Life In Fractals

Life In Fractals


S2E3 – Carl H Smith – Perceptual Evolution

October 09, 2017

Thanks for tuning in to The Lumieres Podcast fellow humaniacs!
If you enjoy pondering how exactly technology and the evolution of human perception is really tied together then this episode will delight your imagination. I was lucky enough to sit down with a man who really does embody the phrase “a gentleman and a scholar” – I’m of course talking about Carl Smith, Director of the Learning Technology Research Centre (LTRC) at London’s Ravensbourne University.
Carl’s work helps pioneer technological experimentation and research for the advancement of human cognition, and he has an innate ability to discern both the benefits and potential problems inherent within these experimental technologies. What this means is that not only is he aware of how positive experiences of context engineering can be curated and the impacts they can have, he takes it further, envisioning the resolution of some of our current societal issues through new and innovative projects such as [WEKIT] Wearable Experience for Knowledge Intensive Training.
This is also a man who also has the honour of being one of the first people ever to be legally administered with LSD and DMT for two groundbreaking studies into the neuropsychopharmacology of psychedelic compounds at Imperial College in association with the Beckley Foundation. His resumé is pretty damn impressive!
I do hope you’ll find this episode illuminating and thought-provoking and I highly encourage you to check out the links to a few of Carl’s talks at Breaking Convention if you want to find out more about the way his mind works.
I felt to include a track by the Japanese electronic musician Susumu Yokota before my chat with Carl, completely forgetting that he very sadly passed away in 2015 at the age of 54. Much respect to Susumu  and thank you for all that you brought to the world. If you enjoyed this track, do go and check out some of his musical legacy, for he left the world with quite a wonderful back catalogue.
Until the next time, go well,
Jody

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EPISODE OVERVIEW:

* A typical day at the LTRC
* Empathy engineering with Cyborg Nest – Moon Rebus & Neil Harbison
* The North Sense project and intelligence amplification
* Technological design problems and human visual perception
* Fovography and the issues with linear perspective
* The benefits of peripheral vision exercises
* Moving beyond conventional Virtual Reality (VR) and inter-species umwelt
* Augmented Reality (AR), experience capture and the preservation of abilities
* Creating new forms of Art inside the AR space
* Stacking VR technology with Psychedelics
* Hacking the dream state for long-term lucidity
* On participating in the first LSD and DMT clinical trials in the UK
* Cyberdelics and the awakening of consciousness through unity experiences
* The importance of creating context over content
* Mixing the senses and developing new experiences
* Using technology wisely to avoid losing our natural abilities
* The future of technology, literacy and sensory augmentation
* The Memory Palace and gaining inspiration from ancient technologies
* Stories from the North Sense project and its potential...