Friday 19 December 2008

First USA Review of "The Daemon"

I am delighted to see that my latest book, "The Daemon" has been reviewed in the magazine "Alternate Perceptions". This magazine and website is well worth checking out. The editor, Brent Raynes has this to say about the book:

"He’s back! That’s mighty right, British author and researcher Anthony Peake is back with a second book exploring the mysterious hidden world lurking within the non-dominant right hemisphere of each human’s brain. This higher self, variously described as a “sensed presence,” a “hidden observer,” fits in quite well, Peake found, with the description of the immortal Daemon, a guardian spirit of the Stoics and the Platonists of ancient Greek and Roman pagan belief systems. Peake’s book, appropriately enough entitled The Daemon, is a virtual tour de force of thought-provoking and startling revelations in modern neuroscience and quantum physics, with a comprehensive and global exploration of the historical and religious background of a myriad of significant belief systems from the Hawaiian Kahuna philosophy to the Zoroastrians, Sufism, Judaism, Gnosticism, to name but a few isms.


This book is an absolutely mind-boggling and riveting analysis of many historical events and scientific discoveries that, while a lot of them are familiar to many of us, no one has delved into them with the same depth of probing and unique mindset that Peake has focused upon them.
This “higher self” psychologically equates with the unconscious part of the brain (right hemisphere) while the conscious ego-self is the awareness the majority of us are aware of the majority of the time (left hemisphere). To the early Greeks the “daemon” of course was the higher self and the lower conscious self was called the “eidolon.” Peake felt that this ancient concept of daulity identified pretty well the two separate components of consciousness that he came to refer to it as the Daemon-Eidolon Dyad, a concept that seems central to many global spiritual belief systems and isms (as just mentioned) that evolved around the world and have emerged within the field of today’s neuroscience. Peake cites the late psychologist Julian Jaynes’s Bicameral Mind theory as making an important contribution of how this split in consciousness evolved. Furthermore, while Jaynes himself came to research this aspect (as a result of a mysterious voice speaking to him) should also fascinate the reader, as well as the stories of Joan of Arc, Carl Jung’s Philemon, Socrates’ “divine sign,” and a host of many others.
Peake finds connections and data emerging from everywhere. Visionaries, near-death experiencers (check out the Raymond Moody account at the beginning of chapter 8), people with déjà vu, temporal lobe epilepsy, schizophrenia, and even migraines. His Daemon-Eidolon Dyad overlaps and integrates so much material, from so many different backgrounds, that it appears to be a candidate for what scientists call TOE (Theory of Everything). Chapter 6 is entitled “Precognition,” and parapsychologists should want to take heed of its contents. How do these people so often get warnings and previews from their “daemons” about events in their future? And, while many of us are fond of saying that truth is stranger than fiction, you should want to read chapter 10 which reviews the uncanny real life of science fiction master writer Philip K. Dick, whose many writings became such well-known film adaptations as Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, and more. Peake reveals how in real life Philip Dick was a prime example of all of the different elements of his Daemon-Eidolon Dyad, though many outside of his fan base are unaware of these matters. (Peake talked quite a bit with me about Dick in my interview with him posted in the December 2007 #119 issue of this magazine; plus you might well also want to read Brad Steiger’s Philip K. Dick’s Phylogenic Memory and the Divine Fire in the November ’07 #118 ish) Dick even experienced a doppelganger (double) of himself it seems. Peake cites various doppelganger accounts in his book, and on a separate but nonetheless, I suspect, significant note Ray Fowler’s book SynchroFile(just mentioned at the beginning of my Reality Checking column) describes a probable doppelganger account in chapter 8 of that book. (Hmmm there’s chapter 8 again!) So indeed the potential connections and data can be found everywhere!

This book is extremely challenging and thought-provoking, and no matter what your particular orientation or mindset, if you’re interested in mysteries and unexplained phenomena, or have any curiosity at all, then this book is an absolute must read! "
It is reviews such as this that makes writing so rewarding. I have written my books to make people think and debate my theories. This review implies that, at least as far as Brent is concerned, I have succeded.
Please do check out his website. It is well worth a few hours of your time. It deals with many itladian-related topics. -

www.mysterious-america.net

Monday 15 December 2008

Sunday Times Article - Have Your Say!

After doing a little research I am delighted to say that the writer of the Sunday Times article (see previous post), Bryan Appleyard, is also a member of "Blogger" and has his own site similar to this one. As with this site (and all open Blogger sites) other Bloggers can place comments. I am pleased to say that Bryan has placed a posting on his article and is keen to have some reader responses. May I suggest that if any of you keen itladians out there, after reading the article, feel motivated to put an itladian comment on Bryan's site it will do us no harm here. It may even stimulate some interest in the great British media (which to date seem to have rather missed out on "Cheating The Ferryman".

Mr. Appleyard is a highly respected journalist and one, I am sure, who may be fascinated with what we are attempting here and on the FORUM.

The link is https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=23400750&postID=2645784118939695819

Cheers

Tony

Sunday 14 December 2008

Sunday Times Magazine

In today's Sunday Times Magazine here in the UK the journalist Brian Appleyard has written an excellent article about the latest research regarding Near-Death Experience. Indeed he even discusses the quantum physics aspects so dear to our itladian hearts.

I think that this could be an opportunity to get itlad noticed by this highly influential newspaper. The article can be read at:


You will also notice that they are requesting reader-comments. It would be great if as many of us as possible could add our comments to this site while it is still new. Indeed with the World-wide membership of this blog this may be of even more interest to the journalists, particularly the much respected Mr. Appleyard

I will be adding something later this evening or early tomorrow .....

Thursday 11 December 2008

Latest Radio Interview - 11th/12th December 2008

Robert Larson will be interviewing me again on his show "OUT THE RABBIT HOLE" on Thursday 11th December at 5-6 PM, Pacific Time. For listeners in the UK this will be broadcast at 1 -2 AM on Friday 12th December. The show is broadcast from the studios of KUCI in Irvine, CA. For those of you in sunny Orange County this can be listened to at 88.9 FM. For the rest theshow is streamed worldwide at http://www.kuci.org/. Audio archives this interview can be found at http://www.kuci.org/talk/. If you are interested in Robert and his previous shows you can check him out at his MySpace site at:


Robert and I will be discussing my new book, The Daemon, particularly in relationship to the late, great Philip K Dick. This is curiously apposite because PKD lived in the same area of California as the KUCI studios.



Wednesday 10 December 2008

Graham Hancock

I received an email from Glen Kreisberg a few days ago. Glen is an associate of the writer Graham Hancock. At present Graham is working on a novel and has requested that Glen commission articles for Graham's website. I am delighted that not only are they interested in me writing an article for them but also they wish me to be their "Author of the Month" for March 2009. I am deeply honoured to receive this accolade and I have, of course, agreed to write the article.

It seems that Glen has checked out this Blogsite and its sister FORUM and has found it all very interesting. He is of the opinion that there is much "crossover" with what we are discussing here and the subjects discussed on Graham's forum (www.grahamhancock.com/forum). Graham's forum is where I would like us to be soon .... with over a million hits a month!

Graham and Glen plan to set up a series of links from their site to our FORUM and this site here. Clearly this will involve more visitors for us which is fantastic .... even more people will become aware of ITLAD and CTF and in doing so the message will be spread.

Glen has already set up a link from his website to mine. If you have a moment or two mayber check out his stuff at http://www.ashnews.org/


Tuesday 9 December 2008

Frumoşii adolecenţi

Elevii mei, frumoşi adolecenţi care – fără complexe şi fără ruşine – recunosc că n-au citit în viaţa lor nicio carte, sunt materialul uman cu care am de lucru, pe care – zice-se – trebuie să-l prelucrez. Mă uit la ei, la nervozitatea lor, la dificultatea cu care se concentrează la ore, la lenea şi la prematura lor blazare şi-mi spun că din unii ca ei vor răsări, mâine, oameni ce vor şti să fie răbdători şi-şi vor pune probleme pe care acum nu şi le pun sau, oameni care vor regreta anii pierduţi acum – toate acele „păcate ale tinereţelor”. La fel cum, din tineri promiţători şi studioşi, cu o curiozitate intelectuală uluitoare, vor ieşi – cum s-a întâmplat cu colegul meu de liceu, bunul OR – oameni şovăielnici în viaţă, deprimaţi, care se vor stinge înainte ca flacăra tinereţii şi maturităţii lor să se aprindă. Sunt posibile tot felul de combinaţii. Mă gândesc la toate astea şi simt că inhalez astfel doza necesară de oxigen pentru a supravieţui, ca dascăl, în România anului 2008, când învăţământul românesc e c-un picior în groapă. Unul dintre elevi (are 18 ani) îmi mărturiseşte că el s-a implicat în recenta campanie electorală şi a sprijinit – pentru bani, mă asigură el – partidul „democraţiei originale” auto-intitulat „de stânga”. E naiv, e tânăr şi poate că lui i se iartă neştiinţa, credulitatea, imaturitatea. Deşi – vezi pilda evanghelică a fecioarelor nebune - vine o vreme (următor căreia nu se mai poate face nimic şi regretele-s inutile, untdelemnul s-a consumat, uşile s-au închis, mirele a intrat în sala de ospăţ) când nu mai merge să o dregi şi zadarnic este a face cale întoarsă. Când le spun că nu am de un an televizor, nu le vine să mă creadă. „Şi nu vă e dor de el?” Pur şi simplu nu pot să priceapă. „Cum, nici măcar de emisiunile de pe Discovery Channel?” Am încercat atunci că le spun că nici chiar acele emisiuni (informate, e drept, întotdeauna frumos ambalate) nu pot suplini lipsa adevăratei hrane spirituale pe care doar lectura şi educaţia muzicală le-o poate oferi. Că nici măcar acele documentare nu îi pot face să stea locului, să se adune şi să se concentreze asupra unui subiect. În plus, câţi dintre tineri se rezumă la programele de pe Discovery? Majoritatea îşi otrăvesc sufletul cu ceea ce le oferă, deşănţat, canalele comerciale: movies, movies, movies (invariabil filme-conservă americane) şi pseudo-modele, aşa-zisele vedete TV – „personalităţi de tip mafiot”. Aşa cum (vezi cazul Teo) ajung de fapt să recunoască şi singure, când rămân fără slujbă: „Suntem toţi nişte măscărici, demni de scârbă, care venim şi ne schimonosim la televizor, tragem nişte filosofii în care nici măcar noi nu credem, plecăm acasă şi avem exact aceleaşi probleme ca şi oamenii obişnuiţi.” Am ajuns, en fin, la capitolul spontaneitate şi am dat exemplu pe Cârcotaşi – singurii care izbutesc o spontaneitate bazată (culmea!) pe rigoare (rigoarea meseriei pe care – se vede cale de-o poştă – o iubesc), pe documentare şi pe jocuri inepuizabile de conotaţii (desigur, vizând în principal lumea divertismentului). Asta îi face să pară (cel puţin în ochii mei) mult mai puţin diletanţi decât toţi ceilalţi colegi de-ai lor din branşă...Altfel, elevii mei sunt nişte copii nevinovaţi, cu un atu incomensurabil: acea curăţie a sufletului încă neperverit (în ciuda zburdălniciei vârstei lor).

Itladian Conference. Sri Lanka 2008


Above is a photograph of myself, Dr. Mahendra Perera (left) and his nephew Prasan at the wonderful Kandalama Resort and Hotel in central Sri Lanka. (Details and images on this amazing place can be found at http://www.heritancehotels.net/kandalama/).
This was the first meeting of the Sri Lankan-Australian-British Itladian Group. I would suggest this location for any future international Itladian meetings but it really is quite a difficult place to get to. It is right in the middle of the Sri Lankan jungle (the monkeys on our balcony every morning was something of a novelty ... the pythons, leopards, tarantulas, crocodiles and cobras we were warned about that could be encountered in the grounds of the hotel were less of a novelty, more of a concern!). Maybe Birmingham would be better ...
Dr. Perera is not only a member of the FORUM but also, like myself, a professional member of the International Association of Near-Death Studies (IANDS). He is a consultant psychiatrist based at the Albert Road Clinic in Melbourne, Australia.
For an example of Dr. Perera's work on NDE check out this article from an Australian newspaper:
Dr. Perera and his associates have written a fascinating paper published in the Journal of Near-Death Studies (vol 26, Number 4, Summer 2008). This discusses the results of their research into Near-Death Experiences in Sri Lanka. Dr Perera was also responsible for the largest survey of the NDE phenomenon in Australia.
We all had a wonderful evening. The arak flowed as freely as the conversation. We discussed many things itladian including some fascinating "from the coal face" examples of the itladian elements of schizophrenia from Mahendra. and I am looking forward to reading more of Dr Perera's work and collaborating with him with regard to a specialist book on the NDE experience for the Australian medical market.

Saturday 22 November 2008

From the past, a present-day healer

I usually read The times of india..but today i was a bit adventurous and bought a DNA( DAILY NEWS AND ANYALSIS) when i went for my morning walk......
as i was going through the paper....sitting at my favourite place in the park....i read this article...From the past, a present-day healer..interesting...i thought..i dont know why i thought of Dawn the newest member of the forum.....and I feel very strongly that ,Anthony Peake`s ITLAD theory will be THE major theory in the days to come......
heres the link...to the article.....
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1208477

Wednesday 19 November 2008

Evidence of past-life recordings in the brain?

Central to ITLAD/CTF is that at the point of death consciousness slips into a hyper-realistic re-creation of the subject's life. In Near-Death Experience terminology this is called the "Panoramic Life Riview".

Now in order for my theory to work there has to be evidence that such 'memories' exist and are stored in the brain (or if elsewhere can be accessed by the brain for 'projection' into consciousness.

A few years ago I read a book called Epileptic Seizures: Pathopsychology and Clinical Semiology edited by Hans O Luders and Soheyl Noachter. This book was written for professionals in this field but at that time (and as I still do) I needed to know as much as possible about epilepsy and pre-epileptic aura states. This book has contributory chapters by many of the world's leading authorities on the subject. I was particularly interested in a chapter written by Peter Wolf, Martin Schondienst and Elizabeth Gulich. This specifically discussed the latest research into aura states - or, as the professionals term these - "Experiential" Auras. Specifically the writers were interested in what was actually being experienced by Wilder Penfield's patients when they had their three-dimensional past-life memory experiences Now what is of great interest is what neurologists mean by the word "experiential". The neurologist Dr Pierre Gloor explains:

'Typically experiential phenomena, when fully expressed, create in a patient's mind experiences, usually from his personal past, that have a compelling immediacy similar to, or sometimes even more vivid than those occuring in real life. It is this quality of being like a real life experience whic justifies the term "experiential" ... experiential phenomena typically combine elements of perception, memory and affect" (page 337)

What he means is that the memories that Penfield's stimulations evoked in the subjects were absolutely vivid and totally real ... so real that they were identical to the original experience. In other words the subject does not experience the events as a memory but as a literal re-living!

Indeed Penfield and his associate Jaspers wrote about the stimulated "memories" thus:

'Recollection may carry with it the emotion that the individual"felt" at the time of the original experience and the deductions, true or false, that he made concerning the experience."

and then they added the totally itladian observation that....

'it seems to be the integrated whole (of events, related thoughts and emotions) that is recorded."
Note that they specifically use the word "recorded".

Remember, these quotations are not taken from some wishy, washy, New Age book but one written by professional neurologists. This is why ITLAD/CTF is of such importance!

(the image above is Wilder Penfield)

Tuesday 18 November 2008



Whilst doing research for my first book I amassed a considerable amount of supporting material that never made it even into the "hard science" original version of ITLAD. I have a whole notebook full of these obscure but profoundly itladian facts. One of my favourites is the case of Makarian 501. This was discussed in an article that appeared in New Scientist in September 2000.

Apparently in March 1997 an obscure, small galaxy named Makarian 501 (named after Georgian astronomer Benjamin Markarian) showed itself to be a "Blazer". Blazers are galaxies that are thought to have a black hole at the centre. Above and below the assumed black hole are two jets of energetic photons and electrons. These particles shoot millions of light years into space. As the galaxy revolves the jets points in the direction of Earth and what is observed is an increase in brightness of radiation. In 1997 this showed itself to scientists as a gamma ray ray source of some consequence, even upstaging the famed Crab Nebula. This intrigued scientists because Makarian 501 is 50,000 times the distance of the Crab Nebula.

Now the huge mystery is how these gamma rays reached Earth. Usually when a gamma ray and an infra-red photon collide they have enough energy to mutate into an electron and a positron. This sea of of infra-red photons should stop the high-energy gamma rays. To explain this giovanni Amelino-Camelia, a physicist at the University of Rome, suggests that the Makarian gamma rays may be the subject of a whole new form of physics that rules the high energy universe. As many of you will know at scales approaching the Planck length (1.616 x 10-35 meters) our picture of smooth space and time gives way to a seething froth of quantum gravity fluctuations. This is termed "space-time foam".

It has been suggested that in these conditions, and has photon energies increase, the bumpiness of space-time, may cause the speed of light to drop off - as if the light 'feels' the bumpiness. Amelino-Camelia uses an interesting analogy - "If you role a soccer ball across a table with lots of tiny ridges it will travel at roughly the same speed it would have done if there were no ridges. But if you roll a tiny little ball, its path will be strongly altered by all the little valleys in the table."

And it is this effect that allows the gamma ray photons to aviod the infra-red photons as they leave Makarian 501 behind and start their journey to Earth. But what is fascinating is that this implies that these gamma ray photons may "lag behind 'real' time". The article, written by Hazel Muir, ends with this amazing statement:

"Quantum gravity implies that time comes in descret pieces. What is more, like Schrodinger's Cat, which is neither dead or alive until we choose to look at it, time would exist as a jumble of of different possible values".

So could it be that time is a wave function that is also collapsed by the act of observation? If this is so then time really is created by the observer ... we all exist in our own time scenario. Indeed if we apply the ORC-R theories of Penrose and Hammerhof to this idea we have something profoundly itladian ... and something that can be used to explain the subjective and glutamate facilitated time-dilation effect that is crucial to my "Cheating The Ferryman" theory of what happens to human consciousness at the point of death.

Saturday 15 November 2008

ITLADian self-portraits




I'm attending a digital photography night class and this week's assignment was self-portrait. Of course I had to give my efforts an ITLADian twist!




Wednesday 12 November 2008

BBC tv "mental health" reality show

With apologies to our non-UK readers (because the player only works in the UK), perhaps you may have seen this show from the BBC called 'How Mad are you?

Obviously you will be aware of the statistics which say that 1 in 4 people have some kind of mental illness? Which means that if you know 3 sane people, then its YOU!! (sorry ;-)

the Premise of the programme is that 3 psychologists watch the behaviours of 10 people, 5 of whom have had some kind of recorded "mental disorder" and 5 who are 'normal' whatever that means, and the psychologists have to guess which is which.

Much talk of TLE and other topics which have featured here and in the forum: enjoy

Aloha Gary

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00fm5ql/b00fm5mb/Horizon_How_Mad_Are_You_How_Mad_Are_You_Part_1/

Thursday 6 November 2008

Glutamate and Schizophrenia.

I found this on one of the other sites here on Blogger (Medical News & Health).

"Is schizophrenia a disorder of glutamate hyperactivity or hypoactivity? While the predominant hypothesis for many years was that schizophrenia was a glutamate deficit disorder, there is growing evidence of glutamate hyperactivity as well. The study by Karlsson et al., appearing in the November 1st issue of Biological Psychiatry, reinforces this point with new data about the impact of deleting the gene for the glutamate transporter EAAT1. EAAT1, implicated in schizophrenia, plays a critical role in inactivating glutamate by removing it from the synaptic and extracellular spaces. The authors demonstrate that these “knockout” animals show increased responses to the NMDA glutamate receptor antagonist, MK-801. This drug causes the release of more glutamate into the synapse in the frontal cortex. This effect of MK-801 is reduced by a group II metabotropic glutamate receptor agonist, which reduces glutamate release. Dr. Andrew Holmes, corresponding author, further discusses their findings, “Our study adds a new twist to [glutamate] research by showing that genetically disrupting a major regulator of glutamate’s ability to communicate between nerve cells produces certain ’schizophrenia-like’ features in mice and, moreover, that these abnormalities can be corrected by a highly promising new class of glutamate-targeting antipsychotic treatments.” In fact, this class of drugs has already shown some preliminary efficacy in its ability to treat individuals suffering from schizophrenia.

John H. Krystal, M.D., Editor of Biological Psychiatry and affiliated with both Yale University School of Medicine and the VA Connecticut Healthcare System, comments: “The NMDA receptor antagonist model and the EAAT1 knockout animal push us to take a fresh look at the obstacles to treating cognitive impairments associated with schizophrenia, in other words, optimizing their cortical network function. This new look can lead us to drugs that would have been completely surprising as recently as 10 years ago, such as the group II metabotropic glutamate receptor agonists.”

Dr. Holmes does note that further research is warranted, stating, “What is now needed is more research to get a better handle on how disrupting this gene affects the brain’s neural wiring and molecular signaling pathways to produce the symptoms of schizophrenia.” This finding could ultimately help scientists develop new or improved treatments for this schizophrenia."


I find this article of great interest .... but what amazes me is that there is no mention of the involvement of glutamate in migraine, temporal lobe epilepsy and, of course, the Near-Death Experience.

It is possible that I am drawing conclusions when none should be (and, after all, I am not medically trained), but surely if glutamate is responsible for all these things where are the papers discussing why this may be? (a genuine question by the way)

Wednesday 5 November 2008

Interesting new Blogger Tool

Although having been slightly overshadowed by my new FORUM http://www.anthonypeake.com/forum this site is still proving very popular ... particularly as the meeting place of the more committed "Itladians". However as we have long discussed we have never received many visits from passing traffic. Clearly this is because that it is rare that this site is found by chance. It is usually via a direct contact with myself or another itladian.

Whilst surfing the web this lunchtime I came across a site that allows blogsites to be rated and commented upon by others. In my opinion this is a great opportunity to have broadcast the simply amazing things that we discuss here.

The site in question is called blogged.com and it can be found at http://www.blogged.com/ (now that was a surprise wasn't it!).

I have checked this site out and much to my surprise our little blogsite here is already registered on there: (http://blogged.com/blogs/anthony-peakes-cheating-the.html ). However on checking further I found that little more detail about CTF can be found. But what also caught my eye was that the site invites reviews of it. Thus far nobody has done so, which is not really surprising.

However if we are interested in getting more people involved in both the blog and the FORUM then this is a way to do it. Now clearly as the owner of this little blogsite I cannot place a self-review on there (nor would I dream of doing so) but It does mean that others can.

So if any of you have a few spare moments and wish to review this blog then please consider doing so.

Tuesday 4 November 2008

Audio From Tony's Interview On KERRANG! Radio with Nick Margerison (Download)



Following on from the interest in my uploading of some of Tony's previous Radio Interviews and the problems hearing this live from outside of the UK, I have taken the time to convert to MP3 and upload the latest one, broadcast last week on KERRANG! Radio for those who missed it or were unable to listen as it was broadcast.

See Previous BLOG posts:
.
KERRANG! Interview [by Tony]
.
Download Instructions:
(86MB, 90 Minutes)
When you click on the link below, you will be taken to a new page, at the bottom of which is the audio file (AP: Kerrang 28th October 2008). Simply enter the three letters shown in the box as directed and click DOWNLOAD. Under the FREE section you will have a few seconds to wait but when it says FREE DOWNLOAD, simply click it and you then have the option of simply opening the audio or saving it to your computer, so please click on Open or Save according to your wishes.

Hope you enjoy it.
.
> KERRANG! Radio - Broadcast 28th October 2008 <
.
A Dark Philosopher
Karl L Le Marcs

Saturday 1 November 2008

Itladians in the national press!


Although this is not strictly to do with matters itladian it does nevertheless involve an itladian.

Over here in the UK there has been a major scandal involving the BBC. Two presenters of BBC Radio 2, Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross, phoned up the actor who played Manual in the classic comedy series Fawlty Towers (Andrew Sachs) and on air Brand left a message on Sach's answerphone claiming that he had had sex with Sach's granddaughter, the model Georgina Bailey.

Well it seems that Georgina is the ex-girlfriend of itladian wrestler Alex Shane. The image above is taken from Thursday's Daily Star newspaper.

For those of you who cannot quite see the text it reads:

'The pro wrestler ex-boyfriend of Georgina Baillie warned Russell Brand last night "Give me just five minutes in the ring with you!"

Giant Alex Shane, left, is furious with the comic for the way he has dirtied the name of his "sensitive" ex.

The 19 stone fighter - twice British heavyweight wrestling champion - said "I thought it was really out of **** order. I think Brand is used to getting away with these things. I worked as a doorman and I used to see his kind all the time. There is something about Russell Brand that makes people want to smack him in the mouth."'


Unfortunately Alex could not really place an itladian slant on this incident. Mind you I think we would all struggle to do so.

Good on you Alex .... and the best of luck in your forthcoming fight!
(Thanks to Richard F for pointing this out to me).

Thursday 30 October 2008

The Kerrang! Interview on YouTube

Thanks to Woodsprite for alerting me to the fact that the first part of my Kerrang! interview has been posted on YouTube. It can be found at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skLmKGqXWG0

I would also like to give my thanks to Nick and his team for doing such a fantastic job. The video has been enhanced superbly by some wonderful images and - and this really is fascinating, by the section from Linklater's movie "Waking Life" that was first noticed by HurlyBurly many months ago and was then subsequently posted on this site!

The radio interview was good but, of course, it had to be edited down to fit into Nick's schedule. It is clear that the whole interview will be placed on YouTube by those wonderful guys at Kerrang!

Thanks again Nick, and Alex and Amy!!!

Wednesday 29 October 2008

KERRANG! Interview

The broadcast went out last night at around 23:20. It was interesting how a fairly laid back and somewhat flippant programme become very serious as soon as I came on! Indeed I was delighted as to how positive Nick was with regard to the theory. I felt that he had really grasped the finer points of CTF and Itlad.

I have yet to listen to the full podcast yet but from a swift scan it seems that there were quite a few calls later.

The podcast can be listened to at:

http://www.whatson.com/goto/?type=radio&station=kerrang&show=a_the_night_before___tuesday

I turn up at about one hour twenty minutes into the broadcast.

Monday 27 October 2008

Happy Diwali!


HAPPY DIWALI EVERYONE......Diwali is the one of the most important festivals in India...it marks the triumph of good over evil..it is also called the festival of lights.....its a lovely time to be India.....
Central to Hindu philosophy is the assertion that there is something beyond the physical body and mind which is pure, infinite, and eternal, called the Atman. Just as we celebrate the birth of our physical being, Deepavali is the celebration of this Inner Light, in particular the knowing of which outshines all darkness (removes all obstacles and dispels all ignorance), awakening the individual to one's true nature, not as the body, but as the unchanging, infinite, immanent and transcendent reality. With the realization of the Atman comes universal compassion, love, and the awareness of the oneness of all things (higher knowledge). This brings Ananda (Inner Joy or Peace).
Diwali celebrates this through festive fireworks, lights, flowers, sharing of sweets, and worship. While the story behind Deepavali varies from region to region, the essence is the same - to rejoice in the Inner Light (Atman) or the underlying reality of all things (Brahman)

Friday 24 October 2008

KERRANG! Interview now confirmed

I have now had confirmation that my KERRANG! Radio interview will be broadcast at 2200 (UK time) on Tuesday 28th October 2008.

The intention is to broadcast the interview and then open up the phone lines for discussion and debate. I am hoping that as many itladians as possible join in and make this one of the best shows that Nick Margerrison has ever broadcast.

For those of you in the UK tuning in is simple. If you have a digital television KERRANG! can be listened to through your digibox or digital TV. KERRANG! also broadcast on DAB. If you are working on your PC you can also log into their website (see link below)

Listen to Kerrang! Radio on DAB, Sky Channel 0183, Virigin Media, Freeview Channel 722, across the West Midlands on 105.2 FM & at

http://www.kerrangradio.co.uk/

Outside of the UK may be more difficult as KERRANG! are a music station and as such there maybe copywrite issues in your country. I suggest that you investigate what options you may have in this regard.

Nick suspected that the interview would be special so he requested that his assistant, Amy, video the whole interview for future placement on YouTube. I am not sure how often Nick requests such things but I am delighted that he considered my ideas to be worthy of such an honour

I would like to think Nick, Alex, and Amy for allowing me the opportunity to get Itladian philosophy to even more people.

Lets make the airwaves fizz guys........

Thursday 23 October 2008

Nick Bostrum - "Ancestor Simulations"


In 2003 Oxford University philosopher Nick Bostrom had an article published in the journal Philosophical Quarterly. In this article he suggested that at least one of these three propositions must be true:

i. We humans will become extinct before we can develop into a 'posthuman' stage of civilisation.

ii. Any posthuman civilisation will have access to computer power so vast that time travel will be routine using computer-generated simulations of the past. (Bostrom calls these ancestor simulations ).

iii. That we are all living in one of these ancestor simulations.

With the potential advances of computer power offered by quantum computing such simulations are entirely possible. Bostrom suggests that the computing power available in a few million years will be so advanced that the human beings simulated in these programmes will be conscious!

Of course this idea is not absolutely original - the 1999 movie The Thirteenth Floor suggested something very similar. However Dr. Bostrum attempts to explain how such a circumstance could come about and is a very well respected academic. I am delighted to see that such ideas are now taken seriously.

Of course this has elements of the "Brain In a Vat" thought experiment of Hilary Putnam as discussed in a previous posting of mine:

http://cheatingtheferryman.blogspot.com/2008/03/brain-in-vat.html

So could it be that the 'designers' of my Bohmian IMAX may, in fact, be future software engineers?

Some of you, Ed in particular, have long suggested that consciousness works like a computer programme so could it be that the living of our lives over and over again is taking place in some super version of the computer game The Sims?

Tuesday 21 October 2008


My KERRANG interview will be broadcast next Tuesday evening (28th October) on the "Night Before" hosted by Nick Margerrison. Nick's show starts at 2200 (UK time). The original interview ran for around 40 minutes so it could be broadcast at any time between 2200 on the Tuesday and 0100 the following morning. If you wish to phone in the studio number is 00 44 845 688 1052 outside the UK and 0845 688 1052 within the UK. You can also text a message - text "K" then your message to 64100.
If you have a digibox or a digital television you can listen through your TV by tuning into KERRANG Radio. If you have a DAB radio the signal can be picked up at 105.2. I am also informed that the video of my interview with Nick will soon be posted on YouTube

Sunday 19 October 2008

Roman Dreams, did this person have a glimps of a past life?

Another little story here about an old workmate of mine named Emrys, he has long since passed away but he came to work one day and was telling his boss that he had had a dream that he had been a Roman Soldier he presumed in a past life and in battle he died in this dream by being struck with a spear in his chest.
What surprised him was that when he awoke there was quite a mark on his chest where he said the spear had struck him. He never ever knew how the mark on his chest was made in bed asleep.
He always talked of this story which no doubt puzzled him until he died in this life well into his eighties.

The National Lottery a missed opportunity

Many years ago when the lottery was first started I was very excited about the idea that 'with luck' perhaps there was a chance of winning the big one.
The wife and I bought 2 or 3 tickets and I had a strong feeling that we would win the jackpot or at least a lot of money.
That night I went into a dream that I could see the winning numbers being revealed but within that dream I began to panic that I would forget all of the numbers by the time I woke up and three of those numbers faded away quickly but I hung on to three numbers and on waking wrote them down immediately.
I used the three numbers and won £10. The question will always remain had I remembered the full set would I have won the jackpot?. I will never know and even if for some brain storming reason I remembered them now it would be useless and to know would be more depressing than not knowing. So I guess my Daemon who does know the answer will spare me that torture. Why did the Daemon if that's what it was let me see the numbers in the first place or did my Eidilon catch it off guard and it went into immediate shut down action but not quick enough to fade all three remaining numbers from my memory. To me this proves that the future and past and present are all the same thing, it is all ready there. The trick is to look into the future by tricking your Daemon but you may not like what you see, curiosity killed the cat remember.
I have tried to avoid delving into things too deeply.
Having said that you hear of people winning jackpots two consecutive weeks running. This is a very rare occurence but it has happened and there must be some reason why this occurs.Do they cheat the Daemon in some way? Is their a flaw in their brain that lets them see into the future even though they are unaware of it?

Regards, Rod..

The Art of Itladian Combat?

The latest edition of Fighting Spirit Magazine features an article by itladian philosopher and wrestling champion Alex Shane.

Alex has a regular section in this magazine called "Alex Shane's Guide to Pro Wrestling" In this Alex discusses his 'take' on the world of wrestling. For those of us that have never been involved in such things it makes a fascinating read.

In this article Alex also discusses his return to the ring for one last, high profile, matc before he heads off to India at the end of the year. This last ever match of "The Showstealer" will take place at Bromley Civic Hall on 26th October. Alex will fight the IPW:UK Heavyweight champion Martin Stone. (Discussion about this can be found at http://www.ipwuk.com/ ). This contains an eight minute video of Alex threatening Stone ... well I don't know about Stone but it scared the hell out of me!

Now if you can get hold of a copy of this magazine (which is stocked by all High Street multiples including W H Smiths) Alex's article can be found on pages 72 to 76 and a very interesting read it is to. However what may be of interest to itladians is a comment he makes on page 76. Here Alex writes:

"As always I would like to leave you with some of my philosophy. As I've started to get into more complex areas of wrestling in these articles, I would like to share some of the more complex areas of philosophy too. I have not got anywhere near close, in these articles, to the out-of-the-box thinking that I am currently exploring, such as questioning the very nature of reality.
I have regular meetings with Anthony Peake, who is the author of the best-selling book 'Is There Life After Death - The Extraordinary Science of What Happens When You Die", where we exchange theories on these subjects. If this stuff interests you then I highly recommend his book."

Thanks Alex. This really shows the power of ITLAD and how it is slowly creeping its way into the collective consciousness and Zeitgeist of the early 21st century... and how it is appearing in what would normally considered to be the most unlikely of places such as combat magazines.

Alex, may I personally wish you the best of luck for your bout on the 26th.

Wednesday 15 October 2008

KERRANG Radio Interview

Last night I was interviewed by Nick Margerrison of Kerrang Radio. Although this will be my second interview with Nick and my third for KERRANG it is the first time that I have actually been interviewed in their studios in Birmingham.

Nick had already read two thirds of The Daemon so was in a position to ask some very interesting questions with regard to ITLAD and The Dyad. Indeed I was really flattered when he stated that he was a really big fan of my work. As you may be aware Nick was the guy who in July interviewed the astronaut and moon-walker Dr. Edgar Mitchell. On live radio Dr. Mitchell said to Nick that the USA government had been in regular contact with aliens for the last forty years. This brought about a flurry of media interest and Nick's interview was mentioned in many of the national newspapers. Indeed as you may be aware both Dr. Mitchell and I are members of The Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) - me as a run-of-the-mill member and he as the founder!

The interview was also filmed and Nick plans to place this on YouTube in due course.

The interview itself will appear in two weeks time ... possibly the 28th October. I will confirm this as soon as I hear from Nick's producer, Alex Baker.

This show will end with a phone-in with listeners adding their comments or observations. It would be great if some itladians involve themselves.

Monday 13 October 2008

Thanks and Impressions

New Yorker finds no Cult of Ideology in Peakian group,  but much of charm and character
I hope my putting up a post will not be too much,  but I wanted to give my thanks and some impressions.  I have just gotten back from NY airport and it is late but wanted to get it out of the way.  I want to thank Martin Huxter and Anthony Peake and Karl LeMarcs most of all,  as well as all whom I had the high  honor of meeting.  It is bittersweet,  as one realizes that emails and internet  leave out so much that is essential,  and that the charmed circle in Liverpool is closed to some of us geographically,  and we fall further out of sync with the life of the Itladian community.  My time in London and Liverpool brought the painful awareness that living online is not a good thing.

I spent Friday night at the Park Plaza in London,  and met Martin there.  This was the beginning of a realization:  I had related to him online for so long as a sort of "lost boy".  So when he made his appearance,  it was a shock to see the person.   When he appeared in the hotel lobby,  I was startled by his height,  his build,  his beautiful jacket and shoes.  And moreso by his posh London accent.  He is self possessed and charming.  He can speak on many topics,  and with substance and ideological reference.    He is far more polished and impressive than I had thought him to be.  His manners were elegant in the posh bar,  and with the bartender,  and I was proud to be seen with him.  He is a young man who is integrated and lively.  He has impressive eyes,  and a coy giggle which was alarming in its power to charm.  His gait is confident and masculine.   He seemed for all the world an educated London aristocrat.  When I took his arm to stroll outside to smoke,  I thought of Morrisey's song,  "Hand in Glove",  with the line,  "just stay on my arm,  you little charmer."  For that is what he is.  And I had related to him all wrong in emails,  and felt a sense of shame for having underestimated him. And horror at the falseness of online relating.   The film critic ought to have been an actor.  To anyone who has read Martin's fine writing,  I highly recommend meeting him.   If ,  that is,  you can stand his youthful charm and intelligence:   Quite a heady brew. 
My next shock came with LeMarcs.  I know now that Tony's idea of time dilation is a reality:  time slowed and stopped and seemed to expand,  in my first moments of beholding  him.  I had actually wanted to be disappointed;   prayed,   in fact,  to be disenchanted,   but it was not to be.  There was the same electric charge in the air that had surrounded Barack Obama;  it was palpable.  His phycical bearing brought at once to mind what Nietzsche spoke of as  "that miracle,  when nature has placed the head of a genius on the body of a ruffian,  so that the result is a Nero,  a Caligula ,  to be worshipped. "  It is as if some transcendent being has descended into solid flesh,  without fully having the ability to grasp his condition.  His very footstep is solid and Nero-like.  He is a king,  and I  can say no more;  do no more,  except to phone my brilliant New York therapist,  who already has assured me that there is hope;  that he has  plans for  a cognitive method to "shake those Brits out of your life for good."  . . . Tony is all I knew him to be:  beautiful,  refined, intelligent  modest,  with a lovely voice.  I had long wondered how  a man with such impossibly gorgeous features could possibly find a  fit wife,  and the thought that she would be as beautiful as he had never occurred to me (  I don't know why,  but it hadn't).  She is a female Anthony Peake,  with her own beautiful eyes and gorgeous mouth to match her husband's.  It was beautiful to see them together.  Di and I agreed that Penny is a perect English rose.  . . Liverpool itself,  like a Britsh hetero brother of the gay and waywayd  American Provincetown:  such an aura of Ptown surrounded it at night;  the same mix of elegance and roughness and water and boats.  In itself,  like a dream,  and almost a portent. . . And such vivid impressions I had of Jo,  who was adorable,  and Di,  who seemed like my long-lost self,  and Dr. Alan Roberts ( I hope I have not got his name backwards)  and Groundhog,  and Rich,  and Dorje.  But I feel I cannot continue on.  The three I loved first and longest:  Tony,  Karl and Martin,  were human,  but splendidly human;  I found no flaw,  only charm ,  charm.  and more charm.  And something more. . . And as I said,  it is bittersweet,  as the realization hits,  that the online was always but a shadow's shadow,  and cannot continue on in the same way,  now that the reality has overtaken it.  I am reminded of the life I had before my husband died,  when people were solid and things were real;  and one must sigh and wonder how much one can invest further in that beautiful circle which is fast closing us out , -  we who live in the farthest reaches  -   with no intention or awareness  of having done so.    But again,  my deepest thanks to all. 

Sunday 12 October 2008

Inaurural meeting of the International Association of ITLAD



On Saturday afternoon, the Blue Bar at Albert Dock, Liverpool, saw the inaugural meeting of The International Association of ITLAD. In honour of our highly esteemed and well beloved Susan Marie, we congretated together to exchange conversation on things philosophical and quantum. There was also a fair sprinkling of the requisite nonsense talk and laughter!

I managed to obtain photographic evidence of the gathering which can be viewed on www.flickr.com/groups/itlad Enjoy!

Friday 10 October 2008

Audio From Tony's Interview On City Talk Radio With Roy Basnett (Download)



Following on from the interest in my uploading of some of Tony's previous Radio Interviews I have taken the time to convert to MP3 and upload the latest one, broadcast last night on City Talk Radio for those who missed it or were unable to listen as it was broadcast.

See Previous BLOG post:
Announcement: New Radio Interview [By Tony]

Download Instructions:
(36MB, 54 Minutes)
When you click on the link below, you will be taken to a new page, at the bottom of which is the audio file (Anthony Peake - City Talk Radio). Simply enter the three letters shown in the box as directed and click DOWNLOAD. Under the FREE section you will have a few seconds to wait but when it says FREE DOWNLOAD, simply click it and you then have the option of simply opening the audio or saving it to your computer, so please click on Open or Save according to your wishes.

Hope you enjoy it.

> City Talk Radio - Broadcast October 10th 2008 <

A Dark Philosopher
Karl L Le Marcs

Thursday 9 October 2008

The Inaugural International ITLADic Gathering (and wine-infused toot talking)

The historic and beautiful Albert Dock in Liverpool, UK will be the venue for the Inaugural International ITLADic Gathering (IIIG) this Saturday 11th October, as Tony and I are delighted to welcome the enigma that is Susan Marie Kovalinsky to the UK from New Jersey, USA for the inevitable light drizzle and biting cold wind.

Your very own A Dark Philosopher *bows* will escort SMK to Blue Bar on Albert Dock where that amiable fellow Tony will join us for a couple of hours of verbal badinage, philosophical ponderances and gags of awful magnitude, before the doors are flung asunder and all manner of ITLADists descend on the venue to liven up proceedings somewhat.

Tony, SMK and I will be joined by Penny, Johar, Woodsprite, Ed, Aloha Gary, Baphomet (and Mrs Baphomet) or will it be Anubis65? Dr Alan Roberts, Rich, hopefully “Lady Jayne” and perhaps others who are not regular contributors to BLOG/FORUM but who are avid followers of our collective ramblings and thus know all of us by name and would like to meet us face-to-face.
(poor souls are in for a major shock)
*smile*

I know there are MANY who would love to be there with us (Jesamyn, Robin, RafromCa, Cam, Roshni to name but a few) and I do intend to see if there is a wi-fi signal in the area that would allow me to connect to SKYPE or other webcam services to broadcast some pictures, but knowing the area as I do, I suspect there is no signal. However, I’m sure there will be many photographs taken and much diving behind comfy sofas by yours truly to avoid them!

If any BLOG/FORUM members or even stray lurkers would like to pass on any comments then please do so either in the comments box or on private email to me and I will be delighted to relay them during the gathering.

A Dark Philosopher
Karl L Le Marcs

Announcement - New Radio Interview


Hi Folks,

My lecture at Widnes Library went very well last night. Thank you to all who attended, particularly "Lady Jayne" who made some fantastically supportive comments when describing how her temporal lobe epilepsy opens her senses up to the real world of the "Bohmian IMAX". Also thanks to Janette Fleming for making sure the event ran so smoothly. As usual we ran out of time but I think we gained some more itladians to join the ever-swelling figures.

In the audience was local radio presenter Roy Basnett of City Talk Radio. You may recall that I did an interview on this station during the summer. Anyway Roy was keen to understand more about CTF and ITLAD so I was wisked off to the City Talk Studios to record an interview.

Roy not only grasped the ideas but ran with them as well. I suspect we have our first itladian broadcaster. The interview ran for nearly an hour. It will be broadcast early friday morning (between 2:00 - 4:00 British time) on Roy's award winning show. But do not worry if you miss it because Roy intends to feature me (photo and all) on his part of the City Talk Website: http://www.citytalk.fm/sectional.asp?id=25007

For those of you in the USA and Canada the time will be much more civilised and you can listen in as it is broadcast via the web - http://www.whatson.com/citytalk/

As City Talk is a non-music station there are no international restrictions (unlike Kerrang).
I know it is a big ask but Roy does take phone calls so that people can comment on the show. If he received a call from The States or Canada that would really be exceptional. The number will be: 00 44 151 708 1059 .

Wednesday 8 October 2008

LHC and ITLAD

Ok, after harassing Karl with some questions about the LHC, I would like to offer some new thoughts on Tony’s Bohmian IMAX Theory.

The purpose of the LHC is to project protons around the circuit at high speed until they crash into each other. When this occurs, scientists are hoping to discover all sorts of amazing stuff. The part that interests me is the measurement of the energy of the protons before and after collision. Now, a proton weighs slightly less than its constituent parts. Therefore, when they collide and explode, one would expect there to be slightly more energy after the collision than before.

However, if there is less energy, one can hypothesize that the expended energy, in the form of types of quarks, has been pushed into another dimension! I’ll leave the science of this to Karl to address!

This got me thinking about the dying body. What if, at the point of death, all the atoms in the human body start decaying and releasing their energy into the universe? Could some of this energy be pushed into another dimension? If so, all the information for that being will be encoded within each energy packet so that they can come together again, rather like some corals I’ve seen mangled in a blender; only to reattach itself to the right piece of coral it was part of before. So, these energy packets would then become part of a new Eidolon (merging with other Eidolonic energy), restarting its existence externally of the previous Eidolon (the original us). So, in effect, the body would die, but some of the energy within each atom of the body would continue in another dimension.

Also, if these energy packets contain the daemonic information from the original Eidolon, this too will become part of the new Eidolon in another dimension. This means that our daemon within our phaneron is quantum entangled with the daemon in the other dimension! This pertains not only to subjective daemonic evolution but objective daemonic evolution as well.

This doesn’t detract from Tony’s theory. We still experience the past life memory playback within our own phaneron. However, the energy that is released into another dimension isn’t enough to recreate a new eidolon that is ‘us’. It will reform with other particles of energy to create another Eidolon. This could explain past life regression tapping into different people as they do contain particles of us from another dimension. It can also explain why some people hear voices and experience neuro atypicality. Their doors of perception are so wide open in this phaneron; they are tapping into the particles of their energy that exist in another dimension.

In his famous study, Raymond Moody interviewed some 150 people who had either actually briefly died (according to Doctors) or had almost died. He concluded from this study that there are NINE experiences common to most people who have had a NDE:
1. Hearing sounds such as buzzing
2. A feeling of peace and painlessness
3. Having an out-of-body experience (OOBE)
4. A feeling of travelling through a tunnel
5. A feeling of rising such as into the heavens
6. Seeing people, often dead relatives
7. Meeting a spiritual being such as the Being of Light
8. Seeing a Past Life Review
9. Feeling a reluctance to return to life

Most of the above experiences can be explained as energy release from the dying atoms.

There was an experiment done to see if the human ‘spirit’ could be weighed. Dying people were weighed before and after death and it was noted that they weighed slightly less. Now, I know this experiment has been widely refuted but could it be viewed another way. Could the slight weight loss after death be attributed to the energy release from the atoms and could the body weigh less after death because the energy has been pushed into another dimension?

Friday 3 October 2008

Daemon Photo for Anthony
































As You might be able to guess, I've not contributed to this before and to be honest I'm a complete Luddite but it was lovely to meet Anthony at his lecture to the Liverpool Holistic Circle. I'm not a member of the group but was glad of the opportunity as the first book blew me away and I was eager for the second.

I'm an artist and have been working on a series of images over the last few years of ordinary people in everyday situations who are positioned in front of circular objects, circular architectural features or even road signs and the like which give the impression of halos. I've made two books of these saints in the last year and have managed to talk a few people I admire into joining in with the project. After growing up Catholic I couldn't resist the saint symbolism and have, I suppose been trying to show people's higher selves and using the cultural language I understood I was trying to democratise the status of saint.

Anthony was good enough to help me with this even though the only near by circle was the high up clock on the wall- (I was particularly entertained by the clock as Anthony's halo because I'd loved the discussion on time in the first book.) He had to stand on a chair to be in line with it but we both thought it was fun and he was very patient. Actually- it's not even apparent that it is a clock but that's ok. Normally I just present the actual snap-shot, (as If fleeting glimpses of perfection could just be captured that way) but I used my clumsy knowledge of Photoshop software for some reason to play with this so I include the original and the "Daemonic" version. Thanks Anthony...

Thursday 2 October 2008


The image to the left is called a "Thetan Cross". I came across this whilst doing some research on Scientology. Now I am sure that many of you itladians are aware that Scientology has some very itladian aspects ... the must intriguing being their concept known as the "Operating Thetan".

How a thetan is defined as the being that exists within the "meat body" as Scientologists term it. This is consciousness, the being that calls itself "I" or "Me". This is amazingly similar to the being I term the "Eidolon". Scientology teaches that by training and willpower a Thetan can evolve into an "Operating Thetan". This is, in effect, the Higher Self" or what we would term "The Daemon". But the Operating Thetan does not really have the full power of "The Daemon". However an OT can become "Clear" and when it does so it can manipulate the illusory universe its Thetan inhabits. This is, in my opinion, a fully aware "Daemon" to use itladian terminology.

Now what is weird is that the "Thetan Cross" looks disturbingly like the cross symbols that haunted my life a few months ago. I will be interested in your opinions on this. Check out the following earlier posts:

http://cheatingtheferryman.blogspot.com/2008/05/servants-of-light-sol.html

http://cheatingtheferryman.blogspot.com/2008/05/strange-events.html

Most odd eh ... or is this simply another case of Karl's "Kangaroo Effect"?



Wednesday 1 October 2008

A Warning!

The ex-British heavyweight wrestling champion Alex Shane is probably the biggest Itladian at present. To appreciate just how powerful Alex is check out his latest entry on YouTube:


So don't upset me or I will send Alex round!!!

In all seriousness guys, it looks like Alex will be fighting for the last time late in October. He and I met up in London last month and we discussed where his life will now take him after this event. Alex is simply amazing company and his ideas and theories are absolutely mind-blowing .... and they add yet another viewpoint on the Bohmian IMAX and the nature of reality.

Evidence for this can be seen in the articles that Alex writes for wrestling magazines. However his world-view is considerably more esoteric than one would normally expect for such magazines. Check out:


I will be meeting with Alex next Thursday (9th of October) and we will be joined by fellow itladians, and members of this blog, Hurly Burly, Jake Horsley and possibly A Dark Philosopher. I will, of course, update you with any advances in this interesting collaboration.

The Daemon is Launched!




Last week, amidst great celebration (and a get together in the Three Stags afterwards), Tony's long awaited book "The Daemon" was launched. I managed to capture the event in photos, including the elusive Dark Philosopher.


Tuesday 23 September 2008

Can this be evidence of Daemonic Communication?



In my new book I discuss in some detail the channels of communication between the Daemon and the Eidolon. These can be a voice in the head, dreams, hunches, and sometimes, via physical movement not initiated by the Eidolon. However communication between the Daemon and the outside world is somewhat less common. Indeed it is reasonable to conclude that as the speech areas of the brain are located in the dominant hemisphere (Broca’s Area) then vocal communication may be virtually impossible for a daemon. However it has been suggested that under certain conditions a daemon may appropriate the verbal centres of the dominant hemisphere and vocalize its thoughts and opinions to the outside world. Occasionally this has occurred during deep hypnosis sessions. At other times unusual neurotransmitter activity seems to also facilitate Daemonic manipulation across the corpus callosum and into Broca’s Area.

However I have recently come across evidence that the Daemon may have another way of communicating – this is a phenomenon known as “Reverse Speech”.

This was first suggested by an Australian named David John Oates. Oates claims that humans exhibit "bi-level" communication, that is to say forwards and backwards simultaneously. He argues that clear understandable reverse speech is occurring in bursts every 6 to 10 seconds continually during our forward communication.

Oates began his research in 1984, intrigued with the occurrence of backwards masking in rock and roll records. Backwards masking is a recording technique for purposely embedding backwards messages into music. While searching for these intended messages Oates says he stumbled onto his discovery of many messages, unintentionally embedded in the words of the music. He then quickly began studying all kinds of recorded speech looking for backwards messages. One of his earliest discoveries was in the famous recording of Neil Armstrong's "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Oates reverses this statement for the audience using computer software to reveal that this sentence played backwards says "man will space walk."

Excited by this discovery Oates next turned to the famous live recording of the television announcer commentary while witnessing the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Forwards the announcer says "There has been a shooting." Backwards the statement appears to say "he's shot bad, stop, look up." Such examples, says Oates demonstrate "congruent" reverse speech communication. More intriguing, however, are Oates' examples of incongruent communication. In his lectures Oates regularly plays a recording of a Patsy Ramsey being interviewed about the death of her daughter, Jon Benet. In the interview Ramsey says forwards "at least two people on the face of this earth know who did this, the killer and someone they may have confided in." Played backwards you can hear the statement "I'm that person."

Another example is ex- President Clinton's famous denial speech. Forwards, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman." Backwards, "I hate to say yes."

Now in ITLAD I argue that even in very young babies the Daemon is fully aware of who it is and where it has come from – it simply cannot communicate these facts. In a startling itladian example Oates cites examples of some reverse speech research he did with his twin girls. Starting at birth Oates was able to begin documenting reverse speech single words sentences at 4 months of age. What seemed like gibberish “baby talk” (or “egocentric speech” as the Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky termed it) when played in reverse yields the surprisingly clear impression of the baby saying "hello." At 7 months of age he began documenting two word sentences in reverse speech. In one astounding recording he held a small recorder up to the baby's face and the baby made common baby gibberish sound. Yet in reverse one can hear the baby say "what's that?" At 13 months of age Oates recorded the gibberish of his daughter as she reached for a cup. Reversed it yielded the sentence "David, help me." (These can be listened to at



Lots of other examples can be found at:




In my opinion David's work is potentially very interesting and worth investigating further.

Monday 22 September 2008

ANNOUNCEMENT - KERRANG INTERVIEW

Folks,

Just to let you know that the Kerrang Interview tonight has been postponed. It seems that they are very interested in the book and would prefer to have read the book before they interview me. Indeed they wish me to go to their studios in Birmingham rather than on the telephone. This is a very positive development but unfortunately a little late for me to get the message out to all of you. If you see this can you please let any other itladians know about this delay.

I will be agreeing a date with them in the next few days and I will post it on here.

Cheers

Tony

Sunday 21 September 2008

Creating reality


Another interesting speculation brought up the "Quantum Enigma" (see previous post) has to do with creating a new reality.

The quandary is that if all reality is created by our observation, then does not "looking back 'now' give reality to what happened 'then'?" (John Wheeler, in the 1970s). So, it takes observation to bring reality to the Big Bang but whatever is doing the observation must have been created after the Big Bang---a rather self-referential bit of logic.

[quoting from the book now because it's so much easier than trying to summarize a summary ...]

"Accepting the boggle, we might ask: Though we could only create a universe in which we could exist, is the one we did create the only one we could have created? With a different observation, or different postulate, would the universe be different? It has been wildly speculated that postulating a theory that is not in conflict with any previous observation actually creates a new reality.

"For example, Hendrick Casimir, motivated by the discovery of the positron after its seemingly unlikely prediction, mused: 'Sometimes it almost appears that the theories are not a description of a nearly inaccessible reality, but that so-called reality is a result of the theory.' Casimir may also have been motivated by his own prediction, later confirmed, that the vacuum energy in space would case macroscopic metal plates to attract each other.

"If there's anything to Casimir's speculation, might Einstein's original suggestion of a cosmological constant have caused the acceleration of the universe? (Such a speculation can't be proven wrong.) Though taking such ideas literally surely seems ridiculous, we see how outrageously the quantum enigma has allowed us to speculate."

NOTE: The comment about Einstein and his cosmological constant refers to Einstein's initial theory of general relativity containing a constant, a fudge-factor more or less, that adds a repulsive force to keep the universe stable. But in 1929, Hubble announced that the universe is not stable but expanding and, therefore, Einstein's fudge-factor was not needed. Einstein called it the "greatest blunder of my carerr." He realized that had he believed his original theory, he would have predicted an expanding universe decades before it would be discovered. But the story continues because the effect of dark matter (no, not the "dark matter" of our Dark Philosopher's brain---although that is a force to be reckoned with and, perhaps, should be included in the equations) is a repulsive force not accounted for in the equations. Thus, Einstein's cosmological constant is back in the equations.

"Quantum Enigma: Physics Encounters Consciousness"

The main fodder for my recent post on consciousness was a book I just finished (see post title) by Bruce Rosenblum and Fred Kuttner. It is a very easy introduction to some quantum physics ideas including the "enigma" of superposition and the role of consciousness in the collapse of the wavefunction. It deals mostly with the Copenhagen Interpretation but mentions Everett's Many Worlds and several others. It's all non-technical and a pretty easy read.

Something perhaps interesting to Karl (in the unlikely event that he isn't already aware of them) are two quantum theories of consciousness. A very bare-bones outline is given and I don't quite get them but

1) Roger Penrose and Stuart Hameroff: This theory is based on quantum gravity and "proposes a physical proess beyond present quantum theory that rapidly collapses macroscopic superpositions to actualities. ... This process collapses, or 'reduces,' the wavefunction objectively, for everybody, even without an observer. Penrose calls this process 'objective reduction,' abbreviated OR. Penrose and Hammeroff clain that superposition states and long-range coherence might exist within a brain even though it is in physical contact with the environment, and that spontaneous ORs could regulate synaptic/neural functions. Penrose speculates that OR occurs spontaneously whenever two space-time geometries, and therefore gravitational effects, differ significantly. ... Such ORs would constitute 'occaisons of experience.' If entangled with an object external to the observer, the OR would collapse the wavefunction of the observed object, and everything entangled with it."

2) Henry Stapp: This theory "takes off from von Neumann's formulation of the Copenhagen interpretation. Von Neumannm ... showed that in viewing a microscopic object in a superposition state, the entire measurement system---from, say, the Geiger counter, to the human eye looking at it, to the thus entangled synapses inthe observer's brain---must, strictly speaking, be considered part of a grand superposition state. Only a consciousmess, something beyond Schrodinger equation evolution, can collapse a wavefunction. Stapp postulates two realities, a physical and a mental. The physical includes the brain, perhaps in a particular superposition state. The mental reality includes consciousness, thoughts, and, in particular, intentions. The mental can intentionally act on the physical brain to choose a particular superposition state, which then collapses to a particular situation. Consciousness does not itself 'reach out' to the external world in this theory, but this mental choice itself nevertheless determines, in part, the character of the physcial world external to the body. The final random aspect of the choise is then made by Nature."

Consciousness VS Collapse

I've been thinking recently about quantum mechanics and consciousness. Not as in depth as our FDP (i.e., Friendly Dark Philosopher -- time to update the IGTA, i.e., the ITLADian Glossary of Terms and Acronyms) Don't you just LOVE recursive acronyms? But I digress.

A parallel with some Jungian ideas struck me this morning. Don't know if it means anything or leads anywhere but I thought I'd throw out some vague ideas that are floating around in my head.

The main idea is Jung's "tension of the opposites" and how Edinger says that it is this tension of the opposites that actually creates consciousness. Edinger, in "The Creation of Consciousness," writes:

"[I]n the process of creating consciousness we shall at first be thrown back and forth between opposing moods and attitudes. Each time the ego identifies with one side of a pair of opposites the unconscious will confront one with its contrary. Gradually, the individual becomes able to experience opposite viewpoints simultaneously. With this capacity, alchemically speaking, the Philosophers' Stone is born, i.e., consciousness is created."

What struck me is the parallel between experiencing "opposite viewpoints simultaneously" and the superposition of quantum states. For Jung and Edinger, the goal is NOT to collapse the opposites to one or the other opposing viewpoint but to maintain a both/and reality.

As I said, I'm not sure if that means anything but it is interesting. This is all very unfleshed out but I was trying to imagine what it would mean to experience the tension of the opposites when it comes to quantum states.

Could it result in our being able to "see" several Multiple Worlds (MW) at the same time? Since each MW corresponds to one or another reality, holding a both/and view would let us experience several simultaneously.

And what is the application to our FDP's CtCw theory? What would it mean for the goal to be to NOT collapse the wave but keep it in its superposition?

Well, that's all I have for now. What do you all think?