Paul Stamets’ Quest for the Agarikon

18 08 2010

Lovely 7 minute film about a Paul Stamets trying to cure tuberculosis (and save the world) with mushrooms.

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Forthcoming: Mike Jay’s High Society

14 08 2010

I enjoy the work of science history writer Mike Jay and this book has been begging to be written so I am really looking forward to this one:

(Click image for Amazon link)

An illustrated cultural history of drug use from its roots in animal intoxication to its future in designer neurochemicals

• Featuring artwork from the upcoming High Society exhibition at the Wellcome Collection in London, one of the world’s greatest medical history collections

• Explores the roles drugs play in different cultures as medicines, religious sacraments, status symbols, and coveted trade goods

• Reveals how drugs drove the global trade and cultural exchange that made the modern world

• Examines the causes of drug prohibitions a century ago and the current “war on drugs”

Every society is a high society. Every day people drink coffee on European terraces and kava in Pacific villages; chew betel nut in Indonesian markets and coca leaf on Andean mountainsides; swallow ecstasy tablets in the clubs of Amsterdam and opium pills in the deserts of Rajastan; smoke hashish in Himalayan temples and tobacco and marijuana in every nation on earth.

Exploring the spectrum of drug use throughout history–from its roots in animal intoxication to its future in designer neurochemicals–High Society paints vivid portraits of the roles drugs play in different cultures as medicines, religious sacraments, status symbols, and coveted trade goods. From the botanicals of the classical world through the mind-bending self-experiments of 18th- and 19th-century scientists to the synthetic molecules that have transformed our understanding of the brain, Mike Jay reveals how drugs such as tobacco, tea, and opium drove the global trade and cultural exchange that created the modern world and examines the forces that led to the prohibition of opium and cocaine a century ago and the “war on drugs” that rages today.

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Rick Doblin Google Tech Talk

23 11 2009

1 hr talk given at Google covering the curent state of psychedelic research.





2009 Singularity Summit videos

3 11 2009

Past few days I have been enjoying these really fascinating presentations from the 2009 Singularity summit.  Some of this material is sheer brilliance and the subject matters discussed are immensely mind-expanding and thought-provoking:

life extension, Artificial General Intelligence, quantum computing, libertarian cyber-economics, mind-enhancement, human-computer interface, synthetic neurophotonics and the quantum correlates of consciousness!

24 talks and panels uploaded so far and more to come:

http://www.vimeo.com/siai/videos

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Despondex™

30 09 2009

Despondex is the first drug designed to treat the symptoms of excessive perkiness:





Air America exposes fascist drug deal

4 09 2009

Progressives turning on Obama as Air America exposes fascist drug deal:





Spooky Medicine

6 08 2009

Drug companies hire ghostwriters to pen favorable journal articles

Pens and clipboards are so 1997. Attractive sales reps are so 2001. They might both still be commonplace, but pharmaceutical companies have also been sinking cash into a more obscured vehicle of persuasion: peer-reviewed medical journals.

One drug company—Wyeth, maker of the hormone therapy drugs Premarin and Prempro—paid for substantial ghostwriting of 26 medical research papers published in major scientific journals between 1998 and 2005, according to The New York Times. And these writers weren’t just polishing prose. They shaped the articles from start to finish.

Article @ SciAm





The Science and Politics of Cancer, G. Edward Griffin 2005

26 06 2009

Here is G. Edward Griffin (author of the seminal book about Federal Reserve: The Creature From Jekyll Island) talking about the natural anti-cancer drug, amygdalin. It’s a deeply interesting topic (amygdalin was mentioned in the new Watchmen movie) and a very fascinating story he tells.   I highly recommend this presentation if you anyone you know suffers from cancer.





Contemporary Psychotherapy

28 04 2009

cover-march-212x300An interesting new journal has just launched called Contemporary Psychotherapy which seeks to explore novel, creative and controversial topics within the evolving field of professional counseling and psychotherapy.

It seems a suitable arena for psycholytic and psychedelic therapy to be discussed.

First Issue PDF here.

By way of Mind Hacks.





Harvard Medical Students Rebel Against Big Pharma Ties

28 04 2009

Two hundred Harvard Medical School students are confronting the school’s administration, demanding an end to pharmaceutical industry influence in the classroom.

Article at Mercola.com





Top 25 censored stories for 2009

8 04 2009




Viagra conjures prurient proteins.

5 01 2009

Viagra intensifies the activity of a protein messenger that protects the heart from high blood-pressures.   As both a novel synthetic compound and an aphrodisiac this drug warrants some further examination and contemplation.

LINK —>  physorg.com