Hack Consciousness

We maxed out our last location! We're moving to the amazing Noisebridge Hackerspace (https://noisebridge.net/wiki/Noisebridge) which is a perfect fit for Consciousness Hacking. Its also closer to public transportation.

Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/consciousnesshacking)

Video Overview (http://youtu.be/BkZbIRRqFYo)

Presenters

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Kenneth Folk (http://kennethfolkdharma.com/) is an innovative teacher of secular Buddhist meditation, best known for his practical, hands-on techniques for training in mindfulness. Featured in the pages of Wired magazine (http://www.wired.com/business/2013/06/meditation-mindfulness-silicon-valley/), Kenneth has been influential in Silicon Valley tech culture as an exceptional thinker and skillful teacher. He has collaborated with scientists and researchers at Yale, Brown, and Harvard universities in an effort to better understand spiritual practice through a contemporary lens. Recently Kenneth is exploring innovative ways of leveraging technology to expand the reach and effectiveness of meditation. At the upcoming meetup he will be presenting a few projects in the meditation+tech domain.

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Rohan Dixit is Founder of Brainbot (http://www.brainbot.me/), a company developing an EEG based meditation tool based on data he collected from monks in India. He has done meditation research at both Harvard and Stanford. He's currently working on a consumer product to help user's maintain a meditation practice. [TEDx Talk (http://youtu.be/8uSPygIPqIo)]

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Dr. Frank Heile (https://sites.google.com/site/fbh1949/) has a PhD in Particle Physics from Stanford and an undergraduate degree from MIT. He is a retired software engineer with over 46 patents to his name. He is currently writing a book exploring a novel theory of consciousness as it relates to spiritual awakening, enlightenment and transformation.

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Consciousness Hacking is a hands-on approach to making new tools for self-exploration, in order to change the way we think, feel, and live. Its an inside out perspective on how technology can serve us by changing our relationship to the world, rather than the world itself. (note: This is NOT about unauthorized or forced influence over anyone or anything.) Meetings will focus more on sharing existing projects, and receiving community support for new ideas, and less on philosophy or theory.

Have an idea for a cool EEG + meditation app? Maybe you're interested in a new way of creating sound to alter the way the brain works? This is the place to explore or present your idea. In the spirit of the Maker Movement or Quantified Self but with the pragmatic spiritual influence of Buddhist Geeks or Dharma Overground, the ultimate purpose of the group is to empower YOU to develop new tools for changing the way you feel and live. You do not need a technology background, and you are absolutely welcome to join if you have no interest in ever developing your own tools, but there will definitely be a heavy focus on modern technology as the hacking medium.

Science is increasingly recognizing what spiritual and religious traditions have been advocating for thousands of years: through focused self-awareness we can fundamentally change our conscious experience. The keys to accessing profound joy and contentment in this world lie not in our external circumstances, but in our relationship to ourselves. Its impossible to deny the profound benefits reaped by long time meditation practitioners, living in solitude or intentional communities. Is there a modern enlightenment, in harmony with the media and technology that seems to constantly externalize our attention, and increase our sense of separation from ourselves and others? Can we create new forms of technology that bring us back to ourselves? Can we leverage existing technologies to help us cultivate calm minds, lower stress, and rediscover our sense of connectedness and the simple joy of being alive here and now?

Consumer EEG headsets are beginning to flood the market enabling inexpensive access to brain activity. Bio sensing technology capable of measuring signals such as pulse, skin conductivity, or physical movement are readily available as commercial products. Computation is no longer a limiting factor, and massive amounts of data can be scoured for patterns no human mind could identify. New methods of neural-stimulation, such as tDCS, TMS and pulsed ultrasound, are being explored and are available to the pioneering hacker. Neuroscience research is beginning to deeply explore the nature of not only meditation, but of mystical and enlightened states. And these examples are just the tip of the iceberg.