sheet. It's terrifying.
I had a hard time finding a good frequency, but we were using a tiny ass monitor. I'm going to give it another shot, hopefully through a tv.
Great article H -- christian, I feel you on the labratory and the nerds, but I still feel like there are low tech alternatives. Like cool dude S said, strobe lights and sine waves. Actually, there was something like this at the Ecstacy show here in LA at the MOCA. The rest of the show was kind of week, but the strobe light room was pretty amazing. There was also a strobe light room with a water fall and that was pretty amazing as well.
too much green tea.
some thoughts:
the really really good cheap alternative to all that is lsd.
yeah, cutting edge technology and science shit is always the province of megacorporations or those creepy nerds who graduated MIT at age 13. hell, 'cutting edge' anything ultimately is always in the hands of those with money. it wasn't til lo-fi recording techniques were aestheticized and championed that independent musics were REALLY able to really flourish (punk and after) - this effect was doubled by the rise of home taping, increasing distribution. but hey, DIY is what all of us are about on at least some level. seizing control of the means of production and shit, right?
i'm intrigued by the last paragraph of eff's original post. is 'reason' really the enemy? eff is positing some sort of mystical/trans-rational experience as, not only the path to enlightenment, but the path to planetary well-being?
in this country most of all, isn't cold-rational thought really our only ally at this point, in the face of kneejerk fundamentalism? 'motherfuckers never figured out shit??' are you sure about that? the enlightenment and the rise of humanism is responsible for all sorts of great things - first and foremost is, well, LIFE (we live longer and more of us live) - without which one may have trouble seeking enlightenment to begin with....unless truly rational people find their ways into positions of power, don't we face overpopulation, total environmental destruction, and all sorts of other nasty things?
additonally, i fail to see entirely how 'reason' is diamterically opposed to the 'mystical' - can't they harmoniously co-exist?
The LIFE statement is dead-on. I asked a friend the other day if he's pro having kids or anti, considering the overpopulation crisis we face. His response was, 'I think all intelligent people should have as many kids as they can', the reasoning being, people are going to keep pumping out babies anyway, so we need smart kids in the mix, because they're the future and we're counting on them to find a way out of our current situation.
I'm not 100% convinced of this, but it's a pretty strong argument.
I had a friend in high school who was obsessed with the idea of dosing the president (with lsd). Actually, lsd seems to be at the root of all of the mk-ultra type experiments the cia has ever done and even a lot of their assination attempts on castro. It's really funny actually, because the CIA is this untouchable, intense wall of american power, and when it comes down to it they're obsessed with acid. But, yea, I think that most hypnosis or mind altering experiments won't work without lsd being involved, or not nearly as effectively.
I think the lo-tech sollutions are really the only way to go. Anyway, the atomic bomb came from someone working as a patent clerk.
that thing about smart people having babies vs dumb people having babies was the basis of that movie IDIOCRACY.
Hey snakecorps - I got to say, this post was influenced by the fact that I'm in the dominican republic right now where steady electrical supply is the thing of dreams. I know that it sounds very old fashioned, but lifestyles are pretty different down here (I'm in the hills, not the capital region) and the general level of happiness seems to be pretty high (ok - I didn't take a fucking poll - even I don't really know if I believe this - but I don't see anyone cutting themselves). I know that this is a pretty loaded issue - whether people are happier in the pre-industrial world or the "underdeveloped world" (which is pretty much the grossest euphanism ever...)....
Anyway, I am also obsessed with technology as a tool that can be used for redemptive purposes. I know that there is some serious contradiction in my arguement, but I think that we have to accept our contradictions - after all I can hold several opinions that all turn out to be logically exclusive until someone helps me iron them out. It doesn't really impress me, because usually the "proofs" are carried out at a level of rational thought completely disconnected from oservation - I guess that's what I call rationalism, twisted logic - maybe that's all I hate. For me, the best rationalism is perception and the observation of one's own thoughts. I still think that pure reason can deal with everything except the most extreme question in science today, the question "what is consciousness?" What is it like to be a spider? What does the color red look like to me? There is something untestable about these questions, and that leaves rational thought flailing around.
You mentioned inventions - I know you are very much pro-technology, and I am too - I mean, it's pretty obvious that I'm no back-to-the-earther. But it just takes a little googling "mutant frog" to get pretty freaked out about the side-effects of the benefits of technology. It's really a question of treating a chaotic system like a linear system. Rationlism doesn't deal well with chaos. Most people think of rationalism as reducing reality to a few simple factors, but it chaotic systems even minor factors can have huge effects. Isn't this a much more accurate picture of what is going on? And the last question is about quantum decoherence - when some kind of measurement is made, tracing the path of observation from the eye through the brain - nobody seems to have any clue where the buck stops. The theories might as well just be fucking opium dreams - totally fascinating and they go on forever, but we are complete babes in the woods dealing with this shit. So what I'm saying is that there is something beyond what we call "rational thought" - in the end, even if our pitiful monkeybrains can't get it, it may be much more coherent than the way we understand the world, but it's not straitup math.
Rational thought is associated with science, which is mostly concerned with inventing shit to make life easy. To be real about how things are invented, it's really mostly 99% persperation, which isn't really rational; it's more like 1 2 3 4. Ankle bone connects to the knee bone shit. Any fucking kookball can count. The other 1% that all the other things depend on - that's what I'm interested in. I mean, I have read a bit about how scientists come up with the theories that we now depend on - like Einstein hanging with his girlfriend and talking about riding a train in space past a station to come up with relativity - that really makes sense to me - it's not really a 1 2 3 4 rational method. In the end the ideas check out, but that's just the 99% part. The figuring out part, that's different. Now I think the process is something like trying to put together a 1000 piece puzzle with your eyes closed, eventually some bumps fit some sockets, but even when they do, it's a whole nother step fitting it into the overall picture. That's the deal when your mind is hyperenergetic - the bits all click, but they usually don't manifest themselves in some kind of realworld result.
I don't dislike rational thought, it's just that I think that humanity is a pretty unadvanced lifeform when it comes down to it, and I eventually think we will be replaced by machines - who's down? People aren't calculators; all thinking is driven by emotions - even the greatest scientists are driven by the desire to succeed. And in the end, most ideas are just a rational product of the free exchange and competition of ideas on the level on the individual mind, and then in society at large. The most successful win. The rational ones are just the ones we correlate to the grid of other ideas the most extensively. It could be all fucked. t'ain't rationalism - it's more accurate to uphold thoughts are survival of the fittest, which is really independent of will and self.
So what does this have to do with dreammachines? I just think that these technological devices that demonstrate the limits of our perception force us to ask hard questions about the reliablity of what we accept as true. There have been quite a few experimetal situations and devices discovered in recent times that have given far more credence to these ideas than just philospophers (Wittgenstein etc.) fatasizing about how we can't trust our senses. Libet's half-second delay in consciousness, blindsight, etc. It's only by examining these ideas that we can see our minds as chaotic systems that operate under Darwinian principals, not computers that cruch a few numbers while some imaginary ghostly self observes. And if we are going to survive as a species instead of killing ourselves off, we are going to have to acknowledge this fact and construct a world that is fucking copacetic with this modus.
So snakecorps, I just have this urge to taunt you to make you go out on a limb, because I think you are one of the most well-spoken, clearheaded, and sensative thinkers I know, I'm truly jealous, but I rarely see you go out on a limb and, you know, say something stupid and silly. I think that we all need to put forth more ideas in the raw to be evaluated by the community because sometimes supersmart ideas are quashed by the individual mind. I mean, there should be at least ten times more wacked out, completely bogus theories than there should be true ones. Just to get fresh.
Um.
Y'all know I'm drunk, right?
i think technology should be more about making life FUN, rather than EASY...i mean our lives are easy enough...i think they are so easy that they are BORING...like how many poeple actually go out prospecting or harvesting wheat by hand...i mean...probably a lot...but..not as many as used to be...so if we dont have to do all these things by hand anymore...what are we going to do with all this extra time? play fucking xbox yo...of course...this is the most irresponsible use of technological development...well..maybe like not as bad as biological warfare or something...but at least that is progress..towards destruction..but at least its in some direction..so idunno...its like in harry potter..the wizards have all these skills...but they dont really use them to help people other than themselves...or maybe its not like that...but seriously..that always pissed me off..
wizards are assholes
as far as rational thought, mysticism, technology, etc - i defintely agree with most of what you're saying, farley. basically, i think we both feel that there are some components of the universe that are probably unknowable, or at least unexplainable in human terms - and more importantly, there are some things that are only knowable in obfuscation, obscurantism. this manifests itself in our mutual compulsion towards the mystical or trans-rational. mathematics are not a perfect mirror of reality, despite the fact that occasionally they seem to touch upon the divine.
on the other hand, i do feel that it is well within the capacity of our species to explain, understand, and cope appropriately with basically almost everything in the universe. it is fundamentally anti-humanist, maybe even sociopathic, to be opposed to furthering our understanding of our environment, of the universe we exist in. social mores and values that are hard-coded into the bulk of the population (ie; 'reproductive futurism', compulsory heterosexuality, certain dietary practices, gender roles, etc) are clearly antiquated, and at this point, actually self-destructive. it is only by rationally exploring these issues, in a practical, rigid, emotionless fashion, that the human race will be able to advance - or even survive.
that isn't to say there is no place for mysticism or religion or spirituality. becoming self aware, conquering certain basic biological impulses - that's how we became human. for us to continue to advance, we need to, again, become aware of the shortcomings of our human nature (and that does include acknowledgment of the unknowability of certain things as a human).
and while i think life is basically stupid and the universe is an idiotic dumb stupid joke at best, i DON'T actually think our species is that unadvanced. these things are within are grasp.
another issue you touch on, which i feel is a separate issue, is that of technological progress, late capitalism, and the ephemeral nature of *happiness*. the mechanics of desire and satisfaction are really a complicated thing, and deserve attention, perhaps in another thread.
as far as me personally - i will try to go out on a limb, as it were, more often. and i certainly don't mean to squash supersmart ideas - i just try to make people think harder about things, as others thankfully do to me.
I am drinking way too much everyday down here while I am doing physical labor in the hot sun. I can really feel my mind getting duller and duller. I think I'll be more coherent when I get back to coldland.
I agree - wizards are assholes - but that's why fantasy is total suckcore.
I have to say that I really don't know what I was talking about when I said people are happier down here - it's true people smile more, but I am so full of shit about the quality of life down here - but you have to forgive me - I'm surrounded by drunk tourists. basically, I think that happiness doesn't depend on "quality of life..." But I don't really get happiness.
And it doesn't matter if the increase in the level of technological complication helps or harms humans. It's not like we really have the option of stopping it. Anyway, a better way of analysing it is that the technology enables a more efficient method of thought combinatronics - that humans are helping to phase out organic life and usher in the age of electromechanical replicators. Evolution isn't good or bad, it just runs.
I mean, I'm a pretty anti-religious person, and I hate spirituality, especially the like wow kind. But I also think that a lot of the art I've been making is about theories of consciousness, theories of how the universe is organized. These things are basically like mystery cults. There is a lot to learn, but it's basically hollow. So I kind of think the universe is more like a joke that goes on and on with no punchline.
Anyway, I am an artist because I'm not so hot at communnicating with words. The challenge is to come up with a project that does something with these ideas. Not to communicate them, but that demonstrates them, and also contributes something to them.
actually farley....wizards are awesome..they are just jerk-bags in harry potter...when when it boils down to it..wizards are cool...like...top ten type cool.
Wizards are rad.
Ok, so living in los angeles I can def. speak to the quality of life issue. I think that cars are the single worst problem in the world. I think the pollution, stress they cause and the amount of industry that fuels (literally and figuratively) them is responsible for almost every single medical and emotional issue out there.
Now, at the same time cars are AWESOME. I mean, nothing really compares to being strapped into a vehicle that can go so fast so quickly across an entire continent. But, you know what? You can't fucking drive them more than twenty miles an hour around here. You're usually just sitting in fucking traffic, taking 2 hours to go the distance of tivoli to kingston (I'm not exaggerating -- it takes us 2 hours to get from santa monica to hollywood in rush hour, which starts at 3pm and lasts until 8).
And Henry, you're right. The technological 'fun' of an xbox is largely bullshit. I think with games the wii is a step in the right direction. But let's be honest, nothing since zelda for NES has been THAT spectacular, I mean GTA was fun for a while, but I dunno these things get old. Super smash brothers is fucking awesome, and you say good things about harvest moon and I trust you on that.
But, spirituality and mysticism isn't all escapism and wow factor - it's a balance. I mean, all of that bullshit about virtual reality is a great example of religion as escapism combined with tech masturbation... But I DO think there is a huge value in meditating and that if more people did it we would be a whole lot better off.
We could worry that by doing stem cell research we risk fucking with our genetics and creating a whole new set of problems for humanity, which probably will happen because most people are fucking stupid -- but no, we need to do it because we can't just not do things out of fear that it will go bad. Things are going to keep progressing, and people are ALWAYS going to be inventing, so we should be as involved as possible and hope that the smart ones get there first.
Something like the toyota prius a good example of good tech. It can be improved for sure, for one it should be entirely electric, but everything about it is great. It's silent, it takes hardly any gas. the radio tells you what song is playing, the GPS works.. that's cool.
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