Matthew Johnson

Interested in spirituality & human flourishing. Meditation, psychedelics, neuroscience & neurotech. Director & Advisor @wavepaths. @anandabits.bsky.social

[Matthew Johnson @anandabits]

The Prospect of Executive Branch Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Secrecy: The Harm to Congress and Potential Remedies – @_SolFoundation

Please send to your elected officials and demand action!

https://t.co/r8HkloTg3q

[Matthew Johnson @anandabits]

@algekalipso This sounds very reminiscent of panentheism. Is that where you’re heading?

[Matthew Johnson @anandabits]

@MatthewSacchet I see Doug Kraft listed as a collaborator and know he has experience with TWIM. Did you explore how light jhana practices based on loving-kindness compare to the others? These practices combine loving-kindness with focused attention. cc @stephen_zerfas

[Edward Frenkel @edfrenkel]

🚨 New episode of AFTERMATH (my new series) is about Unification of Mathematics & Analytic Psychology. Following Carl Jung, I propose that all mathematical objects & ideas come from archetypes in our Collective Unconscious, so Math is a Portal into the Human Psyche.

KEY POINTS:

1. All mathematical objects and ideas (such as perfect lines and planes) are rooted in the shared structural elements of our Collective Unconscious, which Carl Jung called archetypes. These mathematical archetypes produce identical images in our individual minds – explaining why everyone imagines the same idealized mathematical forms; even those forms that don't appear in the outer, physical reality.

2. Similarly to how individuals project their undesired or repressed character traits onto others (manifesting the Jungian archetype of the Shadow), entire societies projected the mathematical archetype of Flat Space onto the surface of the Earth, accepting as an axiom that it was flat. This unconscious belief exemplifies how unintegrated archetypal forces shape our perception of physical reality in the absence of conscious scrutiny.

3. Progress and evolution occur when people recognize and integrate mathematical archetypes, as exemplified by Pythagoreans' insight 2500 years ago that the surface of the Earth might be spherical. Moving from unconscious acceptance to evidence-based inquiry mirrors the process of owning and integrating personal shadow elements.

4. The Enduring Spell of Flat Space: Even though we now realize that Earth is round, most of us still reflexively perceive the Universe as a three-dimensional flat expanse. This unconscious attachment to the archetype of the 3D Flat Space hampers serious consideration of curved or higher-dimensional geometries. When we integrate the archetypes of the 3D Flat Space, the 3D Sphere, and so on, new dimensions of Reality may well open up to us.

5. Brilliant scientists, such as Einstein, Wigner, Weil, Poincaré, and Ramanujan have stressed the essential role of the unconscious (and dream-based) revelations in their work. Such flashes of insight align with Jung's view of archetypes spontaneously emerging from the Collective Unconscious, fueling humanity's creative and mathematical breakthroughs.

[Matthew Johnson @anandabits]

@algekalipso You won’t be disappointed!

[Matthew Johnson @anandabits]

It would also be cool to have a “message list” style UX for a chat with the “subject” of a request / response pair auto-generated. Right now scrolling through the history of a conversation to find older responses is pretty laborious.

[Matthew Johnson @anandabits]

@OpenAI it would be amazing if your Mac ChatGPT app had a button to copy the entire content of a response with all formatting. Right now it isn’t even possible to copy it all manually as selection across dividers is not possible.

[Michael Levin @drmichaellevin]

New preprint with @DrNRouleau : what do the major theories of #consciousness say as to why it's specifically associated with brains?
https://t.co/KgnfqeApv4
"Brains and Where Else? Mapping Theories of Consciousness to Unconventional Embodiments"

Abstract:

It is commonly assumed that a useful theory of consciousness (ToC) will, among other things, explain why consciousness is associated with brains. However, the findings of evolutionary biology, developmental bioelectricity, and synthetic bioengineering are revealing the ancient pre-neural roots of many mechanisms and algorithms occurring in brains – the implication of which is that minds may have preceded brains. Most of the work in the emerging field of diverse intelligence emphasizes externally observable problem-solving competencies in unconventional media, such as cells, tissues, and life-technology chimeras. Here, we inquire about the implications of these developments for theories that make a claim about what is necessary and/or sufficient for consciousness. Specifically, we analyze popular current ToCs to ask: what features of the theory specifically pick out brains as a privileged substrate of inner perspective, or, do the features emphasized by the theory occur elsewhere. We find that the operations and functional principles described or predicted by most ToCs are remarkably similar, that these similarities are obscured by reference to particular neural substrates, and that the focus on brains is more driven by convention and limitations of imagination than by any specific content of existing ToCs. Encouragingly, several contemporary theorists have made explicit efforts to apply their theories to synthetic systems in light of the recent wave of technological developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and organoid bioengineering. We suggest that the science of consciousness should be significantly open to minds in unconventional embodiments.

[Matthew Johnson @anandabits]

@algekalipso Sounds like you take the Cybertruck manifesto at face value then?

[Matthew Johnson @anandabits]

@algekalipso Taking Back Control? by Wolfgang Streeck is deeply insightful

[The Telepathy Tapes @TelepathyTapes]

McGill published a critique of The Telepathy Tapes by Jonathan Jarry. Dr. Diane Powell offers a powerful rebuttal, clarifying her research on telepathy in autistic individuals and addressing misconceptions.

This dialogue isn’t just about skepticism—it’s about challenging paradigms and understanding the potential of human consciousness. Critical discussions like these are vital for expanding public awareness and advancing scientific inquiry.
https://t.co/z2PQ7vNxHr

[Matthew Johnson @anandabits]

Finally got around to listening to @TelepathyTapes today. Such an incredible listen and a deeply profound, uplifting and spiritual message!

[Matthew Johnson @anandabits]

Establish A Select Committee To Investigate UAP https://t.co/9EdklMp3do

[Matthew Johnson @anandabits]

@algekalipso Depends what you mean by irrational of course!

[Matthew Johnson @anandabits]

@algekalipso See @TactogenInc

[Matthew Johnson @anandabits]

@algekalipso Been waiting for someone in the field to go in this direction ever since reading @dr_mcgilchrist’s The Matter With Things last year. If you haven’t read that yet, highly recommended…

[Matthew Johnson @anandabits]

Our struggle to understand UAP and related phenomena stems from the fact that we are only just beginning to awaken from the vast shadow of the enlightenment.

[Matthew Johnson @anandabits]

@algekalipso Oh thanks, I missed that one!

[Matthew Johnson @anandabits]

@zach_haigney @thedarrendunn I don’t plan to post about it, just following what others are saying. Happy to connect privately if you like.